alaskan amber advice/mead advice

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zeinog

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i picked up a Alaskan amber clone recipe and supplies from my lhbs. the recipe calls for 1lbs pilsnier malt 1lbs Munich. if i grind it at home how fine should i crush it with a rolling pin or is it just gonna be easier to take it to the lhbs and run it through their mill. i ask cause this is a long drive(about 30 mins)also if i make the drive out there should i look into getting irish moss for clarifying i haven't noticed a lot of cloudiness in my current red ale(bottling in 2days) since the fermentation has stopped but curious on adding in future batches just to compare. Also i picked up a 2 gallon ferment-er to start a small batch of mead in since my girlfriend is celiac and cant drink beer. any advice on where to start with that would be great since so far i just know honey, water, yeast(not sure what kind) and was thinking of spicing it with Cinnamon and cloves i didn't want to tie up my carboy for the next six months waiting on the mead. btw ive finally tasted the red ale using what i took for a gravity reading and quiet happy with flavor if a little disappointed in the alcohol content(if i did my math right it puts it at 4.2% i'd have prefered 6-8% just to please my heavier drinking friends. thank you in advance and sorry so many questions in one post.
 
Just as an update. i decided to shoot from the hip on my mead as i canceled my vacation(Yay new job) i used a gallon and a half of water 4lbs of raw natural honey two sticks of cinnamon 1/3 an ounce of sweet orange peel(after smelling it i think ill use about half as much next time depending on taste) two whole cloves and a pinch of nutmeg. the yeast i chose based on advice from my home brew store guy(since i canceled trip i went ahead and milled my grains course for my Alaskan amber) he suggested lalvin d47. he said its should leave sweeter notes to the mead and can tolerate the temperature ranging from 70 to 80. ill keep you updated as it progresses and how it turns out. now to start my alaskan batch. im going to go ahead i use irish moss in it for the first time just to compare clarity to my irish red batch. the irish red should be ready to drink in about two weeks.
 
red turned out great the Alaskan amber clone was good minus one bottle that tasted like hairspray. im guessing wasn't sterilized well and the mead is alcoholic still not a big wine drinker but its good i guess want to have some of my wine drinking friends try it and hear what they have to say. thought id give you an update as i wait for my brew season to start again. damn summer heat.
 
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