/hbg/ Homebrew General: Late Bake Edition

[Anonymous No.2697412]

First time baking a /hbg/ thread.

Currently I have a Münchner Dunkel (style) fermenting and my next two brews will be a Best Bitter and then the third iteration of my Pils.

Last thread: >>2644857

Here's the rest of the general:
General calculators:
https://fermcalc.com/FermCalcJS.html (the best one)
https://thebrewhut.com/resources-recipes/brewing-calculators/
https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/home-brewing-tools-calculators

Others: https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
https://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/
https://www.brewersfriend.com/stats/

List of wine defects with description of symptoms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_fault
Cider faults: https://www.bjcp.org/education-training/education-resources/cider-faults/

MLF primer (any fruit wine/mead) - https://pricklycider.com/2020/11/07/hard-cider-tip-28-malolactic-fermentation/

Sur-lie aging (wine/mead) - https://morewinemaking.com/articles/Sur-lie_aging

Beginner FAQ with some questions from last thread: https://pastebin.com/Q3712A61

Some helpful do’s and don’ts for mead making (from mead anon): https://pastebin.com/6NJ3wkSU

[Anonymous No.2697413]

>2695788
>2695789
I'm still heavily leaning towards the BZ 65L Gen 4 because of the price point. It would already be a massive improvement compared to my current set up.

[Anonymous No.2697414]

>>2697413
>>2695788
>>2695789
fuck me

[Anonymous No.2697542]

anyone have the spike CF5? might get one today

[Anonymous No.2697843]

>>2697412
tfw want to brew but trying to stay sober

[Anonymous No.2697849]

>>2697843
Make radlers or table beer. Or do you consider consuming a 2% ABV refreshment "not sober"?

[Anonymous No.2697866]

>>2697843
scottish sweet stout
mid 30s og
lotta crystal
mash high
use windsor yeast
enjoy 50% attenuation 2% abv

[Anonymous No.2697882]

>>2697412
> make some imitation jagermeister
> let friend taste without telling
> he asks how much jagermeister is in it

Guess I’m getting close, just need to find a way to add more licorice taste, just adding sticks doesn’t work too well

[Anonymous No.2698030]

>>2697882
Maybe extract with hot water?

[Anonymous No.2698338]

>>2697882
post recipe pls

[Anonymous No.2698345]

>>2698338
Per L of must: 20g dried star anise, 10g cinnamon sticks, 10g dried ginger, 3g bourbon vanilla powder and zest of 1/2 orange in water, boil to make tea.
Dissolve sugar (50% brown, right in pic, and 50% white) in water and add tea to get to SG
Add nutrient, aerate, let cool and add ec1118
Ferment to alcohol tolerance
Pasteurize licorice root sticks and add them for 2 weeks

I choose my SG so that it stops fermenting by alcohol tolerance of the yeast but leaves it sweet, this avoids the need for backsweetening, pasteurising or campden before bottling.

[Anonymous No.2698687]

Hey /hbg/, long time. I've been busying myself with barrel aging and pressure fermenting various beverages.
My wife has celiac and so I mostly maze meads or brew gluten free beers using Briess Sweet sorghum LME. The results of the latter are serviceable. I've heard that White Labs ClarityFerm (aka DSM Brewers Clarex) reduces gluten in traditional brews. Has anyone here had experience with it? What are your thoughts ?
>Related: the Fermzilla pressure fermenters
Overall a great experience but you will need plumbers tape to get a good seal. Don't overtighten the corny keg heads, the gaskets are flimsy and warp if overtightened. Pictured is a mead using chestnut pollen as a YAN source. It is remarkably fruity, reminiscent of the old soda Five Alive. Not a cheap source of nutrients but 10/10 would recommend.

[Anonymous No.2699318]

I have brewed a number of Ethiopian style t'ej meads and they use a plant called gesho, which translates as hops. It isn't, but it has the same effect in a mead. I have a bunch left over, would it be useful in a beer brew? If so, can it be used during boil for bittering or aroma only?

[Anonymous No.2700428]

I made my first fruit wine about 3 months ago
crazy what even alittle bit of aging did to the taste, I had 3 jugs of it and bottled 1 shortly after fermentation to drink and it was pretty harsh, but now only 3 months later its 10x better.

[Anonymous No.2700445]

>>2699318
Dogfish head mixes 3 parts beer with one part tej for a Gesho flavoured beer, but that’s the only one I know that uses it in any way. Have you considered making Tella?

[Anonymous No.2700462]

>>2697412
Why do people still buy fermentors when kegs are the GOAT? all grain eBAIB + kegging under pressure is simply the best method by all metrics aside from initial cost.

[Anonymous No.2700467]

Maybe a dumb question... I have some blackberries I was thinking about using for a small batch of mead, but I've just found that a couple of the berries in the corner are developing some mold. Can I simply separate the moldy ones and use the rest? I know I can do that and eat them, but I'm not sure if it's still ok for fermentation.

[Anonymous No.2700471]

Me and my friend brewed foe the first time the other day. We pitched dry yeast (split it into two carboys) but then shook the wort after. I read elsewhere its not smart to shake after it's been pitched, now the wort is flat with some bubbles. What do

[Anonymous No.2700486]

>>2700462
Actually, if you just buy some weldless bulkheads, you can turn any kettle into an eBAIB if you add an element or two and an inkbird. Cheap af. Makes brew day super hands off, and pressurized fermentation gets you zero O2 transfers, keeps volatiles from dry hoping in, cuts down on co2 cost via spunding, can do room temp lagering, and allows a wider range of temps during fermentation without off flavors. And you don’t end up with a stupid bin of useless crap (bottle cappers, airlocks, siphons, carboys, buckets and lids). Just kettle, kegs and kegerator. Wish I had started like this

[Anonymous No.2700497]

>>2700467
Yes but boil or pasteurize them. There’s a very very slight chance that the spores will be heat resistant but molds that are both heat resistant and can grow in brewing environment are pretty rare

[Anonymous No.2700499]

>>2700497
Thanks, I'll give it a shot!

[Anonymous No.2700501]

>>2700497
What about bacteria? Surely there’s some of that present too. And boiling them will change the flavor significantly

[Anonymous No.2700503]

>>2700501
Raw fermenting has done for centuries, there are always bacteria, mold spores and yeast on every piece of fruit ever. Most of them don’t grow well in the low oxygen, high co2, and high osmotic stress of an active brew (and if they do usually still lose to the yeast by competition), but if you introduce a lot of viable mold cells/bacteria they have a better chance to take hold and infect it.

So I would at least make sure everything on it is mostly dead.

> And boiling them will change the flavor significantly
You don’t need to boil per se, it’s better but pasteurise them at 160 and you should be fine. No guarantees but I do it like that and I’ve never died

[Anonymous No.2700576]

>>2700503
>but if you introduce a lot of viable mold cells/bacteria they have a better chance to take hold and infect it.
Yes this is what I mean. I understand spores and bacteria are omnipresent save for aseptic environments, but a chunk of rotting berries that’s molding is definitely gonna have bacteria with a stronger foothold.

Well I’m not sure at what temp flavor would significantly change, but I always made sure my inputs didn’t require ‘cooking’ if that wasn’t the flavor I was after

Anyhow, toodloo

[Anonymous No.2700577]

>>2700503
My point is more that boiling or pastuerizing wont necessarily kill the bacteria. Spores die rather easily at high temps, but bacteria not so much, with the endospores and all.

[Anonymous No.2700720]

>>2700471
it's fine to aerate the wort before fermentation starts. shaking a glass carboy is a dumb idea though

[Anonymous No.2700742]

>>2700720
>shaking a glass carboy is a dumb idea though
primarily because of the risk of dropping it, correct?

[Anonymous No.2700781]

>>2700467
Throw them all in. The mighty yeast will smash the Botrytis

[Anonymous No.2700817]

>>2700720
Hey, thanks, fermentation started so everything seems fine. Also yes, but we are brute serbs with retard strength, good point. I think I'm going to get a bucket

[Anonymous No.2700821]

>>2700486
>>2700462
Seems no one cares? You guys need to be more concerned with gear and less with brewing.

But fr no cap, having an optimal system is cool

[Anonymous No.2700873]

>>2700821
>>2700462
>>2700486
So basically if you don't have this exact setup, at least conceptually, you're an idiot imo.
>single vessel baib, no cons0000mer three vessel system that takes up the whole garage
>electric so hands off, quick af brew day, no running out of propane
>10gal kettle for 5gal batches, as small as practical
>solid inner basket is more efficient than a mesh, nicer than bags and lasts forever
>recirculation pump
>fly sparge with cold water no problem
>whirlpool
>triclamp for interchangeable accessories and sanitation, easy cleaning
>chiller for pitching quickly
>pitch right into keg, ferment under pressure

If you DIY'd your kettle and use a bag, i will make an exception and you're not an idiot.

[Anonymous No.2700874]

>>2700873
oh, and it's all modular. not a stupid gimmicky looking thing like brewtools b40 or anvil foundry. you can diy this setup for nearly free, so you really are stupid if you use anything else. i only purchased mine because of the solid insert, otherwise i would've stuck to diy.

[Anonymous No.2700894]

>>2700742
dropping it if you're lucky. any micro-fracture in the glass could cause it to break mid-shake

[Anonymous No.2700897]

>>2700874
How would you DIY the electric heating element? Genuine question. As of now I use a sous vide stick + portable (electric) stove top. That stove is really shitty though, I'd love one where I could connect a temperature probe so that it shuts of and starts at the correct temps.

On a unrelated note, I just bottled my Munich Dunkel that I brewed as a comparison to the Dunkelweizen (OP pic related).

I didn't use a siphon this time and instead directly inserted the bottling adapter into the tap of my fermenter. It's the first time I didn't stir up all the shit from the bottom and I ended up with beautifully clear beer and almost no liquid leftovers (pic related). During fermentation I angled the fermenter so the yeast would drop to the opposite site, worked like a charm. Exited to see how the beer turns out, I made a few adjustments after brewing the Dunkelweizen.

>>2700894
Thought so. Shaked mine a few times before it almost slipping out of my hands one time, didn't do it since lol

[Anonymous No.2700904]

>>2700874
i brewed for 5 years in my diy'd electric kettle before i switched to the b40, you're grossly over simplifying the work and money involved

[Anonymous No.2700907]

>>2700904
>you're grossly over simplifying the work and money involved
uh, how so?

>>2700897
I mean you've got to buy the element, yeah. but install some tri clamp bulkheads and you're g2g.

[Anonymous No.2700914]

>>2700897
>>2700907
they make tri clamp low density elements, you'll need one or two of those, an inkbird itc-106vh, a solid state ac relay for each element, project box, fans to cool the relays, and a k type temperature probe. one would think that just wiring all this together is enough, and that is arguably adequate, but i would go (and went) the safety route and add fuses, gfci, and switches to your project box. i wired in one 20 amp circuit for the element and 2 15 amp receptacles on a separate circuit for the pumps. you'll need a pump too for wort recirc and whirlpool.

for the kettle you'll need a pull-through kit like this: https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ptbulkhead_tool_combo_all3.htm, tri clamp bulkheads, and silver solder (that site sells a whole kit). you'll also need a step bit. for the kettle, you want as many ports close to the bottom as you have heating elements, plus one drain port, one whirlpool port, and one port for the temperature probe. get that all soldered in, get two tri clamp pickup tubes for the drain and whirlpool, get a tri clamp thermowell and all the fittings you need. i would recommend butterfly valves for ease of sanitation for the drain and whirlpool. good luck and let me know when you buy a b40

[Anonymous No.2700917]

>>2700914
note my setup is larger because this also controls my cooling (2 peltier modules). fuck a glycol chiller take the peltier pill

[Anonymous No.2700920]

>>2700821
what they don't tell you with keg fermenting is you need two first off for a 5 gallon batch, temp control requires an entire refrigerator or chest freezer which makes multiple batches at different temperatures retardedly complex, and no yeast dumps because ball/pin locks easily get clogged with that shit

[Anonymous No.2700921]

>>2700914
>they make tri clamp low density elements, you'll need one or two of those, an inkbird itc-106vh, a solid state ac relay for each element, project box, fans to cool the relays, and a k type temperature probe. one would think that just wiring all this together is enough, and that is arguably adequate, but i would go (and went) the safety route and add fuses, gfci, and switches to your project box.
you're grossly overcomplicating this. it's really as simple as i described: bulkheads, elements and an inkbird. holesaw and tools to do it. a few odds and ends. done. i know because i've done it, about 5 times now. my 50 gallon / 1BBL system has a PID, fans to cool, etc and is a bit more complicated overall, yes, but it can be done just as simply, especially for a smaller 120v system.

