i know there was a theoretically beer-themed homebrew thread awhile ago, figured i'd start a new all-home-booze-making one.
i don't make beer, but i make a bunch of mead, almost always fermented to dryness and with 'fun' ingredients or combinations thereof. i almost always use wild yeasts, too, which is contrarian to much modern homebrewing wisdom, but has never fucked up a batch yet. to date i've started 14 batches, almost all of them only 1 gallon, and bottled 8 of them. really got going starting regular projects with this in the spring of '11
finally got around to labeling this mead i made last year. in keeping with a frequently cryptic naming system (because it's fun to get people to try to guess what's in what they're tasting), i went with the cyrillic spelling of one of the main ingredients:
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/khoomeizhi/Photoon2013-03-24at1212_zpscc637784.jpg)
yeah, now it seems right
how are people's (competition?) home beer and cider brewing going? what else do people have going on? anyone straying over into distilling yet ;)?
A friend's cousin makes Mead.
Goddamn, I love it.
The only concoction I bottle, and age, is eggnog.
Ive treid twice to make honey mead. both times i failed and ended up making some nasty white wine tasting shit. My buddy made a batch and it was ambrosia. Its expensive and takes along time to rest in the bottle...hats off to you sir if youre making good stuff.
granted, some of the experimental stuff might be more 'interesting' than 'delicious'...but some of it's really delicious/amazing. something, i'm guessing the wild yeasts, frequently give these crazy aromatic notes that are really striking and kinda addicting - it's like you keep taking drink after drink just for the smell, almost.
not too expensive if you know bee farmers, i guess, but yeah, it's a long wait for most stuff (and even moreso for me because of the wild yeasts, i'd bet)...got a batch still ticking over that i first got going christmas day 2011 that's still plugging right along, and since i like them dry, i'm on its schedule, whatever that might be. but then i start another while i'm waiting, and then another...so there's batches regularly needing racking or bottling just often enough for a relatively slack hobby.
the pace of my home-mead-brewing has picked up a bit since july, when i was at a festival with lots of mead-brewers and got re-energized. have since started a bunch of new stuff, some with teas, one made with a bunch of beets...just started one this week with a bunch of wild-collected fruit (muscadines, giant wild grapes, persimmons) plus a bunch of homegrown ground cherries. thinking about racking one that i started as just a plain honey mead onto some more of those wild grapes. biggest fuckin' wild grapes i ever saw, but they taste like they always do, more sour than sweet...i think they should go well on a honey background.
i need to be able to bottle more of the stuff that's been going for a while, to free up the carboys for new projects, but none of it seems to be quite there yet. hopefully soon the 3-gal batch of rooibos/mugwort mead will finish, and i'll bottle a couple gallons-worth and put the other gallon on some oak chips for a bit. tannic acid is an amazing thing.
footnote: that batch started 12/25/2011 is still going, though it shows signs of slowing down, if not clearing. i guess it might just be that it's a little cooler in that room, though.
anyone else?
I bottled 5 gallons a month ago. Am starting a new round, thinking of adding some spices like cardamom and vanilla to this one, also pondering finishing it with some brown sugar to make it have a little different note of sweet. Although I do prefer my mead dry
If all goes well I should be starting a 3 gallon batch of hard cider tonight. Was gonna do it yesterday but took a day trip to the Columbia Gorge instead. Just need to get motivated after work is all. Lots of sanitizing to do.
Came home to company over after work so I got up early and started a 3 gal. batch. Kind of winging it to see what happens.
Are you adding yeast to the cider or are you relying on the naturally occurring yeasts on the apple skins for your fermentation?
I used champagne yeast but I didn't heat up the cider to kill off any natural occurring yeast. She's a bubbling already. I also added about a pound of brown sugar to get the abv up.
aside from the two one-gallon jugs that are reserved for racking others and for oak-aging, i'm at brewing capacity right now. it's too bad - two half-gallons of apple-pear cider went out of date and are spontaneously fermenting in the cooler at work...maybe i should get another gallon carboy...
fuck it. i'll get another one later. i brought home those ciders.
Spent a good portion of the day yesterday racking, cleaning ,conditioning, and bottling 3 gallons of cider.
(http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee74/spicoli420_2007/IMG_14851_zpsb7450b6a.jpg) (http://s228.photobucket.com/user/spicoli420_2007/media/IMG_14851_zpsb7450b6a.jpg.html)
just bottled a batch of mead i started in february. had a bunch of dried wild blueberries that 'expired' at the store, so i used a fair amount of 'em in both primary and secondary. it's a bit sour since i took it dry, but with a bit of age it'll be real nice. nice color, too.
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/homebrewcider.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/homebrewcider.jpg.html)
holiday homebrew cider.
amazing flavor. cheap. easy.
5 gallons apple juice, (no sorbates, vit-c and pasteurized ok)
5 lbs light brown sugar
1 packet 'cooper's ale yeast'
2 cinnamon sticks
a chunk of fresh ginger the size of your thumb, husk peeled and cut into 1/2in slices
1 five gallon carboy or brewing bucket and a second carboy/brewing bucket
1 airlock
add the brown sugar to 1/2 gallon of juice, warm and dissolve in a pan on the stove. add to carboy. gradually add the rest of the juice to the carboy, covering and shaking it up till it's about 4-5in from top. a pain in the ass and requires serious upper body strength. man up. add yeast packet. put airlock on top, fill it w/water or vodka, and ferment, covered w a hoodie, (light exposure will fuck w it) for 4 weeks. i use an old venom hoodie that don't fit my fat ass no more. it adds evilness.
after 4 weeks, syphon to secondary carboy/bucket. make sure to not put the syphon tube all the way down, (2-3 inches away from that nasty yeast film on bottom). add the cinnamon sticks and ginger. put airlock on and age another week.
transfer to third container and discard cinnamon and ginger, (again, no yeast). age another week. this is for 'still' cider. if you want more carbonation, add a can or two of concentrated apple juice, (no sorbates, vit-c and pastuerized is fine once again).
this isn't like that sweet woodchuck stuff, more like a nice dry brit-pub type. like blackthorn, but dryer with a kick.
bottle. drink.
call old girlfriends at 3am.
about 9% alcohol by volume.
actually started my first 5-gal batch this past week, i almost always do 1 at a time...
lapsang souchong and stinging nettles. the must smells pretty incredible.
finally got to bottle the three-gallon batch of rooibos-mugwort mead mentioned in my post of oct. 11th this month. bottled two gallons of it a couple weeks ago and put the other gallon on some medium toast oak cubes. bottled that last night. shit is damn tasty for being so young (though i guess it did bulk-age a while as i was waiting for it to clear and go dry)...will be awesome with a bit of age on it-both kinds-...feelin' it's time to start some new shit soon. down to only 8 active booze projects!
A homebrew supply place finally opened up in Evanston, ever since the old one closed many years ago it's such a pain to get the stuff I don't brew anymore. Have to do this Sunday.
Went in The new Brew Camp store, it's awesome. I'm back in business baby. I'm going to do a simple partial mash just to check all my gear.
I got a corny keg restored - so it should be carbonated once it's cold and I can try it tonight. (Turned out great)
I bought star san and PBW -if you never tried any of those industrial cleansers I would recommend - it's a tiny fraction of the work that is with bleach.
I made some mead too.
I bought a carboy harness to carry it around.
just bottled a gallon of mead made with high-grade pu-erh tea. pretty good, strangely beery in flavor at this point. as with all mead, will be better in a year...
Brewing today
Done! I used my wort chiller with little fuss. I need a hose tap installed under the kitchen sink, I have to haul the heavy wet mess to the basement and back up.
I did one with way too many hops, because the beers of today are hop heavy. Star San is a game changer. I have been messing around with bleach all this time.
The mead is bubbling along moderately, I am tempted to drop in a bit of yeast nutrient to get it going. Then shake it around a bit? I didn't know mead needs to sit for 3-6 months. I will wait until October to bottle. I should transfer it to a clean carboy when today's beer is done in a few weeks.
Also, you know what? Today after I pitched the yeast I cut open the envelope and the second inner yeast packet was still intact. The brand my new shop carries has been performing poorly. I will let it sit for a whole day next time. I've never had any trouble with those yeast packs before.
wow, different strokes. i'm downright lackadaisical about sterility (i.e. if soap and water and scrubbin' doesn't clean it, it don't get clean) so no experience with using bleach or starsan. the thing with the packet-in-a-packet of yeast is a new thing to hear about for me too, since i almost always use wild yeasts.
but yeast nutrient i get - and yes, you should probably get extra oxygen in there when you add, whether by just swishing around or actually stir/whipping. it just never picked up?
new experiment.
so i've talked about yacon before. i grow a lot of it and sell it. juicy south american tuber crop that starts with a lot of 'pre-biotic' sugars (kinda goofy name for near-sugars that we don't metabolize, but that make good food for beneficial gut bacteria), which turn into more 'regular' sugars as they cure/age. there's a fairly hip-right-now product, yacon syrup, that is basically uncured yacon, peeled and juiced, then boiled down until thick. it's a low-glycemic sweetener, 'cause people don't metabolize those sugars, so not surprisingly rich natural-foods hippy chicks are all about it. was inspired during the process of making some syrup to sell to do this:
i'm not sure if/how alcohol-producing yeasts consume the pre-biotics (though i wouldn't be surprised if they just ate them up), so for this project i cleaned up a big pile of yacon (the last bit of this past year's harvest) and left them out curing at room temp in the house for a couple weeks. this should have converted a good amount of sugar. last night we peeled and juiced the yacon, then filtered and boiled it down 'til it hit 25% sugar (refractometers are a necessary tool of the serious scientist-farmer), and let it cool. that's now, with it still cooling. next step once it's down near body-temp will be to filter it again (cut down some on sediment) and add a yeast culture i've been working up for 5 days or so, and a bit of yeast nutrient. (after first saving out some un-yeasted must to store for topping off after racking). let it go and see what happens. my mostly-uninformed guess is that it'll take forever to ferment out, but we'll see. probably move it from the open-mouthed glass thing i start gallon batches in, into a carboy in a week or so.
now, we're thinking about going up to mount mitchell to see if it's time to collect frasier fir tips for tea yet - 'cause i've been wanting to make mead with those for a while. 'tis the season to start booze projects.
