Recent content by HappyFermentations

AAnd here's the "on-purpose" infection in the sour saison that I just racked to my oak barrels for some aging.

So, for the first time ever I decided not to open my bucket at all for the entire fermentation process. Pitched my yeast, airlock started bubbling and I left it completely alone. Opened it up after a month and voila - my first ever infection. Absolutely unreal. Was going to be a Dry Irish...

So I'm now nearing the two month mark and it's ...almost drinkable. The apple taste is starting to come back and a lot of the "smack you in the face" tartness is gone. I'm going to finish this bottle and then leave the rest sit for at least another month before cracking them open again. Who...

Just stole a sample out of my barrel... WOW!!! 10 days in primary and less than a week in the barrel, but I felt like having an entire glass. This is going to be dangerous. Did you ever try making a less potent version? I really like this, but would also like something I can drink 3-4 of in...

I wonder how this would turn out if you followed the "Sweet Country Cider" process. Add some extra sugar (DME?) and then bottle and pasteurize while it's still fermenting once it gets down to like 1.03 or 1.02. That way it might retain some more of the Apple taste and natural sweetness. Any...

So, mine fermented for 2 weeks and has been in the bottle for 2. Boy, is it tart! Does that fade with time? Right now it's super dry, which is fine, but is so tart it'll crack your teeth!

So I'm pretty new to brewing/making alcohol and started in the middle of September - but in that time I've done 3 AG batches, a Graff, 4 ciders, an Apflewein, a Shiraz, a Banana Wine, Blueberry wine, 2 JAOM and a Joe's Quick Grape Mead. (When I start a hobby I kind of go 150% for as long as I...

I got poor efficiency from it when I brewed it, but added DME immediately and was able to salvage it. It started at a 1.056 and ended at a 1.014. I tasted a sample from the fermenter and it's delicious. Also, I feel more comfortable having that in there than just leaving it with nothing in it...

Sorry, just now getting back to reading this. Thanks a lot for all the replies! The barrel just got here and it's awesome. It's from balcones in Texas and had blue corn whiskey in it. Pretty pumped about that because I love whiskey, but I'm not a huge bourbon fan. I'm going to rinse it with...

Has anyone tried aging this in a whiskey barrel? I've got one coming my way and I'm considering brewing this up and tossing it in. I think the honey/oak/whiskey might be a really nice combination.

Has anyone tried barrel aging this? I've got a 5g whiskey barrel arriving this week and am looking for something to put in it. Any advice would be great - thanks!

So I impulse bought one of the 5g whiskey barrels that were being sold on Black Friday. It arrives this Friday, but I don't really have anything ready to put in it yet. I'm thinking Imperial stout or Barleywine, and I'd like to brew on Saturday, do a primary and then put it in the barrel...

So, how much time would you recommend? 2 weeks seems like a really short amount of time, but I definitely don't want to over oak it.

I picked up one of the 5G used whiskey barrels for $99 that Homebrewing.com was selling yesterday. Convinced my fiancé that we could use it as a living room decoration! So, now comes the hard part - what he hell should I put in it? I'm thinking either an imperial stout, nut brown or a barley...

Bottled yesterday after two weeks in primary. It seems to be carbing up pretty quickly. One issue I noticed is that I will DEFINITELY cold-crash before bottling next time. Yeast is already dropping out in the bottom of the bottles.