>good luck and let me know when you buy a b40
i would never. much happier with my unibrau system for 5gal batches. i would stick to diy before the b40 personally

[Anonymous No.2700923]

>>2700920
under pressure room temp fermentation is just fine. and i've read ppl doing 5gal batches in kegs no problem, but doing 4gal isn't the end of the world for me. no yeast dump, but who cares? just cut the dip tube high and transfer to serving keg if you're worried.

[Anonymous No.2700928]

>>2700921
name one thing wrong with the b40 other than you're poor
>grossly overcomplicated except for ...
>a few odds and ends
>is a bit more complicated overall
lol

[Anonymous No.2700929]

>>2700923
you still need temp control even when pressure fermenting, and pressure fermenting is only good when you don't want any of the esters from the yeast

[Anonymous No.2700933]

>>2700928
looks stupid, less versatility than a kettle like unibrau if you ever want to use it for non-brewing purposes. and the touch screen is obviously gay. more failure points / stuff to go wrong with that. i don't know much about it though, but it's not appealing to me at all. my kettle doesn't need wifi lmao. i've got an electric 1bbl system from colorado brewing, along with my unibrau system, so money really isn't the issue.

[Anonymous No.2700934]

>>2700928
>lol
well, i don't feel i was oversimplifying the time and money cost. it's extremely simple, and is as i described. even what you described wasn't complicated or too expensive, and that's a no expenses spared approach for a diy build, save for actually welding ports and an insert.

[Anonymous No.2700936]

>>2700929
>you still need temp control even when pressure fermenting,
yeah, but typical household temps 65-72, even for lagers when under pressure. that's not really a problem.
>and pressure fermenting is only good when you don't want any of the esters from the yeast
you can always just set the spunding valve to 0psi if you desire.

[Anonymous No.2700938]

>>2700934
what you're saving in money you're sacrificing in time, such is the nature of diy. as you said, you went with the unibrau over your diy setup, i feel this is the outcome of most. you build a simple diy system, add on features, eventually get tired of re-wiring and troubleshooting and eventually buy what you actually wanted in the first place

[Anonymous No.2700939]

>>2700938
sure, but it really doesn't take much time at all. about ten minutes maybe to drill the holes and plug stuff up. i went with unibrau because i started to hate brew bags and and wanted a solid insert. im not opposed to buying new, but diy ebiab is a dead simple thing. if it was easier to diy a solid insert with perforated bottom i would've stuck with diy. you seem to be discouraging it for some reason?

[Anonymous No.2700940]

>>2700933
the touch screen is relocatable, i don't use wifi with it but tons of kettles have that or bluetooth now, don't need that shit so i'll give it to you. two 120v mains, variable speed pump, and heating elements in mash mode to prevent scorching is why i bought it, could give a shit less about how it looks. what else am i gonna do but brew in it? all the crossover distillation setups are gay

[Anonymous No.2700943]

>>2700939
not discouraging it, but also people should know what they're getting in to. it's not just "buy an inkbird and element." you have electric around liquids, thought should be taken

[Anonymous No.2700945]

>>2700939
>>2700943
but yeah the malt pipe is a barrier for just going straight diy. if i knew how or know someone i'd weld one up but welding ss seems like an advanced thing

[Anonymous No.2700949]

>>2700940
>the touch screen is relocatable
still gay. also mash mode? sounds like it's just being temp controlled, probably with a pid.

>what else am i gonna do but brew in it
i use mine to boil grain for mushroom cultivation. the insert would make it possible to use as an atmospheric steam sterilizer too if i wanted to do sterilize fruiting blocks, dung or casing material. i've thought about sous viding a giant ham hock, whole chicken or lamb in it too.

>>2700943
>it's not just "buy an inkbird and element."
it basically is though. install the element and plug up the inkbird and you've got a primitive set up on the cheap. cheaper than buying a propane tank if you didn't already have one. almost cheaper than filling one up.

>you have electric around liquids, thought should be taken
the elements have built in grounds, normally anyway. common sense should be used of course, but that's always true so didn't think it was worth mentioning.

>>2700945
>welding ss seems like an advanced thing
yeah. im hoping to get a welder this winter. have a long list of ss projects i'd like to weld

[Anonymous No.2700951]

>>2700914
is the box in pic homemade?

[Anonymous No.2700960]

>>2700949
>temp controlled, probably with a pid.
it's always temp controlled, mash mode reduces the current going to the elements to prevent scorching

>atmospheric steam sterilizer
doesn't that require pressure?

>install the element and plug up the inkbird
tell me which inkbird again supports 12 amps on the internal relay?

>>2700951
yeah, don't let it scare you though, i have a lot of extra shit on there for my cooling setup as well as external connectivity for monitoring

[Anonymous No.2700976]

>>2700960
No pressure for atmospheric steam sterilization. Just 212F for a few hours, for supplemented fruiting blocks anyway. 15-20PSI when sterilizing grain in the PC though.

>inkbird amps
Idk, I just plugged a water heater element up to mine and it worked. I think it 1250watts so yeah just about 10amps. I checked this before running it, it was just a long time ago so I’m not super clear on the details. Then just run another on full blast and turn off when you get to temp, so that only the controlled one is on. Yeah if using a stronger element you’ll need to figure something else out. But it’s not really any more complicated

Cool box btw

[Anonymous No.2701004]

>>2700976
>No pressure for atmospheric steam sterilization
then i don't understand, why can't the b40 be used for this?

>inkbird amps
they're rated for 2 or 3 amps, at least the ITC-106 series, i really wouldn't run 10 amps through that

>Cool box btw
the majority of complexity in my setup is mainly on the cold side, i reverse the DC current to make the peltier heat instead of cool if the temp is too low (my garage in minnesota winters gets down to -10°F sometimes). overall about $100 in parts for a setup able to cold crash vs a glycol chiller and separate heater. i also have a pi zero for monitoring and usb c port for charging my phone. for the hot side your life will be easier if you just use a solid state relay with some sort of active cooling (i.e. fan) and have the inkbird control that, then wire the element(s) to a normal US outlet with GFI protection. cutting a project box is a bitch, use an oscillating tool if you have one, a dremel as a last resort, if presented with the choice of getting a panel mount item in a circular form factor or rectangle, choose the former since it's way easier to use a hole saw

[Anonymous No.2701008]

>>2701004
The b40 could do the same. I was using an itc-308 at the time, pic rel. It’s a different style completely.

And nice, I have a similar control box for my 240v 50a system for 30gal batches.

[Anonymous No.2701009]

>>2701008
ohh, yeah you could go that route as well with the 308, now i see your logic

[Anonymous No.2701053]

>>2701004
> blue tie rips
> OK panel building skills
> still looks like a fire waiting to happen
Are you a commissioning engineer by any chance

[Anonymous No.2701060]

>>2701053
the fuck are you on about?

[Anonymous No.2701076]

>>2701060
It looks like a panel that was built by a commissioning engineer, no offense ofc, it looks neat. (Also blue tie rips usually mean someone works in automation because they’re used a lot in factories)

[Anonymous No.2701081]

>>2701076
what are blue tie rips, you're talking about the connectors? no i'm not a commissioning engineer

[Anonymous No.2701087]

tfw the brew thread looks like a diy pc thread

[Anonymous No.2701089]

>>2701081
He's trying to say tie wraps, but he means cable ties. He has never wired a panel and lives in fear of those that do.

[Anonymous No.2701269]

>>2700907
>>2700914
As a DIY guy I'm interested in building something myself. Maybe I won't go with a AIO system but I feel that there's a lot of planning involved in order to reach something as good as the B40 or similar systems. After all they have engineered the system and fine tuned it.
I got the job I was applying for on Monday so I could save up for a nice system. I'm also moving to place with a huge basement where I could probably brew.

[Anonymous No.2701270]

>>2701269
What I would love to do is find a smart way to integrate a mash turner / stirrer. Since we're working with pumps it could be based on ball gearings for the mesh insert and a hydraulic system for the movement.

[Anonymous No.2701271]

>>2701270
What I mean by that is that the mesh basket is turning while we could put on a lid with thin rods that reach into the basket.

[Anonymous No.2701272]

>>2701271
With a strong enough pump one could insert a hydraulic motor at the end and let it rotate a n-piece stirrer that distributes the wort at the same time.

[Anonymous No.2701275]

>>2701087
Makes me wanna kms as a first time brewer who eyeballs shit

[Anonymous No.2701304]

>>2701270
commercial breweries have rakes in the mash and lauter tuns, research how those work and try scaling it down. i'm not sure i see the advantage though on a 5-10 gallon batch; seems it'd just fuck up your grain bed unless you only ran it at the beginning to break up dough balls

[Anonymous No.2701305]

>>2701275
everyone starts somewhere, nothing wrong with eyeballing as long as you enjoy the result

[Anonymous No.2701307]

>>2701087
kek for the cold side i do use a lot of water cooling parts for PCs; peltier attached to an aluminum water block, cpu heatsink and fans to cool the hot side of it, pump and reservoir recirculates RO water through it and my fermentor

[Anonymous No.2701322]

>>2701304
intredesting, thanks! It would probably up the conversion rate a little bit. When I'm at that stage I'll have a look at the commercial solution.

[Anonymous No.2701335]

>>2701322
i think rotating the malt pipe is complex. if you instead make the rakes rotate you could get away with a smaller motor. just press a bearing in to the lid, get a stainless lead screw, bend some stainless strips into rakes, should take shape after that

[Anonymous No.2701517]

>>2701275
Most of it is temp control stuff. But running a flow meter to dispense precise amounts is super easy

[Anonymous No.2701526]

So I had about 3/4 of a gallon of apple juice sitting in the back of my refrigerator for about 6 months and decided on a whim to dump some brown sugar in and ferment it. I noticed what looked like a large ice cube floating in it which would have made sense since it was in the far back of my fridge for so long. Once I added the sugar and agitated it I noticed that what I thought was ice had broken apart into long whispy strings which I recognized as mother of vinegar. I decided to just ferment it anyways and see what would happen. That was about five days ago. The original gravity was 1.072, and today I measured it at 1.010 and gave it a taste. It was somewhere between a kombucha and a cider in flavor. Nothing unpleasant, but unique. Does anyone know what I've just created? Did I accidentally do a malo-lactic fermentation? The flavor is actually really nice, especially for only being 5 days old, and does not taste like 8% abv as the specific gravity measurements would indicate but it also doesn't taste like pure vinegar.

[Anonymous No.2701583]

Anyone here taking yeast from a petri or slant to a full sized starter? I'm going to start canning my wort so I can make starters during the weekdays (am wage slave), and am curious what your system is. Agar wedge / loop to a 500ml erlenmeyer in front of the flow hood, then that to a 5L? Reviewing the yeast book rn but not finding anything that answers the hardware question. I'm leaning toward 500ml erlenmyers with screw caps that can be PC'd, so they hold sterile wort, then get one of those caps that has the inline syringe filter and plug that up to an aquarium pump. so in theory it's kept completely contamination-free. sounds nifty, that way it could just chill in the fridge without worry of competing organisms.

[Anonymous No.2701585]

>>2701583
Ok, yeah seems like the standard is loop from master -> 5-10ml wort slant -> 250-300ml wort erlenmyer -> final starter (5L in my case).

[Anonymous No.2701629]

>>2697843
Could try doing kombucha. I just started my first batch.

