the homebrew blogtrain

[khoomeizhi]

word up.

[Beta Cloud]

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

[Beta Cloud]

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;

really good, super appley'!

[MadJohnShaft]

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.

[MadJohnShaft]

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.

[khoomeizhi]

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.

[MadJohnShaft]

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.



I was in Whole Foods so I got a Kombachu bottle and made a starter for a SCOBY.  

[MadJohnShaft]

Okay, the Mead from two years ago is fucking horrible. I got case and I'm dumping it. Yuck. .

[Beta Cloud]

I was in Whole Foods so I got a Kombachu bottle and made a starter for a SCOBY.  

these things freak me the fuck out!!!

[khoomeizhi]

c'mon dude, embrace diversity.

[MadJohnShaft]

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.

[khoomeizhi]

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.

[MadJohnShaft]

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.

[khoomeizhi]

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.

[MadJohnShaft]

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...





So now I got two to compare...




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.

[MadJohnShaft]

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.

[khoomeizhi]

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.

[khoomeizhi]

just bottled the final oaked gallon of a bochet i started in late 2014. fucking tasty, even young.

[MadJohnShaft]

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.



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.

[MadJohnShaft]

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.

[khoomeizhi]

mead of the month: spring tips (spruce and hemlock). pretty awesome.

[khoomeizhi]

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.

[MadJohnShaft]

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?

[khoomeizhi]

aw nat. i usually ferment peppers/onion/garlic/tomatillos all chopped kinda coarse, then blend them with other things to taste after.

[MadJohnShaft]

Got it - onions and garlic are suppose to help introduce the lactose, or at least a lot of sugar for wild lactose to find.