I often feel I am wasting my time by trying to build or make something that I could simply buy. Whether it is a simple device like an airlock for my brewing or a secondary USB power port for my car FM transmitter so that I can charge my phone, I know very well that my hourly salary does not justify building such items for the time that is necessary to construct such items. That may not include the time to think, research and acquire the materials for the end product.
My employment does not give me the opportunity to be working at every hour of the day, so I can say that if I provide the labour, the work if free. In regards to what I should be doing with my time, that is looking for work, looking into school programs that may make my employment prospects more interesting, there is no doubt that I fail to organize my time properly.
Some people spend hours in front of the television, I spend hours in front of the cooking range or my cutting board. Mind you, I do listen to the radio or socialize with my flatmates. As for projects that are in the larger scheme of things, that is more alone time.
In the past week here are some things that I have done to save money, resources, or out of sheer curiosity :
Almond milk : a. soak almonds for 3 - 4 hours; b. remove skins; c. put almonds in blender with water and sweeten to taste ( you may want to remove the pulp or fibre from the almonds once it has settled to the bottom of the bottle or blender jar ) A great detailed recipe by Gena
Gasket (blender or coffee moka pot) - neither are easy to find in this town. Not enough Italians around or a new blender costs too little that one would consider replacing parts. Nevertheless, I found the silicone sleeve for a ebook reader for a dollar. I took the original white rubber gasket out of each device, traced them on the silicone ebook reader sleeve and used knife to cut the gasket starting from the outside. The original is rounder, but my replacement works much better than the old dry one. Shipping to Canada for many things is far too expensive, otherwise I would have considered something like found here
Wine and Beer : Homebrew is nothing new.
Beer - Although a 6 pack goes for about 11$ out here, I still prefer making my own beer. I followed the instructions on the kit which recommended using corn sugar(which fully ferments) to make up the bulk of the fermentation sugars, but I will try using a second kit so that I get that much more malt to give the beer more body. The only downside is the increased quantity of hops. I may try adding some raw barley as suggested on Fabulous Foam.
Wine - Not much to say here other than follow the instructions as much as possible.
For sterilization / sanitation, I used household bleach and boiling water. The heat will kill the bacteria and the bleach will wipe out the fungus. Metabisulphite is safer for your clothes, but does not evaporate off like bleach does. Nevertheless, be sure to rinse your equipment properly. If other solutions are available in your area you may want to look into your options.
As for the equipment, you can get away with the following :
Primary fermenter - a LDPE or HDPE (preferable) storage container with a lid (eg. rubbermaid 72L container - high enough handles to pick up). The low density polyethylene may absorb more water and be subject to scratching, but you can always allow your sanitation solution to soak in the container to remove any risk of harboured biological contaminants.
Carboy - again not easily available ( or stupidly expensive ~60$ as opposed to 25$ back home) so I found a 23L water jug. It is made of HDPE and it has an opening through which I could fit an airlock.
Unfortunately, I could not find an airlock here ( no homebrew shoppe, just kits at the grocery store !) so I made one from cork board( normally used to insulate a hot pot or casserole from the table) a plastic wine glass, ball point pen tube and a clear plastic tube used to store super glue. I would have been happy to an S-shaped fermentation and a tapered cork like found at DeFalco's. It seems that American offerings at Ebay are also appealing. That would even had costed me less than getting those parts!
Knife handle : This is not a handle as such, but a way to address the issue of slipping. It is a full tang chopping knife. Although I only paid 2$ for the knife, I still would like it to retain its shape and feel. In fact the weight, or balance, seems perfect ( read knock-off ? ). Regardless, the rivets and through holes on the handle tang seem to be off a little. Although they may not perfectly aligned, it is not a fact of manufacturing, but of storage. Plastics expand when worked, or heated, but also dry over time.
After tapping the tang back into line with the plastic handle, I soaked the handle in salt water. This will cause: a) some absorption of water into the plastic; b) minor corrosion of the steel to solidify the handle and rivets into place.
Homemade Hummus : This is a little to say, but even my father of Mediterranean origin has been buying garbanzo sesame based prepared hummus rather than make his own. Simple ingredients : garbanzos or chick peas, tahini ( sesame paste ), lemon juice, water, salt and olive oil to taste. Here is a recipe.
Garlic is something that I am not too sure about. Some days I love it. Other days, I worry about how it affects my body odour.
The list here above will go on. If I can do something myself, why pay somebody to do it? In many cases, that somebody is much better at doing it whatever than myself, however it may not exactly be convenient.
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