[Anonymous No.2701931]

I've got a kit beer that I just bottled that's not exploding bottles, but it's pretty foamy.
When I bottled it (Mr Beer primary fermenter straight to 12oz bottle) it was "foamy" then as well. Should that have been a clue to let it sit in fermentation longer and settle down?
I'm adding ~3/4 tsp white sugar to 12 oz bottles, and don't know whether the issue is too much priming sugar, not enough time in primary fermentation, or something else.

[Anonymous No.2701935]

>>2701931
Pic related

[Anonymous No.2701937]

>>2701931
> I'm adding ~3/4 tsp white sugar to 12 oz bottles
That is almost twice the amount you normally need, and there may have been residual sugar already in it. It’s better to measure it before priming if you don’t want exploding bottles next time

[Anonymous No.2701953]

>>2701937
OK, sounds like I need to cut back on the sugar.
What about the foaming during bottling? It's odd to me b/c the beer should be completely flat at that point.

[Anonymous No.2702231]

>>2701931
You can buy a little 3 pronged measuring cup where each end has a standard bottle volume printed on it (330ml, 500ml, 770ml) that fills up with the perfect amount of priming sugar for a bottle of that volume. They probably cost less than a buck and would be worth it if you're ruining a bunch of your brew from just eyeballing your priming sugar.

[Anonymous No.2702242]

>>2697412
Someone please hop pill me; I've done one all grain brew but it came with just one kind of hop that IIRC I added to the beginning and end of the boil. I'm familiar with the mechanics of brewing but hops are the one thing I don't really understand. I've brewed a lot of cider and some mead before but I've moved into a huge house and have the space and time to start messing around with all-grain brewing.
-How do I determine which hops to use? (I'm planning on making an English ale & Pale ale for Christmas)
-How do I determine when to add them to the boil and for how long? I've looked at grain bills and many have hops added for the full 60 minutes, others for 2 or 3 mins. What is dry hopping?
-Can I get away with just buying 1 or 2 hop varieties and using them over and over? I'm not really interested in making IPAs, I want to make some red, amber or brown ales with about 6%ABV and maybe wheat beer.

[Anonymous No.2702285]

>>2702242
Hops are largely around regional themes - attached is an excerpt from the BJCP guidelines (which also include "characteristic ingredients" for each style). You can just find the common varieties in a category (across the range within it), get a description and pick whatever fits what your style is supposed to favor.
Hops steeped in boil longer add more bitterness (alpha acids are extracted, as with coffee or tannins in tea), hops later in boil and as it cools add aroma and flavor (beta acids, more volatile and blown off by an active boil).
Dry hopping is hops steeped at cellar temp for a longer period, leaning even more into late boil qualities of flavor and aroma (and adding a haze of proteins).
With the list of styles you've got, you can certainly manage with one or two varieties of hops. Just do as said above keeping them all in mind and "averaging" if need be.

[Anonymous No.2702290]

>>2702231
I've never seen one of those before, but I'll keep an eye out.
I recalculated the sugar, and it's closer to just under 1/2 tsp. So, I'm using twice as much sugar as I should be.

[Anonymous No.2702295]

>>2702285
This is it, succintly, and agree you could use just a couple hops for those styles. Really, nothing to prevent you from just useing 1 and calling it good.
That said hop type, when added in brew cycle is incredibly varied by style and preference. More than I or anyone's going to type up here.
Suggest pic related. Short book, ~2 hr read, but condenses the info for new brewer into absolute minimum of words, and contains recipes for typical styles and variants. I've read ~dozen books on brewing and this is the best one as a primer on beer making. Only criticism is recipes are written around 1 gallon... which is too little beer at 1 time to bother with.

[Anonymous No.2702332]

>>2702285
Is the amount of time you add them somehow related to their potency? I've seen some that require 60 mins boil and others only for a couple mins

[Anonymous No.2702341]

>>2702332
Alpha acids (bitterness) extract slower than most everything else. The longer the hops are in, the more bitterness they contribute. The volatile compounds fully extract quite quickly but also evaporate off quite quickly under a full boil.

As an example, an IPA will have two or three hop additions. Some immediately that are exclusively for bitterness and some at the end that are exclusively for flavor and aroma.

[Anonymous No.2702519]

>>2697412
Anyone have a recommended borodinsky recipe for making kvass? Last one I tried turned out weird.

[Anonymous No.2702810]

first time i ever brewed and did a partial mash. im bottling tomorrow so tell me: tablets or priming sugar for carbonation. which is smarter for me and faster

[Anonymous No.2703645]

>>2702810
Two days late but I'd say tablets are faster. I personally use table sugar and used a measuring spoon, resulting in 3-4g of sugar per 500ml bottle.
I don't recommend this method though as it's more time consuming and doesn't deliver consistent results.

[Anonymous No.2703939]

> Making pumpkin beer.
> Getting this.
Is it fucked?

[Anonymous No.2704018]

>>2703645
update: successfully bottled. we just used priming sugar in a bottling bucket, worked perfect and now conditioning!

[Anonymous No.2704052]

>>2703939
negative, that's just yeast

[Anonymous No.2704053]

anyone make hop water before? wondering what the water chemistry should be as im gonna use ro water. seems to be mixed consensus on what salt additions make a difference

[Anonymous No.2704114]

Finally bought a bunch of equipment to make smallish batches of all grain brew (10-12L). I bought two sacks of pale ale base malt and another of Vienna malt to experiment with. I understand that you use Vienna malt mostly in pilsners and German style lagers but does it make a passable ale or porter as well?
For specialty malts I got CaraAmber, roasted barley, chocolate malt and whole rye and for hops I got Goldings, Northern Brewer and Cashmere. What other kinds of recipes would you suggest I make with this ensemble besides red ales & stout/porter? I've realized now that I barely need to add any of the chocolate or roasted malt to a grain bill and those sacks will last me forever lol.
Last question: if I add oatmeal to a recipe for head retention/body, does it count as a fermentable or just an extra ingredient? Like will adding 100g of oatmeal per 10L wort effect my OG?

[Anonymous No.2704142]

>>2704052
Usually with this I get a bunch of foam and krausen on top. Now looking at it, I think it might just be the pumpkin solids floating on top. I thought it might be some sort of infection sending tendils into the wort.
W/e, I guess I'll see next week when I check it before bottling.

[Anonymous No.2704209]

>>2704142
Give it a good swirl. If it dissolves into the brew then it's just yeast. If it's solid and floats right back or doesn't move at all then it's infected.

[Anonymous No.2704802]

My cream ale is bottle conditioning, im the new guy from before. It's obvious there is "sediment" or rather some sort of residual yeast in my bottles. Is that normal

[Anonymous No.2704881]

I just bottled up some cider, and now I'm doing some watermelon wine.

[Anonymous No.2705111]

>>2704802
How was your bottling process? Yeast at the bottom is normal. If you buy a Weizenbier the yeast is pretty visible as well. If you stirred up the sediment during bottling you might have more yeast in there but it's not a big deal.

[Anonymous No.2705123]

>>2703939
Looks good, almost perfect to me

[Anonymous No.2705132]

>>2702519
No but I plan to try my first one next week. We have local traditional rye bread tho, I’ll toast a bunch of that, break it up, steep it, add some sugar and see what happens. I have never tasted the stuff anyway

[Anonymous No.2705708]

When should I backsweeten? I am making a berry mead, normally I dont mind it very dry but I plan on giving this batch out for gifts. I see some people saying to age first then backsweeten. I see others say to do it after fermentation is done, then bottle it for aging.

[Anonymous No.2705719]

>>2700462
I hate bottling and I bought extra kegs. I have four three gallon kegs that I use the most. Easy to take to a party and poor beers for everyone.

[Anonymous No.2705778]

>>2697412
>/hbg/
More like Hebrew general lmao

[Anonymous No.2705899]

>>2703939
that's just fruit pulp anon, that's completely normal

[Anonymous No.2706056]

Brewed a Kellerbier yesterday. It came out at 1.048 and smelled really good. First time using Hallertauer Tradition, usually I use the Mittelfrüh one. Only around 10L (should end up with around 8.5L in the end).
It's for the birthday of one of my best friends.

[Anonymous No.2706145]

How do you guys remove the labels on foil labeled bottles like this one?
I usually soak paper labels in oxy with water, but these foil labels don’t come off easily with that, I end up taking a knife to them to remove them.

[Anonymous No.2706151]

>>2705123
>>2705899
> pulp
Thanks, that's ulimately what I concluded as well. I bottle this Monday so we'll see how it came out then.
>>2704209
I keg straight from fermentor and try to avoid opening / messing with the wort for any reason while it's doing its thing.

[Anonymous No.2706156]

>>2700897
>DIY the electric heating element? Genuine question. As of now I use a sous vide stick + portable (electric) stove top.
Bare minimum is a temp probe and a PID temp controller. You can buy one for <$20, though I'd run down a food-safe temp probe; all of these controllers use K-type thermocouples, which are the most common.
Probe goes in wort, and turns the element on and off. I've built one for controlling temps on other things, strapping all to a chunk of wood and wired to a household outlet. They are a little odd to set up but not insurmountable... there are videos / guides.
>>2700914
You are grossly overcomplicating what anon needs for his setup.

[Anonymous No.2706177]

First time homebrewer here. So I currently have around a gallon of store bought apple juice with some wine yeast fermenting in a fermenting bucket. Current plan is to move this to a different fermenting bucket in 2-3 weeks, then bottle after another 2 weeks. I'm not too worried about the taste yet, I'm just doing this to learn the process, how to disenfect/rinse everything, etc.
I have 2 questions:
1) the math says it will end up with +-6 abv. I'm worried that there is a risk of it going bad if I leave it in bucket for too long or don't drink the end product quickly enough
2)Is 2-3 weeks in the original fermentation vessel too little time and how do I know when to transfer to the second vessel?

[Anonymous No.2706203]

>>2706156
>just use the chinkest electronics imaginable from aliexpress
Get an Inkbird + SSR + thermocouple combo, wire it up in a project box, tie in a cheap 120v fan for cooling the SSR. That's bare minimum. Soldering TC connections for the element and thermowell on your kettle is simple and makes your life way easier. Adding a receptacle with a switch to your box so you can turn off and unplug the element is also not complicated. If at any point you find yourself solving this problem with wood, just stop and buy an all out controller like picrel for $100

[Anonymous No.2706206]

>>2706177
Transfer to secondary when fermentation is complete. Check the specific gravity until it's at your target FG. Two weeks in primary is ok, three weeks is pushing it. The alcohol will preserve it for at least a year as long as you limit outside exposure (e.g. bottle or keg after secondary)

[Anonymous No.2706281]

>>2706206
Understood, thx for the advice.

[Anonymous No.2706797]

>>2706203

[Anonymous No.2706963]

>>2706797
This looks like shit bud

[Anonymous No.2707101]

>>2706177
>>2706206
> three weeks is pushing it
Where did you get this information and when does it apply? 6 weeks primary can be fine in my experience. Clearing in primary is faster than in secondary

[Anonymous No.2707196]

>>2707101
>Where did you get this information and when does it apply
This is common knowledge, once the yeast is done, dump it or transfer your product to a brite tank. For a small batch maybe six weeks is ok for you, I don't know your recipe or fermentation profile, but old dead yeast leads to off flavors. Read the book "Yeast"
>Clearing in primary is faster than in secondary
Then that's an issue with your process. For hard cider add pectic enzyme before fermentation, use a more flocculent yeast, cold crash, and avoid rousing the settled trub next time

[Anonymous No.2707767]

>>2707101
I'm kind of considering leaving it in primary for a few weeks, then going straight to bottleing. The buckets, when filled with 5 liters of fluid, still have around 1 liter of leftover air space for foam and such. I filled it with 4.5 liter just to be safe in the not spiling over department (unecessary in retrospect), but if I lose even 0.5 liters (optimistic) while racking I will end up with a secondary that is 1/3rd air.

