South Carolina SC midlands area brewers

[TravelingLight]

Excellent. I'd suggest just one bottle - it is just a small sample for others to share in. There is often a variety of beverages there just to sip and get a taste. But don't feel compelled to bring something if its not convenient...some do and some don't.

If Catdaddy66 sees this maybe he can be there at 10:30 (AM LOL) too since he mentioned he was going. Hope that SHAIV and TravelingLight can make it plus there are a few other good folks on HBT that chat together. Hope they all see this so we can finally meet and greet.

Sadly I'll miss this one as well. Doing a trip up to Asheville with my brothers and significant others. But we will be drinking plenty of beer up that way!

 

[Morrey]

Sadly I'll miss this one as well. Doing a trip up to Asheville with my brothers and significant others. But we will be drinking plenty of beer up that way!

Enjoy! I know how much you like visiting Asheville.

Pam and I are going up next week for a vacation. Doing the float trip down the French Broad and all that cool stuff. Did I mention I'll be at the Funkatorium about everyday? LOL. I like the pizza at Asheville Brewing Co but the beer is average at best.

Capping off the week with a ticketed party at New Belgium on Sat night for their uncorked limited release of the Le Kreik Noir Barrel Aged Sour. Open bar, food, bottle of the le Kreik beer to take home. I better program Uber of Asheville into my cell phone before I forget.

 

[TravelingLight]

Enjoy! I know how much you like visiting Asheville.

Pam and I are going up next week for a vacation. Doing the float trip down the French Broad and all that cool stuff. Did I mention I'll be at the Funkatorium about everyday? LOL. I like the pizza at Asheville Brewing Co but the beer is average at best.

Capping off the week with a ticketed party at New Belgium on Sat night for their uncorked limited release of the Le Kreik Noir Barrel Aged Sour. Open bar, food, bottle of the le Kreik beer to take home. I better program Uber of Asheville into my cell phone before I forget.

Ha! Funny you mention that. My sister in law has been getting into sours and funk the last year or two and LOVES Funka. She's already told my other brother and me that we can just drop her off there and leave her since we don't want to give anymore money to WW/ABI.

I'm seriously torn on this. Funka was always my favorite spot in AVL. But lately I've been enjoying Burial more anyway. I still haven't given a dime to WW since they were bought out. Not that my not spending money there is hurting their pockets at all. I will say, one thing that Funka has been doing for a while now that I do not like is set flights on the weekends. Like you can only get a flight of whatever four beers they've decided on for the flight that day. Which sucks because I always liked to get as much as possible when I was there. Anyway, I'm sure I will go there, against my will lol. But I just much prefer to spend my money at Burial and Hi-Wire now.

(Side note: one of these trips to AVL I'm going to take a drive over to Fonta Flora. Man, I love their stuff, but never been to the brewery.)

 

[Sissy907]

Sadly I'll miss this one as well. Doing a trip up to Asheville with my brothers and significant others. But we will be drinking plenty of beer up that way!

I'll be sad that I won't get to meet you, but, super jealous that you're going to Asheville! I love it up there. Honestly, I've only been to Biltmore a couple times, but the drive up there and the area was awesome! The grounds and surrounding area are just beautiful. I would love to come up there for a long weekend to explore. Have lots of fun for all of us!!

~Alli

 

[Morrey]

Ha! Funny you mention that. My sister in law has been getting into sours and funk the last year or two and LOVES Funka. She's already told my other brother and me that we can just drop her off there and leave her since we don't want to give anymore money to WW/ABI.

I'm seriously torn on this. Funka was always my favorite spot in AVL. But lately I've been enjoying Burial more anyway. I still haven't given a dime to WW since they were bought out. Not that my not spending money there is hurting their pockets at all. I will say, one thing that Funka has been doing for a while now that I do not like is set flights on the weekends. Like you can only get a flight of whatever four beers they've decided on for the flight that day. Which sucks because I always liked to get as much as possible when I was there. Anyway, I'm sure I will go there, against my will lol. But I just much prefer to spend my money at Burial and Hi-Wire now.

(Side note: one of these trips to AVL I'm going to take a drive over to Fonta Flora. Man, I love their stuff, but never been to the brewery.)

I haven't been to Funka since InBev bought out WW so this will be a recon trip for future visits. I'm sure there are lots of things going on behind the scenes on paper, but will it impact the product? We shall see with time.

Interesting you mention Burial as fellow HBT member Ashevillian quotes Burial as possibly his favorite brewery in AVL. Mongoose33 is coming down thru to have a beer day on his way to visit his son in grad school. Burial is on our list along with Hi-Wire.

 

[Sissy907]

If I posted pics of my wild blackberry/blueberry wine in the 5 gal carboy could you tell if its clear enough to bottle or if it needed to be racked again or.... ? Deciding what to do next with it...

