What do you have brewing?

Post by Nuwen
The newsgroup's a bit quiet, as they tend to be. What's everyone got in
1. 3 gallons of straight mead (12 lbs honey, D-47)
2. 5 gallons of cider (fresh juice from a local orchard, S-04)
3. 1 gallon of prickly pear wine (harvested fruit around town, D-47)
4. 1 gallon of 'JAOM' mead (but I used D-47 and a bit more honey)
The cider and the wine are both done fermenting, I'm just waiting for
them to clear before I bottle. The meads are still at it, although the 3
gallon batch is pretty slow these days (it's been almost 2 months since
I started it)

Here goes, all 5-gallon batches, fermenting right now:

Secondary 1: Session Ale
Secondary 2: Belgian Style Saison
Primary 1: Pliny the Elder clone
Primary 2: Cream Ale

Can't wait for the Pliny but I'll have to be patient for at least
another five weeks. OG was 1.073. Woohoo! That one requires two more
dry-hoppings in secondary.

The Cream Ale got a bit full, close to 6-gallon but has 1-3/4lbs of
clover hoeny added at end of boil so the OG still clocked in at 1.055.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Nuwen

2017-11-07 23:25:26 UTC

Post by Joerg

Secondary 1: Session Ale
Secondary 2: Belgian Style Saison
Primary 1: Pliny the Elder clone
Primary 2: Cream Ale
Can't wait for the Pliny but I'll have to be patient for at least
another five weeks. OG was 1.073. Woohoo! That one requires two more
dry-hoppings in secondary.
The Cream Ale got a bit full, close to 6-gallon but has 1-3/4lbs of
clover hoeny added at end of boil so the OG still clocked in at 1.055.

I love Pliny the Elder, hope that one comes out well. Does a Belgian
style Saison involve using wild yeast, or are you using a commercial
strain?

nuwen

Joerg

2017-11-08 17:57:48 UTC

Post by Joerg

I love Pliny the Elder, hope that one comes out well. Does a Belgian
style Saison involve using wild yeast, or are you using a commercial
strain?

I use extract kits from Midwest Supplies. This one I did with Fermentis
Safbrew S-33 dry yeast.

The first batch of another style Sasion I fermented with Lallemand Belle
Saison. The next one of that will be with Fermentis Safale BE-134.

The Pliny clone uses regular US-05. On the Cream Ale I used 4th
generation harvested US-05. So far I never went past 3rd, so knocking on
wood that it'll be ok. For the Pliny clone I didn't want to chance it on
the first attempt so I used a fresh yeast package.

I always harvest the trub. Some of that gets split off to start another
beer or two with it and then rest goes into delicious bread dough, later
baked over Manzanita fire or charcoal.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Nuwen

2017-11-08 19:02:59 UTC

Post by Joerg
I always harvest the trub. Some of that gets split off to start
another beer or two with it and then rest goes into delicious bread
dough, later baked over Manzanita fire or charcoal.

The bread sounds interesting. Do you treat the trub in any way before
making the bread? Do you treat it like a sourdough starter? How's the
flavor compare to bread yeast?

nuwen

Joerg

2017-11-08 20:09:24 UTC

Post by Joerg
I always harvest the trub. Some of that gets split off to start
another beer or two with it and then rest goes into delicious bread
dough, later baked over Manzanita fire or charcoal.

The bread sounds interesting. Do you treat the trub in any way before
making the bread? Do you treat it like a sourdough starter?

Kind of:

https://delishably.com/baked-goods/SALLIEANNES-TRUB-BREAD-A-Wonderful-Yeasty-Bread-Made-Using-Beer-Trub

However, we use the whole trub minus whatever I need to harvest yeast
for the next beer.

Post by Nuwen
... How's the flavor compare to bread yeast?

The yeast doesn't make much of a difference except for some of the
Belgian strains which can be tasted through. What makes a huge
difference between the various "beer breads" is the hops and the grains.
For example, with Pecorino cheese I like "IPA bread". Just had lunch and
there we eat this bread almost exclusively.

