Homebrewing - Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider

Getting the water hot and trying the Weiss from two weeks ago (needs a little more carbonation)

New batch today, limited time, so making a partial mash stout, here's the grains

Hi folks, I'm looking for a recommendation of a beer similar to Big Bangin IPA.

The beer is 7.2% and I'm looking for anything between 5% and 7.2%.

Maris otter malt. Columbus, Simcoe and mosaic hops.

Ideally I would just like a kit that could make something with similar flavours.

Thanks!!

Correction: Big Bangin is 7.1%

Hey everyone, thinking about growing my own hops but have never done it before. Any tips/tricks for the Midwest climate, where to purchase/what to look for, etc??

Thanks!

I wouldn't call that a 'modern' home brew. There are a few issues from a quick view:

• Sanitize everything
• take OG readings
• Don't use wood. Stainless or plastic are better *<=edit for clarity *
• Sanitize everything
• stagger the nutrients if you can
• 4 days on the fruit may not enough
• take SG readings
• use a syphon
• Sanitize everything
• don't use muslin
• vodka is better than water in the airlock
• take FG readings
• use an auto-syphon - don't put your dirty lips all over the syphon
• Sanitize everything

One last point that I didn't mention above but is very important, Sanitize Everything

PS I make meads and one of my favorite is a Feijoa mead

Made in a 5L demijohn.

Ingredients:

• 3x Seedless Raspberry Jam 420g
• Lalvin EC-1118 yeast
• Pectinase enzyme
• Fermaid-O 10g

I believe now that this is more nutrients than necessary.

I have made other beverages before but never a fruit wine!

I might need a help with my first cider brew. I've made wine in past it was all based on natural yeast, had my recipe that contained water with whatever berries I was making it.

I tried making cider, put 4 liters of apple juice from market (natural juice, but still, packed), 1.5l redcurrant berries (frozen, blended, fermented in a bag) and 2 liters of water. I added yeast and everything it needed, 6 days have passed now, hidrometer is very close to 0 and while it tastes ok, I think it tastes quite watered. I plan to sweeten it a bit (still, dry or semi dry) but have no idea how to make it more saturated (taste wise).

Is there anything I can do, especially at this stage?

They came with my kegs from Kegco but I think they're limiting the beer's CO2 intake. I'm going to swap them out for traditional ones today to see if they make a difference.

I have been plagued by poor carbonation and I have tried everything else.

Looking to get a dedicated propane burner and kettle. Anyone have recommendations?

Hey guys. So, I tried making a ginger beer a while back. Recently, the stuff has started to turn more pale and is thinking up. It feels more like drinking a syrup but without the sugar. is it safe?

Sorry for the wall of text!

TL:DR great brew day ruined by AC shutting off overnight and fermentation temperature skyrocketing. Fixed by brewing the same beer again and choosing a different yeast.

So I had posted a few days ago about weird and wacky ideas for making an Oat-centric beer for a homebrew event in October. I came up with this recipe for my take at an Oat-wine and started making a yeast starter on Monday for a brewday the following day (which was yesterday).

I had been worried that using a high proportion of oats (33.3%) as I was might lead to a stuck sparge so I am happy to report that my combination of a 15 minute beta-glucanase rest at 110°F (43°C) and a hefty 1lb (~450g) of rice hulls was fantastic in preventing this. It was at this point that I encountered my first obstacle.

I had calculated that I would need 2 gallons (~7.6L) of boiling water to bring my mash up to Saccharification temperature but this ended up being not nearly enough. I was aiming for 152°F (67°C) but after adding all the boiling water the mash had stabilized at around 142°F (61°C) so I hastily boiled another half gallon in a tea kettle and added it to the mash which managed to bring the temperature closer to where I wanted it (148°F (64°C)) but at this point the mash was already extremely thin and I didn't want to just keep adding more water so I decided to just roll with it and accept I would have a slightly more fermentable wort and therefore a drier final beer.

After this the brewday was fairly routine. I had planned on an extended boil to bring my final volume down to 2.5 Gallons (~9.5L). I accidentally overdid the boil a little and after cooling down to as low as my ground water could go (71°F (~22°C)) I ended up with only 2.2 gallons (8.3L) in the fermenter. As luck would have it, my yeast starter was almost perfectly the correct volume to bring the wort to the full 2.5 gallons so after oxygenating the wort I pitched the entirety of the nice active starter into the fermenter along with a Tilt hydrometer and closed everything up. My original gravity was 1.087 for an overall brewhouse efficiency of 68% (on the lower side for me but it was a big beer so I had expected this and was pleased with how everything had gone) At this point I cleaned everything up and went home for the night (I brew at work instead of in my apartment).

