Oh, yes, I would also like to do that.
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Done:
BLARGH.
Youāre a champion. Iām weeping for joy. Itās like if Oscar Wilde suddenly appeared and was all, āBro! Nice brew!ā and Iād be all, āBBBBRRRRROOOOOOOOOO! B. R. O. Did I mention bro?ā And then heādā¦oh, NVM. Which is to say, my fine feathered breaded friend, that if you happen to pass through this delightful chunk of Earth, youāre more than welcome to taste the delights of my fermenter.
(And here we see the stout being prepared post-lauter)
Biggest issue with my brewing has been achieving correct temperature on the mash. I use a 10 gallon igloo cooler as mash tun, and despite the use of various and sundry calculators digital and analog, Iām always a few degrees off from the desired temps. Iām also too lazy to do specific gravity readings. In fact, Iām just lazy. Which makes it ever more remarkable that I get tasty, drinkable beer from my efforts.
blargh
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hay, i had that mash tun for years! 
i swear you even have the same valve i used (home depot brass valve with either a pex or hose barb, 1/2"?)
eta
shit, i think i had that kettle too. bed bath and beyond closeout special?
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Well, thatās rude.
But youāre spot onābrass valve and mash tun are Despot specialsā¦
time for a refill; hold please
WHAAAT? Oh, right. Frankly, I didnāt expect the cooler to have the insulative staying power that it doesāthrow 165 degree water in there to achieve 156 degrees for the mash, and an hour later, Iām at 155 degrees! Iām a little surprised that, with the rejuvenation of homebrewing, Home Despot doesnāt market their coolers as excellent mash tuns.
As for the colander. Stolen from the ex. While she may have departed with the furniture, the bed, the paintings, the desk, the kitchen (utensils and all), that colander was placed gingerly in the attic where it would not be absconded with. Absconced? Abscondā¦yeah. She won the battle, maybe. But not the colander. VICISSITUDE IS MINā¦haang on thereā¦
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They work surprisingly well. I had mine for something like eight years, until the plastic around the valve wore out.
BTW, one website every Brewer should know about is bargainfittings.com. their stainless selection of valves, fittings, bulkheads are usually quite a bit cheaper than plastic. And even misc stuff like step drill bits are quite a bit cheaper than Despot. And donāt get me started about McMaster Carr, BargainF is like a quarter the price (but the McMaster website is just so much fun to browse :D)
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Heh, I kept the teapot and I stole back the Cthulu I gave her!
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Indeed. The valve in mine will move is pressed, but so far itās maintaining volume integrity (that is, it doesnāt leak). As I fiddle with it in the future, I fully expect itāll become more of a problem, until Iāve got to use one of the places you mention to build a fix of some sort.
HOLY BLUDGEON BATMAN
Just went to my local homebrew storeās website to grab an image of my next purchase (this delightful 10 gallon kettle, tapped and thermometer-ed)ā¦
ā¦ohhhh, so nice! And then I wandered over to the mash tun section, only to find thisā¦ahā¦bargain?
ā¦and you may silently take a guess as to the price, before I startle you by saying they want $200 for that! Bog standard Home Despot 10 gallon cooler, tapped with a valve and false bottom. I suppose thatās the going rate, but holy hell thatās pricey. That said, I think homebrew, much like a wide variety of hobbies, will let you spend every last red cent if the hobbyist isnāt willing to attempt building some DIY tools.
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Over the years for a variety of reasons I have accumulated a variety of ported stainless kettles. Off the top of my head I have a 1 gallon, 5 gallon, two 8 gallons, 10 gallon, 15 gallon, and a 55 gallon. (Ask me how often I use the 55 (like twice)).
If you keep your eyes open you can find deals. The monster I got from a guy that sells equipment to vineyards. I had to port it myself, but butt soldering stainless is easy if you have the right flux.
Metal working and plumbing is fun, almost half the fun of brewing for me 
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I picked up a small bunch of radishes today. Because I totally need to add to my collection of fermented yummies in the fridge.
Radishes, garlic, brine, plus 1T brine from the last batch of 'kraut.
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I love radishes. My favorite radish ferment is Kkakdugi. In fact it is my all time favorite type of kimchi.
(note: you donāt have to cube the radishes, you can cut the small round ones in half. cubing is only really done for the huge korean radishes.)
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I have never heard about that,and I am instantly intrigued.
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Have you tried it with both red radishes and daikon? Iām assuming it would taste different. Red radishes have a more āblack pepperā taste to them in my opinion.
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Yes I have tried it with both and both flavors work really well but I tend to do it with round garden radishes or the huge korean ones.
With Diakon I tend to make a Diakon/Kale kimchi that I use japanese miso in that isnāt traditional but is really earthy and great in autumn and winter. Or Iāll make Japanese pickled Diakon. Iām a huge fan of traditional Japanese fermenting and pickling methods (Tsukemono). I love making Natto.
There are many different kimchiās (in the west we tend to only find baechu kimchi, which is made with nappa cabbage) and i have yet to have one I havenāt liked. I know of at least 20 different traditional types and have several books of many modern variations. Kkakdugi really is the best though, and is said Cock-Doogie.
I should probably post this in the wildcrafting forum, but one of my favorite things to do with acorns I collect is to make Dotorimuk. Iām posting another Maangchi video tutorials because she is awesome and makes these amazing dishes really accessible. I disagree that is has no flavor like she says, it has a really wonderful flavor.
(side note: all three of my siblings are korean, i was the only white kid in my family. because adoption.)
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One last video for @japhroaig and @wrecksdart is Makkoli, Korean rice wine. 6 days, 16% alcohol, not bad for home hooch. Very much like sake.
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Okay, I didnāt watch the entire video, but I am very sceptical that will achieve 16% abv. Going above 14% means You Know What Youāre Doing, and you understand the aerobic and anerobic processes of yeast sugar consumption as it relates to ethanol. Along with that yeast nutrients are important, and the role of different sugars during the ferment.
It is certainly possible to get above 15%, but you wonāt ever do it by accident. And virtually every Brewer/vinter I know Peters out at 10%, even if they have studied and measured.
Let me go look up some articles
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Jebus, just like I thought, the techniques to actually hit 15%+ usually use ice distillation. You certainly can hit 16-20% with a normal fermentation, but you will baby sit that batch daily.
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I am admittedly a total beginner when it comes to alcohol fermenting, and have just muddled my way through a few hobby projects but never enough to get anything down to a science.
Iāve had mixed results with beers from kits in the past, they were drinkable but never quite tasted like the types the kits said they made although one was really apricoty and tasty despite chill haze (is that the right term?).
Iāve had great results from fruit wines, plum mostly.
I donāt really know enough to agree or disagree, but i trust your expertise which always has me in awe.
Rice wine is typically pretty strong stuff but he never uses a hydrometer to check, or at least I donāt recall him doing so. You could always distill it down into some nice moonshine if you wanted something stronger! 
All I know is I love sake and rice wines in general, and getting something drinkable is quite easy and quick.
I have used this one before, and it works. You can hit 20%, but its a huge sachet of yeast, and tastes terrible.
You can also do a moonshiners trick of boiling a jar of bread yeast, add it to your ferment, then add active yeast. That also tastes like ass.
The right way is to add yeast and sugar on a daily basis, when the ferment is close to done. That way you nudge the abv up, without creating esthers or off flavors. But that takes feckinā months.
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I do not disagree with drinkable and quick. And I donāt disagree with strong.
But 16% in six days is like a 3:55 mile. Not technically impossibleā¦ But you arenāt gonna do it on your first lap.
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