Recent content by sielm

Bottled this on Sunday (so it was just slightly over 1 month in primary). FG was 1.024 so the actual ABV is somewhere between 7.5 and 8 %. Color reminded me of cocacola and I was pretty surprised with the taste - quite alcoholic (hope this mellows with time) but with balanced hop taste and...

Hey all, Well, after a couple of too busy weeks I decided to brew this up today. Finally I am going to opt for only 1 pack (11,5 gr) of dry Fermentis Safbrew T58 yeast, instead of mixing two strains. I rehydrated the yeast using 0,5 liters of bottled water. After researching I believe this beer...

Well I have decided to go on and try the recipe. I will be able to do so on Monday, so in the meantime I would appreciate any input about brewing a 2.5 gal high gravity batch on a 6 gal fermentor. Also, would you think it is a wise idea to use 1 pack of T58 yeast AND 1 pack of S04? I only have...

Hi all, After several successful batches I have found myself with no $$ for buying mores supplies online. Unfortunately I do not live near any local HBS so I always have to purchase extracts and ingredients on the net. Right now I have some ingredients but I don't know if these would yield...

I would try to make a beverage from some fruit juice. From apple juice you can make cider, from other fruit you can make the equivalent alcoholic beverage. If you really want something resembling a beer you need malted barley, and the best option would be to purchase some extract online - I did...

Well, after some troubled weeks I finally bottled my version (used D-47 yeast instead) today. It's been in the fermentor for 5 months and a half, and it did NOT clear completely. It is in fact pretty cloudy. I bottled using 0.5 liter swing top brown glass bottles. I collected a sample to...

I'll be bottling this tomorrow. It's been on the primary fermentor for about 4 months and a half and it's probably completely done. I will use 0.5 liter brown swing top bottles to store and age the mead, I'll post pics if I get a camera! Cheers!

Well, the bottles have withstand the FG with no problems, and after popping one open and sharing it with friends I have to say this is a really tasteful beer, with a good body and flavour, and not much alcohol twang to it. Yesterday night was pretty hot around here so we chilled and drank a few...

I only take 1 reading in the beginning and then try to minimize further sampling. Normally I would take only 2 more readings, one to check for FG and another 2 or 3 days afterwards to check if the FG reading is stable. If you take so many readings you have a lot more control, but also increased...

Personally I either drink or discard the sample. Even with sanitation procedures it's another possible way of contaminating the whole batch and in my opinion it's not worth it. I don't really like to use the hydrometer in the fermentation vessel for the same reason, it's best to use a small...

Well, sorted it out. The rubber stopper did get a bit loose (from the pressure, I assume) so the airlock was not totally hermetic. I fixed it and the actual activity is plenty. It's bubbling like once every 2 secs. Everything looks fine so I just hope no infections got in there during the time...

Well, my 5 liter batch did bubble for 3 days before stopping almost completely. Right now there is no visible bubbling whatsoever. The fermentor is still well closed (the liquid in the airlock would bubble if the fermentor is pressed so it's well isolated) and the stuff in the interior is moving...

Made a 5 liter batch of this yesterday, using D-47 too. BTW I also did what Yaksha did, I left the spices in the fermentation vessel (cinnamon and cloves) instead of straining them out. I used 1.5 kg of honey and about 4 liters of water. After adding the orange juice, orange zest and spices the...

Well I finally bottled the brew with a FG of 1.020. After 5 days of sampling the FG would not get any lower so I decided to go on and bottle. I used a small amount of sugar for priming and, at least for now (2 days after bottling) there have been no bottle bombs. The uncarbonated beer tastes...

Hi all! After 2 weeks and a couple of days, I took a sample and checked gravity. It was somewhere between 1.020 and 1.022 (the beer is so cloudy being a wheat that it is almost impossible to say more precisely). I was a bit concerned and took another sample 2 days after that - the gravity...