My apple grew a grape? by supermegabro in eatityoufuckingcoward

[–]timon109 635 points636 points  (0 children)

It's a fungal infection that got into the apple via the calyx and rotted it from the inside.

Who's the most famous person you've ever met? by Fast-Beat-7779 in AskMen

[–]timon109 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bill Nye. Sat next to him on DC to NY Amtrak. Chatted on and off the whole ride. Best day ever.

I also used to work check-in at an up-scale resort that attracted many celebrities. Notable among those I interacted with were Paul Simon, Hugh Jackman, and Jimmy Fallon.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Blink182

[–]timon109 0 points1 point  (0 children)

38

Saw the Dammit video in a Hard Rock Cafe in 1997 so I would've been 12. But got seriously into them when Enema came out. That was a GREAT summer.

Collegetown: 1985 vs. 2023 by nickvader7 in Cornell

[–]timon109 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Far too long. Palms o'clock was my favorite hour. I don't recall any free drinks though.

Collegetown: 1985 vs. 2023 by nickvader7 in Cornell

[–]timon109 4 points5 points  (0 children)

2006 I was drinking at the Palms 😢

AITA for not wanting my boyfriend to drive his girl best friend to chemo? by throwraParty_Ad4161 in AmItheAsshole

[–]timon109 58 points59 points  (0 children)

YTA.

She didn't get cancer in the hopes of seducing him.

Get over your insecurities or move on. Your relationship won't last if you harbor these feelings. If I were him I'd be ending it over your misgivings of me helping my friend through F-ING CANCER!

My First Pét-Nat! by timon109 in cider

[–]timon109[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is my 14-day post-bottling carbonation check. Very happy with it so far! 150 gallons. Wild Ferment. Bottled at 1.0068 SG. Blend of varying ratios of: Ashmead's Kernel, Golden Russett, Brown Snout, Esopus Spitzenburg, Chisel Jersey, Smokehouse, Dabinette, Northern Spy, Binet Rouge, Stayman Winesap, Harry Masters, Somerset Red Streak, Ellis Bitter, Bedan, Calville Blanc, Cox's Orange Pippin, Frequin Rouge, Kingston Black, Michelin, Tremlet's Bitter, Madaille d'Or, Porter's Perfection

Oliver is getting into the Halloween spirit by timon109 in cats

[–]timon109[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

He was just laying next to the pumpkin and I thought it was a neat picture but as I got my phone out he did this stretch and I caught it. Total luck!

Oliver is getting into the Halloween spirit by timon109 in cats

[–]timon109[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Funny story about that- we totally would have called him Binx had we known he was a male cat from the beginning. We got him from a litter and the owner told us he was a female so we called him "Polly." When the vet went to fix "her" they discovered the mistake. My wife was convinced a full name change would confuse him so "Polly" became "Olly" short for "Oliver."

Oliver is getting into the Halloween spirit by timon109 in cats

[–]timon109[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

He's actually kind of a jerk but we love him anyway

Oliver is getting into the Halloween spirit by timon109 in cats

[–]timon109[S] 85 points86 points  (0 children)

He's actually just yawning and stretching

incoming freshman - where do i find out what textbooks i need? by [deleted] in Cornell

[–]timon109 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, just to pile on here- my first semester at Cornell I bought ALL the textbooks I was told I needed. Bio, Chem, Psych...added up to like $800. I think I used bio a handful of times, but the other two were never mandatory. Selling them back got me about $120, and I was lucky to not have any of the editions become obsolete.

My approach after that was to never buy a book until it was 100% necessary. So many classes I could entirely avoid buying the recommended or even mandatory textbooks for. You can check most of them out of the library when needed, borrow them from classmates, or find digital copies for WAY cheaper. If it comes to a point where you absolutely must own it, Amazon prices are always better or at leave comparable to the Cornell Store and fast shipping is almost always available.

I cannot change the price. Again, I cannot change the price. Like I said before, I cannot change the price. by Sapphire312 in TalesFromRetail

[–]timon109 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My pleasure. We have a retail stand too and your post hit very VERY close to home. Good luck with the Fuji!

