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I sometimes make beer with apple juice. Basically I make it just as if the apple juice were malt extract. Mine tends to be very dry, and if I did not know it were made with apple I probably would not guess from the taste, though the taste is quite distinct from malt beer. It sounds like you have...

Great story! I am not a Bud Light man myself: I drink Busch Light!

Good point about the bottles that were normal. I use a lot of Grolsh type bottles myself. I have noticed that occasionally I get a bottle that is not carbonated much, if any. Something about the gaskets, I guess. Maybe your surviving bottles are the ones that did not seal very well?

Seems to me that you added a lot of stuff in the bottling bucket. When I bottle a five gallon batch, I add one cup of sugar for bottling. Period. I have never had a bottle bomb. So you added just a bit more sugar than I use for five gallons, and also added the apple concentrate, probably 12 oz...

I have never used any equipment as big as what you are talking about. Honestly, that seems like a crazy way to start. Norlz has a point that if you start with huge batches, any brews that you mess up will take a lot more drinking to get rid of. The equipment for five gallon batches is not very...

Wow, fellows. I just looked at the first three pages and last three pages of this thread. Before today I never knew what a pellicle was: now I am afraid I will never get these images out of my memory! I feel like Alice when she went down the rabbit hole: wow: there is a whole other world down...

I agree with that sentiment. This has been an interesting thread with some enlightening posts. The thing about turning a hobby into a job is ... that once it becomes a job it is not so much fun anymore! I am just happy that I can brew beer without having to worry about the sheriff breaking...

Mobile, Alabama, indeed!

I have had a couple of bottling sessions that did not go according to plan. I really hate it when I am transferring to the bottling bucket and think it sure is filling up slow. And then look down at the floor and realize that I forgot to close the spigot on the bottling bucket!

Further south. Not in Tennessee.

Not Memphis: right part of the country but different river system.

Here is one that is not too impressive.

I liked I, Claudius. If you like historical novels set in the Roman era, Colleen McCullough's books are the best I have ever read in that genre. I think she wrote six or seven books, with the first one set about the time Caesar was born, and the last about the time Anthony and Cleopatra were...

I guess I am old school, but I do not test anything. I let it ferment for a week, and if all activity seems to be stopped, I bottle when I get around to it. I have never had a bottle bomb. So I would just follow the instructions.

I did exactly the same thing when I read this thread. I could not turn mine either. The only idea I have is to replace all the caps with the blue caps, and I am guessing that if you had that many you would already be doing that. Maybe the seal will hold even if you can twist the cap: I have no...

The bottom bottle looks exactly like what I use with no problems with my wing capper. The top bottle probably would not work with my wing capper. So you are saying that one out of three kinds of caps works good? Have you tried using the new caps that do not work on one of the trusted and true...

The water in the Mississippi has never looked that clean ...

Maybe I missed you saying, but did your first two batches have satisfactory head? If so, did you use the same water? Any changes in technique between batch two and three? I have been having a bit of the same issue. I get head, but it dissipates before I can get my moustache foamy.

The lees should settle to the bottom of the bottle. If you are careful not to shake the bottle when you open and pour, you might not be able to tell it from the others. I am not a mead brewer, so I do not know about the aging.

If you do that, stir very gently so as not to disturb the residue (trub) at the bottom of the pail. The main point of transfering is to avoid mixing the residue and getting it into the bottles. Also, you need avoid jarring or tipping the pail so as not to stir it up. Sometimes I transfer...