I like this time at night on HBT

True. I think for my next frozen dessert experiment I'll just churn some overripe banana. That's going to be a while though. I need to eat a space out of my freezer first.

 

Huh, youtube decided it didn't like my avatar because it wasn't high enough of a resolution? Uh, no. Uploaded a blank image and removed the old one from both my youtube and gmail account. If they keep doing this crap I'm going to get rid of both accounts. It's really starting to make me angry.

 

So my saison has been sitting on the peach puree for a little over 2 weeks. The pulp seems to be taking up a heck of a lot of the volume in the better bottle. It looks like I'll be lucky to get 3 gallons of beer out of the 5 gallon batch. Is it normal to experience that much loss of volume when adding fruit puree to beer? I really thought it would have compacted more at this point. Will it help to cold crash it?

 

Peaches kind of dissolve when they ferment, unless they are a little green. When you take them out, put them in a colander and let them drain for a few minutes. I doubt you will lose as much of the liquid as you are thinking.

 

Damn, just lost my favorite great-aunt to a brain tumor. Perfectly healthy 1 month ago, aged 83. Sad to see her go, but glad that it was relatively quick. Here's to 83 great years and wonderful memories!

Cheated a bit and had an early sample of my English IPA - delish! Still young and needs about another 2 weeks by my reckoning, but darned good despite that. Notch up another good brew! I need the weather to cool a bit more before I brew again, but I'll probably start with two quick batches of this IPA.

 

I'm sorry for your loss TC. 83 isn't a bad run though. I'll drink to her life tonight.

 

I'm talking peach puree, not pieces. It would go right through a colander.

 

Sorry for the loss TC! Best regards to you and your family.

 

Thanks for the well-wishes all. I'm sad but OK. My mom and my great-uncle are feeling her loss deeply tonight.

Her loss just makes me thoughtful about how quickly life passes. She was actually going to come up for a visit in August, and on the day she was to depart she had the seizure that was later diagnosed as caused by the tumor. I never got to see her again. In a way I am glad as I have a memory of a spunky and fun and sophisticated lady, not a sick person on their deathbed. And I'm sure that's the way she would want to be remembered. My aunt, an RN, was with her and gave her great care over the last month.

Here's to hoping that someone will smile at your memory! Live life!

 

How long were they married? Poor guy. The thought of losing a spouse, particularly after being together what I'm assuming was a very long time, is awful.

 

I was referring to her brother. Her husband passed many years ago. She and her brother were very close.

 

Ahh, my mistake. I'm sure losing a sibling after a life time is pretty darn hard too.

 

Yeah, I think that's what gets me the most, wondering how I would feel if I lost my sister.

OK, no more posts about losing loved ones tonight. That can't be helped and I'll dwell on it anyway. I need some music.

 

Hmm, do you have a white pillow case you don't care about? Rack of what you can, and then pour the rest into it. Then hang it over a pot or something to catch the liquid. Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to wet the pillow case with a no rinse sanitizer first. If you are still leaving a lot of liquid in the pillow case try squeezing it gently.

That's kinda what I do when I harvest rice wine. Use a cloth as a filter, and apply some gentle pressure to get the liquid out.

 

I got a 5gal nylon "hop" bag from my LHBS. I can just rack on top of it to begin with, pitch, and then pull the bag out before racking to a bottling bucket.

 

5 gallon nylon paint strainer bags from the box stores are cheap and awesome.

 

I found some cider for decent prices today. $6.99 a gallon wasn't going to happen. $4.88 on the other hand is worth the difference. I picked up enough to run a double batch. I'll probably wait a couple months before doing the second one, but I should have cider started shortly.

 

I should have some new 8gal buckets coming tomorrow

I have 4 of the highest-end wine kits ready to go.

 

I assume you're talking about a bucket. I don't think that would work in a better bottle. There's no way all that pulp would pull through the neck I would think. Do you just do your fruit additions in the primary bucket?

 

That or use another bucket. I have plenty of carboys but I don't like filling them with crap.

 

Ok, cider is going. OG was 1.082. Hmm, I find that I'm less and less inclined to brew rocket fuel as time goes on. I guess it's a brewing phase. "Ooh, look I can make alcohol! I wonder how much alcohol I can make?"

 

Yeah, after you have sampled rocket fuel a few times, something a little more moderate seems like a good option. I sort of like the fact that I have to work to drink enough to get badly pickled on my homebrew. My house beers don't stray north of 5% ABV too often, and I am eagerly chasing a Berliner Weisse that weighs in at 3.2% ABV. It lets me drink more beer!

But... I also have 9% ABV apfelwein in the works and a 13% Merlot aging, so I guess ABV isn't the right measure. I wouldn't characterize either as rocket fuel.

 

Anybody familiar with aging times of different wines?

 

You're breaking up Emjay!

 

I need a new phone. This one's a year old, which isn't really old except that I drop it on more than a daily basis.

 

Leadgolem, I gotta thank you again for the cool avatar. Your happy little drinking buddy Thunder Chicken - it really does fit my attitude and demeanor. Cheers!

 

I think you're supposed to age them all according to the following formula:

Aging Time = Your Lifespan + 2 years

I think drinking your own wine is frowned upon.

 

Yeah... that's probably correct for my Amarone...

 

A little bit. Typically a red wine needs to age at least 5 years. A white is usually two.

Some wine kits have had the tannin removed and replaced with tannin recovered from wine aging barrels. If that's what you've got, then about half the aging time is about right. They don't strip all of the tannin, just some of it. So it still needs time to go through it's chemical stages.

This is why I don't brew with tannin. I'm not that patient.

Your welcome. It seemed appropriate.

 

How long to age wine? I dunno, it ferments out in less than 2 weeks usually. Some stuffy old bastard will call you a sinner if you dare sample before 100 years. Who knows? The wine you get at the store is generally a few years old and is often OK. I'm told that after 20 years wine turns into unicorn semen and all sorts of magical things happen then. Just make sure to use the proper glassware and let it breathe; it's been cooped up in that bottle for a long time and needs some air.

 

That's what I'm talkin about!

 

Only about 10% of commercial wines supposedly benefit from additional aging.

I've got an Amarone, old vine zinfandel, pinot noir, and gewurztraminer on deck. Just wondering if I can expect any to be really good sometime next year.

 

I think it depends on your definition of 'good'.

 

We got two beers after each forty fives days at sea. Pretty sure we got four on his one.

In her glory and the last of the F-4s and A-7's.

1985, at sea. The USS Midway. Home port. Yokosuka $

[ame][/ame]

 

I just got back from simulating my new morning commute. 40 minutes. Not to bad. I was afraid it would be more like an hour.

 

40 minutes would be awesome. I got an hour and fifteen minutes at an average of about 62 miles an hour.