Mar 25

Can’t Migrate Public Folders to your Exchange 2013 Server?

I have this great to do for migrating public folders from Exchange 2007/2010 to my new Exchange 2013 server (found here: https://supertekboy.com/2014/10/13/2013-public-folder-migration-made-easy/).

Problem is, it doesn’t work.

What doesn’t work?  Why, all the PowerShell commandlets and parameters relating to public folders seem to be absent.  Exchange Management Shell is missing them.

Solution: Use the regular PowerShell shell, and run the following command:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.E2010

Now you can use your Public Folder related commands and parameters in the regular PowerShell window and they will work. Wish I had known that sooner.

Happy migrating!

 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=981

Nov 01

East India IPA – Batch 59

It’s been over a year since I last brewed. Working too much and being too broke will do that. But, my good friend Rob wanted to brew, so we brewed. He wanted to do my IPA recipe, so that’s what we brewed.

East India IPA ingredients

East India IPA ingredients

10 gallons of IPA sounds pretty good to me! So, we followed the directions I posted way back in my batch 27 post. Only ingredient difference is the yeast- Rob didn’t know what yeast to get so he got some Wyeast 1217 West Coast IPA.

Did the protein rest, 130 degrees for 1/2 hour, 150 degrees for 1/2 hour, and 158 for 1/2 hour. During the boil I went to get some Chinese food, and we had a boil over. Guess I used too much water getting the temperature correct.

Anyways, got all the hops added and Irish moss, then strained the hops out. Had to re-combine both fermenters to make sure both were equally mixed. Now we have two batches of beer waiting for yeast to be pitched.

IPA's in fermenters

IPA’s in fermenters

11/2- Pitched yeast this morning. Initial gravity was 1.068, so on track for a decent alcohol percent. Next week we’ll be adding some oak chips.

 

11/9- boiled oak chips and divided them between the fermenters.

Fermentation has mostly stopped.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=969

Apr 08

How to Defeat CryptoLocker

Many people have been hit with the Cryptolocker virus, effectively hijacking their files unless they have a backup.  Well, now you can get your files back, assuming you have System Restore turned on.

Here is an article on how to get your files back after a Cryptolocker infection:

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/70476-how-to-beat-cryptolocker?utm_source=swemail&utm_medium=newsletterresource&utm_campaign=0408

Hope that saves some headaches!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=963

Oct 12

Fresh Hop IPA Bottled- Batch 58

Fresh Hop Ale

Fresh Hop Ale

Well, finally got around to bottling the fresh hop IPA. I was originally going to rack it to a secondary about a week after brewing, but that didn’t happen.  I still had the hops, so I made a hop tea out of them and added that to my bottling bucket before I transferred the beer.

The beer?  Well, it had a different odor to it.  Not like bad- just like…. green.  Like grass.  Or something.

Final gravity came out to 1.014, for about 7.8% alcohol by volume.  I tasted it too, not sure how I’m going to like this.  I’ll be sad if this doesn’t turn out.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=956

Aug 30

Fresh Hop IPA brewed (batch 58), Peach Beer bottled (batch 57)

Fresh Hops

Fresh Hops

So, my friend Rob Morrison got a ton of fresh hops from a friend.  Naturally, we had to brew.  So, we did a fresh hop IPA based on my God is Good beer recipe.

Here is the modified recipe:

3 gallons water
1 pound 60L Crystal malt
2 pounds 2 row malt
7 pounds pale liquid malt extract
1 oz Cascade hops (pre-boil)
2.5 oz Cascade hops (bittering) (60 min)
1 oz Cascade hops (30 minute)
1 oz Cascade hops (20 minute)
1 oz Cascade hops (10 minute)
1 oz Cascade hops (aroma) (2 min)
Yeast: White Labs WLP051 California Ale V Yeast

Pre-Boil Tea

Pre-Boil Tea

So, we steeped the grains in 145 degree water for 40 minutes along with an ounce of hops.  After straining the hops and grains added more water and brought the whole thing to a boil.  We added the malt extract when we had a good boil, then pitched in the 2.5oz of hops.

First Hop Addition

At 30 minutes added another ounce of hops.  Then again at 20 minutes.  Then again at 10.  Then at 2 minutes left.  Think we used enough hops?

