>>2867914
what is "no-chill", just letting it cool in air? Didn't cool too much?

Thinking of doing a quick test braggot, never done braggot before. Let me know if this soudns retarded.

2 lbs honey
1 lbs DME of some sort
Maybe 1/2 oz of some light hops like crystal at some point
Lutra yeast
Then bottle carb.

Sound reasonable and drinkable? Never used lutra before, hopefully it can finished reasonably dry I don't want some sweet shit.

>>2868270
Oh, and top off with water to 1 gallon. Or should I up it to a 2 or 3 gallon recipe? Only have 1 or 5+ gal fermenters but don't want to commit to 5+ gallons yet, but I could probably find a 2 or 3 gallon bucket locally.

I posted last thread about making a sour beer with an old wheat beer kit, it's been fermenting for about 11 days now, but it seems to have stopped since last Thursday or so. I took a reading on Thursday of 1.022 and again today (Sunday) at 1.022. OG was ~1.045, used US-05 yeast but the packet was old (came with the kit). The sample tasted okay but a bit sweet, almost like apple juice imo.

The question now is, do I just settle for a weak, overly sweet beer? I wanted to bottle carb, but worry the yeast may be dead. I've got a fresh packet of US-05, should I try repitching and see if it finishes? It's had lacto plantarum in it this whole time though, it doesn't taste super sour (to me, but I love sour/tart/acidic food and drink) but who knows what the pH is.

What's my next move? Wait it out? Re-pitch? Go ahead and try to bottle? Add a stronger yeast (I've got ec-1118 or Lutra)?

>>2868276
Repitch, the longer you wait the more likely n infection will occur and you'll end up with a sour beer that would make a lemon blush

>>2867989
no-chill is letting the wort cool down on its own without an ice bath or immersion chiller. i dumped it into my fermenter and let it cool (with the lid on) for ~12h in my kitchen before i pitched. i read that ausfags are heavily into it and use cubes.

you apparently have to alter your hop additions but dunno since it was my first brew

>>2868303
I hope it ends up so sour, I did pitch lacto in it after all lol. I don't want any acetic acid though, not into that in beers.

So anyway, you think the fresh packet of US-05 will do it? I was hoping to get down at least to <1.010.

>>2868329
If sour is the only goal, just let it roll
The lacto will eat through the sugar eventually and you'll have something like kvass
But if you want to be sure there's alcohol, repitch.
NOthing about the batch suggests the yeast's out of its element so you shouldn't need to build a starter or use extra

I've been brewing for 6 months or so. Anyone have experience with wild yeast? I sort of like the idea of letting nature do it's thing though it's drawbacks are unpredictable and could taste like shit. I mostly make low abv wine's from store bought juice and made cider and beer once. I've got a mead going I threw some blueberries in for nutrient. It smells nice if a bit sour. I'm going to take my time with it and leave it untouched for min. 3 months.

>>2868386
>But if you want to be sure there's alcohol, repitch.
>NOthing about the batch suggests the yeast's out of its element so you shouldn't need to build a starter or use extra
Yeah you're probably right. Plenty of people kettle sour and get a really low ph and still ferment fine.
Went ahead and re-hydrated and pitched a fresh packet of yeast this morning so inshallah it'll finish properly so I can bottle it.

>>2867914
Any place to get cans or bottles for a reasonable price to sell homebrews? Even 2L cola bottles to sell homemade cola are near impossible to find for under a dollar. Cans are like 65 cents each not including the lid.

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has anyone bottled in picrel style of mason jar?
They seem to be identical to flip top bottles (mechanism and gasket) so im intrigued. they are also very cheap where i live

>>2868863
Yes, but only still wines. Those aren't meant to hold pressure at all.

>>2868876
>Those aren't meant to hold pressure at all
fugg >:33
talking from experience? I guess I'll experiment with bottling in these (and twist-off bottles) in the future. but no way I waste 2 out of 10 liters now. 1.5l PET bottles will do for now

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hello I don't hang much around here, does anyone know much about distillations?
I'm making a myrtle liquor so I put the berries soaking in alcohol, in 40 days or so I'll squeeze the berries out and add honey and have the liquor.
that will leave me with the squeezed berries, can I put that in a still and get anything from it like you would for the residue from the grapes and vines to get grappa?

Anyone ever have success using tea in their brew?
Going to make an amber ale (Pale malt/Munich/Light Crystal/Dark crystal. Hops will be magnum for bittering and hopstand of kent goldings and cascade/centennial)

I want to add in some sweet potato flavored hojicha (Japanese roasted green tea) to give it a hint of that roasted tea flavor. Planning on adding at the end with the aroma hops but am not sure what an appropriate amount without going overkill would be. Also afraid of getting it tannic.

>>2868884
You can, but it doesn't look like you'll have a quantity of material worth bothering, just scavenging a modicum of ethanol left behind.

>>2868898
>sweet potato flavored hojicha
>for the tea flavor
Why are you using flavored tea if the TEA is the flavor you want

>>2868947
I see so it's a matter with the mass of the product and not what I'm stilling
I thought it'd be retarded because when you're distilling vines you're evaporating alcohol that has fermented from the vine themselves, in this case I'd be pulling back just the alcohol I put in; would that taste anything like myrtle?
I will try anyways cause it's fun, even if I make straight methanol and go blind from it

>>2868958
There shouldn't be a worry about much methanol or fusels, those were already cut out and no new ones will ahve been made. So if you take the whole run you will have captured some of the myrtle volatiles in the final distillate. You might not taste it, but you should be able to smell it, presuming it has an odor. Don't know anything about myrtle

>>2868746
If you try to sell your brews then expect the ATF to come knocking.

>>2869202
Hey maybe we can abolish the ATF in the cleanup of government waste.

>>2869220
Good luck with that

>>2869081
myrtle doesn't have anything else other than odor, it's not a juicy berry, it doesn't have much sugar, it's mostly seeds, that's why you have to soak it in alcohol for 40 days, you can't really ferment it like you do with vines and grapes

anyone got xp with a mash that i can use that emulates euro alcool? ive tried to make limoncello with everclear and its too harsh. besides a reflux column whats the best mash for a 2-3 run angio that tastes like water?

Just put together a batch of "Brandon O's Graff'" from the homebrewtalk thread. I've made it once before but that was like 15 years ago or something when he first posted it lol.

Decided to try Lutra in it, and it's my first go at using Kveik. Pitched pretty cold accidentally since I'd had the apple juice in the fridge and my wort cooled off faster than I'd thought it would, probably like 60-65F, but the fermenter is in a room that stays around 74F. Kind of thought of putting it in my sunroom where it gets much warmer, but might as well see if this stuff really will ferment clean at room temp.

Now thinking about ordering more stuff for my next brew, but not sure what I want to make. I'm restricted to extract brews for now though. Or mead/cider/wine. Was going to do a strong like imperial berliner weiss type thing, but now I'm kind of wanting just a basic ass brown ale.

>>2869507
>Still extract brewing
>Already fucking with kveik
You got it bad, son

A thin white film has just started forming on my hard cider about a week after the airlock stopped bubbling.
If it tastes fine i'm thinking of pasteurizing it at 65C, then adding a tiny amount of yeast and the sugar required for carbonation, then bottling right after. Any better options?

>>2869694
You probably don't need to worry about it. My apple cider vinegar gets a film on it too. It's called scoby. Just try to avoid transferring it when you bottle it.

>>2868599
Well, it's been a couple of days so I checked the gravity... Barely changed, it's now 1.020 and no real signs of fermentation. Beer is also tasting distinctly appley :/ Opening the bucket and adding yeast that didn't really do any more fermentation must have oxidized it to to get that acetaldehyde bullshit. Definitely tasted more beer like before I repitched, despite being slightly sweet.
Guess I'm calling it, gonna rack to a bottling bucket with priming sugar and bottle later today. Hopefully it carbonates at least.

Also hopefully this poor outcome is just a result of the kit having sat in someone's garage for like 4 years in the South lol and my next attempts (with fresh ingredients) will go better.

Also I've got some questions on how the fuck to not oxidize my beer.
I fermented in a bucket with a spigot, but obviously if I take a sample from the spigot it pulls air in. Or I can remove the lid, and that lets air in. So how the fuck am I supposed to test gravity without oxidizing the damn beer?

Also why is wine apparently so much less susceptible to this issue? It's perfectly normal to rack regularly and degas and shit.

Are bench top cappers a significant improvement over handheld cappers? Just bottled my first batch adn teh handheld capper wasn't terrible (compared to my handheld corker), but there's a nice vintage cast iron bench top capper for sale near my for a reasonable price, is it worth it to switch?

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I have an auto siphon and I hate it. However I have one of these bottle fillers that attaches to one end of a hose and I really like it. How do I ditch the auto siphon and use this? I don't really want to suck from it cause muh sanitation

>>2869853
Use a bucket with a spigot and attach the hose directly to the spigot. Or use CO2 and slightly pressurize the fermenter to get the siphon started.

>>2869855
>Use a bucket with a spigot
I don't like to make more than one gallon at a time so I don't have a bucket. I'm not really crafty so I can't fashion something. I can't think of a solution so I may have to ditch it entirely and use a hose clamp and fill it manually. I hate the auto siphon so much it's just so big and bulky and annoying no matter how careful I am I always kick up the yeast by accident.

>>2869856
I've only just now upgraded to the bottling wand and buckets with spigots. Before that I always just used a hose. Didn't even have a clamp for it, just used my thumb or tried to crimp it lol. Never got an autosiphon cause they looked gay and annoying for just the reasons you stated.

>>2867914
>plastic fermenter

Enjoy your cancer brew.

>>2869694
flor yeast

>>2869859
Yeah I'm gonna do what you did and just use my hand to plug it. Auto siphons are gay and for redditors. I was new to homebrewing at the time I bought it and what a mistake that was. It's fucking shit and annoying never again

>>2869761
Oxidation is not a concern during fermentation unless you're checking things all the time. Are you TASTING oxidized flavors, or are you concerned with souring? A little oxygen won't diffusefast enough to beat the CO2 production, we used to ferment in open tubs, oxidized flavors come from faulty long term storage or on the hot side
>>2869853
>I don't really want to suck from it cause muh sanitation
You don't have to. Sink all but the last inch of hose in the bucket, stop it off and pull to a good siphoning height. Voila

>>2869932
>Oxidation is not a concern during fermentation unless you're checking things all the time. Are you TASTING oxidized flavors, or are you concerned with souring? A little oxygen won't diffusefast enough to beat the CO2 production, we used to ferment in open tubs, oxidized flavors come from faulty long term storage or on the hot side
My concern was more when testing gravity once fermentation has basically finished in order to determine whether it really is done. Everytime I open the bucket I'm letting in a bunch of oxygen without any more CO2 being produced to push it out. While fermentation is still vigorously ongoing, there isn't really any need to test gravity.
As for the beer I just bottled, I was assuming it was oxidation due to the apple flavor, but then again it was purposefully soured and remained somewhat sweeter than I wanted which can also give the illusion of appleness, and if there were any acetaldehyde I suppose those same factors would amplify it and make it seem far more apparent than it might actually be.And for beer, what counts as long term? An extra week in primary to settle? Two? Everyone apparently recommends no secondary but I'm not sure what is the proper duration, once obvious fermentation is done. How long do the yeast need to clean up and and settle firmly to be easier to rack off of?

