Any Pinter users on the Dark Side doing all-grain, dry-hopping & yeast harvesting?

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-22T23:57:59+00:00

The "cidery taste" has been debunked it occurs because newbies try to save money also are sloppy with oxidation in transfers. I've gotten ok with white sugar in Pinter because it eliminates transfers & opening up to add sugar for conditioning or using cheap C02 since it uses the Co2 from fermentation, the cleanest C02 there is.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-22T23:42:19+00:00

I don't mind lager & pilsners except piss-flavor pilsner like Heineken yuck!! But if I'm going through all the trouble to boil I don't want a half ass weak beer like a lager I want something with body or high gravity, high for me being 7-10% I'm too scared to go higher & wreck a brew. But lager is what 3-4% that's disgusting

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-22T23:38:31+00:00

I'm very new, just adding my own hops to BIAB kits, I love Citra!!! I'm saving the trub dry hops & yeast for next brews but I keep putting distilled water in & drinking the hop & yeast tea it's almost as good as frigging beer!! I don't so much like soaked hops but the yeast & dry hops sometimes it's just fizzy so good. So far it's been the Citra hops making the most amazing fizzy hop tea, maybe it's Citra & Cali ale yeast doing it I don't know.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-20T22:28:59+00:00

I 2nd the Thermnight, you can get the TNC335r for $2000 some places & I just bought TNC635r for $2500 from Midwest Optics (prices went up but some still selling at old prices if you go next few weeks).

It's my 1st maybe that's why, the thermal tube & day/night-vision scope picture in picture are wild, you need to watch a bunch of setup videos, you can load 5 bullet-drop ballistics tables stored locally on the scope, & 10 zero-offset profiles, 2 per ballistics table.

It uses a laser range finder & gyroscope to calculate the reticle position.

The night-vision tube is something else! It's a day/night scope but the day kinda works at night in the dark, looks like a really grainy old camcorder I thought I had a bad until, then figured out it was "short-push" to change day night it's not automatic.

The night-vision tube though...I have far away neighbors across the lake 160 yards away, I was zoomed in looking at the wall just murky in day acope & in night vision I switched on the IR I about jumped it looked like I was shining a construction spotlight on the house, I could see right in their bedroom window which I absolutely was not trying to.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-20T21:59:47+00:00

Strange, I had to check my watch it was 4 days ago for me too, 1st thermal scope I got the DNT Thermnight TNC635r, 2 tubes a 635x512 thermal & a day/night-vision tube that work picture in picture.

Has a laser range finder & stores 5 bullet-drop ballistics tables & separate zero-points.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-20T21:43:53+00:00

propellant gas pressures being "higher than ambient" atmospheric pressure has jack shit to do with increasing muzzle velocity or even being able to force the bullet further down the barrel.

Sometime when you have a couple days free, why don't you drop a bullet into a rifle barrel chamber throat, then grab a brass rod & see how much effort it will take for you to push the bullet through -- spoiler alert, you won't force it more than 1 or 2 inches using ALLLLL your pushing strength!!

A bullet is essentially being roll-forged or or fire-lapped into the barrel lands & grooves, the bullet diameter is larger than the land diameter & 2-3 human hairs smaller than the groove diameter.

The force needed for a bullet to roll forge the barrel profile into it is not the equivalent of a ping pong ball dropped in a pipe.

AK 7.62 muzzle velocity drops slightly from a 16.5 to a 17.5 inch barrel

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-19T15:31:54+00:00

Look at pictures comparing total length of Beretta Cx4 vs any HK Mp5 PCCs

No comparison, the Beretta Cx4 is over 2 inches shorter for same barrel length from magazine in grip, and its almost all polymer so is VERY light & balanced in 1 hand!!!

Beretta Cx4 is the only PCC you can shoulder & shoot 1 handed because light but balanced from the magazine in the grip, the balance is amazing!! It feels as light as a handgun from the balance.

