Recent content by malenkylizards

Alright, is done. :) Several questions follow: Pretty nicely done, I think, though only time will tell...only thing that went wrong was apparently I bottled a wee bit too soon. I had clarified with Sparkalloid, and it was clear enough for me to do a Sudoku through if I had the inclination...

Can you comment on neck lengths? I understand that I'll need to adjust my corker but I have no idea how to judge it, and I have a finite amount of corks with which to make mistakes. Also, okay, no bleach noted...should I be worried about detergent in the dishwasher, or can I wash 'em like I'd...

So I've got five gallons of blackberry mead I'm ready to put into bottles, which I've never done before. A few questions: - Before I bottle, I want to backsweeten the stuff, and sulfite the yeasts. Is there any reason I shouldn't do this stuff on the day of? Does order matter? - I have...

The day after adding Sparkalloid to my untitled blackberry mead. It was opaque 12 hours before. :)

Sure, but my previous batch used champagne yeast and it took more like three months to get that proofage. I think it's more due to the dry yeast. :) I tasted it yesterday and tasted it today, all of five minutes ago. Oh, my tongue feels deliciously strange, not so much a burn but a tingle...

H*l*m*t*e*f*c*i*g*h*t*u*e! OG (4/4) = 1.120 SG (4/23) = 1.002(!!) Chart indicates 15.5%! Just racked it into secondary and added two ounces of chopped ginger and four small cayenne. Larger amounts of spice and higher alcohol content than expected after less than three weeks mean I'll be...

Well, you're in BC, ain't ya? Really expensive to you is about normal in my neck of the woods. :-p That said, I do also get cheap honey. Got me a secret little source, straight from the hive at an itty bitty mom-n-pop apiary near my girlfriend's house. Then I realized I was confused...

Hum, sorry to bring up an ancient topic, but hey, at least I got here via search. ;) All the threads talk about beer, but I'm a mazer. I've got a mead that's 15% abv and still going, and I have heard of ones that are stronger still. Given that the cannabinoids are alcohol soluble, the higher...

Yeah, the most I'd be worried about is lingering dust falling in; shopvacs can get pretty dirty, but the end didn't have any immediately visible dust. I dunno, if that were to happen, would such a small amount affect the taste, and would it just sink to the bottom anyway? I still plan on...

alright, that sulfur smell didn't linger at all. The next day, I went home and the smell was pretty much gone. Just a nice cool smell of mangoes, honey 'n' alco-ma-hol. :) w00t! Happy easter, homebrewers.

I didn't know about that autosiphon! I'll sure as hell be getting one, though I like that other one, in which you blow, more. I'm not too worried about sterility from the shopvac, as it never actually touched it. I had it hovering about a half inch above the rim of the carboy. That sucker's...

Bob, I enjoy a handful of hot-n-spicy nuts as well as the next guy, but I think you might be a more enthusiastic aficionado than most!

So I don't know about you guys but I've had a real hard time getting my siphon primed and flowing for the whole racking process...it almost always breaks at some point in the process, and I think it's largely because it starts out with some small bubble that grows over time. I was having a...

Yeah, it does smell like sulfur, and I've had another nose agree...the thing is though, I guess there's a faint sulfurous smell in mango, though I would never've called it that before, because it's that ignorable. I added 5 tsps of nutrients prior to pasteurization, didn't stagger it. It's the...

Slightly Concerning Update: Vigorous fermentation's happenin', blorp blorp. However, you guys know how mangoes have a very sweet taste with just a faint hint of something funky in there? It would appear to me that when they're fermented, that slight little quirk that adds character to a sweet...