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Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?

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Having a go at a Belgian Wit this weekend. Adding a decent whack of unmalted (raw) wheat into this one. Having an internal debate whether or not to add orange peel to the last ten minutes of the boil. Has anyone done this? Going to be about 20L (5 gal).
 
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I have. More is less with the spices. I added bitter orange peel at 10 min and Indian coriander. I am talking in the grams arena. In 10 gal I used 35 grams of coriander and about 45 g of orange peel. So halve that and you should be nice and moderate with spicing. You could go even less. I actually plan on going less next time. So for 10 gal I'd be looking at about 20 g of coriander and 30g of orange peel.

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Got a batch of oatmeal stout bubbling away in the fermenter. Will keg it next weekend, only wish I had a beer gas setup. Maybe 1 to of my 10 taps should be ;)

Taking a one hop citra ipa keg over to a friends house today to watch football!
 
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Well my pumpkin stout got transferred off the vanilla beans. I opted for a house sediment water filter boiled and the housing purged with CO2 to deal with the tiny vanilla seeds as well as the pod pieces I chopped up. My gravity reading is right at 1.012 which is pretty good. I think it'll have good enough body and sweetness at this level without being too sweet. I am force carbonating some in a 16oz coke bottle to see how it came out. I should be able to drink that in about 2 hours. So this puts me just a hair under 9%. I am aiming to serve some over the weekend when I have a few guests over night. So I have about 8 gallons total for consumption. Three gallons to serve this coming weekend and then 5 gallons to bottle. If the full three isn't drank I will just bottle it along with the rest.
 
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I want to wait to taste it cooled and fully carbonated. I am my biggest critic, and I don't like sharing unless I feel I ended up with resounding success. With this being a entirely new way of brewing a pumpkin I might have to tweak the recipe a bit next time. Its pretty good warm but its a little heavy on fruit esters. That could be a yeast and gravity thing (most likely), or it could be just that the spices and vanilla are amplifying the.flavors a bit. Some cold conditioning time will certainly help maybe a piece of oak too, that has a tendency absorb some esters and higher alcohols.

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Skitalets

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I have a chocolate maple porter from an all-grain Brooklyn Brew Shop kit fermenting and nearly ready to bottle.

The Summer Wheat I did turned out pretty well--a little boring, but it was from a kit. Have a Smoked Wheat from them to try soon and then I might be ready to branch out from kits.
 
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After a long break from brewing/wine making (except making wort for distilling) I started making some mead this week. I have 2 one gallon batches of mead: tart cherry and cider. Both with Lalvin ec-1118.

Mead 2.jpg
 

ENV

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Well my pumpkin stout got transferred off the vanilla beans. I opted for a house sediment water filter boiled and the housing purged with CO2 to deal with the tiny vanilla seeds as well as the pod pieces I chopped up. My gravity reading is right at 1.012 which is pretty good. I think it'll have good enough body and sweetness at this level without being too sweet. I am force carbonating some in a 16oz coke bottle to see how it came out. I should be able to drink that in about 2 hours. So this puts me just a hair under 9%. I am aiming to serve some over the weekend when I have a few guests over night. So I have about 8 gallons total for consumption. Three gallons to serve this coming weekend and then 5 gallons to bottle. If the full three isn't drank I will just bottle it along with the rest.

I would like to purchase a couple of bottles from you if we can work something out
 
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How many vanilla pods did you put in? I have a pecan brown ale that I am going to dry hop with roasted pecans and vanilla...it calls for vanilla powder? Never heard of that so I was thinking of slitting a vanilla pod or two for the dry hop.

Oatmeal stout is off the hook good and only getting better!
 
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Got the Northern Brewer Dead Ringer IPA going right now. Had a little explosion to cleanup this morning... the makeshift blowoff hose got plugged.

DRIPA.jpg
 
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Anyone brew sour ales?

I am thinking about making a Flanders Red style but wanted some input from more experienced folks.

How about sour cider? I was thinking about a cider fermented with the White Labs American Farmhouse Blend. Will the beasties have anything to eat and sour the cider?

Thanks,

Rene'
 

mdwest

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Have decided to take the plunge and try to do a little homebrewing... Im heading to the local craft beer supply shop this afternoon..

Any recommendations/suggestions on what to buy (name brands, models, etc..) and what to stay away from in terms of basic equipment?
 
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Anyone brew sour ales?

I am thinking about making a Flanders Red style but wanted some input from more experienced folks.

How about sour cider? I was thinking about a cider fermented with the White Labs American Farmhouse Blend. Will the beasties have anything to eat and sour the cider?

Thanks,

Rene'
Dont know about the logistics for a sour cider, but the concept sounds divine. Keep us posted if you try it

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Remember to take notes and KISS until u get it.

Also, consider 3gl batches to start and steep some grains for mouthfeel.

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Awesome Dave, I have been thinking of getting into this as well, wish we had a craft shop near by. We are on the other hand starting to get some local brewers that have been doing pretty well.
 

mdwest

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The place we have local is pretty small.. but they had everything I need (I think).. 3 or 4 different "starter" kits were available.. price point was different on each of them.. but they really didnt seem all that different in content or quality.. we went with the "mid grade" one they had on hand (LD Carlson - Brewers Best).. that was suitable for both wine and beer (had a glass carboy included as opposed to a second plastic bucket)..

They have probably 30 different "beer" kits to try.. and maybe 20 different wines... and then all the other common supplies on hand in bulk (hops, etc..)..

I figured we'd start out simple.. we bought a merlot kit.. and a pumpkin spice kit... we'll do a run of wine.. and a run of beer.. both by the book.. and see how they turn out.. and try to learn what we can... then maybe go buy a couple of more pre-fab kits and do it again.. before we get adventurous and start trying to come up with our own blends, process tweaks, etc..

Its only been 36 hours and Im already having fun with it though...

All Im really hoping for at this point is that the merlot at least comes out drinkable.. and doesnt leave me retching after each sip... it doesnt have to be good... just hoping its not horrible lol...

I guess we'll know in another 4 weeks or so :)
 
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