Hi everyone, just introducing myself.
My wife and I got into making wine in 2022, 1 batch (13gal) from local fresh grapes and 1 batch (10gal) from our own crabapple crop. Both seem to have turned out nicely, though probably nothing special. My wife knew I wanted to get into making beer since we had the fermenters and various equipment, so she got me a Mr. Beer kit that we "returned" (but didn't have to ship back) to Amazon and then picked up two 5-gal kits from Midwest Supplies before they closed their walk-in shops.
The Mr. Beer Golden Ale kit was first and it came out okay, though finished a bit higher than I expected or would've preferred. Otherwise, it's very drinkable and I enjoy it. The Pumpkin Spice Latte Stout kit is in "secondary" right now. I know most of the time secondary is not really suggested, but that kit directed coarse ground coffee beans to be added at flameout and I think it over-extracted the coffee, so I wanted to separate it for that reason and get it into glass rather than the plastic fermenter we started in. It wasn't moving much anymore so I dosed with a bit of brown sugar just to blanket the top of it with CO2 and I still see some super tiny bubbles rising out of it now, so it hasn't done much clearing, yet. Trying to stay patient for now and not rush it.
I've greatly benefitted from lots of threads on here through general internet searches but looking to jump in a little further in discussion rather than just leeching.
Thanks,
Heath
My wife and I got into making wine in 2022, 1 batch (13gal) from local fresh grapes and 1 batch (10gal) from our own crabapple crop. Both seem to have turned out nicely, though probably nothing special. My wife knew I wanted to get into making beer since we had the fermenters and various equipment, so she got me a Mr. Beer kit that we "returned" (but didn't have to ship back) to Amazon and then picked up two 5-gal kits from Midwest Supplies before they closed their walk-in shops.
The Mr. Beer Golden Ale kit was first and it came out okay, though finished a bit higher than I expected or would've preferred. Otherwise, it's very drinkable and I enjoy it. The Pumpkin Spice Latte Stout kit is in "secondary" right now. I know most of the time secondary is not really suggested, but that kit directed coarse ground coffee beans to be added at flameout and I think it over-extracted the coffee, so I wanted to separate it for that reason and get it into glass rather than the plastic fermenter we started in. It wasn't moving much anymore so I dosed with a bit of brown sugar just to blanket the top of it with CO2 and I still see some super tiny bubbles rising out of it now, so it hasn't done much clearing, yet. Trying to stay patient for now and not rush it.
I've greatly benefitted from lots of threads on here through general internet searches but looking to jump in a little further in discussion rather than just leeching.
Thanks,
Heath
