Forum Activity for @dusty

The mason jar I use came with the conical filter. It holds 6 cups, so it's like a quart + a pint.  The cafe owner who turned me on to this stuff makes her cold brew with a big cheesecloth bag and a 5-gallon bucket.  If you search online you can find all sorts of devices for making cold brew, most much smaller than my 6-cup jar.  But you don't really need fancy equipment.  A container and some kind of filtering system is all you need.  You could even use one of those French press coffee makers.  The only question would then be the ratio of coffee grinds to water, and I'm sure that information is available online.

And remember to use coarsely ground beans.  Pre-ground beans are way too fine.  Also, apparently, those cheap coffee grinders that actually cut the beans up are no good. The beans have to be actually ground (don't ask me why), which is why I got a cheap hand-grinder.

How long will the coffee last in the fridge?  Good question.  I don't know for sure. I usually pour the coffee out of the big mason jar into smaller mason jars so that my wife can take one to work if she wishes.  My sense is that they could last a long time sealed in those jars in the fridge.  When I pour the coffee from the big mason jar there is some sediment at the bottom that makes the last 1/2 inch or so unusable.  I just dump that.

@dusty-turtle , is that a quart sized mason jar or a pint?

And... once you've made your jar and put it in the fridge, how long is it good for would you say?

Acouple of weeks ago I was at a business meeting at a hotel whose bar advertised cold brew coffee.  Just after lunch I left the meeting to order some.  They poured a few ounces in the bottom of a large glass, filled the glass with ice, and then poured in a bunch of water.  They were treating the cold brew as a coffee concentrate.  That's probably a safe way to consume it, though you lose some of that strong flavor, obviously.

Hey @strumelia.

Yes, the grounds sit in the water for 48 hours.  The contraption that I have came with a recipe book that suggests 12 hours is enough, but the first 12-hour brew I made was not nearly as strong as the original stuff I had from that cafe, so the next batch I increased the "brewing" time.   I eventually settled on a minimum of 36 hours. The cafe owner that converted me claims that more than 24 hours will create a bitter taste, but that has not been my experience.  I think that dynamic is determined by how coarsely the beans are ground.  I hand grind my beans in a very unscientific manner so my exact method may not be reproducible. 

The water is not hot to begin with. In fact, the brewing process can take place in the refrigerator, but I start with cool water and leave it out on the counter, not refrigerating until after I remove the coffee grounds.

My headache yesterday was from a sleep deficit.  But you are right about watching out for the strength of the coffee.  I usually dole it out in very small doses, which is why I can say for certain that I had 2 ounces yesterday.  I never pour a whole bunch in a big glass as you would if you were serving iced tea. And it sometimes "hits" you as much as an hour after consumption, so it's easy to overdo it.

From left to right: a manual coffee grinder, an empty mason jar eager to start brewing, a conical strainer, and a batch of cold brew that will be ready this afternoon. In the foreground, a cold brew recipe book which I never use because almost all the recipes involve something sugary, and I just enjoy the taste of plain coffee.

Yes, I am well acquainted with that watery coffee every cafe and diner served us for decades.  It was not only the brewing method that made that coffee so bad; it was a different kind of coffee. For some reason, after WWII, Americans stopped using Arabica beans and switched to some other lesser coffee bean. The coffee renaissance that we associate with Starbucks has involved a return to the Arabica bean. Yum! 

Dusty you are making me want to try that stuff now. 

Brian usually drinks like 4 cups of regular brewed coffee per day, and me 2-3 cups. (I try to stop by 1 or 2pm, otherwise it keeps me from sleeping deeply.) We use the paper filter hand-pouring method. Coffee is one of our favorite indulgences!  Over the past two years there have been quite a few articles about coffee (in reasonable amounts) being GOOD for one's health.  Yay!!

Do you mean your grounds sit in thier cone filter immersed in the water for 48 hours?   And... is the water you pour in hot to begin with?  Hmm..I think I may need to turn to Youtube for some tutorials here.  

