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I second the Columbus. I used all Columbus for my RyePA and it came out fantastic.

I would warn away from using ginger as a primary flavor, I just dumped a pumpkin ale because I couldn't get rid of the ginger flavor. I only used .5 t. ginger powder in the boil along with my other spices, but the ginger overpowered everything. It wouldn't age out either, if anything it got...

Let me know what you think of my Old English Barlewine. 20 lbs Golden Promise 5 oz. EKG @60 min. 3 lbs. amber honey (added in 3 stages during fermentation). White Labs 007 Gonna age on 5 oz. of toasted oak cubes in secondary for a month or two. Shooting for 11-ish percent abv. Cheers.

I have a recipe for a braggot that calls for gesho root rather than hops. I can't find gesho in my area (nor have I ever tasted it) so I'm wondering what kind of hops would be a good substitute for its character. Cheers!

A college student having trouble finding alcohol bottles? My dorm has recycling for glass. I just hit it up after every friday night.

1589.5 + 5 = 1594.5 Just bottled my first batch and already planning my next one. Cheers!

I'ld avoid milk jugs, they oxidize fast and are hard to seal. I use Carlos Rossi 4 liter wine carboys. Fit it with a #6 cork and an airlock and you can age your mead in them as long as you want and reuse them. Its worth the cash, you and if don't mind the wine you can have fun emptying them.

I agree, stay away from the wine yeasts. I'm liking the S-04 ale yeast myself.

I just started my own variation of this recipe, hope it comes out good. 6 gal Indian Summer Cider (ingredients: Apple juice, Apple juice conc.) 4 lbs dextrose 1/2 c. molasses 8 oz. white grape juice conc. 1 c. chopped raisins 1.5 T cream of tartar 1.5 T yeast nutrients 1. strongly steeped oak...

There's one way to find out I guess. Take a reading and check it in a week. As for sanitizing your airlock, you can never be too careful, it would be a shame to spoil a 5 gal. batch.

I wouldn't expect to see any rapid fermentation at this point. I would trust your hydrometer from now on to judge yeast activity.

I'm thinking about shooting for an OG around 1.07 to be on the safe side. Thanks for the help.

Its what I have on hand and I've just had good results using ale yeasts for lower OGs.

I'm wanting to try Summersolstice's Johnny Jump Up cider with Safbrew S-04, but am worried that the poor ol' ale yeast won't be up to the OG of ~1.08 plus bottle priming. Anyone worked with the stuff at this high of a gravity? -Cheers!

I just made a mead that was steeped in dried oak bark and rose hips. I hope it comes out as tasty as the must.

I've had good results backsweetening with lactose, which is not fermentable. I use about 1/2 lb (dissolved in warm water) per gallon of cider. You'll still need to prime with sucrose if you want a carbonated cider.

Thanks for the help, I'll start tasting it next week. Next time I'll try to get my hands on some better yeast.

Yeah I thought it was stupid that a beer yeast would be a poor malt fermenter, but I got spooked by what I read. I have been using this forum all summer, its been a life saver for this beginner.

So I'm trying my hand at a malt cider and I pitched it with the only ale yeast my LHBS carried, Muntons Standard Ale Yeast. I later read up on the yeast only to find out that its not recommended for recipes that are heavy on malts. 1 lb DME boiled in quart of water 1 c. Honey stirred in...