Thinking of home brewing

I don't really know much about mead (except that really good mead is just amazing), but I can say that haze to me is kind of nice. It makes the brew feel more "real" I guess. I never really understood all the haze hatred.

Do not pour filter it for the oxygenation reasons mentioned. Double check this for mead, but there is absolutely no issue for non vegans in filtering with gelatin. Super easy to do. Brulosophy and many others have guides. I like the Brulosophy short burst microwave method. Combined with a cold crash have led to a great result for me with no change in taste.

Won't filter it. I am just going to give it another week and then rack it and add a little bentonite.

Got my carboy and stuff in this week so I decided to throw together some apple cider. Turned out I ordered a 5 gallon carboy instead of 3 gallons so I am going to have a good bit. May post more details on it later.

Alright so here are the details on the cider I am brewing.

2.5 gallons of Tree Top Honeycrisp Apple Juice (it says juice on the label but it is more of a cider than a juice really). It is pasteurized with no additives or preservatives.
2 gallons of Musselman's Apple Cider (I prefer the Tree Top brand but I bought the store out of that). This cider has ascorbic acid added to it and is also pasteurized.
4 pounds of Dark Brown sugar.
1.5 pounds of raw white sugar.
3 cinnamon sticks.
1 package of Lalvin D47 yeast (guy at the brew shop said this should produce a sweet cider).
Yeast energizer and nutrients.

The recipe called for 1 pound of sugar per gallon of cider/juice with about 4 parts brown to 1 part white. I didn't want to store the additional white sugar so I just added the extra half pound to the batch.

I pulled a hydrometer reading of 1.100 and then did some math to compensate for the hydrometer being calibrated at 60 degrees F while everything was closer to 75 so I think the solution is about 1.101 which means it has about a 13.7% alcohol potential give or take a percent or so for margin of error.

Imgur gallery here with pics and stuff.

I've got five gallons of cider fermenting in the basement right now. I've never used a recipe for it before other then dumping it in a sterilized carboy with some ale yeast and letting it go nuts. I've using cider I got from the farmers market so that might be the difference.

Of coarse I'm no expert. Last time I did two batches and screwed both of them up. The first I bottled too soon and ended up with over carbonated bottles that explode when you open them. The second just doesn't taste that great.

I racked my mead over the weekend. It has turned out very dry. I am going to let it go a bit longer and then kill of the yeast and back sweeten it with some more honey. I ended up with about 1 gallon plus a 1 liter bottle. I went ahead and used some honey I had to back sweeten the bottle and it is decent. Not sure how strong it is but it has a nice bit of flavor from the orange, but is a bit acidic tasting (haven't tested the pH). Not sure if that will mellow with time or if something can be added to help it out.

Cider is still bubbling away. I imagine it will be very dry as well.

Sounds good, Rykin. Hope the cider comes out well.

So, I changed up my plans for the Scottish Ale on plums. The 9 pounds of plum puree was the right amount but the beer was too one dimensional for what I was going for. I have had a number of The Bruery's Melenge series recently and drew some inspiration from those and blended 80% of the Plum Scottish Ale with 20% of a 2+ year Old Ale that I fermented with Wyeast 9097-PC Old Ale Blend. The yeast is interesting because it contains an English strain of Sacch (rumored to be the Thomas Hardy strain) with a Brett strain, presumably Wyeast’s Lambicus (5526) given the pie-cherry character it lent to the finished beer. While I like both the beer separately, I really like the resulting blend.

Unfortunately, the sharing, tasting, and discussion of the process with the Homebrew Club is this Wednesday, when I will be out of town for work (and, quite possibly, joining Hobear at his place and brewing up an evening batch of beer). I am sending a gallon of my beer with a friend along with my overview. If anyone is interested in reading the overview, you can check in out HERE.

Cider seems to be coming along nicely. It is very dry with an almost 13% alcohol content after two weeks of fermentation. I added some K-Meta to stop fermentation and racked it this weekend. It is very hazy so I will probably pick up some pectic enzyme to add along with some apple juice concentrate to back-sweeten it with.

