Introduction and Personal Background
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Speaker
This is the Garage Avenger podcast.
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Speaker
Episode 22. It is episode 22, right? Correct. Welcome to the Garage Avenger podcast, episode 22. I'm Justin, trying to share the joy of building my death machines in my garage with the hope of one day making a living out of it.
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Speaker
And I'm Kieran, trying to turn my garagebrood beers into a world-renowned brewery. We are twin brothers with a passion for creating the wild and unexpected taking on a ride through the everyday lives in our garages.
Brewing Belgian Beers: Techniques and Ingredients
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Welcome, everybody. Kieran, I'm spoken to the whole week.
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I don't think I even spoke to you on the phone. What a joke. What has been going on? I'm intrigued. I'm assuming lots. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lots. Always lots. Let me have a brooder quad. A brooder quad. So what yeah. Belgian quad that I was talking about last week. I brewed that. Um,
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Speaker
Tell us more about quads. What does this mean? So it's a quadruple. So like the Belgian style beers, they have these kind of names that are like, you got a double, a triple and a quadruple. I don't, ah don't quote me on where those names actually originated for from, but you can almost just think of them as like levels of alcohol strength. Like,
00:01:46
Speaker
So a double is like a 7%, a triple is somewhere between 9 and 10 on average, and a quadruple is somewhere between 11 and 12%. So there's like, yeah, basically I made a big ass fucking beer. It was a juicy beer, a big ass juicy beer. It ain't juicy. It ain't juicy.
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It's ah this is a malt driven actually candy sugar driven beer. So it uses I'm using a product called D 180 from the from a company that makes this candy syrup.
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Now it's like a dark molasses type syrup. So it actually gives as much as it's just sugar, it also gives flavor to the beer. So this has got like this kind of toffee and like dried fruit kind of character that adds to it. So then I added some like pretty complex flavored malts, caramunic in there as well as ah some other stuff, which was like, um, what was the other one I,
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did some I used a Norwegian ah Special N, it's called, which is supposed to be kind of like a Norwegian equivalent of Special B, which is a Special Belgian. and that ah yeah I'm talking gibberish here to people. Oh my god, it sounds like a Special K. like It's a Norwegian version of Special Gate. Yeah, well, it it kind of is in a sense, in the sense that it gives a real special flavor to it. It gives that extra kick. um the In Belgian style beers, the malt driven ah fruit part of the beer comes from Special B, which is a toasted malt. So typically, if you put too much in, it's very harsh and astringent.
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Speaker
But in like around 2% it adds like this really nice kind of fruity. In this case, this one will probably, I hope will add like a figgy plum kind of character to the beer. And then combined with the yeast and how that all works out. The big problem with this beer with, I mean, i I actually hit my target gravity, which I was like pretty amazed by because this is a big beer. Like I maxed out my grain on this one.
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But I did also add some extra spray molten extra sugar just to try and get it there. ah But the, yeah, man, it was efficiency went to shit as it does with the water max out the grain in this machine. And um yeah, the D180 though, that does all the heavy lifting in this beer.
00:04:42
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It finished fermenting in like four days, which I was a little surprised about. It was really vigorous. And I was a little bit bummed about that, to be honest, because um I didn't have enough time to ramp the temperature up on fermentation. And the temperature influences the way the yeast expresses itself.
Technical Discussions and Humor in Brewing
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So typically with Belgian strains, the higher the temperature, the more fruity it it esters, the fruity compounds, the the yeast producers. So I was getting into that and yeah, geeking out a little bit. So well when you're talking about yeast expressing itself, as it gets hotter, i don't make don't make fun of like, if I can make fun of your welding and your
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Oh, I just made this ah spline, you know, to fit this new piece. And I don't make it make fun of your technical geeky shit. So there you go. The people can live with my mind talking on beer. but They're tuning in for both of us if they keep listening. Oh, come on, Darren, let me have a play. So anyway, the D180 problem with that, I've done some research.
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And I knew that it needed a good lagering time. Typically a big beer needs like lagering time. What I mean by lagering is like you let the beer sit for a while to kind of round off the flavors. And so it's not so boozy, but also let the flavor develop. For D the D one 80 gives us really kind of harsh astringent flavor right from fermentation as it is now.
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And I was doing some re research and I'm like, hmm, this beer is going to need a six to 12 months lagering. I was like, motherfuck. So I'm not going to be able to drink this thing for a year. So that's a bit, bit of, it reminded me of when I did this imperial stout all these years ago, the Nakafili, if you remember that. I had to lager that for two and a half years.
00:06:53
Speaker
for it to round out the flavours that was even drinkable. But that was so good, Kieran. Good things come to those who wait. I hope that this beer will will come into its own after 12 months. so that's the That's the hope. So there you go. Can I pull you back? You use the word astringent quite a lot with regarding to beer stuff. And what does that actually mean? like What does that mean when you're got the beer and you're tasting the beer? like how How do you explain astringent? Because that's not really a term most people use. Harsh is the probably the easiest word to do. like
00:07:34
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and harsh. Some people might use bitter. I would to technically often you're referring, when I say astringent, you're actually referring to tannins,
00:07:52
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mono peptides in the beer that take time to break down. ah So there That's what gives like, you know, if you ever have a beer that's too bitter.
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And it kind of like gets all up in your reel and you're like, Oh God, it's so bad. I like that, that astringency, but like in, in a very unpleasant way. That's not like, cause you got smooth bitterness, which is what we all like in beer. Uh, but then you've got this harshness that might come from like, it's, it's, it's too unrefined is the easiest, like an unrefined bitter, uh, tanany.