Interesting - I imagine like Mead you need the yeast nutrient to get it going. My Mead is still bubbling away and the beer I made on 03/30 should be done by now I'd think. I need to finish off the last one first because my other two cornie kegs need new rubber gaskets.
.
I love using those instead of bottling.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/imagejpg1_zpse05aff8e.jpg)
I made batch three and took a lot of care to get more sugar out of the partial mash grains - I got the temp held carefully at 154 and took more than an hour until everything tasted nice and sugary. I used a 1lb of carmel and 1lb of chocolate malt - I'm thinking maybe I should be doing more like 4lbs total
(Plus the two 3.3 pound cans of extract)
I'm also getting way more aggressive on the hops too.
I love those corny kegs instead of bottling - I found out a liquor store that refills CO2 so I need to make a run over there and see if it will work.
Made batch number four tonight. I held 4 lb of grain at 155 for an hour - it was sticky sweet so it must have worked. I am ready to do all grain. I'm going apeshit with the hops.
Also, I adore Powered Brewery Wash. I cleaned out an ancient korny keg and an old 5 gallon bottle (filled in the shower) with a couple scoops of PBW and by the time I came back a few hours later they were spotless. They were in my garage for 10 years. Amazing.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/powdered-brewery-wash.html (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/powdered-brewery-wash.html)
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/52800974fa5e24cbf9db2683dddd24a9_zps488a6815.jpg)
It's not this dark - it's very amber.
Although it has not started fermenting. My yeast pack was firmly swollen and I cut it apart. I will wait a few days - should I toss a little yeast nutrient in there ? I would rather leave it alone.
Update: looks to be starting. It might be high gravity plus a little too cold.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/photo_zpsf1b8eb69.jpg)
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on May 16, 2014, 09:20:16 PM
My yeast pack was firmly swollen and I cut it apart.
:o :o :o :o
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dandelion wine.
pics soon.
yup.
DANDELION WINE.
made TWO and a half gallons of this shit.
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/Photoon2014-05-22at0102.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/Photoon2014-05-22at0102.jpg.html)
the fuck.
flowers. three quarts. picked from the grounds of a former INSANE ASYLUM-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardson_Olmsted_Complex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardson_Olmsted_Complex)
i work there at the New York State Psychiatric Hospital in Buffalo N.Y.
ironically, my mom would call dandelions, "crazy flowers" when i was a kid.
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/dandelion%20wine%2014/dandelionwine1.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/dandelion%20wine%2014/dandelionwine1.jpg.html)
brew for three days to a dandelion tea-
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/dandelion%20wine%2014/2daysin.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/dandelion%20wine%2014/2daysin.jpg.html)
shit looks clean right?-
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/dandelion%20wine%2014/D-wineprep.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/dandelion%20wine%2014/D-wineprep.jpg.html)
yeast is primed and nutrient is diluted-
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/dandelion%20wine%2014/D-wineyeast.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/dandelion%20wine%2014/D-wineyeast.jpg.html)
FERMENTING.
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/dandelion%20wine%2014/D-winebottled.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/dandelion%20wine%2014/D-winebottled.jpg.html)
shit is bubbling like sci-fi props in the back of a frankenstein movie now.
I kegged up batch three and it is excellent and somewhat dark smooth and foamy. Yeah me. I miss having the bottles for portability and gifts but I sure don't miss the work. I am glad I started looking into how to do partial mash correctly and I think I am ready to try a stove top all grain.
Re: Dandelion wine...
Bread yeast? Not champagne or wine yeast?
I don't see much barrier to trying this - the parks are covered in dandelions and they don't poison. Worth doing? Seems the time investment is huge. I think I have everything else including wine bottles. I only have 5 gallon carboys so I'd need to take a chance and use those or go buy some 2.5 gallon ones. I would need corks- does the beer push down capper work for wine bottles too?
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on May 29, 2014, 09:36:42 AM
I kegged up batch three and it is excellent and somewhat dark smooth and foamy. Yeah me. I miss having the bottles for portability and gifts but I sure don't miss the work. I am glad I started looking into how to do partial mash correctly and I think I am ready to try a stove top all grain.
Re: Dandelion wine...
Bread yeast? Not champagne or wine yeast?
I don't see much barrier to trying this - the parks are covered in dandelions and they don't poison. Worth doing? Seems the time investment is huge. I think I have everything else including wine bottles. I only have 5 gallon carboys so I'd need to take a chance and use those or go buy some 2.5 gallon ones. I would need corks- does the beer push down capper work for wine bottles too?
glad your brew is kegged and poppin'-
and it's champagne yeast, "red star" brand. my dad used to do it with bread yeast, ack! it's actually pretty simple. and i tasted the stuff in the half gallon, thinking 8-9% already so i'll rack in a few days. weird, all the recipes i read say 6-8 weeks primary...
also, my buddy tried to make some in a 4 gallon, (quadrupled the recipe). and it died. he may have had bad yeast or nutrient, but no bubbles of love.
here's the recipe i used, but tons of others on the net-
3 qts dandelion flowers
1 lb white raisins
1 gallon water
3 lbs granulated sugar
2 lemons
1 orange
yeast and nutrient
Pick the flowers just before starting, so they're fresh. Trim all green from flowers. Put the flowers in a large bowl. Set aside 1 pint of water and bring the remainder to a boil. Pour the boiling water over the dandelion flowers and cover tightly with cloth or plastic wrap. Leave for three days, stirring twice daily. Do not exceed this time. Pour flowers and water in large pot and bring to a low boil. Add the sugar and the peels (peel thinly and avoid any of the white pith) of the lemons and orange. Boil for one hour, then pour into a crock or plastic pail. Add the juice and pulp of the lemons and orange. Allow to stand until cool (70-75 degrees F.). Add yeast and yeast nutrient, cover, and put in a warm place for three days. Strain and pour into a secondary fermentation vessel (bottle or jug). Apply airlock. Leave until fermentation ceases completely, then rack and add the reserved pint of water and whatever else is required to top up. Refit the airlock and set aside until clear. Rack and bottle. This wine must age six months in the bottle before tasting, but will improve remarkably if allowed a year. [Adapted recipe from C.J.J. Berry's First Steps in Winemaking]
Hey! That's the recipe I was reading. The dandelions are all gone to seed around here, I'll need to keep eyes open for the next blooming time. The parks don't poison or fertilize anymore.
I found a few yellow ones in the backyard though, seems picking the green bits off a dandelion flower is a lot of damn work.
yup. we did a gallon of dandelion mead, and that called for a whole gallon of dandelions. super fucking tedious, separating bits, aided greatly by a decent-sized thumbnail as a 'blade'.
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on June 02, 2014, 06:06:43 PM
Hey! That's the recipe I was reading. The dandelions are all gone to seed around here, I'll need to keep eyes open for the next blooming time. The parks don't poison or fertilize anymore.
I found a few yellow ones in the backyard though, seems picking the green bits off a dandelion flower is a lot of damn work.
SHAFTY, the flowers are crazy here still. come to NY, i'll hook you up!
i'm keeping in mind that we can make wine out of ANY tea.
you can make a batch of tea from whatever you like; earl grey, ginseng, green tea... whatever.
add sugar of some sort and yeast of some sort. ferment.
hmmmm...
i got half gallon growler bottles and airlocks and an imagination.
green tea, (brewed strong), clover honey,(made some mighty fine cider with it in the past), and a nice brit ale yeast... always had great results with nottingham. could be nice.
just wish i just had the time.
Quote from: khoomeizhi on June 02, 2014, 07:29:27 PM
yup. we did a gallon of dandelion mead, and that called for a whole gallon of dandelions. super fucking tedious, separating bits, aided greatly by a decent-sized thumbnail as a 'blade'.
nice!
put on some good tunes, have a nice drink on the side, and some good company.
tedious but fun.
hell, throw a 'dandelion wine' preparation party!
What does it taste like? I guess you need all those raisins and lemon to sweeten it dandelion is bitter, I wonder if it keeps it's powerful diuretic properties too!
Quote from: JemDooM on June 03, 2014, 02:44:55 AM
What does it taste like? I guess you need all those raisins and lemon to sweeten it dandelion is bitter, I wonder if it keeps it's powerful diuretic properties too!
they are initially sweet as raw ingredients jem, but after fermentation...
dandelion as tea is acidic and fragrant giving flavor and tannin, lemon and orange are acidic and semi sweet giving flavor, and i never use raisins because they raise the alcohol content too much.
with the recipe above after a month or two; it yields about 9% ABV!
as far as diuretic properties, alcohol dries you out.
if you want a diuretic elixir, you can ferment for a short time to make a low, (or no), alcohol batch probably, just as ginger beer or birch beer or ginger ale were traditionally made with yeast as a source of carbon, (not carbonated after with carbon gas as sodas are made now), if you wish i guess. this stuff is good tasting HOOCH. not for everyone.
congrats on the marriage by the way!
Thanks beta! ;) fascinating stuff hmmm I want to try this, btw 9% wow that's cool!
done a lot of tea-meads. lapsang souchong, pu erh, se chung (roasted oolong), just started a 3-gal 'blue' (unroasted) oolong batch. good shit. not a huge fan of green teas, but will probably do that too at some point.
