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First, here's the instructions I have (very loosely) base my mead methods on: http://morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/wmead.pdf Now, bearing in mind that I only follow those directions loosely, anything - including doing nothing at all - is going to make a good product, although it may take longer. I don't have any nutrients in front of me, because I haven't restocked, but one to two grams of nutrient per gallon is probably about right for most applications. Add that when rehydrating the yeast, at first signs of fermentation, and at peak ferment, and you will be just fine. The doc above probably says a lot more about exactly how much to add and when, but I just can't be bothered, to be honest.
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Jan 6, 2018 23:02
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If you want to be bothered and measure, I think nutrients go at the beginning, and then at 1/3 and 2/3 of your expected gravities. Honestly, you can do fine just sort of winging it when fermentation starts to slow. Raisins don’t hurt anything either. I would skip the dragonfruit too. Tends to be okay for color, but I’m pretty sure you won’t get much for flavor.
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Jan 7, 2018 04:05
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Thanks all, I ended up picking up some yeast nutrient from the store nearby just to be safe I did not add any dragonfruit or raisins as this first run I want to be as simple and "plain" as possible so future runs I have a baseline to compare too. The must is in the carboy and after a few hours it's already starting to slowly bubble. In a month I'll report back with my first Medovuhka tasting report.
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Jan 7, 2018 07:33
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Jo3sh posted:First, here's the instructions I have (very loosely) base my mead methods on: Yeah, this is a good basic approach. Also, my club (being mostly made of scientists) did a number of one gallon side by side comparisons of honey varietals and fruits with Fermaid K vs Fermaid O. Universally, the club liked Fermaid O much, much better. We have two bjcp grand masters, a bunch of masters, and a lot of certified judges. I think O is a bit more expensive, but worth it to get a healthy yeast going in honey without any unwanted flavors.
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Jan 7, 2018 16:28
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I got a nice bit of cash from my in laws for the holiday season. Ended up buying a SS Brewtech bucket. Man is it really nice and really small compared to some of my other fermenters.  It does fit perfectly in our sink so it works out well.
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Jan 7, 2018 18:41
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On a whim I bought a vial of WLP644 to try on my Blueberry Sour, not realizing it is technically a "Belgian" strain - I hate the typical Belgian Beer esters and flavors. Fermenting it cool seems to be the way to go, but I might end up trying a Focal Banger clone with this. I've accidentally used Belgian-strain yeasts before and run them cool, but never this one.
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Jan 7, 2018 21:18
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Double Post, but WTF. I think I mentioned this a few months back anyway: I brewed an NEIPA (2nd attempt at this style) that ended up with a really harsh off flavor. I consider myself to be pretty good at categorizing these, but I couldn't do it. It was an experimental hop blend of all ANZAC hops from Farmhouse and it was just almost undrinkable and not NEIPA-y at all. In the winter lull, I threw the keg back on gas and it's actually mellowed out a lot. The NEIPA character has been killed by what I now recognize as a wild sacc (yeast) infection that made it kinda harsh and overly dry for the style. It's pretty decent now and I have a "Get Drunk on This" beer now, so all cats are gray, etc.
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Jan 9, 2018 02:44
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If it tastes decent, drink it. That's what I'd say. You went to the trouble of brewing it, and while it's not the best ever, it's still probably more interesting than drinking Busch Light. It's going to be very unseasonably warm this week, so I'm brewing a Traditional Bock with 2278 (less traditional maybe) and a Belgian IPA using Vinnie Experimental and Citra. I'll have to decide on which yeast in the morning, but probably not the one that tosses Juicy Fruit flavors (1214 iirc). I have half a dozen different ones that need refreshing in my cooler, so it must be the winter of Belgian yeasts. I also had some pineapple I was cutting concurrently with drinking a Gose that I brewed with HotHead and L. plantarum, so I made a tepache-adjacent beverage and stuck it on my radiator. It's citrus and pineapple and I can see how this is a thing. So long as pineapples are around $1.20 each I'll have them in my kitchen and I'll just keep fermenting the rind. Only takes a couple days.
