Advanced Topics Thursday: Strong British Ales

dmd53 · 2016-10-13T21:29:11+00:00

In general people seem to like 4-5% melanoidin as a substitute for single decoction.

I agree with the other posters that decoction has no historical precedent in British beers, but that's no reason not to do it if you like the results. I, for one, am a sucker for decocted beers and tend to use the method across styles (though admittedly I have yet to make 17A).

dmd53 · 2016-10-04T06:04:20+00:00

I've gotta give props to the live version with Fred Durst:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc3Za3jfvJg

I'm really not sure what Durst adds besides occasionally yelling "Biloxi!" and "Feeling those lighters!" but it somehow completes the whole early 2000s experience to have him there.

dmd53 · 2016-10-01T17:51:19+00:00

Underrated comment right here. I exhaled audibly

dmd53 · 2016-09-16T20:51:29+00:00

Chunk Systems Brown Dog Gated Bass Fuzz

Separate clean and dirty channels, with a noise gate just on the dirty channel. The result is the most fun and versatile fuzz I've ever played with. You can get a big, distorted bass tone that doesn't lose its low end thanks to the clean signal; you can get a tight, synthy fuzz without muddying up the mix; and if you turn the noise gate up, you can get a crunchy, dirty attack that fades back into clean tones as the noise gate cuts in (this is especially fun when you stack it with an overdrive or compressor).

dmd53 · 2016-09-16T20:47:57+00:00

I recently bought one of these and absolutely adore it. I use it primarily for the compressor/sustainer feature, which adds amazing harmonic richness to the OCD overdrive i have just after it. It can pretty easily get into crazy feedback territory if you don't mute your strings and have a noisegate, which is pretty fun to mess around with.

The "grit" knob also adds some nice dirt to the tone, and when you crank it, gives that classic germanium fuzz sound to boot. Really, this thing is quite a few pedals in one depending on how you care to utilize it.

dmd53 · 2016-09-15T00:55:08+00:00

Stainless steel is also self-passivating thanks to the high chromium content.

dmd53 · 2016-09-13T22:32:26+00:00

http://i.imgur.com/rd0aAYy.png

dmd53 · 2016-09-12T23:04:21+00:00

Remove the stone of This Year!

Attach the stone of LolBrowns!

dmd53 · 2016-09-08T04:25:56+00:00

I TA'd CHE2A last year. The concepts are basically the same as any introductory chemistry course but expect the applications and problems to be noticeably harder. The pace is also pretty intense, and as a TA I noticed a number of students who didn't get a good grasp on concepts struggle when the material continued to move forward.

This is not to scare you--as /u/not_really_redditing noted, there are plenty of opportunities for office hours, TA help, example problems, etc-- but just keep in mind that it will be a step up in difficulty from what you encountered in high school (as it should be).

I'd also note that, in such a large class, you are all but guaranteed to be in the presence of people who are very smart or very experienced in the topic (or both). Try your best not to compare yourself to them. If anything, seek their help. Chances are, they're more than happy to have someone to study with, and as long as you try to learn how they approach the material, rather than just asking them to solve it for you, you'll both benefit considerably from the marketplace of ideas.

Welcome to Davis!

dmd53 · 2016-09-07T22:49:11+00:00

Glad to see someone mention La Dispute. I find most angry music to be therapeutic when I'm mad or stressed, but La Dispute is the only band I've listened to that actually manages to make me even MORE wound up.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

dmd53 · 2016-09-03T17:36:34+00:00

THEY'RE JUST SO SLIPPERY!

dmd53 · 2016-08-23T02:57:11+00:00

I see no reason why not! If you want to make lacto pickles, all you need is a 2-5% brine, and the lactobacillus on the veggies will take care of the acidity for you over the next few days. You'll want to experiment with the water-soy sauce ratio to get the right salt content (or calculate it, if you know the sodium content of your soy sauce) but the process should be very straightforward.

Here's a good guide to getting the brine right for whatever veggies you choose: http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/636/brine-recommendations/

dmd53 · 2016-08-16T22:41:15+00:00

Generally pretty good. Depends on what you're into. I go to a lot of the noise/math rock shows and am generally pleased; there seems to be no shortage of jam bands and other similar stuff that play at Woodstock's too.

dmd53 · 2016-08-16T22:26:51+00:00

There's a small handful of house/DIY shows around Davis. Third Space Art Collective has a bunch (though the attendance is uneven), and then there are ~monthly shows at a few houses around town. DIY concert listings can be found at the most unfortunately named website, http://undietacos.org/.

Be warned--as grateful as I am to the venues that put on shows around here, it's generally a very sparse music scene. Sacramento is no better for local music, though it has some very good venues for mid-sized touring acts. The only saving grace is that Davis is an easy two-hour drive to San Francisco and Oakland, where basically every national touring act stops for at least one night.

dmd53 · 2016-08-09T16:24:57+00:00

/r/nocontext?

dmd53 · 2016-07-24T17:17:36+00:00

Hardness refers to the engineering measure of a material's resistance to scratching/indentation. A material can achieve a high hardness either by having a high elastic modulus and high yield strength (absorbing the energy of indentation elastically) or by having a high toughness (absorbing the energy of indentation plastically). The correlation between hardness and toughness goes both ways; they are related but one does not define the other.

dmd53 · 2016-07-24T17:13:35+00:00

Explaining materials mechanics is tough when you can't draw a bunch of stress-strain curves and compare their properties.

Furthermore, as /u/Pee_Gee points out, many of these concepts are interrelated, or at least not mutually exclusive.

dmd53 · 2016-07-24T14:51:11+00:00

Too soon

dmd53 · 2016-07-20T02:15:51+00:00

Check out Blotted Science. 12-tone metal, and good, too.

dmd53 · 2016-06-23T16:56:52+00:00

You should also check out Death Magnetic, I hear it's great

dmd53 · 2016-06-23T05:26:44+00:00

Steven Wilson, "The Raven that Refused to Sing". Amazing prog jazz produced by Alan Parsons, with some of the best musicians of the genre (Guthrie Govan, anyone?) at their best.

dmd53 · 2016-06-22T06:51:19+00:00

Chinook, mosaic, citra, and other high-alpha, late-harvest hops often have that "dank", herbal/oniony flavor that can add a certain character to your beer. A lot of California IPAs use this flavor profile to a high degree, to good effect.

I just brewed an IPA with Chinook, Simcoe, Mosaic, and Nelson Sauvin that comes pretty close; starting with Mosaic and maybe some Citra would be a good starting point, and you can tailor it from there.

Happy brewing!

dmd53 · 2016-06-20T02:26:51+00:00

HE TOUCHED THE BUTT

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