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harshness. It kind of like sits on your teeth, right? Yeah, like feels like in the side of your mouth and yeah yeah, so like you you like, like, like, say, for example, you you brew a cup of tea and you let the tea bag sit in there for half a day. And then you said, Oh, we're gonna still drink this one. And then drink the tea and oh, far our God, yeah like that kind of astringency, bitter, tanniny flavor you get from tea, and it's overextracted. That's the same kind of thing.
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So if you had like some other bacteria and things in that, the right kind of bacteria and things in your tea over time, that would, that flavor would round out. So, um, so that these don't, I think it's a mono peptides. I think that's the technical term.
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They're probably wrong. I'll probably fuck this up. Someone's gonna send me a hate mail now. Just like, who the fuck do you no, I'm sending you a mail Karen. ah ah Anyway, so it's a yeah, it's a tenon. And astringency issue. So that's, that's mostly what it is when you when you're doing it when I'm referring to astringent.
00:09:58
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flavors. Okay, good. I just need to clear that up because you know, sometimes the jargon can get a little bit confusing for most people listening. And it's sometimes easier just to break it down a little bit. So don't taste good.
00:10:13
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yeah well that's true So yeah, then they as I was like, got the anointing Citra in the tank. Try hop that this week.
Beer Packaging Challenges
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Uh, it's cold crashing now. So the hops are dropping out of solution and I'll, I'll drop the hops out of the tank in a couple of times over the next week. And so it's running clear and then it's carbonating and then ready for packaging. And so that's going to be fun and I'm debating on buying a new canning machine. I'm like, I kind of like, I've got this canning machine, like, you know, a couple,
00:10:56
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ah Like a couple months back I on the podcast that told you about how frustrating it was to adjust this thing Hmm, and I'm still getting problems. It's moving all the time and I just I can't be fucked. I need a machine that's easy to adjust So I'm thinking I might just fucking flog this one on Finn For like, you know couple at a thousand grounds or something and then buy but it was an expensive machine though first, wasn't it? 5000 yeah Yeah, it's still expensive-ish. Yeah. so I mean, it works fine. It's just that it's it needs to be adjusted and I do not have the patience for the adjustment. So I want to, I'm doing some research now to find a better machine and see what that costs. Probably going to cost me 10 grand. But that's, ah that's what, the I mean, if I can't, the real issue now is that I don't trust the seaming.
00:11:54
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I can't trust this thing. I can't trust that it's going to hold. I'll find, I'll find, I'll go through cans that I canned like a couple of weeks ago and find leaking cans from the seams. But it's like, it seems random, which is interesting. So not all cans do it. So I can't trust, you know, if I'm going to send beer to people that are, you know, originally test brews from here. Um, I can't trust that they won't leak in the post.
00:12:23
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Yeah, well, what happened with this bloody beer center, Steve? I heard it leaked. Yeah, I don't know. He said that a bottle leaked. I don't think it was. I think it might have been a can. So and ah and it would have been a can of cosmic Christ that I sent him. And so and that was that was one that was and that was packaged here at that time. So I can't trust the fucking SEMA. So that's part of the reason why I'm I'm um I'm looking to fix it. And in in fact, ah I got Pierre's package back in the mail. It got returned. Did you? Yeah. So Pierre, sorry, mate. Basically, what you know what? This is your super weird thing that happened, right? I and filled out this form digitally for the customs declaration form. And I wrote er with an er.
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Right? Even though it does actually technically say you can write it in English, but I i mean, I was like, it's going through Norwegian customs anyway. So I'm like, just whatever. And I wrote Earl and I uploaded the PDF with Earl, like, and I checked it. But then they sent me a a ah screenshot of what they received and that Uh, and the, uh, had turned into it E we're like a Y with the two dots. I don't know what that is in, but it somehow changed character when I sent it digitally so that when they received it, it was just, they didn't know what it was. So they just was like, Oh, fuck it. It'll can stand there until ah the time runs out and then we'll send it back. So.
00:14:11
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like a Norwegian post, like, at least they could have sent me a message asking for an explanation. That could have been anything. That would have been easy sorted. But I mean, I'm glad that they sent it back because I found out once again, one of the cans had leaked. So I i basically pulled everything out, cleaned up and repackaged everything and then sent it to Pierre Afresh. So it is currently left the country, Pierre.
00:14:39
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that's left the country. I was going to say, it's better if you just take a drive here. It's literally like from your house. Yeah, it's probably like two and a half hours. ah Really? Yeah. i can get there Back in a day. Yeah, you could go for a nice trip and spend some time with Pierre and meet the guy. Yeah.
00:15:00
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Wind him and dine him so he doesn't slag you off on the news podcast Instead they've created this drama which is ive want good fun. Isn't the drama fun? ah Love a bit of drama.
Creative Brewing Ideas: Chili and Sour Beers
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So anyway the the ah well that gets onto my next topic because I've been finalizing labels this last week. I sent off the Holy Ghost label to the printer.
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Uh, and I've sent the ah new, uh, round of, uh, Justin's like doing big eyes at me right now. What are we talking about right now? Are we getting all the guys produced? Uh, it's, it's happening. It's, it's not happening how I hoped it would, but I'm just gonna push it while it is happening. Like, I mean.
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I hope that I would get this guy to make it for me, but I've had to find a backwards option to sort this out. sorry Okay, what's the backwards option? I so i shall ah shall not disclose such things if it were to bite me in the butt at some point. Roger, Roger. But it's happening and ah the the plan is going ahead. ah Production will probably be in week eight or nine.
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of this. So that's, that's not far away, late February, I think. Yeah, but that's not February, February, February, early March. So that's exciting. How many liters we brew in here? 1000 liters. Yeah, boring. yeah Well, you know, it's a test batch. We'll see, like, in some sense, we'll see how the market reacts to it. If it fucking goes off, then it's just that's just the beginning.