Give us a for example recipe....
ok for example:
1 gal of lapsang souchong mead
2 lbs local wildflower honey
1 tsp yeast nutrient
enough tea (brewed pretty strong) to almost fill a gallon with that ^ stuff. (i wanna say something like 8 Tbsp dry tea leaves to start)
sometimes some halved raisins
brew the tea, mix in the honey while still fairly warm, 'cause it makes it easier, then the nutrient/raisins.
allow to come to room temperature.
pitch yeast (i only use wild cultured yeasts, so need to start working that bug up for ~3 days prior. 1 cup of good water, 2 tsp sugar, grated fresh ginger and or turmeric, or appropriate seasonal produce [local blueberries or grapes work well, so can some flowers], with regular stirring, and more sugar and ginger or whatever added every couple days. i can talk more about making yeast bugs if ye want)
i usually start 1 gal batches in a big 1 gal jar, and leave them there for the first week or so, and stir/whip it as often as i think of it the whole time (extra oxygen to start things off is good for mead), then into carboy. then slow going: first carboy for ~3 months, rack off lees, second carboy for another ~6 months. bottling.
f'r example.
i always go dry with my meads. this would be in the 13 or 14% abv range i think.
Got it. I guess I need some smaller carboys then. I wonder if could make Yerba Mate mead/wine that way?
I have a simple mead going now, should I rack off into a second clean carboy now? It's been about two months I guess. Should I add any yeast nutrient to get it going a bit or ?
my understanding is that using retail yeasts it goes much faster than my timeline. did you taken a og reading? tasting or testing would tell you. might be ready to rack. if it still tastes sweet, it's not. if it still seems to be going/bubbling, i'd leave it, too.
and mate: hell yes you could, i've had some. had some fancy-ass 'dry-cannabis'd' (made during harvest season out in california at some point, apparently) weed mead too.
The taste of Yerba Mate is about the same - like branches and leaves.
I have a OG meter but I never take a reading. I will start doing that.
Quote from: khoomeizhi on June 04, 2014, 05:06:41 AM
ok for example:
1 gal of lapsang souchong mead
2 lbs local wildflower honey
1 tsp yeast nutrient
enough tea (brewed pretty strong) to almost fill a gallon with that ^ stuff. (i wanna say something like 8 Tbsp dry tea leaves to start)
sometimes some halved raisins
brew the tea, mix in the honey while still fairly warm, 'cause it makes it easier, then the nutrient/raisins.
allow to come to room temperature.
pitch yeast (i only use wild cultured yeasts, so need to start working that bug up for ~3 days prior. 1 cup of good water, 2 tsp sugar, grated fresh ginger and or turmeric, or appropriate seasonal produce [local blueberries or grapes work well, so can some flowers], with regular stirring, and more sugar and ginger or whatever added every couple days. i can talk more about making yeast bugs if ye want)
i usually start 1 gal batches in a big 1 gal jar, and leave them there for the first week or so, and stir/whip it as often as i think of it the whole time (extra oxygen to start things off is good for mead), then into carboy. then slow going: first carboy for ~3 months, rack off lees, second carboy for another ~6 months. bottling.
f'r example.
i always go dry with my meads. this would be in the 13 or 14% abv range i think.
what the fuck i'm talking about! thanks for the response my bearded friend-
i feel a bit weird about homemade bugs, though i did make a nice homemade yeast once from organic apple slices once for a cyser. i cut a coupla' slices, put it into a plastic water bottle, filled it with tap water, then 'burped' it for two weeks. shit was aggressive; made a nice cyser with non-sorbate store bought juice and commercial honey though.
kudos!
i've read a bunch of things that talk about how wild yeast can fuck up everything, off-flavors, aftertastes, etc, but i've never had a problem at all.
Moved the mead off to a clean carboy - can't say it tasted all that great but I won't worry about it for anoth couple months.
Making beer #5 today. If I don't type that here I won't know what date I made it.
;)
Kegging beer #4 - it's only 3 weeks since I made it but all activity has clearly stopped. It, along with #3, can sit in basement fridge for a while to age a bit.
Life is so much easier with Star San, PBW, and my new siphon hose.
Made my first homebrew yesterday, single-hop cascade pale ale. I didn't bother with extracts and went straight for a all grain. I think I botched the sparge though, need to tweak my equipment a bit. It's bubbling, but the OP was only around 600-700 (1050 would have been optimal according to the recipe) so I guess it'll be a pretty weak beer.
You should do an extract to practice - there's a lot of steps and learning the cleanliness part and bottling is substantial.
Speaking of bottling - I know there's some counter flow fillers that let you bottle the beer that's been carbonated in a corny keg (to avoid the extra carbonating in the bottles step). I guess I have to spring for this, I have too much gear now.
Yeah, probably should have, but it didn't seem like such a big step up between extract and grain. I've worked in labs so sterility and cleanliness aren't new to me. The most tedious steps were the heating and cooling since I did the brewing in my kitchen and don't have any efficient way of cooling.
Yeah - if you don't have a wort chiller and no winter it's hard to cool it off. Bathtub.
I bought myself a counter flow bottle-filler gun. To insert already carbonated beer into bottles. I picked up some dry wine yeast packets - there's a blackberry tree in the parking lot by work I am going to pick when ready. I can get some currants from Dad.
blackberries grow on canes. if it's a tree, it's probably mulberry.
had a crazy mead circle at a festival i was at over the weekend. tried all kinds of weird homemade meads and assorted other fermented stuff, probably at least 25 bottles got passed, probably more. awesome to see that i'm not the only one making weird shit. of mine, we had the last bottle of my first batch of lapsang souchong mead (bottled 12/2012), and some fairly young oaked roobios-mugwort mead (bottled 2/2014). scored some empties afterward.
That sounds seriously awesome...
it was. and - i don't remember drinking it, but one of the empties i claimed has a label on it that says 'tomato/turmeric/peach'...
When you said weird I thought maybe plum mead or nettle mead, but that really IS weird, and cool...
I love mead :)
i was at a primitive skills gathering, so there were lots of pretty tripped out backwoods homesteady-type folks. a lot of cinnamon/chaga/damiana or birch/sassafras/spicebush type meads. good stuff.
dandelion wine update-
done fermenting.
transferred to secondary, two days. tertiary, two days. cold crashed two days-(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/coldcrash.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/coldcrash.jpg.html)
clear and yeast free.
racked-
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/racked.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/racked.jpg.html)
love the 'grolsch' type fliptop-quarts. no explosions.
tasted it, really nice tea/citrus flavors going on here, but a bit 'hot' still. will age a coupla' months, that'll mellow it.
will crack it as i brew my cider in early september. will give me something to drink with my buds as we make the cider to be ready for halloween.
dandelion wine in spring, cider in fall.
i'm like the "king of pagan hooch".
^killer band name^
bottled a gallon of wild grape mead this week. not as acidic as i was anticipating, probably coulda added more for secondary (=shoulda collected more). still good, though. will let it age a few months and let the flavor balance a bit before really deciding how it is.
will probably start a new something before too long...
Quote from: Volume on June 14, 2014, 05:30:46 PM
Yeah, probably should have, but it didn't seem like such a big step up between extract and grain. I've worked in labs so sterility and cleanliness aren't new to me. The most tedious steps were the heating and cooling since I did the brewing in my kitchen and don't have any efficient way of cooling.
Try this method http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/No_Chill_Method. I've had no issues over a number of brews. I also use the http://beersmith.com/blog/2009/04/14/brew-in-a-bag-biab-all-grain-beer-brewing/. A great way to go grain with minimal outlay. I use a 40L hot water urn and it works a treat. There is some loss in efficiency but I can still brew beers that hit double figure ABV.
Quote from: khoomeizhi on July 05, 2014, 10:37:55 AM
bottled a gallon of wild grape mead this week. not as acidic as i was anticipating, probably coulda added more for secondary (=shoulda collected more). still good, though. will let it age a few months and let the flavor balance a bit before really deciding how it is.
will probably start a new something before too long...
i applaud you sir!
what 'wild grapes' did you use btw? also, what honey? also, what yeast?
recipe please?!?!
i used wild grapes i collected on the great smoky mountains shore of lake fontana last year (the wife and i go on an annual wild-fruit-collecting pilgrimage for our anniversary - these wild grapes, muscadines, and persimmons). anyway - these wild grapes: probably Vitis riparia, but the biggest wild grapes i've seen (most aren't much bigger than a half-centimeter but these were cm+ in diameter). more sour than sweet to just eat them.
local wildflower honey. wild yeast. started last july as a basic simple mead (1 gal: 2.5c honey+1 tsp nutrient+yeast+water) and then racked onto the grapes in the fall.
The Mulberries came and went during a week of heavy rain and heat. Missed it. To tell you the truth, I brought home a handful and I didn't really like the taste.
Beer #4 has been aging in a keg in the fridge as it came out a little sharp. I will try it again in a week. I have one that might be ready to keg and the mead is sitting quietly in a carboy.
Is there any reason to rack the mead a second time to a new carboy or should I leave it alone?
only worth racking again if it drops 1/2 inch or more of sediment. otherwise let it roll.
just bottled a gallon batch of se chung (chinese roasted oolong tea) mead.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/khoomeizhi/for%20web/PhotoDec1822452AM_zps3d814ae7.jpg)
i love cryptic labeling.
also starting a new mead:
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/khoomeizhi/for%20web/PhotoDec1834438AM_zps537759ae.jpg)
black like the souls of the damned
^GREATNESS.^
Kegging #5 tomorrow. Too hot to brew unless I can move it outside.
Quote from: Desertblues on July 07, 2014, 02:40:05 AM
Quote from: Volume on June 14, 2014, 05:30:46 PM
Yeah, probably should have, but it didn't seem like such a big step up between extract and grain. I've worked in labs so sterility and cleanliness aren't new to me. The most tedious steps were the heating and cooling since I did the brewing in my kitchen and don't have any efficient way of cooling.
Try this method http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/No_Chill_Method. I've had no issues over a number of brews. I also use the http://beersmith.com/blog/2009/04/14/brew-in-a-bag-biab-all-grain-beer-brewing/. A great way to go grain with minimal outlay. I use a 40L hot water urn and it works a treat. There is some loss in efficiency but I can still brew beers that hit double figure ABV.