[Anonymous No.2707769]

So, after bottling another 2 gallons of beer into ~20 bottles... wondering about other ways to do this.
Kegging looks like minimum is 5 gallons. Is that the lower limit for kegging beer?

[Anonymous No.2707841]

>>2707769
they make kegs smaller than 5 gallons, i bought a pair of these and they're not too bad, albeit made in china

[Anonymous No.2707919]

>>2707769
Why don't you get a handful of bigger bottles? I usually have spare pint bottles or 660ml ones. I usually bottle about half in standard sized 330 bottles and fill the rest up in larger volume ones that I crack open on nights that I'm planning on getting a buzz anyways.

[Anonymous No.2707920]

>>2707841
Neat, had no idea this was a thing.
> look up these kegs, see pic related
Can you seriously get to full tank charge with a mini cartridge like this? Bc if so that opens up nitrous charging as well.
Assumed I’d need a normal welding sized tank.

[Anonymous No.2707922]

>>2707919
I’ve considered that as well. Ironically started bottling w screw top plastic 1L bottles. I’m not sure where I’d source the larger glass bottles; I’ve just been saving and cleaning my 12 oz empties.

[Anonymous No.2707935]

>>2707922
You can get flip top 1L glass bottles from Ikea, the others you can get from places with international beers assuming you're a burger. 50ml bottles are quite popular in Europe and 660ml ones are as well in certain countries.

[Anonymous No.2707937]

>>2707920
You probably won't get 10L out of a single cartridge but those big pub sized ones have to get changed anyways while there's kegs on the line. You can buy packs of 10-12 of those mini ones and reattach them as needed.

[Anonymous No.2708007]

>>2707920
For nitro you need beer gas (70/30 CO2/nitrogen), and yeah it usually comes 20# in a 40# tank. You'll also need a stout faucet. Would definitely recommend, high gravity beers taste great on it. Just get a tank and use that for the initial nitrogenation then use a CO2 cart for serving while on the go

[Anonymous No.2708009]

>>2708007
Forgot to mention too you need a different regulator. Large upfront cost but smooth nitro beer is worth it

[Anonymous No.2708087]

>>2708009
>>2708007
Stouts are just so much better on nitro than plain carbonated. I'm thinking about brewing an oatmeal stout or a Guinness clone but I know it's just not going to be the same carbonated.
Apparently Guinness uses some kind of mild souring process that makes it distinct from other stouts. I read a forum post where a guy replicated the flavour by leaving a glass of unfermented wort out for a few days and then throwing it back into the primary fermented with the rest of the batch.

[Anonymous No.2708090]

>>2708009
Tbh the best would be to install 2 separate taps on two separate lines. I used to manage a pub and worked a few times with the gas/tapline technician who is a type of plumber. They can run both gas and beer lines as far as they have tubing. You can install gas cylinders outdoors (if you live somewhere with a consistent climate with no extremes in temperature) or in a separate room and connect them to your keg setup using PVC tubing.
For beer lines, the conventional wisdom is that the shorter the line connecting the keg to the tap, the better the beer will taste, but many bars might have the keg room up to 50 to even 100m from the actual bar.
As well, you don't really have to store a small capacity keg in a fridge if you intend to drink it quickly, maybe within the span of a week. In my pub, we built a separate bar of 5 taps for rotating craft beers that were ordered in small quantities and after chilling them overnight in the refrigerated keg room, we put them in an insulated wooden box under the craft bar that had the same setup as most home bars. But if you really wanted to you could convert an old fridge into a keg chiller, run gas lines into it from the exterior and then run beer lines from it to your tap/taps in a different room if you install the tubing overhead.

[Anonymous No.2708364]

>>2707196
>Read the book "Yeast"
assuming you have some citations wouldn't hurt, and i also have very strong doubts about "three weeks is pushing it", a lot of my stuff is still fermenting after that time period especially when it gets colder

[Anonymous No.2708366]

>>2707935
>50ml bottles are quite popular in Europe
surely you meant 50cl bottles? strangely enough i've yet to encounter a 50cl glass beer bottle and i'm a europoor, it's almost always 33cl. they do sell beer in half liters here but in cans and it's usually of lower quality. you're not going to find chimay or westmalle in cans so i suppose it depends on the country
>You can get flip top 1L glass bottles from Ikea
and they can handle the pressure?

[Anonymous No.2708379]

>>2708364
>Read the book "Yeast"
>assuming you have some citations wouldn't hurt
I cited an entire book, read it
>i also have very strong doubts
That's great, I have very strong doubts about the official world war 2 death camp numbers
>a lot of my stuff is still fermenting after that time period
So let it finish, 3 weeks is not absolute

[Anonymous No.2708391]

>>2707935
>>2708366
I was told, I think here, to never use those 1l bottles for beer. Can't handle the pressure.

[Anonymous No.2708447]

>>2708391
The size isn't really relevant. 1 liter bottles are perfectly fine as long as they are pressure rated, and you buy them from a reputable source for homebrewing supplies.
>>2708366
I would not consider Ikea a reputable source for homebrewing supplies.

[Anonymous No.2708510]

>>2708391
I simply bought a kasten of 0.5L bottles with those flip caps, drank the beer, and reused it for my own.

[Anonymous No.2708515]

>>2708366
> i've yet to encounter a 50cl glass beer bottle and i'm a europoor
German beers are in 50cl glass normally, Belgian beers in 33cl. Grolsch uses 50cl flip tops and they even have standard sized beer crates for them (18x50cl honeycomb)

> can’t handle the pressure
The ikea flip tops never exploded for me and I bottle pasteurise them while carbonated

[Anonymous No.2708553]

>>2708515
>ikea flip tops never exploded for me
Interesting. I've looked at them, and they don't appear any less stout than the beer bottles I use. I've defintatly read not to use them. I may try bottling with one to see how it goes, b/c the 1L size is ideal and they are inexpensive and easy to source.

[Anonymous No.2708729]

>>2708553
Your comment got me thinking so I read a bit online and from what I can find they don’t explode but the mechanism is a bit weak so they can relieve pressure sometimes (ie leak co2 at high pressure). So probably not great if you want high carbonation or long storage.

Could explain why they survive bottle pasteurisation so well, the cap acting as a pressure relief valve

[Anonymous No.2708759]

>>2708379
surely you can cite the specific pages to make my life easier?

[Anonymous No.2708767]

>>2708729
that is something i actally wanted to test myself at one point but never gotten to it because carbonation isn't that relevant to me; use a shitload of sugar to carbonate a swing top bottle and see what happens. if they don't explode then the rubber seal started leaking before the bottle gave up
which would be a good thing to be desu

[Anonymous No.2708928]

>>2708759
Not going to feed you information. It's 300 pages read it in a weekend, rook

[Anonymous No.2708971]

>>2708928
>>2708379
This is pretty much the only passage from Yeast about the subject (p380-385), and it doesn’t prove your point in any way.

This used to be a comfy thread btw

[Anonymous No.2708977]

>>2708971
No need to get upset, you learned something new. Work on your phrasing next time and people won't be so abrupt with you

[Anonymous No.2708979]

>>2708977
Different anon. >>2708971 is my only post in this thread and I’m not the one who’s upset

[Anonymous No.2709113]

>>2708979
>I'm not the one who's upset
Doubtful

And your screenshot literally proved my point, re-read it and what I said

[Anonymous No.2709281]

>>2708977
>>2709113
do you always double down when you get called out?

[Anonymous No.2709343]

>>2709281
If you're gonna give me a free card like that, sure. Show me what I said was incorrect

[Anonymous No.2709417]

non-minimalist brew set ups are extremely cringe. fermenting and spunding in kegs is GOAT

[Anonymous No.2709458]

>>2709417
im drunk on my own mead right fuck youj

[Anonymous No.2709654]

>>2709458
Even stuff like this is cringe. But I’m more referring to the people who have mini breweries in their home.

[Anonymous No.2709685]

>>2709654
show your setup

[Anonymous No.2709821]

>>2709685
This is the hot side, the cart has a power strip attached. I normally brew inside then roll it out when done but keep the controller indoors. I plate chill into kegs for fermentation (I pressure ferment and spund when appropriate, so household temps are fine, no need for dedicated temp control fridge). After that they're optionally racked into a serving keg, or put straight into the kegerator.

[Anonymous No.2709822]

^I do have a capper and a small quantity of bottles and caps for sharing beer however. I'm thinking about getting back into mead/wine but I really don't want big glass bubbles (demijohns) taking up extra space and cleaning time. But I love making wine from foraged stuff so idk. Lmk if you have any tips I might like in terms of absolutely minimal wine/mead equipment

[Anonymous No.2709823]

^^The cart is nice too cuz it's edges are elevated so any drips are caught and not spilt on the floor. And the insert fits perfectly into the lower shelf. Happy to get rid of my pile of old odds and ends, just wish i started like this. I probably wasted $200 on random buckets etc that could've made my kegs free.

[Anonymous No.2709866]

>>2709821
not bad, that's a 120v system? how well does she boil?
>>2709823
yeah I need to post a ton of old brewing stuff on craigslist or marketplace. started out on a setup similar to >>2709654 though i replaced all the fittings with sanitary ones, now it's just taking up space in my garage

[Anonymous No.2710235]

first time guy from earlier:
beer is finaly 2 weeks conditioned. i know im supposed to refrigerate to sediment the yeast. i have a few questions:

Will leaving it out again for a day by accident after being in the fridge for 48 hours make the yeast float around again? And is it better to pour into a glass toa void yeasty smell

[Anonymous No.2710282]

>>2710235
>Will leaving it out again for a day by accident after being in the fridge for 48 hours make the yeast float around again?
No

>And is it better to pour into a glass toa void yeasty smell
Please elaborate

[Anonymous No.2710300]

>>2710235
Yes you can cold crash your brew but if your beer is cloudy you should leave it to condition for a bit longer. If you brewed a high % style or a dark beer you should condition it longer than 2 weeks minimum.

[Anonymous No.2710345]

>>2710300
no, its a cream ale and relatively light

[Anonymous No.2710393]

>>2708007
>>2707841
So, I'm looking at mini keg setup, mainly for weissbier and porter/stouts. Is pic related the entire list? Assume in addition I'll need to run to the welding store and buy a CO2 and a beer gas bottle.

[Anonymous No.2710401]

>>2710393
I would add a picnic tap for the CO2 beer side and remove the beer faucet altogether in place of just a shank for your stout tap to connect to the ball lock fitting. I've had problems with directly connecting a faucet to the keg for regular beer without having some line; you'll get nothing but foam unless you put your CO2 at like 1-2 PSI. It's also too easy to bump the handle or attach the faucet when it's open and spray beer everywhere. I'm assuming this will be just a temporary setup until you (inevitably) make a keezer or kegarator in which case you'll only re-use the stout tap anyways

[Anonymous No.2710404]

>>2709866
My old mash tun, hlt, and kettle. Well over 50 brews but minnesota winters make it hard to brew outside. Now I have a b40 and steam condenser and will never go back

[Anonymous No.2710408]

>>2709417
Minimalist set ups are cool if you brew 5 gallon batches often. I brew 10 minimum, but usually around 15 gallons.

[Anonymous No.2710410]

>>2710408
Spike nickel and dimes you on every single accessory. Love their spunding valve though. Nice glycol chiller, what brand?

[Anonymous No.2710421]

>>2710410
>Nice glycol chiller, what brand?
DIY, don't remember the brand of air-conditioner unit I borrowed the guts from, but a lot of them are just the same innards in a different case with different brand names. The cooler full of glycol is an old Coleman, lol.

[Anonymous No.2710425]

>>2710421
That chiller setup looks familiar, did you make a youtube video about it?

[Anonymous No.2710429]

>>2710425
Nope, but I watched a lot of YouTube videos on DIY chillers before making it so there's a good chance mine is at least partially based on whatever video you watched.

[Anonymous No.2710487]

>>2710401
OK, so then this.
Realized the CO2 and nitro regulators are running basically same pressure, so swapped in the CO2 regulator with an adapter.
I can't tell if the nitro tap will fit on the black ball adapter that comes with the tank or not.

