Recent content by Aquavitae

Thanks for the feedback! Small point if you don’t mind clarifying for me: 2.5 gallons of the brew was Dasani instead of tap water (yes there’s a reason, no it's not exciting at all), so would I still use a quarter tablet or should I use less? I have zero experience using them...

I can’t tell if some of these replies are joking or serious. I was really asking. Ha ha I know that the burps and stuff aren’t usually discussed here. I was trying to determine if they were a subtle tell I didn’t something wrong. Oh well. Not a huge issue. The beer’s good...

Hey all. Ok, so I just cracked my first bottle of my first 5 gallon homebrew. I did a BSG Octoberfest extract kit with specialty grains. I was super careful with sanitation and I followed the directions to the letter. The only issue is my fermentation was probably like 4 degrees higher than...

Started this mead back on Jan 12. OG 1.125. Used Red Star Montrachet yeast. The house temp has varied from high 50s to 69 F. I took a gravity reading tonight (2/3/16) and it is now 1.004. Is it safe to assume the fermentation is done? Or at least very near the end? When should I rack to secondary?

Update: not stuck. I came home from work this morning and my airlock was bubbling at a constant rate, not super quickly but slow and steady, after several days of inactivity. I know that bubbles do not equal fermentation but this is a new experience for me. Does this normally happen? And, if so...

I just wondered if that would even be a solution that made sense. I'll get a gravity reading and report back later.

Alright, so I just got off work and am about to go to sleep but I had a question. I suspect my 5 gallon peach mead may be stuck. I haven't taken a gravity reading yet. I was wondering if throwing in some raisins might help the yeasties get started again if it's stuck. I've added 18g of Fermaid...

I put together this potential recipe Medsen came up with. My LHBS didn't have D47 so I used Red Star Montrachet yeast instead. I sanitized everything with Star San and followed the directions here. The other exception is I used canned peaches, drained and rinsed. I made sure they didn't have...

With proper sanitation, could I use an electric mixer to aerate my wort? Or would that do something wonky to the proteins and sugars and whatnot?

Well, ladies and gents, it appears that I might have brewed my first dud batch. I started a blackberry mead and I racked it onto the blackberries today. I put four large berries into primary with raisins and cinnamon. I could taste strong raspberry-ness already and I must have gotten a couple...

So it appears to be time for me to rack my intended blackberry mead onto the berries. I have a bag of frozen blackberries. How long do I let them sit together in secondary? Is there anything I need to do to the berries before I rack? They are commercially packaged. Thanks all!

I've been making mead for about a year now. I have carboys and airlocks, it just seemed dumb to me to order yeast on amazon and pay shipping that is like 3x what the yeast itself cost. There actually isn't a LHBS here, unfortunately. The one listed online and in the phone book has been closed...

I started a gallon of mead tonight and thought I'd submit the recipe for your reading pleasure (or horror). 3# Kroger brand honey 1 tsp Kroger fast rise baker's yeast (Don't judge me on these first two, I'm poor) 5 bags Bigelow Earl Grey tea ~25 raisins Steeped the teabags in 2 cups...

I don't intend to actually try this. It was just an entertaining thought. I actually discovered in december that mapfelwein is DELICIOUS and doesn't have to age that long to be tasty. Probably going to brew another batch of that.

Out of curiosity, I tasted a packet of suebee honey one of my coworkers got with her breakfast biscuit last week. I didn't like it. I was wondering if anybody had ever heard of a mead brewed with honey from those packets or if that would even work? It could be called Eau de Chickenbiscuit