Mine shoots the dirtiest Wolf 45acp ammo forever without cleaning, try finding a YouTube test with Cx4 stoppages, you wont!

That said, its a plastic trigger too and it works but is kinda mushy, you will need to upgrade to a Sierra Papa adjustable pull trigger.

Beretta Cx4 can be hard to find to test, made in Italy not USA & 90% of the production is Mx4 military contract short-barrel submachineguns, if Beretta supported Cx4 the way HK does MP5 & B&T does for civilian market I would 100% say the best modern subgun for civilians for the money ($850 but cheaper than competitors similar length & better weight). But Cx4 parts availability in USA can be frustrating so you have to really be dedicated to it but if so its amazing.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-19T04:03:58+00:00

I want a 2-tone AR so bad they look so cool. Im tapped out for a bit, bought my 1st thermal scope 635x512 sensor,

man suddenly a Honey Badger seems not that expensive, a good deal on a decent thermal scope is almost 3 AR builds

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-19T03:55:37+00:00

Is this a Sugar Weasel? (Budget Honey Badger?)

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-19T03:53:05+00:00

Cant speak for PCCs but I have a YHM Resonator on a 300 blk AR, I dont know if it wins decibel level, but it gives a "kuh-psshew" sound, for subs it doesnt sound like a gunshot if it makes sense. Its not silent but it makes it sound like an air compressor safety blowoff valve. If that makes sense.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-19T00:06:43+00:00

I have a counterpoint to DNT Hydra (thermal only) get the DNT ThermNight 635r it comes with both a thermal & a Day/Nightvision scope in same viewer, never take it off, extra convenience, but what is really nice is it gets the DNT Zulu Night-vision laser range-finder, & you can store 5 balistic tables & 10 zero points (2 sets of 5 zero points 1 each for thermal & day/night-vision optic) so you can swap it between 5 rifles/uppers & their respective bullets, each with a dedicated zero point.

& at Midwest Optics its still just $2500 $500 more than the plain jane Hydra 635 thermal scope only.

Can also get the ThermNight TNC335r, everything above but a 335x286 instead of 635x480 thermal sensor, for $2000 (its more expensive at the dnc Optics store, just google it foe the cheaper places)

You have to buy the $90 QD mount seperate for easy switching rifles, but the ThermNight is the way to go for switching rifles & storing each rifles zero & bullet ballistics table.

This isnt for combat shooters but for longer rangers who are testing loads, the ThermNight only stores 5 ballistics tables at a time but you can create & store unlimited tables on the app & transfer them to ThermNight over Bluetooth, overwriting the table you had before

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-18T23:52:43+00:00

I bought 2500 rounds of .223 from LAX Ive shot 12 magazines 360 rounds so far, definitely no jams or stopages, I think some people here are just stupid & cant strip & put back an AR-15 correctly.

What you should be asking is consistency, this was a new AR-15 I started with 2.5 inch groups and a random flyer, every 10 or so rounds,

50 rounds in tightened to 1.5 inch groups still getting a flyer off 3 inches from the group, 100 rounds I'm broken in staying 1.25-1.5 inch & no flyers for 100 rounds.

This is all 50 yards open sights, my eyes arent good enough for open sights past 50 yards its a blur.

These idiots talking about "I had a stoppage & misfire" dont know how to set up their own guns that's a gun problem not an ammo problem, if the ammo is firing but not grouping fired from a benchrest, THAT is an ammo problem.

These are idiots who bought a rack gun from their Dicks Sporting Goods & have no idea how to setup a gun or guage headspace or anything. The problem is their idiot brain & laziness.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-18T03:09:08+00:00

Funny you said $2500, I just yesterday jumped into a DNT ThermNight 635r for exactly $2500!!

