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Hollis posted:Well my actual process was to just make it like jam, I mean heat the berries then distill the juice bits I don't want then add it to the mixture of honey and water. Not putting the actual berries in there but don't really know if that is going to work. I have no idea though on the proper amount though. Still researching that. It recommends concentrate. So just researching how much juice I want to put in there. Depending on when I harvest the blackberries is important as well, the less ripe the more bitter. Sulfites are used heavily in making wines to deal with whatever may be on the grapes. Check out The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm. He has some guidance on using fruits in meads, which are technically considered melomels. There are also a number of recipes you can adapt for your own use.
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Apr 3, 2012 22:19
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Thanks a bunch for the help, I should be doing this in a couple of weeks. It's still not quiet the best season to go picking. I'll definitely check that book out.
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Apr 3, 2012 23:26
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Spergio Leone posted:What's the effect of using less or more water when doing a partial boil? I've been playing around with Beer Calculus on Hopville given that I have a recipe for a 10 litre kit but may not be able to boil the entirety of that given that I very nearly topped out my brewpot with the last batch which only called for 6 liters. So if I brew this using less water than called for, do I have to increase the hop bill to make up for it? Less water will decrease hop utilization and can also contribute a nasty, ink-like flavor ("extract twang") to the finished beer. You can prevent both things from happening by adding most of your extract to the boil with just 5 or so minutes left. DME is already "cooked," so there isn't any downside to this method. Has anyone ordered from Freshops.com recently? It looks like their online store isn't functioning. il serpente cosmico fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Apr 4, 2012 |
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Apr 4, 2012 00:21
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I'm really enjoying this thread but am still on page 10. A lot of invaluable information already, but my fermentation is going to be finished before I can read it all. So, this is my first batch of brew. I bought a Brewer's Best IPA kit and a basic brewing kit from my local shop. It had an OG of 1.062 and should have a FG of 1.014 to 1.017. The procedure says, "Within 4-6 days the bubbling will slow down and you will see no more CO2 being released ... no bubbles for 48 hours..." It has been fermenting for 8 days now with no sign of stopping. Today, when I came home from work, I went straight to my fermenter and saw it immediately bubble. I suspect that I should just let it keep rolling until its done, but, since I have no experience with these things, I've come seeking advice. I'll give some background, in case any of it is relevant. I started the brew on Sunday morning (which turned out to be a mistake,) but had an unexpected delay of couple of hours between the time I finished brewing the wort and started pitching the yeast. I stuck it in two sterile, food-safe gallon containers in the fridge in the meantime. I brought it back to room temp in the brew bucket for an hour before pitching. The water I used was just tap, and a tad chlorine heavy. Fermentation began that night. I live in Louisiana and it is already hot. I left my AC on ~74 while I was at work the next day, and it undoubtedly ran all day. The bucket was left in the coldest, darkest place in the house ("coldest" being a very relative term here.) I came home to see what I now know was a blow off (blow out?) and a thin vertical line of wort on my white wall where it had shot out of the airlock. The lock was full of beer and I naturally panicked. The internet told me that this was very survivable and so I rigged a blow off container of a gallon H2O jug filled with bleach water. I sterilized my transfer tube and attempted to stick it onto the re-sterilized airlock. This failed, so I opted to stick it directly into the grommet after removing the debris and wiping the grommet with bleach water. I worried about this, but a YouTube video explained that the positive pressure was so intense that nothing would get in. I held a match to the grommet and tube connection and, surprisingly, it was very snug with little visible CO2 escape. I picked up a 2000 ml flask and extra tubing for the next blow off. Next time, brew day will be Saturday. Someone early in this thread described their brewing process as starting colder and gradually getting warmer, so I moved my bucket to the distinctly warmer laundry room over the weekend, hoping that I could bottle on Sunday. The CO2 release seems to have increased as a result, but I really thought it would have ceased by now, the eighth day. I am about to go crack the lid and take a hydrometer reading. If it is within range, should I make plans to bottle and, if so, how soon? If I bottle while it is still visibly releasing CO2, will the addition of the priming sugar create too much carbonation for the bottles? Or should I just wait until it stops releasing CO2 for two days as per the kit's procedure, even if that is long past 4-6 days? I enjoyed a nice, sharp Abita Jockamo IPA for this post. Can't wait to try my own, though.