00:16:50
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So I'm looking forward to seeing how it all how will kind of all pan out. And yes, I'm pumped for it. So I think the label looks fucking sick. It's so good. Like I've ah done this effect where it's printed on silver paper and the you can under print with white underneath and then allow bleed through from the silver effect underneath. And so I've masked the, there's a flaming skull on the on the label. Which is a matte label. Yeah. And the flames, ah only the flames and tiny elements of the, I've kind of feathered
00:17:36
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the the the ah the white back printing underneath so that it kind of bleeds, like metallic bleeds subtly out from the flames. And so I think it i think it's going to pop and it's just going to look so fucking cool. And I'm just really stoked about doing this. So I think it's going to turn out awesome. Well, a lot of people say when they pick up ah Cryo Jesus, they quite like the label. yeah It's eye catching. Yeah. it's It's not so eye catching when you're on the shelf, when you see it on the shelf, but once you pick it up, you're like, ooh.
00:18:17
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i I mean, OK, from a distance, it's not so eye catching. Yeah. But when you get closer to it, then you realize like, oh, this is interesting. What's this? Yeah, I saw this guy, I was at the the wine monopoly the other day and I saw this guy pick up the can. I was like, you know, kind of watching people. And he just like he was like perusing the shelves and like, yeah, it was the one he picked. I was like, I can win. So right that's great.
00:18:45
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so Yeah, so there's ah there's still plenty, well, plenty. It's slow slowly moving. Cryo Jesus is also is moving. um So that's, yeah, good fun. So, and then, ah yeah, so as a result of this um ah of this Holy Ghost brewing, I bought a fuck ton of chili.
00:19:11
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ah Oh, man. Oh, like so much chili. What are you talking? Then wait here. i
00:19:24
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It's the the mix is a blend of ghost chilies and habaneros. Okay. Is that what you used before? Yeah. Yeah. And because it's nearly impossible to get fresh ghost chili. And so ah the fresh flavor adds a whole dynamic to it. That's where you get this nice paprika-y kind of subtle chilli paprika-y flavor through the beer from that from the fresh habanero. And so I decided to, yeah so I bought two two kilos of fresh habanero. Like that's a f**ked out of chilli.
00:20:07
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And that's not like your kids knew that one. Yeah. And they and then I also what else? And then I bought the flaked dried flaked ghost chilies. Hmm. And I bought also like 500 grams of that. Like so that's probably the equivalent of dried flaked. I imagine that's the equivalent of probably six kilos of actual ghost chilies.
00:20:34
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yeah And ah it's like I opened the bag just to have a look and like had a little sniff. Smells amazing. But fuck, I'm just smelling the thing. My eyes started to water and I was like, oh, fuck. telling you Talking about eyes watering and chili. The other week I was cooking, we made poker balls and I was cutting up some chili. No problem. I washed my fingers and everything was all good.
00:21:06
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What I didn't realize is I had actually got it on the palm of my hand and I didn't wash my palm of my hand properly. So I'm sitting there eating my Pokeball with our friends. And then I rub my eye with my palm of my hand. yeah And my eyes start watering. I'm like, oh crap. And then I sort of said, oh, dude. All right, guys. um oh I've got chili in my eye. I'm just going to go rinse it out, you know.
00:21:36
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As I went to the bathroom, so I started washing my face, got her into, still stinging a bit, of course. I was like, oh shit. So I washed my hands again. I didn't realize again that it was on the palm of my hand, not on the fingers of my hand. I didn't even contemplate that. So I was like, all right, fine. I've washed my hands now. All right. I need to take a piss. So I went take a piss.
00:21:59
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And I got halfway out of the bathroom like, oh shit. I've done that one before. why all My balls are on fire. Why are my balls on fire now? Why did you touch your balls? I had to lift them out of the floor. I didn't know that. No,
00:22:20
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no I've done that before, except I i was i was working in the kitchen and i I did like a very, very quick rinse. and thought I was good. And then I went, then I, cause I was washing my hands cause I had, after chopping up chili, ah because I needed to piss. And I went and pissed. And of course I got right on the, on the bell end. And it was, woo!
00:22:49
Speaker
Yep. It was funny cause I went, I got back to the table too. Yeah. And I'm sitting there, my balls are on fire. a I couldn't talk. I was just focusing on the pain of like, my balls burning. I'm sitting there trying to eat food im like dinner guests. Yeah. So yeah, I'm also going to brew a, a, the sour, first sour. I'm going to try a sour this week. So I'm going to, I've got a special kind of
00:23:22
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I've got three tanks and one I don't use very much. I've decided that's the sour tank for the future because the sours with the low pH can actually affect the coating inside the tank. So I just i want to kind of make sure I don't fuck up any ah good tank. because ah So that's kind of cool. And that's going to be a new, like a new process for me. Like I've done it before with pure lactobacillus, ah which is the souring um bacteria.
00:23:51
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ah But this time I'm just going to do it with Piola. Okay. Throw some yogurt in there. Just, you know, and leave that overnight to do its thing. So that's going to be fun. Interesting. Why, why Piola? It's the cheapest, easiest way to, to to get lactobacillus. Fair enough. It makes sense. Yeah. I use like a, what is it? A hundred milliliters.
00:24:19
Speaker
for a 20, 25 litre batch. Like when they go there, I'll just drink the rest. Cost me like 25 crowns at the shops for, whereas if I was going to buy, you know, actual a lactobacillus culture and add that into like, I'm looking at 100, 150 crowns for just the bacteria. So I'm just like, I'll just use Biola. And then there's a load of breweries that use Biola.
00:24:48
Speaker
Okay, interesting. Because I was going to say, does the milk, the milk fat affect the the brewing process at all? Well, the you boil ah you boil the wort at the end of the day and all those proteins coagulate together and drop out of the wort. So get clear wort in the end.