Many Americans don't like this kind of bread, at least not when it is
baked like I do it, over a hot fire resulting in a thick crunchy crust.
People are too used to the soft fluffy stuff like Wonderbread which I
can't stand.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Bob F

2017-11-08 19:55:11 UTC

2 carboys of apple cider/honey mix, and one carboy of interlaken grape
and honey wine.

baloonon

2017-11-09 03:42:56 UTC

Post by Bob F

Post by Nuwen
The newsgroup's a bit quiet, as they tend to be. What's everyone
1. 3 gallons of straight mead (12 lbs honey, D-47)
2. 5 gallons of cider (fresh juice from a local orchard, S-04)
3. 1 gallon of prickly pear wine (harvested fruit around town, D-47)
4. 1 gallon of 'JAOM' mead (but I used D-47 and a bit more honey)
The cider and the wine are both done fermenting, I'm just waiting for
them to clear before I bottle. The meads are still at it, although
the 3 gallon batch is pretty slow these days (it's been almost 2
months since I started it)

2 carboys of apple cider/honey mix, and one carboy of interlaken grape
and honey wine.

I'm about to bottle this recipe based on a Courage Stout from 1923:

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2013/11/lets-brew-wednesday-1923-
courage-stout.html

I made it once before and it's a nice ~4.5% ABV Stout, lots of flavor
but easy to drink a few of.

It's a bit of extra work to make the brewers syrup but I think it's
worth messing around with. I made an extra large batch so I can make a
strong ale after New Years for Christmas in 2018. The 1469 yeast is
weird stuff but I really like the flavor. The krausen is so thick it's
almost like peanut butter and I had to open the fermenter during peak
activity to beat it back, and one time I barely got to it before it
started going up the airlock.

The recipe has some interesting suggestions for mods, although he draws
the line at one point "If you put effing candy canes in this, baby
reindeer die... seriously... they up and die."

Derek J Decker

2017-11-09 15:39:36 UTC

On Thu, 09 Nov 2017 03:42:56 +0000, baloonon wrote:

<snip>

Post by baloonon
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2013/11/lets-brew-wednesday-1923-
courage-stout.html
I made it once before and it's a nice ~4.5% ABV Stout, lots of flavor
but easy to drink a few of.
It's a bit of extra work to make the brewers syrup but I think it's
worth messing around with. I made an extra large batch so I can make a
strong ale after New Years for Christmas in 2018. The 1469 yeast is
weird stuff but I really like the flavor. The krausen is so thick it's
almost like peanut butter and I had to open the fermenter during peak
activity to beat it back, and one time I barely got to it before it
started going up the airlock.

I've made quite a few beers from recipes on that site - it's a great
resource, and lots of fun. I've found that the Brewer's Invert Syrup I
made for several of them is also good for stabilizing homemade ice cream.

The 1933 Barclay Perkins Milk Stout had me roasting pale malt to make old-
fashioned British Amber and Dark Malt, that was fun, too.

Right now I have my own Oatmeal Stout and the Obama White House Honey Ale
in the fermenters, and I have a Belgian Blonde and a Hoegaarden clone
bottle conditioning. Not sure what's next, but it's getting to be time to
malt and smoke some wheat for another batch of Grodziskie.

-Derek

baloonon

2017-11-10 00:00:31 UTC

Post by Derek J Decker
<snip>

Post by baloonon
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2013/11/lets-brew-wednesday-1923-
courage-stout.html
I made it once before and it's a nice ~4.5% ABV Stout, lots of flavor
but easy to drink a few of.
It's a bit of extra work to make the brewers syrup but I think it's
worth messing around with. I made an extra large batch so I can make
a strong ale after New Years for Christmas in 2018. The 1469 yeast is
weird stuff but I really like the flavor. The krausen is so thick
it's almost like peanut butter and I had to open the fermenter during
peak activity to beat it back, and one time I barely got to it before
it started going up the airlock.

I've made quite a few beers from recipes on that site - it's a great
resource, and lots of fun.

I've made a couple of them I've made that were good, and it's
interesting to see how the whole concept of rigid styles didn't really
concern British brewers that much.

Some of the recipes are clearly there for the sake of novelty -- there
are some which I think are WWII rationing era beers with an ABV of
around 2.5%.

Post by Derek J Decker
I've found that the Brewer's Invert Syrup I
made for several of them is also good for stabilizing homemade ice cream.
The 1933 Barclay Perkins Milk Stout had me roasting pale malt to make
old- fashioned British Amber and Dark Malt, that was fun, too.

I've roasted malt with mixed results -- the lighter toasting is great,
but the darker roasts are definitely more of an art.

Post by Derek J Decker
Right now I have my own Oatmeal Stout and the Obama White House Honey
Ale in the fermenters, and I have a Belgian Blonde and a Hoegaarden
clone bottle conditioning. Not sure what's next, but it's getting to
be time to malt and smoke some wheat for another batch of Grodziskie.

