Recent content by Melicious

Go glass or stainless for anything that will be sitting in contact for an extended time with foods, especially liquids, which can more easily absorb chemicals. Personally, I'd rather be safe than sorry with my health, since most of the messaging casting doubt on this science is from big-money...

Herbal tea does not necessarily have tannin--it only would if there were some ingredient that is tannin specific; herbals contain no actual tea plant--lemon zinger does in fact contain some tannins in the rosehips and hibiscus. ;-) Of course, this is a fine example of the limitations of...

I am in the U.S...I use sea salt, but go out of my way to buy iodized just because of this! I don't use a lot of it, but just enough when cooking & occasionally finishing a dish, etc. that I'm not concerned about deficiency. Thanks for providing the distinguishing info that the iodization DOES...

Pickling salt is commonly used because you can correctly volume measure it for many pickling/canning recipes. If you're weighing, you can probably use any NaCl based salt; however, table salt's anti-caking agents will not dissolve. I don't do fermenting, just refrigerator vinegar and/or...

I'm wondering if it can somehow be distilled down to an apricot liqueur/spirit of sorts...?

I'd rather "ruin" a safe SS kettle than use a plastic fermenter that leaches phthalate disruptors into the brew, reducing testosterone & sperm count/motility. https://www.gq.com/story/shanna-swan-interview

Thank you!! So if I wanted to add a little sweetness, but also carbonate, could I transfer off lees to minimize yeast in the final bottled product, add some fresh juice or corn sugar, let it go just until I see some action for an hour or so(?), then put it in the fridge (or briefly in the...

A friend who does beer brewing said there might be concern about production over time if left to sit of esters, I think it was...? (Might be wrong about the chemical.) Does that only affect beers?

I'm super bummed that when I went to brew this year, I couldn't find my other 3 airlocks that came in my carboy kit, so I took it off the one batch I started 3 years ago but never got around to finishing/bottling. It had fermented nicely at that time, and now was totally still, but had been...

Yes primary concern is the headspace. Haven't touched it since fermentation began a couple weeks ago, and though it wasn't as enthusiastic as I'd like, I saw it get going 12+ hours after pitching, and know it was working for at least 3-5 days. I DO have to remove the airlock at some point to...

I have a similar situation due to some kitchen repair issues, so don't have suitable cleaning space for additional carboys for secondary. My first batch of crabapple cider has been in primary carboy for a week and a half, no more activity happening. I had added spring water to reduce the SG...

I mistakenly added yeast nutrient instead of pectic enzyme the day after putting my campden tab into my freshly pressed crabapple juice. (Trying 100% crabs because they are large and eatable off the tree, just to get a baseline on the end product & figure out if I want to combine with anything...