I don't want to ingest 'too' much caffeine however- I've found too much does make me feel icky, and definitely interferes with my getting deep sleep cycles.

Dusty do keep an eye on whether you might overindulge and then experience any caffeine-withdrawal headaches- which of course get 'cured' by.. another shot of caffeine!  'Hair of the dog' kind of thing, but you don't want headaches to begin with. 

I'm thinking that maybe cold-brewed coffee is powerful in the same 'visionary out-of-body experience' way as when Americans try Turkish coffee. There's a reason the Turkish drink their coffee in those tiny little cups. 

Some of us are old enough to remember pre-starbucks times in America when everyone just drank watery Bunn-o-matic Maxwell House diner counter type coffee that you could practically read a newspaper through. (what's a newspaper, some might now ask). American coffee used to be real watery from when I was a kid in the late 1950s all the way up to maybe the past 25 or 30 years it seems to me. Back then only weirdo beatniks drank espresso(aka 'foreign' coffee) in subversive coffee houses.

It's great to have a 'vice' that might actually improve one's health.     Thanks for your 'uplifting' post, Dusty!

Well, how healthy it is depends on what doctor you ask.  I read an article today that reported on a recent study concluding that four cups of coffee per day is ideal to keep an aging heart young.

That's my excuse to claim that this post relates to "healthy living."

I recently discovered cold brewed coffee.  Last summer I asked for an iced coffee at a new cafe across from the Strum Shop which hosts our monthly dulcimer gathering.  I was asked if I wanted regular iced coffee or cold brewed. When I asked what the difference was, I was told merely that cold brewed coffee is "a little stronger."  Yeah, and Everest is "a little" hard to climb.

I had a near religious experience with that first cup of cold brewed coffee, drinking only an inch or so off the top and feeling happy and energized for hours.   (That must be how Elvis felt when he first got hooked on liquid methamphetamine.)   I brought the rest home for my wife, who had a similar experience.

Now we make it ourselves. I have a cone-shaped mesh filter that sits in a large mason jar. I hand grind dark roast coffee beans, put them in the filter, and pour in water.  I then let that sit for 48 hours, remove the grounds, and refrigerate the coffee.  About every other day I make a batch.  The stuff is delicious.  And strong.  And it makes me happy.

Earlier this afternoon I had a headache. I took an ibuprofen and drank about 2 ounces of cold brewed coffee. I then sat in a dark room for about 15 minutes. And now I feel great.  Life is good.

Love, LOVE that sharing, Dusty.  Don't know how I missed it, but GOOD STUFF.  We will all get there, won't we?  

I'm not asking for TAB, I just wanted to chuckle over some ideas that might seem very unlikely.  I.e. right now I'd love to have a go at "I Like That" (with language edits) by Janelle Monae, LOL.  Please don't judge me too harshly...  

Tigger is photogenic!  

My way of looking at it is he is saying "Alright, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."  He does so well in having his picture taken.  My daughter is forever taking snaps of him and she seems to catch his good side.

@folkfan , Tigger has got a mischievous look in his eye!  

He's about 10 years old, but he almost as bouncy now as he was as a kitten. 

How cute, folkfan!  Is Tigger getting up in years?  

Here's a recent one of Tigger. 

 IMG_3338.JPG - 180KB

Someone mentioned on a forum that Ron Gibson had done a dulcimer with springer spaniel sound holes. He told me that he did, but I haven't been able to find pictures of it anywhere. I keep telling my husband we can take pictures of the dogs. We don't need to use them as sound holes!

Thank you, Strumelia.  I have actually had my closest melody string go very wonky out-of-tune while noter playing several times, like in the middle of a song!  I still think that is still at play here still...  And I would still do it again!  LOL! 

(My husband wants springer spaniels,)

I have a springer spaniel & I love my pup but not sure I want that as a sound hole

How do I delete Folkcraft Cek-160 '85, it wont let me edit. When I try it says I don't have the proper privileges to perform. I created it, why wont it let me & isn't needed now.

