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Let's say that (for various reasons) I wanted to make super-low ABV versions of some of my recipes (mostly saisons). Is it as simple as just scaling down the recipe from 6% to 2.5%, or are there other factors I need to consider? How low can you go before things start to fall apart and you're no longer making beer that's worth drinking?
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Apr 2, 2013 00:07
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I'd say scale your hops back as well. I made a 4% pale ale that had way too much hop flavor for the amount of malt backbone it had. I love super hoppy beers as much as anyone but this beer came out like hop water.
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Apr 2, 2013 00:22
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internet celebrity posted:I'd say scale your hops back as well. I made a 4% pale ale that had way too much hop flavor for the amount of malt backbone it had. I love super hoppy beers as much as anyone but this beer came out like hop water. Related, you might want to mash way higher than normal. It can help make up for the maltiness and body you're losing going down to 2% or whatever.
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Apr 2, 2013 00:33
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Imasalmon posted:processed cheeses are crazy with the lactose, though. American cheese is often high on lactose content. I also made a smoked maple ale but one of my brew helpers said he'd grind my specialty grains for me and then dumped them directly on the dirty garage floor 30 seconds later.
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Apr 2, 2013 00:54
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Shbobdb posted:Munich malt can convert itself but it usually struggles. German rye malt is also very undermodified (basically, the Roggenbier breweries wanted to use unmalted rye but couldn't so they used the least modified rye they could get away with under the RHG). Plus rye is tricky and tends to lower mash efficiency anyway. Given the grainbill, I'd say that is pretty good.
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Apr 2, 2013 00:55
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1:1 is usually pretty good - that is, a pound of 2-row for each pound of specialty grains or adjuncts.
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Apr 2, 2013 00:57
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CapnBry posted:So what you're suggesting is someone make a milk stout by blending up some Kraft Singles American cheesefood product and adding it to the secondary? 
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Apr 2, 2013 01:16
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nmfree posted:I'm literally afraid to search for this on HBT because someone has probably tried it Cheese Beer  There needs to be some kind of homebrewing Rule 34. "If it exists, there is a homebrewtalk thread about brewing with it. No exceptions."
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Apr 2, 2013 01:41
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Docjowles posted:Related, you might want to mash way higher than normal. It can help make up for the maltiness and body you're losing going down to 2% or whatever. Thanks, this was the sort of thing I was looking for. We're trying to get our pool beers brewed and ready for the summer (it's too hot here to brew from June-August) and I'd love to have a lower-calorie, low alcohol alternative to bring with me. Plus I want to see how far we can stretch the idea. Not that I'm unhappy with floating around on a raft sipping a quad, but ...
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Apr 2, 2013 01:46
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I feel like this thread has mentioned cheese beer before but I might be confusing it with a homebrew club discussion about adding Kraft Mac powder to beer. I think someone did as a joke at some point but that might be wishful thinking and drunk homebrew clubbing.
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Apr 2, 2013 01:49
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Marshmallow Blue posted:Haha, gross. Serve with sharp smoked cheddar to counteract any laxative effects! I eat a ton of cheddar and it just blows through me. I don't think I'm intolerant though.
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Apr 2, 2013 01:53
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Imasalmon posted:As an aside, my 100% smoked malt lager is done and delicious. If anyone wants to try it, I am feeling generous and will send out a bottle. PM me. Gratzer I split with a dude in my club is kegged at his place and I cannot wait to pull a growler of it. Which smoked malt did you use?
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Apr 2, 2013 02:25
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 Thank you friends for putting up with my really dumb panicky questions. Gonna give the smaller case a week and the bigger one way more time. For some reason it didn't fit nearly as many as I thought (though one of those loose bottles is a bomber). One question, though, how do I clean grain bags? Apparently somebody put them in a bowl in another room and they're sort of gross but there's a number of small pieces I can't easily dislodge.
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Apr 2, 2013 02:40
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Saint Darwin posted:
I usually let mine dry out and shake them. I have tossed them in the dishwasher too, on the top shelf, and that seems to work pretty well. Mostly, I throw them out because they are so cheap.
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Apr 2, 2013 02:43
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Saint Darwin posted:One question, though, how do I clean grain bags? Apparently somebody put them in a bowl in another room and they're sort of gross but there's a number of small pieces I can't easily dislodge.
