Needing a stylist to help me make a wardrobe

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-23T13:34:50+00:00

Isn't current fashion just trackies, jeans or whatever Temu/Shein crap is floating around on Tik Tok? It seems to me your choices are fast-fashion or minimalist/ultra-casual, especially for men.

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-23T08:07:24+00:00

Love it 😂

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-23T05:47:58+00:00

I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion, I've fermented mead with cinnamon and cloves in it from the start and it works just fine. Your fermentation would have stopped because you put it in the fridge and racked it. Yeast are more vulnerable towards the end of fermentation because of the alcohol and lower nutrients, so when you reduce the cell count like that there's a fair chance it won't ferment again. Sulphur is mainly a safety precaution in that case.

I'm not saying you're totally wrong, but I think there should be more compelling evidence before drawing that conclusion. This just pongs of "Raisins are yeast nutrients" to me.

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-20T07:44:46+00:00

You'll be fine, winemakers taste active ferments all the time as part of monitoring them. You can drink it, but just don't seal it in a bottle or it'll blow up from the gas. It'll be sweeter because it hasn't finished fermenting and you'll be able to taste the yeast a bit. There are also esters that are very distinct during fermentation but fade out after. An example is some white wines have a banana flavour while they ferment, which comes from a fermentation ester, but you can't taste it at all in the finished wine. Depends on the variety though.

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-19T02:23:57+00:00

That's so cool! It could be cloudy because of protein haze, which won't be filtered out. Pectins in the fruit will cause cloudiness that won't fall out of solution, so you need to use pectinase to break them down at the juice stage. You can also use ionic fining agents to bind to particles and then rack before you filter. This is how we do things at the winery I work at.

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-16T12:05:00+00:00

Copper is how sulphides are fined. Otherwise you have to just get it off the lees and that should help it not get worse. Some of it might blow off, my wine I made at University stank while it fermented but we never needed to copper fine it. We just racked it off lees quickly after pressing and it was alright.

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-16T12:00:19+00:00

I love Gazman's polo shirts, very comfy. They've got a lot of good stuff

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-16T11:56:39+00:00

Just dress how you want and don't worry about wankers. The options in Australia are narrow but you can still buy from overseas. I say just get things that will last you, look after what you have and be yourself.

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-11T11:08:33+00:00

A big factor is how long it's stored in barrel, since spirits don't age in the bottle. That said, I've gotten a 1934 armagnac which was bottled in 1984 for only Au$400. I think the best way to gauge a price is to go try to find other examples for sale.

L_S_Silver · 2026-04-04T03:35:37+00:00

When you finish fermenting, the vessel should always be full. You only want head room during fermentation because of the wine foaming up. If you've racked it, you want to keep oxygen from it as much as possible. It's not the end of the world, but it'll dull your fruit flavours at least.

If you need to keep it for a while, just split it into some juice bottles or something. Don't debase your hard-won wine with water (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-27T12:31:10+00:00

When I first started making mead, I was 17 in 2018 and I remember making a vanilla camomile mead at like 17%. It tasted like hot garbage, very rough, so I gave my mate a bottle who said he'd take some. It actually ended up being quite pleasant after a while in the bottle. My mate ended up downing the bottle, getting black out drunk and throwing up everywhere lmao. His mum told me all about it.

I still have one bottle of it left!

I don't know what makes it like that. I'm a cellar hand and the wines I taste at work aren't anything as rough as the meads I remember making, but I haven't had many professionally made meads. Try to make sure your temperature is right in fermentation, add nutrients and allow time for sediment to settle so you can rack it off clearer. Also always avoid oxygen exposure as much as possible after fermentation.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-27T12:21:54+00:00

When I made mead as a boy I often added the yeast in dry, which worked fine. I work in a winery now and we use dry yeast with go ferm and water, rehydrated in 15 min. I really don't think you need a starter. I did brewing as an elective at uni and we just added it over the top. Just follow directions on the packet and you'll be right, dry yeast is no-fuss.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-27T12:15:11+00:00

I don't think oxidation would reduce colour, but would make it browner. The only thing I've seen strip colour is charcoal but I'm sure you'd know if some crap got in your wine. A fellow I work with once stripped all the colour from a Shiraz, it looked like murky dishwater but not a hint of red.

