|
Made a summer ale out of a brew kit for the first time after a long hiatus. Long story short, brewing isn't like riding a bike, and also I somehow lost my hydrometer tube. I have no idea what my OG is, so here's hoping. I also used old B-Brite, so here's hoping it didn't lose potency - I picked up some StarSan and PBW to use for next time. The whole thing is bubbling along with a healthy looking krausen, so I'm not worried. The SO doesn't like the smell of boiling wort, but luckily our new place is big enough (and the door on the kitchen tight enough) that I think she can live with it.
|
#
¿
May 23, 2017 04:48
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 05:19 |
|
|
The summer ale appears to be a success. Originally I was planning to transfer to my secondary and see how it tastes, but this weekend seems to be too busy. But honestly I don't think it even needs the transfer, it seems to have settled done quite well.
|
|
#
¿
May 28, 2017 20:51
|
|
|
Jo3sh posted:Most beers get by just fine without transferring to secondary. If it looks good, package it when you have a little free time. Edit: I mean, Vikings brewed beer without knowing that yeast existed, so I'm sure it'll come out fine.
|
|
#
¿
May 28, 2017 21:47
|
|
|
adebisi lives posted:Itll probably be fine but it wouldn't hurt to boil it first.
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2017 01:57
|
|
|
Jhet posted:It would, among other issues it would create. That's terrible advice, and I'm not sure that was even aimed at you. Edit: cripes Tibalt fucked around with this message at 03:11 on May 29, 2017 |
|
#
¿
May 29, 2017 03:03
|
|
|
JawKnee posted:go and buy a $5 hydrometer for fucks sake
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2017 13:50
|
|
|
rockcity posted:Literally anything deep enough for it to float is an appropriate test jar. You could measure your FG in a slurpee cup and your OG in the kettle.
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2017 17:45
|
|
|
I've decided to share my hobby with my SO, but with wine brewing instead of beer. The issue I'm running into is that a lot of guides seem heavy on old wive's tales and a bit light on solid advice. Basically, I'm looking for something like John Palmer's How To Brew, but for wine making instead. I'm looking at guides that recommend $90 for 5 gal. batches of juice, a degasser that attaches to my power drill and a ritualized prayer to Dionysus, and thinking back to my college friend who made "wine" by putting baking yeast in a bucket full of grape juice concentrate, and wondering if there might be a happy middle ground in here somewhere.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2018 05:41
|
|
|
I was starting to worry because I wasn't seeing any bubbles in the airlock after 24 hours, and was about to pull the lid off my bucket... when I noticed that good old yeast fermentation smell. Turns out I hadn't quite sealed the lid completely. Whoops! I'll be a little sad if this batch doesn't work out. It's an Imperial IPA, and I've been read the riot act on brewing hoppy beers. Turns out if you don't like beer, you don't like the smell of beer either!
|
|
#
¿
May 2, 2018 15:33
|
|
|
Opened my first bottle of the Mango Saison that I brewed a bit ago. I think it needs a week or two more in the bottle, but I'm pretty happy with the result so far. The mango flavoring is nice and subtle, and I'm very happy with the color and carbonation. At the moment, there's a sour aftertaste. I'm hoping some more time will fix this, but the temperature varied wildly in my basement over the last two weeks. I think it'll be pretty great by the time my summer birthday party comes around.
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2018 04:26
|
|
|
Skellyscribe posted:Glad to hear it. I'm down to the last few bottles of my saison batch brewed in early April. Gave out a bunch to co-workers which I'm regretting now. It really is a style that gets better with a few weeks age on it.
