From time to time, when people find out that it took me two Ph.D.s to work out what I wanted to be when I grew up, they’ll make comments about what a pain it must have been wasting those four-plus years learning chemistry stuff that is well-nigh useless for a professional philosopher.
Let the record reflect that last weekend, I made use of a skill that I honed in my graduate chemistry training.
Sadly, that skill was bottle-washing — not the most intellectually stimulating thing to do. But, when the bottles need washing, knowing how to wield a bottle-brush with authority is important.
And, now we have apple cider (or more properly, the yeast contained in that cider) munching on sucrose in the bottles, developing some carbonation. Plus, the carboy is now free and ready for this Fall’s press, which is good, as the apple tree is groaning under the burden of all those apples.
Janet – can we have the protocol, please, starting from materials? And does Sigma sell apples?
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Have you seen the MSDS on apples? They are (according to Dr. Oz) loaded with arsenic! Also, coddling-moth caterpillars (although I have it on good authority that those caterpillars are a sign of very tasty apples).
Also, Materials and Methods.
Ha! Good work! Just finished off the last of my cider from last year, pressing apples for this year’s cider. Wish I could say that last year’s cider was really worth it, but alas, my cider-making skills are less-than-notable (well, perhaps notably bad). Still have to wash out the bottles, that is, if I decide to actually bottle anything this year. We’ll see.
Isn’t bottle-washing a job for technicians (sprogs)?
Unfortunately, someone told the sprogs about child labor laws.
Also, they’re clever enough to recognize that demonstrating serious incompetence upfront (say, by breaking the bottles) is a good way to get out of doing the job.
Off topic, but I’d love to get a second PhD (though my spouse would probably grumble). How tough was it? Did you do them at the same time, or one after the other? Did you do them at the same university?
If you really wanted to show off PhD #1 you could take some of that cider and make applejack out of it.