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Apr 4, 2012 02:12
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Does anyone have experience with the recipes and techniques in Homemade Root Beer, Soda, and Pop by Stephen Cresswell? I have some questions about the book; either this book could be re-titled Homemade Bottle Bombs: Broken Glass and Shattered Dreams or I don't understand things as well as I thought. Probably the latter.
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Apr 4, 2012 02:25
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mrhemisphere posted:[ferment seems to keep rolling] In all likelihood, your beer is done or near done. Yes, it may still be bubbling, but the only real way to tell for sure is to take a hydrometer reading, and then another one a day or two later. If the gravity has stopped dropping, the beer is done and you can package it as soon as you're ready. The bubbles you are seeing lately may be nothing more than gas coming out of solution. That said, 8 days is not a terribly long ferment. My rule of thumb is to go 12-14 days or so, whatever the hydrometer says, so that the yeast can finish up and settle out. Ideally, the last couple of days I turn the temp down to encourage things to settle out, but it doesn't sound like you're equipped for that, so don't worry about it.
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Apr 4, 2012 02:34
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mrhemisphere posted:I'm really enjoying this thread but am still on page 10. A lot of invaluable information already, but my fermentation is going to be finished before I can read it all. Alright, in no particular order: Take a hydrometer reading today, and then one in two or three days. If it is in the range that the kit said to expect, and hasn't moved in between readings, then you are ready to bottle. Ignore the stuff about "after x number of days." Relax. People were doing this 400 years ago in caves. Things have gotten even easier since then. Also, you're going at it too hot. I feel your pain, I'm in Houston. Stick your fermenter in a bucket of water, add ice (pro tip, frozen water bottles are cheaper, and don't continually add volume) in the bucket. Place a towel over the top of all if it, just touching the water. Change the ice twice a day. That'll get you to good temps. Or only do belgians and saisons. But, like I said, don't worry too much about it. People did this in caves (which were much cooler, to be fair), and there poo poo turned out fine. Imasalmon fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Apr 4, 2012 |
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Apr 4, 2012 02:39
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Imasalmon posted:Also, you're going at it too hot. I feel your pain, I'm in Houston. Sick your fermenter in a bucket of water, add ice (pro tip, frozen water bottles are cheaper, and don't continually add volume) in the bucket. Place a towel over the top of all if it, just touching the water. Change the ice twice a day. That'll get you to good temps. Or only do belgians and saisons. But, like I said,.don't worry too much about it. People did this in caves (which were much cooler, to be fair) This is such an annoying time for people to get into beer brewing cause its either getting warm soon or if you're in the south it already is hot. I don't think I want to know how many people gave up after a couple of summer brews coming out like plastic. The midwest was awesome in this regard because there's really only 4 months that are total trash for brewing au natural. Now I'm in Louisiana too and I've had my air conditioning on since the middle of March. Glad I spent my poor student brewing years up north though.
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Apr 4, 2012 02:51
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Thanks for the prompt replies - trusting the hydrometer completely makes sense. I actually did crack the lid last night as well as tonight to take a reading, and both read 1.012. That is lower than the expected 1.014, so it seems it is done. I attribute the lower gravity to the fact that I stopped adding water at 4.75 gallons because that is the point I hit the desired OG range.
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Apr 4, 2012 03:52
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mrhemisphere posted:Thanks for the prompt replies - trusting the hydrometer completely makes sense. Excellent! Now get ready to bottle. No particular rush, no matter what the old fogey wisdom claims. Dissolve your priming sugar in some near boiling water, pour that solution into your bottling bucket, and siphon your beer out on top of it. Try to have the beer coming into the bucket right at the bottom, and angle the hose so that the beer swirls around in the bucket as it is filling up. That'll make sure the priming sugar is mixed in there well. Also, I am incapable of bottling without spilling a bit, so if you are like me, have a pot or something to stick the bottles in while you fill, and a towel handy. Just some personal experience there, and not a necessary thing at all. Leave the bottles in a cool dark place, like a cabinet under the sink, for a week or two. Put them in the fridge, and then enjoy your beer! Fun fact, since you mentioned Abita: Andygator was a winning beer from a homebrew contest, and Abita took a big risk actually making it, since it was above the abv limits in Louisiana at the time. zedprime posted:I was going to add to Jo3sh's write up there is nothing wrong in theory with whats happening from a can I drink this stand point, but you are in for such a ride of off flavors if you just roll with your air con set in the 70s. If you think it is already hot in the South, you are not going to like June-August. Imasalmon fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Apr 4, 2012 |
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Apr 4, 2012 04:36
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Imasalmon posted:
My Panamanian friend agrees anything over 80 is hot. I'll admit even with all the hot I've been through I am not looking forward to the humidity this summer. That's what the homebrew is for, I suppose.
