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Trying something entirely different. I have not been able to brew all summer. The weather and other factors have created a huge problem with flies this year. Since I brew just inside the rollup door of my shop, it has just been no go. However I did keep a few carboys of various wines and such...

Garden in full production now; could use more bags!

Temperature finally dropping a bit here in the South. Actually saw some nighttime temperatures in the upper 60°’s! Decided that it was just marginally acceptable to fix a pot of chili, especially since I have fresh tomatoes in the garden, and a bunch of wood from a tree I just took down. Upped...

You too? I thought it was just me! 🤷🏻‍♂️

Saw the Eagles “Long Run Tour” concert in Raleigh in ‘79; ticket price was $10.50, and I only had to walk 1,300 feet from my room to the venue! Don’t bother checking one of their concert ticket prices today. 😞

I would try Craigslist and facebook marketplace first and see if you can get a good deal or so to start with. You might want to see if there’s a homebrewing club anywhere within reasonable distance; they might have some guys who want to part with some extra equipment. There are a number of...

I used that same exact recipe, except for the yeast; I used S-04. I also scaled it up to get a 3 gallon batch. After carbonation, we enjoyed it by itself, and of course, in a Moscow Mule drink. I do recall not being that impressed before being chilled and carbonated. Yours will probably be fine...

Had fried squash and ginger beer tonight; just for kicks. 😁

Probably still conditioning. 😁

I have been happy with using Lutra in blonde ales. It’s not too difficult to maintain a moderate temperature with a chiller coil using ice blocks even here in the South. I have also had success with using Voss for summer Irish Dry Stout. I have actually used a heat wrap to maintain a 95°...

You can get some pretty decent burners on the cheap if you look. I bought this one last summer and I am tickled with it. It is very well made, plenty big (16”x16”), and puts out a lot of heat. It really cut my time to reach a boil with a 10 gallon batch. I bought it new through eBay.

Ditto. I started with an 8, and had a time walking that fine line to avoid boil overs. I caught a great deal on Craigslist for a 10 gallon SS Brewtech kettle that has worked great. Then, I decided I wanted to do some 10 gallon batches and caught a sale on a Delta 15. I still use all three; the...

I used one of this very strain that was 10 years past expiration. It had been kept in the refrigerator since purchase. I poured it in a 3 gallon batch directly from the package and it was working within an hour. To be honest, I had a fresh pack as backup, but since these little yeasties had...

I dump my beans into a colander from the roaster. I stir the beans around and around and most of the chaff just falls through the holes in my colander, but the beans are too large to go through. This also helps knock some of the chaff off that’s still clinging to a few beans. I stir until I see...

Been there; done that! I now write on the packaging specifically what such things are for.

Keep the extra plugs handy. They rarely fail, but if a mouse gets into the area where you keep your canning gear, it’s about the only thing on a pressure cooker he can chew on; and chew he will. I had to order a replacement plug a few years back when this happened to me.

Actually, it has, (according to our tastes), an excellent flavor just like it is. It’s an easy recipe just using juice right off the grocery store shelf. It finishes with a little sweetness retained. I usually do 5 gallon batches and as soon as I keg one batch, I start another. It would be very...

One of our favorites around here is fermenting cranberry juice with red wine yeast, (Premier Classique). You can also keg and carbonate it for a nice sparkling wine.

If you want to pursue this, bread yeast won’t get you to 12%. It’s likely going to succumb to the alcohol between 6-8%. Plus, the alcohol is going to consume the sugars in your orange juice, so it’s not going to taste like an alcohol/orange juice mix, which might be ok if it turns out good.

You could ferment in a soda keg, and bottle directly from the keg via a floating dip tube. You would still need a way to introduce CO₂ into the keg, but others have already covered that. This made me think; has anyone tried or heard of anyone adding a spigot to a soda keg? Then you could...