I like this time at night on HBT

[opus345]

Sure, but that wouldn't really help if the bottles get knocked over. I figure that since I'm going to shove a cork into the bottle, I won't introduce anything new by sitting one on the top of the bottle.

Having the bottles unsealed during pasteurization isn't really a problem. The liquid inside is so hot that it is going to kill anything that drops into it anyway. It's only afterward while they are cooling that having it open is a potential issue.

I pasteurize to 160f for 10 minutes. That's high enough to kill pretty much any nasty that could be in my wine, and cool enough that I shouldn't lose a huge amount of alcohol doing it.

Something like this might help?

 

[Leadgolem]

Something like this might help?

Not a bad idea. I'd also thought of seeing if I could get a wire frame wine rack that would fit in my pot.

I'll have to think a bit on the mason jar ring thing. The rings aren't big enough to go around the middle of the bottles, but maybe holding them by the necks would be enough... hmm...

 

[Leadgolem]

Just tasted some coffee wine I made last September. It was moderately horrible when I bottled it. It's very good now. Hmm, I'll put coffee wine on the list of occasional brews. Not something I'll be drinking everyday, but it's nice once in a while.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

Just tasted some coffee wine I made last September. It was moderately horrible when I bottled it. It's very good now. Hmm, I'll put coffee wine on the list of occasional brews. Not something I'll be drinking everyday, but it's nice once in a while.

What is coffee wine?

 

[Leadgolem]

What is coffee wine?

Coffee, sugar, nutrients, and yeast pretty much.

I made a 2 quartish batch of the stuff as an experiment. I brewed 8 cups of coffee with 6 tbs of ground coffee. Fairly good dunkin donuts medium roast. Added sugar to 1.103. Then 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 1/2 tsp ground coffee, and 4 grams of distillers yeast. It fermented clear down to 0.998. It was taken off the coffee solids, back sweetened, and had a couple tsps of vanilla extract added about 10 days after pitch. It was already at FG.

As I understand it, you do have to be fairly careful with coffee solids in the presence of alcohol. They have a tendency to over extract and end up really bitter.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

Coffee, sugar, nutrients, and yeast pretty much.

I made a 2 quartish batch of the stuff as an experiment. I brewed 8 cups of coffee with 6 tbs of ground coffee. Fairly good dunkin donuts medium roast. Added sugar to 1.103. Then 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 1/2 tsp ground coffee, and 4 grams of distillers yeast. It fermented clear down to 0.998. It was taken off the coffee solids, back sweetened, and had a couple tsps of vanilla extract added about 10 days after pitch. It was already at FG.

As I understand it, you do have to be fairly careful with coffee solids in the presence of alcohol. They have a tendency to over extract and end up really bitter.

Wow, 1.103 to .998. Caffeine and lots of booze. May have to make that.

 

[Leadgolem]

Wow, 1.103 to .998. Caffeine and lots of booze. May have to make that.

It's interesting, but I usually drink at night so the caffeine part puts it off limits for me most of the time... That reminds me, I can have some kola nut ginger cider I made.

 

[Leadgolem]

I'm now drinking the kola nut ginger cider..... Why did I make this again? It isn't any g..... oh that's right. Now feeling the ginger. I made it for winter drinking. It's nice and warming with a good pick me up in the caffeine. Perfect for those depressing winter days.

 

[Dan]

Not sure how many John Wayne fans out there. I'm watching "True Grit" right now. Not with John Wayne. The other one, newer one, Warren Beaty. No, that's not right.

Jeff Bridges! I think he does a superb job playing Rooster Cogburn.
A performance as good as the original, indeed!

 

[Leadgolem]

Not sure how many John Wayne fans out there. I'm watching "True Grit" right now. Not with John Wayne. The other one, newer one, Warren Beaty. No, that's not right.

Jeff Bridges! I think he does a superb job playing Rooster Cogburn.
A performance as good as the original, indeed!

I agree. I like the new one better then the old one. The ending is better too.

 

[Leadgolem]

I ran out of wine bottle half way through bottling my cider. I was thinking about doing some sparkling this time, so I did. Lots of 12 oz bottles of sparkling cider with pry top bottles.

For some reason, bottling cider or wine in beer bottles makes me feel like I should be on the red green show...