Guess I'm just a bit paranoid about oxidation now too since everyone online makes it seem like this huge problem that requires extreme measures like pressure fermenting and transferring under CO2 and so on. Also I've had some oxidized stuff recently (not made by myself), and those flavors are terrible.

So basically if I intend to keep on making beer and other things I want to make sure that I can do it properly and end up with a final product that, within reason, tastes as I intended.

>>2870043
>once fermentation is finished
You gonna open it again to test AFTER it's finished?
What I'm trying to say is this is a single opening. Beer used to sit more or less exposed its whole life once, what's ONE opening going to do? IF there's yeast alive the oxygen will get scavenged. If it's dormant, careful work won't overly disturb the CO2 layer in the fermenter.
Oxidation occurs in hot side, or lager/storage particularly if there's a bunch of headspace with oxygen in the mix when it's laid down or if it's laid down in a plastic container because it's not actually a gas barrier.

Was looking on /ck/ for a brewing thread, should have figured it would be here with the adults.

Got 10L of elderberry wine fermenting, been in the barrel three days now, no signs of activity.

Got a question about sterilising large food grade barrels because there's an infuriating amount of bullshit online.
I figure boiling water won't work because you can't boil the whole barrel. I've heard campden tablets work, but I've also heard they don't. There's a million people obviously paid to shill this product or that product so I'm in a real jam

>>2870179
>wine fermenting, been in the barrel three days now, no signs of activity.
At this point I'd say it probably isn't fermenting and you'll need some new yeast.

>>2870179
>sterilising large food grade barrels
Clean, I use non-scented washing up liquid and one of those microfibre cloths you buy in multipacks at the dollar store (because I don't want scratches), rinse. Starsan or your local copy, here it's sanipro . You don't need to mix more than it covering the botttom, swirl it around and using a microfibre cloth wipe the sides. Turn the barrel on it's side so that it drips out, this is no-rinse and ready in minutes.

>>2870179
>I've heard campden tablets work, but I've also heard they don't.
Potassium metabisulfite (campden) and an acid (most use citric because cheap, available) works, but it smells terrible so not something you'd want to stick your head into a barrel with.

>>2870233
>At this point I'd say it probably isn't fermenting and you'll need some new yeast.
NTA but how well would this work with a different yeast strain? I started a batch a month ago with lalvin 71B but the room its brewing in got much colder than I expected (at 16°C now, will probably be colder later in the winter) so it has very little activity, should I consider adding a packet of EC-1118 which ferments down to 10°C?
I'm tempted to leave it as it is though since it will probably come out great if the yeast doesn't go dormant

Okay so I want to make a black beer, but not something heavy or sweet or anything. Like a schwarzbier or black lager I guess, or pseudo lager in my case cause I have no way to maintain lagering temps lol.

I want something light and crisp with a slight roastiness to it, but very drinkable.

I'm stuck doing extract (maybe I could do a partial mash if it's worth it? Probably max I can manage to boil is like 2 gallons). So anyway, here's what I'm thinking:
6 lbs pilsen light DME
8 oz midnight wheat
10 oz blackprinz
6 oz crystal rye
then maybe loral hops
and lutra for the yeast

Does that sound reasonable? Is it going to be terrible? Most recipes have some munich malt but for extract it only comes in 3.3lbs LME tubs and that's more than I'd want. No idea really about correct quantities for the specialty grains, the Briess site had some ranges suggested so kind of went with those but adjustred based on hearsay from HBT and other forums. Anyway the specialty grains are like 6.7, 8.3, and 5% respectively.

Lastly, how do I figure out the right amount of hops and boil times? Since I'm using extract it doesn't technically require a boil at all, and even if I do boil would probably reserve the bulk of the DME for afterwards to not caramelize sugars in it, but the gravity of the wort affects hop utilization doesn't it? Lower gravity means higher utilization right? Would rather do a shorter boil also, but then do I get everything I need from the hops?

>>2870431
Boil is necessary for hop extraction and isomerization, even for extract
you'd be getting pretty experimental to skip boil

>>2870423
>I started a batch a month ago with lalvin 71B but the room its brewing in got much colder than I expected (at 16°C now, will probably be colder later in the winter) so it has very little activity,
Have you measured with a hydrometer, it's probably finished or very near? You can't really tell from the airlock since the dissolved co2 gets released after fermentation has finished so it will keep on bubbling. If you're worried about temp you can wrap a blanket around the bucket and it will retain some of the heat created by the fermentation.

>>2869507
So once this is done (apple beer, slight hops) if I re-use the yeast cake as is, how much flavor carry over will there be? Want to make a sparkling mead with the Lutra. Or should I wash the yeast?
It's mostly apple juice, 2 lbs of malt, and only 1 oz of weak hops, that shouldn't make a huge difference to the mead should it?

Figure I'd dump in a gallon of honey, and top up to maybe 5.5 gallons aiming for ~10% abv.

Also, if I want to bottle carb, will there be enough yeast still in it if I let it rest in secondary for a month or two (or more)? Or should I add some bottling yeast? What's the cut-off time wise?
Lastly, should I go for normal carb levels and crown cap, or would it be better to go for champagne levels? Would be more work obviously collecting champagne bottles, and corks/cages, but if it's worth it....

>>2871111
Technically speaking you should always wash the yeast unless it's going directly from one fermenter to another. The hop aroma might carry over if you don't, but I don't think it'd be batch-spoilingly foul.
Better to add fresh sugar and yeast for carbonationfor reliability and so you can better tell how carbonated it'll end up, wouldn't want to detonate a container because I left 8 volumes of CO2's worth of sugar in it when I stopped it up

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Any of you ever done a solera type system (single container, or multiple)? Was it worth the effort? Kind of want to try to make sour and funky type beers that need to age a year or more.

Also, if I'm adding brettanomyces, is it better to use stainless, or is HDPE okay? Also worried about oxidation over the long haul, but I've read mixed things.

I bottled a batch several days ago, and left the yeast cake with a tiny bit of wort on it in the "sealed" bucket.... Is it too late to wash the yeast for later use?

>>2871446
Won't be as healthy but you might have some luck. Higher chance of petit mutant

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How do I sort out how to do a partial mash?
I want to make a simple Trappist single, something like Westmalle Extra. I figured rather than doing 6lbs of pilsen extract, maybe cut it to 3lbs and replace the rest with Franco-Belg Pilsen malt, for a bit better flavor (hopefully) and to sort of dip my toes in to all grain.

The stuff I'm not sure about:
How much malt should I get to replace ~3lbs of extract?
How large a volume for the mash? 2 gallons?
Then what, sparge with another gallon for a ~3 gallon boil?
I need to account for absorption of the grains though, correct?
Am I supposed to boil the 3 gallons down to 2? Or do I just go by the gravity until it's concentrated enough that that wort + extract + extra water to dilute to my final batch size comes out right?
Should I add a bit of sugar, or with a lighter beer like this will it already dry out enough on its own?

Also don't want to deal with liquid yeast, so I was planning on using Lallemand Abbaye, even though it's not the Westmalle strain, but I'm not really going for an exact clone anyway. And what kind of hops would be good? Stick with the classics, or try something different? I saw loral hops, they sounded good...

Oh and lastly, debating whether I should try to hit it with some Orval dregs for a bit of brett character, or save that for another brew. Curious about trying the "Fast & Funky method" here: https://brewingforward.com/wiki/Sour_beer
But I also don't need to try everything all at once lol.

>>2871752
What size batch is this supposed to be precisely

>>2869932
>You don't have to. Sink all but the last inch of hose in the bucket, stop it off and pull to a good siphoning height. Voila
I saw a video on how this was done and it blew my mind. Can't find it now. The little tip at the bottler wand is hard to plug on an angle so I don't know if I can get it to work. I'll experiment thanks

>>2872005
I'm retarded and I can't read. Submerge the whole thing. Better than the video I saw, got it

I have to move countries and can't bring my ingredients with me, so I brewed the following Frankenbrew yesterday:

-5kg Maris Otter
-500g malted rye
-300g flaked corn (literally just all natural, 0 additive corn flakes from the grocery store)
-200g Carapils
-300g homemade candi syrup, light colour
-50g Chocolate malt

-10g Northern Brewer 11%AA 60mins
-5g Northern Brewer 11%AA 30mins
-1pck BE-256 Belgian Abbey Yeast

I used the mashing profile suggested by meadman in a previous thread of a protein rest, ramping up to 62 degrees, up to 72 and mashing out at 76. I was aiming for about 1.066OG but got 1.071 so it's gonna be strong lol. Will update in a couple weeks.

>>2872019
I was originally going to make a small 10L batch of a typical Belgian blonde or dubbel with a Munich malt as base but wanted to get rid of a 5kg sack of MO and some leftover rye malt. I probably should have just made half the amount of candi syrup as it's gonna end up at 7.9-8%, let's hope it ends up drinkable by New Years Eve. I promised by family that the entire batch would be bottle ready by then lol.
Thankfully I'm moving to Belgium where there are actually B&M homebrewing stores. I'm currently in Spain and there's only 2-3 online distributors that charge out the ass for delivery and frequently sell out of key ingredients.

>>2868948
Never responded because I don't like this glownigger email verification system 4chan has now.

Anyways, there's a specific tea here in nipland that does a great job of blending the sweet potato and hojicha flavor together and thats what I wanted to have accenting the beer. I got lazy though and also thought that it might get a bit gross if I had to drink an entire keg so I just ended up making a normal amber. Went for a grist of ~80% Pale/~8% Munich/~12% Caramel (split between 40 and 120) Hopping with some magnum for bittering and cascade/centennial/kent goldings for aroma. It's finishing up fermentation now so will move to the keg next week and force carb and let you fags know if it's any good.

>>2869837
DESU you might end up switching to kegging anyways so any "investments" you make into bottling gear might be shortlived. I made ~4 batches before I realized that bottling sucks absolute fucking dick. Switched to kegging and my only regret is I didn't do it earlier.

>>2871930
I was planning for 5.5 gallons.

Been messing around on the brewer's friend recipe calculator, but I'm not sure how accurate that will be since a lot depends on my efficiency I guess, which will probably be shit since I have no idea what I'm doing.

Now that I think about it, I just figure out the PPG for everything I'm using, and add up the totals points and divide by my volume, don't I? I did read (most of) Palmer's book, but reading practical techniques with out putting them into practice it doesn't always stick so well first go round lol.

>>2872063
That's a good point. I've mostly started with bottles due to lack of space for a dedicated fridge for the kegs. Also the expense of CO2 bottles and regulators and all that... Missed out on a few cheap and even a huge free setup on facebook which pisses me off, or I probably would have figure out how to make it work.