|
|
#
¿
May 14, 2018 02:26
|
|
|
So I screwed up, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to correct course. As mentioned before, I branched out into wine making, and started with a WinExpert California Gewurztraminer kit. Let me very briefly describe the instructions, what I screwed up, and the solutions I'm considering. Step 1: Primary Fermentation - Add the juice, water, bentonite, and yeast. I thought I had written down the OG, but I can't find it. I remember it being ~1.085. Let sit for 5-7 days before Step 2. Step 2: Secondary Fermentation - After 5-7 days and a specific gravity of 1.010 or less, re-rack the wine <- THIS IS WHERE I SCREWED UP. For some reason, probably because I'm used to beer, I let the wine sit for two weeks. I grabbed it today, re-read the instructions, and realized my mistake. When I took the specific gravity, it read .995 (!). This seems really high, but haha funny story, when I grabbed my hydrometer, I accidentally dropped it and shattered it. I won't be able to grab another one until Tuesday, so I'm going with the .995 gravity for now. Step 3: Stabilizing and Clearing - Let sit for 10 days, check for a specific gravity of .996 or less, then add the metabisulphite, sorbate, isinglass clarifier, and F-Pack, and degas the wine.Leave for 8 days to clear. Step 4 : Racking and Clarification - Re-rack the wine, and check back in 14 days for clarity, checking every week after that until clear. Step 5: Bottling - Bottle in 30 wine bottles, cork them, and wait a month. Solution 1 - Pretend Nothing Happened, start at Step 3 (My plan A unless told otherwise) The wine has been in primary fermentation for 14 days, and the original instructions said to wait ~15-17 days for primary and second fermentation before going to step 3. Presumably sitting in primary fermentation for those extra few days add some off-flavors, but the end result is the same - the wine has finished fermenting, and I should still be able to stabilize and clear it. I'll wait until Tuesday to let it settle down, buy another hydrometer and take a second reading to make sure the specific gravity is correct, and then proceed from step 3 forward as normal. Maybe it doesn't clear as much as I'd like, but that's not the end of the world. Solution 2 - Start over at Step Two Fermentation seems done, but maybe all the agitation will start things up again. Should I give it 10 days in the secondary before trying to degas and clarify it? Solution 3 - Game Over, Man I start writing up a list of enemies to send a bottle of wine for their Christmas present.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 11, 2018 01:43
|
|
|
Inexplicable Humblebrag posted:i want to say that this is not even close to a problem. beer yeast won't start adding off flavours until it dies after a fair long while, and will in fact remove off flavours. does wine yeast ferment and ferment and ferment and then suddenly die within days? the only benefit from racking would be that you get it off the yeast cake and secondary fermentation would probably happen a bit slower. It looks and tastes fine, I think. There's a definite cloudiness to it, but not unreasonably so. As for flavor, it tasted vaguely like wine - not something I'd like to drink, but at least in the ball park.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 13, 2018 04:49
|
|
|
Had my first New England IPA today. .......eh.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2018 20:01
|
|
|
robotsinmyhead posted:She wanted to do a "Firecracker Pale Ale" and they decided to put red-hot candies in the primary (I think) and it came out loving terrible. Some sort of violently astringent off flavors. Lol, It works for flavored vodka, so it'll work for beer, riiiiiight? Although that doesn't sound like a bad idea for a beer flavor... I'd try adding cinnamon (or mint?) flavoring only, trying to add a spice like cinnamon into the primary seems like it would be a PITA to not get off flavors.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2018 16:51
|
|
|
Congrats on your amazing beer that would win national rewards if you could only recreate it 
|
|
#
¿
Jun 29, 2018 16:40
|
|
|
After being super swamped for a week, I re-racked the gewurztraminer - I added the clarifying and stabilizing agents about two weeks ago, and then didn't get a chance to re-rack for about a week longer than instructed. It already looks very clear to me, so I'm going to give it a week and then bottle it. I sampled a glass to see how it's coming along - it's good! My SO was a little annoyed that I didn't save a sample for her, but she's been pretty pleased with the whole process. No boiling wort smells, and all. We're planning our wedding for next September, and she's been pretty into the idea of brewing our own wine for the celebration. I don't think we'll rely entirely on homebrewing, but I can't say I'm against the idea. I'm going to talk with the guy at my LHBS about using some extra sulfites to help the wine keep - it seems like most of the kits are intended to be aged for six months, and I'll be looking at closer to 12+ months for most of them. Glottis posted:German Pilsner. I can grab the recipe if you'd like!
|
|
#
¿
Jul 12, 2018 16:43
|
|
|
Friendly constructive advice. Focus on three things - specific things with a fairly obvious solution, more than three you're going to invite a defensive reaction. Add in at least one piece of positive encouragement. Accept your advice not being accepted - don't press the issue if you're trying to offer friendly advice. If it'll work for authors and amateur home decorators, it'll work for a brewery.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 6, 2018 22:07
|
|
|
robotsinmyhead posted:I don't really know this guy at all and he's quite a bit older than me. He didn't attempt to elicit any feedback from anyone at the table so I'm not gonna jump in there. Edit: although I'd possibly ignore his advice when brewing though! Tibalt fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Aug 7, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2018 02:50
|
|
|
robotsinmyhead posted:Good timing. I'm doing a Chocolate Black Ale tomorrow. I had a bar of bakers chocolate ready to go, but go talked out of it. I'm doing 3oz of Cocoa Powder in the mash, then some roasted nibs in secondary. I was cautioned to drop your target IBU from hop additions slightly because nibs induce some bitterness. Any input on that? Makes sense to me, traditionally prepared cocoa drinks I've tasted definitely had a noticeable bitterness to them, but I've never brewed with it. I agree with your better angel about the bakers chocolate too.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 10, 2018 19:54
|
|
|
Dirk the Average posted:Does anyone have a recommendation for a beer similar to the Agave Maria by Lost Abbey?