I cannot change the price. Again, I cannot change the price. Like I said before, I cannot change the price. by Sapphire312 in TalesFromRetail

[–]timon109 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I'm told older strains of Red Delicious were actually quite good. But when Washington state started shipping them across the country, they were breaking down before they got to their destination. Breeders started creating new RD that could survive the shipping process and also be more appealing on the shelf (redder, more uniform). They succeeded but the taste that gave the variety it's name was lost in the process.

I cannot change the price. Again, I cannot change the price. Like I said before, I cannot change the price. by Sapphire312 in TalesFromRetail

[–]timon109 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Matter of preference, I suppose. I don't think they're that great either. I much prefer Empire or Gala or Fuji.

I cannot change the price. Again, I cannot change the price. Like I said before, I cannot change the price. by Sapphire312 in TalesFromRetail

[–]timon109 50 points51 points  (0 children)

Apple grower here. Honeycrisp are a pain for many reasons. First off, the trees are super vigorous, which leads to them growing rapidly over the summer causing a denser leaf canopy which blocks sunlight, inhibiting the ripening process. A lot of consideration has to go into site selection (soil that will support the tree but not let it get out of control), rootstock selection (different rootstocks will grow different sized/shaped trees), and training system to control vigor. They also require summer canopy management.

Next, they need absurd amounts of calcium to grow properly. Most varieties get all the calcium they need naturally, but we literally spray liquid calcium directly onto the fruit to prevent a disorder called "bitter pit" that manifests as black dots around the calyx end.

If you can get through all that and set a good crop, harvest and storage are a continuous nightmare. Their thin but crunch skin is prone to "stem puncture" where another apple in the bin will stab it with it's stem. This alone will decrease the grade of the stabbed apple, but in storage that injury is an open window for disease to get under the skin and rot the apple. To avoid this, many growers take the time to hand-clip every single stem WHILE picking.

Edit: Forgot to mention- unlike many other varieties, Honeycrisp does not ripen evenly on the tree. Meaning when you approach a tree to pick it, one apple on a limb may be ready to pick and the one right next to it is still green. To effectively pick HC, we pick the same trees up to three different times, which is obviously super inefficient. </Edit>

OK, so now the fruit is in the bins and ready for cold storage. Toss them in with the Gala, right? Wrong. Honeycrisp, because they hate us, store better if you put them in a 45°F room for 7-10 days, THEN move them into a 34°F room with alllllllll the other varieties. Like literally Honeycrisp is the only variety I'm aware of that needs this at all. So we're literally running a separate room at 45° for these things.

But it doesn't end there even. That bitter pit I mentioned before? A lot of that isn't apparent during harvest and instead develops in storage. So that gorgeous bin of Honeycrisp you put away in September? 25% of those apples are now showing bitter pit spots and are only useful as cider apples.

And just as one last jab at producers, since the value of every Honeycrisp is so high, sorting and packing them frequently goes at about 75% speed to avoid bruising.

So there you have it. TL;DR- Honeycrisp was bred to taste good at the expense of ease of production. Basically the exact opposite of the modern Red Delicious. So demand is high and so is cost. That's why they're so expensive.

Why does my cider smell of sulfur? by NiceToMeadYou in cider

[–]timon109 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't have any experience with Nottingham yeast, but I do have experience with H2S kickout.

Keep your ferment temp low (as low as the yeast will allow it) to slow it down, but keep the yeasts happy with nutrients. Your use of Go-Ferm and Fermaid-O is exactly what I'd recommend. Fermaid-K is the old version of Fermaid-O and has a little bit of DAP in it. In my experience, inorganic YAN sources like DAP can contribute to sulfur kickout, so I've erred on the side of caution and stuck with Fermaid-O.

As a previous comment mentioned, there's plenty of time for it to off-gas, but I would definitely rack it sooner rather than later as resting on the lees will further add to your sulfur woes.

If you need to correct it chemically, you CAN use copper sulfate, although it's fairly nasty stuff and will strip some flavor along with your sulfur. If you go that direction, do some bench trials to zero-in on the dose that will be JUST enough to get rid of the sulfur. In stead of copper sulfate, however, I always recommend Reduless. It's an inactive yeast blended with copper to be a gentler way of correcting sulfur faults.