The mead has cleared up very well. I racked it again and filtered it through a fine mesh strainer to remove the floating bits left over from the unfiltered honey. I hit it with some K-Meta and K-Sorbate and will probably back-sweeten it next weekend with some more honey and bottle it.

Mead post clarifying but pre-filtering:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/nGX9XZD.jpg)

Rykin that stuff sounds and looks awesome! I'd love to try a 13% cider someday - that's way beyond anything I've ever seen available in a store and probably tastes incredible.

I've just recently opened my latest homebrew, an imperial IPA, and I've got the exact opposite problem as the last brew. These bottles all have a huge amount of carbonation. I haven't had any bombs, and it's been a little over a month in the bottle, so things seem to be alright at this point. I just have to refrigerate them before opening or I have fountains.

They do taste and smell quite good though, so it can't be contamination causing all the extra carbonation. They are delicious. It's just frustrating. I really need to get a house, so I can have the space for a keg, so I can carbonate with some actual control over the process.

d4m0 wrote:

I really need to get a house, so I can have the space for a keg, so I can carbonate with some actual control over the process.

Yea lack of space is my main complaint about home brewing right now. I would like to do a bunch of smaller 2 gallon experiments but I just don't have room for it. I could see about getting a 2 bedroom apartment instead of the 1 bedroom I am planning to move into next month, but the extra money I will be saving will really help me get my finances back on track.

Rykin wrote:
d4m0 wrote:

I really need to get a house, so I can have the space for a keg, so I can carbonate with some actual control over the process.

Yea lack of space is my main complaint about home brewing right now. I would like to do a bunch of smaller 2 gallon experiments but I just don't have room for it. I could see about getting a 2 bedroom apartment instead of the 1 bedroom I am planning to move into next month, but the extra money I will be saving will really help me get my finances back on track.

Is there a home brewing club in your area? Some of them have a "club" space, including equipment that you can brew on as well as provide grain/yeast/hops/etc. as part of your membership. All clubs are different, but that may be an avenue to explore.

d4m0 wrote:

Rykin that stuff sounds and looks awesome! I'd love to try a 13% cider someday - that's way beyond anything I've ever seen available in a store and probably tastes incredible.

I've just recently opened my latest homebrew, an imperial IPA, and I've got the exact opposite problem as the last brew. These bottles all have a huge amount of carbonation. I haven't had any bombs, and it's been a little over a month in the bottle, so things seem to be alright at this point. I just have to refrigerate them before opening or I have fountains.

They do taste and smell quite good though, so it can't be contamination causing all the extra carbonation. They are delicious. It's just frustrating. I really need to get a house, so I can have the space for a keg, so I can carbonate with some actual control over the process.

How long did it ferment for? It's possible it wasn't quite done yet. Also how do you get the priming sugar into the bottles? I found (in the few times I bottled, I think I got a keg my second batch), that using sugar in water solution can be pretty tricky, you need to know with relative accuracy the amount of beer you have. At least for me my first bucket did not have any marks to show gallons, and they're not always accurate.

Basically if you didn't, my suggestion is priming tablets, they're so easy to use and not very expensive.

bhchrist wrote:

Is there a home brewing club in your area? Some of them have a "club" space, including equipment that you can brew on as well as provide grain/yeast/hops/etc. as part of your membership. All clubs are different, but that may be an avenue to explore.

Oh man that's a great idea. There is one I believe, and it's connected to the local homebrew shop, and I know the person that owns it. I'll definitely ask her next time I'm at the shop.

Citizen86 wrote:

How long did it ferment for? It's possible it wasn't quite done yet. Also how do you get the priming sugar into the bottles? I found (in the few times I bottled, I think I got a keg my second batch), that using sugar in water solution can be pretty tricky, you need to know with relative accuracy the amount of beer you have. At least for me my first bucket did not have any marks to show gallons, and they're not always accurate.

Basically if you didn't, my suggestion is priming tablets, they're so easy to use and not very expensive.