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Apr 4, 2012 15:22
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If you're bottling, do yourself a favor and get a bottle tree and sanitizer pump to go on top. It is completely worth it for the time saved.
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Apr 4, 2012 16:02
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If heat is going to be an issue, should I go ahead and start looking into rigging a fridge with a temperature controller? Or is it possible to achieve the right temps using an unmodified fridge?
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Apr 4, 2012 16:21
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mrhemisphere posted:If heat is going to be an issue, should I go ahead and start looking into rigging a fridge with a temperature controller? Or is it possible to achieve the right temps using an unmodified fridge? I don't think you will be able to hit the right temperatures without a temperature controller. The fridge + controller package is absolutely the most consistent way to manage your ferments, but unless you have already decided you love the hobby, it might be early to go spending hundreds of dollars on it or anything. If you already have a fridge doing nothing, or can acquire one at a yard sale for  or something, by all means, run with it. The controller is another $50-100, so be sure to plan for that as well. I cheaped out when I bought mine, so I got this one. Depending on your skills as an electrician, you might be able to rig something up for less - I think someone said in one of these threads a while ago that thery were able to get a Love controller up and running for about $40 or something. If you don't want to go with a fridge yet, a big tub of water and some frozen water bottles is a pretty good stopgap. In the South, the humidity means you probably won't get much benefit from evaporative cooling, but you can try it if you want by pulling an old T-shirt or a towel over the fermenter and letting the water wick up the fabric.
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Apr 4, 2012 16:31
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Keep an eye on craigslist. I got a big chest freezer in good condition for about $20 because the guy was moving and desperate to get rid of it. There's cheap/free fridges and freezers on there all the time.
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Apr 4, 2012 16:45
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Cpt.Wacky posted:If you're bottling, do yourself a favor and get a bottle tree and sanitizer pump to go on top. It is completely worth it for the time saved. Is this really necessary? When I bottle (which I plan on doing tomorrow for my SNPA clone!) I just make a 5 gallon batch of starsan and submerge the bottles completely until I need them. Pour out the starsan, rack beer and cap.
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Apr 4, 2012 16:51
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I have a spare fridge, so I'm half way there. I assumed electrical work was involved, but now that I see it doesn't necessarily require it, I think I'll go for it. Since I plan to do batch 2 this weekend, I may have to use water bottles in the meantime. So, is my experimental inmate wine of grape juice and bread yeast going to require similar temp control? Not that it really matters, since it's probably going to taste like molded bread anyway.
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Apr 4, 2012 17:36
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lazerwolf posted:Is this really necessary? When I bottle (which I plan on doing tomorrow for my SNPA clone!) I just make a 5 gallon batch of starsan and submerge the bottles completely until I need them. Pour out the starsan, rack beer and cap. In my (admittedly limited) experience, the big downside there is it takes an annoying amount of time per bottle to pour them out. If you've got two helpers it's not a big deal because it takes about the same amount of time that filling the current bottle takes, but a bottle tree is awesome when it's just you filling and someone capping.
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Apr 4, 2012 17:38
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lazerwolf posted:Is this really necessary? When I bottle (which I plan on doing tomorrow for my SNPA clone!) I just make a 5 gallon batch of starsan and submerge the bottles completely until I need them. Pour out the starsan, rack beer and cap. No, it isn't. I did about four 5 gallon batches the way you describe. It's hard to understand just how much nicer it is until you've tried it for yourself. They work for wine bottles too, which is nice if you're doing things other than beer like cider or mead.
