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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Seriously, the essential process is simple enough, so definitely ponder throwing down a batch or two of the stuff, you'll be surprised at the quality you can manage - the key is making sure your equipment is spotless, really.

-F

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Well, throwin down a batch a week for a while kinda helps with that problem, that way when your fingers get itchy, you've usually got something to apply them to, aye ?

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Originally posted by pizmobeach:
Hi Mal4prez... The beers I'm fond of have all jumped about a buck a six pack, some even more. $8 for six beers was a stretch, then $9 and now $10?

Mead - so, like a sweet beer then? Vanilla Porter? Ale-ish?

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Originally posted by mal4prez:
Anyway, money isn't my draw to brewing. It's so satisfying to have homemade! And it's a happy house that has a carboy bubbling away. :) Do you decorate? Supposedly, sunlight is bad for the brew. So I put colorful shirts on them. Maybe a tie sometimes too.

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Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:
my wife is doing a batch of Chocolate Port right now.

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Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:
I make wine, my wife is doing a batch of Chocolate Port right now.

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Originally posted by mal4prez:
Pizmo - I was thinking about your plans to let your beer age. You racked it off the dead yeast, right? Definitely should do that if you haven't. The dead stuff will give it off flavors.

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Originally posted by stinkingrose:
Last midwinter I was given a tiny wee glass (less than a shot) which had been ceremoniously poured from an amber colored little bottle. The offerring party held up a hand and admonished me to smell it first. I almost didn't make it past that point. It was as if July had exploded inside my head filling it with liquid sunshine and warmth. When I finally tasted it the world went golden oozy cherry yum. It started life as kirschwasser, got left in bottles for 7 years, had sugar added, then was left in peace for a further 10. OMG does not cover it. The bottle had started out clear and was coated from the inside. I sincerely hope that wasn't the last bottle, because to think that something like that is not in the world any more is a sad, sad thing...

Now if I could just figure out where to find someone with a machine shop and discretion who would take barter on speculation I could get a good lid for a still made and try to replicate the effort...
It was that good.

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Originally posted by pizmobeach:
M4P - no I didn't. Funny thing about that is I was going to but I kept reading people say "I've stopped doing a secondary... let it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then bottle." And then I'd see others say what you're saying. I could send you a bunch of links from some brew forums (some get pretty nasty, though not RWED bad ) - the upshot is these "let it sit" people think that given time the yeast will clean up any pollutants, and that you risk more from a second racking with exposure to oxygen and contamination. My 2 local home brew shops are split as well.
My feeling was that I would buck tradition and try what the new people were saying. I also felt like I had a strong urge to do a secondary fermentation but that was largely based on wanting to "mess with it" and that alone should be a sign, "quit fussing with it."
Anyway - next weekend is 3 weeks, bottling for sure then, and then 3 more weeks in bottles. I will definitely post a follow up... unless it's total crap of course.

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Originally posted by mal4prez:

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Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:
I make wine, my wife is doing a batch of Chocolate Port right now.

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Oh, yum. Care to share a recipe on that one? I've never tried such a thing, but it sounds fabulous!

I also messed up with a mead and ended up with bubbly. Luckily, it was just right that no bottles blew, and it's quite tasty. I need to try to recreate that accident, because I'm nearly out.

Pizmo - I was thinking about your plans to let your beer age. You racked it off the dead yeast, right? Definitely should do that if you haven't. The dead stuff will give it off flavors.



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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Originally posted by mal4prez:

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Originally posted by pizmobeach:
M4P - no I didn't. Funny thing about that is I was going to but I kept reading people say "I've stopped doing a secondary... let it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then bottle." And then I'd see others say what you're saying. I could send you a bunch of links from some brew forums (some get pretty nasty, though not RWED bad ) - the upshot is these "let it sit" people think that given time the yeast will clean up any pollutants, and that you risk more from a second racking with exposure to oxygen and contamination. My 2 local home brew shops are split as well.
My feeling was that I would buck tradition and try what the new people were saying. I also felt like I had a strong urge to do a secondary fermentation but that was largely based on wanting to "mess with it" and that alone should be a sign, "quit fussing with it."
Anyway - next weekend is 3 weeks, bottling for sure then, and then 3 more weeks in bottles. I will definitely post a follow up... unless it's total crap of course.

