fermentedhiker

Recipes 

If you primarily get headaches after red wine and not white, sulfites are unlikely to be the cause. Potassium metabisulfite is used as a wine preservative partly because it occurs naturally as a bi product of fermentation. Red wine "usually" has a higher alcohol content, higher tannin content as well as other phenolic compounds that help preserve it which means commercial wineries put less in it then they do white wines which are more at risk of spoilage. I'm not saying the RWH isn't real, just that it's something other than the sulfites that's causing it.

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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
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DKershner

Recipes 

I was also under the impression that red wine grapes had a lot more sulphite in the actual grapes, so even if there is less added sulphite in red wine, the end result may still be more.

In any case, I do not think sulphites are the answer here.

To throw a wrench in the gears...it does not seem to happen with my homemade wine, just commercial wine, and typically just the cheaper end of the spectrum.

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fermentedhiker

Recipes 

They add more than is naturally occurring, so the final ppm count in whites is still higher.

http://wineintro.com/glossary/s/sulfites.html

I've often wondered what causes it myself. Whether it's pesticide residue or some other contaminate that is more likely to show up in a lower budget operation. I haven't found anything consistent to make me feel like I was on the right track though.

The article does give a good test for a sulfite reaction though. Dried apricots have more sulfites in them than a glass of wine so if you can consume a bowl of dried apricots without reaction it's time to look for another cause.

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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
~Thomas A. Edison

Lcasanova

Recipes 

...So- I'm going to be brewing up another double chocolate oatmeal stout. 100% BRS but essentially the same as the original with less chocolate- hopefully this cuts back on the bitterness and acidity

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Lucky 13 Brewing Company
Est. 2009

fermentedhiker

Recipes 

I definitely want to hear how this one turns out. Successfully pulling of some stout and porter recipes is where I want to end up.

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I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
~Thomas A. Edison

Lcasanova

Recipes 

Let me look into what makes up a porter. I actually think my last "brown" might fit that description. I've been thinking about the stout, or at least a beer that is black. The only way we are going to get that is by doing a gf beer that gets most of the fermentables from a mash. That mash needs to have some specialty grains to give it the color- every time I add sorghum syrup or BRS it lightens it. The fix would be blackstrap molasses or dark candi syrup but I don't want to use TOO much of either.

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Lucky 13 Brewing Company
Est. 2009

KevinM

Recipes 

Is it still the situation that steeping dark roasted unmalted grains won't do much and that it has to be malted and likely mashed? Even though I keep reading on it I'm pretty confused. Molasses keeps giving my beer a slightly molasses flavor which wasn't what I was looking for. How about Buckwheat honey?
I can definately say that the chocolate nibs in my secondary hasn't done much for color, and I won't know for a while about flavor. I don't think the toasted grains did anything for color either.

Lcasanova

Recipes 

For me the toasted grains are adding some flavor but not much in color when you are also adding dark candi sugar or molasses. If you were going to highly kiln or roast the grains and use them in a mash you would probably get the color you want.

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Lucky 13 Brewing Company
Est. 2009

DKershner

Recipes 

On the mash vs steep question, it shouldn't matter much for color. Flavor and the amount of sugar you gain would be the part that varies widely.

As for color on the easy side of things, I have used up to 25% dark candi sugar without much ill effect. It in fact was the gluten free beer that had the best head retention yet.

In any case, stouts and porters are pretty close. A stout is actually called a "Porter Stout", or at least it was in the olden days. Stouts in general just have a little more alcohol, and depending on the style of stout, some more roasty, coffee flavors. They are both essentially black. A brown would differ from these two by having a sweeter flavor, less roasty. All are high on the body side of things, but the taste of that body is different. Also, the brown is lighter in color.

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