Recent content by broomdalf

Well, you could always go into the mead world, and make some cyser or show mead with it to dull the hit...

http://consumer.lallemand.com/danstar-lalvin/winefaq.html The second and last statements explain how mixtures of yeast interact, and why it is a bad idea, scientifically?

Alrighty, finally racked it into a secondary (splurged and got a glass one, figuring that I'd be making more batches in the future. Uh oh...), and the S.G. was down to ~1.016, which is reassuring, and there was a giant morass of dead yeast at the bottom, also reassuring. It was also clearer than...

Depending on what kind of honey was used (how light/dark it is) will have an effect on the honey flavor in the beer, with darker being more pronounced. Boiling the honey will also reduce the floral esters, destroying some of the flavor. If you want more flavor, mix the honey with some water and...

Alright, I'll get on that. On a side note, I tested SG today: Still 1.021. It also tasted fairly decent, the roasted barley was fairly prominent but not overpowering...Oh well, if it ends up tasting like this, that's still better than my first batch.

Brewing mead mostly just requires sanitation, patience, minimal equipment, and cleaning out clogged airlocks *every single time* that you use fruit. Beer seems to require more gadgets and skill, but it is ready quicker...

I'm doing what I can to supplement my meadmaking with some extract brewing, making sufficient mistakes on my way to hopefully be learning something. From one of the many moderately-trashy mid-sized cities in the wonderfully-climated state of Indiana. Well, its better than MN where I grew up...

Hrmm, I feel sufficiently humbled to go out and spend another $40 or so on equipment so that my setup is less ghetto, especially annoying being my 5 gallon carboy several hundred miles away and full...Would another plastic bucket make a sufficient secondary, or should I splurge and get another...

First, thanks for all the quick responses! On to the details: Having a pot that only holds 2-3 gallons, I steeped the specialty grains at 165-173F, "boiled" the malt extract, bittering hops into it, then added the aroma hops after the boil was done, let it cool a bit, and...I believe I poured...

Over this past weekend, I started brewing my third batch of beer (Well, the second was a braggot), picking up a Brewer's Best kit from the LHBS. I followed the instructions fairly well (had serious trouble getting the water to a good boil with my wimpy burners, and I'm not sure it ever reached...