Recent content by badducky

After one year, the mead is fantastic. It is very sweet and fruity, with an amber color in the glass reminiscent of whiskey. This fruit makes a very tasty mead, despite its black and scary appearance!

I am getting ready for a double-batch of this on Sunday. I cannot make enough to satiate both my brother and myself. ;)

I have used both Chocolate Wheat and Briess Midnight Wheat successfully, and never noticed a meaningful difference between the two. 6-Row is a traditional American grain, more like what the local brewers down here would have used to supplement their expensive imported stuff, and it tastes great...

I live in San Antonio, and I have one of these wonderful vines. They are extremely vigorous growers, easy to care for, and produce grapes that are very good, if small. If you need a structure covered, this is your grape. They don't require elaborate pruning strategies unless you are specifically...

This beer has been carefully designed to be like a much, much better version of Negra Modelo. People who like Negra Modelo and the BMC beers, in general, like my brother, will likely discover this beer is everything they could ever want in a beer and more. (ETA: This is NOT a clone brew, but...

I made a Patersbier Belgian Pale with this yeast. I am sipping dregs from bottling day now. 8 pounds pilsner, 2 pounds Vienna, and 1/2 Caramunich with a single infusion mash, and a 90 minute boil. 1 ounce Fuggles @60, 1/2 ounce First Gold at 30 and 15. Pitches Belgian Abbaye at 60 degrees...

It is clearly ruined. Send to me for immediate disposal. ;) nah, I wouldn't worry. If the yeast doesn't take, just try again with a new packet. I am sure the Pilsner will be just fine, if more on the Saison end than the Witbier end. Lemme know how it goes!

Poking around, I'm curious to know if anyone has used a Rocket Stove? I've got a ton of combustibles in my yard. It looks drastically cheaper than solar, and more wallet-friendly than propane.

I would love to save up for some solar paneling and converters and go completely green with my brewing. It looks ridiculously expensive, though, and would require more technical skill than I currently have.

Howdy, I have been using a turkey fryer for a while now, and find propane a very effective heating mechanism, but I wonder if it is the cheapest method to use to heat the kettle. I have looked at adding a firepit to my backyard, for wood-burning and grilling vegetables and general heating...

I have just made a mead with some Texas Persimmons (I'm in SATX) and a basic dry mead with 3 pounds of honey per gallon of water and about 1/2 pound of fruit pulp with champagne yeast was so sweet when it finished, it tastes more like grenadine than wine. Less honey! Less sugar! These little...

I racked off the Persimmon Mead, and it is so extremely sweet that it tastes more like a grenadine than a wine (except with persimmon notes, not pomegranate ones). I have been experimenting with using it in mixed drinks and have yet found a magic one for it, though results have been tasty. Next...

I went ahead and did it with a long sanitizing session, and a little bit of the skin for nutrient and tannin instead of a nutrient (this time). I'm keeping it blood simple just to see, in a small batch, and if I need to get more technical next time, I definitely will. If it looks like it...

Awesome, thanks! I'm off to the store for my ingredients in a few minutes. (I'm out of wine yeast!)

The wife went foraging while I was at work and came home with about a pound of native Texas Persimmon, and a metric ton of prickly pear tunas.The persimmons are black and soft and taste smoky, a little. We got plans for the tuna. The persimmon was just bonus. I want to make a small batch...