Thanks for the tip, I'll have to look into that. I thought I'd botched the brew, but it turns out I only misread the gravity. It should still mature a couple of weeks, but it already tastes pretty good. I have to say I'm very pleased with the result, especially considering it was my first brew. It should have over 7% alcohol and around 40 IBU.
Quote from: khoomeizhi on April 12, 2014, 11:07:26 AM
new experiment.
so i've talked about yacon before. i grow a lot of it and sell it. juicy south american tuber crop that starts with a lot of 'pre-biotic' sugars (kinda goofy name for near-sugars that we don't metabolize, but that make good food for beneficial gut bacteria), which turn into more 'regular' sugars as they cure/age. there's a fairly hip-right-now product, yacon syrup, that is basically uncured yacon, peeled and juiced, then boiled down until thick. it's a low-glycemic sweetener, 'cause people don't metabolize those sugars, so not surprisingly rich natural-foods hippy chicks are all about it. was inspired during the process of making some syrup to sell to do this:
i'm not sure if/how alcohol-producing yeasts consume the pre-biotics (though i wouldn't be surprised if they just ate them up), so for this project i cleaned up a big pile of yacon (the last bit of this past year's harvest) and left them out curing at room temp in the house for a couple weeks. this should have converted a good amount of sugar. last night we peeled and juiced the yacon, then filtered and boiled it down 'til it hit 25% sugar (refractometers are a necessary tool of the serious scientist-farmer), and let it cool. that's now, with it still cooling. next step once it's down near body-temp will be to filter it again (cut down some on sediment) and add a yeast culture i've been working up for 5 days or so, and a bit of yeast nutrient. (after first saving out some un-yeasted must to store for topping off after racking). let it go and see what happens. my mostly-uninformed guess is that it'll take forever to ferment out, but we'll see. probably move it from the open-mouthed glass thing i start gallon batches in, into a carboy in a week or so.
so this project has been languishing on its shelf, pretty much since i started it. racking time had come, and i realized that when i started, i used a yeast bug that was started with sugar, and those yeasts didn't seem to know what to do with the mix of sugars and sugar-like molecules in the must. so i pulled the quart of must i saved in the freezer when i started and made a bug with some of that - no 'real' sugar - so i could raise me up a little army of yeasts that can handle the weird environment. it worked! new bug took off (all praises for blueberry season, pretty sure i cultured some good yeasts off some berries i picked) and we racked onto it last night. moving real well now. dunno why i didn't think of doing it this way in the beginning...
and i think we're actually going to bottle the earlier incarnation of this (yacon cyser - cured yacon juice + honey) soon. that's the one i started ON CHRISTMAS DAY 2011 and has been trucking along ever since. crazy shit. seems to be ready finally.
Can you make a TV show already or what? What is the link to your YouTube channel? You need to get on it. I think that is mind blowing and that there is a big audience for this know how.
These local guys are starting a CSB - community supported brewery - where you get beer by subscription. They have some cartoons to show how it works.
http://www.sketchbookbrewing.com/introducing-our-csb/ (http://www.sketchbookbrewing.com/introducing-our-csb/)
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on August 07, 2014, 10:39:30 PM
Can you make a TV show already or what? What is the link to your YouTube channel? You need to get on it. I think that is mind blowing and that there is a big audience for this know how.
it's blowing my mind too. i get what you're saying but i've got enough other, and more centrally important to the life i want to live, stuff that i need to put time and energy into that this stuff is pretty low on the list of priorities. as yet purely hobby.
we did finally bottle that yacon cyser last night. it's...pretty weird. not bad at all but it has a strange edge on the front end of the taste. hoping some (more) time will cure that. aiming to cellar most of the batch for at least a year before i really start expecting much. will take some of the rest around for show-n-tells with friends, etc. though. seems strong. feeling it after a little (probably less than a shot) taster right now. haven't eaten though...
at risk of getting myself into trouble with my dear wife (since we're trying to buy a house/move this fall), i just scored a bunch more nice glass carboys for pretty cheap, increasing my brewing capacity by 41 gallons. what to do, what to do...
Dude I work with just lost all his brew & equipment to the recent Royal Oak Basement Floodage.
Quote from: khoomeizhi on August 23, 2014, 11:33:14 AM
at risk of getting myself into trouble with my dear wife (since we're trying to buy a house/move this fall), i just scored a bunch more nice glass carboys for pretty cheap, increasing my brewing capacity by 41 gallons. what to do, what to do...
Eventually bottle and
ship some neato stuff to me. I will pay of course.
Quote from: Jor el on August 23, 2014, 11:40:13 AM
Dude I work with just lost all his brew & equipment to the recent Royal Oak Basement Floodage.
shouldn't that be spelled Floooodage?
The mead is going on six months. I'm tempted to transfer it to a clean carboy and give it a few more months. Can't decide.
I have a bit left of #4 and #5 so I need to brew #6 this weekend.
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on September 11, 2014, 11:16:40 PM
The mead is going on six months. I'm tempted to transfer it to a clean carboy and give it a few more months. Can't decide.
I have a bit left of #4 and #5 so I need to brew #6 this weekend.
i think you know the answer wise one... patience.
Yeah. I got a subscription to monthly growlers from the local micro brewery. $80 for 6.
Brewing this weekend and it's freaking cold outside - so even better. The grains have been sitting in the basement for a while. I just finished off #4 into one perfect pint glass.
I boiled 3.5 gallons of water for a half hour and then put it outside on the porch until I need it. I think you need to drive off the chlorine.
So, this is what 've been building instead of posting shit here, in case anyone is wondering (which is probably no-one)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/NCR600/Food%20and%20Booze/IMG_1293_zps1e8a1e55.jpg)
And here's my new fermenter & fridge rig.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/NCR600/Food%20and%20Booze/086_zpsef5ae828.jpg)
Pretty swish huh?
The brewery is still manually controlled, I haven't bothered to do any farmer/scientist shit with arduino, but it's capable of doing stepped mashes and with 3 pumps and a heat exchanger & plate chiller, there is no fucking around with buckets & jugs or whirlpooling with a damned spoon
Where and why are you doing this?
Getting my first growler tomorrow.
Look at the gear these guys Kickstarted - I'm insanely jealous.
(http://static.squarespace.com/static/533ef16fe4b06aba076781f8/541ed51ce4b0394ddbf4a18f/541ed5e1e4b0be37af6502b0/1411307164615/IMG_3714.JPG?format=1500w)
That's a pretty sweet rig there NCR
(http://www.fimp.net/images/lostinspacerobot.gif)
way swish. fuck yeah.
and for the record, NCR, i was wondering, when i started this thread 19 months ago. been competing still too?
Yeah, still competing, and been getting some good results too, but still haven't cracked an invite to he nationals!
I've got a vague plan to have a range of recipes that need no further tweaking so in around 18 months time I can start a microbrewery so I have something to do when I get retrenched from my current job!
You can Kickstarter a Community Supported Brewery.
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on October 11, 2014, 12:44:40 AM
You can Kickstarter a Community Supported Brewery.
Well, it's probably a better idea than my current business plan.
Shit, that looks awesome NCR600. I'm still att the plastic buckets and spoon stage... the future holds less guitars and more brew equipment I guess. :P
Plastic buckets and spoons make perfectly good beer! You're probably better off spending on guitars!
kegged up number 6
if Shaytan/Yob can do award winning all grain on his chinese stovetop (in China) then I can certainly puzzle this out here. next weekend.
bottled a ginger-apple-pear cyser last night. s'good.
Great thread!
Here's a double IPA that me and a buddy made. Could have been better. We still very much novices haha...
(http://photos-c.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xfa1/10576076_1499951143582218_1180989860_n.jpg)
(http://photos-g.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xfa1/10607966_339300886228758_298379773_n.jpg)
a lot of seasonal fruit going into mead these days. started a persimmon/ground cherry and a kousa (edible dogwood) in the last couple weeks. gearing up to rack a batch that i started as a traditional onto something...been putting a lot of stuff aside in the freezer. pawpaw? pawpaw with wild black cherry? something.
Quote from: NCR600 on October 09, 2014, 08:57:39 AM
So, this is what 've been building instead of posting shit here, in case anyone is wondering (which is probably no-one)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/NCR600/Food%20and%20Booze/IMG_1293_zps1e8a1e55.jpg)
And here's my new fermenter & fridge rig.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e368/NCR600/Food%20and%20Booze/086_zpsef5ae828.jpg)
Pretty swish huh?
The brewery is still manually controlled, I haven't bothered to do any farmer/scientist shit with arduino, but it's capable of doing stepped mashes and with 3 pumps and a heat exchanger & plate chiller, there is no fucking around with buckets & jugs or whirlpooling with a damned spoon
This looks fucking sick! Well done man!
I could go sample number six...
Quote from: ThisHairyGuy on October 22, 2014, 06:44:00 AM
This looks fucking sick! Well done man!
Cheers! Still learning how to drive it properly, but the beers I'm getting out of it now I tend to prefer to the commercial stuff. tasted the Stone 18th Anniversary IPA tonight and thought that I can do as good as that! On a good day anyway, and only in small batches. Currently sampling my latest Saison. Saisons normally need to be fermented at summertime temperatures, so I thought I'd ferment it at ambient and keep the fridge for a Black IPA I brewed on on the same day, bet we got a cool snap after weeks of hot days and it's not quite what I wanted. Still an nice keg filler and very drinkable. Won't be entering it in any comps though.
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on October 22, 2014, 09:09:54 PM
I could go sample number six...
Well hurry up and sample it then! I wanna hear what it's like!
It's still young and refusing to carbonate, I will keep putting the pressure on.
Okay, I am ready to switch to all grain. I'm set up to do it stovetop. I will probably mash inside oven and do two 2 1/2 gallon runs and combine them together before fermenting.
