Recent content by Gothnet

The only thing I really read is Brulosophy. Like others, other information is gleaned from reading forums and searching the net.

[EDIT] removed as stuff was sold.

Oh, and just as an assurance that it was actually good, my friends didn't say "erm, yes, quite nice" like they do with the dodgy batches, they drank it. All of it!

I've done this. I had a spiced mead with an OG of 1.129 at a volume of 18 litres. It was flavoured with oranges, ginger, vanilla, coriander and a couple of other things. I left it to ferment for six months before adding another ~400g of honey to try to carbonate. Unfortunately the yeast had...

At 1.022 (and very young) it is semi-sweet, but the main flavour is definitely 'burnt stuff' I'm wondering if I scorched the honey now. I do have some of the honey left, so I'll make a slurry of 1118, nutrient, a little honey and boiled water at the weekend, to see if I can kick it off again...

I was hoping it would come out very fry, with almost full conversion, as I was only aiming for 10% abv. The sample I drew tastes too sweet at the moment. And of burning.... I suppose if I let it stop here then I wouldn't have to bother with sorbate/Campden and back-sweeten at all. But I can...

Having read so much about them here I decided to make a bochet about 5 weeks ago. I boiled the honey nice and dark, added water until it got down to 1.074 (for a roughly 10% abv finished product). I had started some champagne yeast in a yeast-nutrient and honey solution, chucked it in and...

Hi all! I've made a good few beers now, and midway through last year I made my first mead and my first braggot. Neither is at all subtle, and both are to be drunk in limited quantities lest you fall over in a giggling mess and then get a headache. Also the mead could probably do with aging...

I made a braggot a few months ago and was very pleased with the results. It's definitely a big one though. 3.5kg amber extract, 2.5kg honey, hallertau hops, sweet orange peel. It had a gravity of 1.080, and then I added another kg of honey, so I don't exactly know where it ended up. Then I...

Remember - if using gelatine you want to use it towards the end of the brewing phase, a day or two before you bottle/keg (IIRC), not as part of the boil. Other ticks I know of are time (as mentioned above) making sure you cool the wort very rapidly between kettle and fermentation vessel, and...

I always find it funny when Stella is amongst the premium imported beers here in Australia. Back home (UK) we called it "wife beater" and generally avoided the stuff. For a generic lager it's ok, and a step above the likes of Carling (IMHO), but I can't say I think it's actually good.

I know, but it's hard to be patient when you have more tasty brews planned... Quick question - if I wanted to use maple syrup for bottling instead of priming sugar, what sort of quantity would you recommend? IIRC it's around 65% sugar.

Cool, thanks for the advice, I'll just have to be patient for at least another week before trying out my next recipe...

OK, that saves me some effort then :) And is it important to keep the primary at the same low temperature (18C/64F) for the rest of this time? or can I free up my brew-fridge for another batch? (background - I live in Australia and it's likely to be (24-28C/75-80F) in house)

Fair enough - you wouldn't bother to transfer to another vessel then? It's in a plastic fermenter at the moment, and the other one is glass, not that I'd expect a lot of gas to be able to get through the plastic one in the couple of weeks I'm proposing leaving it.