Hops to add

Hops to add

We strained the hops out and threw it into our fermenter and topped it off to 5 gallons.  The hop aroma coming from this was beautiful.  I think I may have to be stingy with this one.

We also bottled the peach wheat beer tonight.  Guess what I’m naming it?

Isn't That A Peach?

Isn’t That A Peach?

Final gravity was 1.006.  So, with a start of 1.050, then to 1.012, then to 1.014 after the peaches, the total change of 0.046, times 105 is 4.83, times 1.25 is 6.04 percent alcohol by volume.  My other wheat is 5.5%.  Not bad.

Edit: 8/31 I aerated my IPA and pitched the yeast.  Initial gravity was 1.064.  Same as the last time I brewed this.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=944

Aug 19

Hefeweizen – Batch 56 Bottled

So, on Saturday 8/10 I bottled my Hefeweizen, which I also call my Witty Weizenbeir.  Final gravity came out to be 1.014, giving me an alcohol percentage of 5.5%.  Not too shabby.

The Hallertauer aroma is wonderful, the beer has a good malt body with a nice show of hop flavor.  Definitely did a good job on it this time.

My Peach Hefeweizen got transferred to secondary with 6 lbs of peach puree.  Fermentation kicked off again on it as well.  I noticed the flavor on this wasn’t as full bodied as the other batch, which accounts for the difference in gravities as well.  My gravity before adding the puree was 1.012.  After the puree was 1.014.  I wondered at first if it should be higher than that, but it is what it is.  Will be a bit before I can get to bottling this one.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=941

Aug 03

Hefeweizen and Peach Hefeweizen – Batch 56 and 57

It’s been since October since I’ve brewed.  So, decided to do a hefeweizen.  But I also wanted to do a peach hefeweizen.  Well, why not do both?  So I did.

After much contemplation I decided on doing one big 10 gallon batch, and I will put half with peaches in a secondary.  That way I’ll have 1/2 regular hefeweizen (for those people who think fruit in their beer is effeminate), and 1/2 will be a peach hefeweizen.  Good plan!

Recipe:

14 lbs Briess Bavarian Wheat Malt Extract
3 oz Hallertauer hops (1.5oz bittering, 1oz with 15 minutes left for flavor, 1/2oz for aroma)2 packets Safbrew WB-06- Wheat Beer Yeast
6 lbs Peach Puree (for secondary)

Brought 5 gallons of water to a boil and added the liquid malt extract.  Once it reboiled added the 1.5oz of hops.

Hallertauer Hops in wort

Hallertauer Hops in wheat malt wort

Waited 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then added 1oz more of hops.  Waited 10 minutes, then added the rest of my hops.

Strained out the hops and transferred it to my two fermenters, then topped both of them off to 5 gallons.

Hefeweizen in Fermenters

Hefeweizen in Fermenters

Tomorrow I pitch the yeast.  In a week I’ll transfer one to a secondary with my peaches, which I cheated with and bought peach puree.

6 Lbs Peach Puree

6 Lbs Peach Puree

 

Edit: took gravity today, my smaller bucket had an initial gravity of 1.056, the bigger bucket was 1.050. I’m wondering if I added more water in the larger bucket.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=930

Mar 22

VDI Comparisons

VDI-in-a-box graphic

VDI-in-a-box graphic

Been looking at replacing our current Terminal Server environment and rethinking our workflow for our end users.  Of course, VDI has come up and I’ve begun to ask whether we should move to some VDI solution or stay with Terminal Services (or Remote Desktop services as Microsoft now calls it).

So, I’ve begun researching.  And researching.  And asking lots of people lots of questions.

The best resources I’ve found so far?  Easy.  Here’s the first:

VDI Smackdown.  This link contains a whitepaper laying out the different VDI solutions, including VDI-in-a-box and Microsoft Server 2012’s solution.  Incredible resource.  Download it now.

Spiceworks.  Their communities are a great source of info.  Lots of IT people with lots of IT wisdom.  If you aren’t a part of the Spiceworks community yet, sign up here.

