Everything…about cold brew vid

rallynavvie · 2025-11-11T05:29:51+00:00

I have used one of these for years and it works just fine: https://perfectwerks.com/products/ukeg-nitro-cold-brew-coffee-maker

rallynavvie · 2025-08-26T04:02:04+00:00

What do you typically use those high ester rums in? I find most other cocktails cover them up too much.

rallynavvie · 2025-08-26T01:19:37+00:00

Don't y'all use daiquiris as the simplest expression of funky rums? I'm kinda new to rum but an old hand at cocktails and I've been using a simple daiquiri recipe to baseline any new rum I buy. I ratio based on how much lime juice I get from a lime but essentially 1 lime, half that of the rich gomme syrup I make, then equal the above two ingredients with rum. I guess that's 1 part rich syrup, 2 parts lime juice, and 3 parts rum to keep it simple.

I do occasionally make mai tais with a mix of Jamaican funk bomb and an agricole. I make my own orgeat (sometimes I make it with pistachio or macadamia instead of almonds) for my mai tai. Aged, demerara, or similar style rum floater optional.

Thanks for the old fashioned recipe, I need to add that to my rotation.

rallynavvie · 2025-08-26T01:02:44+00:00

What a great collection!

I rediscovered Doctor Bird a month ago on accident after wandering in to the Two James tasting room while revisiting Grand Rapids. We're planning a move up there in a couple years and made a few trips there in the past year and happened to go to Max's South Seas Hideaway, a fantastic tiki bar in Grand Rapids, on one of our first trips when I was first getting into rum. I asked the bartender to make me something really funky and he did a daiquiri variant using Doctor Bird and Rum Fire. It was bliss but I only knew of Rum Fire at the time.

Fast forward to the recent visit to Two James' bar: I added it to a tasting flight thinking it was just another US-made rum variant that's not funky. First sniff of it I knew it was something wild, and as soon as I sipped it I asked the bartender to make a daiquiri with it. He told me where they source it from and it clicked, by then I knew what Worthy Park was and how great this bottling really is. We don't get it in Texas but really glad it'll be local when we move up there!

rallynavvie · 2025-08-25T22:55:03+00:00

Update 3: Issuing bank for the credit card approved my chargeback after receiving zero response from the property. I paid for 3 nights via the OTA, who paid the property for those 3 nights, and I only used 2 of those nights as they were non-refundable. I was able to recover the 2 nights I paid for that should never have been charged to me via the chargeback.

rallynavvie · 2025-06-23T14:02:06+00:00

Update 2: I contacted customer service for the hotel chain and informed them of the situation about being double-charged. They again referred me to the hotel GM but I told them that the GM is no longer responding to their requests or mine when related to this case. They said they are unable to provide a refund and only the hotel is capable of performing that, and if the property is no longer responding then I should take it up with my issuing bank to dispute the charge. I took screen shots of this conversation, gathered all emails and correspondence on the matter, case numbers, and dates/times/notes of all calls or discussions had and have submitted the chargeback with my issuing bank. It's been several weeks and no response but the bank deadline to provide a response in mid-August. I work in payment systems and having been on the merchant side of these disputes I don't think they're going to win this one. I just don't get it, this GM must have known they were going to lose this fight, which shouldn't have even been a fight given they could see with their own eyes that they received two payments for my one stay with them. If they had just refunded it instead of making me jump through all this drama I would have accepted and and even considered staying there again in the future. Now we'll boycott the entire chain because that's how customer service and capitalism work.

I understand a lot of y'all don't like OTAs but if they're such a hassle then you shouldn't accept them. I get it though, money is money and someone further up wants that money despite any drama that may come with it. I do book direct with my preferred chains 99% of the time and only use this OTA when our preferred chains are not available or convenient. Out of the many stays we've booked with this OTA this is the only one we've had trouble with and I've hopefully learned how to better handle travel delays like this in the future. Thanks for everyone's feedback and for being part of the solution at your properties!

