Recent content by rfsido

Hello Cider-ers, I've applied for a Research Education Fund grant from the AHA to investigate easy alternatives to the keg/sorbate/backsweeten method for producing sweet, bottle-conditioned hard ciders. This is mostly aimed at novice homebrewers who don't keg and who don't necessarily want to...

Why not use carapils to sweeten? You could find a recipe for a sweet stout and just use that amount of carapils (probably a pound or so). That way you won't have to add lactose and you can still bottle condition. If you have the equipment for it (an ice cream maker), you could make sorbet out...

Batch Size: 5.50 gal Style: American Amber Ale () Boil Size: 3.34 gal Style Guide: BJCP 1999 Color: 13.2 SRM Equipment: Pot ( 3 Gal/11.4 L) - Extract Bitterness: 23.0 IBUs Boil Time: 60 min Est OG: 1.050 (12.3° P) Mash Profile: BIAB, Medium Body Est FG: 1.014 SG (3.6° P) Fermentation: Ale...

Made this in late November; cranked open a bottle last week. It's quite tasty; more peachy than anything else. Strong white grape aromas, with some honey, waxy and spice notes in the finish. The flavor though was like the very center of a peach, those bits that cling to the pit that are dark...

What yeast would you recommend for bottle conditioning? I've gotten a request for a lightly-sparkling mead. Should I use pasteur champagne, or will that ferment sugars that were beyond the reach of the Strong Ale yeast and cause bombs? Or, should I just add priming sugar the way I would for beer...

I had a funny thought while reading one of the other threads which mentioned the need to degas a fermenting mead. Since a 5-gallon carboy weighs at least 44 pounds at the beginning of fermentation, and at least 40 when fermentation is over, it occurred to me that there must be a better way to...

I'm looking for the flavor of the cooked fruit anyway, and since I don't have the kind of equipment that I'd need to get the juice out (i.e., a cider press), cooking the fruit makes the most sense. I suppose I could grate the quinces before cooking to reduce cooking time as well as the amount of...

If you want to calculate the finished %ABV, you'll have to do the calculation in two steps, since you added sugar twice. I'm glad to hear that it works for melomels; have you tried this with raspberry honey?

Has anyone tried this recipe for a base mead to be turned into a melomel later? I've occasionally found myself at farmers markets and U-pick orchards wishing I had some show mead ready for secondary. JSappenf, there are several online calculators you can use; here's one...

Hello, Quinces are one of my favorite fall fruits, and while eating some quince pie the other day it occurred to me that a quince melomel would be quite tasty. The only problem with quinces is that they are pretty much inedible raw; they're hard and astringent, but are magical when cooked...

I'm thinking about doing a pumpkin mead (with honey instead of DME); how much DME did you add? I'm curious to know how this will turn out. Did you add pectic enzyme?

I was thinking of doing a "2 step pilsner mash" as found in Beersmith; do you think that'll be necessary or should I just do a single step and hope for the best?

Strange as it sounds, a rhubarb dunkelweizen might be pretty tasty? Those tend to have some sweetness to spare, and the tart fruitiness might go well with the banana/chocolaty flavors.

So one day for whatever reason "America The Beautiful" was stuck in my head, and when I came to the "for amber waves of grain" line it occurred to me that perhaps I should make a recipe that would do that justice. It also seemed appropriate to use four types of grain, and that these four grains...

Well, right now I'm trying to refine a recipe for an AAA; I want this thing to be malty as heck, and a bit sweet but not overly so. I posted a thread in the AG forum but nobody has given me any feedback so far.