Y
HN Search
Hacker News Search
new
|
comments
|
top
|
jobs
mattmaroon
searching PlanetScale…
1.
▲
2.
▲
3.
▲
4.
▲
5.
▲
6.
▲
6 ms
·
91.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
It would violate equal protection.
92.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
I did mention all of that. When the same topic came up a few days ago.
93.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
That’s a good question and it probably depends on the ingredient. Most of what we call flavors are a mix of volatile aromatic compounds. Some of those are fat soluble. Some water soluble. Alcohol is great for extracting as it can pull out b
94.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Several reasons. Texture and freeze-thaw stability are the main reasons. The latter being an issue for home use mainly. Your freezer’s self-defrost works by getting a little warm and then cold again. That causes ice crystals to melt and re
95.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Ha yeah. That whole thing is kind of crazy.
96.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Oh! I knew they sold it for art but not why.
97.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Methanol will certainly make you go blind if you consume it at too high a ratio, it just isn’t a risk when distilling because you can’t feasibly make that happen on accident and it would be hard to even do it on purpose. I think that’s what
98.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Also “Angel’s share” isn’t what you throw away, it’s what evaporates from the barrel when you age. What you throw away are the foreshots and parts of the heads and tails
99.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Yeah column stills exist for home use but they’re not very popular. They’re big and expensive and strip flavor. It’s probably because Home distilling, like home brewing, is largely focused on the craft side rather than trying to get drunk c
100.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Thank you for finding these! I remembered they existed but not where
101.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Small scale: modernist pantry. Commercial scale: Ingredion’s TIC gums. Their pre-hydrated gum arabic is great.
102.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Well after software I wanted a life that involved a lot less computer usage and a lot more being on my feet. So now I sell beverages via a few food trucks and also syrups people can use to make draft sodas/mocktails. We make everything
103.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
One pro-tip as I now somehow have a commercial bottling license these days: get pre-hydrated gum Arabic. Much easier to work with. Almost everybody who messes this up will make the mistake at the hydrating the gum Arabic stage. Blend it wit
104.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
No, I’m not. I’m pointing out that distillation doesn’t work how you were told it does in middle school which is the reflexive argument people are making. The argument that all the methanol comes out early because it has a lower boiling poi
105.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
It’s more prevalent, and you might reduce the ratio of it, I was just pointing out that more than you expect will remain in even after tossing the fores. And even if you just distilled until it was basically water coming out, then re-blende
106.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/30/fac... It’s quite common for people to add methanol to illegal liquor because it can be made cheaply from natural gas and is sold indust
107.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
If it works that way, why doesn’t ethanol come off the still entirely and then water? There’s over a 20 degree gap between their boiling points and yet anyone who has ever distilled will tell you that they see a mix that’s at least 20% wate
108.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Yeah, the thing is as you distill you’re saving it bit by bit as you go along. You toss out the very first stuff (called foreshots) because it contains a number of chemicals with lower boiling points you don’t want (methanol, acetone, etc.)
109.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
You throw away the foreshots because they also contain things like acetone that taste bad and may be harmful. They’re highly unpalatable so people can be relied on to do a sufficient job.
110.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Yes. It doesnt work the way you think. When you mix chemicals together and then boil, the result isn’t that simple. Think of it this way: ethanol boils at 78.5. Water at 100. But when I’m distilling, the first stuff out of the still is comi
111.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
Electric heating does reduce the risk of fire, yes, and some of us do it. (It’s also just a lot easier than a turkey fryer.) I rigged a water heater element up for this purpose. (Technically there actually isn’t temperature control in disti
112.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
A prosecution can be political even if a crime or tort was committed. Our government prosecutes only a small percent of committed crimes. If Donald Trump had not run for President, or even had just been a normal President, or maybe even if
113.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
This is actually a myth. I’ll have to see if I can find the papers I read but mass spectrometry has shown that methanol comes out throughout the entire process. The idea that things come out at their boiling temperature is a drastic oversim
114.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
That’s because they adulterate it with methanol. Methanol can be derived from natural gas cheaply. I wrote a long comment above about why this isn’t a risk with home distilling. The much bigger danger for home distilling is fire, as you hav
115.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
That’s actually a common myth perpetuated by the American government during prohibition. The Feds added methanol to bootlegged hooch to blind people, then they told people they’d go blind from moonshine to discourage it. Distillation doesn’
116.
▲
by
mattmaroon
6mo ago
No. While I don’t like Trump and never did, several of the prosecutions against him were political. By political, I mean they would not have happened if he had not become a politician, in fact, they didn’t until he became one and an unpopul
117.
▲
by
mattmaroon
7mo ago
They’re not going to drop nukes but he’s right about the concept otherwise. We only have to intercept missiles until we blow them (and the factories that make them) all up which we can conceivably do just fine without nukes. That’s the stra
118.
▲
by
mattmaroon
7mo ago
Which is solid evidence that honey bees have little to do with the problem.
119.
▲
by
mattmaroon
7mo ago
Well, it’s less about the value of the interceptor and more about the value of what the drones are heading for. If it’s a desalination plant that makes 20% of your freshwater, eight missiles are probably well worth it because a lot of peopl
120.
▲
by
mattmaroon
7mo ago
When I’m old I’m going to commit so many violations of the emoluments clause.
More ›