00:25:10
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It's just a it's just that. Yeah, so that's you don't you don't have an issue there. and And, you know, if you're going to have like issues with head retention, like foam, foam stability on your beer, a sour beer will kill your head retention anyway. The acidity kills foam. So yeah I was going to say, because sour beers, I've never really seen head on them ever. No. So it's like it's a really challenging thing to get.
00:25:37
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lasting foam on a sour beer. So, there you go. Yeah, that's pretty much me. You, bro. What's been going on?
Lifestyle Changes: Quitting Coffee
00:25:46
Speaker
Have you been working? Ah, so much has been going on. Yeah. The first major thing, which I didn't talk about last week, is I'm off coffee. Oh,
00:26:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's what a addict's response would be. you ye I think this is my second cup today. It's only 9.30. Yeah, so look, to be honest, I just don't like being addicted to something. o I think it I realized when I needed a third cup during the day, that that was a bit of a problem. And I've been thinking about it for months and months that I probably should wean myself off coffee. And I tried once and then realized that I was drinking green tea, which had you know caffeine in it.
00:26:45
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So that didn't really work. And then I, something happened and I ended up getting back onto coffee again. ah But this time I'm a week and three days clean of caffeine. How do you feel?
00:27:00
Speaker
Um, good. I mean, not so much different, but I feel like I'm sleeping a little different now. So, which is interesting. Um, and yeah, I look, I'm just looking forward to seeing if there are any differences, but I mean, to be honest,
00:27:20
Speaker
Anytime you can take a like a crazy stimulant out of your, out of your bloodstream and out of your body is probably a good thing. So, you know, you don't have to quit coffee forever, but I think, you know, reducing the amount or, you know, having a break is probably a smart thing. um I feel like I've become a little bit more clearer.
00:27:45
Speaker
with sort of, you know, sitting, even just sitting on the computer and doing my work, I kind of feel a little bit more locked in. yeah Whereas with coffee hubby, I don't know, it's I feel like I was like kind of hovering. If you understand what I mean, like I was overseeing what I was doing. It's a weird thing to explain.
Effects of Substances on Creativity and Focus
00:28:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's like a hummingbird. Yeah, come on, come on.
00:28:15
Speaker
Yep. So, I mean, they say, actually, if you want to be creative, you should have a beer or drink alcohol. If you want to be, yeah. If you want to be ah focused and goal orientated, coffee. If you're going to choose caffeine, like there's two different kind of directions. If you want to be creative, alcohol is a better, ah like a depressant, basically, is a better way to allow creativity to flow.
00:28:44
Speaker
than caffeine, a stimulant. It sounds like one of those studies that, you know, the alcohol commission of alcohol was funded.
00:28:56
Speaker
They're like, yeah, drink more beer if you want to be a creative. this This study is brought to you by the Kellsberg Group. Exactly. ah I don't know. You know, I i mean, me personally, I'm like, yeah, it's better just to get into a creative space.
00:29:13
Speaker
in your own in your own way. I don't think you need anything to to get into that space if you just just want, if you're interested, you're curious, you always get there, so. Yeah, sometimes it takes a while though. No, it does. i I feel sometimes, I call it like in the flow, right? And for example, just on Saturday, I was,
00:29:40
Speaker
I had these big goals to try and like get some work done. The kids were away, wife was away, like, all right, let's get down and get some work done. And it took me four hours to get into the flow.
00:29:52
Speaker
Like I was just dicking around, just doing all this stupid stuff. Like I just couldn't focus. And then finally something just clicked. And then of course I was like half an hour into that. i mean And it was not the beer came. I get a, I get a phone call from the kids saying that they're coming home. I'm like, Oh God, no.
00:30:20
Speaker
And then Kristen calls, she's like, ah, um, Henry's on the way home, but you don't have to look after him. ah Oh, please get you. Cause I'm only half hour away and I'm like, Oh God, thank you. I'm in the flow. Like I need to just keep on working. Well, it's interesting you bring up the this, the flow, the creative flow. Cause you know, ah some years ago I read a book, uh, it's called What was it called? Congratulations, Karen. yeah It was called a m Living with a Creative Mind. And it was actually a book written towards people who live with creatives.
00:31:03
Speaker
um and but also helped i help me understand myself and the creative process a lot better. and and so like It brings up the example that you know when you meet when you when you say to someone, ah he's an artist, like there's that insinuation that he's a little bit unbalanced.
00:31:24
Speaker
You know what I mean? There's like, there's are like, oh, he's an artist. OK, he's a bit different, a bit weird, like, you know, he's a bit of a lone dog or, ah you know, a bit estranged or has some weird ideas on things, you know, is a little bit unbalanced, can be a bit temperamental, you know, this kind of thing. And the book basically explains that, like, the the creative process in which we get into when you're in a creative space, ex you you go hyper.
00:31:54
Speaker
So you go hyper and you exhaust yourself and then you're empty and then you need to rest. So then the in the rest phase, you're the most irritable because you need rest to recuperate and you feel unbalanced. That's why often creatives get depressed because they they go hyper and then they then they need to rest and they they have feel the load then because they've been hyper for like the last three days creating something.
00:32:24
Speaker
and get me into the zone. And then they feel the low and they think, what the fuck is wrong with me? Why is my life suck? I've just been doing this mad shit three days ago and now I'm just like, oh, you know, that's every video for me. Yeah, right. Exactly. And and that's actually that's actually the normal process of creativity. I think it's about time that we normalize this and say like, this is just part of the process.
00:32:50
Speaker
you and And I think you more you can understand that the low you have is just part of the rebuild to the next burst of creativity you have. And then if you can understand that about yourself, you'll be OK with the low and allow yourself to rest. Kristen and I call it the post video depression or post video blues. Yeah, right. Hmm.
