Recent content by freisste

Out of curiosity, why were you saving your grain? I’ve used it in cookies, dog treats, and bread, so no judgement. Juuuuust curious...

Your grains fermented. Grain is covered in bacteria that probably didn’t get killed during the mash. So the same CO2 that is eventually going to carbonate your beer just popped your bag.

Dissolved. Not suspended. Correct me if I am wrong. Ie, sugar, salt, alcohol, etc. it has to be a solution. Yeast on the other hand (suspended, not dissolved), will not affect gravity measurements.

Quick update - the plastic bottle is pretty hard (this is me being a *tad* unscientific...just a little embarrassed as I am an engineer and I worked in a chemistry lab in college). I plan to pasteurize tomorrow. Barring unexpected/embarrassing/funny/interesting results, I won't post again until...

@Chalkyt, thanks for the reply. Yes, this does leave quite a bit of residual sweetness. For me, cider from a mill is unpalatably sweet. However, following the recipe posted above leaves a pleasantly sweet cider with great apple taste. I think I would have a stomach ache before I got drunk, but I...

Ok. In the past, I have filled a single plastic bottle in addition to the glass bottles. When the plastic is hard, I pasteurize. Not perfect, but it works. So you think I should add sugar to achieve 1.030, and bottle immediately? That was my basic though. Any idea how much sugar to add (per...

So I made an attempt at a cider roughly following the recipe/directions here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/5-day-sweet-country-cider.265986/ I've done this before with great results, halting fermentation at maybe 1.030 via dishwasher pasteurization. However, on this attempt I ran...

Good advice from several people already, but I'm with iijakii... I've never had one dry up if it was sealed. (Sealed meaning no way for the liquid to get out.)

It depends on the exact question you are asking. If you want to make beer (i.e., fermented sugar that came from grain), then no - you can make beer with no boil at all. It will be sour as you won't kill the lacto in your grain, but you'll ferment sugar into a drink. If you're asking if it...

Those three exclamation points have odd curves on the top...

I believe it depends. Sugar tabs are ONLY sugar and are fully fermentable. As such, you add sugar but no volume and your beer gets stronger. NOTE: As Yooper said, you are very likely to read the same FG as you are adding very little sugar and it is fermenting out. For the calculation, you would...

I'm not sure it is technically a pale ale or an IPA. Too hoppy for a pale, not enough alcohol for an IPA. Going by style guidelines, of course. So the choice of a reasonable description would have been "hoppy pale ale" or " session IPA." Not that different from "black IPA" (or CDA, or IBA, or...

I think I've heard that a pound of grain, after mash, will hold 1/10 gallon of water. This is a number used when people are trying to get a good mash+sparge volume to get their desired final volume. With that number in mind, 12# + (1/10)*12*8 = 21.6lbs. (Multiplied by 8 for density of water...

No issues. In fact, in general I would say it is better practice if you have the means and time (longer to wait until boil starts, longer cooling time). You will get less extract darkening and better hops utilization. Take hops into account as your cream ale could theoretically become a session...

I have a 7.5 gallon kettle (maybe it's 8, I can't remember) but I will concur that it is borderline for full boils. It's close, and useable, but I would prefer bigger. Personally, I do what you have shown, but I do a standard mash (not full volume) in my boil kettle in my oven to hold temp. So...