I do have a couple of sanke kegs I picked up cheap, but had intended to turn to pull the spears and make stainless carboys, but now I've ended up getting some glass carboys basically free so maybe I'll save the kegs for kegging.

Really my only other concern was portability. Of course you can bottle from a keg, but I'd read some styles it was very difficult due to carbonation or something. Can't remember the details now though. Also I want to experiment with sour and wild brews, so probably gonna end up with champagne bottles with corks and cages. I'd almost be tempting to get a bench top capper for that too (for less wild brews), if it could swap out the 26mm bell for a 29mm and cap the champagne bottles, but I don't think the vintage one can do that, nice as it looks.

Alright that's enough pointless rambling for now lol.

Since this is /diy/ any of you know of any decent plans for wooden beer crates? Preferably that fit a bunch of 22oz bombers nicely, or is that some other readily available solution?
Do milk crates work well enough?
Right now I've got a single plastic crate from coca cola, but it's made to fit cans and fits neither 12oz nor 22oz nicely.

>>2872076
I've never done partial mash or extract so you'd be dissolving some weight of extract into an additional ~4 gallons and combining? I was just tripped out because it looked like you were trying to make about a gallon and a half of impossibly rich wort

>>2872181
Something like that yeah, but I was thinking 2-3 gallons sort of all grain since that's the most I can realistically boil, then add the DME at the end of the boil, then add the extra water to dilute it and cool it down.

>>2872185
And since I'm going for a Belgian style, if my gravity falls a little short I figure I can make up a few points with sugar or blonde candi syrup. Only aiming for an OG of like 1.040 to 1.045 anyway.

>>2872187
I don't really know much about going for styles, but if the PPG math works out you should be OK. Can't imagine the sugar would be necessary

I'm not certain about the sanitation of dosing wort with cold water though.

>>2872063
Can't wait til I get a keg system set up. I usually make 20L batches and want an 18L keg for lawnmower/SMASH brews and a 10L for high gravity ones that I can bottle condition the other half of. I'm so done with spending the whole afternoon sanitizing, filling and capping bottles lol.

Also tap installation/maintenance is a very niche subfield of plumbing and you can probably get paid pretty well if you start working commercially. When I managed a bar there were literally only 2 guys in the entire city who did it and bars would be waiting weeks for one of them to show up and install a new tap line or just to clean them out every couple of months.

>>2872262
>I'm not certain about the sanitation of dosing wort with cold water though.
Been just filling up a bucket with tap water and dechlorinating with campden tabs, should be fine I'd think. Works fine making mead and wines anyway, never bothered boiling.

Had another thought, since I'm not confident in my mash efficiency (being that I've never done it before), but would it be a terrible idea to just add some glucoamylase enzyme to the mash to help, just in case?
Also thought about adding a bit of rolled or steel cut oats, just for a bit of something extra. I've seen some recipes for similar beer include a bit of wheat malt, but I forgot to add any to my order. But with the glucoamylase I should be able to break down the starches anyway even thought it's unmalted, right? Or maybe I won't bother and just go simple this time, no reason to overcomplicate stuff aside from fun and (lack of) profit.

Have any of you tried using citrus peels to flavor your brews? What were your results?

>>2872366
Personally I feel like you're going ham on this idea, but if a beer with "all the fixins" is what you want, enjoy.
I've heard external enzymes don't give the same flavor, but that wouldn't stop ME. Just be aware that the more complicated you get the harder it'll be to replicate

>>2872368
I made a spiced Christmas ale last year using Papazian’s “Holiday Cheer” as a base but also zested a few oranges and a few Yuzu and added near the end of the boil. Came out very nice. I’d recommend zesting over adding the peel in entirely because pith might make it astringent.

>>2872654
Forgot to mention, It depends on what you’re going for but you can get nice citrus while adding zero peels as well. Use some Voss Kveik and ferment it hot as fuck and you’ll get really nice orange marmalade flavor from the esters. I’m just now finishing a keg of APA I made with zero fruit additions but I fermented at lime 32C the entire time and it gave it a lot of citrus characteristic when paired with the healthy dose of citrus hops.

>>2872654
>>2872655
Neat. I'll probably try that.

>but I fermented at lime 32C the entire time
What does this mean?

>>2872654
where tf did you get yuzu, and do the citrus oils affect the head?

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First time bottling and the hand capper is a PITA. The caps come out slightly crooked as the capper clips on the ridge of the bottle (even though I'm wrapping a towel to prevent it as much as possible). I am also crimping it multiple times, each time rotating the bottle 90 degrees. Will I be fucked and they wont hold pressure? I'm gonna also use some PET bottles to safe at least a little bit of beer

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>>2872829
Update: was already in bed but decided to go to the shop and use the drillpress as a benchtop capper. Just placed the bell between the bottle and the drill chuck. Went surprisingly well, redid 2 bottles where i could easily twist the cap.
Question: is it normal that the cap can be rotated after capping with retard strengh?

I'm thinking of brewing sake but I'm worried about how I'll be able to steam rice on a large scale and repeatedly
What's the easiest set up for steaming rice?

>>2872742
Sorry I meant to say I fermented at like* 32 c the entire time. If you use Voss Kveik it can handle crazy high fermentation temperatures before throwing off bad tasting esters. The esters it produces in the high 20s-mid 30s are very citrusy and enjoyable

>>2872792
I live in Japan and got them from the market. I think it might effect head retention, I was able to pour with a very nice head still but it dissipated quickly. It was one of my first brews though so it also might have just been my general technique that could have impacted it as well.

>>2872861
When I bottled I was never able to twist a cap after fixing it on using a hand capper with relatively normal amount of force behind it. Are you using proper bottles? If the bottles you’re using are beers that were previously twist off I’d pitch them because maybe that’s impacting it. Also check if the oxygen seal is seated properly around the lip of the bottle while you’re capping. You want that shit tight trust me. My first ever batch I boiled the bottle caps which fucked up the rubber air seal on the inside of them and resulted in an imperfect seal. The cap wasn’t twistable on the beer bottle but if I held it upside down and waited it would drip a few drops of beer after a few seconds. The result? Beers that had the improper seal were flat, oxygenated and in some cases infected. I still drank through all 20 liters (as atonement for my mistakes) but it would have been a much more enjoyable experience if I hadn’t fucked the capping up.

TL;DR: take a few of those bottles and flip them upside down/shake them around and see if any liquid comes out. If it does, you don’t have a full seal and the beer will probably come out of the bottle flat and maybe very gross.

>>2872920
>Are you using proper bottles?
Yes, I guess at least. I think the problem in my case was the geometry (or spacing) of the shoulder where the capper pulls against. funny enough, the only bottles that capped properly with the handheld capper were 2 twist-off bottles that I used to test if they really are not suitable for homebrewing. thankfully I also bottled two 0.5 l swingtop bottles and two 1.5 l PET bottles. Those should carbonate properly.
> Also check if the oxygen seal is seated properly around the lip of the bottle while you’re capping
how do you do that?
> take a few of those bottles and flip them upside down/shake them around and see if any liquid comes out
This morning I held one upside down and gave it a little shake, no leaks so far. fingers crossed that the whole batch is safe

>>2873028
>how do you do that?
If the cap feels tight on the bottle I'm sure it's fine. Mine got fucked up because I listened to the (wrong) advice in "The complete joy of homebrewing" that tells you to boil caps to disinfect them. It caused the rubber/plastic air seal to come lose and not create a firm seal on the bottle.
>This morning I held one upside down and gave it a little shake, no leaks so far. fingers crossed that the whole batch is safe
You're probably fine then. Try with a couple more bottle and also in a few days after it's had time to carb in the bottle and if you don't get any leakage you're more than likely completely fine.

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>>2872907
You don't have to steam it, you can just boil it and get decent results. If you do want to steam it, dunno. I made a bunch of Chinese style rice wine before and I steamed the rice, but I just did it in multiple batches since it needed to cool down anyway. It was a huge pain in the ass.

Best bet may be getting on of those Vietnamese style rice steamers, the big conical bamboo basket thing. You can get them pretty big, and just put it on top of your largest pot of water, might work alright.

>>2872829
>The caps come out slightly crooked as the capper clips on the ridge of the bottle (even though I'm wrapping a towel to prevent it as much as possible)
The picture of the cap shows that it's gone completely wrong, but I don't understand what you're trying to say. Perhaps if you could illustrate with a photo with the capper on the bottle?

>>2872861
>Question: is it normal that the cap can be rotated after capping with retard strengh?
No and you shouldn't need to press that hard. When you push to hard the pin in the "bell" makes depression at the top of the cap (obviously this doesn't happen when you use the drill press).

The only ways I can think of is that the stopper pin is set to far down so that the "bell" can't get down far enough to fold in the sides. Or you got a capper with the wrong or an extra "bell", that's made for the 29mm champagne caps (beer caps are 26mm) and it's just too wide to fold in the sides of the cap.

I've made about 20 gallons of mead over the last few years, but I've always used cheap clover honey, and wildflower honey gifted/traded from friends with hives. I am currently making my first gallon with a real varietal honey (blackberry blossom) and My God... The smell coming from the airlock is mouthwatering. It smells like melomels I've made with 20lbs of fruit, but it's just 3lbs of honey. What are some other varietal honeys I should try?

>>2873196
You might find buckwheat honey novel. You may not find it good, it's a strong tasting honey

>>2873057
thanks brethren :3

>>2873110
>I don't understand what you're trying to say
meant to say that the capper slips on the shoulder of the bottle, where it's supposed to pull against
I used the right size bell (both sizes came with the capper)
>When you push to hard the pin in the "bell" makes depression at the top of the cap (obviously this doesn't happen when you use the drill press).
the depression actually happened with the drill press and not the handcapper. i have to check if there is a burr on the hole and will prob chamfer it anyways.
>The only ways I can think of is that the stopper pin is set to far down
man i may be retarded. i searched the damn thing for adjustments but couldnt find anything to change.

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>>2873246
>meant to say that the capper slips on the shoulder of the bottle, where it's supposed to pull against
>I used the right size bell (both sizes came with the capper)
If yours is like pic then you also need to remove and flip the plastic parts or equivalent (some come with two sets and they are usually metal) as it's set to the wider 29mm bottles.

>>2873246
>man i may be retarded. i searched the damn thing for adjustments but couldnt find anything to change.
Probably not retarded, almost none are (it could still be set too low:-)

If I want to get into all grain, what's the best equipment setup? Is it worthwhile to get a boilpot ( 8 gal megapot with spigot and thermometer) and mash tun (10 gal cooler) setup, if it's reasonably cheap (used stuff from facebook market)? Or should I keep looking for a used all in one electric system, or buy the cheap vevor one? Or should I DIY my own electric setup with a 15 gal keg? What other stuff might I need? Is it better to just do BIAB in the megapot and skip the cooler mash tun?

I'm sticking to 5 gal batches (maybe even 3 dunno) and would like to be as frugal as possible.