00:33:17
Speaker
It's a big thing for me, because I know it's coming, but sometimes, weirdly, it still catches me off guard. Yeah, exactly, right? Because you're so like so focused on on the hyper productivity and the creativity and in the zone, right?
Navigating YouTube Success
00:33:33
Speaker
That you just, just even if you think in the back of your head, yeah, they'll come. You still get hit by it. so I mean, talking about videos, how's the new video going?
00:33:46
Speaker
It's doing doing really well. Like I'm just so surprised because seriously, I thought this video was going to bomb. Yeah. Because I just i did I mention it last week? I can't remember. But, you know, the sled thing winter, only half the population here pretty much has winter. You limit your audience, that sort of thing.
00:34:10
Speaker
to like people who even understand what a sled does and what it's like to ride one and in the snow and and on the ice. So I was like, maybe this is this is not going to go good. But dude, it is rocketing. Like it's my best performing video ever in really one. It's been out for a week now. Yeah. what What are you sitting at now?
00:34:33
Speaker
I think it's nearly 55,000 views. Wow, that's great. So you yeah if if that trend continues, you'll hit 100K by the end of the month. Maybe. I don't know. It it can die. like the um I haven't even shared it on Facebook yet. You only had to waste another 100,000 views from that. Or my friends.
00:34:59
Speaker
Imaginary friends don't count, don't count. Chatbots.
00:35:08
Speaker
My AI friends. Yeah, cool. Yes. So to be honest, I'm kind of blown away. um there So there's hope for the for the for the go-kart sled, the the go-kart snowmobile. Maybe. I mean, I don't know.
00:35:25
Speaker
I reckon and there is. It could be, it could be bomb. It could bomb too. So like I don't, that's the thing. Like you don't know. You, when you release something out into the YouTube ether, you know, you have zero control of how it will turn out. m People could think it's the dumbest thing ever and never click on it. Now I should also add the click through rate is not very high on this. I think it's around about 4% or something, 4 and a half percent, which is realistically quite low. ah But now it's been out for a week, it's showing it to a lot of different people that maybe don't even, most people never even seen my channel before.
00:36:09
Speaker
And the average watch time was around about seven and a half minutes, which is actually pretty big for a, I think it's a 19 minute video. Yeah. Right. So they nearly watch half of it. Yeah. I mean, they're getting up there and, but now that's dropped. Now that's dropped down to about six, six and a half minutes.
00:36:33
Speaker
But I think YouTube sees that people are engaged with the content and watching long. So does it really matter about click through rate? It seems like it seems like it'll just keep on pushing it to people when they know that potentially you'll sit on the platform for six and a half minutes. Yeah, I guess I can put another ad in there. Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah.
00:36:56
Speaker
That's exactly right. yeah So I just I feel really ah kind of blessed to see that everything seems to be going in the right direction for now. That's great, Jess.
00:37:10
Speaker
Hmm. So I've really taken note of that this week and like seeing like, OK, things are going in the right direction. You've turned this ship around. You see the growth. Things are happening like you're going to get it's going to be a roller coaster ride, of course, but.
00:37:27
Speaker
the net positive, you know, is that it's going in the right direction. Yeah. Yeah. So I just super grateful for that. I just see also like I got a comment on this video from Colin first, which was super nice. It just made me feel like, okay, some people that are out there, they're actually doing this properly.
00:37:55
Speaker
are taking note of what I'm doing. So must mean I'm doing something right. yeah cool And, ah you know, say great video does well, mate. He said, he said something along the lines of um ah too old for this. ah yeah I'm five years older than you or something like that. And then he said some something along although I, I did think about this when I was on the, he made this like, um what do you call it, death circle thing, and he was riding this drift trike on it. Yeah, okay. Yeah, and yeah, he did think about that. So, I don't remember exactly the words, but I tried not to let it sort of get to me, but there was a moment when I was like, I think was
00:38:46
Speaker
I don't know, Wednesday or Thursday morning, or I, Kristin was in the shower and I slammed the telephone against the glass in the shower like, look, look! I had this, that little fanboy moment, but. Yeah. um But the other thing is that I'm realizing is like, I just got to be cool about this shit too. Like I can't be the guy. I'm just kind of first, whatever.
00:39:14
Speaker
I'll make a ah splash when the Queen. What?
Engineering Adventures: Building a Snowmobile
00:39:21
Speaker
Sweating for the Queen of Norway, King of Queen of Norway, to just comment down my videos.
00:39:28
Speaker
Well, the comment, I mean, to be honest, his comment was amazing. But the other thing that was amazing is ah it's like 300 comments on this video now. Well, because you end you end the video with ah with an open question, yeah? Which is, I mean, I did it on purpose. Yeah, because everyone's just like, oh, engagement, engagement, engagement. Which is probably why the video is doing so well, because people are engaging in the comments.
00:39:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's great. and So yeah, that's been a big high for me this week. I've also started building the snowmobile, yeah which is basically the go-kart with skis and tracks bolted on. and It's weirdly finished. Yeah, I mean, it seemed like a fairly simple like adaptation.
00:40:23
Speaker
Yeah, except, you know, I decided to screw some things up as usual. But I mean, it's great. Maybe a snow won might for you stick around long enough for you to test it. Well, I mean, that's the thing. Like, there's no snow here anymore. Oh, really? Oh, that's no idea.
00:40:43
Speaker
yep So it looks like you might be putting up the Commodore to test it again. Yeah. We've got more snow. ah due for like or predicted for later this week as well. Yeah, okay. i'm ah Maybe we'll get colder here and we'll snow again here, right? I haven't looked at the weather report. But I have to say, this is, I feel like such an idiot. So I designed these parts to be machined by my sponsor PCBWay, right? Right. And I had this idea, I was like, yep,
00:41:16
Speaker
This is going to be perfect, so but I never kind of like set it up on the bench or even on the ground where the go-kart was sitting at the time when I was designing this thing to like kind of line it up and look at it. So what did I do? I like, yep, this is a solution I'm going with. Send, order, PCBWay, paid for the parts because they're the sponsor, right? I'm like, nice. The parts are arriving today.
