Homebrewing - Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider
This one is going to be ACTIVE. Hope I can keep up.
Hi, made this Marzen beer to throw an October party inspired by Oktoberfest. It's a pseudomerzen, since I'm using lutra kveik for speed and less fuss. It's almost done fermenting in less than a week.   
I have definitely been posting in this community a lot over the last few weeks/days so apologies if it’s a bit much lol, things should slow down since I’m running out of jars and fermenters though. But here’s my fermenter with plenty of sugar, blue razz jolly ranchers, and lots of nutrient. Along side my meme I’m going to turn into moonshine I’ve also got a fall beer my girlfriend requested. I’ve made the pumpkin ale loads of times but this is the first time I’m doing it without pumpkin (the one I bought was rotting when I cut into it and I didn’t feel like going back out and buying another)
I don’t quite know why I didn’t realize I’d have to individually unwrap these and it’d be a pain in the ass, but there’s no going back now. Blue razz jolly rancher distillate soon. I’ve also got my sweet potato beer fermenting (it’s supposed to be pumpkin and sweet potato but the pumpkin I bought was rotting on the inside, so I just rolled with what I have). I also ended up making 80 dog treats from some of the spent grains from the beer, if pupper is happy I’m happy. Over all I think I’m coming back from my one year brewing break with a vengeance.
[@homebrewing](https://sopuli.xyz/c/homebrewing) Displacing disinfectant with CO2 from fermentation Hey, I’m trying to do what the folks here did: [https://brulosophy.com/diy-projects/using-co2-from-fermentation-to-purge-serving-kegs-do-it-yourself/](https://brulosophy.com/diy-projects/using-co2-from-fermentation-to-purge-serving-kegs-do-it-yourself/) (with the additional mini keg as an overflow vessel) My yeast has already chewed through a third of the available sugar and I see no movement of the liquid. Do I have to be concerned?
From left to right. Blueberry brandy with home made blueberry syrup for color and flavor, 48% ABV. Blueberry brandy, no additives, 54% abv. Flamin hot Cheeto liquor with 15 dehydrated Carolina reapers added to it for a few hours (it’s so spicy it makes my stomach hurt) 48% abv. Cheeto liquor 48% abv. All my fermenters are empty now. Let’s see what else we can do. Think I’m gonna do a beer and another meme spirit, but sadly I can’t find bulk sour warheads in a single flavor online so I’ve gotta spin my wheel of random shit to brew
This was by far the weirdest distillation I’ve done from a process perspective. I’m a fairly green distiller but usually I can tell when something is hearts or heads or tails but this? Strong Cheeto flavor the whole way through. I’ve never seen color come off a still but it came out with a yellow tint the entire time. Split it into two batches, one just straight on its own and one sitting on a handful of dehydrated Carolina reaper peppers and some other hot peppers. Clocking in at 48% abv. What’s it taste like you might wonder? Wash all the powder off of a Cheeto and suck on it for 5 minutes. After that take a shot of vodka. I think the flavor will be almost dead on to what this tastes like. Admittedly, I poured 750 mL down the drain, I can’t justify using another jar to store a meme. Over all, 10/10 would science again.
Shoutout to poleslav for telling me to ignore the thermometer and giving general encouragement. My distillation efficiency was absolutely terrible and I got the balance of juniper and hibiscus way off, so it's sweeter than I intended, but it's definitely pleasantly drinkable. For those that can't read my handwriting, it was a super basic barley mash to make the base alcohol, then juniper, hibiscus, rose, and elderflower as botanicals.
cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/17858876 >  > I found both dark and light rye bread at the store but it was the factory-made kind. I definitely made mistakes with both batches including adding way too much bread to the light kvass.the bottles need a day to carbonate then we shall see how well they turned out. Not that I have any reference for the flavor.
Some old stale vegan oatmeal raisin cookies for brew.
There was a video posted on this community from the brushow on YouTube, and while most of the things were cool, I found this to be brilliant. Seeing as one of my other hobbies includes 3d printing, I decided to give it a go. Not sure if it’s entirely homebrewing related but, once I get the single screw to mount it to my tap, I feel this will be an awesome addition whenever I stop making horrid creations and go back to doing beer
Making some apple soda with store bought juice and a ginger bug. Previous juices have needed 2 days to carb and that was supposed to be today. Yesterday, one self vented, so I burped all 3. Today, one exploded. Never expected it. Is store bought apple juice different than other store bought juices? Is my ginger bug different than last time? Idk.
Well, can’t call it anything besides sparkling beverage since it wasn’t produced in the Cheataeu region of France but… it’s done fermenting. Came in at a whopping 12% ABV. For something that fermented completely dry it’s got an unbelievably sweet flavor to it. It has the tiniest hint of the hot Cheeto flavor without any of the spice. Maybe like if you licked your fingers 10 minutes after washing your hands post Cheeto binge. I’m assuming there’s some sort of artificial sweetener in the Cheetos that the yeast couldn’t quite chew up, it smells similar to the corn ale I made but taste wise is much different. Next step is to let the liquor fairies have their way with this the next moment they have some free time.
