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Since my brewing buddy is out of town and I don't have access to much equipment, I decided to do a mead since it's so quick and easy. I went with a kit for a sweet sparkling mead, but it came with "dry champagne" yeast. Sure enough the FG ended up around 1.00 and I ended up with a very dry 13% abv mead. I'm guessing the yeast that came with it wasn't the correct kind? Is there any way to make it a little bit sweeter without affecting taste/alcohol content?
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Jun 8, 2012 18:43
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BerkerkLurk posted:
I just want to be sure there will be viable yeast to carbonate this when I go to bottle it.
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Jun 8, 2012 18:48
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Butt Soup Barnes posted:Since my brewing buddy is out of town and I don't have access to much equipment, I decided to do a mead since it's so quick and easy. Non-fermentable sweeteners like xylitol and sucralose are sometimes used by cider makers to backsweeten without inducing further fermentation. Also, mead isn't "quick". It should be drinkable by New Year's though.
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Jun 8, 2012 18:56
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Stultus Maximus posted:Non-fermentable sweeteners like xylitol and sucralose are sometimes used by cider makers to backsweeten without inducing further fermentation. Yeah by quick I meant it took me about 20 minutes to "brew" instead of hours. And thanks for the advice, I'll look into that. I guess there is no way to kill off the yeast and add more honey if I want to carbonate it in the bottles?
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Jun 8, 2012 19:00
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Butt Soup Barnes posted:I guess there is no way to kill off the yeast and add more honey if I want to carbonate it in the bottles? Right, you can do either but not both. Unless you kill the yeast, add honey, and then carbonate in a keg and then transfer into bottles.
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Jun 8, 2012 19:11
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I didn't realize people made sparkling meads, that would be interesting.
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Jun 8, 2012 19:12
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Super Rad posted:Right, you can do either but not both. Unless you kill the yeast, add honey, and then carbonate in a keg and then transfer into bottles. Yeah, kegging system is way down the road. I think I'm just going to split the batch, have one back sweetened with honey and non-carbonated and back sweeten the other with Splenda and carbonate it. Now that fermentation is over, can I back sweeten with the honey now? Or should I wait a while while the yeast "cleans up"?
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Jun 8, 2012 19:26
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Butt Soup Barnes posted:Yeah, kegging system is way down the road. If you backsweeten with fermentables like honey, it will just ferment out again. Until, that is, you reach the alcohol tolerance of the yeast, which is going to be pretty high with champagne yeast. You could sulfite one half to stop the yeast, then backsweeten with honey and leave it still. The other half won't carbonate if you only add unfermentable sweeteners such as Splenda. You'll have to also include some priming sugar for that. In response to your original question, yes, a different yeast culture would have left more residual sugar. I've used Wyeast Sweet Mead in some cysers with good results.
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Jun 8, 2012 19:53
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Has anyone else had inconsistent carbonation from priming sugar and figured out how to deal with it? The first bottles from my last batch just foam like hell when I open them and I'm pretty sure it's because the priming sugar wasn't evenly mixed with the beer in the priming bucket. The easy way to solve it would seem to be stirring but should I be concerned about aeration?
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Jun 8, 2012 20:06
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I add my dissolved sugar to the bottling bucket first, and then wrack my on top of it so that it stirs it as it is being siphoned over. Never had any problems with uneven carbonation. I sorta angle the wracking cane so that the beer flows in a circular motion as it is being transferred into the bottling bucket.
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Jun 8, 2012 20:11
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Imasalmon posted:I add my dissolved sugar to the bottling bucket first, and then wrack my on top of it so that it stirs it as it is being siphoned over. Never had any problems with uneven carbonation. That's what I do too. Maybe I'm not chilling the sugar solution enough and it's sitting on top of the beer or something, but that wouldn't explain why my first bottles are overcarbonated because they're from the bottom of the bucket..
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Jun 8, 2012 20:13
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You can stir your beer up after you add the priming sugar with a sanitized spoon and it'll be fine. The amount of oxygen you'll add to the beer will be negligible, especially considering you have a 1/2" of headspace in the bottle that'll be full of oxygen.
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Jun 8, 2012 20:38
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internet celebrity posted:I just want to be sure there will be viable yeast to carbonate this when I go to bottle it.