Thanks guys!

~Alli

 

[SHAIV]

How long has it been fermenting? I could try

 

[Sissy907]

How long has it been fermenting? I could try

Maybe 2-3 months? I really didn't take ay notes with it, just winging it the whole way (I did follow a recipe, but no notes). It looks BEAUTIFUL! The color is gorgeous! Everyone is dieing to drink some, I just don't know if it's clear enough yet.

 

[SHAIV]

2-3 months it should be good IMO. When I make apfelwein I let it ferment for 4-5 weeks then keg it. I know with some wines if you can read newspaper through it then it's clear but that may not work for dark berry wine

 

[Sissy907]

2-3 months it should be good IMO. When I make apfelwein I let it ferment for 4-5 weeks then keg it. I know with some wines if you can read newspaper through it then it's clear but that may not work for dark berry wine

Ok so tell me what you think...

 

[SHAIV]

Yeah that's dark haha might need more info so how long was it in primary? I assume that's secondary? What yeast did you use? Have you taken any gravity readings? Its hard to tell with a dark wine. What temp has it been at? Room temp? I'd cold crash it for a few days if that is an option then rack to bottling bucket and bottle assuming it's not too sweet and it's not still fermenting

 

[Morrey]

Alli, I am not a wine maker so excuse my blundering. Do you typically use something like campden to kill off any residual yeast after your specific gravity goals are met, then use a fining agent to clarify before bottling?

 

[SHAIV]

Well yes you can. Some like to use campden and or potassium sorbate. Just know it's not going to kill every yeast cell. Potassium sorbate will keep the yeast from multiplying and the campden will knock out most of the yeast but don't think that will stop fermentation dead in its tracks. I've never done it this way

 

[Sissy907]

Yeah that's dark haha might need more info so how long was it in primary? I assume that's secondary? What yeast did you use? Have you taken any gravity readings? Its hard to tell with a dark wine. What temp has it been at? Room temp? I'd cold crash it for a few days if that is an option then rack to bottling bucket and bottle assuming it's not too sweet and it's not still fermenting

Sooo, dark in a good way or bad? I wish I could give you a great answer to all your questions but like I said, I was terrible about keeping track of any of this. I tried to read and learn about the process of winemaking but I am not a read and do type person. I am more of a watch and or do and learn kind of person. Just the way I learn I suppose. Anyway, I watched a bunch of youtube videos and decided to try the way one person did his wine and tried to follow his "recipe" for doing things. Problem is, it has turned out it is missing some of the steps or information. Which is why I found my way here. I am about on step 4 or 5 of his process, but find myself unsure if it is actually ready, and have stalled (for quite some time actually, and praying that it won't "damage" the wine) and I have been looking for answers to see if it is time to move forward as I don't want a bunch of popped corks or uncleared wine when it comes time to pour and show off my wares.

Step four says to:

This video covers transferring our wine from the primary container to the secondary fermenter.

Items Needed:
6 gallon carboy
Auto-siphon
1/4 tsp Potassium Metabisulfite
3 tsp. Potassium Sorbate
1 tbs. of Sparkolloid
1 Air Lock

Steps:
Squeeze juices from fruit bag and remove bag.
Siphon the wine into a sanitized six gallon carboy. Leave the lees on the bottom of the container.
Add 1/4 tsp of Potassium Metabisulfite
Add 3 tsp Potassium Sorbate
Degas wine with Degas stick for 10-30 minutes
Add sparkolloid
Add an airlock and bung
Allow to clear undisturbed for no less than 1 week.

As I said, it has been sitting in the carboy for 2-3 months at this point, and his next step is to bottle, but I am super nervous about it as all the other recipes says to wait months more. Of course I will need to back sweeten it as well. I prefer a sweet (what most of you call a dessert wine I think) wine. I know this is going to make me sound terrible but if I had my choice I would grab a bottle of moscato or muscadine wine to drink any night of the week, no matter what I am eating it with. I cannot drink dry in any capacity, even a riesling can be to dry at times.

See why I say I need a winemaking tutor? LOL UGH! I am driving myself bonkers!!
As far as yeast I used the Lalvin EC-1118. Its been in the house at room temp with a towel around it to prevent light exposure at about 76 degrees. I haven't taken any gravity readings since it was in the primary and it read 1.00 for 3 days. It isn't fermenting that I can tell, and hasn't been since I put it in the secondary.

Step 5 says:

This video covers transferring our cleared wine into a fresh carboy and the back sweetening process. This is a great wine to make from fruit.