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Jan 9, 2018 15:24
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I tried a glass of my prickly pear wine last night. It was surprisingly good at only a few months old! I'd been storing it in the fridge to try and clarify it a bit, so my glass started out quite cold and I was able to taste it at a variety of temperatures. In my opinion, it's at its best around white wine temperatures, rather than red, despite the color. For some reason, it just feels right to drink it out of a small glass instead of a big modern wine glass. (Yes that's a Trader Joe's ginger beer bottle, I've got another one and a growler full of the remainder of the batch)
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Jan 9, 2018 23:21
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After much procrastination, I finally laid down Meadzilla (just an upsize batch of JAOM, 23L). People really liked it, even my parents, who are normally not very adventurous drinkers. calandryll posted:I got a nice bit of cash from my in laws for the holiday season. Ended up buying a SS Brewtech bucket. Man is it really nice and really small compared to some of my other fermenters. I might just pick one of those up later this year. I have really grown to hate the taps on my plastic fermenters, and I'm beginning to suspect the barrels themselves might be harboring infections -- I've had two kinda stale tasting brews (with kits!) in a row. I don't think it's my brewing process causing oxidation because I'm doing everything the same as I always have, and my BIAB batches were fine (probably because they go straight from the boil into the fermenter, sterilising everything thoroughly. While SS is pretty spendy, I think I've only had parallel brews going once (my ferm chamber has two levels), so spending the money on one and being pretty much done with plastic barrels might just be worth it.
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Jan 10, 2018 00:05
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Pham Nuwen posted:
Looks amazing. I have one of those Trader Joes bottles I got from a coworker. It has blueberry wine in it now but the seal was actually good enough to carb beer in it previously.
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Jan 10, 2018 00:29
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Ethics_Gradient posted:I might just pick one of those up later this year. I have really grown to hate the taps on my plastic fermenters, and I'm beginning to suspect the barrels themselves might be harboring infections -- I've had two kinda stale tasting brews (with kits!) in a row. I don't think it's my brewing process causing oxidation because I'm doing everything the same as I always have, and my BIAB batches were fine (probably because they go straight from the boil into the fermenter, sterilising everything thoroughly. While SS is pretty spendy, I think I've only had parallel brews going once (my ferm chamber has two levels), so spending the money on one and being pretty much done with plastic barrels might just be worth it. Yeah I'll probably pick up another one since it's stackable. I really like it so far other than my first batch taking a bit to get started but that was from cooling down too much.
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Jan 10, 2018 01:33
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Skellyscribe posted:Looks amazing. I have one of those Trader Joes bottles I got from a coworker. It has blueberry wine in it now but the seal was actually good enough to carb beer in it previously. You should be able to replace them if necessary. Just look for bottle gaskets (Grolsch-style bottles, swing top gaskets etc). All the same thing and everyone I've run into is about the same size.
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Jan 10, 2018 01:37
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Mashed in an IPA today. Added some oats because I had them laying around. Not really going for a NEIPA, and my yeast of choice is Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes today. I just had more oat malt than I did red wheat malt and I didn't want to go get more of just that one malt. It's sort of a 'use what I have' recipe anyway. Going with Summit for bittering, Azacca and Vinnie Experimental (or whatever they're calling it now) for the stonefruit and citrus, and then adding Cascade to that blend in the dry hop. I haven't managed to find the mint in the Vinnie Experimental yet, and I doubt it'll stand out here, but smelling the yeast starter gives me a good feeling that this will all taste great together. It's in the 50 degree F range outside today, and the wind is a bother, but drat do I miss this weather. It's so much better than "so cold that steam condenses into a solid" weather. It'll be back to US midwest winter temps tomorrow, but rotator cuff injury willing, I'll do that Bock that I have the yeast started for on the weekend.
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Jan 11, 2018 17:47
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Jhet posted:Mashed in an IPA today. Added some oats because I had them laying around. Not really going for a NEIPA, and my yeast of choice is Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes today. I just had more oat malt than I did red wheat malt and I didn't want to go get more of just that one malt. It's sort of a 'use what I have' recipe anyway. Going with Summit for bittering, Azacca and Vinnie Experimental (or whatever they're calling it now) for the stonefruit and citrus, and then adding Cascade to that blend in the dry hop. I haven't managed to find the mint in the Vinnie Experimental yet, and I doubt it'll stand out here, but smelling the yeast starter gives me a good feeling that this will all taste great together. Yeah today has been crazy warm. We lost all the snow and I realized how bad it's been. Finally brewing on Saturday (in a heated garage) after a hiatus because it's just been too cold to do anything.
