Recent content by vamo

Just realized I forgot to update on the final product. It definitely has a distinctive spruce bite to it. You might mistake it for just being hoppy if you didn't know better, but its distinctive enough to standout. Also has a slight cola note to it, its a darker beer so this is probably a...

I used the recipe from complete joy of homebrewing called "kumdis island spruce ale". It called for 4oz of new spruce growth for a 5 gallon batch so that's what I used. By volume this was a sandwich bag about 3/4 full. It would have probably been easier to harvest had I waited a couple of...

Just sampled some from the fermentor, its warm and flat, but the spruce taste definitely comes through, looking forward to trying it when its cold and carbonated.

Went ahead and brewed using the full hour called for in the recipe. I'll try to come back update when I have a drinkable product.

I've never had a hefeweizen take more than 2 weeks to reach a stable FG. The yeast is a very active strain so I suspect my beer was ready before that, but I don't start taking gravity readings until 2 days before the 2week mark so I don't know.

1. Just about every recipe I've used instructs to add extract at the beginning of a 60 minute boil. Some people like to add it later to prevent it from becoming carmelized at the bottom; once carmelize the yeast don't use it as well and it can result in less abv and a residual sweetness. Also...

I would just top it off back to the fill line the small amount of water that got suck in (if thats what happened) probably won't hurt, try not to make a habit of it though. I used to be so paranoid about contamination that I used vodka in my airlock instead of water; in hindsight it was a bit...

And just fyi the airlock might not start bubbling for a day or 2 even under perfect conditions so don't panic if it has not started when you wake up tomorrow.

We laud sanitation because its something that is so easy to control, but not doing so is not going to without fail ruin your beer. Remember people have been making beer for 1000's of years idophor and starsan are pretty new inventions. Pitching at a temperature that is not ideal can stress...

Thinking of making the spruce ale from the complete joy of homebrewing. In the book the directions are to add at beginning and boil for the full hr. Most spruce beer recipes I find online suggest a 10-15min boil. Anyone know how boil time would effect flavor? Will something negative happen...

I'm actually working on an eisbock too, haven't finished it though. Limited freezer space makes it a bit slow going. Local shop had a cheapo Munton's "bock" kit. What I'm getting is drinkable, but concentrating definitely magnifies flaws you might have been able to easily ignore if you...

Not sure why applejack would be anymore taboo than eisbock. The only difference is one starts as cider and one starts as beer after that its literally the same process. Posting about fractional freezing on a distillation forum usually results in an elitist attitude and most telling you to just...

I originally posted this in the cider forum, didn't generate much interest there which makes since cider is pretty specific and results in a product very different from what this technique yields. For the uninitiated fractional freezing or jacking in brewing terms is freezing your product to...

I think 1 thing that I left out in that long OP was that getting your product to freeze in large crystals (but not completely solid) is prefable to a slush. This is accomplished by making sure it has adequate time at temperature. Its also the reason that a bit after the halfway mark I had...

So this winter I decided to try my hand at applejack. I had some success, and learned a few things in the process so knowledge being power and all I though I would share my experience. A few things first. First its legal and allowed for discussion that question seems to always come up in the...