I made a recipe that was supposed to have a 1.062 OG and I came up to a 1.052. I know I had some efficiency problems to correct next time. Will a difference in that much gravity greatly affect the final product? I was brewing Ed Worts Oktoberfest recipe.
Someone had a thread on here trying 5 different types of chocolate as the base. I tried the cocoa powder and nesquick. I'm about 2 months in so no tasting yet.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/our-chocolate-mead-experiment-94358/
The carmelization may overtake many of the subtle flavors. I made my first bochet about a month ago. I used a generic clover honey and it had a nice roasted taste going at first rack.
I like to wait on stouts. You might want to give the carboy a light sway shake to break the krausen. My last stout had the krausen stuck on top and needed some swaying.
It's likely that the "f" bag was some fruit additive added to secondary to retain more of the "fruity" properties. Your wine should be fine but probably a bit drier that it would have been.
Sorry if this has been posted before. I tried a search but didn't get the information I'm looking for. I bucket fermented a white zinfandel kit into 6 gallons and will be racking this weekend. Should I rack into a 6 gallon carboy and top or 5 gallon and put the last gallon into a single carboy...
I just finished my first bochet, 10.5 lbs of generic honey simmered for a couple of hours, 2 tsp of yeast nutrient in a 3 gallon carboy. I'll post some first ferm pics tomorrow morning.
Edit, I went with D-47 for my yeast.
If you overheated, you can pitch the yeast again. You may have pasteurized inadvertantly. It could also be that primary ferm was coming to an end at the same time. Wait a coupe days and see.
Buy a book. You'll get a huge amount of feedback from the net. Some of the suggested techniques can be questionable. I would advise you to try mini mashes and steeping before jumping staight to all grain.
I believe you want to have the pectic enzyme in as soon as possible and let it work. You may have to wait and back sweeten with some unfermentable sugar.
I would recommend going for the turkey fryer. My local sporting goods store sells the burner pot combo for 50. Add a 30 dollar propane tank and you're all set. After 3 indoor brews my wife has completely signed off on getting equipment to move outdoors or in the garage.
I need to win this because the crap I bought on craigslist is probably infected with something. My first batch was a Coopers Mexican cerveza kit that gave everyone the squirts. Or maybe the cerveza is working true to form.