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I've only racked twice counting off the gross lees. Still over oaked. Im considering a second batch this Feb. to mix it with. Tastes good otherwise.

I think I'm going to go with the nibs, but I'm going to wait a couple of years.

Over-oaked it big time. It tastes like toasted plywood with a bit of honey sweetness. Since it's got over 3.5 years to cool down should I let it go for now or should I whip up a couple more gallons to add in and bring down the oakiness? I've never had this problem and I've oaked at least 15...

I just racked mine for the first time since getting off its gross lees. It's already really good (but young). I'm amazed how much the honey has come through considering how high the gravity was, but I did use a ton of honey. I'm not planning on racking again for another 6 months - 1 year.

Mine is still in the primary. It has gone from an estimated 1.165 (read 1.15 +raisins and dates + 1lb. added later) to 1.032 so far and is still putting out a bubble every couple of seconds. I plan on racking tonight to get it off the crud and hopefully reawaken fermentation a little bit...

I'm 8 days into a very high OG bochet (1.15 plus another .01 added later, 1116 hopefully will take it near dry for now). The good thing about fruit and spices is that you can always add them later if you think you need them. I plan on adding chocolate to most of my batch after 1 year.

I didn't have any antibiotic cream, so I used honey for a day until I could get some. ;)

I got one slight burn on my lip when some honey napalm flew up on my finger and I was stupid enough to quickly lick it off. My finger was tough enough to not get burned, but my lip and tongue still hurt. Below is from baking bread a couple of weeks ago. Don't do this.

Here are some pics from my Bochet. I boiled for a little over an hour. In the primary it is dark, but not black. It has a reddish hue. SG was 1.15 exactly, but the chopped dates and raisins probably still have some sugar in them.

I did mine yesterday an inoculated today right at midnight. The most dangerous part by far is adding water at the end of the boil. The honey at that point is well over the boiling point and any water will instantly boil up. So add the water very slowly and in small amounts until the honey...

I've also used Extra Light DME to add body to a fruit wine without having it add any malt flavor.

The bananas are just for body. Trust me, there won't be even a hint of banana flavor in the final product. Banana scent and flavor is pretty much completely boiled out even before fermentation begins. I strain any skin or left over banana parts from the boil before adding. I've done this for...

I've got my recipe set. I'll be finishing up some honeys, thus the variety. 4.2 gallon batch Boil 16 lbs. of honey (5lbs. Wildflower, 6lbs. TJ Mesquite, 1lb. Orange Blossom, .75lbs. Buckwheat, .25lbs. Dandelion, 1lb. Carrot Blossom, 2lbs. Raspberry) for around 1 hour or longer. Boil 4 frozen...

True about the starter, but since the OP was about how to prep dry yeast I thought I should mention that it is best to rehydrate in plain water for 15 minutes before adding any must, sugar, or nutrients. The yeast cells in their dehydrated state don't handle it very well and it can lead to a...

It isn't suggested to use any fermentables or regular yeast nutrients in the first 15 minutes of rehydration. This is the rehydration period where they are reabsorbing water, and sugar and regular nutrients can be detrimental and leave you with a marginally weaker population. It really only...

If you are going to bottle this I strongly recommend adding sulfite and sorbate to avoid bottle bombs.

I just shake 2x a day, but then again I'm not doing 15 gallon batches like Curt. Enough CO2 will remain in solution to stress the yeast at the temp you should be fermenting at. you want to be careful not to oxygenate after 1/3 sugar break, but very little O2 should be in there if you've put...

I would buy some quality cider, just make sure that it doesn't have sorbate. The cider I use (from local orchard) has Kmeta, but not sorbate. The sulfites won't effect fermentation much of you use a starter. The biggest reason for the use of cider is that cider usually comes from a mix of...

You can get off flavors from wine yeast in mead, they seem to be different. I've never tasted dms in mead, even young. But I have gotten other off flavors like the plasticky flavor and harshness from fusel alcohols. Some wine yeasts also produce ester that effect taste, like 71b & 71v.

Oak spirals won't effect aging. It is the micro-oxygenation that helps the aging process in barrels. Micro-oxygenation still occurs in a corked bottle. Even in an airtight enclose some aging happens; you can also get reduction. I've never hears American oak described as tasting like bourbon...