It’s Beer Thirty FReepers! Time For The Homebrewing / Wine Making Thread #5 June 29, 2012

Free Republic | 6/29/2012 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good afternoon/evening FReepers. Yep, it is Beer Thirty Time Once Again!

Happiness is a bubbling airlock!

 

Airlock

Good evening/afternoon. This past week I rested and did not have a brew day. It has been just to darn hot to stand over a boiling brew kettle. My bottled Honey Ale is coming along just fine. I have tasted a couple and it is carbonating nicely and should be good to go by July 4th. I am having one now and it is mighty tasty. The liberty Cream Ale I brewed up last week will be racked into a secondary next week. My Copper Ale will be bottled next week. I think my next beer to brew will be another Honey Ale. Mainly because this last one finished up quickly and it is a good tasting beer.

I hope all of you and your Brews and Wines are doing well. Stop by and share what you are brewing or let us know what your favorite brew, wine or spirit is.

[Red_Devil 232]

List ping

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Strawberry Wine

1 Gallon Recipe

4 - 4 1/2 lbs. Strawberries
1 Gallon Water
2 lbs. Sugar
1 tsp. Acid Blend (Do Acid Test)
1/8 tsp. Tannin
1/2 tsp. Peptic Enzyme
1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
1 Campden Tablet
1 pack regular wine yeast.

Wash and remove the stems and leaves. Use a straining bag and fill with the strawberries. Tie the top, commence crushing and mashing. Leave straining bag in a sterilized bucket. Add water, sugar, acid blend (if needed, do test), tannin, peptic, enzyme, and yeast nutrient. Stir well. Before you add the yeast, you will need to sterilize the must. Crush up one campden tablet and add to the must. Stir and cover for 24 hours. Now you may add the yeast. Stir well, cover, and stir every day for 4-5 days. Then siphon into your 1 gallon jug, put rubber stopper on and airlock. Siphon every 2 weeks and add 1 crushed campden tablet every time you rack. It will take about 2-3 months before your wine is clear enough to bottle. You can make more than just 1 gallon if you just multiply out the recipe to however many gallons you want to make. One pack of yeast will work well for 5-7 gallons.

[jonrick46]

I need a recipe for Porter.

[Red_Devil 232]

Sounds good! When you say we need to sterilize the must, is that by boiling and if so for how long?

[JRandomFreeper]

The taste test on the 'George Washington' molasses beer worked so well that I didn't get up until 7am this morning and neighbors are asking about it. 9% is too much.

I'm going to repeat that experiment over and over and test it to make sure I have everything right.

I've not dipped into the one with the ground ginger root in it.

/johnny

[Red_Devil 232]

All grain or extract?

[kreitzer]

Now this is a nice distraction from these fascist times. Brewed my first batch ever recently and had one when I got home to cool down! A nice Kolsch. I’ll probably make American Pale Ale next.

[Red_Devil 232]

Yep! Relax have a brew and enjoy a nice diversion from the week’s news cycle.

[Manic_Episode]

"9% is too much."

===============================================

9%? Childs play. My last 2 batches have clocked in at around 15%!

Between batches I bought some Goose Island Honkers Ale. Always loved the stuff but hadn't had any in a few years.

Tasted pretty wimpy in comparison to the home brews, like going from Guinness to Coors.

Was still good tho.

[JRandomFreeper]

Dude, for me, 9% is too much. Yeah, I did come to life around 7am, but with both eyes in the same socket....

Next time, I'll bump it down to 5% or so.

I love my beer. My hangovers that get pregnant and have baby hangovers while I'm asleep? Not so much.

It was entertaining. And educational.

Less sugar in the next recipe.

/johnny

[brewer1516]

I’d like to do a good cellarable (high gravity) beer, but my days of doing BDBs (Big Damn Beers) just ‘cause I can is over. There’s more of a challenge to making a lighter beer with a clean flavor profile and on style. And by lighter, I don’t mean no flavor. We made a Belgian Golden ale that was surreal.

Oh, and hangovers suck, especially when you’re over 50.

[Red_Devil 232]

I have cut back on brewing high gravity beers myself. They are interesting to contemplate, but it is heck for me to deal with the effects. I like a brew that I can enjoy and have another one or two if I want and not have to take a nap compelled by a beer.

[Manic_Episode]

There are pros and cons to the higher %s.

If you like more than 2-3 at a time better keep it at 5%

Mine also clocked in at 425 calories each. Gained 2 lbs this week p

[Mechanicos]

Just finished bottling Belgium light ale. Also have a Kolsh and an Amber Ale fermenting. Earlier in the Week had the house fridge die; had to use the lager fridge for perishables. So, the Kolsh got relocated under a blanket over an A/C floor vent. We shall see how it turns out in 3 weeks....

Seriously considering going to Kegs. Getting real tired of bottles....

[JRandomFreeper]

Those were the days, my friend.

When I was young and just starting, I was buying Fischer's Biere d'Alsace for the flip top and the rubber gasket (I still have dozens of bottles)... 14%. That's not beer. It's damage.

Back then I could take it.

I may not be wiser, but I'm older and a hell of a lot more careful.

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

The day I go over 130 lbs, there will be a news story. I enlisted at 107 (waiver) and re-enlisted 20 years later at 118.

I'm not worried about weight gain.

Peeing in the front yard and waving at passing cops could become an issue, though... so low-gravity beers are de-rigour.

/johnny

[Red_Devil 232]

How do you determine the calories?

[JRandomFreeper]

Calories are most exactly determined by a calorimeter... or calorie bomb. But they can be derived with complex mathematics that cooks do while waving their hands, scribbling on a white board and screaming and weighing stuff.

Being a cook, I prefer the second method. It's acurate within a magnitude.

/johnny

[scottteng]

I think that is the job of the campden tablet it kills the wild yeasts so that your wine may be fermented by your chosen yeast. Most wine yeasts have a very high alcohol resistance up to 15% or so a lot of the wild yeasts such as are found on the skins of fruit have a low alcohol tolerance and tend to be hard to clarify when they have finished fermenting. This is the same reason given for not using bread yeasts to ferment your wine. That is the extent of my reading not actual experience at the moment and for all I know may be a conspiracy to induce you to purchase wine yeast. The wine yeasts are not prohibitively expensive OTOH so may be some truth to the matter. They convinced me my ordered wine yeasts arrived the other day and I will be creating a batch this weekend.