[Anonymous No.2710490]

>>2710487
>>2710401
Ah, faucet adapter. I think this is everything.
This keg's small enough to fit in my garage fridge, on a shelf, without having to modify the fridge. Assume that will work for kegging.
> I'm assuming this will be just a temporary setup until you (inevitably) make a keezer or kegarator
I expect like most things, this is just a step on the continuum.

[Anonymous No.2710605]

I've been adding more tropical punch and (fresh squeezed) puneapple juice to my watermelon wine. I've racked it 5 times and I still get pulp floating to the surface, so I put some bentonite in it today.

The Mead is delicious! It's better than all the meads I've tried at my local meadery! I can't wait for it to finish!

Oh, and I also started some Pineapple today.

[Anonymous No.2710608]

>>2710490
Yeah, nitro vs CO2 regulators is really just a difference in male/female termination, though I feel nitro regulators are built better usually. PEX clamps are way better than those crappy hose clamps, worth the upgrade if you already have the tool. Aside from that looks good, some PTFE tape if you don't have it for the threads. When you assemble everything pressurize to like 10 PSI and spray soapy water for leaks

[Anonymous No.2710630]

>>2710429
I took apart my portable ac for a different project but once I consistently have 2 fermentors I'll probably make something similar. Do you keep the glycol circulating in the cooler or no? Then I'm assuming you just have a solenoid on different PID controllers for each fermentor or is there a more optimized way?

[Anonymous No.2710632]

>>2710605
Looks awesome, what's the typical ABV you shoot for? I don't mind mead but it's always too sweet and boozy. I generally make sessionable beers but wouldn't mind doing a 4-5% ABV dry mead on tap, or maybe a braggot

[Anonymous No.2710772]

>>2710408
goal setup!

[Anonymous No.2711033]

>>2710632
It depends how I'm feeling, but generally around 6-10%. If I'm unsure how it will turn out, I'll pump it up to 10-15% so I don't have to drink as much to "make it taste good".

The potential for the watermelon was around 4% before I started, so J added sugar and it should end up around 12.5%. My mead should end up around 8% without any extra sugar, and my pineapple juice has enough in it to go to 7% without sugar.

I made apple cider with the apples from our tree, and that is around 3%... but I didn't add sugar to that one.

Pic rel is what I came home to this evening.

[Anonymous No.2711179]

>>2710632
>>2711033 here

Its my first time making Mead, but I had my neighbours taste it this weekend (they're really into wine), and they agree it tastes better than a local winery who also dose mead... It is still kinda sweet for my tastes, but I'm gonna let it keep fermenting... hopefully I can stop it when the sweetness is perfect.

[Anonymous No.2711278]

>>2697412
So I was finally able to taste my Munich Dunkel and compare it to the Dunkelweizen I brewed before. The Dunkelweizen had a really strong malt taste, it was also bitter, but not like hop bitter, more like I killed the roast malts. With the Munich Dunkel I only added the dark malts 30 minutes before ending the mash and it turned out much better that way. I actually get hints of coffee/chocolate and it doesn't taste as bitter. I also added a flameout addition of hops (Hallertauer Mittelfrüh) but I don't think that it is making the beer better as the aroma doesn't seem to mix all to well with the chocolate flavours? I will taste the beer again today, this time not drinking the Dunkelweizen before in order to see the beer more for what it is. After the DW the taste got muted, I'm pretty sure of it.

[Anonymous No.2711336]

I have an interest in historical brewing and decided to look into the kind of beer that barbarian people like Germanics and Celtics would have drunk in ancient/early medieval times. Most "medieval" recipes are from the late Middle Ages and aren't really representative of what people would have brewed before high medieval German techniques like the use of hops and boiling the wort became ubiquitous.
I used some early Irish texts as my basis because they contain some of the earliest written descriptions of ale brewing in Europe from the 6-7thC AD based on even earlier oral sources. One legal text for instance contains very detailed step by step instructions on the process of malting, kilning and milling barley grain prior to mashing.
I was pretty surprised to find that the brewing process described in these sources seems almost identical to Finnish sahti, which is a relatively strong beer which doesn't really use any bitterants or aromatic flavourings like a gruit or hopped ale. It's just a plain wort that's traditionally heated in a trough like container with hot river stones, never brought to a boil, and then transferred to a secondary container to ferment for a few days before being consumed immediately.
The early medieval Irish brewing process described in those documents is basically identical, with the mash being done in a trough with heated stones, absolutely no mention of any kind of herbs or berries used to add IBUs to the brew and being consumed "fresh" immediately after fermentation is complete.
Presumably sahti-style beer was the norm for barbarian peoples until the later middle ages, especially for the average household who made their own beer. In medieval Ireland there was a class of professional brewers who would have presumably used available herbs to make gruit ale, but it seems like most people just drank plain fermented barley wort with nothing else added to it. This is presumably true of Norse barbarians, Roman era Gauls & Germanics as well.

[Anonymous No.2711354]

>>2709866
>not bad, that's a 120v system? how well does she boil?
120v but with two elements that run on two seperate circuits. so it boils fine. i couldn't think of a smaller, more modular system. i live in a small town so it's really hard to get rid of shit and i ended up just throwing away a lot of stuff from my old set up.

[Anonymous No.2711588]

Is there a wine thief which can fit in a 1 gallon carboy? The one I got will only fit in my larger carboys, and I don't have a syringe to pull from my 1 gallon.

[Anonymous No.2711884]

I'm seeking parts to build a RIMS for brewing beer. Could I use pick related as a filter and/or sparge arm? It's cheaper then dedicated stuff.

[Anonymous No.2711978]

>>2711884
Yes to both though I'm not sure how well that would work as a filter, seems like it would get clogged easily. Why not just get some stainless mesh like picrel?

[Anonymous No.2712162]

>>2711978
I'm gonna do BIAB so clogging should be minimal. I'm just wondering if a ring or something that covers the whole bottom would give better diffusion of the wort from the grainbed. A bazookafilter seems like it would draw liquid away from one portion of the grainbed.

[Anonymous No.2712173]

>>2712162
>ring or something that covers the whole bottom would give better diffusion
Something covering the entire bottom that your bag would rest on while still leaving a void for wort to flow through would be ideal. Can you find a malt pipe that fits your kettle?

>A bazookafilter seems like it would draw liquid away from one portion of the grain bed
I used a bazooka in my dedicated mash tun no issue. You have to think, you're gonna be recirculating for at least 30-45 minutes. If the concern is you'll end up with only a partial conversion I think the fluid dynamics alone has you covered assuming a) you don't recirc too fast creating channels in the mash and b) you took care of any doughballs. With BIAB I'm assuming afterwards you're either sparging or just letting all the wort drain into the kettle so there's no issue with not recovering all the potential wort either

Anyways those filters are useful, if it doesn't work you're out $10 but you can also use it for flower hops in your kettle so it's not a huge loss. Your decision though

[Anonymous No.2712176]

>>2711588
Like this?

[Anonymous No.2712311]

>>2710490
Why not go full Kegland EVABarrier and Duotight? Cheap, modular and works.

I made my first batch of "chocolate porter" with Grainfather G40 and Fermzilla Tri-Conical. Got some off final numbers altho i was using a heat belt with temp control on fermenter.
Never the less, both me and my girl were impressed what came out of the keg.
I have to get just one more, to get a logical cycle going.
And a distilling lid, because in my wisdom i bought 2,5" Vevor football still and some additional pipework in summer. Never ran it. But better then use it on G40 wich has quite good PID

[Anonymous No.2712540]

>>2710408
you near oly wa? need a hand sometime?

[Anonymous No.2712718]

>>2712311
>Duotight
Nice; will check those out once I get the equipment and have a chance to play w/ it.

[Anonymous No.2713121]

>>2710408
I’ve got a 1BBL set up too, but still prefer doing 5gal batches so I can have a lot of variety. I enjoy brewing, so don’t mind doing it more often in order to have more varieties on tap.

[Anonymous No.2713123]

>>2710408
Also, my 1BBL (30gal) set up is still minimal and takes up less space than your 15gal. It’s just a bigger version of my 5gal system, similar to pic rel but with an electric winch and 50gal kettle. I only drink a 1-3 beers a day though and like having at least four on tap, so I really don’t need more than 5gal batches. My brew days take only take a few minutes if active time anyway. I program my kettle to heat to strike temp before I wake up, so that when I wake I just mash in.

[Anonymous No.2713128]

>>2710408
I guess I just struggle to see why you need bigger batches. I went from 5 all the up to 30 and now back down to 5. I’ve been big on minimalism lately too though. But I’d rather brew once a week and six different beers on tap, than brew once and have 6 kegs of the same. I was the opposite before

[Anonymous No.2713135]

>>2711336
Does it taste bad?

[Anonymous No.2713137]

>>2710772
Why? I look at setups at like that and just think ‘consumerism’. It’s more stuff to clean, more space taken up, longer brew day and a conical doesn’t do anything a corney keg doesn’t, for a homebrewer. It brews beer all the same, with around the same efficiency too if you crush super fine with BIAB. I really don’t get it.

[Anonymous No.2713191]

>cleaning dozens of dead flies out of my bottles before the next batch
How do I stop these little niggers from getting into empties to begin with?

[Anonymous No.2713196]

>>2713137
I currently brew in a big pot (28L volume), a weak electric stove, a sous vide stick, and a brewing bag. It's just really a pain in the ass.
For me, him having a dedicated space for brewing is already goal worthy. Sure it's consumerism but at the end of the day it's a hobby and especially if you're earning well enough, such a set up is not a huge expense.
I agree that buying the 'brand' names might be not the best bang for the buck that you have a lot more cleaning to do with a (HERMS?) system. I'll get a Brewzilla 65L Gen4 in a few weeks and I'm sure it will make my life a lot easier and the beer way better. Currently I can hardly get my wort to a rolling boil and the brewing bag is too small for the pot which makes things awkward. I also mainly bottle my beer because I have no kegs (yet) and it's really time consuming.

[Anonymous No.2713204]

>>2713135
Supposedly sahti tastes pretty sweet, and they use bread yeast which gives it a slight banana flavour. It's quite strong as well (7-11%ABV) and I'd imagine the alcohol would be very prominent without any hops or gruit to conceal it. But I'd imagine it just tastes like a drier, unhopped wort. I find that whenever I see shit online about "flavour notes of banana and citrus" it's usually a load of wank

[Anonymous No.2713223]

Is there a more inherently depressing homebrew than kilju?

[Anonymous No.2713417]

>>2713196
Yeah I can see that. I have an all in one eBIAB which was a total game changer and I brew way more and it’s actually fun. I program to be at mash temp when I wake up so I can before work.

But why don’t you just get some triclamp bulkheads and 120v heating elements, attach them to you kettle with a temp probe and controller and run things like that? It’d only be like $50-100

[Anonymous No.2713419]

>>2713204
Also, get a garden hose adapter for your sink, and a rolling cart for your brew set up. Makes cleaning and moving around a breeze.

[Anonymous No.2713675]

Unless I was commercial or had infinite money for laborers / slaves I just don’t get why you’d want a 3 vessel system or conicals. I thought about getting a conical to distill bad batches into alcohol, but I’ve never had a bad batch. I’m a mush farmer and thought about distilling for alcohol sanitizing too, but isopropyl is so cheap it’s basically free at the rate I use it at.

[Anonymous No.2713740]

>>2713675
Wtf would you need a conical for in order to distill

[Anonymous No.2713743]

>>2713137
Corny kegs suck for temp control, pressure fermenting, and yeast harvesting
>muh keg holds pressure
They're designed to hold pressure once they have pressure, applying pressure all at once (as designed) is different than closing the spunding valve and pressurizing slowly
>I put it in muh keezer/kegerator
Doesn't scale at all

[Anonymous No.2713745]

Fucking drunk, I'll fight you

[Anonymous No.2714180]

>>2713743
> Corny kegs suck for temp control, pressure fermenting, and yeast harvesting
Pressure fermentation enables higher temps without off flavors, so you can ferment at room. I just leave them in a temp controlled room during fermentation. They are great for pressure fermenting. And as a homebrewer I just save yeast from the starter, it’s cleaner. No reason to be harvesting yeast from the keg.

