jarrin.net http://jarrin.net Mon, 20 May 2013 21:21:41 GMT en-US Refractometer Accuracy Test http://jarrin.net/Refractometer Accuracy Test http://jarrin.net/Refractometer Accuracy Test#comments Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/Refractometer Accuracy Test A while back I picked up a refractometer from Northern Brewer to use instead of the hydrometer I'd had for so long. While it was certainly a great deal more convenient I was starting to get suspicious about it's accuracy. So I pitted it against my hydrometer in a challenge to the death! Spoiler: the refractometer matched the hydrometer point for point. And, in point of fact, neither of these instruments was killed during the challenge. Read on for boring tables and such.

]]> S.S. Minnow Brown Ale http://jarrin.net/S.S. Minnow Brown Ale http://jarrin.net/S.S. Minnow Brown Ale#comments Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/S.S. Minnow Brown Ale Back in the middle of winter and I decided to brew another beer. I choose (more or less at random) a low gravity session brown extract kit from Northern Brewer: the Dry Dock SS Minnow.

]]> Ian F. Commins "Freedom" Stout http://jarrin.net/Ian F. Commins "Freedom" Stout http://jarrin.net/Ian F. Commins "Freedom" Stout#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/Ian F. Commins "Freedom" Stout Last year my brother and I made a stout for a Saint Patrick's Day party. It was so successful, we decided to do it again.

]]> One-Gallon Cyser http://jarrin.net/One-Gallon Cyser http://jarrin.net/One-Gallon Cyser#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/One-Gallon Cyser A cyser is basically a mead made with apple juice. Doesn't that sound great? I hope so, because I've got one bubbling away right now.

]]> Minneapolis Snow Emergency Widget http://jarrin.net/Minneapolis Snow Emergency Widget http://jarrin.net/Minneapolis Snow Emergency Widget#comments Sun, 09 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/Minneapolis Snow Emergency Widget I have [re-]built a simple HTML widget that will show whether or not the City of Minneapolis has declared a snow emergency.

]]> NetGear Still Sucks http://jarrin.net/NetGear Still Sucks http://jarrin.net/NetGear Still Sucks#comments Sat, 20 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/NetGear Still Sucks I recently got my hands on an old NETGEAR ReadyNAS 1100 with firmware 3.01c1-p6 installed. The first thing I did was force a completely reset to factory defaults (by holding the reset button in for 30 seconds while powering the device on). When I then went to log into the unit in order to set it up I found that the default username/password combination ("admin"/"netgear1") didn't work. I browsed all over the interwebs looking for information but everywhere I looked (including NETGEAR forums where other people have had this problem) the mantra was "reset to factory defaults and log in with admin/netgear1". But that very simple tactic didn't work. Finally, I did some Googling on the firmware version which eventually led me to this five-year-old posting which gave me the hint I needed:

]]> Trub Ale http://jarrin.net/Trub Ale http://jarrin.net/Trub Ale#comments Sun, 07 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/Trub Ale I hosted a big brew day in my backyard and lots of people made lots of beer (well, wort, anyway). Ian produced 10gal of all-grain IPA which he gave away half. I stayed home with a gallon of the the very last bits. I call it my Trub Ale.

]]> Winter Warmer http://jarrin.net/Winter Warmer http://jarrin.net/Winter Warmer#comments Sun, 07 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/Winter Warmer I hosted a big ol' brew event in my backyard today. Several people showed up and over twenty-five gallons of wort was brewed. For my part, I brewed-up six gallons of Northern Brewer's Winter Warmer.

]]> Nut Brown Ale http://jarrin.net/Nut Brown Ale http://jarrin.net/Nut Brown Ale#comments Sun, 23 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/Nut Brown Ale I want another beer to serve at my upcoming Halloween party. Something suitable for a chilly autumnal night yet something that will be ready in four weeks. This is it: Northern Brewer's Nut Brown Ale!

]]> Haunted RUINS http://jarrin.net/RUINS http://jarrin.net/RUINS#comments Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/RUINS It's time, again, for the annual themed Halloween party!

]]> Peach "Brandy" http://jarrin.net/Peach_Brandy http://jarrin.net/Peach_Brandy#comments Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/Peach_Brandy A friend found this old recipe for Peach "Brandy" (which is really more of a peach wine since it's not distilled) and I decide to give it a shot.

]]> Kölsch http://jarrin.net/Kolsch http://jarrin.net/Kolsch#comments Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/Kolsch I finally got around to brewing a Kölsch kit that I had got from Northern Brewer a while back. Of note here is the first us of my converted keg boiler and DIY wort chiller.

]]> MOBIeditor http://jarrin.net/MOBIeditor http://jarrin.net/MOBIeditor#comments Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://jarrin.net/MOBIeditor I downloaded some e-books for my girlfriend's Kindle and was disappointed with the poor quality of meta data in the mobi files. I rapidly discovered that editing these files was not a trivial process. I downloaded Calibre, on the recommendation of everyone, but found it to be extremely wanting. I briefly considered MobiPerl, got as far as the description ("a collection of tools for generating and manipulating MobiPocket files written in Perl [emphasis mine]") and knew instantly that there be dragons.

(And, besides, I don't have any MobiPocket files written in Perl. Haha! Linguistic ambiguity is funny!)

Consequently, I spent the last two days building a simple, direct, no-nonsense mobi file meta-data editor. Download it, run it (no install necessary), open a mobi file, edit whatever data you see fit, and save it. It works just like you think it should.

Requires the Microsoft .NET Framework (v4.0).

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