Made in December (2024)
2024-12-24 18:31 - Making
I find something cozy and pleasant about having a candle burning, during the winter. I've managed to find old partially used bits of various candles from a few places. So for a while I've been remelting these into the containers for other candles. Over time I've figured it out and can generally produce a candle that burns nicely and consistently. Or at least I can fix it part way. (When necessary, which is getting more rare.) The hardest part is getting the wick nicely centered. My most preferred method now is to stick a metal rod down the middle, with some paper card at the top to keep that end centered. When I remove it, the wick has the perfect spot to go to. Since the wax shrinks as it cools I usually want to add a top-up anyway, and this fills the remainder of the hole.
I also prepared some christmas cookies. These are "M&M Magic Bars". They didn't come out as pretty as the pictures, but they sure look scrumptions!
I took up home brewing this summer. I started with a very basic kit, then I tried making a hard cider (both turned out well), I made a mead (just bottled, haven't tried it yet besides tiny sips, seems good but strong), and then most recently I did an "all grain" brew. Above is the gathered ingredients and equipment, then the "mash in" step, where the grains are steeped in hot water to convert the starches to sugars. After these are carefully removed the "wort" as it's now called is boiled. Finally, it all goes in a vessel with some yeast to ferment. Since it was my first time with the full process, I had some learning opportunities, but I'm cautiously optimistic that it will turn out well. The yeast are definitely doing their work.