>>2873431
>as frugal as possible.
Why that's 2 or 3 buckets and one spigot. Google Zapap tun, the only reason I don't brew 5 gallon batches is because I don't have a fermenter of an appropriate size.

>>2873457
Well I've got plenty of buckets and stuff, but how do you maintain the mashing temp? Also still gotta figure out how to boil a large quantity of liquids and need a vessel to do it in...

Also a general question: What is the equivalence between extract and grain? Like 1 lb of extract is equal to how much grain, given some average efficiency? I want to get into all grain for versatility, but (equipment aside) curious how big a difference there would be cost wise.

>>2873462
>but how do you maintain the mashing temp?
Boiling water infusions. You'll have to play with mash thicknesses that suit, I've overshot my lauter tun capacity a few times, a zapap tun only has a max capacity of ~4 gallons of mash

I've never used extract, but google says ~.75lb of liquid extract = .6lb of dry extract = 1lb of malt and extracts are universally more expensive per unit even accounting for actual extract value.

I just heard a noise from my bottle conditioning beers... Like if I lightly bumped into a box of bottles. Should I be worried? I've got a few in plastic and they're firm but not rock hard, and I've drank a few and they're carbed a bit but not overly so.... But some of those have been in twist off bottles so maybe they've been letting off pressure. Hope shit doesn't explode.

>>2873505
They’re releasing mustard gas. R.I.P.

>>2873505
F

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>>2873275
fugg they were already in the correct orientation. but didn't know you could rotate them, thanks for the info!

>>2873474
>.6lb of dry extract = 1lb of malt and extracts are universally more expensive per unit even accounting for actual extract value.
Messed around with some recipes and that seems right. But damn, ritebrew has 3lbs DME for $9.39 and most base malts are like $1.80 or so (plus like 10 cents per lb to grind them), so on a high gravity beer that would save me like $3, plus I need a bunch of extra equipment and time.

Now I'm kind of wondering if it's even worth it over doing extract or partial mash to get some fancy grains in. If I milled my own grains and bought in bulk the economics would be different, but then that another like $200 for a grain mill.

what the best method for the most neutral, reflux distilled spirit? carbon filtering? triple distill? im trying to make clean liquors and everclear sucks ass

>>2873638
ATF is going to shoot your dick off

>>2873625
>like $200 for a grain mill.
I use a corona hand mill, they're pretty cheap even though they aren't ideal
All sorts of DIY mills too

>>2873625
The point of full grain isn’t primarily for the savings. It’s because it gives you more control over the beer (mixture of malts) and it tastes better (inb4 extractfags try to act like their beers don’t have the unmistakeable extract twang in them)

If your primary concern is cost over flavor/time enjoying the hobby why don’t you just go buy a 24 pack of natty and call it a night?

>>2868574
The meads been going for a month and has seemed to pause. Doesn't smell rotten but doesn't smell great. I don't think I want to try wild yeast again I think controlled fermentation is better. I'm cheap so I'll just harvest yeast

>>2873753
Damn bro ur right. If I can't get the most expensive and complex setup possible, then I should just drink natty light. There is clearly no middle ground whatsoever.

>>2873888
>the most expensive and complex setup possible
DME is the most minimal setup possible. It's being suggested that you take one single step up. Shut up you obnoxious faggot.

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anyone here brewing professionally?

>>2873900
>poisoning and wrongful deaths
>convicted on mail fraud and tax fraud
wut

>>2873902
two things you can't fuck around with in the usa: mail, and taxes. everything else is a money issue

>>2873902
Wrongful death is a civil thing, poisoning by way of commerce is typically dealt with by way of fraud charges because he wasn't trying to kill anyone specific, just being a negligent dishonest shithead.

>>2873791
Just let it sit longer
Wild ferments aren't ever going to give you consistent results unless you take steps for it to do so, so I wouldn't consider it a cost-cutting measure anyway

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>>2873976
>run successful business buying glycerin, methanol, and other biofuel products
>sell to hippies and stoners as food grade solvent "100% from corn" (wink) for their pagan tinctures
>pay $43,000 across 3 families that died
i'm thinking based and where do i get started?

BIAB vs "traditional" cooler mash tun, pros/cons?

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Two questions:

1. Which is a bigger improvement extract/partial mash->all grain, or temperature control?

2. Industrial milk cooler for fermentation chamber or kegerator? Yes/No? Internal dimensions are 46x27x25.5".

>>2874133
better control and efficiency with mash tun but more equipment and more cleaning. BIAB can't mash another batch while boiling, slightly less efficiency, sparging is a pain. you can go BIAB cheaply though and get a dedicated mash tun later if you feel the need

>>2874137
no sense going all grain if you can't do temp control

milk cooler looks badass

>>2874114
>for their pagan tinctures
It's also a common cleanup and "winterization" agent for weed extracts. No one makes alcohol hash anymore, but it cleans the CO2 machines well. I know folks who buy it in 3 gallon jugs for hundreds of dollars each by the pallet

>>2874139
>no sense going all grain if you can't do temp control
Decoction mashing

>>2873900
>selling adulterated alcohol
so this is why the methanol myth continues to live on

>>2874314
completely glossed over the fact he was distilling denatured industrial alcohol into a final product that had 30-45% methanol but go on about how big ethanol is out to get you anon

>>2874211
everyone tried it as least once, temp control is cheap enough though to justify to the wife

>>2874395
*tries it at least once
jfc phonefagging while drunk

>>2873888
You come to a board dedicated to hobbies for a thread dedicated to a specific hobby and then your only posts are how to spend as little time, effort, and money on the hobby like a little fag. Just shake some apple juice up with yeast in a 2 liter and leave it in your closet like all the other high schoolers wanting to drink hooch do.

>>2874393
nice reading comprehension

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>>2874430
not him but just because brewing happens to be your personal money-sink hobby you're coping with doesn't mean everyone else does too. there are people like me that want to brew good beers with the most questionable low-level hillbilly cheapskate setup as possible. feels kinda like a big "fuck you" to the government and the brewing jew. my irrational money pits are motorcycles and cars tho

>>2874466
>>2874430 was in the right, >>2873888 was being a whiny-ass bitch (much like yourself) after being called out on his laziness instead of looking at the fundamentals and /diy/'ing something in his third world price range

If I want to make a funky brett beer, can I just use solely Orval dregs (if I make a large starter)? I'm assuming it still has some sacc in there, not just brett. Or is it better to pitch some appropriate sacc yeast, then add the dregs for the brett?

>>2874006
Should I move it to another vessel and remove the blueberries? I still slosh it around every day and I'm using a cloth instead of an airlock.
>unless you take steps for it to do so
Such as? I'm interested in wild fermentation, at the same time I think commercial yeast is probably better for simplicity sake

>>2874449
thanks

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>>2874559
>Such as?
First finding a usable wild yeast, then inoculating it into your brewhouse environment in some way, which may or may not work. But there's some professional examples to be read about in Lambics, which are nominally wild fermented
>>2874466
>with the most questionable low-level hillbilly cheapskate setup as possible
How tf did you get in my kitchen

I don't heat much and it can get very cold in my poorly insulated cuckshed (got down to 11°C yesterday). Could this be a problem for mead and cider fermentation?

>>2874796
>cold in my poorly insulated cuckshed (got down to 11°C yesterday). Could this be a problem for mead and cider fermentation?
Yes, . Get a yeast that can handle low temperatures, wrap fermentation vessel in a blanket. Under 10C in the fermentation vessel you're in experimental territory.

anybody here tried roasting their own barley for tea making purposes?

Digital refractometer worth it over a manual one?

>>2874847
Oddly I was just thinking about trying that, mugicha is pretty good in summer and I haven't had it in years now

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>>2874861
unless it has an api you can get the values from yourself and automatically push to brewfather, no. the easydens by anton paar requires a mobile app which is stupid

picrel is my arduino + accelerometer + thermometer + 933mhz transmitter for 1/4 the price of the tilt, works great

>>2874801
I assume the tradeoff to those cold resistant yeasts is a higher cost and worse taste.
What is a normal temperature range for your "regular" yeast? Looking at something like linked below, it says 15-30 but I'm again assuming I'd ideally want it around 20-25. Isn't that just at the start of the fermentation though, with the process generating its own heat? Can yeast kill itself fermenting if the vessel is too well insulated?

https://brouwland.com/en/yeast-and-bacteria/1948-dried-yeast-mead-mangrove-jack-s-craft-series-10-g.html

>>2874934
I feel like it should be fairly easy with plenty to explore, varying the roasting variables and possibly adding sprouted/malted one in as well.
I have also seen it done with buckwheat.

>>2875112
>I assume the tradeoff to those cold resistant yeasts is a higher cost and worse taste.
You can get a neutral widely used yeast with neutral taste that goes down to 10C like https://brouwland.com/en/yeast-and-bacteria/112-dried-yeast-ec-1118-prise-de-mousse-lalvin-5-g.html

Note that this yeast will ferment dry.

>>2875112
>Looking at something like linked below, it says 15-30 but I'm again assuming I'd ideally want it around 20-25.
No, you want it at the lower range to get the esters specific to that type of yeast (as is stated in the description).

>>2875112
>Can yeast kill itself fermenting if the vessel is too well insulated?
Over the range generally yeast get stressed, produce off flavours and die.

>>2875018
>picrel is my arduino + accelerometer + thermometer + 933mhz transmitter for 1/4 the price of the tilt, works great
Interesting. I'd seen the tilts and how expensive they are, figured it couldn't be terribly difficult to DIY. I've got a teensy laying around currently unused, maybe I'll have a go at it. Got any details on how you put that together?

>>2875018
...what the fuck does it do

>>2875196
I'll push everything to my github tomorrow. you won't be able to drop my code in directly because i did a TON of work around deep sleep (on a 110mah battery it'll last 3 months). you'll need an accelerometer, vial, battery, and whatever communication protocol you want (wifi, ble, 433, etc). i went with a 433mhz transmitter because multiple receivers can pickup its broadcasts without much hustle and also the radio supports deep sleep to a couple of microamps relatively easily. then all you do is sample the accelerometer every X minutes, run some math, and convert to a gravity reading. i calibrated/checked its a accuracy between 1.080 down to 1.000. it's not 100% accurate, but it's like +/- 5 points. i'm sure there's more that could be done but i use it more to monitor progress. i set a 433mhz receiver on my fermentor because sometimes it has issues penetrating stainless

>>2875221
my next rev i'm planning on putting in a buzzer (for self cleaning, i suspect krausen or bubbles sometimes causes inaccuracies), pressure transducer, light and color sensor (if i can successfully detect SRM). i do pressure ferments with it and as long as the vial is not airtight i have no issues

>>2875204
detects gravity during fermentation based on how it floats tilted. it will tilt less in low gravity, more in high gravity. i then push that data every hour to brewfather to monitor fermentation progress

>>2875204
>that's the thing, it doesn't do anything!

>>2875112
>I assume the tradeoff to those cold resistant yeasts is a higher cost and worse taste.
*laughs in lager yeastish*

Do any of you know if those plastic German beer crates made for 500ml bottles will fit 22 oz bombers? The 22oz is slightly larger though not hugely so, but I don't know how tightly the 500ml bottles fit.