It actually fermented for a really long time, about a month, since I went on a 9-day vacation in the middle of it and didn't have the weekend time for a good week after that to do the bottling. I think the problem is the amount of priming sugar. I measure some out and boil it in some water to dissolve and then mix it in the bucket with all the beer before bottling. My bucket does show gallons, so I mostly know, but you're right, it's not the most accurate thing in the world.

Priming tablets? How have I not seen these before??

d4m0 wrote:

Priming tablets? How have I not seen these before??

Yeah, after using them you'll never want to boil water and sugar again. And they'll give you a more predictable carbonation.

Ugh my mead hasn't turned out so good. I had the afternoon off and decided to check in on the brews and noticed there was a more sediment in the mead so I racked it again. Decided to compare and contrast the various meads I have here: the currently aging one, the unfiltered/unmessed with/but back-sweetened leftovers from racking which I put in a bottle and stuck in the fridge, and a commercial mead I have (Chaucer's). My unmessed with one is sweet and flavorful, but has bits floating in it and is very hazy. The commercial one is dry, but has a nice honey flavor. The one I ran through the fine mesh and clarified and added K-Meta and K-Sorbate to is very dry and doesn't have much flavor at all.

I went ahead and back-sweetened it with a pound of the same brand and type of honey I used for the fermentation and it was still drier than the commercial mead so I added a second pound and that gave it a bit more flavor and made it slightly less dry than the commercial one. At this point I am just going to leave it alone for a while and see what happens. Might end up turning it into a melomel if aging doesn't help the flavor more. Not sure if I should just leave it in the carboy or move it into bottles at this point.

Lesson learned: give it more time and mess with it less.

Rykin wrote:

Lesson learned: give it more time and mess with it less.

Perhaps the truest words when it comes to brewing.

bhchrist wrote:
Rykin wrote:

Lesson learned: give it more time and mess with it less.

Perhaps the truest words when it comes to brewing.

Yes! Even more so with mead. Stick it away somewhere and forget about it. It will almost certainly turn out dynamite.

Also, try approaching the drier meads on their own terms, rather than using Chaucer's as a yardstick. They are lovely - crisp, bone dry, and often stronger than wine, with just the slightest hint of honey aroma. For me, sweetness comes with strength, and if I want more honey character I aim for a final gravity a bit beyond the max abv of the yeast I'm using.

I generally bottle after a year, then wait at least 1-2 years before opening one. Most meads really hit their stride at 5 years. Above 10 years they start to change in character, with some fruits/spices becoming indistinguishable, but are still great. I'd love to try a 50+ year old mead, but to do that I have to be better about keeping what I have, and exercising to live longer The oldest I have right now is 7 years. I'm good about keeping them until the 5 year mark, but then it's pound town. They're just too good to resist.

5 years is a long damn time to wait on something that you're excited to try now. The trick is to start making mead on a regular schedule--I do it every 2-3 months--, and never stop. In 5 years, you'll be drowning in the stuff. Today I bottled some lime mead, and racked some spruce mead, and two variations of thalassiomel. I cracked open a 2.5 year metheglin, which is just starting to come together.

Been a while since I checked in here, glad to see it's still active.

Picked up a Grainfather over a year ago, and haven't looked back. Single best brewing purchase (other than kegerator), hands down. Got the connect controller, and there is something awesome about waking up at 7am on a Saturday with my strike water already at temp.

El-Producto wrote:

Been a while since I checked in here, glad to see it's still active.

Picked up a Grainfather over a year ago, and haven't looked back. Single best brewing purchase (other than kegerator), hands down. Got the connect controller, and there is something awesome about waking up at 7am on a Saturday with my strike water already at temp.

Agreed, I love it. I've been holding off on the Connect controller, but that does sound damn nice. Next I'll be coughing up for the conical fermenter. And then the glycol chiller.

Has anyone here tried out the FastFerment products? I am thinking about picking up one of their 3 gallon models once they go on sale.