|
|
#
¿
Aug 24, 2018 17:02
|
|
|
tripwood posted:Primary and secondary is a legacy term from old-school homebrewing that has been found to be useless. Just let it stay on the cake until it's bottling or kegging time.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 1, 2018 01:43
|
|
|
Marshmallow Blue posted:Just leave it swollen If you're REALLY worried about it, as in you think the lid looks like it's ready to pop off, then break the seal on the lid. Don't open it, you don't want to expose it all at this point if you can help it. But I would seriously just let it chill at this point.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 5, 2018 13:40
|
|
|
Quick question because I'm having trouble finding a clear answer - I'm letting some fresh cider sit on Camden tablets overnight, and I'm going to pitch the yeast and nutrients tomorrow. When should I add the Pectin Enzymes? The instructions on the bag say an hour before pitching the yeast.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2018 01:24
|
|
|
I just started my first brew of Cider and I'd appreciate any feedback on what other people would do differently. I started with 5 gallons of fresh pressed unpasteurized cider from a local orchard - Soergal's, which I'd highly recommend if you're in Western Pennsylvania. Rather than heat pasteurizing, I used Campden tablets and let it sit for 24 hours. Afterwards, I used pectic enzymes about an hour before pitching. I used K1-V1116 and Yeast Nutrients, and I'm planning to probably bottle it still. Here's my questions/invitations for discussion: the Internet seems to universally agree that unpasteurized cider is the best if you can get it, but there seems to be a pretty big disagreement between using heat versus Campden tablets. The Campden tablets seemed easier, especially as I'm getting things set up at the new house, and probably what I'll stick to in the future... but I wouldn't mind hearing other people's thoughts. As a side effect of this, I also didn't add any sugar or honey like some recipes suggest. I'm not worried about achieving a higher alcohol content, but there could be more to it. Alternatively, does anyone have experience with brewing with the wild yeast that naturally occurs in the must? I was really tempted because it seems very exciting and unique, but ultimately passed on it because this was my first batch. The pectic enzyme (and to the lesser extent the yeast nutrient) were most used on lark. They weren't expensive and I wanted to try them out - do you feel like it's worth it? Finally, the yeast. I went with the K1-V1116 along with the yeast nutrients because I hadn't tried it before, but also because it seems like Cider can be a more harsh environment for the yeast and I didn't want to deal with any stalled starts. Combining V1116 with nutrients could be overkill though. It seems like there's a million and one different suggestions for Cider yeast, so I'd love to hear other people's preferred strain for cider. Finally finally... Cider seems like it should be bottled still to me, but I'd love to hear otherwise.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 11, 2018 05:07
|
|
|
robotsinmyhead posted:I had an interesting experience on Friday night. There's a Winery / Cheese Factory nearby and they decided to get into the beer game. Instead of hiring a brewer, they basically bought $40k worth of kit and told the girl who makes the cheese to have at it, so her first beer EVER was made on a 3bbl system. Did they actually buy brew kits? The ingredients could have been sub par and old.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 15, 2018 00:59
|
|
|
So on a whim I bought a one gallon fermenter and ordered some more unpasteurized cider, so that I could try brewing it with the wild yeast, but i'm at a bit of a crossroads. Does anybody have experience brewing with JUST wild yeast versus pitching cultivated yeast along with the wild yeast?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 19, 2018 18:46
|
|
|
So I take it you didn't let it sit with a cheese paper or coffee filter over the mouth of the carboy for a day? It seems to be a pretty common suggestion from what I've seen, but I'm a bit skeptical.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 19, 2018 19:51
|
|
|
So I think the wild yeast in the cider has stalled - I let it sit for a few days unmolested, and checked on it this morning. It looks like a small krausen developed because it left a little bit of scum, but the krausen itself is gone. I gave it a gently swirl in an attempt to spark something, but i'm debating what to do next if it doesn't start back up. Currently, i'm leaving towards letting it sit for the rest of the week, then test with the hydrometer to really see what's happening.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2018 15:52
|
|
|