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Yeah, my rules are the mead rules, and off flavors are a bigger deal for something that you want to age 5 years. You're right, it's probably not a big deal for beer.

The thing I've been told is that yeast that runs out of sugars to eat will begin eating dead yeasts (autolysis) and that's where the bad flavors come in. Huh - I just checked autolysis on wiki, and apparently yeast eating yeast is a major part of flavoring champagne. Who knew? I didn't!

Exposure to oxygen is definitely bad. But I try to rack meads every 6-12 months and as long as everything's well bleached it seems all right.

As for being sick - my ex who taught me to brew (the very anal engineer) would get upset with me if I breathed on anything going into the brew. Seemed extreme, but then his meads always come out better than mine, so who's to say?

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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:

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Originally posted by mal4prez:

Quote:

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Originally posted by pizmobeach:
M4P - no I didn't. Funny thing about that is I was going to but I kept reading people say "I've stopped doing a secondary... let it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then bottle." And then I'd see others say what you're saying. I could send you a bunch of links from some brew forums (some get pretty nasty, though not RWED bad ) - the upshot is these "let it sit" people think that given time the yeast will clean up any pollutants, and that you risk more from a second racking with exposure to oxygen and contamination. My 2 local home brew shops are split as well.
My feeling was that I would buck tradition and try what the new people were saying. I also felt like I had a strong urge to do a secondary fermentation but that was largely based on wanting to "mess with it" and that alone should be a sign, "quit fussing with it."
Anyway - next weekend is 3 weeks, bottling for sure then, and then 3 more weeks in bottles. I will definitely post a follow up... unless it's total crap of course.

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Yeah, my rules are the mead rules, and off flavors are a bigger deal for something that you want to age 5 years. You're right, it's probably not a big deal for beer.

The thing I've been told is that yeast that runs out of sugars to eat will begin eating dead yeasts (autolysis) and that's where the bad flavors come in. Huh - I just checked autolysis on wiki, and apparently yeast eating yeast is a major part of flavoring champagne. Who knew? I didn't!

Exposure to oxygen is definitely bad. But I try to rack meads every 6-12 months and as long as everything's well bleached it seems all right.

As for being sick - my ex who taught me to brew (the very anal engineer) would get upset with me if I breathed on anything going into the brew. Seemed extreme, but then his meads always come out better than mine, so who's to say?

-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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I used to have a landlord some years ago, a old Ukrainian guy, who did things really old school

no chemicals for clearing, he used Bentonite, etc

he would sample the wine every week, when it started to loose its sweetness he would add about 1 cup of dissolved sugar. He would keep doing this until the wine maintained the level of sweetness he was going for. He told me, yeast can only survive up to a certain percentage alcohol concentration, so he was feeding it until the yeast died, maxing out the alcohol produced.

From what he told me, Sherry and Champagne yeast actually live to a higher concentration.

I have done this with some Strawberry, and Nanking Cherry wines, and wow... lots of flavor, but you have to be careful with it. Mowed the lawn after a bottle and left some strips of long grass like stripes all over the place( my wife still laughs about that )

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Originally posted by mal4prez:

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Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:
The Easiest Strawberry Wine Recipe

Ingredients
- 3 lbs. fresh strawberries
- 2-1/2 lbs. granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons citric acid or lemon juice
- 1 gallon water
- 1 teaspoon wine yeast

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Originally posted by mal4prez:
How's your porter doing?

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Originally posted by pizmobeach:

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Originally posted by mal4prez:
How's your porter doing?

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Mmmmmm.... Porter!

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Originally posted by mal4prez:
I need to bottle mine sometime soon. Though I'm also tempted to find a cold spot in the basement and cold lager it...

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