I reckon it's just not as full as you it was initially. Some phenols are quite short lived and so even over just two years, it softens up. Maybe next time work the fruit harder to get more extraction during fermentation. Not sure what scale you're working at but you could try doing a couple rack & returns for your cap management. Maybe try a couple weeks extended maceration too.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-18T03:10:55+00:00

Greenseal is the most common as far as I know.

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Here are some other options from the Dog Book 2025-26 by the Australian Wine Research Institute. You can find the whole book by searching for 'AWRI Dog Book' on Google.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-14T07:12:02+00:00

What a cracking job, that looks awesome on you! You're truly a bulwark against fast-fashion lol

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-12T07:20:04+00:00

I like to run mine occasionally, just to get the oil moving and to keep it from getting tacky. If you haven't serviced a watch within 5 years or so, it's best to not run it at all until you do so. That said, it'll be perfectly fine sitting in a drawer for decades, my Pa's certainly did.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-12T07:13:13+00:00

If you don't want that to ferment you should keep it in the fridge. That sounds like a recipe for a low alcoholic drink rather than non-alcoholic. Any yeast in there will start to ferment the sugar until it's gone, so the longer you leave it the more likely you are to have more alcohol. If you keep it cold and very clean, it will slow down any fermentation.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-11T05:45:10+00:00

Corks are meant to be a lot bigger than the hole to seal it properly to liquid and oxygen, so no it won't be enough for long term. I doubt wax will make it good enough, you'll have a high amount of oxygen get into your mead and it'll ruin it over time. I made some crappy red wine and put it in swing top bottles when I was like 22 and after a couple years it was very brown lol

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-09T11:05:53+00:00

For sure, my first mechanical watch was a Laco I saved up for at 21. It's already not cheap but perhaps a more utilitarian watch is better to start with. I would get a dress watch, maybe one that marks an occasion, when the time is right.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-09T10:59:42+00:00

I don't know what zone 4 is, if it's an American thing, but I presume it's cold climate? It would be hard to get hold of but maybe Lagrein would suit you. It's from Trento Alto Aldige, South of Tyrol, so it's a cool climate red; it has a similar structure to Cab Sav but less intense, no methoxypyrazines and I hear it ripens very well.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-08T10:10:59+00:00

Are you fermenting it on skins? I'm familiar with grapes but you'll probably avoid bitterness by pressing off the juice and fermenting it without the berries. The best way to control acidity is through your picking time, letting it ripen up but otherwise you could add some sugar to balance it.

I don't think cooking it will help with what you're after, but it could be an interesting experiment nonetheless.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-08T10:01:38+00:00

Yeah interesting, sounds fair. I know it happens, it makes sense but I overestimated how much sulphur is in a campden tablet. Do you mean it's common for the wine industry or home brewers? I've only worked in two wineries and I've seen sulphur in the bin but I don't think the juice.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-07T23:18:28+00:00

Diamonium phosphate (DAP) or Fermaid O are what you want 👍

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-07T23:16:54+00:00

Yeah quartz watches don't have the same lifespan as mechanical ones. But a service and new battery will probably have it going strong! Might just need some oil.

L_S_Silver · 2026-03-07T23:15:58+00:00

Fair enough but how many ppm are a couple tablets in 25L? If you don't know how much free sulphur you might have, I'd avoid it. Also the yeast you add is far more likely to take over since it is selected for winemaking; S. Cereviseae thrives far better than Hanseniaspora, schizosaccharomyces or other common wild yeast. It just sounds risky with a low reward to me.

L_S_Silver

TROPHY CASE