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Exactly. Also, to my knowledge, the TTB defines distillation as the separation of Ethyl Alcohol from a solution. They do not care if it is a biproduct (IE, if alcohol is distilled by mistake while distilling essential oils via solvent method), or if the alcohol is pure or comes with a bunch of...

Hey AZbrewer. I'm totally fine with doing things low, slow, and without any pressure. I'm just excited to be able to get back into alcohol production since getting home. I get that I don't HAVE to do it a certain way. Going for our perfect mead is partly for her, but partly because I've...

Just got home from fighting ISIS in Syria (With YPG, alongside US forces). My girlfriend said she wants to make mead. She told me and THEN found out I'm a certified cicerone, BJCP judge, and former professional vintner. So I'm going balls deep impressive on this. Tomorrow she's deciding if...

Sorry to necro this thread, but when somebody googles freeze distillation, this thread comes up... and this legit offers dangerous advice. 1) Fractional freezing is scientifically considered concentration. 2) Scientific definitions have no weight in regards to legal definitions. That's why...

This is also incorrect information. When fermenting, yeast doesn't JUST make CO2 and ethanol. Its third main byproduct is heat. Depending on the batch size, you could easily have a drop in temperature significant enough to reverse the pressure. At 1-5 gallons, this isn't terribly likely, but...

Hey guys! I was wondering if anybody has any experience with making an IPA using solely noble hops. The noble hops are by far my favorite hop varieties, and while I don't much care for the IPA category, I'd love to try to make a noble hop bomb. Does anybody have any experience making...

Hey guys! I just wanted to share my experience with a local homebrew club. I'm from upstate NY and had previously attended a few meetings at a club that meets near the capitol. After a then-officer (Maybe still an officer) dropped a couple of slurs in front of my SWMNBO, I decided not to...

Hey guys! Doing a new brew tomorrow. I know what I'm going for, but I don't know if it fits any style guidelines. I was hoping that somebody could provide some insight. I'm planning on doing a high gravity (1.092) lager using only vienna malt. While this could put me in the high end of...

Hey guys! I've been looking around for companies that have preorders on next years rhizomes, and I'm looking for a couple of specific varieties. I was wondering if anybody had any leads. I've completed my noble hop collection, but am looking for a couple more varieties that I LOVE to brew...

I posted in this thread a while back, I think... and I wanted to add a beer. For the most part, I have the philosophy that all beer is beautiful. To me, if I'm broke and a friend brings over a pizza and a six pack, that six pack is beautiful. However, I've found one that I wouldn't drink...

Hey everybody! I passed my Cicerone 1 exam about 3 weeks ago in 12 minutes with a 97%. I skipped studying for Cicerone 1, and studied instead for Cicerone 2. I'm currently in one of the "road to cicerone" classes (English and Irish beers), and am planning on hopping into the "Keeping and...

It went well, but I'd like to say a few things about it. 1) I've since learned about the potential problems with cold steeping grains. It potentially introduces numerous beer spoiling agents. However, as I was treating this more like a mead than a beer, it was sulfited and sorbated...

Quoting you to let you know that it's starting again, and that the certificate is now available if you want to go for it.

Update: The class is coming out again shortly.

Hey guys! So I discovered that I genuinely like Becks Sapphire. I know it's a macro, but it's a really sessionable macro, nonetheless. But while drinking it, I noticed that its bottle is significantly darker bottle than the brown ones found everywhere. We all know that clear bottles don't...

Crystal malt goes through a conversion process before being kilned. The process isn't as efficient as mashing, and there will still be some polysaccharides left. Adding the Crystal Malt into a high diastatic power mash will help to convert any of those remaining starches, and will help to...

I never said perceived sweetness wasn't important. I said that the perceived sweetness can be mitigated, and in some cases reduced almost entirely, by using the Crystal Malt at different times in the mash. Actual sweetness DOES matter, though, as it directly impacts perceived sweetness. A...

And if you use that caramel malt in a higher diastatic power wort, rather than steeping it at the end, many of those caramel flavors and aromas are broken down a bit further and create a slightly more astringent aromas, helping to mitigate that apparent sweetness. I'm not saying that Caramel...

That's NECESSARILY a question of fermentability vs unfermentability. Sugars and starches that impart a sweetness are either fermented fully into alcohol or left fully or partially untouched. Sugar adds sweetness, but it ferments fully. Lactose and certain polysaccharides (like those found in...

I use caramunich in most of my brews, but I tend to stick with mostly dark german styles. I don't use much crystal in my brews outside of this area. However, I wouldn't go so far as to call a crystal malt "unnecessary". Many (If not most) basic homebrewers do not have the setup to truly...