Sounds to me like at that particular note/moment, your voice starts out right on the note but then drifts a little high towards the end of the note (performance jitters maybe?)- and at the same moment Hazel's note on the violin is just a little too low.  Your dulcimer is and remains in tune because it was tuned and it has frets.  So things combined just at that moment in such a way (like Goldilocks' 3 chairs) that made a conflict discernible to you.

Keep in mind that even though both instruments may be correctly tuned, the violin has no frets and is much more difficult to play exactly in tune than a (fretted) dulcimer.  Especially with a child's smaller less strong hands.  Hazel does well, but like any learning violinist she does occasionally waver slightly off key since she is learning to fret- any tiny,  tiny finger movement changes the note, while the dulcimer can generally rely on the frets to make each note be in tune.  Playing violin/fiddle is a bear to wrestle with and most folks work at it for several years before they can play reliably 'in tune'.  You have to be both determined and brave to play the fiddle, IMHO.

The important thing here is that overall the hymn sounded lovely and your performance projected a sweetness and love that radiated out from you and your daughter together.  The audience must have really enjoyed the treat.  Well done!!  

You know, we tuned right before service, and I should have checked again right before diving in.  Do I just start out out of tune?  LOL!  People enjoyed it anyway, so that's good, and we'll keep tryin'!

The worst note, IMO, is at 33:00-33:01 "vain".  

The sound people are recording the entire service, they don't have another vantage point from the balcony, and often voices are amplified while instrument aren't or the congregation isn't.  It sounds very different from the pews than the livestream, which is why I'd also love to see a phone vid.  I don't know that one exists...  

Tell me which note you think was the worst (give me the 0:00 time on the vid) and I'll tell you who the guilty party was... if you promise not to pass it along to her-  in case it was Hazel...      

Yeah I was cracking up too when I realized your head was going to be covered with a veil for the ENTIRE video... LOLOL

Shoot the videographer!

Well, I'm happy with the doves and vines on my Ron Gibson. My husband wants springer spaniels, if I ever do a custom dulcimer. I do like the shape of those old style F holes.

I'm so sorry, Robin.  I know what it's like to not have a computer stream well!  OY!  I'm not tech savvy and don't know how to record or extract or share just a part of it.  Sometimes people record on their cell phones, but I don't have one!  I would love to hear that, because the sound is very different that way.

HA HA Ken!  We all cracked up when we saw the video.  Would still love to know how dulcimer, violin, and voice all went wonky on the one REALLY TERRIBLE note! LOL!

ETA I figured out part of it...  One of my melody strings decided to go wonky in the middle of playing, I think.  I had this happen when I was using something uneven as a noter, but not with the bamboo.  I went to play today, and the melody string closest to me was way off.

thank you suzie

thank you BD Bess

and Dusty

i was not asking if i should or should not use them my question was .

anyone know of any adhesive Pearlie markers that  will stay on ? and where to get them ....

this is what i ended up ordering i think they will serve the purpose and look nice.

What I Ordered.

Sandi, thanks for sharing your hymn playing. I enjoyed it very much, but, LOL, another "headless" dulcimer player video.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Richard, if your stacked bamboo noter works, I'd just stick with it.  

Sandi, I don't know how to jump ahead to the part of the service where you're playing-- I think my internet is too slow to allow me to do that.  If anybody got a clip of it, please post? 

Thank you SO much, Strumelia!  Yes, my girl is 12 now!!!  And poor thing...  We always tune by ear, but our ianist is a professional jazz pianist, he tuned us up today before our performance, and we had been practicing it withour shoddy ear tuning...  LOLOL!  ~and you're not old, HAZEL is old~  HA HA HA!