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Jan 11, 2018 18:48
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That's one good thing about living in southern CA...can brew outdoors year round.
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Jan 11, 2018 21:08
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robotsinmyhead posted:Yeah today has been crazy warm. We lost all the snow and I realized how bad it's been. Finally brewing on Saturday (in a heated garage) after a hiatus because it's just been too cold to do anything. Yeah, I've been in Chicago for over a year and have yet to see any lake effect snow. I'm close enough to Lake Michigan to get it, but there just hasn't been much in the way of snow. Sunday I'll do a single decoction step for the Bock, but today I'm going with a 45 minute boil and it's very welcome to be nearly complete. The temp is already starting to drop and the wind has been messing with my flame consistently. These hops smell so good, I should make more beer with these hops (or just use them as expensive potpourri).
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Jan 11, 2018 21:10
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Jhet posted:Yeah, I've been in Chicago for over a year and have yet to see any lake effect snow. I'm close enough to Lake Michigan to get it, but there just hasn't been much in the way of snow. We catch a lot of LE Snow here (n. indiana), but it could be a lot worse. Taking advantage of the cold next weekend, we're doing a club-wide Lager brew day and lagering our beers in the modestly heated garage. Should be a good time.
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Jan 11, 2018 21:12
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robotsinmyhead posted:We catch a lot of LE Snow here (n. indiana), but it could be a lot worse. Taking advantage of the cold next weekend, we're doing a club-wide Lager brew day and lagering our beers in the modestly heated garage. Should be a good time. I helped my buddy break in his brand new brewing equipment last Saturday when it was like 4 degrees in Michigan. We did a BIAB clone of Two Hearted Ale from Bell's. I was surprised that the pot we did the mash in held its temperature really well outside over the hourlong mash with only some aluminized/mylarized bubble wrap around the outside.
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Jan 11, 2018 22:39
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Nth Doctor posted:I helped my buddy break in his brand new brewing equipment last Saturday when it was like 4 degrees in Michigan. We did a BIAB clone of Two Hearted Ale from Bell's. I was surprised that the pot we did the mash in held its temperature really well outside over the hourlong mash with only some aluminized/mylarized bubble wrap around the outside. I've always found that , so long as there's not too much air movement around the mash tun, it holds pretty well, especially as the mash gets bigger - e.g., a 20-pound mash holds better than a 10-pound mash. I mean, it was in the mid-60s here when I brewed on New Year's Day, but I lost not even one degree in 90 minutes despite using no insulation on the tun at all. I have some of that aluminized bubblewrap stuff, and I keep meaning to wrap my tun in it, but so far I haven't been motivated enough to get around to it.
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Jan 11, 2018 23:22
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Yeah less heat loss in the mash than it's like 5F outside and I can't feel my face. If you can do this, more power to you.
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Jan 12, 2018 02:53
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robotsinmyhead posted:Yeah less heat loss in the mash than it's like 5F outside and I can't feel my face. If you can do this, more power to you. We used snow banks to chill the kettle post boil since he doesn't have a chiller yet. It was definitely loving cold but we rolled the dice and watched from inside after the hot break had finished. It also helped to go out in shifts.
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Jan 12, 2018 03:39
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I usually brew with my French balcony door open, but it gets really cold these days. Boiling inside is hard on the ceiling even if my ventilation is pretty good. I think I need some kind of outlet.
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Jan 12, 2018 16:46
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Update on my Baltic porter. I had the world's worst efficiency so it's going to be 6.8%, which isn't terrible but I was shooting for 8-9%. Diacetyl rest is over is will be sitting at 40F for 2-2.5 weeks. That's as much time as I can give it cause I want it ready for the Superbowl. I didn't detect any diacetyl either which is good, but my palate is also very bad and it good be a huge mess.