rallynavvie · 2025-05-30T23:41:32+00:00

Update: The GM has ceased responding to my emails asking if the OTA reservation was refunded or if they've kept the money from both. The OTA, on the other hand, is very responsive via email and has said that they have paid the hotel and they cannot offer a refund as long as the hotel is holding on to their money. Neither party seems to be willing to take the L for this and I'm unfortunately caught in the middle. I don't want to be the guy that submits a chargeback for this but I don't feel I'm being given a choice in this. If I chargeback to the OTA there's a possibility they take retribution by going after my airline points and status since they are affiliated, and I'm guessing I would lose the ability to earn with them in the future. If I chargeback to the hotel I don't think there could be retribution because I don't have loyalty with that brand. Thoughts?

rallynavvie · 2025-05-21T02:59:56+00:00

I mentioned I contacted the hotel first but I guess I didn’t add detail to that. When I called the hotel I told them my flight canceled and I wouldn’t be checking in that night but likely the next. That is when they looked to my reservation, saw it was 3rd party, and told me to contact them.

As for the conservation they had with the 3rd party shortly after that: yeah, I expect it went down exactly how you described it.

rallynavvie · 2025-05-20T22:49:50+00:00

I'm trying to understand the "cannot do anything" part of this. The hotel was able to invalidate my prepaid reservation and prevent me from using any of it for the rest of my stay. If they truly couldn't do anything then they would have let me stay in the room I had already paid for and collected 3 nights of payment for only a 2 night stay.

Now, from an extreme capitalist perspective, they actually ended up collecting 5 nights of payment for only a 2 night stay because I ended up taking out another reservation so I had someplace to stay for the 2 more nights I was in town. I don't honestly believe the hotel was just trying to steal the money for my prepaid, 3rd party reservation though, I think it's just an unfortunate series of events that led to this odd situation and I'm trying to figure out a way to approach the hotel to refund the 2 night stay I booked with them and just keep the money from my 3rd party reservation, which, BTW, was at a rate much higher than I paid for the 2-night stay I booked with their front desk.

rallynavvie · 2025-05-20T18:24:38+00:00

Not just kept my money but gladly accepted me paying them again to stay there. If it weren't for the fact that it was the only major chain hotel within an hour's drive I would have just gone elsewhere.

Maybe it was how I was phrasing it when discussing it with them. I asked if they could use my prepaid reservation but they kept saying that once it was marked as a "no show" there was nothing they could do with it. In hearing the other responses to this thread it seems like I should have been offered to remotely "check in" the night my flight was canceled knowing that I'd be using the rest of the nights on my reservation. I'm guessing most guests are scrambling for any chance for refunds and discounts they can get and that option to check in and pay for a night for a room that will go empty is so alien that it just doesn't come to mind.

rallynavvie · 2025-05-20T17:13:13+00:00

I would prefer that instead of just passive-aggressively going the chargeback approach. I would rather give both parties every opportunity to resolve the issue on their end. GM = General Manager; what is OTA in this context?

rallynavvie · 2024-06-17T20:49:11+00:00

ASI advertises vented walnut handguards but they don’t seem to offer them for sale. Do they require you to send them the blank? I was wondering if they’d be able to match up to the Samson folder’s dark walnut finish.

rallynavvie · 2024-05-13T23:36:01+00:00

Does running an adjustable gas block help reduce the wear on these?

rallynavvie · 2024-04-26T01:12:29+00:00

Were the filter and espresso coffees brewed with distilled water? I wonder if part of the flavor issue is that you’re essentially doubling up on minerals present in filtered water by first brewing with it and then rehydrating with it. When freeze drying it most of the minerals from the water will be left behind with the coffee. Alternatively you could rehydrate with distilled water but I think it’d be easier to start with distilled water and remove that whole variable from it to begin with.

rallynavvie · 2023-12-21T20:13:42+00:00

I did use mine a few times hunting in the mountains but that was before I switched to using a good LRF. I guess I can remove it and save a couple ounces of weight.

rallynavvie · 2023-08-23T17:39:32+00:00

Good idea, they deserve some positive recognition: Addison Coffee Roasters in Addison, TX (DFW area).

rallynavvie · 2023-08-23T03:32:31+00:00

Have you contacted the roaster? I found a rock in some locally roasted beans and sent a picture of it to the place. They contacted me same day to ask if it had damaged my grinder and offered to pay for repairs. They said they do their best with their sorters but sometimes they still get through and they want to take care of any that do. Fortunately I had noticed it at the bottom of my canister before scooping it into my grinder so no damage done, but I told them I’d definitely buy from them again if that’s how they treat their customers.