If I upgrade I need a bigger boiling pot that can hold the whole 5 gallons at once- and I need something to Sparge in. For now I guess I'll just put the grains in 170° water for 10 minutes to do the sparging.
Two runs:
5 pounds of grain.
2.5 gallons of water
Mash for an hour at 153 degrees
Pour off into another bucket
Sparge with 1.5 gallons of water at 170° for 10 minutes
I do the sparging and mashing in the same pot.
Do you have a false bottom draining apparatus for sparging? TWSS. I can do the mashing process easily I do that now for partial grain.
I think I need a big steel 7-8 gallon pot to boil a 5 gallon batch, with a spigot. I have one of those half barrel things but it doesn't fit on my stove because it is too tall. TWSS..
The sparging part of the process is okay to do like a big tea bag? TWSS.
There are online calculators for the correct temperature for the mashing water - if you want to hit 153 you can determine what temperature to heat your hot water ....
I got this.
It's a 6.6gal pot with a tap, I heat it on the kitchen stove. I rigged a strainer in front of the tap so it wouldn't clogg, it kinda worked. Haha. Now I've bought a bazooka tube/strainer thingie to hook up to the tap, should work out great. I fly sparge, kinda. I just heat up some water an pour it over the mash through a strainer. I need to work on that part of the process, it's a bit too time consuming.
What you need MJS, is an 8-10 gallon electric urn. Look up BIAB (Brew in a Bag) on the internets. You basically heat up your water using one of those online calculator things to get the right temp, dump a bag filled with grain in, wrap it in an old sleeping bag and leave it for an hour. Then whip it out and start boiling. You could even sparge if you want to. I've taste lots of good beers made like this. It's how I started, and requires a minimum of equipment, but just enough to look impressive!
#6 is good - it wasn't very good a few weeks ago so I put it on really high pressure for two weeks and now it's much better. I like it but I'm ready for all grain.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/6d78e222f21c104b066c9c6680675477_zpsa8b3eb8c.jpg)
The mead is in a Korny in my fridge - I think the korny is not sealing properly because it isn't carbonating. It is okay but it can't get civilians to drink it. I may let it chill in the fridge for a few months.
Can I use it as a mixer? So much work.
new moon winter solstice. inspired by the long dark night to start another bochet (medieval style burnt honey mead), this time 5 gallons. previous batches have received rave reviews: black booze, until you look at just a little bit backlit and you see that it's a clear dark reddish chestnut brown. notes of caramel and burnt marshmallows. more retained sweetness than many of my meads (which tend towards dry) since the burning process renders some sugars unfermentable.
Shoot whoot
Doing my first all grain 12lb of mash sitting in the oven doing its thing.
A local company started making yeast so I'm trying that. I clearly need one more 7 gal pot - is it is I need to dump wort around to use the one big pot to mash and Sparge.
Woot! This brewing blog is great - he's testing a lot of conventional wisdom with the idea to simplify.
http://brulosophy.com (http://brulosophy.com)
Love that blog. Glad to hear you went all-grain, it's not that complicated. More to clean up maybe. You doing a BIAB or what?
I did a Chocolate-Cherry Imperial Stout for christmas, the first recipe I've made myself. It turned out way too sweet, but otherwise it's really promising. A few tweaks and I'll have a great brew for next christmas.
Edit: ABV was a bit over 9% :)
Yeah BIAB - Pretty easy except for the mash/sparging needing to get done in the one big pot - i had to puzzle it out how to transfer the wort and water around.
I think I would sparge with more water next time to get a bigger yield - I didn't realize you could even do a no-sparge which I may do next time.
Putting the whole brew kettle in the oven to hold the temp for an hour worked fantastic. That blog I listed had a big article about not worrying about hot side aeration and also not to worry too much about excessive trub in the primary fermenter - and that there's no real reason to do a secondary fermenter. Which saves a ton of screwing around.
Next one I'm doing first wort hop and dry hopping.
Anyone ever go to these homebrewers conferences? Sounds fun.
The 2015 conference will be held in San Diego, Calif. (with more details forthcoming).
http://www.ahaconference.org/conference/about/ (http://www.ahaconference.org/conference/about/)
Doing another 5 gallon all grain this weekend, because I can.
Hey look it is supposed to be 10 52 and 8 hours into this project that's where we landed.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/IMG_3741_zps359f49d7.jpg)
After hours and hours of boiling when I got it down to 5.25 gallons the specific gravity was spot on.
Looks good!
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on December 29, 2014, 02:37:08 PM
Putting the whole brew kettle in the oven to hold the temp for an hour worked fantastic. That blog I listed had a big article about not worrying about hot side aeration and also not to worry too much about excessive trub in the primary fermenter - and that there's no real reason to do a secondary fermenter. Which saves a ton of screwing around.
Next one I'm doing first wort hop and dry hopping.
I cut up an old sleeping mat and wrap that around the kettle for insulation. As for the trub, the siphon I use for bottling has a cap to filter it out, but I forgot to attach it. The beer had massive amounts of trub, but still turned out great. I've never used a secondary either, I just use a big plastic bucket. I've been thinking of getting a plastic carboy though, it would be nice to be able to see how the fermentation is progressing without opening the lid.
I have a bunch of spruce shoots in the freezer, might do a pale ale with those next.
The guy at the HB store helped me fix the Hop amounts given in my recipe using an online calculator, so I am going to start paying more attention to hops and yeast - I usually just wing it.
I've been reading about dry hopping experiments - you can buy a 12 of bud light (or something plain like sierra nevada pale ale) and put about 5-6 hop pellets in each one and recap - a good way to see what hops you like and compare them mixing and matching.
http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2013/03/dry-hopped-bud-light.html?m=1 (http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2013/03/dry-hopped-bud-light.html?m=1)
Doing it for sure.
Update: Jan 17 - I cold crashed the #7 (my first all grain) in the fridge for a week, which is supposed to help settle out matters and clear the beer a bit more. Kegging it up today.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/IMG_3761_zps642b2451.jpg)
Question: My mead didn't turn out very tasty, I have it carbonated in that keg and I filled a few champagne bottles, adding cinnamon and cloves. Anything else I should try to fix it up?
I was making some cranberries and stuck 4 tablespoons in a carafe of mead - after an hour it is delicious. I'm a bit worried the sugar will cause carbonation to turn on and blow up the champagne bottle so I'll let it sit for a day and then bottle a couple..
mead is frequently not very good soon after making it. aging is key. many don't start really coming into their own until a year or two after bottling. if you want to consume it sooner, then mess with masking it with extra flavors, acids, backsweetening, etc. otherwise my advice would be to bottle, stick in the basement, and forget about it for a while.
none of my older projects are finishing on 'schedule', so as i continue to start new batches (trying to keep up an average of starting a batch per month to keep the pipeline full), i'm starting to run out of space for active carboys. doesn't help that i scored another couple jugs of local apple cider that started fuzzin' up from work...good thing i bought all those extra carboys, though!
Now I want a Keezer and a fermentation chamber
http://brulosophy.com/2014/04/08/a-slightly-less-simple-keezer-build/ (http://brulosophy.com/2014/04/08/a-slightly-less-simple-keezer-build/)
I brewed an American Stout today, lots of hops and I'll probably add cocoa nibs too. The chilling is is driving me nuts though, I need one of those wort chillers. I should have just let it cool over night in stead of staying up late waiting.
Dude, get a copper coiled immersion chiller, hook it up to a hose running cold water full blast and stir - cools down 5 gal of wort in a few minutes.
(don't get a plate one where the wort runs inside tubes - they are filthy and don't really work)
(http://www.fermentstation.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/5/0/5006.jpg)
Yea, I need to get one of those and an oxygen pump. I pitched the yeast a bit too hot, it's fermenting in the basement now which is pretty cold so the temp is ok for now. I'll move it up if it gets too cold... need a fermentation chamber too. haha, my wife is already going nuts over all the equipment, grain and stuff.
It's easy to overbuy and wind up with tons of shit you don't need, I recently slimmed down all my gear after reading this
http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/11/getting-started-if-i-knew-then-what-i-know-now/ (http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/11/getting-started-if-i-knew-then-what-i-know-now/)
I went to the hardware store and the guy helped me pick out everything to build a MLT out off a Coleman cooler - made a 5 gallon all grain (my 3rd all grain) with it.
http://brulosophy.com/how-i-brew/diy-cooler-mlt/ (http://brulosophy.com/how-i-brew/diy-cooler-mlt/)
Like one of these....
(https://brulosophy.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/01_mlts.jpg)
Also got some hardware to hook my immersion chiller up to the kitchen sink.
Both projects came out great and I'm very happy.
last night we did the last racking on a ground cherry mead. tasty. looks like it's gonna take a while to clear though.
While I am really interested in learning to homebrew, the idea of a 5 gallon batch seems like it would be way too much for me to ever get through. I tend to switch things up after every six pack, how am I going to make it with the same beer through 5 gallons? Especially when I expect many of my attempts will suck? heck, even an "okay" batch will probably have a hard time keeping my interest past a few pints.
I usually got two different 5 gallon corny kegs I can drink in the fridge, plus a few bottled. I've never found that to be an issue. It's pretty good stuff. My wife is stopping by local home brew shop today getting me a three gallon keg. Want to try smaller batches for fun - could probably pour my beer growler subscription in it.
I wish I would have switched to all grain earlier but 10 years ago the process everyone was using was too complex, now it's nothng.
I Opened a mead and it's just awful, I will try again in a few months. I used cheap grocery store honey which may be the issue.
I do ~3 gallon batches and I make em faster than I can drink em so I have different styles and I give bottles to friends and whatnot. I went straight to all-grain, it's not that difficult. I bet most of your batches will be better than "okay", I know mine are. Go for it!
Should be able to drink 53 bottles of beer in a month
I don't drink 53 bottles in 2 months.