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Jan 12, 2018 17:15
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Biomute posted:Boiling inside is hard on the ceiling even if my ventilation is pretty good. I think I need some kind of outlet. Tell me about it. We don't have a fan in the kitchen so I tried brewing in the shower once on a rainy day. Didn't go great although at least it was nice to not have to worry about spills so much 
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Jan 12, 2018 22:22
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Ethics_Gradient posted:Tell me about it. We don't have a fan in the kitchen so I tried brewing in the shower once on a rainy day. I have drains in my floor from when they put in the basement. I have no issues using them, and would very much like to brew indoors, but there's just a minor issue of ventilation (not that big of a deal as that's where my laundry is also) and also I have a propane burner (so more ventilation issues). If I could figure out a way to put together an electric outfit for it without much need for excessive modification, I definitely would do so. It's just not really a priority. I also may have a problem as I have many gallons of beer and cider that need to be imbibed, but I keep brewing more.
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Jan 13, 2018 00:58
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Alright my mead has been fermenting for a week now it's still bubbling away but its slowed down quite a bit. The liquid is pretty clear and it looks like a bunch of stuff (honey?) has settled at the bottom. Should I stir or do anything to reincorporate the honey at the bottom?
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Jan 13, 2018 18:59
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Popete posted:Alright my mead has been fermenting for a week now it's still bubbling away but its slowed down quite a bit. The liquid is pretty clear and it looks like a bunch of stuff (honey?) has settled at the bottom. Should I stir or do anything to reincorporate the honey at the bottom? Everything I've read says just leave it alone, the yeast will ferment at the honey-water boundary if it separates out and eventually it'll ferment it all.
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Jan 13, 2018 20:28
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Double-posting to show off my prickly pear wine all bottled in 375 mL bottles. Not quite as evenly filled as I'd like but I'll accept it. It's reasonably clear but of course not commercial-wine clear. Looks nice though and diffuses light beautifully. These little bottles kick rear end and I'm planning to put my JAOM, my acerglyn, and some of my straight-up plain mead into them. I just wish they weren't twice the price of a case of 750 mL bottles.
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Jan 14, 2018 02:05
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Pham Nuwen posted:Double-posting to show off my prickly pear wine all bottled in 375 mL bottles. Not quite as evenly filled as I'd like but I'll accept it. It's reasonably clear but of course not commercial-wine clear. Looks nice though and diffuses light beautifully. That is a beautiful color. I have the long neck 375mL brown bottles and they were a tad bit more expensive. I put the liquid gold apple wine into them; a recipe from much earlier in the thread. It was worth the purchase, but it did increase the price of the batch, and I couldn't recycle them from elsewhere like I did with 6 cases of champagne bottles I got from a wine bar. The good news is that you can reuse the ones you have. Just have to drink what's inside first (and not give them all away).
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Jan 14, 2018 02:31
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Jhet posted:That is a beautiful color. I have the long neck 375mL brown bottles and they were a tad bit more expensive. I put the liquid gold apple wine into them; a recipe from much earlier in the thread. It was worth the purchase, but it did increase the price of the batch, and I couldn't recycle them from elsewhere like I did with 6 cases of champagne bottles I got from a wine bar. The good news is that you can reuse the ones you have. Just have to drink what's inside first (and not give them all away). Yeah I'm planning to give a bottle or two to friends but only if they swear to return the fucker when it's empty. Edit: Acerglyn update, I haven't added the maple yet so it's not actually an acerglyn. The fucker's still bubbling away nearly a month after I started fermentation. In the meantime I've found a nearby Indian store that sells fenugreek fresh and dried, so if I need to add even more maple flavor later I know where to go (did I mention this in an earlier post? gently caress it). It's also fascinating how the must starts out as a beautiful dark semi-clear amber, then pretty quickly comes to resemble pulpy orange juice once you add the yeast. It was the same way with my JAOM, although that's now come back around to a lovely amber as it begins to clarify. Edit 2: I'm feeling like brewing tonight so I'm trying something off-the-cuff, half a gallon of chai wine. Boiled some water, turned off the burner and tossed in some black teabags, then stirred in 2 lbs of sugar, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground cardamom, 1 tsp fennel seeds. I poured it into a growler and once it cools a bit I'll snag a sample from the acerglyn I mentioned above to get some yeast culture since I don't have any on-hand; the acerglyn could use more room in the fermenter anyway for when I add maple syrup. 
