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I forgot to add that my latest batch was done using Nottingham yeast. And one of the gallons smells like a latrine. It's quite awful and it's not going away. After listening to an interview with a fellow named Shea Comfort (aka the Yeast Whisperer) I am going to try a product called Reduless. I...

I am tasting the Lucky Labrador rye as I write this. It isn't quite as exciting as I remember it being last week. But still good. The spicy flavor isn't as pronounced as I thought and it might just be the carbonation. But it is still good. I am not going to try and perfectly clone it. I am going...

I tasted a few of the other cider batches. Several are still undergoing fermentation and so aren't finished yet. With the exception of the one batch made from real cider apples all but one was pretty watery and boring. The thing that surprised me was the lack of acidity. I think all of...

I am envious. Nicely done!

Entered into Beersmith. Thank you. I think I will try toasting them and them steeping them in hot water. And try them raw as well. Toasting might accentuate the flavor or might blow it away. It helps with sesame seeds but that doesn't necessarily translate to all other spices. I'm tempted...

It sounds like the consensus is that the rye won't add spiceyness. That tracks with most of what I've read about first hand accounts. The "spicy" character of rye appears to be received wisdom passed down and doesn't jibe with most people's actual experiences. When I say "spicy" I don't mean...

All sound advice. Thank you. This rye beer I will attempt is my first try at designing a recipe. And really it's just trying to copy someone else. So far everything I have done has been recipes. I've pulled them from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, How to Brew, and Brewing Classic...

I'm going to wrap the cooler in a blanket and use the boiling water pre-heat treatment this time. It can't hurt to try. I may even try a quick and dirty version of decoction where I take out a portion, bring it to boiling, and add it back into the mash. I don't know enough about hops to try...

I will punch this into Beersmith at once. Thank you.

What difference would I see between flaked rye and rye malt? I assume the flaked rye has no diastatic power but would contribute flavor? I have flaked rye on hand so that's totally doable. It wasn't a super complex beer (at least to my very untrained palate) but it had spicy/rye bready...

My efficiency is pretty terrible. About 60%, possibly lower. I am an absolute beginner and I'm using normal kitchen tools. My sparge setup is a plastic colander. My mash tun is a 6 quart cooler and I have a devil of a time keeping the temperature up. I think because I am using such a small...

I had a beer at the Lucky Labrador brew pub in Portland, Oregon yesterday. It was named "quality rye." I found it quite tasty and hence want to try and make my own. There is some published information on the Lucky Labrador rye beer. Thirty UBUs, utilizes Golding and Fuggles hops, 23% rye...

Interesting. I am allergic to all tree nuts so when I saw that it was from a "gall nut" I freaked out a little. But it isn't a nut. It's an insect induced gall. Which is weird tissue growth from insect damage. What's fascinating is that people are intentionally creating and using galls. As...

I took some of the cider and added some frozen apple juice concentrate. I added too much and now it just tastes like apple juice. But at least I have a starting point. Next time I think I will split it into half pint jars and do different levels of acid, concentrate, etc. I definitely need...

Please let me know if you happen upon a good idea for additions. I have malic, ctric, tartaric acid, lactic and acid blend. I'm not sure what to use and how much. I was thinking of starting with a 1/4 teaspoon of acid blend on the 3/4 gallon batch to see how it goes.

I just racked the perry over to a liter flip top bottle with 6.24 grams of priming sugar. I haven't seen any new yeast activity yet (the bottle is clear). About how long should I wait before opening it up to test it? Two weeks? A month? The temperature should be about 63-65 degrees where it...

I stabilized the apple with campden and sorbate. So it can't carbonate. I intend to add sugar, concentrate, etc to it as learning experiments. The perry, on the other hand, I am going to bottle carb.

I just tasted the Everyday IPA kit beer when racking it to secondary. It's pretty awful. It leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. And there is very little hop flavor. Which I attribute to having to add water after the boil to bring it up to correct volume. I dumped a couple of pellets of Cascade...

Have you had an issue with Nottingham creating the sulphur smell? It was pretty bad when I used it. I'm hoping it goes away once I rack it and put it under an airlock. I did use yeast nutrients and yeast energizer.

Thanks. I'll look at those yeasts. I already have a batch running with D47. I haven't used the K1 yeast yet but I have some. I also used a couple of the Vintner's Harvest yeasts that they suggested would work well for cider. In fact each batch of cider has used a different yeast so I can...