Better Soda Pop

Most soda is pretty nasty, too sweet, too fizzy and chemical flavored. There are better products out there, the occasional premium run from a big-name manufacturer and old brands like Moxie or Cheerwine. Carbonating commercial syrups doesn't get you much except a little price break. Same crud, your own bottle. If you want better you have to do it yourself.

The best book on the subject is Steve Cresswell's Home Made Root Beer and Soda Pop. It's got good advice and plenty of recipes. The Rich Root Beer and Chinese Ginger Beer are easy to make and delicious. He has a few oddball things like switchels from old "receipt" books, mostly to add a little character.

One recipe which seemed interesting was "Jessamine Syrup".

Syrup of Jessamine. - Simple syrup, pint and a half; spirit of orris-root, one ounce; essence of ber-gamot, two drachms; essence of lemon, one drachm; essence of cinnamon five drops ; slightly warm the syrup, and add the essences.

Jasmine has a wonderful smell. But it's a pain to extract. The moth-pollinated flowers open at night which means collecting them at odd hours. There isn't that much essential oil in each tiny blossom. And worst of all, you can't extract it with distillation. Some of the most fragrant parts break down at fairly low temperatures. Unless you have a supercritcal CO2 extraction setup at home you're pretty much stuck with enfleurage. To say it's time consuming and fiddly is a gross understatement.

A cheaper easier knockoff sounded like a good idea.

The orris root spirit was the only fiddly part. Was this supposed to be a full extraction? A tincture? Orris water from a local Indian market didn't work very well.

I finally tracked down the book the recipe came from, The Manufacture of Liquors, Wines and Cordials Without the Aid of Distillation, Pierre Lacour 1868. All became clear. The recipe right above Jessamine specifies a thirty six hour tincture of powdered orris root in alcohol.

The result? Not bad. It doesn't taste quite like jasmine, but the combination of smells has the same sort of effect.

The oil-based flavors like jessamine and neroli. don't work so well in water. The oils float to the top and leave a noticeable after-burn on the tongue. They are excellent in milk-based products like ice cream, kefir and yogurt.

Back On

The wettest June on record has not been kind to this project.

Neither has a galloping infection to my leg.

It looks like both are on the mend.

Results of this morning's tests:

1. Extra vapor barrier kept the flooring nice and dry.
2. The Green #2 Ram-Set charge wasn't enough to attach steel channel to the decking and joist.
3. The Yellow #4 works fine.

First Sunny Day!

Today was the first sunny day since the last entry. I put down a vapor barrier and 5/8" waferboard for a floor. The tongue on the edge of the flooring did not fit the corresponding groove on the next piece and had to be removed with a circular saw.

Tomorrow I'll do the walls, sheathing and maybe the roof.

Shed Construction Or First Real Carpentry Project

There are things like metal casting and welding which don't belong in the house, and I have to clear stuff out of the basement to make room for finishing it. So it's time to build a shed.

Overview

10' x 12'

skid foundation

2/12 pitch pent roof

1 door

2 2'x3' windows

No utilities yet.

The weather has not been helpful. There have been two or three days which weren't actually raining where I felt comfortable using power tools outside.

Site Preparation

The site was close to level. Dug three 6" wide trenches for the skids and filled them with 3" of pea gravel

Foundation

All wood is pressure treated. Where there are cuts they were treated with recommended sealant. Framing nails are coated. Joist hangers are attached with 9ga hot-dipped galvanized joist nails.

Three 4"x4"x12' skids

Thirteen 2"x6"x10' cut to 9' 9", one foot on center, toe-nailed to the skids

Two 2"x6"x12' end pieces connected to the joists with Simpson joist hangers, flush joist hangers at the ends.

Notes: The framing nailer and mini hand-nailer are my new best friends. This would have been an unbelievable pain without them.

Floor

10x25' Vapor barrier under floor
Floor is 5/8" OSB

First Things First - Make a Space

The basement has been completely underutilized since we moved in. It needs to be finished and turned into useful space. Here's the plan...

1. Frame it, redo the stairs and put in egress windows
2. Plumb the new bathroom and the workshop sink
3. Wire the lights on one circuit, the bathroom outlets on another and other outlets on a third
4. Run the phone lines and home internet cables rationally
   
5. Sheet rock walls and bathroom ceiling. Paint
   
6. Lay tile throughout
7. Sheet rock the rest of the ceiling
   

Too many projects, not enough time. Before I add another one there needs to be a place to do them. My wife has a strange prejudice against welding or casting molten metal in a wood frame house. So I'll need to make a fireproof place to do that.

Two ways present themselves. A concrete slab floor and load-bearing walls or a pole building with a non-ground contact wood floor. Walls will be AAC. There has to be electricity. Water and natural gas would be nice.