iamherehopingforhelp
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- Jul 21, 2013
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I have lurked for a while and this is my first time posting. I messed up and I don't know what happened, so I will just tell the long story of what I did, hoping a red flag will come up somewhere.
I set out to make a half-gallon of honeysuckle/honey brew. I picked a whole bunch of flowers and set them in water (filtered from my fridge) for a day and a half. I then strained out the flowers and boiled the mixture (it was a dark brown and smelled of pollen) to kill the natural yeasts and molds. I let the mixture sit in the fridge for a while and some of brown powder settled. I siphoned the liquid from the top and let it sit another day. More of the brown powder appeared, so I siphoned it again. This repeated two more times.
Eventually, I decided to just add the honey. I did not use special honey or anything, I used normal store-bought stuff that comes from a plastic bottle (I did not notice any preservatives listed on the ingredients). I then heated up the mixture to almost a boil and added a cup (estimation) of honey. I bottled that up and let it sit the night.
The next morning, the bottom two inches of the bottle was a very dark brown (from the honeysuckle) and the rest was a golden honey color, there was some sort of separation. I siphoned off the golden honey part and poured out the dark brown sludge.
I then set up for brewing. I put a five gram packet of Red Star Montrachet in a mason jar with some warm water and some sugar to start the yeast up. I put two teaspoons of the mixture into the bottle with the honey water, put my s-shaped air lock on the top of the bottle, and shook it all up to mix in the yeast. The air lock was bubbling steadily by the next morning.
For the next couple days, I would shake the bottle gently twice a day to mix everything up again. I then went out of town. In my absence the
mixture had cleared up beautifully, and the yeast had settled on the bottom, and was still visibly creating gas (as in I saw bubbles rise, the airlock was still bubbling, as well). Seeing that the mixture cleared, I stopped shaking it.
I let the bottle sit for a total of 15 days. In the last day or two, the air lock was not bubbling as often (once every 30-45 seconds). So I siphoned out everything but the yeast that had settled to the bottom and tried a sip.
It was carbonated, with a slight yeast taste (it still kept the honey flavor). It did not feel very alcoholic.
Before I tested my brew with a hydrometer, I tested a commercial beer with a known alcohol by volume percentage, so I could make sure I was doing it right (I have never used a hydrometer before). I pulled a beer out of the fridge, and with some experimenting, I got the right percentage.
I then tested my brew (room temperature). It read at just above 0% abv.
There are a couple things my mind went to when I looked for reasons why this failed:
1. I used the wrong honey, some preservative prevented alcohol creation
2. The hydrometer was just being weird/temperature affected the reading
3. I used the wrong yeast for the job
I think it should be noted that there was more yeast at the end of brewing than what I put in, so I know the yeast multiplied, which has to mean they did some eating, which should mean I end up with alcohol.
Anything that comes to mind as to why this failed would be greatly appreciated. I would like to learn from my mistakes, I just don't know where I made one this time around.
I set out to make a half-gallon of honeysuckle/honey brew. I picked a whole bunch of flowers and set them in water (filtered from my fridge) for a day and a half. I then strained out the flowers and boiled the mixture (it was a dark brown and smelled of pollen) to kill the natural yeasts and molds. I let the mixture sit in the fridge for a while and some of brown powder settled. I siphoned the liquid from the top and let it sit another day. More of the brown powder appeared, so I siphoned it again. This repeated two more times.
Eventually, I decided to just add the honey. I did not use special honey or anything, I used normal store-bought stuff that comes from a plastic bottle (I did not notice any preservatives listed on the ingredients). I then heated up the mixture to almost a boil and added a cup (estimation) of honey. I bottled that up and let it sit the night.
The next morning, the bottom two inches of the bottle was a very dark brown (from the honeysuckle) and the rest was a golden honey color, there was some sort of separation. I siphoned off the golden honey part and poured out the dark brown sludge.
I then set up for brewing. I put a five gram packet of Red Star Montrachet in a mason jar with some warm water and some sugar to start the yeast up. I put two teaspoons of the mixture into the bottle with the honey water, put my s-shaped air lock on the top of the bottle, and shook it all up to mix in the yeast. The air lock was bubbling steadily by the next morning.
For the next couple days, I would shake the bottle gently twice a day to mix everything up again. I then went out of town. In my absence the
mixture had cleared up beautifully, and the yeast had settled on the bottom, and was still visibly creating gas (as in I saw bubbles rise, the airlock was still bubbling, as well). Seeing that the mixture cleared, I stopped shaking it.
I let the bottle sit for a total of 15 days. In the last day or two, the air lock was not bubbling as often (once every 30-45 seconds). So I siphoned out everything but the yeast that had settled to the bottom and tried a sip.
It was carbonated, with a slight yeast taste (it still kept the honey flavor). It did not feel very alcoholic.
Before I tested my brew with a hydrometer, I tested a commercial beer with a known alcohol by volume percentage, so I could make sure I was doing it right (I have never used a hydrometer before). I pulled a beer out of the fridge, and with some experimenting, I got the right percentage.
I then tested my brew (room temperature). It read at just above 0% abv.
There are a couple things my mind went to when I looked for reasons why this failed:
1. I used the wrong honey, some preservative prevented alcohol creation
2. The hydrometer was just being weird/temperature affected the reading
3. I used the wrong yeast for the job
I think it should be noted that there was more yeast at the end of brewing than what I put in, so I know the yeast multiplied, which has to mean they did some eating, which should mean I end up with alcohol.
Anything that comes to mind as to why this failed would be greatly appreciated. I would like to learn from my mistakes, I just don't know where I made one this time around.