Shaun's 2000 Litre (530 USG) Living Reef & Red Sea Max S 650 LED Design & Build

[crusso1993]

Nashville is on my list when I go RVing next. I’ve covered most of the west coast/middle US but not ‘southish’ yet.

You mean to say that you're actually allowed into the USA? Or do you sneak across the Mexican border? Either way, my opinion of customs and border patrol just dropped a few points!

The link to the journal with loads of pictures is below if you haven’t seen it.

That's the one where you tease watchers/followers with really slow updates.

 

[SPR1968]

You mean to say that you're actually allowed into the USA? Or do you sneak across the Mexican border? Either way, my opinion of customs and border patrol just dropped a few points!



That's the one where you tease watchers/followers with really slow updates.

lol!

Im doing the updates slowly so you can savour every moment of the journey!

 

[GoVols]

Tank is looking great Shaun, the yellow tangs put a lot of color and action.

+1
Pancho

Those seven yellow tangs are great to watch.

 

[SPR1968]

+1
Pancho

Those seven yellow tangs are great to watch.

The yellow tangs swimming together is amazing Freddie, and there all best of friends now with very little ‘chasing’

 

[Willbiker]

absolutely amazing! What are the small blue fish called with the v shaped tails? you seem to have a group of them.

 

[SPR1968]

absolutely amazing! What are the small blue fish called with the v shaped tails? you seem to have a group of them.

Thanks so much and thank you for saying hello!

The blue fish are Chromis if these are what you mean

 

[crusso1993]

All cheekyness aside, both of your tanks are looking really healthy and happy!

Now for the cheekyness; it's really a great thing you take care of the health of your tanks better than you take care of your own health!

 

[SPR1968]

Now for the cheekyness; it's really a great thing you take care of the health of your tanks better than you take care of your own health!

Thank you, I’m not ‘exactly sure’ what your talking about here, and not sure I should ask! Lol

Do you mean the vodka, because if so don’t worry I have plenty. I panic buy it all year! Oh and my own made ‘shine’!

 

[crusso1993]

Thank you, I’m not ‘exactly sure’ what your talking about here, and not sure I should ask! Lol

Do you mean the vodka, because if so don’t worry I have plenty. I panic buy it all year! Oh and my own made ‘shine’!

Yeah, simply razzing you on your penchant to alcohol.

What is the method you use for your shine?

 

[RichtheReefer21]

What is the method you use for your shine?

The moon, OBVIOUSLY.

 

[SPR1968]

What is the method you use for your shine?

Well I make it in a plastic bucket, ferment it and then drink it as fast as I can!

When I say ’shine’ I’m not talking like ‘moonshiners’ so I don’t have a still (well not yet anyway although I have enquired!).

I make my own English ales, in kegs and then serve through a chiller/bar. And the stuff I make is probably better than you can buy, really. Or I wouldn’t do it. Also grape wine which is as good as any house wine.

I’ve got 8 kegs of ale at any one time, and for the summer I’ve made some cider which I make every year, and this is definitely better than you can buy. It also makes you talk like a ‘worsel’!

This is a picture of my ‘cellar’. 6 kegs of beer awaiting ‘tasting’ and 2 kegs in the cooler being ‘tasted’. I normally have at least double the amount of wine so best crack on and make some as it makes me ‘nervous’!

 

[najer]

You need me to pop 'round and sweep those leaves up?

 

[SPR1968]

You need me to pop 'round and sweep those leaves up?

Lol!

You couldn’t be trusted will all that alcohol, you’d start snorting it or something! Lol

 

[najer]

Somehow I appear to have acquired a bad reputation, not sure how that happened?!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Well I make it in a plastic bucket, ferment it and then drink it as fast as I can!

When I say ’shine’ I’m not talking like ‘moonshiners’ so I don’t have a still (well not yet anyway although I have enquired!).

I make my own English ales, in kegs and then serve through a chiller/bar. And the stuff I make is probably better than you can buy, really. Or I wouldn’t do it. Also grape wine which is as good as any house wine.

I’ve got 8 kegs of ale at any one time, and for the summer I’ve made some cider which I make every year, and this is definitely better than you can buy. It also makes you talk like a ‘worsel’!

This is a picture of my ‘cellar’. 6 kegs of beer awaiting ‘tasting’ and 2 kegs in the cooler being ‘tasted’. I normally have at least double the amount of wine so best crack on and make some as it makes me ‘nervous’!

I'm 1/2 greek. Creetian. Home made red, nothing better. Catered to ur own taste. I'll raise a glass to that cellar. Much better than a phyto station! I'll snort some with ya @najer.. yolo right? Haha

 

[najer]

I'm 1/2 greek. Creetian. Home made red, nothing better. Catered to ur own taste. I'll raise a glass to that cellar. Much better than a phyto station! I'll snort some with ya @najer.. yolo right? Haha

Home made red snorting is like a mild decongestant!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Home made red snorting is like a mild decongestant!

