Down the microelectronic wormhole...

So I started this months ago, fully aware that this time around I would have to put in all the time building the data acquisition computer that I had skipped during my first rocket build. I knew that it would be a challenge. Now I know, I had no idea.

@TLDR Don't bother. Just buy a usb NI-DAQ 600X on ebay for less than $250. Set up your load cells, collect your data, and get it over with.

Now back to don't bother... I tried everything. I bought every arduino known to man. Then I hooked them all up and created archaic forms of multi-core multi-threaded processors with amplifiers and signal conditioners, one Chinese microcontroller + 2 months of shipping at a time. I spent a whopping $50 so far for a box of basically useless micro controllers that I have been able to get down to 497 Hz refresh rate. What a joke.
I have been building headers and bit banging my code over to a windows and then a Linux cpu. I have NI fpga's, computational servers, professional licenses for LabView and Matlab, experience writing Java and C, these are just some of other resources at my disposal for prototyping and I'm telling you now... 16 bit resolution at 200k samples per second is all you need and if not, reconsider what you are doing.
I bought the biggest and best micro processors and then coded them from scratch to no avail. The 2, 3, $400 dollars that NI costs is very worth it. I wish I could tell you I'm biased because I'm doing a review but no. It's just the truth, don't reinvent the wheel. There are no wheels in a rocket. 

@NationalInstuments Please give me a sponsorship.

I will use the arduinos for all of the automation and electronic and pneumatic controls. I also plan to use the HX711 24-bit ADC load cell converters for the tanks because 100 Hz resolution is more than enough and at 24-bits I will be able to see femtograms apparently. For these I will have 3 arduino nanos embedded in the stand and they will communicated to a central arduino mega to report ambient conditions, tank weights, and switch/relay status via Serial. I will pick up the serial stream in LabView and use it to actuate some indicators and dials.  I will keep you updated as I make this important, stress-relieving shift.

Took a break from making a metal thing to making a wooden thing!

Turning wood on a metal lathe

One of my other hobbies, outside of rocket building, is gardening. Specifically, I grow hot peppers and not just hot peppers but crazy hot peppers.

The species I am growing this year are:

"Ghost Peppers"

Naga Morich

Bin Jolokia (sourced from Bangladesh)

Bhut Jolokia

Peach Bhut Jolokia

"Big Black Mama" -Naga Morich Crossed with a 7 pot Douglah

"Not Ghost Peppers"

Georgia Flame

Fatali ("Devil's Tongue")

Chocolate Habenero

Urfa Biber

What do I do with these peppers?

I like to make hot sauces. Favoring fermenting, I usually coarsely grind them into a pepper mash mixed with 2% by weight of an exotic salt like black or pink salt. A dash of kimchi juice is blended in to provide a head start for the lactobacillis culture that preserves the peppers as they age for several months in mason jars. This year I am going to be swapping out the mason jars for wooden barrels... or so I thought.

After scouring the tubes of the interwebs, I found that small wooden barrels go for around ~$50 each. Since I need a few of them, I couldn't find myself paying that much. Feeling down about my prospects, I had an epiphany! Maybe I could use some of the oak and cherry wood that has been seasoning since I collected it during Hurricane Matthew for use in my smoker could be turned down into some kind of fermentation vessel.

And so it began...

I also made a cap for it but I will get a picture of that added later.

So my lathe is a little too small to turn most of this so I ran to Harbor Freight and picked up a die grinder and some rasps.

To bore the inside out, I progressively center drilled a few inches of depth then reaming it with the die grinder until I could fit the drill chuck in to drill a few inches farther. Eventually it got too deep and I have to use my hand drill for the pilot holes. Eventually I got to the bottom and viola!

Now it is wrapped up in a brown paper bag to let it finish drying out slowly to hopefully avoid the splitting red oak is known for. I have also learned that is there exists food safe wood glue that I can use to patch up any leaks that I am sure I will find.

Though this turned out to be a fun weekend project I still feel that I will still buy one or two wooden barrels for some of the mashes that I plan to age for several years. I will post some updates as I go along.