I made the Obama Porter and thought it was OK but unremarkable. I'm
still pleased he was interested in putting a tiny brewery in the White
House, along the lines of how Reagan was supposedly a big champion of
California wines when he moved there in the early 80s and helped
increase their popularity.

I remember watching some dumb political movie about a fictional
president that had the one redeeming feature of describing how awesome
it must be to have a professional kitchen that will provide you with
anything you want to eat or drink, no matter how much work or how fancy
or plain.

Nuwen

2017-11-10 16:44:48 UTC

Post by baloonon
I made the Obama Porter and thought it was OK but unremarkable. I'm
still pleased he was interested in putting a tiny brewery in the White
House, along the lines of how Reagan was supposedly a big champion of
California wines when he moved there in the early 80s and helped
increase their popularity.

Speaking of presidential beers, I've seen a small beer recipe from
George Washington out on the Internet, and of course there's a lot of
very old recipes in 'The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened' and
other books. Have any of you brewed from such historical recipes? One
thing I've found in reading Kenelm Digby's recipes is that they are
pretty vague, but some of the metheglins sound pretty interesting! Not
sure I'd be a fan of posset, though: boiled milk mixed with wine or ale
to curdle it, then spiced.

nuwen

Derek J Decker

2017-11-11 16:31:29 UTC

On Fri, 10 Nov 2017 08:44:48 -0800, Nuwen wrote:

<snip>

Post by Nuwen
Speaking of presidential beers, I've seen a small beer recipe from
George Washington out on the Internet, and of course there's a lot of
very old recipes in 'The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened' and
other books. Have any of you brewed from such historical recipes? One
thing I've found in reading Kenelm Digby's recipes is that they are
pretty vague, but some of the metheglins sound pretty interesting! Not
sure I'd be a fan of posset, though: boiled milk mixed with wine or ale
to curdle it, then spiced.
nuwen

I've seen that Washington recipe, and recall thinking that it didn't seem
like something I'd like to try - too much molasses for my taste.

Sir Kenelm Digby's Closet has a small mead recipe I've made several times
- it has the signature advantage of skipping that 'wait a year' step that
regular meads have, and in addition is more quaffable than more ordinary
meads. Just the thing to make when you realize there's a horde of Vikings
coming to dinner in two weeks. You do have to regularly release pressure
buildup in the bottles, even in the fridge, though.

Posset is probably better than it sounds - I'm not going to try that in
the forseeable future though.

-Derek

baloonon

2017-11-12 01:38:17 UTC

Post by Derek J Decker
<snip>

Post by Nuwen
Speaking of presidential beers, I've seen a small beer recipe from
George Washington out on the Internet, and of course there's a lot of
very old recipes in 'The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened'
and other books. Have any of you brewed from such historical recipes?
One thing I've found in reading Kenelm Digby's recipes is that they
are pretty vague, but some of the metheglins sound pretty
interesting! Not sure I'd be a fan of posset, though: boiled milk
mixed with wine or ale to curdle it, then spiced.
nuwen

I've seen that Washington recipe, and recall thinking that it didn't
seem like something I'd like to try - too much molasses for my taste.
Sir Kenelm Digby's Closet has a small mead recipe I've made several
times - it has the signature advantage of skipping that 'wait a year'
step that regular meads have, and in addition is more quaffable than
more ordinary meads. Just the thing to make when you realize there's a
horde of Vikings coming to dinner in two weeks. You do have to
regularly release pressure buildup in the bottles, even in the fridge,
though.
Posset is probably better than it sounds - I'm not going to try that
in the forseeable future though.

This is an interesting post on Chicha, which is corn that has been
chewed, spit out, then fermented. The enzymes in saliva evidently
convert the starch in corn so that it can be fermented.

http://edsbeer.blogspot.com/2017/09/chew-chew-chew-that-is-thing-to-
do.html

Sounds really odd -- sour, savory and alcoholic.

I've made a few recipes from http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com and I
have Ron Pattinson's historic home brewing recipe book, but I haven't
done anything from the 19th Century.

I'd love to someday do big, Brett infused beer that was aged for a long
time in a wood cask, but that's a whole extra level of effort than what
I'm prepared to take on.

For an interesting view on home brewing on the sly during Prohibition,
it's worth reading what H.L. Mencken wrote:

http://www.citypaper.com/eat/food-features/bcp-hl-mencken-on-brewing-a-
drinkable-home-brew-20140909-story.html

http://tinyurl.com/y7ztnfzp

He was probably more careful than most and it sounds like it was a very
hit or miss practice back then.