Or am I better off just getting milk crates or other random industrial plastic crates that don't have dividers?
I don't mind bottling, it's just storing all the damn bottles conveniently that's the issue lol.

>>2875224
That's neat, but is there meaning in such fine control? Not to shit on the accomplishment, it IS cool, just... we've been brewing for millennia. I guess it feels pretty solved from a tech standpoint

>>2875337
of course, it helps me maintain consistency across batches and provides feedback when i tweak parameters. yeast is the star during fermentation and monitoring their progress can tell you a lot about their health. it also lets me know when to raise the temp for the diacetyl rest or when to start natural carbonation on non pressure ferments

>>2875337
also you say we've known about this for a millenia but really yeast wasn't proven until the 1800s or thereabout. most of what we know has only recently been discovered, and there's still new science published daily on the study of it

>>2875221
as promised, my code: https://github.com/ackfjb/lean/blob/master/lean_client.pde

you'll have to write the receiving end as it's specific to what you want to do with the data

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>>2875372
note on the receiver, you'll have to use the spreadsheet linked in the lean_client.pde comments to calculate the formula for translating pitch to °Plato

>>2875337
The point is to get gravity readings without having to disturb your brew, thus minimizing oxygen exposure.

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Are Grolsch bottles worth it? I've already picked up a ton of cases of bombers, but there's a smoking deal near me for a shit ton of Grolsch bottles.
Also, is the rubber gasket a concern if I'm making some sour and funky beers? Don't want to infect clean beers. Maybe I should just stick to regular crown caps for those?


Also wtf is with 4chan constantly telling me I'm uploading an unsupported file type when it's a fucking jpg all of a sudden?

>>2875432
gaskets are cheap and available in the hundreds, they should sanitize fine but you can swap them out any time you're concerned. In your position I'd probably do a test brew of half fresh, half used gaskets and see if I can spot any differences.

I personally didn't have much luck with swing top bottles but I'm putting that down to my inexperience at the time and a bad batch of plastic swing tops - ceramic tops have a good reputation.

Are airlocks really necessary? I've just been putting caps on slightly loose

>>2875482
Reduces the chance of contamination.

>>2875489
Yeah I know their purpose but how would it fair better than having a cap on loose? Does the same thing except the airlock gives you satisfying bubbles

>>2875503
Also where I live an airlock and a bung cost $3 each. IDK maybe they're better for aging stuff that's a ridiculous price. I sanitize the cap and leave it on loose. Maybe I should tighten it and crack it open a notch to let co2 escape

>>2875467
>I personally didn't have much luck with swing top bottles but I'm putting that down to my inexperience at the time and a bad batch of plastic swing tops - ceramic tops have a good reputation.
Hmm yeah I've heard some mixed things about swing tops and whether they're good for longer term aging or only good for stuff you're gonna drink within a couple of weeks. I think that's mostly been newer stuff though. The lot I'm looking at is apparently mostly brown vintage grolsch bottles they'd been using for homebrew for the past couple decades, so hopefully they're the good ones. If they hold a seal well enough, was going to do mead in them as well, but I don't know if it would be better to go with corked wine bottles for something I'm gonna set aside for a year or two.

>>2875507
As long as your brew is actively fermenting it doesn't matter, you could drape a towel over the top lol. It's once the main fermentation that's pumping out a bunch of CO2 is done that it makes more of a difference.

>>2875533
>It's once the main fermentation that's pumping out a bunch of CO2 is done that it makes more of a difference.
Right so if I'm ageing something an airlock is necessary. I thought it was common practice to transfer to a smaller vessel and leave minimal headspace because oxidation. I'm still learning

>>2875546
>I thought it was common practice to transfer to a smaller vessel and leave minimal headspace because oxidation. I'm still learning
For mead and wine, yeah. Beer apparently it's not recommended any longer (unless it's something that needs to age for a long time). But even with absolutely minimal headspace you need the airlock because, even if fermentation is done, you still have plenty of CO2 in solution and it can off gas for quite a while, so it's a bad idea to seal things (I've had bottles pop corks back out lol), but you also don't want to leave it loose or opened because even though you have a CO2 blanket on top of it, it can be disturbed and oxygen can get in or worse (fruit flies and acetobacter). So best to just use the airlock, it's a simple one way valve to prevent shit from getting inside that you don't want there.

>>2875686
I will keep this in mind if I ever make a wine or mead thanks

>>2875507
I made mine out of spice containers because I really am that cheap

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not exactly homebrew alcohol but kinda, since it involves creating volatiles

anyone make perfume here?

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>>2875432
Flip top bottles are great, I have about 100 750ml ones. There is a flaw in the seal system though, as far as I can tell the factory rubber gasket is great for the single use and seals perfectly on the factory product. As far as I could find they are organic rubber and deform permanently.

>>2875467
Aftermarket seals are usually silicone, which is great as it won't permanently deform or harbor flavors etc. The huge problem is that without deformation they do not properly seal. I've bought several different types of seal from all over the place, all of them slowly leak over time leaving near flat brews. Without deformation they do not "bite in" like the organic rubber.

The answer is non-hoop seals with no hole in the center - pirel. I've had 100% success with these, even past the pressure rating of the bottles. I sometimes put a bottle in the freezer to cool off quickly, and sometimes forget it until it freezes. The hoop seals leak and ooze out eventually freezing solid without breaking, the hat seals explode. Every time.

Also don't be a mook, separate the seals and soak them in non-rinse cleaner prior to bottling.

>>2875432
>>2876384
Well shit I have 15 swing tops and they weren't cheap. I should have just got a bottle capper instead. Figured bigger volume = less bottles to deal with

>>2876474
Do you really regret drinking 15 Grolsh though

Does anyone have any advice for cleaning out a keg? My pumpkin ale came out of it tasting like the Grapefruit IPA that I stored in it previously. I let some hot water from a kettle sit in it for a couple of hours and then I rinsed it a few times with more hot water before letting some sanitizing solution sit in it for a few hours but I guess that wasn't enough.

>>2875710
based. How big/small are these containers?
>>2876546
kek I wouldn't but these bottles are brand new. I made beer once before as I'm still new and the carbonation was relatively low. Either my sugar priming calculations were wrong or the seals just suck

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>>2876639
Brushie Brushie Brushie, always. Sediments are sticky and everywhere. I use unscented washing up liquid as first resort, dissolved washing up tablets/powder next. For deeper clean the homebrew store will sell you pbw, unscented no optical whitening vanish stain remover is the cheaper/more accessible pleb solution.

Sanitizing solution such as starsan is acid that kills germs, it doesn't clean anything.

>>2876341
I have not, but I've definitely thought about it, or making extracts to scent/flavor pipe tobacco as well, like all the old school floral Lakeland types.
Nice looking setup you got. What's the tl;dr, alcohol extraction then distill? Or something else?

>>2876384
Nice, hadn't seen those solid gaskets. Seem like a good solution. I decided not to get the grolsch bottles though, nice as they may be. The worry about cracked ceramic tops harboring bacteria, the potential for leaks, and the fact I already have enough bottles to hold like 30 gallons.... Ultimately lead me to deny my hoarder instincts lol.

>>2876639
Do you have PBW? If not unscented Oxiclean works great too,. The key is to mix it up in hot water, like 170F and let that soak for a while and splash it all around. Of course scrubbing will help if you've got stuck on shit, but the hot oxiclean solution will clean the absolute fuck outta shit. Some people recommend rinsing with an acidic solution afterwards, since the oxiclean is very alkaline. Starsan is acidic anyway though, so that'd probably work fine.

I have heard oxiclean/pbw can corrode stainless if you leave it to soak too long but I think that's a problem for 24+ hour soaks.

Anyone here made a christmas beer?
If so which spices did you end up going with

I've got a couple gallons of mead with 3lb honey in each. I used some wine yeast I found on amazon and realize now each packet is meant for 1-5 gallons and I used the whole thing for just two.
I've had it going for a week and a half and it slowed down a lot now. In the beginning it was crazy active and almost foaming at the top. Now there's no visible honey at the bottom but I still see bubbles.
Should I just let it go until there's nothing left for the yeast to eat? I know it'll make a dry mead but will it have a yeasty flavor too?

>>2876797
>Should I just let it go until there's nothing left for the yeast to eat?
Yes. There's no good hombrew way of stopping a fermentation to preserve sweetness. There are ways to make it not start again should you want to add sweetness later.
>>2876797
>I know it'll make a dry mead but will it have a yeasty flavor too?
Leaving the dead yeast in while it clears and matures is what will give yeast flavour. Racking is the solution.

>>2876824
>There are ways to make it not start again should you want to add sweetness later
I've heard about pasteurization and chemically killing the yeast. I actually want it to be a little carbonated so I'm fine with a small amount of secondary as long as it doesn't destroy my swing top bottles.
>Racking is the solution
I'll look into this, I don't have many spare bottles but maybe I can temporarily transfer into a spare gallon jug, remove the yeast, then put it back.
>while it clears
I was under the impression I need pectinase to clear hazy mead. Will it clear on it's own with aging? I'm trying to go for a golden clear look for family gifts next year, the hazyness put people off last time they tried it.

>>2876797
you don't have to worry, people have used an entire packet for just 1 gallon without having any issues. it's just technically a bit wasteful since you could have made more booze, but it's not harmful by any means
>>2876830
it'll likely clear on its own with time. once activity completely stops, you can put your container in a cool place and that'll help particles drop down to the bottom. then you use a racking cane to suck out the mead without disturbing the yeast and sediment, and you'll be good. I have a crystal clear cranberry mead and all I did was let it sit in my basement for 6 months without touching it

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Not really brewing but anyone know where I can glass bottles that fit this thread type? It's the same ones that used in soda bottles.
I've only been able to find a single glass bottle that uses it and it's some grape juice at my local store for $5 for 650 ml.

>>2876341
the tldr is you can really make it work however you can! it is an art of manipulation, like wrestling, except instead of a human, you are wrestling gasses and oils. you can use alcohol to pull things out of bodies--but you can use anything like alcohol, vinegar, or even sulfuric acid. its also not necessary to use solvents, as you can use fire and heat to pull things out of bodies as well

>>2876959

meant for

>>2876756

>>2876824
>There's no good hombrew way of stopping a fermentation to preserve sweetness.
Sulfur fumigation was the traditional method, unknown dose of sulfite ion though

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About to toss together a sparkling mead. I have some cider-beer I'm gonna bottle, then planning to re-use the yeast cake of Lutra kveik for the mead. Current plan is 12 lbs of tropical blossom honey and top up with water to ~5.25 or 5.5 gallons (since I want a clean 5 gallons for secondary so as to not leave too much headspace). Think it will be decent? That's not a whole lot of honey per gallon, IIRC it would come out to about 9% ABV, think it will have enough flavor? Also don't want to add more honey because mine is all in individual gallon bags so I don't want to leave a partial bag.... And I've only got one gallon of the tropical blossom. Rest is Christmas berry or Macadamia. Should I just make a slightly smaller batch and risk a bit of extra headspace in the 5 gallon carboy for more concentrated flavors and slightly higher abv?