So after back-sweetening my mead a little over a week ago I noticed it had a lot more sediment in it so I went ahead and racked it again. Also took a small tasting sample and it has changed dramatically since last time. It might be a bit too sweet now but the hint of citrus from the oranges is back. I think I will keep racking it every two weeks or so until it stops generating so much sediment before I bottle it.

Are you supposed to rack it that often? I never understood wine makers racking more than twice or so. It seems like sediment is going to drop out at the same rate because of gravity, no matter how much is already sitting at the bottom. Plus racking introduces oxygen every time you do it.

I was wondering the same thing. I never rack to a secondary vessel unless it is onto fruit or to wood. Dry hopping is done in primary or the keg. Oxygen and light are the biggest enemy, assuming proper sanitation. Time and cold crashing (store the vessel at under 40F) will do more good for clarity than racking to another vessel. Add some gelatin fining when cold crashing if it is a major concern.

https://www.anvilbrewing.com/product...

I've actually got my eye on the Anvil Brew Bucket, seems like a decent price for stainless and a close system.

El-Producto wrote:

https://www.anvilbrewing.com/product...

I've actually got my eye on the Anvil Brew Bucket, seems like a decent price for stainless and a close system.

Cool. The 7.5 gallon size is fantastic! The sampling port is really nice to have. Only thing is you will want pay close attention to is the weldless internal fittings give lots of crevices for critters to hide. Easy enough to take apart for a nice PBW soak, though.

Did a successful kit brew yesterday and was able to have some friends come by to show them the process. I did it inside for the first time since 2012 which my stove top is pretty well setup for. Something to keep in mind if I don't want to do a January garage cold brew!

It was Smokey Brushfire Brown Ale from Midwest. Started the day off with a dead yeast pack so I had to run up and get new yeast which Midwest is always good about replacing any bad kit parts. Walked in and let them know it was a dud and they tossed me a new pack and I was on my way. Got home and had a very thriving yeast colony then it was on to brew!

I overestimated the boil off water and so I had more than expected in the fermentor which lead to some bubble over. No worries, hooked up a blowoff tube. All set! Looking forward to a nice winter beer. First brew in a year so I have the itch again.

I transferred my mead and cider into easier to transport containers since I am moving this week and stuck them both in the fridge to hopefully put any remaining yeast to sleep. The cider has still been bubbling once every two or three minutes so it may just be releasing carbon dioxide. I will be releasing the pressure in the bottles as soon as I get home tonight to hopefully avoid any explosions.

Rykin wrote:

Has anyone here tried out the FastFerment products? I am thinking about picking up one of their 3 gallon models once they go on sale.

I have some hardcore brew friends that have fancy brew setups, that absolutely love the FastFerment. Just have to make sure not to scratch it up when cleaning to prevent spots where bacteria will thrive, just like a fermentation bucket.

I just picked up one of these, it's a great piece of kit for the price. Highly recommended.

https://www.anvilbrewing.com/product...

El-Producto wrote:

I just picked up one of these, it's a great piece of kit for the price. Highly recommended.

https://www.anvilbrewing.com/product...

Nice! Enjoy. I have the Anvil floor scale for measuring out grain and love it. I believe it is Blichmann's "lower cost" line. Note, I said lower cost, not budget. Stuff I have seen look to be well made.

I started three more one gallon batches of mead today. The original mead is lovely. It has been hanging out in a one gallon plastic jug in the fridge for over a month now and it is very drinkable. Not too sweet with a nice flavor of oranges. Even though it turned out well I am not revisiting the hillbilly mead recipe I used for that one. These new batches have actual yeast nutrients and energizer in them instead of raisins. Also no cinnamon, cloves, or oranges in them. After reading more and watching more videos on mead making I have decided to save any flavoring additives until the secondary fermentation phase or later. Right now they are basically identical but after the primary fermentation I plan to turn two of them into melomel, one with cranberry and the other with apple.

The cider has been bottled. It is pretty rough. Will have to wait and see what it does in the bottle to see if it gets any better or not. I tried to make some apple jack by freeze distilling some of it, but it was unpalatable. I might try another cider at some point but for now I think I will stick with mead.