DaiTengu

2017-11-13 07:31:42 UTC

To: baloonon
Re: Re: What do you have brewing?
By: baloonon to rec.crafts.brewing on Sun Nov 12 2017 01:38 am

ba> This is an interesting post on Chicha, which is corn that has been
ba> chewed, spit out, then fermented. The enzymes in saliva evidently
ba> convert the starch in corn so that it can be fermented.

I recall something about this from my high school biology class. The enzymes
in saliva break down complex starches into more basic sugars. I believe my
teacher said something like "If you let potatos sit in your mouth long enough,
they become very sweet"

DaiTengu

... All warranties expire upon payment of invoice.
--- Synchronet 3.17a-Linux NewsLink 1.108
* War Ensemble BBS - Appleton, WI - telnet://warensemble.com

Nuwen

2017-11-13 16:31:30 UTC

Post by Derek J Decker
<snip>

I've seen that Washington recipe, and recall thinking that it didn't seem
like something I'd like to try - too much molasses for my taste.
Sir Kenelm Digby's Closet has a small mead recipe I've made several times
- it has the signature advantage of skipping that 'wait a year' step that
regular meads have, and in addition is more quaffable than more ordinary
meads. Just the thing to make when you realize there's a horde of Vikings
coming to dinner in two weeks. You do have to regularly release pressure
buildup in the bottles, even in the fridge, though.
Posset is probably better than it sounds - I'm not going to try that in
the forseeable future though.
-Derek

Do you remember the exact name of the mead recipe? That sounds like a
fun experiment, and if I just use those "tasting corks" then I could
easily relieve the pressure from time to time. A recipe for two-week
mead would be a great one to keep in my back pocket for dinner parties.

nuwen

Derek J Decker

2017-11-14 17:05:58 UTC

<snip>

Post by Derek J Decker
Sir Kenelm Digby's Closet has a small mead recipe I've made several
times - it has the signature advantage of skipping that 'wait a year'
step that regular meads have, and in addition is more quaffable than
more ordinary meads. Just the thing to make when you realize there's a
horde of Vikings coming to dinner in two weeks. You do have to
regularly release pressure buildup in the bottles, even in the fridge,
though.

<snip>

Post by Nuwen
Do you remember the exact name of the mead recipe? That sounds like a
fun experiment, and if I just use those "tasting corks" then I could
easily relieve the pressure from time to time. A recipe for two-week
mead would be a great one to keep in my back pocket for dinner parties.
nuwen

I had to go back to look it up - it's in Digby as "Weak Honey-Drink".
I've been calling it a Small Mead as I think I got the recipe via one of
the SCA Brewing sites, and that's what they called it.

You can find a copy of "The Closet Of Sir Kenelm Digby Opened" if you
don't already have it at <http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16441>

My translation of this to more modern measurements and instructions is in
my recipe file at: http://derekdecker.duckdns.org/Recipes/Small_Mead.html>

I've been using Munton's Active Brew Yeast, which seems to work.

Despite the warning to use 2 liter plastic bottles, I generally bottle
this in reused glass Kombucha bottles with screw tops, and haven't had
any problems. I refrigerate the bottles immediately, though.

I went Googling for this version, only place I found it today was on some
wacky New-Agey Wiccan site. Huh. Blessed Be, I guess

-Derek

Nuwen

2017-11-14 17:13:04 UTC

Post by Derek J Decker
<snip>

<snip>

I had to go back to look it up - it's in Digby as "Weak Honey-Drink".
I've been calling it a Small Mead as I think I got the recipe via one of
the SCA Brewing sites, and that's what they called it.
You can find a copy of "The Closet Of Sir Kenelm Digby Opened" if you
don't already have it at <http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16441>
My translation of this to more modern measurements and instructions is in
my recipe file at: http://derekdecker.duckdns.org/Recipes/Small_Mead.html>
I've been using Munton's Active Brew Yeast, which seems to work.
Despite the warning to use 2 liter plastic bottles, I generally bottle
this in reused glass Kombucha bottles with screw tops, and haven't had
any problems. I refrigerate the bottles immediately, though.
I went Googling for this version, only place I found it today was on some
wacky New-Agey Wiccan site. Huh. Blessed Be, I guess
-Derek

That is indeed a small mead, at a ratio of 11:1 water:honey! With the
ginger, it reminds me of a ginger beer recipe I've made in the past,
except I used white sugar instead of honey. I'll give this a try some
time, the nice thing is that the low honey content makes for a cheap
brew!

nuwen

Derek J Decker

2017-11-14 18:07:18 UTC

<snip>

Post by Nuwen
That is indeed a small mead, at a ratio of 11:1 water:honey! With the
ginger, it reminds me of a ginger beer recipe I've made in the past,
except I used white sugar instead of honey. I'll give this a try some
time, the nice thing is that the low honey content makes for a cheap
brew!
nuwen

Well, there's a 2.5 hour boil in there, which boosts the concentration a
bit, but Sir Kenelm didn't name it "Weak Honey-Drink" for nothing. The
other thing I should mention is that the original site claimed, IIRC,
that the quality of honey was not as important for this as it would be
for a more normal mead, so you can save even more money there.