>scale
What? This is homebrewing, not commercial brewing. I don’t need scale. And anyway, it scales fine if you have a temp controlled room or a walk-in cooler.

[Anonymous No.2714183]

>>2713740
I thought about it so I could ferment and distill in the same vessel. They have tri-clamp attachments on top of the kettle that would make it easy to attach the column too. I don’t really drink hard alcohol though so never went forward with it.

[Anonymous No.2714186]

>>2713743
> They're designed to hold pressure once they have pressure, applying pressure all at once (as designed) is different than closing the spunding valve and pressurizing slowly
I start mine with pressure, so not really a problem. Enables me to do full 5gal batches too.

[Anonymous No.2714346]

>>2697412
Doing a double-decocted Munich Helles today, just to see if decoction mashing is even worth it. If it goes well, then my game plan is to pitch a doppelbock right ontop of the slurry. If decoction mashing is worth it, I'll probably do it for the doppelbock too.

[Anonymous No.2714527]

>>2697412
I started my hand on distilling. Anyone have some goods tips for doing the cuts? (heads, heart, and tails)

[Anonymous No.2714542]

>>2713417
Well, the pot I was using was borrowed from my gf's dad and I gave it back to him this weekend. I also dislike the loose back and would prefer a mash basket. I also think that an electric AIO system will keep me happy for quite a while. Most of the time with my hobbies I spent a little bit more once and then I'm content with it.

[Anonymous No.2714550]

>>2714548
Reposting from /SQTDDTOT/
I'm making a a Nuka Cola bottle for a friend using a Mexi-coke bottle for Christmas. I would like to remove the label as just gluing printouts of the Nuka Cola label from the internet doesn't feel like it would be enough for me.

I've stripped paint off of miniatures using super clean and 70 percent alcoholic hand sanitizer in the past before, but according to this post on a forum when I was doing homework on the subject:
>https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/what-kind-of-label-is-this-and-how-do-i-get-rid-of-it.630294/#post-8026370
It seems that the label is baked into the glass.

Is there any way to remove the label and if you know of a way then what should I use?

[Anonymous No.2714585]

>>2714542
Yeah gotcha. To me eBIAB and AIO are equivalent terms, I was just thinking if you wanted you might be able to cobble together and eBIAB for super cheap if you had some spare stuff laying around.

I bought pic rel used and couldn’t be happier personally.

[Anonymous No.2714829]

>>2714585
That does look pretty good actually, I will have a look at it. Thanks!

[Anonymous No.2716649]

I want to get started making my own beer, but I really hate the idea of any of my homebrewing equipment being made of plastic

>>2709654

[Anonymous No.2716650]

>>2697412
Hundreds of thousands of children are being aborted every single year. Tens of thousands of children are being aborted completely legally in 2023 in deep red USA states.
Abortion is still legal in all 50 states and almost nobody is talking about it. The pro life movement is a controlled opposition and not your fren. Please watch this approximately 15 minute long YouTube video on abortion please whether you be pro choice or already pro life https://youtu.be/XGPv66ZqlEQ?feature=shared

Over 6 billion (yes) Chickens are tortured to death every single year in the United States alone in factory farms. And no your Canada Australia or EU country isn't much better. Billions of animals are being tortured to death in factory farms every single year and it's (partially) your fault! Please watch at least the first five minutes of this YouTube video . In it he explains that people who regularly purchase chicken for years straight will almost certainly cause the torturing and murder of hundreds of extra chickens. That blood is all on your hands and would NOT have been shed had you instead decided to boycott animal products / go vegan ! https://youtu.be/brKhhZlUoOc?feature=shared

What are the conditions like in factory farms where over 96% of all animal products in western nations come from? They are mutilated without anesthetic, crammed in dirty, uncomfortable, and crowded conditions, they are artificially inseminated / raped and jacked off, they are slaughtered. Here is a free approximately 2 hours long documentary about factory farming please watch it thank you https://youtu.be/LQRAfJyEsko?feature=shared

Gggjujgdrh

[Anonymous No.2716671]

i made purple/black wine
i had people who make wine all their life try it
they say its excellent
strong, great smell, great taste, no bullshit
only problem is, despite it being a year and some old, it leaves purple dust on the glass once droplets dry, meaning there is a lot of sediment still, should i leave it or sift it trough cloth and whatnot?
also, the worse part, if i have more than 4 glasses, i violently shit liquid for days

[Anonymous No.2716737]

>>2716649
So go stainless steel then

[Anonymous No.2716808]

>>2716671
i recognise you from /int/

[Anonymous No.2716919]

>>2716649
>>2716737
this

>>2716671
You could cold crash it (lowering the the temperature to 34F/1C) and then siphoning the wine.
>>2716671
>i violently shit liquid for days
That doesn't sound too good. Did you throw in a campden tablet or something like that?

[Anonymous No.2716922]

>>2711278
>>2713196
After my Munich Dunkel which turned out pretty good I brewed a Kellerbier/Lager for one of my best friend's birthday. I think it's the best beer I made yet.
I did not get to a rolling boil (only to about 97C). The beer smells extremely floral and tastes really great. I exclusively used Hallertauer Tradition (first time using it) and I really like it. I will definitely brew it again when I have the new system. While I like the hoppy aroma and the taste of the beer, I want to make sure to also extract some Bitterness. I wanted to reach about 33 IBUs but I think due to the low temps it is more around 10-20, it is really not a bitter beer at all. I already look forward to opening the party keg when we all meet. My last beer I showed them was a Black Smoky IPA and it's not our favorite style of beer. This Kellerbier should hit the spot.
The last two batches really turned out great, it's cool opening a new batch and realizing one did not fuck up.

[Anonymous No.2717317]

>>2716922
Does liqueur count? I started my first attempt at an orange/cinnamon/vanilla liqueur today. Anyone know how much of each ingredient should be used per unit volume of spirits?

This time I estimated it by using €4 worth of each (8 oranges, 4 cinnamon sticks, 1 vanilla pod) for a litre of 80% abv rum. I’ll dilute it with sugar water later to some 30% abv

[Anonymous No.2717385]

>want drier wine
>add black tea to the wine because everyone and their grandmother says it increases the amount of tannins
>it does fuck all
is it just me being retarded? i used 2 bags/5L

[Anonymous No.2717541]

>>2717385
Did you boil it or throw it in cold? Also why not just make it really drier instead of adding tannins for perceived dryness that most people won’t fall for

[Anonymous No.2717883]

>>2717541
hot water in a cup before adding
>Also why not just make it really drier
i don't understand. do you mean the FG?

[Anonymous No.2717889]

>>2717883
Yes, dry means less residual suger in my book. Adding tannins masks the sugar a little bit to make it taste dryer but it’s often pretty obvious

[Anonymous No.2717948]

>>2717889
sorry for the misunderstanding and my poor wording.
i meant fermented all the sugars out, but don't get that dry mouthfeel i really wanted you get from red wine so i added black tea because it supposedly helps with that, but i have yet to notice a significant difference. tried different brands as well. maybe i should just spam black tea in smaller batches and see what happens
and "astringent", that's the word i was after.

[Anonymous No.2717996]

>made spicy mead using spicy honey i found at costco
>very odd smelling
ill reserve my tasting opinions for after its aged a bit but i hope this isnt a bad forecast, ive had alot of wines where the overbearing smells got mellowed out by aging but those usually had a pleasantish smell that was just way too strong, this ones just odd

[Anonymous No.2718765]

This is less of a brewing question than a general safety one - I am moving into a rural cabin whose previous tenants/the owner had some obsession with paella. The property has a huge utility shed/garage for gardening tools, heating oil tank and also has a bunch of paella pans & a paella grill - it's essentially a freestanding propane/butane grill that directs flames directly onto the pan above it and it seems like it could be a useful alternative for my all grain BIAB setup as our kitchen is quite small.
Would it be safe to use this device to mash & boil my wort inside the shed, or should I just do it outdoors to be safe? I've never used gas burners or BBQs before so I'm not certain how safe they are in confined spaces.
Also, I plan on leaving my brew to ferment in that shed and it has a very slight petrol smell from the lawnmower inside it. Is there any chance this smell would ruin my beer or will it be perfectly fine seeing as the fermenter should be airtight anyways?

[Anonymous No.2718782]

>>2718765
Picrel shows the garage space and the described paella grill. As you can see it's kind of narrow and I'm concerned that the open flame could be dangerous in the confined area.

[Anonymous No.2719140]

>>2718782
Plenty of people cook in their shed, but still that looks so confined and unventilated that I’d say no just to be safe. Unless maybe you run some kind of forced air extraction/ventilation and put a CO detector

[Anonymous No.2719384]

>>2719140
Thanks anon

[Anonymous No.2721286]

>>2697412
anyone know where/if you can buy replacement caps for these 750ml sparkling juce bottles

[Anonymous No.2721546]

Where can I get some fruits for wine or pressed juice for cider? I made 5gal blackberry wine once by picking a ton but I missed the season this year. I don’t want to buy/own a press for apples either. Going to finally cross off mead and sake from my homebrew wishlist

[Anonymous No.2721749]

>>2721546
Piggybacking on this, what do you recommend for fermentors and bottles? These swing top bottles with reusable lids seem pretty cool. And 2-3gal buckets seem nice for fermenting as they’re easy to clean, but small carboys are fun so you can see the fermentation take place. I already have kegs I ferment in, but don’t intend to make batches that big for anything but beer.

[Anonymous No.2722645]

>>2721546
if you still want to DIY them a bit, consider a real cheap aluminum steam juicer. i really enjoy using mine but it works better for some fruits vs others, and you can basically juice them into jars and lid immediately for shelf stable juice (although you could wb for 10 mins for some peace of mind)

if you have a local restaurant supply store they likely have bulk fruit for pretty cheap, or preservative-free fruit juices/concentrates that should suit your purpose well. i've made very decent melomel and cyser this way.

>>2721749
i like to ferment in 5 gal buckets (i get mine from work) but when i first started i used the 1 gal glass carboys. you can get apple cider in some glass carboys for basically the same price as the glass new if you look around.

i wouldn't do primary in a bottle size smaller than a half gallon because of the loss from the racking off the lees will add up that way. bigger is better in terms of avoiding loss and a good amount of headspace needs to be left for the expansion of yeast bubblies

[Anonymous No.2722650]

>>2717996
i literally made the worst mead of my life when i was first starting out a decade ago, honey and mango. i'm not sure why it was so bad but it was very off. age old advice was 'just let it age' and i cracked a bottle last week and it was great. so...., give er time and you may be surprised!

[Anonymous No.2723899]

What are these black specks towards the bottom of my photo? Made a Dutch lager from extract and it's been particularly sediment heavy. I thought maybe mould but my understanding is that that would float at the top if it managed to survive at all, and an opened beer from this batch smells fine with no sour taste

[Anonymous No.2724892]

Tried out my new BIAB setup using a big 25L paella cauldron and am quite happy with my results. Last time I tried BIAB my efficiency was pretty bad but today my OG was exactly as calculated.
Anyways I brewed an oatmeal Stout with an OG of 1.042. Should finish at about 4.5% around Christmas time.

[Anonymous No.2724990]

Question about mead: I just made my first batch with a 7-day yeast and 2 lbs of honey for a gallon, and it’s very good but it’s a bit yeasty. I was expecting it to settle before racking but I was swishing it every day until the last day, so is that what I messed up? Or maybe my siphon was too far down? I didn’t think so but I’m still new at this, only made 4 batches of cider before this mead.