I'll take your word for it until we get to Shaun's cellar!

 

[crusso1993]

Well I make it in a plastic bucket, ferment it and then drink it as fast as I can!

When I say ’shine’ I’m not talking like ‘moonshiners’ so I don’t have a still (well not yet anyway although I have enquired!).

I make my own English ales, in kegs and then serve through a chiller/bar. And the stuff I make is probably better than you can buy, really. Or I wouldn’t do it. Also grape wine which is as good as any house wine.

I’ve got 8 kegs of ale at any one time, and for the summer I’ve made some cider which I make every year, and this is definitely better than you can buy. It also makes you talk like a ‘worsel’!

This is a picture of my ‘cellar’. 6 kegs of beer awaiting ‘tasting’ and 2 kegs in the cooler being ‘tasted’. I normally have at least double the amount of wine so best crack on and make some as it makes me ‘nervous’!

Very nice! When I first read "keg", I thought, "Wow, Shaun really likes throwing back the sauce!" Reason being, a keg here, in the U.S., is 15.5 gallons. Then I saw the your pic and got a little bummed and thought, "Man, I thought Shaun had it going on but it looks like he's a lightweight."

The family I was raised in has been making "Dago Red" for, well, I'm not exactly sure for how long but over a hundred years, at least. Every fall, for as far back as I can remember, our garage was turned into a winery consisting of barrels, grape grinders/crushers, grape presses and various other items. One of my favorite parts was when we would light and place sulfur sticks into the barrels to sanitize them. Even though corks were placed into the openings where the sticks hung from a piece of wire they were not completely sealed and the smell was incredible. The other smells that filled the garage as the wine fermented were amazing. Tranferring the wine from the garage was always a joy. Heaven help anyone who spilled any!

My father switched over to making wine in containers similar to what you do about 15 years ago as the traditional way became too hard for him without help. Last year was the last year he made wine because, at 86 years old, it became too much for him to do.

I think I started getting wine with Sunday dinner when I was somewhere around 10 years old. Somewhere around 13, I was allowed to drink wine with dinner regularly. I couldn't tell you how much wine I snuck out of our cellar for my friends and myself as a kid. I can tell you, however, that most of my friends seemingly required very little to get hammered. While the wine was never tested, I know the alcohol content was way over the 13-15% of average wines. I once gave a bottle of it to a friend's dad to try. Mind you, he was not much of a drinker and referred to it as "paint stripper." Needless to say, that was the first and last bottle he recieved.

Thank you, Shaun, for stirring up some old memories for me! If I ever make it your way, I'd be honored to raise a glass with you. (Or snort it or shoot it or partake of it in whatever way rocks your boat.)

 

[SPR1968]

Very nice! When I first read "keg", I thought, "Wow, Shaun really likes throwing back the sauce!" Reason being, a keg here, in the U.S., is 15.5 gallons. Then I saw the your pic and got a little bummed and thought, "Man, I thought Shaun had it going on but it looks like he's a lightweight."

The family I was raised in has been making "Dago Red" for, well, I'm not exactly sure for how long but over a hundred years, at least. Every fall, for as far back as I can remember, our garage was turned into a winery consisting of barrels, grape grinders/crushers, grape presses and various other items. One of my favorite parts was when we would light and place sulfur sticks into the barrels to sanitize them. Even though corks were placed into the openings where the sticks hung from a piece of wire they were not completely sealed and the smell was incredible. The other smells that filled the garage as the wine fermented were amazing. Tranferring the wine from the garage was always a joy. Heaven help anyone who spilled any!

My father switched over to making wine in containers similar to what you do about 15 years ago as the traditional way became too hard for him without help. Last year was the last year he made wine because, at 86 years old, it became too much for him to do.

I think I started getting wine with Sunday dinner when I was somewhere around 10 years old. Somewhere around 13, I was allowed to drink wine with dinner regularly. I couldn't tell you how much wine I snuck out of our cellar for my friends and myself as a kid. I can tell you, however, that most of my friends seemingly required very little to get hammered. While the wine was never tested, I know the alcohol content was way over the 13-15% of average wines. I once gave a bottle of it to a friend's dad to try. Mind you, he was not much of a drinker and referred to it as "paint stripper." Needless to say, that was the first and last bottle he recieved.

Thank you, Shaun, for stirring up some old memories for me! If I ever make it your way, I'd be honored to raise a glass with you. (Or snort it or shoot it or partake of it in whatever way rocks your boat.)