When I came in to work this morning it was clear the AC had turned off overnight and I could see the airlock on the fermenter going absolutely crazy. I opened up the Tilt app on my phone to check on the stats of the beer. It had only been around 16 hours but the gravity was down to 1.037 and the temperature was at 89°F (~32°C) which was far hotter than the top end of the range of the yeast I was using (Scottish Ale: Optimal range 63–75° F (17–24° C)).

I was able to wrestle down the fermenter temperature by covering it in wet paper towels and blasting the AC and a fan at it but I'm still pretty sure the beer will be an undrinkable fusel alcohol mess that not even an extended amount of cold conditioning time will fix.

Thinking through my options I decided the best course of action would just be to re-brew the batch and go for a different yeast that was more sensible in these temperatures. I had considered using a clean-tasting Kveik strain such as Omega HotHead or Lutra Kveik but I ultimately decided against this because I am of the opinion that even with adequate nutrients and oxygen, the Kveik strains tend to impart an off flavor that I don't like in the final beer. I therefore decided to go in the complete opposite direction and choose a lager yeast which I would ferment around 50°F (10°C) in the keezer we use for serving beer.

At least I could learn from mistakes of yesterday's brew and so today I brewed the exact same beer again and even slightly improved my efficiency! (Original gravity up to 1.089 from 1.087 at the same volume). I was still only able to cool the wort down to around 71°F (~22°C) with an immersion chiller and so the batch is cooling overnight the rest of the way and I'll pitch the yeast tomorrow when I come into work.

I haven't dumped the original batch that fermented too hot so now I guess I'll be able to do a side by side test when both are finished and I'll have another update for you all!

Plan on raking again in September so that will be raking #2. How long should I let this age and how many more raking before bottling? Thanks to campden all of the sulfur has off gassed so all I smell is alcohol with a pineapple tang.

Here is the recipe I'm going with. I'm planning on doing a long (~120 minute) boil to get some caramelization of the wort for color and depth of flavor and also because I think having a fairly thin mash will help avoid a stuck sparge.

Original post:

My homebrew club has an annual fundraiser every year where all the brewers have to adhere to a theme that changes every time. This year's theme is adjuncts and I've been assigned Oats as an adjunct. Now I have brewed several Oatmeal stouts in my time and I want to go for something more interesting and out of the ordinary. I was thinking of Brewing a Barley wine with a hefty portion of the grain bill switched out for oats to make an Oat-wine if you will.

I was just wondering if anyone had any other wacky suggestions? I have access to pretty much all the ingredients available (I actually manage a Homebrew store) and several months before the event itself which is in mid October. As an aside, if anyone is going to be in NYC in mid October and wants to go to a fantastic event where you can try approximately 30 different beers made by some excellent home brewers have I got the event for you!

https://no.lastname.nz/comment/264404

We seem to have some talented brewers here in the forum. Would be nice to see some final results from the community members in this forum! Perhaps it can also inspire some people who are curious about the hobby.

I can start: here is a sparkling mead along with my labeled bottles.

Came out really great!!

I used one of the very basic starter kits from northern brewer and now I want to upgrade everything 😳

The kit was this one:

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/block-party-amber-ale

So you guys might remember my previous post about a Belgian Golden Strong Ale. That one was actually a "starter" for this one. What are your thoughts about it? I intend to fermet it with Belle Saison at 23+°c.

Just kegged and carbonated (lightly) an Irish Stout, but it's tasting kind of low on flavor...

I'm thinking of adding oak or coffee beans (or both) in a bag in the keg to try and add some more flavor.

Please either talk me down, advise on amounts and time, or advise me on better options!

It's good enough that I wouldn't toss it, but not good enough for me to not want to save it...

After leaving Reddit one thing I was missing was the home brewing community, really glad to see there’s a thriving one here!

I tend to experiment and make off the walls type of beers, this one’s technically maybe a hefe? I added more grains to get it to be more of an imperial beer, clocking in at a whopping 9%. I then let it sit on 6 pounds (2.72kg) of blue berries and 4 pounds (1.81kg) of kiwi. It came out deceivingly light tasting for how strong it is, but it’s got a nice tart flavor on the back end from the berries and kiwi.

I have about 50l I pulled off the yeast into the final batch. My cellar only goes down to 18/19 degrees C so I fill some bottles for the refrigerator and I clears up so nicely.

Has the perfect red currant aroma, a bit sour at first but the very very fruity and full. I love it.

At about 10% alcohol, it got quite high. But mixed as a Spritz or on ice it's such a refreshing summer drink for this heat!