The Official Brewing Thread (part deux)

[OpusX]

Bottling French and English ciders today. They've been bulk aging since Oct 2020. Had to snag the brewers share.

[AnarchicArctic]

Started 4 gallons of mead today. Thanks for the honey BLachance75! Trying my hand at a short mead this time because I want it fast and don’t want to get immediately wasted. A pound of honey in each. One classic, one vanilla/juniper, one blueberry and one raspberry. Picked the berries in the backyard. I would have liked more raspberries, but the crop has pretty much been drowning out from all the rain. Oh and they’re not living in front of the air conditioner, just the best spot to take a picture.

[AnarchicArctic]

When they’re ready we’ll have a taste test for sure

[BLachance75]

I’ll start a gallon of mead tomorrow so we can get nice and tipsy while having our tasting.

[AnarchicArctic]

Perfect. We can grill tendo’s again

[BLachance75]

It funny, I was just going to say that it’s been quiet in this thread.

I'm trying to make an alcoholic tepache. I went with 1 pineapple sliced with the skin on, 1/2 pound of brown sugar, 1/2 pound of honey,1 gallon of water, 1/2 packet of White Star premier blanc yeast and yeast nutrient. I will be bottle carbonating it and it should be somewhere around 5.5% when finished.

I forgot to take a picture before I put the lid on so you get a picture of the bucket.

[BLachance75]

AnarchicArctic I have more honey for you. We can work out a mead for honey trade.

[AnarchicArctic]

Bré was just saying we should buy more honey from you. How about I trade you cash for bee spittle and mead for tepache? I’m gonna need a new batch for my infusion project anyways

[BLachance75]

We’ll work something out. I have some honey set aside for mead purposes that I was planning on sharing.

[AnarchicArctic]

Sounds good!

[AnarchicArctic]

The blueberry got a little carried away

[AnarchicArctic]

Ha, yeah it’s definitely working. I like the oversized bucket idea. More headspace equals lower pressure. Why, it’s almost like paintball valve physics apply to brewing.

[Alexndl]

Had similar issue fermenting cherry last month, it was 1 gal batch, the #10 rubber bung failed first so only had a foam volcano. I had the fermenter in a 5 gal bucket so cleanup was not too bad.
Never fun to clean when it happen

[Meleager7]

That reminds me of the last time I ate Taco Bell

[AnarchicArctic]

hoping the flavor profiles are as nice as the developing colors

[OpusX]

It looks like you are blessed by Kvasir

[AnarchicArctic]

To brew the mead of poetry would be a blessing indeed

[BLachance75]

The tepache has been bottled. I tried a sample and this stuff is going to be dangerous. It has no alcohol taste and it is 6%. I can’t wait to try it after it’s carbonated.




Up next is going to be a 5 gallon batch of cider.

[Alexndl]

Which yeast do you use for cider?
Last time I tried cider I used Lalvin K1-V116 but would like to try another one for my next batch.

[BLachance75]

I’ve used Lalvin D47 and Brewers Beat Cider House select. I’ll probably use D47 again as I already have a few packets of it.

I did see that there are several different versions of Fermentis Safcider at Home brew Ohio. Next time I order from them I’m going to pick up a packet of each and make some 1 gallon batches at the same time to see how the different yeasts change the cider. Then I’ll know what yeast I prefer.

[BLachance75]

Does anyone have any experience with kegging. I’ve been thinking about trying it out. I saw that you can get smaller kegs, 1.5 and 3 gallon. I have a fridge in my garage that is basically a beer fridge. I could pull out a shelf and put a small keg or 2 in there with party taps on them.

I’d like to use a smaller tank, like a 20oz if I could. It would make storing it in the fridge a lot easier than a 5 or 20 lbs tank.

[RAZRBAKK]

The best thing you could get is a Cornelius keg. Very easy to clean and transfer into, also surprisingly easy to carbonate in as long as you have the right equipment.

[BLachance75]

The kegs I was looking at are small corny kegs. They are almost the same price as a 5 gallon kegs but will fit my situation a lot easier.

[EvilCreature]

Don't be afraid of buying stuff used. Everything is much cheaper, often lightly used. Worst case is you need an oring or two and some keg grease to get things going. Regulators are something to invest in - multiregs are nice for two different types of carbonated beverages, or for serving one keg while fast carbing another.

[BLachance75]

Bottled my cider tonight. Ended up with 23 22 oz bottles. Should be carbonated in 2 weeks, just in time for Stocktoberfest.

[Carp]

Lol..Those bottle caps make me think of the grinch. You need to draw the rest of the face on there.😁
Edit...I think...I need some sleep!

[Blackmagic71]

I just ordered a Peanut Butter Porter brewers best kit.

It’s fun to give out six packs of homemade beer for Christmas.

[BLachance75]

The cider carbonated nicely. I do prefer my previous method of carbonating and back sweetening though and will go back to that.

For this batch I back sweetened with erythritol then added sugar for bottle carbonating. I like the carbonation level but I’d like a little more apple flavor and for it to be a touch less dry. I guess I could add more erythritol but that wouldn’t boost the apple flavor.

In the past I would add 1 can of frozen apple juice concentrate per gallon of cider then bottle immediately. I’d fill a plastic soda bottle as well and would let the bottles sit until the soda bottle was really firm. Then I’d pasteurize all the bottles. The apple juice concentrate added the right amount of sweetness after bottle carbonating and boosted the apple flavor.

[OpusX]

Bottled my Cyser today. Been in the fermentor since Sept '20. Doing fine at 13.9% abv.

[BLachance75]

Not brewing but it is fermenting. I’m trying to make fermented garlic honey.



I ended up topping off the large jar with more honey. I should know how fermentation is going in a few days.

[Bonjwa]

Stout in the corner of my office that was probably done two weeks ago. Also probably in dangerous proximity to my computer lol.

Lots of oat, lots of rye, mostly chocolate malt, balanced water profile. Should be great!

Are many people on here brewing all grain? If not it's the way to go. If you'd like any help/advice getting started I'd be happy to help, I brewed professionally for a couple years

[zinger565]

Last weekend I brewed a basic smash blonde. It will eventually get a big dose of blood orange.