Recent content by jjeremy

I'm against squeezing because it can add particulate that might burn on the bottom of the kettle. I've been getting pretty good efficiency with this method : Mash at target volume, not boil volume, biab style After mash, lift bag place on a strainer over a clean, graduated bucket, siphon...

It tasted "fine" isn't much of an explanation. I want to know, did it taste good?

I'm down to just about 10 bottles of my last batch. I'll be sad to see it gone. I'll have to brew again soon.

I like to age this on medium toast Hungarian oak, it comes out quite tasty! I soak the oak in a good Irish whiskey for a couple days to sanitize. My supplier didn't have this variety in chips or cubes, it comes as a stick. One in a five gallon batch for a month or two gave a nice but subtle...

Why not just add apple juice concentrate? Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

I have had bitterness with some of my cider batches. For the most part it goes away with age, like after a month or so in the bottle. If you're getting bitter tannins you can reduce that with proper gelatin fining. And lastly, I've always detected a bitter taste in Tree Top so I just don't buy...

I just put another batch into primary. I'll be aging with oak again, just 5 weeks is my current plan. Still, it's going to be such a long wait! Totally worth it, but a long wait. Maybe I should give it an extra month on the oak and just have it on New Year's.

Based on my experimentation I can definitely recommend using oak with this brew. This is already a great beer (thanks again Mysticmead, I keep coming back to this and it keeps being awesome) and I really like the additional vanilla and spice notes. For this batch I purchased a medium toast...

I ended up using an oak stick. Looked like this while sanitizing in Irish whiskey for 3 days. I would use cubes but had to settle for what's available.

My 5 gallons of this have been sitting on Medium toast Hungarian oak for over a month now. Beautifully clear and red, nice notes of vanilla. Time to bottle it so I think

Marshmallow vodka! Classic! Too bad I didn't have any on hand. I'd have gone longer in the liquor just for the sake of infusion but I'm not worried about 1 day.

Oh, it's probably covered somewhere earlier in the thread but how do you handle sanitary process with your Vanilla Beans? Myself, I soaked them in Irish Whiskey (Kilbeggan) because that's what I have on hand. About a day in that and I'd challenge any bacteria to survive and be ready to compete...

FWIW, I live in a humid, mold-prone climate, I haven't been able to work out ANY kind of temperature control beyond my house-wide HVAC, and I tend to favor Nottingham Ale Yeast because it's a clean high-flocculating yeast and that goes well with my distaste for banana esters and the potentially...

2nd time through, didn't have rice hills either time. I take 1 pass through the grain bed and that takes a while but not as long as when I did graham crackers, pumpkin, and spices. If you're not filtering through the grains don't worry about the rice hulls for BIAB

Any thoughts on oak? I've thought of doing this recipe next time with some oak chips for about 2 weeks in secondary. I've made this beer 3 or 4 times now but haven't used oak ever.