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Apr 4, 2012 19:38
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mrhemisphere posted:I have a spare fridge, so I'm half way there. I assumed electrical work was involved, but now that I see it doesn't necessarily require it, I think I'll go for it. Since I plan to do batch 2 this weekend, I may have to use water bottles in the meantime.
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Apr 4, 2012 19:41
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I'm bottling my hefeweizen tonight and I used this calculator to see how much corn sugar I'm going to need to get 4 volumes of CO2 in my 3 gallon batch. It's telling me to use 5oz. That seems awfully high. I used 5oz in a 4 gallon batch of porter I made last year and it was completely undrinkable. I couldn't even open the bottles without getting a fountain of foam spewing 10 inches out of the top of the bottle so I'm a little skeptical of this calculator. Does anyone have any experience bottle priming a hefe?
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Apr 5, 2012 02:01
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5oz seems about right for a 5 gallon batch of of a hef, adjust it accordingly for 3 gallons.
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Apr 5, 2012 02:19
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Hollis posted:Well my actual process was to just make it like jam, I mean heat the berries then distill the juice bits I don't want then add it to the mixture of honey and water. Not putting the actual berries in there but don't really know if that is going to work. I have no idea though on the proper amount though. I wouldn't chuck all the solids. During fermentation a chunk of aroma and flavor will get offgassed, and after the ferment there'll be alcohol and yeast byproducts in the wine/mead to compete with the fruit flavor. A lot of fruit is just sugar; the skins and pulp contribute much of the unique taste and aroma that carries into a fermented beverage. You want to have some of them in there to pull out the tannins and other compounds that give blackberries their unique flavor characteristics to compete with that. internet celebrity posted:Does anyone have any experience bottle priming a hefe? IIRC regular bottles can't tolerate much more than 3 volumes of CO2
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Apr 5, 2012 02:35
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This is the temp controller at my local brew shop. A little pricey, but this probably isn't something I should go cheap on. I took another hydrometer reading and its steady at 1.012. This time, I had the presence of mind to scoop a bit into a glass while it was open. I put it in the freezer for ten minutes to chill and tasted it. It was actually pretty good. Definitely had some interesting flavors, but this was the maiden voyage. There is a slight smell that is almost soapy, but I don't detect anything like that in the flavor. It tasted like an IPA and the alcohol was definitely there, so I'm less worried. Also, I shot the vodka from the air lock. That was different.
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Apr 5, 2012 02:44
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My LHBS had star san!!!  What's an easy way to measure 6 mL to make a 1 gallon batch?
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Apr 5, 2012 02:48
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mewse posted:My LHBS had star san!!! Pipette: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/pyrex-disposable-glass-pipet-10ml.html Reusable as long as you don't break it.
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Apr 5, 2012 02:54
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that's roughly 1 1/4 teaspoons, i'd just do that.
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Apr 5, 2012 02:55
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One Day Fish Sale posted:Pipette: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/pyrex-disposable-glass-pipet-10ml.html I'm not in the states so I have no idea where I could get a pipette cheaply, online or local. I asked my nurse friend if she could get me a syringe to measure 6mL but she hasn't responded yet. I'll end up measuring 1 1/4 tsp if I have to, bottling day is friday \o/
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Apr 5, 2012 02:58
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mewse posted:I'm not in the states so I have no idea where I could get a pipette cheaply, online or local. I have tupperware just about the right size for 1 tsp for what it is worth.
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Apr 5, 2012 03:01
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I have a children's medicine dropper that has mL graduations on it - that works nicely. I also have a syringe that I use for small amounts.mrhemisphere posted:This is the temp controller at my local brew shop. A little pricey, but this probably isn't something I should go cheap on. That's a widely used controller, should work great. Johnson controls makes a similar one but it doesn't seem to be as widely available as the Ranco for some reason. You might find the Ranco on eBay or something a little cheaper, but it generally won't come set up like that one, and you need to be careful to get the right voltage range. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Apr 5, 2012 |
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Apr 5, 2012 03:13
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Jo3sh posted:I have a children's medicine dropper that has mL graduations on it - that works nicely. I also have a syringe that I use for small amounts. Yeah I was figuring I'd swing by the drug store and ask if they carry anything that would work. Thanks guys
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Apr 5, 2012 03:38
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Most drug stores will give you the syringes for free. They might think you're a junkie, but hey. That's where I got mine, which I only use for weird cooking projects.