I've been brewing mostly ciders and cysers with 10 packets of cote de blanc I bought last year with wonderful results (in my opinion). I just used the last one on an apple-honey-habenero concoction. Anyone have a good recommendation for yeasts that bring out fruity flavors?
Peach wine. 5 lbs of peaches made about half a gallon. Tons of sediment. Lessons learned - doesn't need extra acid. Could use some more tannin and some back sweetening.
Does anyone here mess around with using exclusively wild yeast to ferment? Specifically I ask because I've got some tepache that is almost assuredly alcoholic at this point, and was wondering if it's OK to drink. Generally though I also like the idea of using wild yeast for fermentation.
Monthly discussion thread about brewing. Share whatever - success brews, failures, questions... Fruit season is in full swing, so give the people who don't know what to do with too much fruits some ideas ;-)
From the picture, this tops my list, flaming hot Cheetos… after mentioning it yesterday, my enzyme came in later than expected but I decided to send it anyways. It’s so greasy it’s probably turned me off Cheetos forever. However, science must ensue. Here we have 15 pounds of flamin hot Cheetos mashed with enzymes for an hour and 8 pounds of sugar. Honestly, after tasting the mash, the heat doesn’t come through, and frankly it mainly tastes/smells like a corn mash. Personally I’ll be surprised if I can tell the difference between this and a white whiskey made from straight corn. So, what’s the dumbest thing you’ve done?
Decided to start a blueberry “wine” today. I only have wine in quotes as it’ll only go for a week or until it’s fully fermented before the liquor fairies have their way with it. About a year ago I made a comment here that I like doing and trying wild things. Well, prepare for an affront to whatever diety you may or may not believe in. Assuming my enzymes come in at a reasonable time, tomorrow’s post may very well be a flamin hot Cheeto fermentation. I apologize in advance to everyone here, and no, I don’t know what’s wrong with me but it sounds hilarious so I’m gonna send it.
Everything I read on research into watermelon wine or brandy people mentioned to not bother and that it never turns out. Decided to buy and blend 6 watermelons and give it a shot anyways. I must say, my apple pie brandy was my go to crowd pleaser, but this? This easily overtook it! (Aside from the 3 hours of cutting watermelons, that was a pain)
I opened first two bottles of my [#cider](https://f.cz/tags/cider) the test batches with hops and spices. The one with hops needs another month in bottles - it smells amazing but it still has too much bitterness. I don't know why it is noticeably darker and why it makes foam like beer. The one with spices tastes too much like Christmas (I just don't know how to describe it better). So it is good but not exactly the season for it. I can imagine it will be good with some Christmas cookies or something like that. I like more the Christmas one (because it is ready to drink now), my boss on the other hand likes more the hopped one. (Yes I drink at work) I am excited for the batch with oak chips and the basic cider, which I will probably taste next week. [@homebrewing@sopuli.xyz](https://sopuli.xyz/c/homebrewing) [@homebrewing@a.gup.pe](https://a.gup.pe/u/homebrewing) [#homebrewing](https://f.cz/tags/homebrewing)
www.carstenboll.dk
Short writeup on homemade cider. It is easier than it looks.
I heard from my boss that on Czech FB brewing group was discussion about US-05 from Fermentis. Someone had issues with them, even commercial brewerys. We had to throw out 2 batches of IPA so it was probably because of that - same flaw both times. So it got me thinking if it is only local issue or if it is more wide spread.
Hey has anyone considered making a wine from peppers like jalapeno and sweet pepper? You'd probably need to add extra sugar, but I bet it could be an interesting flavor.
Been wondering about this. I read somewhere that drinking mead while its fermenting was common practice in the old days. However wouldnt it make you susceptible to developing a illness where your stomach begins to brew its own alcohol which causes you to be perpetually and mildly drunk?
I will probably make another 1-2 batches of [#cider](https://f.cz/tags/cider) . I would like some other suggestions what to add. I was thinking about some herbs and wood chips. Is there anything else I could try? [@homebrewing@sopuli.xyz](https://sopuli.xyz/c/homebrewing) [@homebrewing@a.gup.pe](https://a.gup.pe/u/homebrewing) [#cidre](https://f.cz/tags/cidre)
I'm particularly fond of heather ales and spruce beers. The only sahti (which has juniper) I've had was made by me, so I have no idea if I got it traditionally right, but I certainly enjoyed it. No disrespect to all you IPA lovers out there, but the hops-forward style isn't my thing, so for those of you that are in the same camp, where do you like to turn?
So it begins, this year about month earlier. Tomorrow I will get it juiced and expect \~100 l of juice. It was little bit unexpected to do it today but somehow I managed to do it, in 4 weeks I should have something finished if I won't drink it partially fermented. [@homebrewing](https://sopuli.xyz/c/homebrewing) [#cider](https://f.cz/tags/cider) [#homebrewing](https://f.cz/tags/homebrewing)
This is meant as general discussion thread, so share everything related to brewing - questions, ideas, what's fermenting etc. As discussed in my recent post [here](https://sopuli.xyz/post/16086243) I will pin it for about a week and do another thread in a month and we will see how it goes.
