Any Home Brewers?
POSTED BY: pizmobeach
UPDATED: Monday, February 22, 2010 20:49
VIEWED: 4057
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Quote:Yeah, my rules are the mead rules, and off flavors are a bigger deal for something that you want to age 5 years. You're right, it's probably not a big deal for beer.
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
M4P - no I didn't. Funny thing about that is I was going to but I kept reading people say "I've stopped doing a secondary... let it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then bottle." And then I'd see others say what you're saying. I could send you a bunch of links from some brew forums (some get pretty nasty, though not RWED bad) - the upshot is these "let it sit" people think that given time the yeast will clean up any pollutants, and that you risk more from a second racking with exposure to oxygen and contamination. My 2 local home brew shops are split as well.
My feeling was that I would buck tradition and try what the new people were saying. I also felt like I had a strong urge to do a secondary fermentation but that was largely based on wanting to "mess with it" and that alone should be a sign, "quit fussing with it."
Anyway - next weekend is 3 weeks, bottling for sure then, and then 3 more weeks in bottles. I will definitely post a follow up... unless it's total crap of course.
The thing I've been told is that yeast that runs out of sugars to eat will begin eating dead yeasts (autolysis) and that's where the bad flavors come in. Huh - I just checked autolysis on wiki, and apparently yeast eating yeast is a major part of flavoring champagne. Who knew? I didn't! But it also says: "If not properly managed, wine faults can potentially develop from autolysis. If the layer of lees begins to exceed 4 inches (10 centimeters), the enzymes released from the process of the yeast digesting themselves creates reducing conditions and promotes the development of hydrogen sulfide and mercaptan odors."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autolysis_%28wine%29
Exposure to oxygen is definitely bad. But I try to rack meads every 6-12 months and as long as everything's well bleached it seems all right.
As for being sick - my ex who taught me to brew (the very anal engineer) would get upset with me if I breathed on anything going into the brew. Seemed extreme, but then his meads always come out better than mine, so who's to say?
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Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:Quote:Oh, yum. Care to share a recipe on that one? I've never tried such a thing, but it sounds fabulous!
Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:
I make wine, my wife is doing a batch of Chocolate Port right now.
I also messed up with a mead and ended up with bubbly. Luckily, it was just right that no bottles blew, and it's quite tasty. I need to try to recreate that accident, because I'm nearly out.
Pizmo - I was thinking about your plans to let your beer age. You racked it off the dead yeast, right? Definitely should do that if you haven't. The dead stuff will give it off flavors.
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Actually this one we bought a kit, you make it like you would a red wine, 4 weeks in you add a chocolate mixture in.
Started it after Christmas... I can't wait to try it
May try to do a mead when I get a chance... that sounds really good
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Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:Quote:Yeah, my rules are the mead rules, and off flavors are a bigger deal for something that you want to age 5 years. You're right, it's probably not a big deal for beer.
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
M4P - no I didn't. Funny thing about that is I was going to but I kept reading people say "I've stopped doing a secondary... let it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then bottle." And then I'd see others say what you're saying. I could send you a bunch of links from some brew forums (some get pretty nasty, though not RWED bad
My feeling was that I would buck tradition and try what the new people were saying. I also felt like I had a strong urge to do a secondary fermentation but that was largely based on wanting to "mess with it" and that alone should be a sign, "quit fussing with it."
Anyway - next weekend is 3 weeks, bottling for sure then, and then 3 more weeks in bottles. I will definitely post a follow up... unless it's total crap of course.
The thing I've been told is that yeast that runs out of sugars to eat will begin eating dead yeasts (autolysis) and that's where the bad flavors come in. Huh - I just checked autolysis on wiki, and apparently yeast eating yeast is a major part of flavoring champagne. Who knew? I didn't!
Exposure to oxygen is definitely bad. But I try to rack meads every 6-12 months and as long as everything's well bleached it seems all right.
As for being sick - my ex who taught me to brew (the very anal engineer) would get upset with me if I breathed on anything going into the brew. Seemed extreme, but then his meads always come out better than mine, so who's to say?
