Recent content by casebrew

So I think I'm sticking with the acetaldehyde hypothesis. It boils at only 68f, ought to air right out of there. Diacetyl is similar, 72f? My reading on the net said for sure it causes headaches. Frinstance, with hangovers, caused by the body making acetaldehyde as part of the break down...

28 hours in the open did do something. Last evening just walking into the kitchen gave me a headache. I even sealed the bottom of the door between kitchen and bedroom, I didn't need the overnight headache. So this afternoon the kitchen smelled better. Even with my face right in the 'vat' it...

Yes to the green apple/harshness. But LoQuats are members of the apple/pear family, so I didn't recognize it as a problem. So far as the rest, then what is it that traditional Lager brewers do when they raise the temp to 'cook off' something. Meantime, I'll Wiki Fusel...

Dunno, but the fruit flies all over the house from the figs got in to a case of plums, making them smell of vinegar too. I was dumping that case into the trash when I realized I had made vinegar. Also the batch of plum wine I had started at the same time. So I mixed the plum wine vinegar with...

Nah, nuthin to lose. K.I.S.S.- squash them with a potato masher, put the whole mess of skins and all into a wide mouth jug, cover loosely and let her go. The wild yeast (the powder you see on the skins) will ferment it. Once the bubbling stops, strain it through anydam thing- tea strainer...

I wish I had done something besides a Camden tablet in my fig wine attempt. It did make an excellent wine vinegar though. Next bucket of figs is going to get boiled... or maybe just Pasteurized, 145? 30 minutes?

Seedless grapes are table grapes. If they have seeds, they were probably planted for wine making. Go fir it.

Health issues lately. I left 11 gallons of LoQuat wine on the must for 4 months. In a keggle with a Farberware lid. It occurred to me the other day that it probably settled well enough that I could syphon off a gallon. I took a bottle to a housewarming. Flavor is not right, a harshness masks...

Have you done a Papazian, and tasted every step of your process? I really don't think the water has much of the starches in it. Unlike mashing grains that have been milled nearly to flour. Maybe next batch I'll try an iodine test?

NOT to make frijoles. The homebrewer next door and I have made a break through is de-gassing beans. After I read some where that the gas is made by the biota in our guts eating the undigested long chain starches, we tried this: After soaking an appropriate time (overnight, or several...

The worst triggers for my Gluten probs are Modified Food Starch and Malto-dextrin. And soy sauce made with wheat, that has 40% more Carbs than wheat free SS. And another baddie is corn tortills made with amylase, but I can pig ouit on one brand that is not. I'm wondering if my probs might be...

I hate to be thread necromancer, but a sister is sending me 10# of dried mango. (I guess somebody turned allergic) Anybody got a clue as to how many ounces there were per bag from Wal-Mart? 4oz? 8oz? Or maybe the yield for drying mangos? I did find a raisin jack recipe that used 3# of that...

They will all settle out in the primary.

Didn't you ever hear what Charley P said about tasting enverything at every step, just to get used to what is normal? So, how does it taste and smell? It looks like yeastie floaties to me. Have at it.

My arms are too short to get the camera in that far. Besides, I don't even want to see them up close. ;) I'm just happy it holds pressure. But I will have to keep on top of sanitation. Probably use a boiling water soak before starting next batches. What the sanitizers won't get, the heat will...