Recent content by Killer_Robot

I found it at Amazon, but I'm not incredibly convinced it's the best sweetener and it's only available by the pound. If I was doing it over I might have just tried sucralose and aspartame (also a popular mix) since it's available in smaller quantities and its shelf life once dissolved isn't so...

Newer diet sodas often tend to use blends of multiple sweeteners rather than single ones: the two will often cover up each other's weak points, and taste more natural than each individual one. I'm currently experimenting with making diet cola from scratch, and I'm working with a blend of...

I've got a starter chiller and a 6 gallon stainless brewpot I'm looking to get rid of after upgrades. The pot is pretty thin but quite serviceable with a lid, the chiller is 50' x 1/4" copper with plastic fittings. Also a chipped but working sink adapter. In other words, cheap stuff so no...

I got this started last weekend, and fermenting good and strong now. I did end up using the peach nectar, and the flavor in the must is maybe a bit too pronounced, but not bad. It wasn't quite like the red stuff: even before adding some sugar to boost gravity it felt more syrupy and less tart...

Refined sugars aren't going to cause hangovers. Poor fermentation temperatures will cause fusel alcohols and other products that give worse hangovers, as can lack of overall nutrients in the ingredients, just due to extra stresses on the yeast producing less predictable chemicals. Adding yeast...

Powdered sugar is generally a bad idea, not because of flavor but because it includes corn or wheat starch used to prevent caking. Since that won't ferment, what doesn't settle out will cloud the end result. But if you're not worried about appearances that's not so important.

I've been toying around with the idea of a Hawaiian Punch wine. No, not buying the red stuff and dropping yeast in, I mean going to the source ingredients. Apparently the base formula is apple, apricot, guava, orange, papaya, passion fruit, and pineapple. Juice is readily available at...

That fear that it will "further normalize adult drinking in the eyes of kids" is what gets me there. Oh no, adults drinking beer with a meal! What kind of immoral country do they think this is, Germany? Think of the children! :eek:

I had plans to brew this weekend, but they were dashed when I jumped the gun and had the yeast pitched by 5pm Friday. Wait, that's a good thing. Blonde ale I'll add some blueberry to.

Thanks for the hints. I'll look into that. Some other research suggested plain aluminum foil wraps or welding blankets or similar too, which I might look at first since really I just need a bit extra.

I just got a new 8 gallon pot to replace one of my 6 gallons so I can easily boil 6 or 6.5 gallons. Problem is, between the greater size and the new one being short and wide rather than narrow and tall it doesn't seem to boil as intensely even with two burners of my apartment stove, and I ended...

I just ran into this stuff on the AHS site and wondered if there would be a thread here. Pretty neat way to make use of what otherwise would be scrap: I might try this to experiment on an otherwise simple beer.

I just started this, using mstef's variant as a starting point though with purple grape juice and a bit less sugar, plus Pasteur Red yeast. OG came out to almost 1.115, so this is gonna be strong stuff. With the strength, and that the volume came to be more 5.5 gallons, think it should be...

I took the advice and threw in the towel: after bringing it to a boil again then cooling it, still smelled like iodine. So I'll just be more careful in the future and maybe make up a quick extract batch this week or something to take its place if I get a chance.

Okay, so I'm making a honey blonde ale. All is good, I hit over target gravity but that's okay, I pour 2.5 gallons of iodophor solution into the fermenter to sanitize it, and while it's chilling I stretch a paint strainer over the bucket to strain out the hops. I pour the cold wort in, then see...