 

[BobbiLynn]

I made a cider type something today. Apple juice was on sale so I bought 5.5 gallons, added a 5 pound bag of sugar(added to boiling water), and ale yeast(re-used). It's fermenting away. Also brewed a 5 gallon batch of regular pale ale. The kids in Gainesville really put a hurting on my supply. That's already bubbling away too. Got grandpa's Prius from my sister and she can use my truck to get to work. So I can travel back and forth easier, and cheaper. It's a 3 hour drive between the farm and my son's apartment. My son will be helping me getting the website back on track. And I'm more motivated to work online when away from the farm. At home, with all the crops, the chickens, and all this other crap distracting me, hard to get on the computer and put the work in that is needed.

I forgot my happy brew day dance earlier, so will dance now.

 

[Leadgolem]

I made a cider type something today. Apple juice was on sale so I bought 5.5 gallons, added a 5 pound bag of sugar(added to boiling water), and ale yeast(re-used). It's fermenting away. Also brewed a 5 gallon batch of regular pale ale. The kids in Gainesville really put a hurting on my supply. That's already bubbling away too. Got grandpa's Prius from my sister and she can use my truck to get to work. So I can travel back and forth easier, and cheaper. It's a 3 hour drive between the farm and my son's apartment. My son will be helping me getting the website back on track. And I'm more motivated to work online when away from the farm. At home, with all the crops, the chickens, and all this other crap distracting me, hard to get on the computer and put the work in that is needed.

I forgot my happy brew day dance earlier, so will dance now.

That should come out right around 1.092. Usually that kind of cider ferments dry, so it should end around 12.3%. Cider is good stuff, but a fortified cider like that is liable to punch you in the face with alcohol flavor and aroma when it's young. Let it age for 6-8 months and it should be very nice.

Oh, and don't be surprised if it smells like rhino farts in a couple days.

 

[BobbiLynn]

That should come out right around 1.092. Usually that kind of cider ferments dry, so it should end around 12.3%. Cider is good stuff, but a fortified cider like that is liable to punch you in the face with alcohol flavor and aroma when it's young. Let it age for 6-8 months and it should be very nice.

Oh, and don't be surprised if it smells like rhino farts in a couple days.

Hmm, I actually looked up how to make hard cider after I pitched the yeast. I wanted it to be something like wine in the 10-14% percent range but wasn't sure how high in ABV ale yeast is capable of. Was thinking of bottling and corking, uncarbonated, and mixing with sprite over ice to drink. As a summer drink. I didn't plan ahead for it, just saw the apple juice on sale, and thought I'd throw something together. I hope it doesn't take 6 months to taste good, but so be it if it does. Thanks for the head's up!

 

[Leadgolem]

Hmm, I actually looked up how to make hard cider after I pitched the yeast. I wanted it to be something like wine in the 10-14% percent range but wasn't sure how high in ABV ale yeast is capable of. Was thinking of bottling and corking, uncarbonated, and mixing with sprite over ice to drink. As a summer drink. I didn't plan ahead for it, just saw the apple juice on sale, and thought I'd throw something together. I hope it doesn't take 6 months to taste good, but so be it if it does. Thanks for the head's up!

It isn't that it won't taste good. It will taste good as soon as the yeast drops out of suspension. It's just that it will taste a lot of alcohol. That is going to mask the apple flavor a great deal. After 6-8 months the alcohol flavor and aroma will have mellowed a lot and the apple flavor will be more apparent.

For a summer drink, mixing it with sprite should be good. Apple juice, or lemonade, would also be good choices.

If you want to bump the apple flavor, throw in about 10lbs of washed, quartered, and cored apples after about 2 weeks. Leave them in there for about 2 weeks, then scoop them out before you bottle. Tart apples like early season green apples, or granny smiths, are best for this but any apple will work.

You can still bake or make apple sauce/butter with the apples afterward, but they will have softened a little and lost some flavor.

EDIT: I wouldn't put the apples in unless you are using a fermenting bucket. They make a horrible mess, and it's hard to get that out of a carboy.

 

[Jaybird]

Man I just read through all 7417 posts just to catch up....























JUST KIDDING!!!!


BaaaHaaaaaa Man I love this time of night on HBT....


Cheers
Jay

 

[Dan]

Cheers to you as well Jay!

You were the second person to post when this thread started. Thanks!

 

[Jaybird]

Cheers to you as well Jay!

You were the second person to post when this thread started. Thanks!

Ohh yeah I remember!