What a wonderful story to tell and remember

When I first started making wines, I tested the alcohol and basically followed all the instructions to the letter. As I learned, I’ve stripped the actual process right down because sometimes it can be a chore racking the wines around. The alcohol is what it is, but with the wine and beer, it’s never low!

So my process with the wine now is ferment for around 2 weeks, rack into a demijohn, leave for a few more weeks or month to clear, and then rack into its final demijohn. I don’t degas or anything as I’ve found it’s not required. I also omit sorbate out of they ingredients as it can give the wine a funny taste.

I mainly use the Winexpert Selection and Eclipse kits, there at the top price range but produce very good wine and if your going to make the effort to make it, you want a good result. The Selection kits work out at around £2 a bottle and the Eclipse £4, and the Eclipse have real grape mash in them. I find these a bit heavy now, so I make mainly things like Selection reds/whites of various grape varieties but they all have real grape juice, around 16 litres to make 23 litres of wine.

As I say, the wine is a bit of a chore, but I do enjoy making the beers. I prefer English ales, bitters, IPA’s and love trying the different types, but I only buy better kits. There not expensive £24 will make 40 pints but you can buy kits for £12 but the beer is nasty and what gives home brew a bad name.

Ive also tried all grain brewing were you make everything from scratch, but it’s a lot more work and I found it tedious, and to be honest the better kits available are very good and make a fine beer.

I like Festival and Mangrove Jacks kits at the moment, they produce excellent results every time but it’s nice to try a different one as well, so I normally order something different with every order. One of my current favourites is Mangrove Jacks Pink Grapefruit, it’s a delightful drink. The hops just give it a slight grapefruit smell.

Ive gone from bottling to kegs with CO2 and it makes the process so much easier. The beer stays in the fermenter for about 2-3 weeks then straight into the keg to condition. That’s it

The current new ones to try which I’ll make in the next few days are:

Beerworks Craft Brewery Will’s Olde English Ale
Beerworks Craft Brewery Golden Rocket Strong Pale Ale

 

[crusso1993]

What a wonderful story to tell and remember

When I first started making wines, I tested the alcohol and basically followed all the instructions to the letter. As I learned, I’ve stripped the actual process right down because sometimes it can be a chore racking the wines around. The alcohol is what it is, but with the wine and beer, it’s never low!

So my process with the wine now is ferment for around 2 weeks, rack into a demijohn, leave for a few more weeks or month to clear, and then rack into its final demijohn. I don’t degas or anything as I’ve found it’s not required. I also omit sorbate out of they ingredients as it can give the wine a funny taste.

I mainly use the Winexpert Selection and Eclipse kits, there at the top price range but produce very good wine and if your going to make the effort to make it, you want a good result. The Selection kits work out at around £2 a bottle and the Eclipse £4, and the Eclipse have real grape mash in them. I find these a bit heavy now, so I make mainly things like Selection reds/whites of various grape varieties but they all have real grape juice, around 16 litres to make 23 litres of wine.

As I say, the wine is a bit of a chore, but I do enjoy making the beers. I prefer English ales, bitters, IPA’s and love trying the different types, but I only buy better kits. There not expensive £24 will make 40 pints but you can buy kits for £12 but the beer is nasty and what gives home brew a bad name.

Ive also tried all grain brewing were you make everything from scratch, but it’s a lot more work and I found it tedious, and to be honest the better kits available are very good and make a fine beer.

I like Festival and Mangrove Jacks kits at the moment, they produce excellent results every time but it’s nice to try a different one as well, so I normally order something different with every order. One of my current favourites is Mangrove Jacks Pink Grapefruit, it’s a delightful drink. The hops just give it a slight grapefruit smell.

Ive gone from bottling to kegs with CO2 and it makes the process so much easier. The beer stays in the fermenter for about 2-3 weeks then straight into the keg to condition. That’s it

The current new ones to try which I’ll make in the next few days are:

Beerworks Craft Brewery Will’s Olde English Ale
Beerworks Craft Brewery Golden Rocket Strong Pale Ale

Thanks for sharing all the info!

I cannot say I know much about brewing beer as I have never done it. A number of friends got into it pretty heavily before the big boom of craft beers. One of them turned it into a business in the late 90s selling his and other custom beers and ales into small bars around Chicago. He didn't get rich or hit it bigtime but that was never his intention. He did do okay though and, more importantly, got to make money doing what he loves. Another high school friend, who designed and developed guidance systems for nuclear missles, won a number of prestigous brewing awards. He walked away from his high paying job to open a brewery with another friend several years ago. I think they now have three locations and are doing pretty well. Although I am unsure how things are going now with all of the craziness created by the Coronavirus.

Clouds Brewing

Craft brewery, bar, and restaurant with locations in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina

www.cloudsbrewing.com