So I guess I'm gonna do it anyway, regardless... But was wondering if you people think it will come out alright? Just want a light, easy drinking sparkling mead for refreshment.

Oh, and how much yeast nutrient? Everyone says kveik loves nutrients, but all I've got is the cheap DAP+urea shit. I can boil some baker's yeast though, got a pound of that stuff. Been meaning to pull the trigger on all the fancy fermaid-k, fermaid-o, go-ferm shit but haven't yet and don't really want to wait to get this mead started. Not worried about having it ready in one month or anything anyway, it can sit for at least 4-6 months.

pic related, going for something like that-ish.

Just had a thought, if I do 5 gallons, then only get like 4.5 out and put that in a 5 gallon carboy, would the degassing and a bit of kmeta be enough to prevent oxidation from the larger headspace? And also, how long of a secondary is too long to bottle carb with Lutra if I don't want to add more yeast at bottling? And if I do add more yeast, is ec-1118 a bad idea? I know ift only eats simple sugars, but I have no idea what lutra may have left behind, since mead is basically only simple sugars --- that is to say, will lutra ferment completely dry in a mead?

I have a water distiller. Should I even bother attempting to distill with it? Read the gasket could break becauseof the vapors, off flavors etc. Wouldn't carbon help with off flavors?

I need 2.5lbs of honey for my recipe, but I only have 1.5lbs. Can I just start it now and add the rest tomorrow?

>>2877477
yup

Trying to wash my kveik yeast, but videos I've seen people will get everything stirred up with water, let it sit for like 45 minutes and the dead yeast drops out leaving a sort of milky liquid which can be decanted.
But my yeast does not do that, it just separates into an almost clear liquid, and the thick trub looking stuff (starting at like 2/3rds to halfway up the container) which slowly compacts, there's no in between with obvious dead yeast and obviously in suspension yeast.
Not sure how to go about this, since I don't want to just dump a bunch of dead yeast in my next brew. So, what do?

>>2877570
Leave it for half as long, decant everything you can off the trub and try again. The vague haze still in suspension is probably not viable yeast but bits of yeast.
Bottom collected?

>>2877706
Yeah, just dumped the cake from a beer I bottled into a gallon jar and added dechlorinated water. Decided to leave it in my fridge overnight so everything can settle out and then I'm gonna pour off the beery liquid and try again with the sediment. If nothing else at least it'll be cleaner I guess.

Is there a way to carbonate beer fast without a keg? 2 weeks is a long time

>>2877943
i've carbonated beer in a sodastream machine before. it works but you have to release the pressure very slowly otherwise it with froth up violently. for larger volumes it's better to get a keg to attach a co2 bottle to

>>2877943
pressure fermenting, natural carbonation, or get a carbonation stone and a keg lid that has an extra gas fitting. with a stone i raise the psi +1-2 every 30 minutes, it's carbonated within a couple of hours but best if you leave it overnight after

>>2878006
>>2878023
Damn I'll just do bottles for now. Too poor for a keg

>>2878028
they're worth it though, bottles suck

>>2878028
The kegs I found are cheap enough. It's the fittings and regulators that are fuck expensive. I also don't have a stove powerful enough to make a 5 gallon batch. I get it's an investment but I also don't want to start going crazy and buying equipment just to make beer, I'm only making it because I like making stuff and I live in a communist country where beer is taxed heavily

>>2878193
powerful enough stove*
for>>2878034

>>2878193
>don't have a stove powerful enough
It's kinda fuel wasteful, but placing across two burners works even if you don't have "full coverage" of both burners. Also a vented lid works wonders, even if it's as simple as a sheet of foil partially covering the pot

>>2878205
I'm just going to stick to 3 gallon batches but good idea

>>2878211
ferment your 3 gallon batches in the keg and do pressure fermentation. you can build or buy a spunding valve for cheap

Got any interesting ideas for flavoring my next Kiljuu/wash? Tried the festive spices and going full-citrus already.

>>2878418
beef bullion

>>2878418
>interesting ideas for flavoring my next Kiljuu
If your from Finland you'd probably want salmiakki.

i'm gonna try brewing some rice wine without any mold. anyone have experience with that? i don't have any debranching enzymes and i heard that rice is mostly amylopectin. a-amylase and glucoamylase will be good enough

>>2878555
I don't see anything functionally wrong with this

>>2878555
Depends on the type of rice, are you using glutinous rice? Normal long grain rice has a higher amylose content, but glutinous(sticky) rice is basically 100% amylopectin.

>>2878448
I've been curious about savoury flavourings for a while. I've only seen people talk about mushroom wine though.

>>2878668
Alpha amylase doesn't actually suffer any weaknesses between amylose and amylopectin so I'm not sure it would make a meaningful functional difference other than the gelatinization temperatures
Also a difference in body considering amylopectin has way bigger alpha limit dextrins

>>2878767
serve it warm like soup. also dill would be interesting

I brew in the bag, would an overnight 8 hour mash work in a stainless steel pot?

>>2879134
You CAN, but it may taste a bit funky due to some souring by thermophilic bacteria maybe; that's a pretty long time
Why the extra-long mash?

I've lost the urge to brü.

>>2879275
I've also lost the urge, seeing my brother and my father in law being alcoholics makes me not want to brü. Used to love it

>>2879176
Was reading about that. I'm very lazy and I don't want to have to have to keep monitoring the temperature. Could I steep the grains for 2-3 hours instead and then boil? I want to try half hour boil

Does anyone take ASBC or MBAA seriously?

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>>2879398
Forgot picrel

>>2879296
What, exactly, are you trying to do? Ifyou don't have a system of heat control you can walk away from all night this isn't going to work very well at all.
While it's true you can extract fermentables cold and enzymes still function, neither of these are very efficient methods to do so. I don't want to say you CAN'T do what you're thinking, but you aren't going to get a beer out of it.
What you can try is get your BIAB going but use the BAREST heat setting your stove (or what have you) can do. THis might represent a slow enough climbing heat slow enough for complete enzymatic conversion. Your grains are off the bottom so they shouldn't burn, but burning stuff to the bottom is a real possibility because hot break will form and settle.
Have you considered just going extract?
>>2879399
Whatever this book is notwithstanding, I don't find much common ground between homebrewing and industrial brewing anyway.
Think I accidentally read a chapter once, pulled a brewing "research paper" off Annasarchive, was an excellent laugh, don't think I've ever read something so scholarly while simultaneously blind ignorant
https://annas-archive.org/md5/f264ca1778a0691c8586b2a5b38b803e

>>2879516
I see a lot of parallels between large breweries and homebrewers around innovation and hardware requirements; most of the practices and hardware are geared towards a future failing microbrewery forcing both sides to think out of the box. Core science is the same between us and them, minus the unlimited chemicals supplied by Cargill. The fact that the industry (guilds, ASBC, MBAA, hell even the fucking TTB) continues with their climate change and poor nigger inclusion distraction though needs reckoned. They bitch and moan that no one drinks beer or brews anymore and at the same time pass off and support this type of garbage science

>>2879296
Get a fucking Lowe's cooler, dough in at 170°F and walk away for an hour Jesus Christ you can't possibly get any lazier than that

>>2879516
>What, exactly, are you trying to do?
I'm trying to mash without constantly monitoring the temp. I just have to get over my laziness. I've made 2 batches from grains I don't want to do extract I read it itsn't the best
>>2879540
kek will do

>>2879608
>I read it itsn't the best
Neither is trying to fuck off the brew because you're lazy. It's not 1986, extracts are arguably better now than they've ever been. If you wanna be lazy, be lazy for real; whatever quality loss you perceive will be minuscule compared to what you could end up with trying to fire-and-forget without the equipment for it.
>>2879537
>Core science is the same
That's just the thing; brewing predates science. The biological and chemical processes are well elucidated at this point, it's one of the most studied topics in science historically speaking; but the process in basic was understood before we even had the tools of measurement to quantify anything. Industrial brewing is seeking a level of efficiency and standardization that is straight not relevant to the homebrewer.
Personally I started brewing because I wasn't interested in their beer anymore.

>>2879660
Hops weren't widely added to beer until the 14th century, and yeast wasn't known until the late 19th century. I think to say the process (as we know it) was understood is misleading. Ale conners judged beer by sitting in a puddle of it to see if their pants got stuck. You're supposed to scream at kveik when pitching it. There's nothing wrong with the standards that modern brewing has brought, and even as a homebrewer you should be practicing predictability and repeatability. I'll still slam 15 Coors lights and revel in Bill Coors 100, or AB-InBev yeast's banana flavor they've carefully preserved since the 18th century. You don't like their beer and that's fine, but like it or not we're tied together with them closer than you think

Think I'm gonna do a brew today. Partial mash with 4 pounds of grain and I've got 3 lbs of DME, plus an extra bonus pound if necessary but I shouldn't need it if things go well.

Current plan is to do the 4lbs BIAB in a heavy stove top pressure cooker (just because it's thicc aluminum, not gonna do any pressure cooking). What's the best way to get the mash up to temp? I'm trying to mash around 148-150, want a very fermentable mash. Anyway, once I get 2 gallons of water + 4lbs of grain to around 149 I'm gonna seal the lid and place the pressure cooking into my oven pre-heated to 150 (then turned off) and leave for an hour, that should work, no?
Then sparge with 1 gallon of 170 degree water, and bring the wort to a boil (shit, it's not gonna be 3 gallons is it? The grain is gonna absorb a bunch of it....).
Thinking if I do a small concentrated boil, probably best not to add the DME until the end, though I will be doing a 60 minute boil for the hops. I've got 1 oz (wish I'd bought more, in hindsight), gonna do 0.75oz at 60 minutes, then the remaining 0.25 at 15 minutes or so. Then add the 3 lbs DME and dilute with cool water to 5.5 gallons or so and if the temp is right, pitch my yeast. If I'm understanding the bullshit I put into brewer's friend this should give me a nice light beer ~5% abv and 32 IBU though I'm not 100% on the IBU calc since I know more/less concentrated wort affects extraction which is one of the reasons to add the DME at the end of the boil.

Sound like an adequate plan? I've never done more than steep a bit of specialty grains before.

>>2879718
Oven seems a little overkill, just wrap it in towels or blankets. You'll lose a couple degrees over the hour but most of the conversion is done in the first 30 minutes where you'll be mucking around with putting it in the oven. I'd also just use the remaining .25 oz in a whirlpool/hopstand at 175°F for 20 minutes, you'll get some aroma out of them and more importantly won't have to save a quarter ounce of hops.

>>2879699
>yeast wasn't known until the late 19th century.
Yeast was known well before it jsut wasn't understood to be an organism. We had been collecting and repitching yeast for centuries, discerning strike and mashing temps by feel and appearance, hundreds upon hundreds of years of refinement by trial and error... Kveik is a perfect example; it had been kept around DESPITE the industry otherwise burying traditional yeast strains just by way of those farmhouse brewing scandis either didn't have the means or the interest in what industry had done for clean repeatable yeast strains. Sahti is made with baker's yeast; what did they lose in trade? We'll never know, their regional yeast is gone.

