Recent content by criggs85

Sorry this may be a dumb question but I am new to kegging. I want to be able to give bottles to friends and was planning on kegging to carbonate. So the plan was to bottle from the keg but if I do so should I let them know they need to go right into the fridge if they don't drink right away or...

Yeah I'm starting to lean towards investing in this kind of setup. For some reason I always thought not having bottles I could gift would be the downside but somehow missed the fact you can bottle out of it. Thanks!

Thank you! This helps a lot! I'll let you know what route I take and the outcome.

I will check the pH tomorrow. I have a basic testing kit for that and have never used it but thank you for the good point! I also have been reading about malolactic fermentation and the bonuses of that but sounds like that is a crap shoot now that I already bottled it.

Hi All, I think I may have bottled too early. I bottled it after it held at the same FG for a couple of weeks (1.005). It was dry and very bitter. After I bottled it I read a lot of comments I should have left it in the secondary for a couple months to see if the bitterness dropped and rounded...

So I just made my first ever batch from fresh pressed cider from my local brewing supply store it started with a 1.060 OG and after stalling for a couple weeks at 1.004 I decided to bottle it out of my secondary. It had a very nice apple aroma still but was dry and very tart. I hope I didn't...

Hi All, This might be a dumb question but I'm a noob and am full of them. I have only one fermenter right now and currently i have a batch in it that I feel isn't completely ready to bottle and I just picked up the fresh pressed cider for my next batch. I don't have room for the fresh juice in...

I have definitely read a lot of stories regarding bottle bombs and it doesn't sound fun. I can see not backsweetening and good point to try it as is this batch but if I am wanting a slight carbonation and I stuck either pasteurizing or kegging? I have heard about cold crashing once carbed and...

Hey All, I'm still pretty new to this and am currently in secondary and wanted to see if what I plan on doing is flawed at all. I have had it in secondary for only a week but in about another week testing it and if it is clear and tastes good go to bottle it. It was on the dry side when I...

If I ferment the cider and the beer wort separately and then mix it would it still be a graf or would it be considered something else?

I have two questions for everyone. I'm sorry if this was mentioned on other comments already on here but dang this is a long (but very interesting) thread. The questions are: Since I am heat pasteurizing the bottles are the end do I still need to use sodium metabisulfite before fermenting? I...

Thanks for the advice. I ended up slicing them up and putting them up in the primary. Still had a little seeds left and I put two small to medium size ones in so should still be plenty warm for a gallon batch, though this is all an experiment on my part since I've never tried a capsicumel.

True...I never really thought of it that way.

So I have read a couple threads on making capsicumel here and think I might make a gallon batch soon. In the past I have made habanero infused honey by cutting up a habanero and simmering it in the honey in a double boiler for about 15 minutes then filtering out the pepper when putting it back...