The idea of 3 gallon batches is more doable. The idea of having 2 3-gallon batches going at one time seems the most likely approach for me to take, but that would probably be my beer supply for 2 full months. I really can't imagine drinking the same 2 beers for 2 months straight.
(And that is assuming I don't buy packaged beer at the same time....which I am sure I would).
I am sure I will give it a try in the next year or so....at this point, I am just too curious and interested in being able to create a beer to my own personal preferences. Going all gran does sound the most intriguing too.
Okay, Adolf. This is the best introduction to all grain - it's easy to follow and detailed.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/ (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/)
This is my holy grail
http://brulosophy.com/how-i-brew/processes/batch-sparge/single-batch-brew-day/ (http://brulosophy.com/how-i-brew/processes/batch-sparge/single-batch-brew-day/)
I stuck #9 carboy in the fridge to cold crash until Sunday. I added gelatin to see if it clears it.
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on March 09, 2015, 11:26:35 PM
Okay, Adolf. This is the best introduction to all grain - it's easy to follow and detailed.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/ (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/)
This is my holy grail
http://brulosophy.com/how-i-brew/processes/batch-sparge/single-batch-brew-day/ (http://brulosophy.com/how-i-brew/processes/batch-sparge/single-batch-brew-day/)
I stuck #9 carboy in the fridge to cold crash until Sunday. I added gelatin to see if it clears it.
Got those links bookmarked, thanks.
Tomorrow doing this Tiny Bottom Pale Ale
http://brulosophy.com/recipes/tiny-bottom-pale-ale/ (http://brulosophy.com/recipes/tiny-bottom-pale-ale/)
#9 is easily the best beer I ever made. Switching to all-grain from extract got rid of the 'extract tang' which I never liked. I made it clear - I used gelatin just before I cold crashed it and it looks real nice. Normally mine are very cloudy and I usually make dark beers.
There's still a gallon left of my first all grain #8 'Swartz Beer'. It's pretty good too. Yeah! I'm going to try same batch with two yeasts Kölsch and American Ale and try to learn more about what yeast I like. I have an outdoor propane brew stand ready to go.
#10 Tiny Bottom pale ale is kegged and carbonating. So I have 8,9, 10 on tap in the basement fridge.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/9922d7b4ef6db58e5013178db5ba6c7e_zpsyvqumxfx.jpg)
I am doing number 11 a mocktoberfest beer this weekend using the wlp029 Kölsch yeast slurry from #9 instead of buying new yeast, it's been sitting in a mason jar in my fridge.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/7b78efa10aa59a8f869c000b2b14175f_zpsm4alimdi.jpg)
Brewing outside is great, especially with the levels on the deck. Clean up is easy with the garden hose.
Only problem - it is always windy here and that messes with the burner. I can't see the flame to tune it up. But that high power burner is great - my stove could barely boil 6 g wort.
Perhaps fabricate a wind break around it?
have moved 3/4 of my active booze projects to the new house (18gal). once i have a few extra minutes among the work and continuing move, i'll start a celebratory batch of something and rack the pu erh mead. still need to move all the big empty carboys...
That must be fun, moving big old full messy carboys
not so messy, they's all got airlocks in 'em. nothing's sloshing around too much. the annoying part is that some of them were so close to being clear, and i went and shook 'em up again. keeping the new house kinda cold, so things are clearing again pretty well...
Saturday is National Homebrew Day
Got my baby - I set it up when wife was away so it's in the living room (for now).
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/e54a51fc9f590b2318bae46bc95fab1e_zpsm4jww6gd.jpg)
I need to call #12 apple blossom IPA cause they landed in everything. Tasty though.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/923c9353d3e5f18ff5fac590ec5d0810_zpswjiy1u8i.jpg)
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on May 09, 2015, 01:16:57 PM
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/e54a51fc9f590b2318bae46bc95fab1e_zpsm4jww6gd.jpg)
is your house on fire or is the fog rolling in?
Ratty iPad cover
Damn - with 15 gallons of homemade beer right there on tap I'm gonna be a little drunk nonstop (like always but with less fuss). It was so cold brewing outside at 6 am this morning that I decided not to drink plus I had to drive some kids around kids around at noon. Brewing sober means everything works out perfectly with no missed timings or temperatures.
I found out one of our execs at work is an avid homebrewer so now I got something to talk to that guy about.
#12 kegged and hoppy as an IPA should be, didn't carb up yet and tastes real green so I'm giving it a week more to age out before I start drinking it.
Making #13 Hefwiezen today - the sweet wort tasted amazing.
So far hitting all my temps and gravity, my ferment room is a little too warm so I hope I don't wind up with too many off favors.
http://beerrecipes.org/showrecipe.php?recipeid=1350 (http://beerrecipes.org/showrecipe.php?recipeid=1350)
Up: all the internet said that Wyest3068 stuff ferments mad so I used a blow off tube for the first time and damn if it didn't need it. Stuffs bubbling crazily. Had to clean out the container I was using for the blow off because it's full to the top with foam.
I fucked around with the water minerals. I think our Lake Michigan water is probably too clean for brewing. I took this picture so I remember to snake a piece of string in the hop ball - it's always so hard to fish out of the kettle later.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/831b9da33500168f823dff6435cda125_zpsyoc91heh.jpg)
I put down some thick heavy tiles on top of the grill mat on top of wet newspaper - I am not burning my damn deck.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/0ec655d24e44f81b1fb7b42193a63e0a_zpsa3cithff.jpg)
That all sounds and looks killer, MJS.
Try and save me a pint of #12 apple blossom IPA!
(or at least raise one for me!)
Wait wait wait. There's a beer making thread?
Jesus Christ, I need to start playing the lottery. This comes right before 'Jet Pack' on my to-do hobby list. I'll get here!
#11 the (m)Oktoberfest is not my favorite and I was wondering if I screwed up something in the process so I bought a couple different Oktoberfest beers and I didn't really like those either. The Pale Ale keg is getting ready to kick so I'll have room to put the Hefeweizen on tap in time for our big July 4th party.
Our local home brew shop (LHBS in the trade) is moving in with Sketchbook brewery so I gotta drive into Chicago to buy grain for a while, grrrr.
My #14 Mosaic Saison seems to have turned out great and is bubbling away - I got the yeast from Omega Labs which is a local Chicago place that started up last year. Like the last batch, I pulled another couple gallons of wort off the spent grain while sparging and made a smaller batch, that one I put in a cup of maple syrup and used the yeast slug off a prior batch, I may keep doing that, doesn't add much to the brew day but it's a good way to use up bits of ingredients and experiment a bit.
Saison....
http://www.craftedpours.com/homebrew-recipe/mosaic-saison-homebrew-recipe (http://www.craftedpours.com/homebrew-recipe/mosaic-saison-homebrew-recipe)
Omega yeast.
(http://www.brewandgrow.com/media/catalog/product/s/a/saisonsteins-monster.jpg)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-amBVtTwauA4/Uz8oZO34qKI/AAAAAAAACaM/eXmDt-0571U/s1600/Omega+Pickup.jpg)
I got some chalk board tap handles for Father's Day but they were returns since they didn't fit next to each other (womens and children know little about beer)
I got this going - the wheat beer is terrific now and should be better in a few weeks,
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/7ab5cd26d90c8517f765d0bbf49ccf8f_zpschyghbnq.jpg)
Made two gallons hard cider with a half bottle of cherry syrup (we sell that stuff to the Temperance Brewerty dudes -that's what I'm doing with it too!)) all from farmers market stuff. Bubbling like crazy in a couple hours and going nuts this morning, smells great.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/1d9da3bc2faaa9678c309ac0db0a7b03_zps3qft4oas.jpg)
nice. we just opened the last bottle of a sumac mead bottled 2/12. good reminder that age is key in mead. it used to be kinda thin and sour, but now the honey nose came back out, and the body's way better too.
we also just bottled 3 gallons of unroasted oolong mead, 1 gallon of spiced (just fenugreek and coriander) bochet (medieval style burnt honey mead), and a gallon of pawpaw mead. finally shit is finishing up. starting a few different things too.
How long you think I need to let the hard cider ferment? Can I keg and carb now after a week?
I'm eyeing my neighbors apple tree to do another round of cider from scratch, so I can use the trub from the first one for the yeast. I don't have a juicer but I'll boil a bit and strain until I get enough juice at a good OG.
I'm looking at doing a Nettle Beer - you ever try that?
http://andhereweare.net/2013/03/making-wild-nettles-beer.html/ (http://andhereweare.net/2013/03/making-wild-nettles-beer.html/)
nah, i've done some nettles mead, but that looks straightforward enough. should work with your ale yeasts and whathaveyou.
seems like you could do a 'real' (grain-based) beer with nettles tea used for the whaddayacallit, sparging? if you wanted to instead. it's fun to do new experiments, though. either way it would be one.
like - have i mentioned those chinese yeast balls before? they're a dry little chunk that's got both a bacterial culture and a yeast culture, so the bacteria eats starches and turns them to sugars, and the yeast turns those into alcohols - basically the same thing the chinese peasantry use to make rice 'beer' or even just alcoholic rice to eat...anyway, i'm doing an experiment right now with those with unripe plantain - just steamed, mashed and yeast-balled.
the shit is weird, i think that's the only update right now.
kombucha Has got everyone's attention - something like that?
I made two rounds of apple juice from the neighbors tree and will get maybe 2.5 gallons total.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/D582D6D1-FE7B-4BB1-9AD0-E5FAA8AA1C68_zps3gq0norg.jpg)
Notes:
#16 7/17/15 hard cider from apples!
Two full 10 gallon buckets of apples from the neighbors yard
Chopped and Boiled outside until apple sauce, put in brew in bag, hung off chair.
Tons of apples round one came out very sweet
Handful of sweet cherries handful of sour cherries in round two - amazing!
2 cups of brown sugar, clove, cinnamon,
Water nutrients and 2 big tablespoons of yeast nutrients
Sarfare s-05 yeast red package nice and foamy
Put In carboy step back for the love
Yes!
