Calling all home brewers!!

[DonnyCommo]

Getting ready to bottle my porter tonight! What do you have right now?51013


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[Danimal]

Deleted

[Colorado_Outback]

Going to get some raw apple juice and try my hand at hard cider.

[Danimal]

Deleted

[jdranchman]

Got a few carboys of cider going. Starting a couple gallon jugs in the morning so I can use them for back-fill when racking. I use champagne yeast and no added sugar. You have to have everything clean, sanitized and especially work hard to keep oxygen out or you will end up with Danimal's vinegar! Three of those in the picture have been sitting in secondary since last May and are just starting to clear. It isn't a fast process if you want something clean and clear and not so astringent. Aging is generally a good thing for cider. My next experiment is mead (what else can I to do to help with my wife's new honey bee hobby...).

51033

[Scanker19]

Cream ale about a week from bottling. It's my first so we'll see...

edit- any tips?

[Colorado_Outback]

Got a few carboys of cider going. Starting a couple gallon jugs in the morning so I can use them for back-fill when racking. I use champagne yeast and no added sugar. You have to have everything clean, sanitized and especially work hard to keep oxygen out or you will end up with Danimal's vinegar! Three of those in the picture have been sitting in secondary since last May and are just starting to clear. It isn't a fast process if you want something clean and clear and not so astringent. Aging is generally a good thing for cider. My next experiment is mead (what else can I to do to help with my wife's new honey bee hobby...).

51033

Thats good advice. Hoping to enjoy one next summer. My dad has done a couple ciders, and had some hit and miss luck with meads.

[DonnyCommo]

So far that wort is good!! We'll find out in a couple weeks if it's good. I'll probably be doing a second batch of the same in a couple weeks!


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[Graves]

Cream ale about a week from bottling. It's my first so we'll see...

edit- any tips?

Sanitize...that's really it. Oh, I made the mistake of not thoroughly mixing my honey/water with the entire batch before going into the bottles last time so I had a few bottles that had far too much head whereas the rest were okay.

[ray1970]

I'm too lazy to brew my own beer.

[davsel]

5 gallon keg of Norther Brewer Big Honkin Stout - kegged it two weeks ago.
12 gallons of Choke Cherry Wine - first try - We picked 3 gallons of Choke Cherries this year. Wife mixes it with Safeway Grapefruit Soda - tastes just like Sangria.
Wife made another batch of Kahlua last week.

[Danimal]

Deleted

[longrange2]

I've got a 13% bourbon oak stout ready to carbonate (brewed it in April) a really good IPA similar to Deschutes fresh squeezed and an imperial red on tap.

[mcantar18c]

I got my dad the top of the line, ready to brew starter kit that Northern Brewer offers for his birthday a couple years ago. He's an avid beer drinker (microbrew type, not white trash and six pack type) and likes DIY stuff, so I figured it was perfect.
He hasn't used it... when I get back to CO I'm going to take it and use it myself.

[Zombie Steve]

Nothing going right now, but I'll generally do an oatmeal stout or a porter in the cold weather.

[Dave]

I kept the air out as best as I could, but the recipie I had called for 4 lbs of honey and some additional sugar. The thing rapid boil fermented for probably a straight month before it started to settle down. It took a good six months to be clear and ready, and I racked it to a secondary and let it age for another two months. I knew at that point that something had gone horribly wrong, but I was hoping that aging it might have a positive effect. It just dried it out more.

Do you use any of the other additives? (yeast nutrient, tannin, acid blend etc...)
For meads and ciders I always use yeast nutient, even with a good starter. I use White Labs english ale yeast for my ciders and Wyeast sweet mead yeast for meads. Champagne yeast will dry out almost anything and often has an aftertaste I am not fond of. If you go with champagne yeast I recommend having sulfite on hand to kill it when you rack to your secondary carboy. Ciders can take several months to clear at cellar temps, I know a few guys at Brew Hut use gelatin finings to clarify ciders and fruit wines. I made a cider with 5 gallons of organic juice from Whole Paycheck and a pound of organic turbinado sugar that came out great after light carbonation in a corny keg.

[fj605]

Good to see we have a healthy number of brewers in the group!

Not brewing this weekend but here's what I've got:

On tap:
Kolsch
Farmhouse Ale
Vanilla Porter
Hard Apple Cider
Scottish Ale

Fermenting:
Amarillo SMSH
Citra SMSH
Brown Ale
IPA

[jdranchman]

I kept the air out as best as I could, but the recipie I had called for 4 lbs of honey and some additional sugar. The thing rapid boil fermented for probably a straight month before it started to settle down. It took a good six months to be clear and ready, and I racked it to a secondary and let it age for another two months. I knew at that point that something had gone horribly wrong, but I was hoping that aging it might have a positive effect. It just dried it out more.

Do you use any of the other additives? (yeast nutrient, tannin, acid blend etc...)

I've found that adding any extra sugar or honey to raw/organic apple juice gives you an explosive primary fermentation and you end up with a high alcohol or HOT drink. Not exactly scrumpy but more like potent apple wine. Start with something organic and unfiltered with no sulfites or sorbate. I check the pH and as long as it is 3.8 or lower (more acid) then it will be reasonably stable. If not, I add a bit of malic acid to get it to 3.8pH. Add DAP and pectinase - sit for an hour then pitch your favorite yeast. I've tried quite a few different ale, wine, (wyeast) cider and champagne yeasts and I always go back to the champagne yeasts for a crisp dry drink. No foo-foo for me - I like it more traditional style. The ale and some other white wine yeasts will peter out leaving more sugar and less alcohol but you end up with cider that tastes IMHO like ale beer. Pectinase gives you better odds at a clear cider without using fining agents. Everyone has their idea of what it should be - experiment and find what works for you. Best to try these test batches on single gallon jugs until you get a recipe that you like.

-- Many apologies for hijacking the porter thread! I"m done - I promise

[jdranchman]

Donny

I take that you bottle condition. What do you use for priming your Porter and how much do you use?

[DonnyCommo]

Donny

I take that you bottle condition. What do you use for priming your Porter and how much do you use?

I suck at following this thread. I use starsan for sanitizing, and all that.

I used 3/4 a cup of corn sugar for priming.

So the porter came out a touch hoppy but hey, who doesn't love a bit of hops? It was good enough to make another 5 gallon batch.

I'll be brewing it again Friday if that tells you anything. I'll post the recipe tonight.


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[Guylee]

I've got some prison mead aging while I'm gone...hopefully by the time I get back it will be semi drinkable.

All of you guys with facebook should check out Home Brew Network. There's a lot of good info on there. Almost too much...it's getting to the point where they're cluttering my news feed!

[DonnyCommo]

"And when the Lord spake, he said, "thou shall be named Hoptimas Prime. Go forth and knocketh the socks off everyone that shall quench his thirst on thy sour beads of carbonation."

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/28/039fe5f1a36bd3fa9d9c833ddff20282.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/28/b03b1f558aea4945ef8186c4926d7fd1.jpg


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[ANADRILL]

A raspberry/blueberry mead, been in the tank over a year, currently letting it clear before bottling

[ANADRILL]

I use hefewiezen yeasts for ciders.