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Hey guys, I'd like to make a traditional mead of around 10% alcohol and quite a bit of leftover sweetness (dessert wine-like). I tried stabilizing the mead with sulfites in the past after adding honey, but for some reason the fermentation started again some time later... Is there a sure-fire way...

Hello friends, I'm fermenting some perry from pears I juiced myself given to me by a friend who's got some trees in the backyard. However, big chunks of what I assume is dead yeast have been forming in the carboy. I'm not that worried about them but I'm wondering if that's normal at all, given...

Dear friends, I wanted to perform another head-to-head yeast trial, since last time I pitted the M02 against other yeasts (Nottingham and 71b), Mangrove Jack's to me was the absolute winner. I had been hearing about the quality of Fermentis yeasts for a long time and wanted to try them out, so I...

Hey guys, I finally got myself a press and a crusher, so it's time to juice my own apples and pears. I know that if I add yeast right after juicing it might not be that necessary to add sulfites, but a lot of cider makers do that so I'd like to at least learn how to do that properly. So yeah...

Hello friends, I've been making a few different ciders lately, like apple pear, apple cherry, apple strawberry and apple raspberry. The ones with berries tend to have enough (or sometimes too much!) tartness, so I don't feel like they need any modification, however, the standard apple and...

Hey everyone, I keep asking questions all over but haven't contributed enough myself. I decided to test 3 different yeasts to find out which one I like best to brew a simple apple cider. Here's some data. - Juice from a local orchard, it's a mix of a few different apples, unfiltered and...

Hello friends, I've just brewed an apple wine I'm really happy with. Some facts about it: - SG 1.086 - FG 1.000 - Pasteurized apple juice from a local company (very light filtering, real rich flavor) - Apple juice concentrate (added till reaching 1.086) - Mangrove Jack's M02 Cider Yeast -...

Hey guys, The range in which a mead can be called "traditional" varies, according to what I read, between 8 and 14%. That's a pretty big range. How do you choose your starting gravity then? I'm not interested in making a very alcoholic mead, so that's off the table, but are there other reasons...

Alright, that's the main question. I'll elaborate: Since I started making mead, I noticed I don't quite like the flavor I get from any of them as much as I like the first one I made with bread yeast. Back when I first made it, what struck me is that the resulting mead had a smell and a taste...

Hello dear friends, just wanted to share with you my last two "failures" in meadmaking and brewing with honey. I'm not beating myself up too much about it, it's how the game works, and there's always something to learn from it. In particular, I'd like to be able to learn from this as much as...

I'm not quite sure this topic belongs in here, but here I go. Let's say i brew a Belgian blond and I find it's got a tad more sweetness than I'd like, what do I do, swap a portion of the mash with sugar or mash lower, say 62°? I normally mash at 67° all throughout. Thoughts? Cheers!

Hello friends, Just wanted to report some preliminary results of a tryout of the dry yeasts mentioned above. Made two identical batches of a Belgian ale: - 98% Weyermann Bohemian Pils - 2% Weyermann Abbey Malt (50°L) - OG 1.050 - Single infusion 67° for 60 mins - Ariana hop (+-25 IBU) Both...

Hello friends, I'm gonna attempt making a classic Belgian dubbel soon. I just finished a tripel and am quite satisfied with the results, so this feels like a natural follow-up. On a very broad scale i see 2 different approaches to it, sometimes as clone recipes for the same beer (say, Westmalle...

Hello friends, I made a traditional mead some time ago but it ended up a little too sweet for me. It's at around 1.028. It's not crazy sweet to my taste but it can definitely use some adjustment, also in the viscosity department. My question is now how do you calculate how much alcohol you're...

Hello friends, Today i backsweetened a 10l batch of traditional mead with erythritol. I dissolved it in some water (even though really it was crystallizing in there already), and poured it in the racking carboy. After a while it clumped up all over the carboy. It falls back in solution for a bit...

Hello friends, As per thread title: does gelatin have to be completely dissolved in water before adding it to the cider to work well? I didn't manage to really dissolve it and still added it to the ciders I'm making after the fermentation completed. It's been 2 days and I don't see much...

Hello friends, I'd like to share with you how my traditional mead is proceeding, and my considerations to follow. Recipe: -3.15kg wildflower honey (brought personally from the beekeeper, so nothing other than honey) -10 liters total batch size -Lalvin 71b (rehydrated 20 mins at room temp)...

I consider myself a simple person. Even though I thoroughly enjoy complex beers, I would rather brew something simple but still rich, spicy and complex. I just don't enjoy making complicated recipes with 100 different malts, 30 hops, and a 60 steps mash. Ok so long story short: I'd love to brew...

Hello friends, This might be a very specific question, but it's really bugging me. Here in the Netherlands it's very easy and very inexpensive to find Belgian ale. There's tons everywhere. One in particular struck me for the incredibly rich nose it has, the Witkap Pater (both dubbel and tripel)...

Hello friends, I got some traditional mead fermenting right now, recipe as follows: - 10 liters batch, of which 3.15kg wildflower honey; - OG 1.090 (I expect it to finish dry) - Lalvin 71b - Wyeast beer nutrient blend, which I'm adding following a SNA schedule. I would have used Fermaid 0 or K...