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I'd like to get one- but I already have the IC that comes with the Brewzilla (but 1/2 of it is out of the wort since the 'arms' are above) so I am thinking of taking Bobby's advice and just cutting those. I also have a CFC laying around from my big 1/2 barrel system, as well as a couple of...

I wouldn't. My lower ABV wines always finish at .990, and sometimes (most of the time actually) so do my 13-15% wines as well. I usually get below 1.000 by day 5, but I don't transfer until the wine is completely done fermenting, often a couple of days later at .990-.992 or so.

I love my Inkbird vacuum sealer.....I sure could use more bags!

I love this time of year for harvesting local fruit. I just finished up a blackberry/blueberry kombucha, after first making a lemon zest/ginger batch. Sometimes I just do blackberry puree, strained and then put in the kombucha for secondary (often in a keg, but bottles if it's a smaller...

I found that doing large batches BIAB was difficult for me, as I would have needed to set up a pulley to lift the grainbag. When I was doing 11 gallon batches, my 3 vessel system had an MLT with a tippy dump. No way I could lift it. Now I do 5 gallon batches again, and am doing BIAB in my...

I think @Bobby_M is talking about me…….I started with a pot and a cooler, then went to a gas burner and a keggle, then onto a half barrel 3 vessel all electric HERMS. I got older, and gradually went to BIAB and my cooler along with the HLT and electric brew kettle. Then, I went to a small...

Hmmm, good question! I happen to have a huge cellar in my Upper Michigan, and it stays at about 50-55 all year around so I haven't thought much about it. I don't really store wine or mead much in Florida. What about a cheap-ish wine cooler? Ideally, you'd store about 55F or so so those wine...

Did you just call me OLD?????? Well, I am but still..... I'm mostly brewing some classic west coast IPAs now, with the C-hops so popular in the 1980s. Nothing colonial or historic, unless the 1980s beers are now considered so old school. I've also got a traditional German pilsner on tap...

Not a great bark and definitely no smoke ring- but it was still great! Potato salad with items from our garden like potatoes, parsley, farm eggs (but purchased the bacon!) and of course cucumber/carrot slaw and a fresh tomato. Homemade cabernet sauvignon (from a kit) accompanied.

I make blackberry wine, so not straight juice but I can give you an estimate of the amount of juice I think. First, I freeze the berries to break them up and release more juice. I also use pectic enzyme in the must to get as much juice as I can. I use about 6 pounds per gallon of berries, and...

I just checked on mine- and darn it I forgot a photo. It’s looking great. A small-ish brisket. I already finished the potato salad and slaw to go with it. Now, to continue to wait…… (I don’t have any cabbage, but a glut of cucumbers so it’s ‘cucumber slaw’ I guess).

My favorite lower ABV beer is British mild. Flavorful and very drinkable. About 17 years ago, we did a nice swap on this forum with our best milds. The rules were they must be brewed, fermented, carbed and shipped by day 10 of brewing. That was fun- and turned out some wonderful tasty...

Baking soda will increase the alkalinity of your water, so you may need to use phosphoric or lactic acid to negate that. Your mash pH will probably be too high with that level of HCO3. Luckily though, the CaCO3 is not very soluable and will not dissolve properly unless you take extraneous...

I'm leaving your post here, but mostly to show what NOT to say to others who are helpful and respectful. Just because you prefer one ingredient and feel them (and yourself) superior does not give you the right to rude to others. And you calling someone a pipsqueak is still name calling, and...

I don't like elderberry wine by itself much, but I often do add them to my blackberry wine, or the chokecherry, and definitely great with my black currant wine. Last fall, I did 3 gallons of elderberry, and ended up using it for blending as by itself its a bit insipid and almost a slimy...

This one is my standard, and I love it oaked: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/wild-chokecherry-wine.121092/ I've used more chokecherries at times, and that will hold up better to oaking than the lighter version, but the original recipe is still our favorite.

I tend to do smaller batches now, but I did mostly 11 gallon batches for years. I used two fermenters, as I just don’t have the strength to haul bigger fermenters around. My brewery area was pretty far from my fermenting area, so things had to get moved around depending on ambient temperature...

My kegerator is set to 39F. I use a warm glass, and it's like 76F in my house so it's warm enough quickly. But I tend to still enjoy them colder. English IPAs I do like a tiny bit warmer.

pH is all about an exact numerical value, as it’s a logarithmic scale. What I mean is that each whole number on the pH scale is a 10 TIMES change in acidity or alkalinity. So a different between, say, 5.0 and 6.0 isn’t just a little- it;s a lot. The pH of the 5.0 is 10 times the acidity of...

There were definitely a lot of fruited beers and hazies, and some weird sours. I know that in the early 2000s, I loved the malty beers that I could find- maibocks, blonde dopplebock by Capital Brewery, and some of the browns by breweries like New Glarus. I like almost all beer styles, but...