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Apr 2, 2013 03:01
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Jacobey000 posted:Gratzer I split with a dude in my club is kegged at his place and I cannot wait to pull a growler of it. Which smoked malt did you use? 100% Weyerman Rauchmalt
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Apr 2, 2013 03:27
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Marshmallow Blue posted:-The Cheese-monger's Reserve- 1 Gallon Recipe
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Apr 2, 2013 04:49
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So I recently finished a kit of Merlot from Vintner's Reserve let it sit after bottling for a couple of days before trying it out. The taste is watery, neither dry nor sweet, and slightly acidic. To say the least I was slightly disappointed but it is a learning experience. However, I seek further knowledge to avoid this further or perhaps even salvage the current situation. So, any knowledge you have to share I would greatly appreciate.
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Apr 2, 2013 12:00
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nmfree posted:So when do you plan to use the oak? Probably at the beginning of the aging process after I stabilize and add the pear juice. This way the oak has time to blend with the rest of the mead. I couldn't give you a specific time frame on how long the oak will stay in there as with oak chips, it's always a bit different in terms of how long it needs to sit in there. It just means I'll have to drink more samples! Edit: I also checked the gravity on my Chocolate Mock (it cant be a bock because I used ale yeast, so its a porter now). The gravity is dwon to 1.021 so its at ~4.2%, Its still fermenting too, It has me a tad concerned about over attenuating this one but we'll see. I guess a thin 5.5% is better than a heavy 3%, so I'll 
Marshmallow Blue fucked around with this message at 14:13 on Apr 2, 2013 |
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Apr 2, 2013 14:07
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Later this week I'll be bottling a vanilla coffee porter. The porter's been in secondary with two vanilla beans for about 2 and a half weeks and I'll be adding coffee on bottling day. I'm probably going to cold brew about 10 cups of the coffee I'm using to add to the bottling bucket. I'll be brewing the coffee in a sanitized glass jar, should I do any other sanitization things for the coffee before hand?
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Apr 2, 2013 16:16
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lifts cats over head posted:Later this week I'll be bottling a vanilla coffee porter. The porter's been in secondary with two vanilla beans for about 2 and a half weeks and I'll be adding coffee on bottling day. I'm probably going to cold brew about 10 cups of the coffee I'm using to add to the bottling bucket. I'll be brewing the coffee in a sanitized glass jar, should I do any other sanitization things for the coffee before hand? I think the alcohol in the beer should take care of anything that made it through the sanitized pot.
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Apr 2, 2013 16:21
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Coffee (even cold) isn't a very friendly environment for microorganisms either. Anything that can survive/grow in a jar of coffee and then in fermented beer probably deserves to rule the earth.
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Apr 2, 2013 16:30
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Has anyone tried a cold coffee extraction using vodka or other high-test booze? I wonder if the alcohol changes what is extracted, and thus the flavor of the extract.
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Apr 2, 2013 16:33
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Citizen Park posted:So I recently finished a kit of Merlot from Vintner's Reserve let it sit after bottling for a couple of days before trying it out. The taste is watery, neither dry nor sweet, and slightly acidic. To say the least I was slightly disappointed but it is a learning experience. However, I seek further knowledge to avoid this further or perhaps even salvage the current situation. So, any knowledge you have to share I would greatly appreciate.
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Apr 2, 2013 16:51
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Jo3sh posted:Has anyone tried a cold coffee extraction using vodka or other high-test booze? I wonder if the alcohol changes what is extracted, and thus the flavor of the extract. I have done it with both coffee and cocoa. I'm not sure I could compare it though since I haven't done it with those combinations again. I got a strangely acidic flavor in the final beer, actually, although that might have been due to the grain bill or for other reasons.
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Apr 2, 2013 17:39
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Has anyone here constructed a recirculating whirlpool arm? I'm in the process of doing that, and can't decide to buy something premade or bent a single piece of copper on my own.
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Apr 2, 2013 18:22
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Banana wine update: Transferred to secondary, only lost half a gallon to lees and other junk. Now I'll wait for another three months or so before I decide whether or not to go to a tertiary fermentation or to just go to bottles. That's when I'll make the decision to add sulfites or not, as well.
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Apr 2, 2013 18:25
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For those in the bay area, there is a guy hoping to open a commercial meadery (is this a word?) in Berkeley in the next few months. http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/04/02/artisan-alcohol-boom-continues-with-mead-kitchen/
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Apr 2, 2013 19:02
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withak posted:For those in the bay area, there is a guy hoping to open a commercial meadery (is this a word?) in Berkeley in the next few months. The correct term is "meadery," yes. How do I know? Because I played Skyrim.