00:41:45
Speaker
They are the wrong parts. ah Why? What's the issue? Well, so the part, what it basically I was going to do was I was going to chop an old rear axle that I had from the pallet go-kart, which fits the spline of the snow tracks. Right. And then I was going to weld that piece onto the ah piece that I had gotten from PCBWay.
00:42:12
Speaker
and then use the original bolt flanges just to bolt on to the plate. But when I looked at it, I was like, it sticks out too much. They're like too wide. And because the the rear axle is not that thick, it's about 17 mils, it's probably gonna bend yeah with the with them out so far away from the bearing.
00:42:40
Speaker
So I decided, uh, this is saha a bad idea. You should not do this. right So I went back to the drawing board and, uh, ended up designing. I found out when I was taking apart the tracks that I could actually shorten the spline. What exactly is a spline for the people that don't know what a spline is?
00:43:05
Speaker
Okay, I don't even know what a spline is. so ah So think about a spline is kind of like a gear like a like a cog. Yeah, but it's like long and flat.
00:43:18
Speaker
Okay. So on the end of the axle, you've got these small teeth. Yeah, right. You know, so for example, on the, on the snow tracks, it was a T 23, which means 23 teeth. So 23 teeth on this thing. And then it slides and it's kind of like over a long distance. So it's yeah, longer than it is wide, often a spline is. Yeah. So it's like a tube.
00:43:49
Speaker
Yeah. is it Well, I've designed a tube, but you can have like a like a male spline and a female spline. So the snow tracks are a female spline and I needed to make a male spline. So the original idea was that I just used the go-kart axle from the a pallet car cart and just put that in, right? It wouldn't, no problem. Fits perfect, amazing. But the ah the truth was it just wasn't going to work. So I've redesigned in Fusion a spline adapter.
00:44:27
Speaker
ah And I was like, all right, I just have to take this on the chin and like pay for it. And so I put a put the order through. It was so expensive. Well, it wasn't that expensive in the scheme of things, but like it was still 200 bucks. Yeah. you are So I was like, I have to take this on the chin. This sucks. You know, ah and then. That better be some ad revenue on this one.
00:45:03
Speaker
Then I looked at it and I was like, something wrong here. I realized I'd uploaded the wrong part. Oh, no. So now I'm in this process of trying to get a refund for the the money yeah from the from this wrong part. And in the meantime, I told my predicament to my sponsor. Right.
00:45:28
Speaker
And she just said, we'll cover it. Nice. So the lesson learnt here is just patience. Just patience. Just wait till they're like, because this is on the weekend. I was like, I've got to get this done. And then.
00:45:48
Speaker
If I just waited for a reply from the sponsor, yeah they probably said, we'll cover it. We'll gotcha. But I feel so thankful for them because literally I have not produced a video for them yet. And they have sponsored two projects yeah and they haven't seen shit yet from me. So I'm so grateful. i did I did record my first actual ad read.
00:46:13
Speaker
yeah Which I think is good. And I sent it to the PCB way yesterday. Yeah. And so she was she said it was great. and So. Yeah. when what will this Give us a gist. It's like along the lines of like, I don't have a CNC machining or I, you know, and I don't have the skills to do that. So lucky for me, this video is sponsored by PCB way.
00:46:40
Speaker
Yeah. And then I explained that, you know, you can upload your crazy ideas onto this your service and get things machined or 3D printed or injection molded and they're quick and easy and you can choose from huge selection of materials and surface finishes and then Then it cuts back to me in the garage saying, so if you don't have the tools and expertise like me, you know, check out PCB way. That's it. It's about 30 second ad read. I don't feel like it's very like ad ready. yeah yep So think that's good. I hope it is at least anyway.
00:47:20
Speaker
Sweet. Um, yeah, so that is basically been what's been going on in the garage last week. I feel really happy with everything. And I was just wondering though, Kieran, what is, um, double rainbow all the way across the sky.
00:47:43
Speaker
Blown. yeah What's blowing my mind this week is I went out to i went down to the pub on Saturday o and it was packed in January.
Market Observations and Viewer Engagement
00:47:59
Speaker
I was like, what the fuck? Everyone's doing dry January. Apparently not. So there was people everywhere. I'm like, it was a heaving night. I was like really surprised actually.
00:48:15
Speaker
So it looks like you got to push some sales. Yeah, pretty much. So, so I mean, like, we went to two boys. We went to Scooh Theatre, which is the Hondegiri Taproom, which is like way out of the way as well. And that was like full. Like we had to, we had, there was only like one or two available tables. And I was like, what the fuck?
00:48:41
Speaker
This, yeah, I imagine there'll be like three people there and they'll just be out sitting at the bar just drinking and craft beer, talking to the the bartender. Like, that's what I imagined. And that was just like, yeah, it was evening. And then, then we went, uh, we're headed back and then we missed the bus home. So we had another beer at record in, uh, in the Ramen and that was evening. Not available seat in the place.
00:49:06
Speaker
So I was like, so fill places Kieran. So there you go. So I'm hoping that, that they'll need some more of my beer soon as a result. So anyway, well that means I've got to get down on the sales side of things. And yeah, so there you go. That's my mind blown this week. What's more on your mind this week, Justin? I think it's as simple as this video is doing well. Like you cannot understand the algorithm of YouTube. No matter how much you try,
00:49:35
Speaker
You're like, I got this. but No, you don't. You have zero control of how people are going to feel about a video that you've made, right? And I think it just blows my mind that so many people have clicked on a video I thought was going to bomb. yeah I guys thought maybe if we're lucky, we'll get like 10,000 views on this thing. Really? Did you give such a bad rap?