-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
I used to have a landlord some years ago, a old Ukrainian guy, who did things really old school
no chemicals for clearing, he used Bentonite, etc
he would sample the wine every week, when it started to loose its sweetness he would add about 1 cup of dissolved sugar. He would keep doing this until the wine maintained the level of sweetness he was going for. He told me, yeast can only survive up to a certain percentage alcohol concentration, so he was feeding it until the yeast died, maxing out the alcohol produced.
From what he told me, Sherry and Champagne yeast actually live to a higher concentration.
I have done this with some Strawberry, and Nanking Cherry wines, and wow... lots of flavor, but you have to be careful with it. Mowed the lawn after a bottle and left some strips of long grass like stripes all over the place( my wife still laughs about that )
Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists
Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"
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Well, if you want a quick sample to see if you like it (not everyone does, but those who do, REALLY do!) grab a bottle of Deco Chocolate Port, if you can find one locally.
Ain't half bad, but anything homebrewed will stomp it flat, barring a complete screwup.
That old Ukranian fellow knew what he was talkin about, but you gotta be careful with that, it's not science, more like art, cause you develop a feel for it, see - two supposedly "indentical" batches might go different directions in flavor (not necessarily a bad thing) even if you do everything scientifically exact.
Me, I'm really picky about my honey, cause a lot of places take pasteurization to extremes and there goes the flavor, so it's better to make contacts with a direct supplier, as I have with a couple clover honey folk (and good golly damn those fekkin bees HATE MY GUTS, lil pricks sting me every bloody chance they get!) but I kinda stay AWAY from the bees, yanno...
-F
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I have a mead recipe a guy down at a farmers market I go to gave me, he had a bottle too and it was good.
He is a Hutterite, which if your not familiar is something like Amish, but they use modern tech, drink, etc
On their colony they have bees set up to feed on different fields to give different types of honey
I think they had Mint, Canola, and Flax honey each with a slightly different flavor.
I bought some mint and it was really nice. That was the stuff he recommended.
Have to wait for the market to open in the spring to buy some, or drive three hours to the colony.
Might be worth a drive some weekend, they have some great deals on Chicken, Eggs, homemade bread, etc
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Quote:Reminds me of my great aunt Stephania, who fled Poland in the 70s and settled in Alaska. She gathers tons of raspberries from her garden, then pack them: thick layer of berries, thin layer of sugar, repeat 3-4 times in a 1 gallon jar. Let it sit somewhere dark for a while, skim off the floating remainders of berries to use as ice cream/cakes toppings and you've got a vat of raspberry wine. She never even added yeast, just let the natural stuff find it.
Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:Quote:Yeah, my rules are the mead rules, and off flavors are a bigger deal for something that you want to age 5 years. You're right, it's probably not a big deal for beer.
Originally posted by pizmobeach:
M4P - no I didn't. Funny thing about that is I was going to but I kept reading people say "I've stopped doing a secondary... let it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks and then bottle." And then I'd see others say what you're saying. I could send you a bunch of links from some brew forums (some get pretty nasty, though not RWED bad
My feeling was that I would buck tradition and try what the new people were saying. I also felt like I had a strong urge to do a secondary fermentation but that was largely based on wanting to "mess with it" and that alone should be a sign, "quit fussing with it."
Anyway - next weekend is 3 weeks, bottling for sure then, and then 3 more weeks in bottles. I will definitely post a follow up... unless it's total crap of course.
The thing I've been told is that yeast that runs out of sugars to eat will begin eating dead yeasts (autolysis) and that's where the bad flavors come in. Huh - I just checked autolysis on wiki, and apparently yeast eating yeast is a major part of flavoring champagne. Who knew? I didn't!
Exposure to oxygen is definitely bad. But I try to rack meads every 6-12 months and as long as everything's well bleached it seems all right.
As for being sick - my ex who taught me to brew (the very anal engineer) would get upset with me if I breathed on anything going into the brew. Seemed extreme, but then his meads always come out better than mine, so who's to say?
-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
I used to have a landlord some years ago, a old Ukrainian guy, who did things really old school
no chemicals for clearing, he used Bentonite, etc
he would sample the wine every week, when it started to loose its sweetness he would add about 1 cup of dissolved sugar. He would keep doing this until the wine maintained the level of sweetness he was going for. He told me, yeast can only survive up to a certain percentage alcohol concentration, so he was feeding it until the yeast died, maxing out the alcohol produced.