Sandi, I enjoyed your hymn- you have a beautiful voice.  Was that Hazel on violin??  Oh my, I remember when you mentioned she was newly born, over on everythingdulcimer!  I must be really old now!     lolol

OH Richard that's COOL!  Thank you Strumelia and Robin!  I have linkage for ya, but it is a very funny recording!  You will see...  Not a flawless performance, either, (especially one particular note???) lots of sound adjusting from the sound board, but it was still fun, and I would do it again.  We start around 30:33, but the music today through the entire service was INCREDIBLE!  Hated being after and before such amazing talent though~LOL!

https://livestream.com/accounts/6164779/events/8253232

I won't discourage you from getting fret markers, that is your personal choice to make. To answer your original question, I too have used Inlay Stickers on other instruments. They are very thin (your fingers won't notice them), easy to apply, stay put, look real nice, and can be removed without sticky residue or harm to the instrument. If you go the route of fret markers, I would recommend  http://inlaystickers.com. Lots of neat choices too!

What a cute puppy! Congratulations!

Barb

I have used the same inlay stickers that Dusty did. I got impatient with diatonic tuning on my Merlin and had it fully chromaticized but missed the ease of only having to figure out diatonic frets. In addition to fret markers, Jockomo also makes strip stickers so I placed one across each diatonic fret. I am dyslexic so I need more visual cues than the average dulcimer player but that really helped. I have also found that giving yourself cues when you are beginning is not a barrier to learning. As you learn you will find yourself not paying attention to the markers when you no longer need them. I recently decided to switch one of the strips that had been on about a year. I expected to have to do a lot of cleaning but it came off with no residue and stuck back on to it's new location. I think they recommend 6 months but my experience was pretty good. 

Barb

I like the hummingbirds on my Ron Gibson.

 Gibson-7.JPG - 119KB

I really like bamboo for a noter. A very nice thing is that one can get the diameter desired without any woodworking other than cutting to length and sanding or filing away any tiny splinters where it is cut.

Some dulcimers' fretboards are too low for me as I hold my noter underhand and drag my knuckles on the top of the dulcimer. So do I restrict myself to custom-made dulcimers (I wish) with a taller fretboard or do I improvise?

The dulcimer budget runs thin after a while so I improvised. I made what I call a stacked noter of bamboo. It works for me on the lower fretboards and is considerably cheaper than a custom-made dulcimer.

 Custom Stacked Noter.jpg - 32KB

What would be a fair price for a Folkcraft Cek-160 1985 - ebony fret board, scroll head, scallop fret board - weeping heart sound holes ?

ASAP please if you can

thanks

@jp, I have two comments here which are kind of contradictory.  The first is why you should not need fret markers.  The second is what to do if you get them.

First, to get used to the 1-1/2 fret does take some time.  It took me about a year even though I'm used to chromatic instruments such as the guitar and mandolin.  When I finally "got" it, it was just a matter of mental focus.  I forced myself to think "fat, fat, skinny" as the beginning of the fretboard.  The first two frets are fat, then comes that skinny third fret.  Once I started imagining the space on the fretboard as indicating where the notes were rather than the fretwire itself, I stopped getting confused by the 1-1/2 fret.  If you put fret markers in those normal places (3, 5, 7, 10), which I strongly suggest so that you don't get confused by other dulcimers with fret markers, they will not necessarily help you get used to to the 1-1/2 fret. That's just a hurdle you have to overcome.

Second, I agree with you about what kind of markers to get. If you want something temporary, just use masking tape.  If you want something that you plan to leave on for a while, get nice inlay stickers.  The ones I got are easily removable and don't leave any trace that can't be wiped away easily. They are also so thin that you don't notice them at all when fingering the fretboard.  Until you look closely, they appear to by nice inlay, and you can choose a variety of different designs, so you can personalize your instrument pretty easily.  Be aware that most are made for guitars, which usually have a wider fretboard than dulcimers do.  And if the fret markers involve a design that connects several frets in a row, they won't work on the diatonic fretboard of the dulcimer.  I think the ones I got were made for a ukulele, so they're pretty small.  The website I linked to earlier has a range of shapes, sizes, colors, and designs, so take your time looking through the options and find something that will not detract from the look of your dulcimer.

You could glue on small pearl shirt buttons.

Sandi <3