[Anonymous No.2725041]

>>2724990
>swishing every day
I am no expert, but I do 0 stirring from pitching until bottling and all the yeast makes a nice pile at the bottom
I did however make a godawful super yeasty cider the one time I did shake my stuff up before bottling, it seems like the more important part to avoiding a yeasty product is to not agitate it for awhile before bottling and I also try to slowly move the siphon down so instead of a few yeasty bottles ill have 4 perfectly pure ones and 1 "deluge" bottle

[Anonymous No.2725045]

>>2725041
Maybe I’ll just rack it again in a day or two.

[Anonymous No.2725353]

>>2706177
Update on this:
I just bottled it and it tastes like battery acid. I had lots of fun though and will try again in a few months.

[Anonymous No.2725559]

>>2725353
Make a sugar syrup and add to taste and it'll be fine.
Lrn about stabilizing, potassium metabisulfate (camden tablets) and potassium sorbate to backsweeten before bottling.
Tip, when making small batches you'll either need at least a 0.1 gram accurate scale or you can do solution in water and use cheap 3ml plastic pipette to measure (single use, but good for reuse). Store the excess solutions in fridge and they're good for a couple of months.

[Anonymous No.2725590]

>>2725045
thats what I did with my juniper mead
accidentally agitated it too much during bottling so just waited a couple days and racked from bottle to bottle, worked well

[Anonymous No.2725675]

Decided to make what I call "maple mead"
its just maple syrup in place of honey for mead
stabilized it today after about a month fermenting
has anyone else tried something like this? the smell kinda reminds me of if a white wine had sex with mead(recalling from 3 hours ago so may be a bad desc)

[Anonymous No.2726159]

>>2725675
Makes me wonder if you could could make a dark rum using maple syrup instead of molasses.

[Anonymous No.2726240]

>>2726159
Ive never had undistilled molasses wine to compare the taste and smell
good idea though, ill add it the list of crazy shit i experiment with after i get this maple mead bottled

[Anonymous No.2726298]

Done a few all grain brew in a bag recipes so far and I'm liking it.
I used to work as a baker and really loved the idea of bakers percentages. I still use them every day. For those who don't know it's just a ratio of how much water/salt/yeast for an amount of flour. That makes it easy to scale recipes to any amount.
Is there something similar for beer? My favorite amount to brew has been 2 gallons, and rather than finding various recipes and scaling them myself I'd like to be able to understand the malt / hops / water ratio of different styles. For instance do pro brewers know that a typical american pale ale uses X amount of malt for Y amount of water (plus an amount for boil off).

[Anonymous No.2726344]

>>2726298
There's style guidelines but generally scaling isn't proportional. To scale a recipe up just up the base malt unless you're massively scaling it (e.g. 5->30 gallons). Recipe design starts with the style characteristics. History, IBU, ABV, SRM, foam properties, taste profile, then work backwards. Water additions to support yeast health and mouth feel. How much ingredients you'll use and at what ratio depends on a lot of factors specific to your setup and targets. Determining the properties of your equipment is the first step to adapting others' recipes; all losses in your kettle, fermentor, and any hoses as well as your kettle's boil off rate are the two major things that come to mind with biab

[Anonymous No.2726361]

I've been brewing and bottle conditioning in PET and swing-top bottles (mangrove jack brand for the swing tops). I always get good carbonation with the PET bottles, but with the swing tops its 50/50 as to whether they'll be flat.

Was considering buying a few of the pictured gaskets to see if they fit the bottles and help but I thought I'd ask here first: is this a skill issue? should I use caps instead to idiot proof my setup?

[Anonymous No.2726631]

>>2713223
Jenkem

[Anonymous No.2727061]

>>2697412
I put cinnamon in my kvass during primary and now it smells like mold release. How do I fix?

[Anonymous No.2727115]

>>2727061
if you don't see any visible signs of mold try heating 3°C over 2-3 days to see if the yeast cleans it up, wait until the smell is gone, or try CO2 scrubbing if you're setup for kegging. did you sanitize the cinnamon in any way first?

[Anonymous No.2727152]

>>2713223
Kilju is pretty nice if you do it for the science. You can precisely tune SG/nutrient/temperature etc for your yeast or stuff like that. But for drinking it’s pretty poor, I just nuke it with sugar until it reaches max abv and then add spices and more sugar after to make it somewhat drinkable (but I’m not sure if it still qualifies as kilju) or mix it with ginger beer

[Anonymous No.2727157]

>>2727115
It's ground cinnamon. I can't exactly wash it in star san. I also don't have any way to regulate temperature by single degrees over the course of days. It's kvass, made by boiling water on a stove, and steeping burnt bread.

[Anonymous No.2727234]

>>2724990
Update to this: I let it sit since this post and racked it again. There was a ton of sediment left at the bottom and the mead tasted much, much better. The recipe I followed said swish it daily, but I think if I’d stopped the last couple of days it would’ve been fine. Or maybe what I did by racking, resting, and re-racking was the right way? What do you guys think?

[Anonymous No.2727276]

>>2727157
you could have at least put the ground cinnamon in a small amount of vodka. sounds like then all you can do is wait and see if it's an infection, if the yeast will clean it up, or if it goes away with time

[Anonymous No.2727497]

>>2727276
Was hoping someone at least knew some other herbs I could toss in the growlers to overpower the off-flavor

[Anonymous No.2727519]

>>2727497
i'd suggest waiting to see if it's actually moldy: if it is, it's best to just chuck the batch
as for masking it, cloves have a very strong aroma

[Anonymous No.2727547]

>>2727519
It's in the fridge right now, since it's only supposed to ferment unpressurized for a day or two. I did add a bit of white vinegar to each for flavor, but it was smelling of mold release within 6 hours of beginning fermentation. So it shouldn't be mold or a major infection

Cloves is a good idea though, I'll see if I can find some whole cloves to toss in

[Anonymous No.2728015]

>>2727547
for future batches, i suggest boiling the spices with the wort (must? how do you call unfermented kvass) so that they're sorta sterilized and don't risk adding undesirables later in the process

[Anonymous No.2728019]

>>2727547
Watch out with cloves, if you put too much or let them sit too long you’ll get a really strong clove taste that drowns out everyhing else. 1 glove per gallon for a week can already overpower a lot of stuff. I like to use star anise, it’s tasty and cheap and easy to regulate, plus it doesn’t release protein or sediment as much as many other herbs. Just throw in 4 or 5 stars per gallon in cold and wait a week

>>2727547
Vinegar can bring acetobacter in, especially if it’s natural/bio

[Anonymous No.2728089]

>>2728019
>>2728015
So, I did some more digging and it seems my primary issue was that this was my first batch in my new city, and I trusted the city water.... turns out my new city uses a lot more chlorine than my old city, which is what the primary cause was.

Duly noted on adding spices during boil/steeping. As for the vinegar, that was just to balance flavor of the green drink and get it to start souring sooner. Since it's green, it retains a lot of sugar, but if you wait long enough for it to naturally sour then it starts getting to a noticeable alcohol content, which defeats some of the purpose of it being kvass

[Anonymous No.2728697]

For those who "bottle from primary", how do you do it while adding carbonation and preventing trub from transferring?
I guess you can use carbonation tabs for the trub and bottle from a spigot on the fermenter.
Personally I don't want to use tabs and haven't ported the stainless fermenter I have, so I am planning on doing a transfer to a bottling bucket/fermenter that is ported, mix in priming sugar and then bottle.
Probably would just be smarter to ferment under pressure in a corny but I don't have any kegs and they're expensive.

[Anonymous No.2729018]

There are so many yeasts, I don't have enough grapes/time/money to try them all...

[Anonymous No.2729029]

>>2728697
i carefully decant from the carboy, trying to not kick up too much of the trub
in the rare occasion where i use a bucket, then i use the spigot since it's placed quite a bit higher than the bottom, and so won't usually pick up the dregs or trub

[Anonymous No.2729076]

>>2728697
Pressure fermenting is overrated, having a system capable of this is really only useful for natural carbonation. Kegging will get you halfway there, you'll need a counterflow filler for bottling a lot

[Anonymous No.2729098]

>make my best batch of mead ever
>I was just fucking around with leftover honey from other batches
>didnt write down what or of how much I put in it

[Anonymous No.2729225]

>>2706145
I just peel those off by hand.

[Anonymous No.2729228]

I'm planning on throwing some hop rhizomes in the garden this year, any recommendations? Was thinking CZA or cascade, I want to make some american pales or WC IPAs with fresh hop.

[Anonymous No.2729362]

>>2729228
Try a dual purpose like Cascade and also a purely aromatic hop like Fuggles, Goldings or Styrian goldings.

[Anonymous No.2729425]

>>2728697
>For those who "bottle from primary", how do you do it while adding carbonation and preventing trub from transferring?
i don't really carbonate, but to answer the thrub question, i put the hose at the bottom and then lift it up 5cm. if i get visual signs that i'm getting more fibres in the first bottle than i would like i lift it up a bit more. the last bit i put in a handle (half a gallon, and i live in metric land) and run that through a coffee filter
i do it the caveman way though, never had an issue with it but admittedly it's not ideal. and when you start sucking in air instead of wine and you have to resuck it again usually ends with better not driving

[Anonymous No.2730655]

My carboy little fruit bag can hold only like 3 lbs of fruit at once. Will the following plan work:
>do primary fermentation on its own
>move to secondary, add fruit
>after a week or two remove the fruit bag and add more fresh fruit
>repeat multiple times until ~12 lbs worth of fruit has been added
Is that the proper way of adding all that fruit?

[Anonymous No.2730814]

>>2714527
Depends on your type of still, how large your batches are and what you're distilling. If you're using a pot still and running anything less than 5 gallons, you're going to have a very hard time distinguishing hearts from heads/tails in a single-run, so you likely will want to do several stripping runs and then one spirit run. The demarcation point between heads/hearts/tails during a spirit run is night-and-day obvious compared to your stripping runs; if you have a thumper the second run is less of a need.

That said, there are benefits to single runs depending on what you're looking to get; I'll run an apple-honey wine through a long, slow single-run distillation, and then infuse rose petals into it to make a rosolio di rosa, and the results are outstanding, but it does take time.

Anyways, what kind of set-up are you contemplating, and what are you ultimately looking to distill, anon? The setup you'd want for a vodka or a rum is going to be different than the setup you'd want for a brandy or whisky. Happy to add more specificity; the homedistiller forums are also worth reading.

[Anonymous No.2731181]

>>2730655
seems like it runs a high risk of introducing contaminants, both by way of the fruit and by repeatedly opening the fermenter
why do you want to do this? what are you making?

[Anonymous No.2731366]

>>2731181
Just some mead with strawberries. I am making 3 gallons of mead, but the bag I have for sticking fruits into the mead can only hold around 3 lbs of fruit. I am reading online that I need a shitload more fruit, so I am just wondering how to add all of that since I cant fit it all in at once

[Anonymous No.2731471]

>>2731366
puree it maybe? then you can fit more in. shouldn't be too much of a risk post-fermentation since alcohol will kill most things except maybe a few bacteria, just make sure you wash the fruit good, maybe dip in sanitizer before you puree

[Anonymous No.2731481]

>>2731366
You boil it, cut it, then throw it in the fermenter. It will settle at the bottom and clear over time.

>>2731471
Crushing the seeds can give very bad off tastes. Also Bretts survive up to like 15% abv and probably other infections too, so definitely boil it

[Anonymous No.2731482]

>>2730814
Since you know stuff, should I buy an air still as first distiller just to try it or nah? It seems like a simple solution I could use without buying a propane heater, and I could modify it electrically to add my own temperature control

[Anonymous No.2731679]

>>2731481
>Crushing the seeds can give very bad off tastes
Strawberries I doubt

>Also Bretts survive up to like 15% abv
What literature says that? Not calling you out but this would explain a few failed fermentations. My understanding is when Brett out-competes the yeast during fermentation is where there's a problem; post-fermentation is not much of an issue due to less available sugars, depending on the batch and FG of course

[Anonymous No.2731682]

>>2731679
cibrario et al 2020, can’t post a link for some reason. Bretts is kinda tricky because there are conditions in which the yeast activity becomes less and less and the Bretts thrive, they love oxygen (often introduced while eg racking to secondary), get funky at low pH, and form a protective layer to lay dormant until the conditions become right.