-Derek

baloonon

2017-11-14 18:58:39 UTC

Post by Derek J Decker
<snip>

Any idea what the OG and FG end up?

Is there a reason for bottling so soon instead of letting it ferment more -
is it supposed to be a pretty sweet, not very alcoholic drink?

Derek J Decker

2017-11-15 17:55:42 UTC

Post by baloonon

Post by Derek J Decker
<snip>

Well, there's a 2.5 hour boil in there, which boosts the concentration
a bit, but Sir Kenelm didn't name it "Weak Honey-Drink" for nothing.
The other thing I should mention is that the original site claimed,
IIRC, that the quality of honey was not as important for this as it
would be for a more normal mead, so you can save even more money there.

Any idea what the OG and FG end up?

I have not taken the measurements, nor have I entered the recipe into
BrewTarget, my brewing software of choice, so I don't know. I should
probably do that.

Post by baloonon
Is there a reason for bottling so soon instead of letting it ferment more -

Really, you'd have to ask Sir Kenelm Digby that, which is hard. I
enjoyed the drink I made following these instructions, and I can't say if
I'd enjoy it more if I let it ferment longer or not.

Part of the point of this, though, is to find a way to skip that "Let sit
for several years" step in making regular mead and still have an
enjoyable beverage.

Post by baloonon
is it supposed to be a pretty sweet, not very alcoholic drink?

It's not as sweet as you might think, it is low alcohol (though higher
than the ginger beer I made at one point), and it tastes of honey, and
ginger, and some orange peel. Bottled the way I did it, it was carbonated
as well.

This conversation has got me rummaging through Digby's Closet again -
some of these Hydromels look interesting as well. And Syllabub's a thing,
not just a nonsense word in an Edward Lear poem. I may have more
experiments to perform here....

-Derek

Derek J Decker

2017-11-16 03:24:08 UTC

<snip>

Post by baloonon
Any idea what the OG and FG end up?

I have not taken the measurements, nor have I entered the recipe into
BrewTarget, my brewing software of choice, so I don't know. I should
probably do that.

The least I could do at this point would be to fire up Brewtarget and see
what it said. It gives an OG of 1.066 and an FG of 1.013, and an ABV of
7.3, confirming my impression that this is a more ale-like than wine-like
beverage.

Now that I have it in BrewTarget, I guess I'll start taking recording
these values in the future.

<snip>

-Derek

Nuwen

2017-11-16 18:55:57 UTC

Post by Derek J Decker
<snip>

Post by baloonon
Any idea what the OG and FG end up?

I have not taken the measurements, nor have I entered the recipe into
BrewTarget, my brewing software of choice, so I don't know. I should
probably do that.

The least I could do at this point would be to fire up Brewtarget and see
what it said. It gives an OG of 1.066 and an FG of 1.013, and an ABV of
7.3, confirming my impression that this is a more ale-like than wine-like
beverage.
Now that I have it in BrewTarget, I guess I'll start taking recording
these values in the future.
<snip>
-Derek

Wow, that's a higher ABV than I expected. How long did you set for
fermentation? Two weeks?

nuwen

Derek J Decker

2017-11-17 16:58:46 UTC

Post by Derek J Decker
<snip>

Post by baloonon
Any idea what the OG and FG end up?

I have not taken the measurements, nor have I entered the recipe into
BrewTarget, my brewing software of choice, so I don't know. I should
probably do that.

The least I could do at this point would be to fire up Brewtarget and
see what it said. It gives an OG of 1.066 and an FG of 1.013, and an
ABV of 7.3, confirming my impression that this is a more ale-like than
wine-like beverage.
Now that I have it in BrewTarget, I guess I'll start taking recording
these values in the future.
<snip>
-Derek

Wow, that's a higher ABV than I expected. How long did you set for
fermentation? Two weeks?

I haven't made this in a while, but that would seem to be a higher ABV
than I recall it having. I'm not sure how BrewTarget does its
calculation of FG

-Derek

baloonon

2017-11-16 21:19:18 UTC