Dan what are you doing up? Shouldn't you be sleeping?

Cheers
Jay

 

[Dan]

Ohh yeah I remember!

Dan what are you doing up? Shouldn't you be sleeping?

Cheers
Jay

Yes I should be sleeping. But instead, working the lateshift.

 

[Jaybird]

Yes I should be sleeping. But instead, working the lateshift.

ha ha ha aren't we all! Working hard I mean.....LOL

Cheers
Jay

 

[snaps10]

I'm in zombie mode lately. Family visiting, 2 EMT's short at work and one in leave. Plus lots of summer events = me running myself thin. Picking up extra shifts is nice for the pocket book, but hell on my sleep cycle. Haven't brewed in 6 weeks. I've got grain and hops for 36 gallons (3 batches) but don't want to ferment in the high temps. Most of the lumber an hardware for the beastly huge fermentation chamber is piled in my garage waiting for a few days off to get her built. I really need a vacation.

 

[BobbiLynn]

EDIT: I wouldn't put the apples in unless you are using a fermenting bucket. They make a horrible mess, and it's hard to get that out of a carboy.

I do have it in a fermenting bucket. The 5.5 gallons of juice plus the sugar water in a 7.9 gallon bucket.

The boys in Gainesville are brewing today using some supplies I left behind. A 5-gallon mini-mash kit. My son called and asked if it was okay. Said he knew how to do it, plus it came with instructions. So I bet they are having fun.

Happy memorial day! Hope you get that vacation, snaps, sounds like you deserve it.

 

[Dan]

Raising a glass and saying thank you.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

Raising a glass and saying thank you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOcl17HIa7c

Happy Memorial Day!

 

[Dan]

Digging your new Avatar LRB!

 

[opus345]

Raising a glass and saying thank you.

I've been out to Arlington National Cemetery and witnessed the Changing of Guard Ritual. It is a very solemn ceremony that makes you "proud to honor all American service members who are "Known But to God."

Thank You!

 

[Varmintman]

Man I have been gone to long to even think about catching up on all the posts

Wonderful time spent up camping. I think we spent 5 days counting today and every day was different and great. It was warm some days and flat out cold others. Sunny and rain and snow was had and overall just a great time.

Still got a bunch of stuff to unload from the trailer and then take it out in to the pasture to dump the black water tank but I figured O would come in and say hi and have a shower.....Not that I stink mind you :cross:

 

[bottlebomber]

I kinda miss Sharps. That guy was cool, I'm sorry that he let a mishap in the debate forum ruin his time on HBT. It just goes to show that not everything is for everybody.

 

[Dan]

I've been out to Arlington National Cemetery and witnessed the Changing of Guard Ritual. It is a very solemn ceremony that makes you "proud to honor all American service members who are "Known But to God."

Thank You!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqZ-mkdp1H0

Wow!! Turning over the task is not taken for granted. The soldier inspected every inch of his relief. I like tradition. It is important and carries on values we hold dear.

My final tour overseas was at an Army Camp, in Iraq. Heck of a place for a Navy man to be. We used to get rocket attacks, IDF. In Direct Fire. The rockets would land where ever. Launched from bed rails and such. They were not strategically landed shots. They were more of a psychological threat because you never knew where they were going to land and to be honest, that was quite terrifying.

I'll admit, as the months passed on those guys were getting better and better at aiming. One day, it was a Saturday. My friends and I use to go for a nice run early Saturday mornings. There was a road next to the airstrip. Everybody used it for running.

We were out there, doing our running thing and off in the distance saw plumes of smoke and heard explosions. We all hauled arse back to our quarters and hardened cement bunkers. When it was over, a few people died. An Iraqi and three soldiers.

Later, there was a memorial ceremony. To be honest, it was the first time in my over 25 year career, I'd gone to a memorial ceremony where somebody had been killed by hostile fire. Sure, I'd been to a few before. My career in the Navy was aviation. Been to enough memorials from guys getting killed in jet crashes and stuff. But this was different.

The Army did a role call that day, at the Memorial. They called the names out of those that had been killed. First just by Rank and Last Name, then by rank and first and last name, then, by First, Middle and Last name. No response. It just sunk in then.

God Bless You Americans who never came home. I got tears in my eyes right now... can't stop them.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Amen. Dan I have shed many over the last few days, and probably more to come with so many still in harms way.