>>2879751
I was heating up the mash water on the stovetop anyway so putting the whole thing in the oven was like 30 seconds, but turning it off was the wrong move, should have left it on since it was only holding 149 degrees anyway on the lowest setting. I ended up leaving it for 90 minutes and at the end it had dropped to 138 in the middle and about 125 around the edges, hopefully it didn't cool off too quick. Also I don't know what a whirlpool or hopstand is lol. Wish I'd had more hops though, the wort doesn't smell very hoppy. I had an ancient packet of crystal hops but when I opened the packet they smelled cheesy so I didn't use them.

Anyway, I forgot to put my dilution water in the freezer and was only able to get the wort down to 108 (I don't have a wort chiller), so now my bucket is sitting out on my back stoop chilling in the cool night air. Guess I'm pitching the yeast tomorrow morning.

Whatever, it is what it is. I'll do better next time lol.

>>2879873
No boil?

>>2867914
OP's ferment-er gun' pop. OP will died.

>>2879910
Boiled for the normal 60 minutes.

Checked the temp and SG gravity this morning and pitched yeast. My original recipe I had intended to add 0.25 lbs of sugar also but I was worried about extraction so I added 0.5 lbs and overshot my OG by 10 points lol. Checking brewer's friend my low mash must have had waaaay better efficiency than I expected to get that high.

So anyway, was 1.054 at 66.7 F pitched my packet of Lallemand Abbaye. Honestly a bit cooler than I wanted since I want plenty of esters from the yeast, but it should be warming up over the weekend or I can always move it to my sun room to try and get some extra heat. Be interesting to see how this turns out, brewer's friend is projecting some crazy 88% attenuation but who knows.

>>2880000
Also just checked and brewer's friend was assuming 94B cells in a starter but I just pitched the dry packet so 55B. Guess that may affect my attenuation.

Oh yeah one more question: how accurate is brewer's friend? According to their recipe calculator to get the SG I got with the ingredients I used I would have had to hit 95% efficiency with my ghetto no idea what I'm doing stove top BIAB partial mash. So like, doubt.jpeg....

>>2880000
Generally you want to pitch colder and then warm a couple degrees each day, so that's good

>>2880005
About 90% accurate until you test and adjust your equipment profile, not a huge deal though with BIAB on the stove. The main thing is determining your boil evaporation rate and any kettle or fermentor losses so you end up with the right amount of wort and ultimately beer

do lees taste good? i don't want to try it myself. i like nutritional yeast, so i wonder if it has a similar flavor

>>2880028
Only way you're ever gonna know is if you try it for yourself.

Pitched yeast in my wort yesterday morning a little before 8:00 am, now it's 8:15 the following day and no sign of activity. I know there could be leaks or whatever and I'm not going to open the lid but damn was really expecting to see signs of a vigorous fermentation.

>>2880256
really depends on your yeast strain and pitching and fermenting temp
i've used us-05 and had steady fermentation for days and also 2-04 & be-256 and they both had insanely vigorous eruptive fermentation that completely ended after half a day or so

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this is my kitchen sink Belgian ale made with unconventional ingredients because I´m moving country and it's not worth taking the ingredients with me

recipe:
>5kg Maris Otter
>500g malted rye
>200g Carafoam
>300g corn flakes (from the grocery store; zero added sugars or preservatives)
>50g Chocolate malt
>200g homemade candi syrup, medium colour
>10g Northern Brewer 60 mins
>5g Northern Brewer 30 mins
>1 pck BE-256

mash profile, gracias a Meadman:
>53c 10 mins
>62c 45 mins
>72c 30 mins
>76c mashout

It's been bottled just over a week and it tastes great. Very malty and caramely, I was going to make a very small batch of a real Belgian ale with some Munich malt but I have to move for work and decided to get rid of as many ingredients as possible. At least I have Christmas presents for anyone besides my family

>>2880256
>I know there could be leaks or whatever and I'm not going to open the lid
At the start of fermentation, oxygen is your friend. Open the lid and vigorously whisk for a few minutes with whatever you got handy that's easy to sanitize (I use a ladle), wait another 12 hours. This is called aerating the worth and is common practice.

>>2867914
You should probably chill that bro, an immersion chiller is like $40 (I bought a copper immersion chiller for £25 in the UK) and it can chill 20 litres of wort from 100C to 20C in less than 40 minutes.

>>2880376
>corn flakes (from the grocery store; zero added sugars or preservatives)
Im going to write about this here because it's basically impossible to find information online about using corn flakes: yes they work well and they didn't do anything to stall or fuck up my fermentation. I got store brand zero additive cornflakes with no preservatives or sugar and just threw them into the mash with my malt. I used BIAB and had no problem brewing with them, they kind of dissolved into the rest of the dough. Idk how they would fare in a traditional brew kettle which I know can get clogged up when brewing with rye etc. if you are in a pinch you can definitely use these as an alternative to flaked corn from a brew shop, they contributed to my OG exactly the same as Brewfather predicted brand name flaked corn would.

>>2880344
>BE-256
I pitched Lallemand Abbaye at 66F, from what I read I'd figured it would be a vigorous fermenter. Last batch I brewed I used kveik and that shit went wild.
>>2880396
I had stirred it up pretty well with one of those plastic mash paddles with holes before I pitched, I would have thought that'd be enough aeration, plus when I was getting everything in my fermenter there was no shortage of splashing and stuff lol.

Anyway, it finally started bubbling away last night, no idea why it took so long, but all's well that ends well. :D

>>2880462
Where from?

>>2880462
I don't have a chiller and get about the same results immersing my boil kettle in icewater

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>>2880462
ain't no way I'm wasting that much water

Checked in on my brew today, the airlock is going crazy, basically nonstop blowing CO2 through it. Decided to crack the lid and check out what's going on inside since I was worried I might need a blow off tube. Nice thicc krausen everything looked good, got like 2" of headspace so should be good with just the airlock.

Made me think though, would have been a good time to top crop some yeast, wouldn't it? I've never done it before, do you just scoop some foam and gunk off the top? Then what, mix with some distilled water and keep in a jar in the fridge?

>>2880693
Who cares it's water, it literally comes out of the faucet

i finished making my first wine and just filtered through some cheese cloth. is it meant to taste terrible? my dad makes wine too and it tastes similar, so i don't know what the deal with that is

>>2880843
I'm not a big fan of wine generally so I'm inclined to tell you "yes", but without knowing more details I can't tell you if it's because you fucked up or not.
Let's start at the beginning-- what, precisely, were you filtering out

>>2880843
What does it taste like? And what was the recipe?

>>2880717
Next day, the airlock is dead lol, guess it's done. Might crack it open and check gravity later, haven't decided yet. Gonna leave it for a full two weeks in primary anyway.

Now to decide what else to brew. Still been meaning to put together a sparkling mead, just being lazy. Want to get another beer started too but I can't decide what kind. This current one is meant to be a Trappist type single or light Belgian blonde ale, so something sufficiently different from that for variety would be nice.

>>2880913
>>2880977
it's a rice wine made with lalvin yeast. i forgot the exact label for it. i let it go for maybe a week and then dumped it out through a big net to filter the rice from the liquid. i think it is strange that the flavor of it is very similar to my fathers wine which has already been siphoned and bottled, so it shouldn't be because of yeast floating around. i have no idea how to describe the flavor. it is not rotten or spoiled, it has some kind of chemical taste

>>2881158
>i have no idea how to describe the flavor. it is not rotten or spoiled, it has some kind of chemical taste
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_fault#Detecting_faults_in_wine_tasting Try to identify and there may be a fix or at least a probable cause so you don't have to repeat it.

>>2881256
sorry, none of these fit. all i can guess is that it's the flavor of the yeast since the other wine i've tasted didn't have this flavor. i will try a wild fermentation and see if the same thing happens

>>2881348
Filter materials can leave a musty taste. Used to be able to put a ball of the old saran wrap in the fermentor and the plastic would bind to the taste. New stuff is a different plastic and doesn't work.

Why are regulators for kegs so expensive? Can I just get a $50 one? I made a 5 gallon batch and I'm seriously considering buying a keg and ditching bottles. What are the essentials needed for the keg? I want to serve it straight from the keg, I don't want a kegerator. Also best way to bottle a few beers if I ever want to gift a few? Thanks

>>2881372
my father suggested running it through a charcoal filter so i will report back once i do that tomorrow

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>>2881430
also interested.
playing around with the idea of repurposing an old fridge/freezer to a kegerator/keezer.
my main concern is the maintenance. do you keep the tap etc as is and just pour a beer out whenever you like or do you need to disassemble and clean everything after each use? whats the chance/risk of a keg going bad? not sure if the hassle of maintenance outweighs the hassle of bottling

>>2881430
Holy shit was looking into co2 tanks and they cost over $150 where I live insanely absurd. I can find a keg for $70 why are co2 ranks so expensive?

>>2881516
because those tanks are designed to hold huge pressures, more than kegs. you can get co2 refills so it's cheap in the long run

>>2881430
On the gas side you need a CO2 regulator, tubing, gas ball lock fittings, and either some pex or radial clamps to attach the tubing to the barbs on the regulator and ball lock fittings. For a tap you can do a picnic tap, but they suck. The nuka taps are nice because you can swap out nozzles so if you wanted to fill bottles you can put a nozzle on that has a hose attached that reaches the bottom of the bottle and fill with minimal foaming. The caveat though is these taps are expensive as shit, and then the pressure adjustable ones are like an extra $50 but they are nice because on the liquid side you need to "tune" it to reduce foam by calculating your pressure and hose ID to get the optimal hose length...usually this is around 10 feet or so which makes organization a pain.

>>2881473
Maintenance is easy, when I wash a keg with PBW I pressurize it a bit and run that through the faucet then follow it up with RO water. Don't run star san through vinyl tubing or it'll melt. Keezers are more efficient than kegerators and easier because you just built a wooden collar, drill your taps and CO2 in and put the lid back on. If you have a spare fridge temp controller it's an easy swap out so your beer doesn't freeze, else get a PID controller or spend the extra for a freezer capable of maintaining temps above freezing

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>>2881562
I don't have a better pic until I get home, this was my initial changes but I added a backsplash and place to set the glass while I fill it. Would recommend keeping your CO2 outside whatever you make; keeps the gauge more accurate-ish and gives more room for kegs

>>2881564
Whatever you do don't go with Duotight for your fittings what a waste of fuckin money that shit is

>>2881516
I've found several CO2 and nitro bottles in people's trash, as long as they don't need recertified you can usually just swap out for a full bottle and pay for the gas only or sell them back

>>2881562
>>2881527
>>2881566
Well fuck bottles. I don't want to deal with that. Guess I'm getting a keg

I used a whole bunch of boiled breast yeast as additional nutrients in a mead I just put together. Does all that dead yeast in suspension affect the SG? I was aiming for ~1.085 and the calculators and such online said that would be about 5.25 gallons with 1 gallon of honey, but I ended up not getting down to 1.084 until about 6 gallons. First tested the SG at ~5 gallons and it was like 1.095.