00:50:00
Speaker
No, I thought ah reasonable like 10,000 views, not a little amount of views. That's that's a good for me, at least that's good. But to have like a week in and have 55,000 on there, it's pretty good. Yeah. So that blew my mind this week. Blowing your mind. Cool. Awesome.
00:50:24
Speaker
Um, I do have one little thing to say, though, about okay the video that might be giving me the... Dr. Emil, that's fair.
00:50:51
Speaker
hey that sounds pretty nay now i'm heard my goation
00:51:01
Speaker
ah I'm not sure if that intro just seems a bit long every time, but it's still funny. um You know what's giving me the shits, Karen? What's giving you the shits, Justin? keyboard warriors. keyboard warriors.
00:51:20
Speaker
I love the engagement at the same time. I'm like, people are so fucking stupid. It's probably chatbots. Maybe, but all I envisage is like this fat dude, like on a sofa, gone.
00:51:40
Speaker
a You're such a noob. Yeah, right. I got i got called a noob on my comments this week. Yeah, nice. Because I didn't understand how skis work. I'm like, oh, sorry. Like I didn't realize you were the fucking expert champ.
00:51:59
Speaker
i mean There's people that comment on shit that they clearly didn't watch the whole fucking video. Yeah. So a lot of people are saying like, Oh, you should make the skis tilt in the back. I'm like, they fucking do. Did you not watch the video? So I just write back here as a comment. Thanks so much for watching the full video. That's all I write. Uh, like I'm just, I'm looking at these good 292 comments.
00:52:31
Speaker
Yeah, it's fun, right? hey yeah it' some Like% of them are the same. yeah You should use carbide bits like they do on snowmobiles. I'm like, yeah, thanks, Captain Obvious. That's why I was i trying to get away from using this standard thing. I always love the fact that like people feel like that no one reads the comments and goes, oh yeah, they've already, like he's already, there's someone's written these 12 times already.
00:52:59
Speaker
like I don't need to write 12 times. Well, you know what I mean, right? A hundred times times already. I don't need to, uh, I don't need to add another comment to say exactly the same thing. No, they're like, yes, I will comment.
00:53:19
Speaker
ah love I'm very grateful for the people that comment, but like it does give me this shit. So when people decide they're going to spend the time writing a comment, they didn't actually watch the video. Yeah. I'm like, and the worst thing is too, those people like make the right, the biggest comment, don't they? There's like a long, spiraling thing. That's like fucking 12 sentences long. And you're just like,
00:53:44
Speaker
ah Why? Dude sometimes you get essays. Yeah. like Sometimes people write for, I don't know, like ah four pages of a like a normal book, right? Oh, it's so crazy. I'm reading through, I'm just scrolling through these comments now. Yeah. And the funny thing is like,
00:54:06
Speaker
None of these people are doing anything like I'm doing, right? No, I don't. so But they have these, like, ah strong opinions on how I should do things. And, like, warrior is ah name call me and stuff. yeah if but If I wasn't secure in who I was and what I was doing, I we would probably get it you' even worse than just giving me the shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, as I was like, you know, um eventually I would just be like,
00:54:35
Speaker
I'm glad that you answered the obvious question that I already knew the answer to, but I just, for the purpose of clickbait and making sure that this video does well, so I actually get paid. Thank you for my comment. Yeah, I was just going to say, thanks for thanks for making my video a little clickable. Appreciate the comment. Yeah. So, no, cool. what's That's awesome. What's giving you this shit, Skyrn? Kebabs.
00:55:03
Speaker
Ooh, that probably does give you this shit. Why, why can you not make a fucking kebab that doesn't give you the fucking shits? Like, I don't know. what I don't get the, I don't get why you can't like, like, it's not, it's not that hard to make clean, like keep meat clean, like keep it at an average temperature. That's not going to be like building up bacteria. That's going to fucking give you the shits the day after. Like I don't understand. It's like,
00:55:32
Speaker
I understand it's probably the economy that they reuse old meat, but like, come on, man. yeah yeah ah If someone makes a fucking kebab shop where you don't get the shits after, people will line up for days if that's like their...
00:55:47
Speaker
I think people use it like a colon cleanse, Kieran. Like, I drank too much on the weekend, gotta just colon cleanse, arm just load me up with a fucking dirty kebab.
00:56:00
Speaker
ah why So that Seriously though, what I remember eating some banger kebabs in Australia. Yeah. and They just don't make a good kebab here, do they? No, no. It's so Norwegian-fied. It's really good. Ezykrull in Drommen, that's the only one that's any anywhere worth your time. But that's definitely giving you the McShits.
00:56:31
Speaker
oh But it tastes so good. Oh, that one actually tastes good. The meat quality, not super high, but like, you know what? it's It's not dog or cat or whatever the fuck they make at the other stores.
00:56:45
Speaker
Well, you got the one across the road that everyone goes to, every new eating goes to, and you're like, why are you there? I don't even understand because like my wife, Lynn, she has this thing, she's like, no, the the kebab shop. Just explain. there's ah There's a chain of kebab shops called Snappies in Drummond. There's like three. There's two of them there. is There's one on um one on the north side of the river and one on the south side of the river, and there's one further up.
00:57:12
Speaker
towards Orson actually, but nobody is yeah but nobody thinks about that. But there's like an argument that are people are like, no, the the Snappies, are they all get this shit from like candor, this like pre-made rubbish shit, it's the same thing at every kebab shop. But there's like a genuine like heated argument of people like, no, the one at Bragnus is better. No, the one at Stromso is better. I'm like, it's the same shit.