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Apr 2, 2013 19:55
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Angry Grimace posted:The correct term is "meadery," yes. How do I know? Because I played Skyrim. My condolences
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Apr 2, 2013 20:28
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Jo3sh posted:Has anyone tried a cold coffee extraction using vodka or other high-test booze? I wonder if the alcohol changes what is extracted, and thus the flavor of the extract. I have made coffee vodka before. Is this what you are talking about? -Fifth of mid shelf vodka -Cup of home roasted Panamanian beans, crushed with mortar and pestle I let the coffee sit in the vodka for about a month, then strained with my french press. I would definitely suggest using a light roast, as I thought mine was a little bitter/astringent right out of the bottle. After some aging it got a lot better, but a French Roast might have been way too much.
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Apr 3, 2013 02:38
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ScaerCroe posted:I have made coffee vodka before. Is this what you are talking about? Yeah, I was just thinking about the (small) risk of infection from water-extracted coffee and was thinking maybe doing an extract with beans and vodka (just as the thread had advocated spice tinctures, etc. in the past) would reduce the risk even further. For that purpose, though, I would think you would want more beans per volume of vodka, to minimize the dose required to add good flavor to the beer. When you say 'mid-shelf' vodka, what do you typically use?
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Apr 3, 2013 05:56
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ScaerCroe posted:I have made coffee vodka before. Is this what you are talking about? What did you do with that, and how would you compare it to a cup of coffee made with those beans? Any chance the caffeine survived? My ~girlfriend~ does liquor extracts and I'll hassle her to do some coffee if it's actually an improvement over store-bought coffee vodka which has never, ever impressed me. Midrange would be what, Titos? edit: Ugh gotta bring the coffee thread into this, but a deburrer might be preferable for a more consistent grind. I don't know if it matters after a month of steeping, though 
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Apr 3, 2013 07:07
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almost fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Dec 15, 2013 |
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Apr 3, 2013 09:05
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BerkerkLurk posted:I've done a few wine kits and it seems like it's for making good not great wine at half the cost of store bought. If you followed the directions, not much to do except try a different kit next time. Any ideas for how to salvage my situation though? I'd rather not dump it unless there was no saving it.
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Apr 3, 2013 10:30
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Citizen Park posted:Any ideas for how to salvage my situation though? I'd rather not dump it unless there was no saving it. Is it really that bad that you want to dump it?
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Apr 3, 2013 12:00
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Saint Darwin posted:Midrange would be what, Titos? Titos is high end at a mid-shelf price. Grey Goose is low-mid end at a mid-high and price. There's a fascinating article on how the brand is purely marketing.
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Apr 3, 2013 12:43
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Midorka posted:Titos is high end at a mid-shelf price. Grey Goose is low-mid end at a mid-high and price. There's a fascinating article on how the brand is purely marketing. I don't want to derail the beer thread with vodkachat, but any chance you could find it? I already knew they were really just a lot of marketing. I end up with a lot of Titos because when we have a party a friend invariably brings a handle over, but when I get to piI ck my own I prefer Ketel One. I plan to do a habanero vodka infusion for a spicy beer I'm making, someone mentioned the technique a page or so ago, so I'm trying to figure out what works best since a plastic bottle is probably a terrible idea, and not sure it needs an expensive vodka.
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Apr 3, 2013 14:44
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Saint Darwin posted:I don't want to derail the beer thread with vodkachat, but any chance you could find it? I already knew they were really just a lot of marketing. I end up with a lot of Titos because when we have a party a friend invariably brings a handle over, but when I get to piI ck my own I prefer Ketel One. Here it is. I haven't read it in about a year but I am pretty sure the gist of it is "let's create a super premium price for mid level vodka and start a trend."
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Apr 3, 2013 14:53
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I've done almost all of my vodka infusions with cheap vodka, with no ill effects. I have a bottle of Skol in my apartment just for making vodka infusions, and so far I've never noticed any bad flavors from it. The volume that you're adding in comparison to the finished beer is so small that it'd be nearly impossible to detect any detriment from a lesser-quality vodka. As for the sanitation of cold coffee extractions, I've never had a problem with it. Hell, Goose Island does cold extract for BCBS Coffee using gigantic old-rear end grundys, and so far we've never run into any infection problems there. But if you really want to be super-safe, do what I did for the last coffee stout I did: Boil the sugar/water priming mixture, and in the last minute throw in the cold-extract coffee. It'll shock it to a high temperature without boiling off all the aroma you want, and will still keep it from being overly bitter or astringent. At least, I can't detect any off flavors from it, and it's probably one of the best beers I've done.
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Apr 3, 2013 15:51
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