Anyway, making a simple sparkling trad mead with Christmas berry honey and lutra kveik, hope it comes out decent.

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>>2881791
>breast yeast

Hi /diy/! I've been wanting to get deeper into brewing for a while, I'm still learning.
Question: what's the difference between 2 row barley and 6 row? I know the physical difference and all that, but is there any substantial difference in results? Taste? ABV? Google tells me that 2row has a 3% yield in enzymes over 6row, but all this professional jargon doesn't tell me much as a newtimer.

>>2882033
Oh also, is really appreciate if one of you Anons explains gravity to me as well.
I'm here to learn.

Aw shit, another thing, the last time I tried to make mead, it molded in a week. I live in the South in the US next to a swamp, so should I get a dehumidifier for when I ferment? Back in the Pacific Northwest, I never had to worry about this since I was high altitude and the air was cold and dry when I was making wines.

Anyone grow their own grain or other fermentable? If so what has the best yield of sugars/starches?

>>2882082
Seconding this Anon's questions.

>>2882091
What I've found so far is that sugar beets are a good option.
Where i live it's a 6kg yield per m^2
1kg has around 140g of sugar so you're getting 840g per m^2.
840g of sugar can be made into 5L 10% sugar wash/mash.
Distilling that yields you 1.25L 40%.
Best yield I've found so far.
My calculations do not account for any losses or variables though, only about 40% of a distillation run is hearts.

>>2882094
In comparison barley yields around 700g per m^2 and you need about twice as much barely as you'd need plain sugar for the same % of alc.

>>2882035
>gravity
1.000 is equal to water
above that is denser than water
you can think a 1.050 SG as a water/sugar solution where 1L = 1050g (and NOT 1L of water with 50g of sugar added)
In reality this density will vary with temperature, which is why we correct measured results to a key temperature

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i do primary fermentation in a flip top bottle and drink half of it every day and refill it so i can have a fizzy drink every day

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>>2882035
basically what >>2882144 (checked) said.
to put it simple: the OG tells you how much sugar there is in the wort for the yeast to potentially ferment. after a certain time in the fermenter (say 2 weeks) you start to take SG measurements, to see how much has been fermented (the gravity readings will be lower, as the yeast has eaten up some of the sugars). if the SG stays consistent over consecutive measurements we assume that fermentation has finished and the last SG reading is our FG reading. you then put the OG and FG measurements in a formula, which tells you how much alcohol has been produced.

Is 5 or so months too long for beer to be sitting around in the fermenter? I injured my leg badly back in August and am only now in a position where I can actually consider bottling this

>>2882082
Sugar cane has, by far, the best yield. Absolutely nothing beats it. Apparently you can get 15kg/m^2 of cane, and the cane is around 16% soluble sugar (according to wikipedia). Super easy to grow too (provided you live in the subtropics to tropics, IIRC it grows fine in USDA zone 8+). Grows like a weed where I am. Was gonna grow my own but in the fall (harvest season) I can buy it dirt cheap already so probably not worth the effort.

>>2882261
Depends on the beer. Hop aroma is probably pretty degraded if it's a hoppy beer, but other than that should be fine.

>>2882301
>provided you live in the subtropics to tropics
Yeah, can't grow them here, northern Europe.
>can buy it dirt cheap already so probably not worth the effort.
Depends, having something you grew, harvested, brewed and distilled from scratch is pretty cool and probably feels really good when you have the finished product.

i just had my first explosion

>>2882199
holy based. Doesn't it taste too yeasty? I thought about experimenting and fermenting under pressure in a carboy. Crack open the lid every now and then. Probably would explode

>>2882323
>Depends, having something you grew, harvested, brewed and distilled from scratch is pretty cool and probably feels really good when you have the finished product.
Yeah still tempted, I have a few canes I'd cut into sections with nice nodes. Really want to try to find some nice heirloom varieties though if I'm gonna grow my own.

Also wanting to get some bee hives to farm my own honey. And I've got grapes, mostly just muscadines right now though, planning to get some wine grapes but due to my climate the selection of viable grapes is limited. Humidity and heat are a terrible combo as far as diseases and shit go, unfortunately. Seems like other than native grapes, black spanish is about the only kind that has enough resistance to fungus and disease.

>>2882537
>Humidity and heat are a terrible combo as far as diseases and shit go
Actually sounds like potential "Noble rot" botrytis (or was that a fusarium...so many damn fungi) but if it isn't it's definitely bad. You like Madeira?

>>2882509
no it tastes fine to me. it seems like if you treat it like a sourdough starter then the off flavors don't have enough time to develop

Wine has been in gallon glass with an air lock for a month, still bubbling.
used Champaign yeast, do I now just keep it in there for six months? the lees have settled out and it looks quiet clear

>>2882822
brilliant

>>2882828
it's probably done fermenting and is still bubbling because it's now degassing there is still a lot of Co2 being released. If you were to bottle it now, the bottle might explode. I don't know the time frame but it's good to rack it to a smaller secondary with little headspace if you're going to age it as eventually the CO2 will disperse and oxygen will get in. I am not a pro I just autistically read stuff online as you should too

>>2883043
Indeed it's degassing, I'm not sure if I rack it before aging, or rack it before bottling.

Because I have used Champaign yeast I fully intend for it to carbonate in the bottle rather than just killing it with those white pills, and I'm going to use Champaign bottled to mitigate the risk of it exploding.

Going straight to Champaign was not an act of arrogance, I decided that the first run would be unlikely to yield good results so I might as well go for Champaign and write it off as a learning exercise.

My plan is to eventually make elder-flower and ginger lemonade on an ongoing basis, but I need to learn the fermentation process, and live bottling process in order to do that

>>2882749
Can't say I've ever had Madeira.
As far as the diseases here there's Pierce's disease and like black rot or something? Plus the usual shit like powdery mildew and then there's anthracnose but I don't know if it affects grapes, it keeps messing with my mangoes though.

Haven't made any alc in a few years myself but will pick it up in a few years again when i get a property and build an earthen cellar to fill with bottles.
On a 10 year pause from booze though so will have some age on it by the time i can taste.
>>2882537
Huh, grapes grow well up north, usually almost fill a table with a pile.
If you're just doing a trial grow you shouldn't get anything fancy.

Have any bottling tips? I want a keg but at the same time I think it's a bad idea I'm an alcoholic and I don't want to start making huge sums of beer. Having a keg would make it way easier.

>>2883275
I read that racking it a few times before aging is common practice. Someone with more knowledge will chime in

>>2884220
You can get Cornys in 3 gal

>>2884418
Huh I'll check the price see if it's worth. On the other hand I have 15 750ml growler bottles so it's not that painful. The only annoying part would be waiting for it to condition

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the fermentation has started

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>>2867914
>>2867989
Why is my juice puffy and bubbly?
>This juice blend expired 6 months ago
>Had been drinking straight from the container but left kept it in the fridge
>It was fine so I drank some and it still tasted fetish, no stomach issues later
>Almost empty, filled only to bottom line
>Left it sit out overnight or a day
>When I looked at it after leaving it out, it was all puffed up
>I've burped the container several times and it just puffs up again
>It's extremely carbonated or something, shaking it makes it fizzy like soda pop
>It doesn't smell bad, actually sorta smells good
What's going on here?

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what are the little guys trying to tell me?

>>2884793
Yeast collected in the bottom of.the.jug bubbles drift up from them so it matches the pattern on the bottpm

>>2884806
Now explain my bubbles, >>2884678
why shouldn't I drink this?

>>2884808
fermented because it's not been pasteurized. all fruit has yeast on it and that shit has more sugar than mountain dew

>>2884808
At very worst, If you didn't sanitize and control this process carefully you might be breeding botulism or e coli.


It's probably some random yeast from you lips drinking out of the bottle and it might not taste very good.

>>2884793
That the uneven bottom provides more surface for gas nucleation

>>2884852
Botulinum is an obligate anaerobe and hates acidity, E coli is similar.
E coli can set up shop in a ferment only briefly very early if at all, botulinum can't compete with lactic acid bacteria and only arises in low-acid water-bath pasteurized foods where its endospores easily survive the process. They have a taste for protein and complex carbs so tend to contaminate beans and meats though their dormant endospores can be found in honey

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>>2884793
OHH SHIT

>>2884878
>>2884852
>>2884850
It's no sugar added, but yes fruits have natural sugar.
Because it's acidic that mean it's probably safe? I just moved at it again and the bottle is swelled back up again, I even squeezed slthe bottle in before uout the lid back on last time

>>2884915
Botulinum produces no gas, it's just adventitious fermentation by wild yeasts and bacteria, which is the normal path. Should be safe unless you're immunocompromised

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>>2884915
6 more grams of sugar than a mountain dew

>>2884948
I didn't say it didn't
>>2884939
Will I go blind
I don't brew, this is just old juice that went bubbly how long should I leave it sit

>>2884954
I just think it's funny when retards say things like "oh it's no sugar added/it's natural" not realizing the shit company is using the highest fructose content fruits available in their recipes. And then in the same breath they complain about hfcs in soda as if they've found some loophole in sugar water consumption

is there a special way you're supposed to pour beer? the foam is staying in the bottle, and i want my poured drink to have it

>>2884960
Kinda like "nitrate free" cured meats than then include stuff like beet extract.... Which is nitrates lol.

>>2884964
Uhhh... There shouldn't be foam in the bottle in the first place.

>>2884954
>Will I go blind
No
BUt you could just do this intentionally and feel bette about it

>>2885123
Do what intentionally

>>2885188
Ferment juice

I fucked up somewhere in mash or boil and scorched my wort. Notes of coffee, cocoa, campfire, and ashtray. It also was in primary for way too long. I normally do braggots and meads. Is this salvageable in any way via racking, barrelling or blending ?

>>2885395
one time i made a pretty bitter wort which tasted pleasant after fermenting it

>>2885403
this was a taste test after primary

>>2885523
Let it sit for 6 months then taste again

>>2885523
I'd try a clearing agent, probably gelatin. If removing the taste doesn't work I'd try to mask it by adding something like juniper.

Tomorrow marks 4 weeks my latest brew has been in primary, and I still can't summon the motivation to bottle it. If I hadn't been a lazy fuck and bottled it at 2 weeks as I had intended it'd probably be carbed by now and I could be drinking it.

>>2886416
you can drink it flat

>>2886416
lazy chads make beer by adding alcohol to wort before adding yeast and then bottling it. it's done after a couple days

>>2886659
Mmmm, wort schnapps

Would making kimchi and natto fall under home brewing? Can't eat solids yet but once i get to i want to experiment a bunch with it.

>>2886416
I made a 5 gallon batch and drank it flat
>>2886659
>adding alcohol to wort before adding yeast and then bottling
wouldn't that kill the yeast. I don't get this