From what he told me, Sherry and Champagne yeast actually live to a higher concentration.
I have done this with some Strawberry, and Nanking Cherry wines, and wow... lots of flavor, but you have to be careful with it. Mowed the lawn after a bottle and left some strips of long grass like stripes all over the place( my wife still laughs about that )
Oh yeah, and when her milk (unpasteurized) went bad, she'd make cheese out of it. I just loved her! Unfortunately, wasn't with her long enough to learn.
I go with unprocessed honey bought online. It's amazingly good, especially the wildflower. I've got four gallons of it right now, waiting to be brewed. Really should get on that.
I'm intrigued by the strawberry cherry wines. Are they brewed with grapes?
-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
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Quote:Reminds me of my great aunt Stephania, who fled Poland in the 70s and settled in Alaska. She gathers tons of raspberries from her garden, then pack them: thick layer of berries, thin layer of sugar, repeat 3-4 times in a 1 gallon jar. Let it sit somewhere dark for a while, skim off the floating remainders of berries to use as ice cream/cakes toppings and you've got a vat of raspberry wine. She never even added yeast, just let the natural stuff find it.
Originally posted by mal4prez:
Oh yeah, and when her milk (unpasteurized) went bad, she'd make cheese out of it. I just loved her! Unfortunately, wasn't with her long enough to learn.
I'm intrigued by the strawberry cherry wines. Are they brewed with grapes?
-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
I have also read if you do as your aunt did, in a ceramic croc, which you leave on the kitchen counter preferable in the sunlight, add some water and run a hose off of it into a carboy which you put under the kitchen sink... after a while you get a raspberry brandy type drink. I have never tried it though.
With the Strawberry wine, no grapes... straight strawberrys into the must. i have seen some recipes that put a small amount of elderberries in as well.
The Easiest Strawberry Wine Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. fresh strawberries
- 2-1/2 lbs. granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons citric acid or lemon juice
- 1 gallon water
- 1 teaspoon wine yeast
Directions
Place all ingredients except wine yeast in crock. Mash fruits with hands and cover with 5 pints boiling water.
Stir to dissolve sugar and mash strawberries. When cooled to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, add wine yeast.
Cover the crock and stir daily. Strain on 7th day, transfer to secondary fermentation vessel, top up to one gallon, fit fermentation trap, and set aside.
Rack after 30 days and again after another 30 days. Bottle when clear.
Allow to age at least 3 months, better 6-12 month.
I stole that off the net, but it is pretty much all I do. I think I use a little Tanin too.
Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists
Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"
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Quote:All you'd need for a mead is replace the sugar with honey.
Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:
The Easiest Strawberry Wine Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. fresh strawberries
- 2-1/2 lbs. granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons citric acid or lemon juice
- 1 gallon water
- 1 teaspoon wine yeast
I need to go to the brew store this weekend. :)
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Hey Pizmo - I got an Irish Stout going yesterday. Bought a kit, and also the fixings for another Guinness clone (that doesn't actually taste anything like Guinness) which I'll brew next week. In a month or so I'll post some comparisons...
How's your porter doing?
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Hey M4P - what Porter? It's been 5 long weeks... as of this next weekend. One more week to go until I try the first bottle of finished beer. I had a taste when I was bottling and it was pretty good but thin-ish. I was told that that's what young beer tastes like, especially before carbonation and before 3 weeks *minimum* in bottles, so WAITING.
I have a German Altbier in a primary and an English IPA kit on it's way. Yeah, I have the bug, figure I want to see this to the point of being decent at it or what's the use?
So 1 1/2 weeks I'll post some notes!
If you get a chance watch Beer Wars - doc about commercial beer. Nothing we wouldn't already guess - Bud is Evil. They keep buying up brands and shelf space to push the little guys (who make the best tasting BEER) out. Now they're starting to buy up hop farms so they can control that market and squeeze the smaller brewers even further. All to sell more goat p.... 
Then there's the Beer Distributor Lobby... oiy.
Good luck with your stout!
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