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Jun 8, 2012 22:19
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Josh Wow posted:You can stir your beer up after you add the priming sugar with a sanitized spoon and it'll be fine. The amount of oxygen you'll add to the beer will be negligible, especially considering you have a 1/2" of headspace in the bottle that'll be full of oxygen. Also, the yeast will consume the oxygen while fermenting the priming sugar.
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Jun 9, 2012 05:17
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Butt Soup Barnes posted:Yeah by quick I meant it took me about 20 minutes to "brew" instead of hours. I haven't tried this yet, but I have read (again, researching for cider making) that some cider makers will add sugar, bottle it, and when enough sugar has been consumed to carbonate but there is residual for flavor, they run the bottles through the dishwasher at high heat which kills the yeast. Again, haven't tried it myself. Sampling is key to avoid bottle bombs.
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Jun 9, 2012 15:23
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My first ever yeast starter is a humming away here (only put it in the window for purposes of picture taking)! Does it look semi normal? I ask because the smack pack didn't exactly go as planned- somehow I managed to only pop half of the yeast pack inside, as the packet containing the yeast is dual chambered. I noticed this while pitching the yeast into the mini-wort. I cut open the unopened part of the smack pack and dumped it in to the flask. I don't see why this would be a problem, as the smack pack itself is sort of a mini starter, but I'm still overcoming my noob phase and worrying about every little thing.  I'm making NB's Patersbier kit, using WY3787. Anyone have experiences with this kit, or this yeast in particular? Some people on other message boards say to start cool with this yeast and let it warm up over time. It is mighty hot in my 2nd floor/non-air-conditioned apartment, so temp control is going to be more difficult. I partially got a kit that uses this strain because it seems more forgiving at the higher range of the preferred fermentation temp. I even heard of some people letting it get up to 90 degrees? That seems a bit much to me but what do I know.
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Jun 9, 2012 18:58
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global tetrahedron posted:My first ever yeast starter is a humming away here (only put it in the window for purposes of picture taking)! Use a blowoff tube. No matter how much headspace you think you have, it's not enough. I wouldn't let it get up to 90 - I think I'd put the top end of 3787 at 80ish degrees.
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Jun 9, 2012 19:19
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Hmm, I was planning on using a bucket. Both of my carboys are 5 gallons. The bucket is 6 I believe. I don't think I will let it get up to 90. I have access to the basement which I think hovers around 70-75 at most so hopefully that will keep it consistent.
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Jun 9, 2012 19:25
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global tetrahedron posted:Hmm, I was planning on using a bucket. Both of my carboys are 5 gallons. The bucket is 6 I believe. I don't think I will let it get up to 90. I have access to the basement which I think hovers around 70-75 at most so hopefully that will keep it consistent. 1 gallon is not enough headspace. If you've got a 3 piece airlock, stick some tubing over the opening and run that under water for your blowoff.
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Jun 9, 2012 19:28
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edit: i'm thinking of trying to put my siphon hose into the gromet on the 6 gallon bucket lid as I'm broke and this seems like it will work fine. As far as something for the hose to go into, I see people using starter flasks? Would my 2000ml flask be sufficient for this? Also, I made my starter later on Friday night. If I'm brewing Sunday morning, do I need to consider refrigerating the starter at all, or will it be good to go on Sunday? I won't have to add a bit more wort to the starter or anything? global tetrahedron fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Jun 9, 2012 |
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Jun 9, 2012 19:44
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global tetrahedron posted:edit: i'm thinking of trying to put my siphon hose into the gromet on the 6 gallon bucket lid as I'm broke and this seems like it will work fine. Starter flasks are fine, though I like to use old wine bottles or empty bombers. I would recommend putting the starter in the fridge overnight to "cold crash" it. Pull it out when you start brewing on Sunday to warm it up, and when you're ready to pitch, decant as much of the clear liquid as you're comfortable with, swirl the yeast and trub back into suspension, and pitch. If you used a stirplate, use a magnet to pull your stir bar out before you do.
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Jun 9, 2012 20:53
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crazyfish posted:Starter flasks are fine, though I like to use old wine bottles or empty bombers. What benefit does this give? Getting the starter wort out so as to not taint the flavor of the main wort? Or is it more of a yeast health thing?
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Jun 9, 2012 21:01
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global tetrahedron posted:What benefit does this give? Getting the starter wort out so as to not taint the flavor of the main wort? Or is it more of a yeast health thing? More of the former, but depending on how big your beer is you might not notice the starter wort show up in your flavour profile. I find that there's generally so much more starter wort than yeast residue and it's so easy to do so that I don't see any reason not to decant.