00:57:41
Speaker
Don't understand. I don't understand why they're arguing about this stuff. It's so, they're both shit. They're both really bad. They're both shit. And people are like, no, no, this or the one at Bregnes is better. I'm like, how? Why? They use more sauce? I don't understand. Remember the one at Gladesville on the corner there we used to get off the bus? Yeah, yeah. What was that one called?
00:58:07
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. They had an episode of like fat pizza where he went in there and he was like, what's the mystery, kebab? It's a mystery. At least they had to bully. It was actually like, you know, a Middle Eastern kebab. And then they were toasted. Yeah, pretty good.
00:58:27
Speaker
So, you know, um, and what's this whole thing? You get a pit of bread and they fill a pit of bread with all the random shit covered in sauce and you're supposed to eat it with a fork. Yeah, but they, they fill it with cabbage. Yeah. Cabbage. It's so crazy. What? Who's eating cabbage? Yeah, like it's what I want for my, for my kebab cabbage. Cause it's cheap as fucking shit. Oh, we could talk about this for a long time Karen. There we go. All right, Justin.
00:58:58
Speaker
Recommendation, recommendation. What is your recommendation? Yeah. My recommendation is that you don't sing that intro again. You just told me pre-podcast to sing that song. It's true. I did. I'm going to recommend a YouTube channel called Critical.
00:59:21
Speaker
He's a Swedish guy, and good YouTube channel, really like honest and genuine. he's He doesn't lie about who he is. He's Swedish. He has a mix of English and Swedish in his videos. He's made a couple of really great little projects. Take note, to Pierre, you are Swedish.
00:59:44
Speaker
I don't think, I don't think, uh, Pierre would be into his so stuff, but he's at the moment, he's building this go-kart with 180 horsepower. okay yeah It's insane. And, uh, or sorry, 160 horsepower it is, but it's gotta be insane right now. It seems like it's not all working for him, but I'm sure it will work out. But, uh, oh my God.
01:00:11
Speaker
If that thing, that thing ripped with one of those motors on it. that he's one It's got multiple. So yeah, it's got, so basically built this go-kart and it instantly does wheelies. Right. And, and beat a Audi RS4 with 400 horsepower rights out of drag strip. Well, when it weighs, probably like the only weight on it is the motor and the passenger. Like, yeah, exactly. Yep.
01:00:42
Speaker
ah So now he's bolted the second electric motor to this thing. Oh, it's electric. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So giving it six, 160 horsepower. Because he found out that he, because he claimed that it was the fastest electric car. Right. ah But then someone else had done it someone else had done it better. So his goal is to hit over 200 clicks in this thing. Jesus Christ.
01:01:08
Speaker
ah That's fast. Yeah, that's an absolute weapon. So I want to recommend his channel so that people can watch him die. because That is insane. Like, I'm not sure I would even strap myself into that thing. Yeah. Because that episode of Top Gear where Hammond like straps himself into the rocket car.
01:01:32
Speaker
And it flips upside down and he gets critically injured. Oh, yep. Cool. That's awesome. My I will, I will check. What was it called? Critical. Critical. Okay, cool. he He's also built like a couple of miniature cars. So kind of like what I've been doing. now So you're like, yeah, Federation.
01:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he he kind of proved to the point, the point to me that I could 3D print a car. Yeah, seeing from his videos. So, yeah. ah So that is also what's happening this week with me is I've got to get this world rally car up and going because I basically can't do anything on the snowmobile until I get the parts. Go.
01:02:21
Speaker
and Good, I love want to see this this rally car up in up and going. as soon as what he What are you going to recommend, Kirk? I'm going to recommend some music this week. Music? It's been ah taking a bit of a dive back into an old classic. Well, not really, it's that old, but Sleep Token. can i get okay Have you heard of Sleep Token, Justin? No.
01:02:49
Speaker
A sleep token is a masked band from the UK, I believe. and Nobody, of course, just like Slipknot, nobody knows who they are or except eventually they did. um I'm sure it'll probably be the same for this. and ah It's an eclectic mix of ah metal, gents and like and sing a songwriter yeah like,
01:03:21
Speaker
oh man it's just like there's piano going on, there's like big epic string sections, there's like, and then some like, yeah some of the stuff is like genre breaking.
01:03:34
Speaker
real genre breaking stuff like you like there's a song called The Summoning which is like starts out this heavy hit hitting like rhythmic metal piece and then just like breaks out into like this funk in the end and it's just like and you're you're getting the groove on at the end they're like you're like oh yeah m m so if you want to like actually listen to some music that's like breaking out of like genre stereotypes sleep token there you go Do you know how many times you said like in that rant about about 50 million? I do not know what you're doing. You said like a teenage girl like like you know like oh my god and like oh and then they go into like this full funk like section. I will I will admit that there are a
01:04:28
Speaker
ah dis proportionate level of female teenagers that do like this band.
01:04:40
Speaker
But it might have something to do with the some of the song. and What can you say themes? A lot of it is all about broken hearted love, dysfunctional relationships and so on and so forth. So ah yeah, there just there's a bunch of you know, needy teenage girls are just pining for, for a vessel as he's known as the, uh, the front man of the band vessel. Yeah. He calls himself a vessel. ah Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So there you go. But anyway, just stay, stay open. If you want to try something new, if you're like, Oh, I've just listened to like, uh, Michael Jackson too many times. my checkard god on the
01:05:30
Speaker
um Yeah, those very I mean there's only so much kidty kitty fiddling you can listen to. jesus On that note, thank you all so much for listening. We hopefully join we will join you again next week when we give you an update on other shenanigans going on in our garage. Thanks everyone. Thanks for listening to my likes.
01:06:05
Speaker
See you guys. See ya.