Youre right in that it’s rare to see it grow after fermentation, but adding raw fruits brings in both oxygen and sugar for them while the yeast may already be on its way out

[Anonymous No.2731684]

>>2731682
>woman
Dismissed

[Anonymous No.2731847]

>>2731471
>>2731481
Thank you, I will be making the fruit smaller so I can fit more in once it thaws out

[Anonymous No.2732631]

>>2725675
drank some of the maple mead
it tastes like maple syrup, no flavour change at all except being a bit less sweet(but somehow tasting just as strong in the syrup flavour as a normal maple syrup)

[Anonymous No.2732717]

I went Janus, Kiava Gamma, Dargonus
Did I miss out on anything by going in this order

[Anonymous No.2732920]

>>2731482
Not him but I wouldn't get an air still. They're need but very limited and I think their niche is in small trial runs and not in giving exposure.

Distilling is very volume dependent and the smaller the batch the more limited you'll be and quicker things will change.

If you're already a brewer you might be able to just buy a condenser and use your existing brewing equipment.


For your original question, I do cuts by filling up beer bottles every 50 to 200 ml of products based on where I am in the run. Heads and tails get the more frequent 50ml bottles and when I am in the middle I'll do 200ml. I line the bottles up in order and then figure out what I am going to keep the next day (or later) since just having bottles open seems to lose some of the gross volatiles. I make vodka in a reflux still but I think the same could work for non reflux runs. My reject bottles either go in an ass bottle that I give to my brother to drink or into a bottle to use as lighter fluid or cleaning alcohol.

[Anonymous No.2732927]

Is store bought yeast for wine/bead bad for taste somehow, or unhealthy? Some boomer tried to convince me to use more natural yeast for mead, like the one occuring on fresh grapes, but I don't see how that would be any different. A yeast is yeast, right?

[Anonymous No.2732957]

>>2732927
Bad/poor for taste, attenuation, and flocculation. It probably won't be disgusting but it will probably be subpar. Most bread and brewing yeasts are saccharomyces cerevisiae ("top fermenting yeast"), and lager yeasts are pastorianus ("bottom fermenting") which is actually a bit different.
Brewing yeast strains are used because they produce "good" flavors byproducts, can tolerate a alcoholic environment, can eat all of the sugars in a normal brew and fall out of suspension easily. Picking a yeast is figuring what makes most sense with all of those qualities because you generally can't have it all in a single yeast strain.

Using natural yeasts is an advanced technique that doesn't necessarily turn out good. It will probably turn out different which is why people do it as it gives another tool to use. In the olden time before micro biology, brews were inoculated by the magic wood equipment or special sticks to stir the wort because yeast lives in wood and brewers figured out the association. You can go put a log into your wort and get yeast out of it, or just leave it open to air. The problem is that you completely give up control over the brew and critically open up the brew for infection if other microbes take off faster and out compete the yeast. Sani/sterilizing wort and materials before the yeast is pitched you give the yeast a sure chance to establish over any other microbe and their alcoholic byproduct makes the envy hostile to most other organisms.


I'd encourage you to just buy something that is marketed at matching the style you're making. So mead yeast if you can find it, otherwise try champagne yeast as champagne yeats have a special place being hardy in low nutrient environments, high sugar/alcohol tolerant and low foaming.

[Anonymous No.2732961]

>>2732957
Any thoughts on this kind of yeast? It's some kind of niche brand, and it gets lots of positive reviews:

Description translation:
>NOBLE ZAMOJSCY WINE YEAST
Johannisberg m 35 – yeast for mead
Natural, noble, highly alcoholic yeast, allowing to obtain up to 17% vol. alcohol. Obtained through professional breeding of carefully selected pure cultures.

You will find detailed instructions for use on each yeast package. These yeasts should not be divided. It is necessary to use the entire sachet for 5-30 liters of wine.

Zamojska yeast - composition: Wine yeast strains on dried fruit.

5g package

https://allegro.pl/oferta/szlachetne-drozdze-do-miodow-pitnych-zamojscy-12741768498#productReviews (Polish site)

I used this yeast for my mead, and I'm wondering if it's some mass produced bottom tier trash, or actually good yeast. This is the first brew I'm making, so I don't orient myself well.

[Anonymous No.2732977]

>>2732961
Looks reasonable to me, it should at least be better than bread yeast.
The things that if true make the difference: rates alcohol tolerance to 17% which is good and sensible for a mead. You want tolerance at least a couple if not 5% higher than your target since yeast start getting stressed and produce off flavors.
Second is that they say it is grown on dried fruit. That is good because the medium is what the yeast will thrive on, and fruit is probably the closest you'll get for mead. Bread and cheap yeasts are grown on molasses because it's the most cost-effective.
Third, mead is mentioned by name which is fairly rare.

If it is good you can also harvest the yeast when you're done. It is usually not worth the effort or equipment to do that. What I do sometimes is just immediately reuse the yeast with the same or very similar recipe.

[Anonymous No.2732990]

>>2697412
Why do people use batteries when making alcohol? What the fuck do they do with them? Put them into barrels with alcohol or something?

[Anonymous No.2733127]

Just racked this from bucket after 7 days of violent fermentation

[Anonymous No.2733131]

>>2733127
Straight grapes from my yard, wine yeast, sugar and water, think Maybe a pectic acid or some shit and yeast nutrient but very basic wine, this js the 3rd out of 4 1gallon batches I'll make from this falls harvest, I gave lots of grapes away for jam too

[Anonymous No.2733177]

>>2732990
>batteries
Hmmmm

[Anonymous No.2733821]

started my first batch of tepache

[Anonymous No.2734096]

New Year's libations have been prepared and good to go. A mixture of melomels, metheglins and braggots. The oldest has been barrel aging for over a year.
Does anyone here have experience with Clariferm/Brewer's Clarex? I pitched on my braggot per instructions and it still has chill haze. Will it work if added post-fermentation or does alcohol inhibit it (similar to pectinase)?

[Anonymous No.2734129]

Looking to brew a saison for the first time. Gonna use Mangrove Jack's M29 French Saison Yeast. Making a roughly 20L batch once you get rid of all the trubby mess. Expecting an OG of 1.068 & FG of 1.004 so pretty boozy about 8-8.4% ABV.

Would I need a yeast starter or would 1 packet be enough?

[Anonymous No.2734156]

my earliest chardonnay carboy is beginning to go clear after a month and a half. way to early to taste but fuck it - did a champagne yeast on this one because it ferments fast - tastes a likea good champs without the bubbles. cant wait for another month or two. will rack as soon as the whole carboy goes clear. 15 gallons chard, 15 gallons cab. good year for me.

[Anonymous No.2734352]

>>2701629
So with kombucha you only need one to two weeks. I haven't touched since I took that pic.
Here it is now.

[Anonymous No.2734353]

>>2701629
Here's the top

[Anonymous No.2736001]

I am too dumb for all this fermaid O precise measurement shit. During the first week, can I just add a teaspoon of fermaid O every other day after pitching the yeast? I am making 3 gallons of mead.

[Anonymous No.2736495]

>>2736001
In my experience it is better to just add all your nutrient at the start of fermentation if you aren't willing or able to follow a nutrient addition schedule. Just beware of overactive fermentation, and blow off in the first few days.

[Anonymous No.2736574]

I dont have a blowoff tube and my shit is fermenting strong. Can I just leave it open without an airlock for a day or two until it calms down?

[Anonymous No.2736772]

>>2736574
Balloon with needle hole
Or condom

[Anonymous No.2736916]

Going to try making some mead in a few days here. I just need a hydrometer, sanitizer, yeast, and honey. I'm doing this all in a 1 gallon carboy. I need a second one for later + some bottles but otherwise almost good to go.

Any advice or recommendations? Which yeast should I go for? How long should I allow the mead to ferment for (if I want dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, sweet, etc.)? Is Costco honey fine? How long should I bulk age?

>>2726159
>>2732631
Talking out of my ass here but you might be able to make alcohol with unconcentrated maple sap, then distill? Could even try it with other types of sap

[Anonymous No.2736969]

>>2736916
you could but maple sap is at best around 2.2% sugar so it wouldn't really be worth it

[Anonymous No.2737492]

>>2736916
Ive used the red star premier blanc yeast for all mine
I think mead is best in the middle, not too dry or sweet
costco honey is fine, its all ive used and its come out well
for my meads ive generally aged about a month before drinking and thats made them quite tasty
im not an expert though, just a dude fucking around
>>2733821
neat, never heard of tepache till now, thanks anon

[Anonymous No.2739306]

>>2697412

Entered my first BJCP-sanctioned competition. Anyone have experiences from those? Based on what friends have said, it sounds like my beer is going to be judged by a spergy boomer who's really just trying to show off their palette... but maybe those friends are just bitter about criticisms they got. Also heard it's more a competition about how you bottle things - this true too?

[Anonymous No.2739313]

>>2736574
Depends on what you're fermenting but you could. Open fermenting is definitely a thing that even modern big breweries in Germany and Belgium do... but meticulously monitor to prevent infections. You could put sanitized tinfoil over your fermenter and that'll keep most bad things out until you pop the airlock back on.

[Anonymous No.2739395]

>>2739306
Did you send off your entry yet? Haven't participated but curious about your plan since I've also heard bottling is a big part of it. What style are you entering for?

[Anonymous No.2739403]

german lager 1 and dko linked up, need it or keep it?

[Anonymous No.2739654]

>>2739395
I sent mine in. It's within the same state I live in, but on the other side, so I had a friend from there in town for the holidays drop my entries off. The entries were an American Brown Ale and a Munich Helles. Really curious if the beers are being kept cold or warm until judging, since so many people who enter competitions seem to get a ton of feedback about bottling errors. Usually carbonation or sanitizing problems. I have a tapcooler bottle filler so hopefully that'll help but who knows. Worst case I get feedback that isn't a friend/family member saying "wow I like this, it's great!"

[Anonymous No.2739658]

>>2739403
wait, Omega is selling DKO beers for homebrew now? Some pro-brewer friends can't even get their hands on it yet.

[Anonymous No.2740055]

>>2739658
morebeer and northern brewer have had some of their dko strains for a while now

[Anonymous No.2740369]

You lads reckon this is Kahm's yeast or mold?

[Anonymous No.2740371]

Thanks did not know where to ask.

[Anonymous No.2740449]

>>2740371
mold

[Anonymous No.2740539]

[Anonymous No.2740845]

Free off Craigslist.
From left to right.
A keg
I have no idea
A kettle.
Good score. The kettle will help greatly as I'm looking to make a whiskey or bourbon this year and boiling that stuff on the stove is a pain the ass.
Got to see if I have any brew bags or whatever. I usually make rum so the grain business is new to me.
I can carbonated water with the keg correct? That'll be fun.

[Anonymous No.2740846]

Thinking of doing a coffee blond for my next batch. Lots of autistic arguments online on how to add coffee to a beer, the 3 proponents are;
>brewing coffee and adding it post fermentation
>making a coffee tincture and adding it post fermentation
>dry beaning during initial fermentation
Any of you try any of these methods? I’m leaning towards dry bean.

[Anonymous No.2741131]

>>2740845
>I have no idea
center is a mash tun
>I can carbonated water with the keg correct?
yeah, may want to get a carb stone eventually so the water carbonates faster. bullcityflavors is good for flavoring, don't buy the bubly bs from the store it's way overpriced. i usually do 1g/L of flavoring but it varies

[Anonymous No.2741134]

>>2740846
cold brew is the best for my preferences

[Anonymous No.2741345]

>>2741134
Like you cold brew coffee and then dump it into the wort, or do you mean you use the wort to cold brew extract the beans?

If the former, roughly how much coffee to liter of beer do you use?

[Anonymous No.2741448]

>>2741345
ferment as normal; once fermentation is complete put some coarse ground coffee and filtered water in a French press and refrigerate overnight, separate the grounds then then add the coffee in