Recent content by Mencken

No, from juicing it, there was way too much pulp still in the juice to get a proper read the start so I was never able to get OG. It tasted fine when I put it in the secondary...but I wasn't really paying attention to more than "does it taste good?" What would the taste indicate for me going...

Hi there, I have a perry currently in the secondary fermenter. There is a white film forming on the top. I've read about the possibility of it being film yeast, but from the pictures I've seen, it doesn't look the same. Any thoughts? Am I screwed? For what it's worth, I have a pear tree...

Excellent, thanks for the advice. I didn't re-pitch the yeast and it's bubbling away now.

Really? My understanding was campden tablets killed all yeast, wild or pitched. Will it only target the wild?

My paranoia grew and so I pitched 5 campden tablets in there. I'll leave that for 24 hours and then re-pitch the yeast

I have a pear tree in my back yard, and it's the time of year when it produces a ton. Today, without any forethought, I decided to make a big batch of pear cider. I just juiced a ton of pears, and I pitched it with Nottingham yeast. For the yeast, I did a quick starter with dextrose and water...

In Calgary. I have most of the equipment I need already...just need to replace a few minor things (e.g. buckets) both those are simple. Generally i brew partial mash at this point, but thinking of shifting to all grain shortly. The Vineyard here in town appears to have most of what I need...

Thanks. Unfortunately, their stock seems pretty limited

Hey, I've moved back to Canada and I'm trying to sort out where to get the best supplies online. Does anyone have recommendations? Thanks

Hey fidgit, I got your PM, but your box is full so I couldn't reply there. I figured I'd just put what I typed up here, and hopefully you get it. Hey, my brew turned out just fine, actually. I'm very glad I didn't chuck it, or even decide to wait until I could get new yeast. Worked out...

Sounds good. Thanks

Clarity is great right now. It is a blackberry mead, but the fruit is two rackings removed. In terms of clarity, I'm comfortable with bottling now. No wood chips, haha

Hey all, I have a mead that I plan on testing out at Christmas this year. It has a stable SG, and I'm not concerned about whether I'd be bottling too early if I bottled today. I was just wondering if there was an advantage to bottling. If I want it to be at its best for Xmas, should I look to...

Just to settle this in my mind...I absolutely agree a big rock dropped in water is not going to change the density reading of the water. But if the added material is fine enough, and in enough quantity, I can't see how it would not affect the reading. Picture the cake that forms at the...

FG was stable at 1.020 for 8 days. I figured that it was stuck, or possibly I had screwed up somewhere along the way. It was a partial mash, and I did let it get a little too hot during mashing, so I figured this may have killed some of the sugars. I only used 1 lbs of clover honey.