Marshmallow Blue posted:What temp is it at? It could just end up being the yeast that was in there wasn't super great for fermenting and died when the ABV got to like 2-3%. Gravity check is the way to go. I suppose the question is, do I keep on with my happy little accident, or do I pitch some more yeast?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2018 18:16
|
|
|
So my wild yeast cider perked right up after I brought it to room temperature... But it's take on a bright orange, almost fluorescent color, and very bubbly. Like a carbonated orange juice, basically. This has been a great deal of entertainment for very little work or money, I have to say.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 31, 2018 16:06
|
|
|
Work case scenario you've got a clear NEIPA
|
|
#
¿
Oct 31, 2018 18:15
|
|
|
Morholt posted:30£ per month seems like way too much. For an individual, $40 a year would get you a $480 set up, which would be pretty respectable
|
|
#
¿
Nov 1, 2018 22:01
|
|
|
LochNessMonster posted:My Irish Red is coming down in gravity from 1051 to 1018. According to the recipe it should’ve been at 1053 and should end at 1010.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2018 19:02
|
|
|
My 5 gallon batch of apple cider smells like a combination of rotten eggs and dead swamp dog. Tastes fine though. Kind of dry. Edit: my wife came down to the basement from the second floor to tell me that the house smells like driving through New Jersey Tibalt fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Nov 10, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Nov 10, 2018 05:09
|
|
|
Jhet posted:Applejack will be the same, but you'll distill in some method (freezing?).
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2018 06:01
|
|
|
Nth Doctor posted:You're probably fine. Don't seal it, maybe get a new lid for next time. Vikings without a workable germ theory managed to brew beer, at worst you'll get something kind of fizzy that gives you the shits.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 21, 2018 21:04
|
|
|
So as I mentioned way back when, my cider smelled INCREDIBLY STRONGLY of hydrogen sulfide to the point that it stunk up the entire house when I moved it from the primary to the secondary. Well, it's been a couple of weeks, and I prepared to bottle the cider. Unfortunately, it still has a very strong hydrogen sulfide smell, despite letting it sit for quite a while. The cider itself tastes pretty great, but the taste is definitely marred by a wet swamp dog smell, so I held off on bottling it. Instead, I used my wine degasser to very vigorously stir the cider in hopes of releasing any gas. I'm hoping it'll help release the hydrogen sulfide and get rid of the smell. However, roughly 18 hours later, the smell is still there. I'm going to degas it again and give it another day, but am I being overly paranoid? Edit: the wild yeast cider I made came out fine at least. A bit tart and dry, sort of like crabapple. A lot of the floral notes I noticed before have disappeared. Tibalt fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Dec 11, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2018 23:48
|
|
|
Great! Thank you for the response. I used 1 tsp. per gallon of urea and diammonium phosphate yeast nutrient. Considering I didn't use yeast nutrient on the wild cider, that does seem like a probable cause. However, stalled fermentation that restarted in the secondary is a possibility - we had some pretty extreme weather variance around the time. Your link was broken, but I think I found something similar here: http://www.thevintnervault.com/index.php?p=w_m_tips&id=5781 I think I'm going to forgo copper sulfate, but degassing, re-racking, and aerating with sulfite powder seems like a pretty workable solution. I'm glad there's a solution - the cider really does taste quite nice once you get past the smell.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2018 01:30
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 05:19 |
|
|
The combination of degassing, racking, and aerating with potassium metabisulfite seems to have done the trick, and the H2S smell has been significantly reduced. It was actually kind of fun, pouring from carboy to carboy through a funnel, letting it splash as much as I could without making a mess. I'm already thinking about next season - depending on how this batch works out, I'm debating whether to stick with the same recipe and incorporate the sulfite + aeration trick after fermentation ends, switch out the yeast, skip the nutrient, etc. I haven't even started dealing with back-sweetening or anything, and it already feels like there's a lot of room to play without a lot of actual work. But if it's not one thing, it's another. The spigot of my bottling bucket snapped clean in half while I was cleaning it! I honestly can't complain, it was the bucket that came in the first starter kit I bought, and it survived three moves and two hiatus, but still. I haven't been using it much lately, so I'm not sure I'll even buy a replacement spigot.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2018 05:54
|
|