Pham Nuwen fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Jan 14, 2018 |
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Jan 14, 2018 02:42
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Sad tale: I usually brew at my friend's place and grind grain there. His mill is an old-school screw mill that absolutely mutilates grain. I BIAB, so it's almost impossible to over-mill. Today, I brew at another friend's place and use his grain mill. He swears by it, but the crush looks bad. Sure enough, targeted OG 1.045 - actual OG 1.025. This is loving stupid. It's a kettle sour, so I can fix it with a DME addition, but I feel like I wasted my time today.
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Jan 14, 2018 04:25
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^ that just sucks. It took me about 5-6 batches before my mill was dialed in and I’d hate to have to do it again. At least you know to double mill it next time. The Belgian IPA I brewed this week was apparently fermenting under pressure today. 1.25g of headspace wasn’t enough and it clogged up the airlock completely. Small mess only at least. It smells awesome and will get the dry hops tomorrow. The Bock I brewed today is going to be a great color. It went almost too well this week and I actually managed to hit my numbers for gravity and volume within an acceptable margin of error.
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Jan 15, 2018 02:33
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Alright, this year I am going to brew more than 3 batches! First question is a gear one though, does anyone use a metal mesh tube to keg hop? If so do you recommend what you have?
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Jan 17, 2018 16:42
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ChiTownEddie posted:Alright, this year I am going to brew more than 3 batches! I use a metal mesh tube to hop in secondary. IDK what brand or source though. My FIL bought it. I think it's this one
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Jan 17, 2018 17:00
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I think I need to get one of those as well. I saw one just like that in a homebrew store and they wanted like $30 for it. I think my dryhop additions have been kinda MEH because I'm using hop bags and I just don't think they're getting enough surface area exposure.
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Jan 17, 2018 17:26
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Here's another tube that popped up on homebrewfinds a few days ago, if you're willing to wait for shipping from China: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Homebrew-Stainless-Steel-Hop-Spider-Beer-Brew-Hop-Filter-300-Mesh-30cm-Height-GL-/112516898460?rmvSB=true Cheap, only ten bucks. Jo3sh fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Jan 17, 2018 |
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Jan 17, 2018 17:38
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I've thought about one like the one Jo3sh linked, but I don't dry hop in kegs. When I dry hop in fermenters I just toss the hops right in. The leaves tend to be annoying and float and the pellets like to sink unless you break them up before you drop them in. Then they sort of float into suspension alright. I've also used these tea sacks for pellet hops or a small amount of leaf hops. https://www.teasource.com/collections/tea-infusers/products/t-sacs-4-tea-bags They should have no issues with 4oz of pellets and you can sanitize them by pouring boiling water onto them. Then just tie shut with butcher's twine soaked in vodka or something. The ones I linked are the big bags, but they'd fish out of a regular corny keg just fine.
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Jan 17, 2018 19:01
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Taking advantage of this cold weather, a bunch of guys from my brew club are doing a Lager Day next weekend with plans to leave the beers at a friend's house with a somewhat climate-controlled garage. Seeing as how I'm not terribly into classic Old World Lagers, I'm gonna go with a 2A (International Pale Lager) with El Dorado and Flaked Corn (Masa - going for a Tex-Mex theme I guess). I'm gonna try fermenting under pressure with my new spunding valve as well, so this might be really interesting, despite the boring nature of the beer.
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Jan 17, 2018 20:14
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Opened up my keezer/fermentation chamber and found about 4 gallons of beer sitting in there at the bottom. Looks like it somehow came out via the out post. Nothing attached to the out post, but I can see dried up beer around it. I was force carbing 5 gallons of IPA so I had the gas hooked up to it at 15psi and planned to leave it hooked up til Friday. Inkbird is set to 35 degrees F. Trying to figure out what went wrong here so it doesn't happen again. It's my first time using this keg and the PRV seems to be ok, but drat, I'm at a loss here. Any ideas? *edit* Seeing some frozen beer floating among the rest of the beer. Guessing either the Inkbird malfunctioned and turned the freezer on, freezing the beer and forcing it out, or the temp probe (that was taped to the keg, and insulated with a piece of foam) slipped out from under the foam and began to read air temp, which then caused the freezer to turn on and freeze the beer. Inside lid of the keezer is clean, so there was no violent eruption of beer. Mr. Clark2 fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Jan 18, 2018 |
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Jan 18, 2018 02:11
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