Recent content by JKenshi

I agree here completely... it's been my experience that all spice and cinnamon have a tendency to hide early on during conditioning, then come back at you like a hammer later on. Don't overdue it and be patient. Too much of these spices can hide your delicate pumpkin flavor... you want the...

Ok, I've got an odd one for you... I have a few bottles of cider from an experiment I did last fall... I don't remember what I did, but the cider is a bit too cinnamony, and quite tart. I noticed I have some fresh apples, peaches and pears lying around... Has anyone ever made sangria with...

I agree with mongoose33 whole heartedly, but I would add one small thing. When you do your first few beers (and I also recommend starting with an extract kit to learn the process), DO keep it simple, but also make a beer that you like. Make it a style you're familiar with, and when you do...

It could have been worse... you still came away with three brews that may surprise you with positive results.

I've done a couple of batches of White Labs Irish Ale Yeast, with no starter and it was going like mad within a few hours of pitching. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

How did the beer turn out?

And here are some picks of the brew and its namesake.

Hey everyone! I just wanted to follow up on this. After letting the bottles sit for awhile, the beer turned out GREAT!! I'm not normally a wit guy, but I think this is my best beer yet. So good, in fact, that I only have a few bottles left and will be brewing a 5 gallon batch of it shortly...

I used to suffer the same thing... if sanitizer kills all the bad stuff, why doesn't it kill the yeast, or you? after I watched an experience home brewer pour beer into a bottle that still had the foamy bubbles of starsan in it, I stopped asking questions and just went with it. You'll be fine.

This was the recipe I used as a base. Left out the torrified wheat and reduced the hops to just a couple of pellets... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider.117117/

Having done it once, I won't do champagne yeast in cider again. Dries it right out and I found it unpleasant. I would recommend an ale yeast and using DME and/or steeping grains with minimal hops to bring in the beer aspects.

First, thank you very much for the clarification and advice. I was using the term "still" because I had forgotten they were called "Cask Ales" and I was using the term I was familiar with in association with ciders. Second, I didn't mean that to be an offensive joke at all and I apologize for...

I could use an aerator tip that you attach to tubing for transferring wort from kettle to fermentor, though that takes away the easy stop mechanism of the bottling wand. Maybe I'll try it both ways and see what comes out. OR... I could poke a hole in the tubing near the autosiphon and cover it...

I had an idea to emulate the beer engine, at least for a first time experiment... If I do a small batch and "cask" it in a glass or stainless steel growler, then when I'm ready to serve I just use an autosiphon to emulate the pump handle servey thing, and a bottling wand to emulate the doohicker...

Thank you so much! This is very helpful. I think I'm going to give it a try with a small one gallon batch. I have a very small (2L) oak cask left over from a whisky aging kit I can use and then bottle the rest. This also gives me an opportunity to try a few other grain combinations I've been...