First cleanup - I just don't think that the pinned posts are necessary, they are linked in sidebar. But it has some problems with federation (it wants to open them in browser). So I wanted to ask for your opinion on this. And suggestions: - is there audience for general discussion thread once in ~3 months or something like that? - should I add some thumbnail picture? - what else? Just to be clear I don't think that this community needs more engagement - quality over quantity. Since my hobby became my job I didn't homebrew for about year, so I don't have much to post here (but I try to be active in comments). So I want to hear your opinions on this and some suggestions. Edit: mentioning @SpiderShoeCult@sopuli.xyz
Hi! I noticed that I don't get anywhere close to the gravity Brewfather estimates for a given recipe. Latest example is a SMASH IPA with a good 5 kg of pilsner malt that, which on my BrewZilla Gen 4 should have landed me somewhere around 1.054 pre boil. Everything went according to the recipe: 71 °C strike water, 64 °C mash for one hour (even a tad longer than that due to being interrupted by having kids), nice recirculation all along, no visible dough nests. What I got though was a pre boil gravity of 1.037 (forgot to test for starch being still present with iodine though). This is only my fourth brew on the system, the first I forgot to measure and two were rather experimental, but I am still noticing a pattern here in that my efficiency is rather consistently sub par. I now wonder where to find room for improvement. For me, there's no need to squeeze every last bit of sugar out of my grains, yet at a mash efficiency of only 54% where in theory I might even get 80% does not only strike me as unnecessary wasteful, this way I don't know if I could even make anything bigger than an IPA at all without stretching the limits of my system. [My grain milling is one of the things that I suspect might contribute](https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/13928453). So much so that I already wish I hadn't bought a three roller mill but one that I can adjust with simple advice from the internet, it seems everything in this field is geared towards two roller mills. Also I started thinking about pH. Until now I never tampered with it, does it really have the potential to make such a huge difference? All other suggestions are welcome as well. Cheers!
Chocolate hazelnut porter, first tasting. Good porter. Medium chocolate flavor. No hazelnut. Sigh. Needs more nut extract. Not much head or carb.
Ran across this. Brewing with tea? Has anyone tried this? Any good? What about over extraction? I've made plenty of over brewed tea.
I've been interested in making a ginger bug. Seems easy enough and can carbonate soda. Went to buy some this weekend and it was $4/lb. That seems like a lot! For reference, I usually buy fruits for the family or fermentation when they're $1/lb and never go above $2/lb. I plan on growing my own, prelim researching says it's easy enough, but until then, where do you get yours and how much is it?
As my latest batch is already quite the experiment, I decided to even go a little further and not use a traditional bubbler to vent off CO2 from my bucket this time, but opt for a keg to do that. The rubber seal in the hole of the bucket‘s lid takes a 9.5 mm hose snugly, which connects to the gas intake of a keg filled with a good 5 litres of disinfectant. The keg’s liquid out has a line attached to go into the depicted 5 litre can. This way, at the end of fermentation, I’ll have a sanitised keg & can, and the keg is already full of CO2. Also, should I experience suckback from changing temperatures (mind you, my setup lives in my garage), there is a buffer of CO2 in the keg for that, and the line into the can is the one I use to package from the bucket, so it’s nice that it gets sanitised along the way too. What do you think? So far, my only concern is how much pressure buildup is required to displace the disinfectant from the keg and if the bucket's lid with the attached hosing is tight enough for that.
I bought several of [these beer shanks](https://www.morebeer.com/products/beer-shank-stainless-steel-4.html) back in 2015. I took it apart recently to clean. Since the description says it's stainless steel I figured I could clean the rust off of the barb insert. Looks like it wasn't made of stainless steel.  Should I just reuse this thing or get a new one? If so I need the specs on this part so I will know what I need to buy. Thanks for any help you can provide. EDIT #1: Would this be a suitable replacement? LitKiwi 2PCS Keg Coupler Barb Connector,Stainless Steel 304 Beer Kegerator Sankey Couplers,Hex Nut 5/8"G Thread x 1/4" Barb Beer Line Tailpiece Nipple Fitting with Sealing Gasket Washer https://a.co/d/g6HhP2c EDIT #2: I emailed the customer support at MoreBeer and I got this response. They have great customer service. > Hi Casey, > > Thanks for reaching out. This looks like a standard shank tailpiece. Here is a [straight version,](https://www.morebeer.com/products/komos-stainless-14-tailpiece-pack-4.html) along with a [curved version](https://www.morebeer.com/products/stainless-tailpiece-316-elbow.html), in case it makes things easier. > > Feel free to send me the invoice number after you order. I'm happy to refund the shipping cost for the inconvenience. Thanks! > > Cheers! > Zack > > Zachary Marin > Customer Service Representative | MoreFlavor! Inc. | 1-800-600-0033 Hours: Mon - Wed, Fri | 7:00 am PST - 4:00 pm P > Visit Our Sites > MoreBeer.com, MoreBeerPro.com > MoreWine.com, MoreWinePro.com > BrewmasterWholesale.com
Also, my mug works as a grain scoop nicely. https://files.catbox.moe/sdesos.jpg