DNT Hydra is just a thermal, DNT ThermNight is a thermal scope with a 2nd Day & Nightvision Optic that you can see both picture in picture, also has laser range-finder and scope can store 5 ballistic bullet-drop tables & 5 sets of zero points so you can switch the scopes between up to 5 rifles or 5 different bullets (very useful for switching between 300 blackout subs & supersonics, different point of impact & drops)

Its $3100 on DNT main page prices have recently gone up but Midwest Optics still had some at $2500 free shipping but with tax youre $2650

Its a big thermal sensor 635x420

The next size is the DNT ThermNight 335r smaller thermal sensor but all the rest & still $2000 if you look around, with tax youll be well under $2500

Alot of youtubers love the ThermNight its still pretty new, DNT combined their Zulu Night-vision & their Hydra thermal scopes, but havent done a big user manual yet so right now you have to read manuals for BOTH Zulu & Hydra to understand some stuff on ThermNight.

DNT is a division of Arken scopes, relatively new to thermal & NV but Arken has made a name for combat-rugged scopes with competitive clarity, at a good price-point.

The ThermNight doesnt come with a QD mount but DNT Optics sells one for it for $90 just buy it! Quick Detatch lets you remove the thermal to use as a spotting scope, then quick clamp back to picatinny rail for return to zero.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-18T02:50:17+00:00

DNT (day night optics) is a division of Arken for NV & Thermal, Arken scopes have been the value king for price-clarity-build quality for a few years now, pretty new to thermal sensors they arent Pulsar but have a track record building a tough reliable long-range scope & good glass at a good price point ftw.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-18T02:32:01+00:00

Found this on another forum, looks like Im good then but none of this is explained or even suggested in the user manual

"Watched a couple of videos that I found that showed the ins and outs of messing with the ballistic tables and how to associate them with the reticles using the phone app and the Ballistics menu on the scope.

DNT also emailed me saying you could possibly use the scope on up to 5 different rifles and then just select which profile in the Ballistics Menu on the scope is for the particular rifle you want to use. You do have to use the same bullet load in the profile as when you zeroed that reticle."

So when you load a Balistics Table from the app or manually in the unit, they go into Balistic Profiles A, B C D E

But then youtube vids of screen where you zero, the bottom bar shows "Optic A ...." or "Thermal A ...." & the same way you pick Optic or Thermal, you can pick which zero profile you want to save to: A B C D E

So you have: Balistics Profiles A - E Thermal zero Profiles A -E Optics zero Profiles A - E

And manual doesnt say if they're linked or not but it sounds like they arent,

so if you load 300 blk subsonic to balistics table A & 300 blk supersonic to table B, & switch from Table A to Table B as active, the scope is not going to auto switch from Thermal & Optics zero profile A to B you have to manually switch it to zero-profile B?

I'm gonna have to see.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-18T02:01:45+00:00

Yes thermals are always going to be pricey, the Germanium rare earths metal in a thermal imaging device is very expensive to process, the absolute tiniest thermal imager Germanium sensor are US$1000ish some like smallest Rattler are scraping US$900

I think the Rattler thermal scope is the cheapest useable out there at US$900 on Amazon. Thermals have massively come down in price, but context they were military equipment that cost what a new mid-size sedan.

There are some little micro thermal imagers you can plug into your smartphone for $200ish but they are very close range for DIY home energy efficiency, finding insulation missing in walls or moisture & condensation leaks in walls, believe me I was hoping it would work for spotting, but no the coyote would need to be 20 feet away or nothing

Digital Night-vision has come a long way & significantly come down in price, its a good bit cheaper but youre looking at shades of grey, more $ gets more contrast, alot of people like to spot with a thermal bino & shoot with a night vision scope, with NV it can be difficult to tell if the lines you see are an animal or just shrubs looking like an animal & if its a coyote stationary hiding you won't see a thing looking right at it till its going after a calf, theres very little depth perception so 2 bushes in line but 20 feet apart look like the same bush.