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Jun 9, 2012 21:06
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This one's got an OG of 1.047, so not super light, but it has very few ingredients (only pilsen malt, some carapils, and a really basic hop profile), so yeah, maybe it's best to get any extraneous flavors out.
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Jun 9, 2012 21:10
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global tetrahedron posted:I'm making NB's Patersbier kit, using WY3787. Anyone have experiences with this kit, or this yeast in particular? Some people on other message boards say to start cool with this yeast and let it warm up over time. I'm drinking a batch of that right now made from a rough approximation of the NB all grain Patersbier recipe with WLP530. I fermented on purpose in the upper 70s after letting it rise up naturally from about 65. I used the yeast cake from the Patersbier to do a dubbel that turned out wonderfully. The beer turned out pretty well for me without any fusels. If there was one strain I'd pick to ferment at high temperature it would be 530/3787.
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Jun 10, 2012 02:15
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I am back into it today. Haven't made an all-grain beer in nearly a year, the malt was about that old too, and atop it there was enough non-barley in it to risk a stuck sparge (and I forgot to add rice hulls), but my whole process took under five hours from grind to pitch and I hit the target OG spot on, so pretty happy. Relaxing with some of the wine I made while I wasn't making beer. And I see there's a new thread since last time I did any. I'm a little out of touch though, where's good for basic ingredient buys these days? In the past I've mostly bought from AHS or Midwest.
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Jun 10, 2012 02:40
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My citrus bomb pale ale turned out pretty well. The 1/3 wheat malt lightens up the palate quite a bit, and the Amarillo and Sorachi Ace at the beginning of the boil give it a great grapefruit flavor with a hint of lemon (Sorachi was in leaf form) and the Citra at the end gives a great mango nose. Light body, good hops, I'm drinking this all summer long kids.
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Jun 10, 2012 04:42
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My split batch of a Simcoe/Amarillo pale ale base came out great! The pale ale half is delicious and not as dry as my IPAs so it almost taste like hop honey or nectar. Don't get me wrong, it's not sweet (FG=1.011) but it has great balance. 2 oz Simcoe and 1 oz amarillo dry hop give it almost a fruit punch-esque aroma. The saison half is also good but not as awesome. The flameout additions of Simcoe and Amarillo overwhelm the yeast character of the 3711. So it basically tastes like the pale ale minus the dry hop addition. tesilential fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Jun 10, 2012 |
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Jun 10, 2012 06:20
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global tetrahedron posted:I'm making NB's Patersbier kit, using WY3787. Anyone have experiences with this kit, or this yeast in particular? Some people on other message boards say to start cool with this yeast and let it warm up over time. I recently brewed 3 batches of basically this for my wedding. I use a swamp cooler to keep it cool, then pop it out after a few days of fermentation to let it warm a bit. The temperature makes a big difference - warming it after two days of fermentation gave it a much more "belgian-y" flavor than warming it after three or four days of fermentation. (And the fermentation usually did last about 4 days with that yeast - a little longer than many strains, in my experience.)
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Jun 11, 2012 00:20
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I worked with five different batches today. I transferred my La Folie clone to a secondary and it's already starting to smell tart and taste a little funky after only two weeks. I kegged two IPAs that I had mixed up the dry hoppings. One was a Sierra Nevada Celebration clone and the other was a Bells Two Hearted clone. I was worried about how they would turn out but they ended up being bright and brilliant. I brewed Northern Brewer's Single Hop Un-Kolsch and started a Framboise. It also happened to be one of the hottest days of the year, so I had that going for me too. Overall, success.
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Jun 11, 2012 01:42
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Man, now I feel like a loser. All I did was keg my Browneye PA.
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Jun 11, 2012 02:05
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Welp, I'm an idiot. Bottled my ale today, but was in too much of a hurry because my roommate and I were trying to make a movie, and I forgot to add the priming sugar...  So now I have 40+ bottles of beer that will be flat as gently caress...I'm guessing the easiest thing to do would be to get some carbonation drops, open the beers, drop one in, then re-cap them?
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Jun 11, 2012 03:01
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I bottled my ale a few days ago as well. Didn't forget the sugar, though, and thank God I've got a huge mixing bowl with a pouring rim. Coupled with a funnel, I didn't spill a drop. However, I do want to know what I'm supposed to do with the trub. It's still sitting in the carboy with the airlock over it.
