update:
4 days later and the next cider was perfectly carbonated.
The only things that changed were a slightly warmer temperature, tilting the bottles twice to disturb any sediment, and a short bit of time.
Either I had unevenly primed bottles, or the yeast just wasn't done yet.
I guess...
I'll be a contrarian opinion and say that tasting before final serving is useful, or at least interesting. I love tasting wort before pitching yeast, and tasting flat beer on bottling day. I can't really predict a final product, but I have gotten a better understanding of analyzing flavor in...
I ferment most of my batches with us05 specifically because I've had good luck with higher temps - thanks internet for that advice! No basement and sharing a small living space in DC with the SWMBO and a female roommate means I am not allowed to have an opinion on the thermostat. So far...
Fermenting at 65-68f, but now room temps are between 67 and 70.. A little chilly, but I had better results when it was colder a few months ago.
I am measuring sugar by weight. The porter used the premeasured sugar drops that came with a kit - also had good results after 3 weeks in the...
I fermented a cider on top of my IPA's yeast cake and bottled after three weeks. I siphoned the 1 gallon of cider on top of a simple syrup made with 1oz of corn sugar before bottling to ensure an even sugar distribution. Three weeks after bottling, pretty flat.
Bourbon barrel porter kit...
1) dark beers are great served very chilly
2) big beers are delicious fresh after carbonating.. Partially why aging is so hard for me to do!
3) hazy beers are superior to crystal clear beers
4) everyone either likes IPAs way too much, or hates IPAs too much. They have their place and are...
Here it is with the small blow off tube. Crossing my fingers it is sufficient! P.S. sorry for the sideways photo.. still trying to figure out how to orient landscape-style photos from the phone.
Bottling went easy last night, and went ahead and got the cider going! I added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and 1/5lb brown sugar dissolved in boiling drinking water as well for some added fermentables on top of the 1 gallon of fresh pasteurized cider. I think I was able to keep the fermenter...
The situation:
I have a small batch of IPA I'm going to bottle tomorrow. I have a gallon of relatively fresh unfiltered apple juice from the farmer's market in the fridge. I want to make a cider, but I'm also lazy and have no more packets of yeast on hand.
The question:
If I aerated the...
I received my first shipment of ingredients last week, nothing substantial but 1 pound packages of a dozen different whole grains and a couple 3lb packages of DME. Later for bulk grains I plan on using some kind of stackable plastic bins when I start buying in bulk, but only very specific...
Brewing has been going great! I'm so glad I made room for some small fermenters and was able to successfully get sufficient volume boils to do some small batches.
The downtime between brew and bottle days has gotten me just thinking about where to go next with recipes and general brewing of...
For my first venture into all-grain, I thought I would do two things:
1) keep it simple
2) use some ingredients I have on hand already
3) not follow any recipe to the T, but do something kinda like an American Wheat beer.
I don't really know what this beer will turn out like, but I can't...