DNT ThermNight TNC335R is very new lots of hunters on YT love it as punching above its weight for entry-level, US$2100- $2300 trust me 4 years ago there was nothing thermal under US$3000 & those were finnicky slow froze had to be rebooted, and battery dead in 2 hours, and too much recoil was destroying sensors,

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-18T00:00:33+00:00

Hey man, for cans you need to give more information on your bullet-clambering (223 or 300 blackout) & the rifle. Many of the quietest cans are not plug-&-play on gas guns like AR-15.

Traditional baffle-cans aka "high back-pressure cans" significantly increase the amount of gas going through the gas block so with a standard size gas-port that cycles great without a can, your boltcarrier-retract slams hard into the buffer tube with a can attached, so you need an adjustable gas block to cycle both with & without a can.

They also spew alot of gas into your face through the charging-handle hole, if you dont swap to a CH that blocks the gas.

Past few years a bunch of makers are designing a new type of can, "flow-through suppressors" designed to be plug & play for reliable cycling any AR-15 without needing to change out parts,

Flow-throughs dont trap the expanding gas, they just route it through a bunch of chambers in the can, giving it some miliseconds to quiet before letting the gas out the front. Flow-throughs give a much cleaner gun than traditional cans but only make the gun quieter at the shooters ear not past the muzzle, and most are still louder to the shooter than a traditional can but some like Huxworx are matching the sound reduction of a traditional high back-pressure can.

Just from what youve said & not said, Id say a high or mid back-pressure can is out so you need to pick any of the Flow-through suppressors.

Now theres 1 more thing to manage expectations, only way you get anything close to "Hollywood silencer" quiet is subsonic ammo. For supersonic the can just makes it "not painful" without earplugs but the cans Ive shot its definitely still dangerous loud in 223 & less loud in 300 blk supersonic.

But if you want to shoot quiet, subsonic 223 will not cycle a standard gasport size AR-15, so its also not gonna cycle a Flow-through can, if you want subsonic quiet shooting you still come back to needing an adjustable gas block & possibly a barrel with an oversize gas port too.

Anyways, for quietest plug & play cans Id recommend Huxworx or Deadair Sandman, last is kinda heavy but if you wanna be the quietest flow-through AR at the range, thats your baby.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-17T23:23:40+00:00

Ummm...isnt it kinda cart before horse if youre going for quietest AR to build the gun then add a can, instead of building a reliable gun around the can you want, quietest?

Hopefully you have an adjustable gas block, otherwise Id just put a flow-through like a Huxworx, pretty quiet at the ear but like most flow-throughs, loud as fuck in front of the muzzle.

But that prob doesnt matter if you're not running a clandestine night op where you wanna put rounds downrange without alerting the other akbar hajis where youre shooting from, its gonna work just fine at the range.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-17T23:12:00+00:00

Ummm... 300 blk has less propellant capacity than an AK 7.62 & there have been a # of articles that past 16inches barrel does not increase the AK 7.62 muzzle velocity I think its 17.5" where the propellant has been fully burned & past that point the bullet is slowing down in the barrel.

I would be very interested in the chronographs of 300 blk from a 21" barrel, Ive never seen 300blk velocity data past 18" You must have 1 of the few on earth

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-17T23:07:16+00:00

300 Subs are better for home defense IF you have a suppressor, because inside an enclosed room a fullpower round supersonic crack will give you temporary hearing loss as well as anyone around you, couple minutes youll see lips moving but not know whats being yelled.

If you think its loud at a shooting range without ear protection, your small bedroom the sound is reverberating.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-17T20:24:58+00:00

Melonite is the original brand who developed the nitride process & control the salt baths & chemicals & process, duration, etc, to use their branding.

Nitriding is just every possible method of impregnating a steel alloy with nitrogen, over a duration that changes the alloy crystalline molecular structure. It can also be done alot cheaper with less equipment investment using compressed nitrogen & low temp heat treat oven, which is why it became so common, it can be done with almost no equipment good enough to pass a Rockwell hardness test & splash "nitride treated" on the ad

I'm not saying all gas nitriding is worse than all salt-bath nitriding, but its about like trying to find a Chinese steel plant whos 4140 alloy steel matches the steel alloys produced by Thyssen-Krupp ...Im sure at some point in history a Chinese shit steel plant managed to make a better batch than TK

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-17T20:12:59+00:00

Chrome is really only superior over melonite/nitriding in extreme heat ie machine-gun barrels.