Sauce
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/6269a17c84a8d6fbaa0dd098b68e33e2_zpsvlxib2xi.jpg)
Yes
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/dc82a4d10f97aa6c3ef0b1fff538407e_zpsunkfvl3f.jpg)
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on July 17, 2015, 09:00:46 PM
kombucha Has got everyone's attention - something like that?
only something like that in the loosest possible way.
That carboy of apple juice from the neighbors apples blew it's airlock - it was sitting on the floor - luckily I had wrapped it in a wet towel so all the blow off was easily cleaned up. Yea!
Came out insanely dry, whoops, I added two glasses cider and it sweetened up nicely though.
I'm on brew number 19 since I took it up again, with all since #7 being all grain. Since #11 ive been pulling an extra couple gallons of wort to do a secondary small brew each time as well.
I've dialed in my brewing process and am ready for kicking it up to the next level with recipes, water adjuncts and hops/yeast.
There's a new book out by the Brulosophy camp that I am enjoying much.
http://www.amazon.com/Experimental-Homebrewing-Breaking-Rules-Great-ebook/dp/B00O1ACYKY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= (http://www.amazon.com/Experimental-Homebrewing-Breaking-Rules-Great-ebook/dp/B00O1ACYKY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=)
Once I jettisoned a lot of the conventional wisdom I am finding brew days way more fun.
nice. it's good when you get comfortable enough with your process that you can play more.
starting my 37th and 38th batches of mead in about a week - a kousa dogwood one and a mugwort acerglyn (honey + maple syrup). it's wild persimmon season so it's really easy to start wild ferments.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/khoomeizhi/for%20web/IMG_1025_zpsxxouwaop.jpg)
I put this elsewhere - I found tons of hops are growing on a fence by work, I harvested three rounds. I just kegged the beer I made with these. Seems strong and bitter like cascade.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/BE59F6B3-BF74-412F-A45B-8C7F693518F6_zpshbjpphej.jpg)
more weird shit: among a number of other meads i've started lately, i decided to start an onion mead - take 2. the first batch was a couple years ago and i recently gave the last bottle of it away to some friends who got married. once done and clear, it's actually surprisingly and pleasantly drinkable - especially if you don't smell it first. got it in open fermentation (giant jar) right now and wow, is that a fucking weird smell. about 2 days in, still more sweet than funky.
also started the second round (6 gallons this time) of rooibos-mugwort mead. the last couple days it was pushing faster through the airlock than anything i've seen. like the bubbles were tripping over each other trying to get out. it's slowed down a bit now.
still spawning wild yeast colonies with wild persimmons, after a late-october resupply.
Well, after my inaugural year of making three batches of hard cider with the neighbors apples - they cut the tree down! They took down the cherry tree too. Stupid old people.
that's old people for you. had you offered them some of the cider?
We don't drink
Brewing today, did the boiling outside, rest inside. Worked okay. Another one to do tomorrow.
I did a re-brew of a Bavarian Hefweizen I made previously- it blew it's airlock and it looks perfect. The other one was a simple Amber Ale to use up some hops and extra ingredients.
Yes!
I have a Schwartz brew on tap and the last of that homemade cider. The third tap has a 2 gallon run-off from the end of my brewing of previous Pale Ale - I put a slug of some saison yeast I had saved - it's pretty fucking awful.
I have second one of those run-off brews of the Schwartz beer with a slug of saved heady-topper yeast and a lot of those hops from work I found growing on the fence.
So I got 2 five gallon batches fermenting now.
during the calendar year 2015:
i started 11 batches/16 gallons of mead or similar
and bottled 10.2 batches/17 gallons of mead or similar - for a total of 74 corked 750mL bottles for longer storage.
i've been trying to start one batch per month, and that got totally mucked up with all the shit leading up to and following buying our house in april, but i almost pulled it off on average in the end. numbers!
finally got a batch of cyser together.
3lbs honey, 5gallons apple cider.
cooper's and nottingham ale yeast.
yeast.
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/brew1yeast.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/brew1yeast.jpg.html)
juice n' honey.
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/brew2juice.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/brew2juice.jpg.html)
awww yeah, that's the stuff.
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/brew3pitched.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/brew3pitched.jpg.html)
see ya' in a few weeks.
you get that from a recipe? just wondering - seems a little light on honey compared with most cysers. i guess you're going for a less-aging-needed session-type thing?
How was the ale yeast? I used 3 different champagne/wine Yeats in the 3 ciders I made this summer.
I timed it out and have Schwatrtzbier, American Ale and a Hefweizen on tap for NYE.
yeah, we'll open something that's at least a year-and-a-half or a couple years old. got a wine rack for christ-mass, so now shit's all accessible.
Quote from: khoomeizhi on July 17, 2014, 06:00:47 PM
just bottled a gallon batch of se chung (chinese roasted oolong tea) mead.
(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/khoomeizhi/for%20web/PhotoDec1822452AM_zps3d814ae7.jpg)
i love cryptic labeling.
we ended up opening one of these nye. strangely 'rich'. roasty, a little sour.
wild yeast, bitches! roll the dice!
ok, this shit is for real.
mountain dew, champagne yeast, airlock, glass bottle. boom.
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/IMGP1548.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/IMGP1548.jpg.html)
(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/IMGP1550.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/IMGP1550.jpg.html)
letcha' know how it turns out.
I have an all grain Munich Helles to brew but I hurt my shoulder and can't lift stuff for a while, plus it's windy and single digits outside.
I should do a small batch ferment of something, probably not Mnt Dew though ;0
Edit: I made homemade root beer! If I like it I'll try something else, like ginger ale.
http://www.hiresbigh.com/homemade-rootbeer-recipe (http://www.hiresbigh.com/homemade-rootbeer-recipe)
Quote from: khoomeizhi on December 30, 2015, 06:52:17 AM
you get that from a recipe? just wondering - seems a little light on honey compared with most cysers. i guess you're going for a less-aging-needed session-type thing?
done it a ton of times, usually comes out to be 6-7abv,
not a wine burn and nice and dry. sometimes i backsweeten for the lady-
ah, gotcha. all the cysers i've made have been around 11-14%: wineville. but that's the range i do most of my stuff in.
we're gonna be planting out the orchard at the new farm this spring, with a number of things cider/cyserable. i'm gonna fuck some shit up with the ugly/unsaleable shit - was also pondering pressing and cooking cider down to higher concentrations for brewing...with cull asian pears? fuck yes.
eh, just give me like...six years. starting from scratch here. but then it's on.
all strained into secondary, (left to right)=
ale yeast cyser, 5 gallons. chamomile flower and vanilla bean mead, 1 gallon. raspberry cider w/cider yeast 1 gallon.(http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l629/iambetacloud/Image02132016180118.jpg) (http://s1127.photobucket.com/user/iambetacloud/media/Image02132016180118.jpg.html)
all came out great so far, aging will only make them better. may need to back sweeten the raspberry cider though.
Do you pasteurize it after the back sweetening? I keg so I have no exploding bottles so I can leave it in the fridge or kegerator cold.
The root beer is really great.
Should be able to try the ginger ale today, I started light on the sugar and kept adding sugar (and more ginger) until it seemed about right. I boiled water first, let it drop to 180 then added ginger and citrus with the thought I wanted to sterilize but not boil. The citrus seemed a bit bitter so I fished out the rinds early. It's in a keg carbonating now.
Still got a case of that bad mead I made, I have a few I flavored in the bottle with raspberries or cinnamon sticks. They have an inch of easily disturbed trub on the bottom. I should crack one and see where we are at. I will never use crappy grocery store honey again, next time small batch with decent honey.
word up.
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on February 15, 2016, 08:52:38 AM
Do you pasteurize it after the back sweetening? I keg so I have no exploding bottles so I can leave it in the fridge or kegerator cold.
The root beer is really great.
Should be able to try the ginger ale today, I started light on the sugar and kept adding sugar (and more ginger) until it seemed about right.
i never pasteurize man, i never even cold crash to kill the yeast. thing is; after a tertiary transfer, there's no visible yeast, or strong yeast flavor. i bottle in grolsch type flip-tops so they never blow up, just burp a bit when there's too much pressure. i also age em' pretty good so the yeast is totally dead by then.
also, my old lady makes a thing in a growler, i think it's called a 'ginger bomb'. just shredded fresh ginger, raw sugar and water. in like a day you have to gradually burp it and WHOA, what a carbonation! once she strains it, it's a nice sweet carbonated ginger ale.
would love to try your root beer.
be good MJS
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on December 30, 2015, 05:34:29 PM
How was the ale yeast? I used 3 different champagne/wine Yeats in the 3 ciders I made this summer.
I timed it out and have Schwatrtzbier, American Ale and a Hefweizen on tap for NYE.
sorry for the late get-back, (back reading here).
i think the cooper's and nottingham ale yeasts are my faves for cider. champagne yeast goes super dry... almost vinegar like to me before it ages. still like it though.
but the brit type ale yeasts make a more pub cider flavor, medium dry and an almost wheat-like aftertaste. IMO.
oh yeah, i recently used this;
(http://cdn.nexternal.com/hombre/images/Cider%20House%20Select%20Yeast%20MEDIUM1.jpg)
really good, super appley'!
Okay, if I find a neighbor with some apples I'll do a cider with an ale yeast.
Tried the ginger ale. Tastes like ginger, not like Canada Dry. I think next time I'd ferment it a bit since it's more like ginger beer anyway. Maybe good for a Moscow mule? Making a Moscow mule now.
Shit, the Evanston HB shop closed last spring, and now my backup place in Highlnd Park, a 20 min drive, is closing too.
That leaves just the places in the city, which are too far, no parking, and an annoying slow congested drive away.
