Recent content by CCericola

I do it all the time. Sometimes I carbonate in the keg and then let it sit and age. I find the beer is a bit richer that way.

Okay - my chocolate rum raisin porter (which was loved by many) had an OG of 1.069. First - I took 4oz of cocoa nibs and 4oz of raisins and soaked them in 8oz of rum. I left this to soak for about two weeks before I blended it up until it was a liquid slurry. Second - at ten minutes left...

For cocoa, I do a one two punch. Dutch processes cocoa at 10 minutes left and then nibs soaked and blended in vodka (or another alcohol) at flameout. I'll double check my chocolate rum raisin porter recipe to let you know what volumes used. As for vanilla, I like fresh beans scraped and...

I'm guessing you'll be steeping specialty grains? If so, I'm leaning towards you probably can - you won't get any starch conversion but you should get the mouth feel. This thread is a pretty good discussion on it.

First - congratulations on your first brew. Now take a deep breath, relax and then give yourself a high five. You deserve it. Next - does your recipe (kit or otherwise) list what the final gravity should be? I've not used Windsor, but it's possible it's slowing down. The yeast know what to...

How's it coming along?

Yes - it could be something like brett that's just nomming away on those sugars and gassing up those bottles into bombs.

Probably not - it might be a little unbalanced. Dryer than you'd want or expect. Worst case, you stressed those lovable scamps and they may produce some off flavours. Don't get me wrong you can screw up a beer, but with good sanitation it's pretty difficult to.

There's really two things - you could've bottled too young in which case the yeast is doing more work in the bottle or the other option, and what I think is more likely given the off flavour, is that it's infected. In either case, you should open a few samples to see if it's isolated to one...

I don't to alarm you because it's probably just that the yeast was roused, possibly warmed, and is doing some cleanup but I don't think cocoa nibs contain sugar.

I plan to add it, let it ferment out then add a half a cup of honey prior to bottling, in Belgian bottles w/corks, to make it bubbly.

I'm trying to get a caramel flavour into an apple pie mead without using any extracts, and have come up with two main options. Option one is to do a basic caramel (sugar + water) until it's a light amber colour, add cider to thin it out and cool, and then rack the mead on top of it...

Re: the carbonation drops, you're fine to use sugar. Carbonation drops are used because they're simple - X drops per bottle. You can certainly measure out sugar per bottle or you could rack into another container onto the sugar. Re: the bag, As I read it, you're going to put a bag in for the...

Oxyclean or PBW cleans all. Fill them, soak them overnight, and the rinse thoroughly. I'd follow up with a round of starsan.

I'd do a starter to be safe - better to find out now if the yeast is no good and buy more than to pitch it and have a sad beer.