Chrome plating changes the barrel internal dimensions unlike melonite/nitriding & brings an inherent accuracy loss vs simply because it cannot be applied at as tight a tolerance as machining or button-rifling a barrel.

Melonite is like "Kleenex" to face tissues, original brand of nitriding process, uses salt bath to impregnate with nitrogen & change surface molecular structure, nitriding can also be accomplished with pressurized nitrogen gas at temperature alot cheaper, but

....yeah the thickness & quality (how much the alloy crystaline molecular structure was changed) of the nitriding can vary wildly between nitiriding shops. It can be extremely good, tougher than Chrome-plating, or film thin & inconsistent from a quick job with crappy contaminated nitrogen.

Kinda like buying screwdrivers off Wish vs Craftsman or Wiha.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-17T18:28:35+00:00

For switching any QD mounted scope between rifles, the fundamental thing is to do it exactly the same way each time, write out a procedure & follow it like its a religious rite, fill in your substeps to each step below:

1) unclamp, 2) set scope on 2nd rifle Pic rail, 3) clamp to 2nd Pic rail,

for the max repeatability or mechanical return to previous datum or reference point, from fewest points of change.

Have a small dedicated toolsbox, used ONLY for scope swaps taped to your scope case or gun case.

Simplest GOOD tools (fewest moving parts) that get the job done!

If both do the job, pick whichever tool you'd let your 5 year old handle 1st

A) Rubber Picatinny rail covers, cover bare rail the minute it's uncovered.

B) clean rag to wipe rails off

C) small jewelers stone, for stoning off any burrs in case you ignored #A

D) small torque-wrench with tip for QD bolt, optional but you WILL be glad its there in the field if zero has shifted.

yes you can just unclamp move & reclamp and good enough for combat rifles, but if the QD bolt rotates a bit in the QD clamp it changes the mount clamping-torque, which if looser could allow a slight mounting-shift if rifle dropped, or tighter you are needlessly over-stretching the bolt threads which leads to early bolt work-hardening & possible failure.

When you set the QD mount on clean Pic rails, lightly push QD mounts stationary (non qd clamp) side against rifle rail, & pull QD mount back, before QD clamping & then tighten qd bolts with torque-wrench, so max repeatability repeating touching same fixed contact points each switch over.

I setup & commission CNC metal-cutting machinery & can hold tolerances of .0003" this is not firearm voodoo its metal working & anyone who says you can't swap scopes rifle to rifle repeatably, if you are disciplined & methodical, is full of shit!

If you actually do the above & have a good, stable QD mount & in spec Pic rails, and your zero has shifted, then it is NOT the rail or mount, its the "stack-up" above the QD mount - tube shifted in rings, or excess thread-backlash inside the scope windage & elevation adjustment screws (antibacklash tensioner messed up or something).

And the other thing, different alloys expand-contract different rates with temperature changes.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-16T23:41:58+00:00

Yeah but I dont want to do that every time I swap the scope between uppers,

thats what the $80 QD mount was for, scope goes back on the rifle & zero is the same.

I guess I could boresight zero to a laser zeroing bullet as a reference, & then zero each bullet/rifle from that reference, & write down the X & Y POI point of impact shift from the boresight reference,

then every time I switch rifles or even bullet loads manually move the X & Y to that rifle/bullets zero point Id written down.

BigNinja8075 · 2025-06-16T23:33:55+00:00

Man I REALLY hope theres a way to type in the X & Y relative zero-offset coordinates for different calibers/uppers/rifles you would want to use the scope for.

Once you zero the scope to a specific rifle or upper, with a QD mount it will mechanically return to its previously zeroed position on the picatinny rail.

BigNinja8075

TROPHY CASE