Guess I'm only ordering online now. I got two 6 gal plastic better bottles now, can't lift the glass ones safely anymore.
that sucks, unless it's just as easy and cheap online.
i just got my chainsaw back form the shop. among the trees to be taken down yet this (late) winter is a decent-sized sweet birch. planning on a chaga/birch mead from the twigs, probably this next week.
That shop is having a big going out of business sale 20% off if you pay cash. I went today and got three recipes (hop test ale, California common, and a Centenial Blonde) worth of ingredients and a bunch of yeast and hops. I got a bunch of spare keg parts.
Made a Munich Helles - #25 since I started brewing again.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/image_zps01dkpaeu.jpeg)
I was in Whole Foods so I got a Kombachu bottle and made a starter for a SCOBY.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/image_zpslghgsoyz.jpeg)
Okay, the Mead from two years ago is fucking horrible. I got case and I'm dumping it. Yuck. .
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on February 26, 2016, 08:55:38 AM
I was in Whole Foods so I got a Kombachu bottle and made a starter for a SCOBY.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/image_zpslghgsoyz.jpeg)
these things freak me the fuck out!!!
c'mon dude, embrace diversity.
There's the start of a SCOBY in there. Probably needs another week. I got some 16oz flip top bottles.
Think this is a brewing weekend.
started a chaga-birch mead last week. super-birchy. hope it calms down some before the end. about to rack 6 gallons of rooibos-mugwort mead. then leaving the state 'til next week sometime.
I was just reading about rooibos on a Kombachu website - red bush tea, eh?
I think as long as you use some black tea you can use other teas for Kombachu - I drink Yerba Mate instead of coffee and Albanian Mountain Tea at work, so I got a shot at those two.
i know some folks who have done green and/or oolong teas in something like that, but it might be 'jun' which is a related scoby-based drink...
i do a rooibos/mugwort tea sometimes, kind of my main non-caf tea...this one is round two of this general mead recipe. something like 4 bottles left of round one. the ones with oak are awesome.
Apparently, they reformulated Kombachu so it has less alcohol and now is harder to grow a SCOBY so I just ordered one.
Later...
So, of course one materialized atop the starter I made. I decided to make a 1/2 g with each. Stay tuned.
Put this SCOBY in some sugary tea and drink the result...
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/image_zpselqui6ug.jpeg)
So now I got two to compare...
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/image_zps0ytvcqnj.jpeg)
Cold crashing my Munich helles and fined with gelatin, my California Common is bubbling away. This weekend made 3 gallon hard cream soda with US-04, got to brew a beer tomorrow either Centenial Blonde or the hop test beer.
The CA common beer is cold crashing and getting kegged this weekend, the Munich Helles is now on tap and fantastic. It needs to age a week or two.
The cream soda is delicious, the children are enjoying.
Cracked the first of my 3 bottles of Kombucho- not too bad. Next 3 have ginger, three I bottled today have some blueberries. My purchased SCOBY is rocking, my homegrown one is catching up and creepy looking. I may wait another week before bottling. I have two half gallon jars so I can experiment a bit. It's an acquired but cloying taste that I enjoy.
Doing some brewing this weekend, probably do the Centenial Blonde.
just started a batch of lapsang souchong bochet. smoked tea and burnt honey. pretty excited. aiming for a smokier caramel type thing. may even add a bit of salt at the end, just to mess with people.
just bottled the final oaked gallon of a bochet i started in late 2014. fucking tasty, even young.
Nice! Can't wait to crack open the one you sent me. (By the way, I just tossed the last handful of the peanuts you used for packing material up on the garage for the squirrels- two big crows flew them away one peanut at a time - otherwise we ate the rest!)
I've not killed myself with this weird stuff yet. That's one mighty SCOBY. The blueberry one came out great, this is strawberry.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/image_zps4gziteob.jpeg)
Supposed to make the Hop Test Bitter this weekend with the work hops, but it fucking snowed and is 26F out. I ordered a Saison recipe to put in the pipeline and a 6.5g big mouth bubbler carboy to try out.
Made the hop test bitter, made a Saison yesterday and a couple gallons hard cider. Got a Helles, CA common and a Centenial Blonde on tap.
Northern Brewer ran a special - 3 kits for $60, $8 shipping so I got grains for
Dead Ringer Ale All-Grain Kit - crushed 1
Kolsch All-Grain Kit - crushed 1
Caribou Slobber Brown All-Grain Kit - crushed
I'm swimming in excellent homebrew here. Swimming.
mead of the month: spring tips (spruce and hemlock). pretty awesome.
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on April 09, 2016, 12:45:57 PM
Nice! Can't wait to crack open the one you sent me.
i'm glad you've got the patience to wait it out! pretty curious about that one, too. still waiting.
I'm committed to doing a fermented hot sauce or 12 this year, got a bunch of varieties of pepper plants.
What do you use in yours? Seems the choices are lactose from yogurt, whey from sourdough or au natural?
aw nat. i usually ferment peppers/onion/garlic/tomatillos all chopped kinda coarse, then blend them with other things to taste after.
Got it - onions and garlic are suppose to help introduce the lactose, or at least a lot of sugar for wild lactose to find.
I'm going to the national homebrew Association convention next week in Baltimore
Which was super fun, probably will do MPLS next year.
I started some sauerkraut finally, oh yeahs
Started some strawberry rhubarb hooch with some champagne yeast and some elderflower open fermented hooch with a shot of the yeast.
Yeah!
I think the elderflower stuff is going in a second ferment with Kombucho unless it tastes great alone.
The Mulberries are ready on the tree at work, trying to pick enough to do something with them - I handily picked a quart yesterday but probably need a gallon
The Elderflower stuff is amazing, wish I would have logged what I did. It's way over-carbed so I cracked the top on the bottles and two were ready to explode.
A win!
it's not actually 'homebrewing' in the normal sense, but i've got a batch of nocino that i started last month - it's an italian liqueur made with green (shells still soft, hulls still on) walnuts.
also started my annual july 'starting basic' mead, so i have something to rack onto whatever local fruit there's available in october. hoping for another good pawpaw year.
Making some mint wine, we'll see what happens. I have a choice between dry and sweet white wine yeast, leaning toward dry.
I have frozen about 6 pints of red mulberries I picked and another quart of black raspberries to add that will be made into wine once I figure out what to do
Might finally go to the Evanston HB club meeting this Thursday, they keep inviting me.
been picking lots of wild blueberries in the highlands near here. kinda crazy amounts - i think i've brought home upwards of 5 gallons all told to date in two trips in the past three weeks. just got back from the latest trip - going to start a 3-gallon wild blueberry mead tonight using mostly the wild yeast on the berries. pretty stoked.
My strawberry/rhubarb wine got a white peccile after transferring, think I'll transfer again and use a camden tablet to kill everything.
yup. my kousa mead has got one at the moment, too, like they always do. it's about time to do a campden/bentonite thing.
I should do another one about now.
Hey - almost hop picking season from the big long fence at work. Monitoring daily.
good season for wild yeast around here.
just started my 50th batch of mead - sourwood traditional. rolling along really well on a yeast bug made with local concord grape and persimmon.
Car full of hops
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/image_zpswiwc2wyp.jpeg)
My last little bit of PITA on brew day solved - use Sous Vide with the temp off to stir the wort while chilling.
(http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p520/madjohnshaft/IMG_0997_zps465rlb9c.jpg)
i successfully started one batch of mead per month this year. really need to bottle a few things - though we bottled 3 gallons of a rooibos-mugwort mead tonight, and racked the other 3 gallons of that batch onto oak.
I should try some of that bad mead from 2 years ago and see if it's better.
Today I brewed a Düsseldorf Alt outside in the snow. 0n tap I have Yuengling and Bells 2 Hearted clones and a new Pilsner carbing up. Since I started messing with water additives my beer has improved.
Yuengling? So you're lagering?
Faux Lagering, which works fine for me.
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/fake-cold-brew-faux-lager/?type=success&msg=You%20have%20been%20logged%20in%20successfully! (https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/fake-cold-brew-faux-lager/?type=success&msg=You%20have%20been%20logged%20in%20successfully!)
Heh - I love reading my old posts in this thread because it logs my progress in Homebrewing from the point I started up again in 2014 - like with every gear-heavy hobby, you over-reach and then dial it back to something much more optimal.
My last changes - I don't put hops in bags, I sparge with room temp water, play around with water chemistry, cold crash with gelatin, stopped using the dangerous glass carboys, clean with PBW and starsan, boil outside on deck but everything else is inside, and use a lot of dry yeast instead of the smack paks.
My brew day is about 5.5 hours now from start to putting everything away. I usually start about 6 AM and finishing up before noon is awesome.
Yeah Homebrewing!
In 2016 I did
60 gallons or 12 five gallon batches of homebrew
10 gallons or so of wine/cider/mead
2 five gallon batches of soda
4 small second running batches of homebrew.
i still love my glass carboys - and still haven't broken any (knock something aside from them on wood).
anyway, looks like my full count for 2016 was 12 batches/18 gallons started and something like 6.3 batches/12 gallons bottled, all wild-yeast meads of some sort or another.
You should participate in the Reddit on this topic, I learnt lots of helpful things from the beer Reggie.
bottled a gallon of chaga-birch mead i started last year - kind of fancy-ass rootbeer wine? just started another batch of same.
I bottled up my strawberry rhubarb with some white and corn sugar, it was really really dry and I wanted to sweeten it up so it tastes more fruity. Will age for a while and see what happens, I killed off the yeasties first so no exploding this time.
just bottled 3 gallons of oaked lapsang souchong mead, and started three gallons of an experimental wild mead made with the slightly sweet (but also kind of bitter) water from processing kudzu starch. have a wild hare to rack it onto tamarind in a few months.
been bottling a fair bit so far this year from older batches - 10 gallons so far. also started doing a small number of 12oz beer bottles each time, for smaller more tradeable/giftable units.
I made a wheat beer with
Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen Beer Yeast
And like last time it took off like crazy and needed a blow off tube.