Recent content by milkflakes

I've got just a plastic bucket. I did smash them up pretty good before adding them in though.

Just seeing this. I'd probably do like 20% of the batch size for a lot of flavor, 10% for a light flavor where other characters from malt or whatever you want would come through. So roughly a half gallon to a gallon. But the juice you linked is a blend so might not be super raspberry-y.

Volume loss will depend on the amount of fruit relative to your batch size and how good you are at getting the pulp separated from the liquid. With just a siphon and a simple cheesecloth filter I recently lost nearly half a 2.5 gal mini batch that contained 4 lbs of blueberries. Not good. A...

Frozen fruit is not sanitary, though if using in secondary, which is when you should add it no matter how you choose to do so, it's unlikely to cause issues. If you want to stay on the safe side use a soak of campden tablets or vodka. Also, use a cheesecloth bag when you make the addition, it...

Ok so I bottled a few days ago and based on that experience I can say, never again. There was tons of fruit floating on top and more on the bottom. I sanitized a strainer and slowly, carefully lifted off the floaters. When I tried to use an auto siphon covered by a mesh bag, the berry carcasses...

Agree with the above. I had a porter with zero krausen recently, turned out fine. Based on the description I wouldn't worry about it. The fact that your krausen cleared is convenient for siphoning later. I'd monitor gravity readings and proceed as usual.

Nah, but I will come back in about three weeks when it's carbed up and let you know!

commenting to follow. I am about to do my first mead too! My plan is to do a 2 gal BOMM substituting kveik yeast and toss in a quart of cranberry juice. You might want to check it out: BOMM

Oh also forgot to say it's absolutely fine to use a stainless spoon in there.

It's fine to go ahead and replace that spoon, that could easily be the source of all your problems. Any equipment you reuse after the boil can infect a batch if it isn't sanitized glass or metal.

Still in secondary. I did 4 lbs blueberries for a 2.5 gal batch as I wanted it to really come through.

Not being helpful but just commenting to follow. I have that exact bottle and have been too scared to try it. I decided to fruit my kettle sour with packs of frozen berries instead because I've heard people say the extracts are fake tasting.

White Labs says WLP001 has a tolerance of 10-15%, I wouldn't worry about pitching any new yeast. Just because I'm curious, what happened with your batch priming failure?

I use a cheapo refractometer off amazon. You do need to adjust readings that you take after fermentation starts, but aside from that I've found it works just fine and you only need to pull out a few drops of beer to measure SG. That being said if your eyesight isn't good you could splurge on one...

DId you add nutrient? Also how cold is it? It might actually be a bit too chilly if you have had it in the basement the whole time. Do you have gravity readings?