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Jun 11, 2012 03:13
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Here's a question for you IPA brewers/keggers out there... I'm doing a Pliny clone and this'll be the first beer I throw in my keg. I know how spergy we (and the dudes in the beer drinking thread) love to get about IPA freshness; I'm not like that, but I can certainly tell when I've had an IPA with a month of age on it vs a bottle that's a few days old. It's like the 128kbps vs VBR mp3 debate with audio nerds. With that said, I brewed it a week ago and I added some hops for dry-hopping yesterday. I was planning on kegging it a week from now - is that too soon even for an IPA, generally speaking? Do all beers need at least 3-4 weeks minimum in the carboy before they're ready to be served or with freshness at a premium should this be drinkable a week from now? I know some of you would want to answer "just taste it and go from there" but I'm looking more for what your past experiences have been with what you've made - obviously if it still tastes like a bitter mess next Sunday I'll leave it in there but I'm looking to hear some stories of actual results.
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Jun 11, 2012 03:23
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Meaty Ore posted:I bottled my ale a few days ago as well. Didn't forget the sugar, though, and thank God I've got a huge mixing bowl with a pouring rim. Coupled with a funnel, I didn't spill a drop. However, I do want to know what I'm supposed to do with the trub. It's still sitting in the carboy with the airlock over it. More food for the drain gods. Alternately scrape into the garbage but I figure a good microbial culture in your sewer lines would be a good thing for breaking up any lumps of oil and or poo poo.
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Jun 11, 2012 03:27
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zedprime posted:More food for the drain gods. Alternately scrape into the garbage but I figure a good microbial culture in your sewer lines would be a good thing for breaking up any lumps of oil and or poo poo. Ah, yes, the simplest of solutions; it's beer, after all, not sourdough. Out of curiosity, what would it do to a compost pile?
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Jun 11, 2012 03:38
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wafflesnsegways posted:I recently brewed 3 batches of basically this for my wedding. I use a swamp cooler to keep it cool, then pop it out after a few days of fermentation to let it warm a bit. The temperature makes a big difference - warming it after two days of fermentation gave it a much more "belgian-y" flavor than warming it after three or four days of fermentation. (And the fermentation usually did last about 4 days with that yeast - a little longer than many strains, in my experience.) I have a pretty rollicking fermentation underway; it was bubbling nicely after only an hour or two after i pitched the starter. By 'cool' what temp are you talking? I don't have much temp control atm but the basement to my apartment building is around 70-75. My apartment itself (2nd floor, no AC) is probably in the 80s. That's mostly why I am doing Belgians these days, I love them, for one, and then two, if it's gonna be hot, I guess I might as well bear it and go for some yeast that can handle it.
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Jun 11, 2012 03:55
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wattershed posted:I know some of you would want to answer "just taste it and go from there" but I'm looking more for what your past experiences have been with what you've made - obviously if it still tastes like a bitter mess next Sunday I'll leave it in there but I'm looking to hear some stories of actual results. In my experience, yes the hops are fresher the sooner you have it. That's not debatable. What I've run into, is that other aspects of the beer need more time. The malt may still be developing or there happens to be an off flavor that needs to settle. Unless you're planning to drink the keg within the week, realize that hop flavors will degrade over time and just enjoy it when it's fresh and still appreciate it when it mellows. If that still bothers you, you can always continually keg hop with a bag that you can replace every week to brighten the flavors. See here: http://vimeo.com/29379832#t=452
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Jun 11, 2012 04:01
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wattershed posted:Here's a question for you IPA brewers/keggers out there... Are you using the real PtE recipe from Vinnie Cilurzo? It says to go with 12-14 days of total dry hops with 2 separate additions.
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Jun 11, 2012 05:03
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Angry Grimace posted:Are you using the real PtE recipe from Vinnie Cilurzo? It says to go with 12-14 days of total dry hops with 2 separate additions. I...thought I was? The one I'm using has 5- and 7-day dry hop additions that I lazily combined to one 7-day addition, but the way I read it was to add two bags of hops, leaving one in for five days, then the other for two more days for seven days total. Somehow it never crossed my mind that it would be five, then seven days. Probably using the same recipe but clearly will have different dry hop schedules.
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Jun 11, 2012 06:35
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