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Apr 5, 2012 04:20
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Nurse chick txted me back and said she can get me a syringe. My heroin addiction abides..
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Apr 5, 2012 04:23
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mrhemisphere posted:This is the temp controller at my local brew shop. A little pricey, but this probably isn't something I should go cheap on. 1) Yeah that temp controller looks good and isn't a terrible price for one that can hold to with 1 degree (mine is analog and only good to 4 degrees, got it for about $60 after tax). If I'd known when I bought it how much I would love the hobby, I'd have shelled out another measly $30 for a better controller  2) I got soapy flavors and aromas out of very hoppy beers until I moved to doing a full volume boil. I have no idea why, if anyone here has an explanation it's something I've always wondered about. A buddy who does partial boil extract is getting the exact same issue. 3)  That is awesome
Docjowles fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Apr 5, 2012 |
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Apr 5, 2012 06:20
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I made a brown ale at the end of December and my fermenting fridge was full so I just swamp cooled it. I put in two ice bottles one time, though, and dropped the temperature about 7* in a few hours during the height of fermentation. Needless to say that while it finished, it had a lot of yeast stress byproducts. It was drinkable and obvious a good beer was hiding somewhere in there, but nowhere near as good as I expected (I'd done a version of this recipe before and it was way better). Anyway, ~3 months in a keg later, somehow all the esters/fusels completely disappeared and this poo poo is delicious. I've been trying to get my beers to come out perfect with as little aging as possible, but this serves as a reminder that aging really will smooth out most wrinkles in your homebrew. Patience. Patience. Patience!!
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Apr 5, 2012 08:20
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Docjowles posted:1) Yeah that temp controller looks good and isn't a terrible price for one that can hold to with 1 degree (mine is analog and only good to 4 degrees, got it for about $60 after tax). If I'd known when I bought it how much I would love the hobby, I'd have shelled out another measly $30 for a better controller I get soapy flavors out of commercial beer that I never did before and then it seemingly went away too. Hop sourcing issues or something? Nothing intuitive jumps out for why it would be related to smaller volumes.
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Apr 5, 2012 13:20
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At the end of this month, I'll be taking a nice 7 month paid 'vacation' to the desert. I plan to pitch yeast into (most of) a gallon jug of cider then rack it into a second gallon jug, screw the top on, and put it into the refrigerator until I return at the end of the year. Are there any problems with this plan or is there something I could do to make it work better?
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Apr 6, 2012 03:07
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Looking for some advice from the hop heads! I tend to brew malty styles, but I got a comical amount of hops from a homebrew club meeting at New Belgium a while back that I really need to get into a beer. Last year I made a Bell's Two-Hearted clone with all Centennial which I absolutely loved. But right now, I have tons of Amarillo, Citra, Sorachi Ace and a bit of Cascade. So I plan to use that grain bill and sub in some of those other hops. Do Citra and Amarillo play well together, or am I going to get a giant fruit bomb (in a bad way)? A friend made an all-Sorachi IPA that was just HUGE sweet tropical fruit flavor so I will be using that sparingly if at all. How does a hop schedule like this sound (1.066 OG, 65 IBU)? 0.5 ounces each of Amarillo and Citra, added at 60 min (first wort hop), 15, 10, 5, 0 and dry hop? Also open to just doing 100% Amarillo or Citra, I really do have a lot. First World Problems! Docjowles fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Apr 6, 2012 |
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Apr 6, 2012 03:08
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Woo bottling day. The best times (not really). Only took me like 3 hours from start to finish which isn't bad. Came away with 45 bottles of Norther Brewer's Sierra Madre Pale ale. I am pumped to try this in 3 weeks. My process for bottling is pretty streamlined but someone sell me on the pros and cons of getting into kegging.
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Apr 6, 2012 03:57
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I too would enjoy reading about kegs.Stultus Maximus posted:At the end of this month, I'll be taking a nice 7 month paid 'vacation' to the desert. I plan to pitch yeast into (most of) a gallon jug of cider then rack it into a second gallon jug, screw the top on, and put it into the refrigerator until I return at the end of the year. I'm curious if you have other people in the house or are just planning to leave the fridge going for 7 months. Good luck out there.
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Apr 6, 2012 04:00
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