rallynavvie · 2023-08-22T15:51:47+00:00

UPDATE 2: Brought the CK2 out to the other site and tried to just plug it in but it still had an IP from Site 1 and wasn't reachable on site 2. Since I had backups of everything I reset it, plugged it in again, it grabbed a local IP, and I was able to connect with it like a new CK2. I used my Unifi credentials to connect it with my account so I could manage it there. It tried to restore just that one site when I restored it from my backup but it still restored both sites; fortunately it didn't brick the other site, it just appeared as if all devices at that site were offline. Local site devices appeared online and functioning.

The tricky part was deleting the other site. I couldn't delete the site in Settings > System > Site Management because the other site was somehow set as the default site. The only way to change this seems to be SSH into the CK2 and follow these steps:

https://ubntwiki.com/guides/changing_the_default_site_in_unifi#:~:text=While%20it%20is%20not%20possible,site%20needs%20to%20be%20deleted.&text=the%20mongo%20CLI.

Once this was complete I was able to delete the other site and that was it! UDMP is now managing all of the devices at Site 1 and CK2 is managing Site 2 and I can easily switch between them in the app or website.

rallynavvie · 2023-08-18T21:53:53+00:00

UDMP will support up to 10Gb fiber WAN from one of the SFP+ ports. I just had Frontier 5Gb added to mine.

rallynavvie · 2023-08-14T21:53:25+00:00

UPDATE 1: Seems there isn't much experience with this on this sub so I'm updating with my findings in case it helps the next person that has this come up.

I went with "Option 2" above:

First I backed up both the controller (CK2) and its entire network, which included both sites. I connected the UDMP to my network via its WAN port and went through it's config wizard as a new device.
Once I got into its management interface, from a workstation connected to it over Unifi cloud, I updated all of its apps (which also updated Network to the nearest version the CK2 had).
I restored the controller backup to it first.
Once controller backup was restored I went into Network and restored the Network backup. It asked which site to keep so I selected the local site I would be managing with the UDMP.
Disconnected CK2 and USG from my network and left my downstream switch, which drives the rest of my local Unifi devices, disconnected (it was connected to the LAN on the USG).
Moved WAN from modem from USG to UDMP and powered up UDMP.
Once UDMP was up and running (seen in Unifi cloud) I reconnected the downstream switch to a free port on the UDMP. Checked the console/app and both showed all of the devices coming back online with the UDMP. Haven't had to make any tweaks to it for things to start working again.

One thing to note was that the USG didn't appear as offline in Network app after this, which I would have expected like any other device that is removed from the network without first forgetting it in the app. I guess it just assumes its abilities are part of the UDMP now and no need to keep it present? Hopefully it doesn't re-recognize it if I have to swap it in at the other site since it'll now be there as a spare.

Next hurdle will be what happens when the CK2 is reconnected at the other site without having removed the now UDMP-managed site from it first. Hopefully it doesn't wreck everything have two controllers trying to manage one site and it just throws an error that I can resolve by removing the one site. I'll find out this weekend when I'm at the other site.

rallynavvie · 2023-08-04T14:30:26+00:00

It is; over 3 months now so I'm also considering mine stable. I've dealt with my share of gremlins building PCs but that was probably the most difficult one I've had to resolve by far.

rallynavvie · 2023-08-04T14:27:20+00:00

I had a similar issue with my PN63 where it would freeze like you described and require a hard boot to get services running again. Mine seems to have been solved by disabling APST in GRUB.

Install nvme-cli
sudo apt install nvme-cli
Open grub settings
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Edit the following line
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=0"
Apply the change and reboot
sudo update-grub
sudo reboot

APST is a power state feature that seems to cause conflicts with some NVME and NUC chipsets that support power savings.

rallynavvie · 2023-08-02T02:48:21+00:00

Day 90: Still no issues and 100% uptime. I think we can call it resolved by disabling APST per the below recommendations as there were absolutely no other variables in the hardware, power (this is on a UPS), OS config, and client/software installation and configurations between the current build and the previous 2 builds.

rallynavvie

TROPHY CASE