From what I’ve found, traditional VDI is way too expensive for an organization our size. The rule of thumb is >200 users for traditional VDI to pay off.  So, right now I’m exploring both Server 2012’s enhanced Remote Desktop services, which has a feature for deploying virtual desktops based off a golden image.  The other option I’m looking at is VDI-in-a-box by Citrix.  Dell has a  VDI-in-a-box solution they market called the DVS Simplified appliance, which is basically a R720 server running Windows Server and the Citrix VDI-in-a-box software, but they fully support it.  Given that they own Wyse as well this could be an attractive bundle.

What should I choose?  What should you choose?  Well, that depends on what your goals are.  My goals are the following:

  1. Simplified Management for end users
  2. A rich end user experience (fast UI reaction, video, desktop sharing, conferencing, viewing CAD drawings)
  3. Better management of difficult apps (such as DWG Trueview, Saleslogix desktop manager, GotoMeeting) without jumping through a ton of hoops.
  4. Quicker disaster recovery response for our end users.

We haven’t finalized our decision, but I will keep notes on our process and hopefully update this blog with the results.  Stay tuned.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=923

Oct 20

Big Fat Oatmeal Stout- Batch 55 bottled

I bottled the beer tonight, with the help of my friend Rob.  I also helped him bottle two beers he’s been sitting on since March.  At least they’re beers that mature well with age!

Final gravity came out to be 1.024, which would give me an 8.7% alcohol by volume.  Nice!

Of course, we tasted it tonight.  One sip and it’s ok.  One mouthful and it’s better.  You get more of the oatmeal texture and creaminess with larger tastes.  Ohh, it’s good!  Can’t wait to show it off to everyone at my friends beer tasting party!

Big Fat Oatmeal Stout

Big Fat Oatmeal Stout

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=919

Oct 12

Imperial Oatmeal Stout- Batch 55

Gearing up for a beer tasting party next month and need to cap it off with a good stout.  Was planning on doing my old stand by Oatmeal Stout, which I love, but I wanted to do something bigger.  Something better.  Something…. imperial!

Imperial Stout Ingredients (minus the grains)

Ingredients (minus the grains)

So, here’s what I came up with for a recipe:

2 lbs quick oats
3 lbs light malt extract
6 lbs liquid dark malt extract
1-1/2 lbs 60L crystal malt
1/2 lb chocolate malt
1/2 lb roasted barley
1/4 lb black patent
4 tsp gypsum
1oz Centennial hops (boiling)
1 oz Cascade hops (boiling)
1/2 oz Cascade hops (10 minutes left)
1/2 oz Cascade hops (2 minutes left)
1/4 tsp Irish Moss (10 minutes left)
Irish Ale Yeast

Oatmeal for stout

Oatmeal for stout

So I made a tea with the grains by putting them in a grain bag.  Had about 2.5 gallons of water and held it at 150 degrees for 30 minutes.  My boys enjoyed splashing the grain bag around.

Tea-Bagging grains

Tea-Bagging grains

Once I got the kids to bed I began the boil.  I added the light malt extract and my bittering hops. Once I had 10 minutes left I added the liquid dark malt extract and the Irish moss.  I also added my flavor hops.  About this time I realized that I forgot to add my gypsum to my water.  Oops.  There’s always next time.

Hops in Oatmeal Stout

Hops in Oatmeal Stout

With 2 minutes left I added the remaining hops.  Finally my boil was done, so I removed the wort from heat and began to strain out the hops.  This didn’t take too long.  Then I poured my hot wort into my fermenter, burning my finger in the process.  Topped it off to 5 gallons and cleaned up my mess, which wasn’t too bad this time.

I’m so looking forward to this being done.  I’m going to enjoy this one!

Edit: Just took the initial gravity and pitched the yeast.  Initial gravity was 1.090.  I started to wonder if I shouldn’t be more scientific and precise when I take the gravity readings, given how my readings seem off sometimes.  Tonight’s was probably right.  I got it from pretty much dead center of the beer.

Also, this beer already tastes AMAZING!  Oh, I so can’t wait for this to be done!  My wife even liked it, and that says a lot.

Brett aerating the beer before pitching the yeast

Brett aerating the beer

Permanent link to this article: https://www.brettgorley.com/?p=909