Steps:
Rack wine into a cleaned and sanitized carboy until it is 3/4 full.
Add 6 cups of sugar. If you like wine less sweet, try 2-4 cups.
Finish transferring the wine from the main carboy. Be careful to leave the sediment behind.
Add bung and airlock.
Leave wine sit for a week.
Check back in 1-2 weeks for the bottling video!

So should I go ahead and move forward? Should I just go ahead and sweeten and bottle at this point since it has been sitting so long? any help would of course be super appreciated!

~Alli

 

[SHAIV]

I mean dark in a good way it's just dark because it's dark berries. It looks tasty. Well do you like sweet wine? You don't have to back sweeten it if you like it dry. You could also use juice to backsweeten. The problem is that it may continue to ferment if you aren't careful and kill off or let the yeast fall out of suspension. Then it will either carbonate or turn your bottles into bombs and they will explode on Halloween night and make you run down the stairs with a baseball bat thinking somebody is breaking into your house. True story lol I've been there

 

[Sissy907]

I mean dark in a good way it's just dark because it's dark berries. It looks tasty. Well do you like sweet wine? You don't have to back sweeten it if you like it dry. You could also use juice to backsweeten. The problem is that it may continue to ferment if you aren't careful and kill off or let the yeast fall out of suspension. Then it will either carbonate or turn your bottles into bombs and they will explode on Halloween night and make you run down the stairs with a baseball bat thinking somebody is breaking into your house. True story lol I've been there

Hahaha it's nor nice to laugh, but I totally get what you're saying and that's exactly what I'm trying to prevent. That and not looking like to much of a noon when I pour it out to share proud of myself only for it to be cloudy and spoil the presentation of something I hope tastes phenomenal (especially for my first go).

So I am completely through "step 4" and ready to move on to "step 5" I think... I LOVE sweet wine. It's the only way to go in my book. Sweeter the better. I bought some frozen apple juice concentrate to sweeten with. Do I need to treat it again to kill off the remaining yeast or was treating it when I put it in the secondary enough? Would adding camden tablets when adding the apple juice before bottling be over kill? Like i said, its been in there 2-3 months now.

~Alli

 

[crescentfresh]

Alli,
One of the best lessons I have learned in my brewing endeavors is to not be too concerned with perfection. Especially the first time I am trying something new. I'm more interested in learning what I may be doing wrong than what I could be lucking into getting right. That makes me conscious of what steps I take and how each will effect my end product. If I goof a beer here or there then I get the opportunity to learn what went wrong, how to fix it either currently or next go round, and as a bonus I get to drink my mistakes. Like a wise man once told me...relax, have a homebrew!

 

[Sissy907]

Alli,
One of the best lessons I have learned in my brewing endeavors is to not be too concerned with perfection. Especially the first time I am trying something new. I'm more interested in learning what I may be doing wrong than what I could be lucking into getting right. That makes me conscious of what steps I take and how each will effect my end product. If I goof a beer here or there then I get the opportunity to learn what went wrong, how to fix it either currently or next go round, and as a bonus I get to drink my mistakes. Like a wise man once told me...relax, have a homebrew!

I can totally understand where you are coming from and for the most part, I would normally totally agree with you. But right now, I have 6 gallons (not five like I have been saying -because I'm a dork and mistaken a 5 gal for a 6 *sigh*) of wine that I have spent a bit of money on, but more importantly to me, I used several pounds of my bestfriends hard earned, wild picked, blood, sweat, and -ok well probably no tears, but she worked hard to fight the wildlife for those berries.. I don't want to mess up this wine, ya know? This one means a lot. I probably shouldn't have made this batch first, but boy were we eager, and stupid! LOL
Thanks for the wise words crescentfresh!! I appreciate the reminder to calm down and slow down!

~Alli

 

[crescentfresh]

Alli,
I hope I didn't come off as condescending or devaluing your situation. You have every right to pine over the nuances of your craft and passion. I hope this batch comes out just the way you like it. I also hope that this is only the beginnings of a whole lot more to come. If you ever want to come brew a beer with us then you are more than welcome. My brew days usually last anywhere from 5 to 9 hours depending on the beer at the time. You can watch part or all and I would be glad to share the why's of every step I take. My background is in biology and before that I fixed electronics in the army. I use some technology and some backwoods ingenuity. All that said I love brew days because that's where the action is. When everything is in the fermenter is when I get all of my second thoughts.

 

[SHAIV]

So in my wine experience which isn't very long lol if I wanted to make a sweet wine I would use a yeast that was for a sweet wine. Ec1118 is a beast capable of like 18% plus depending on nutrients available. 1118 is for a dry wine I believe. You can still backsweeten it but there's a chance it'll continue to ferment. So if that's still what you want to do then there are options. You can effectively kill off the yeast by heating it to a temperature somewhere around 150-180. That would be pasteurization then backsweeten it after that. You could also filter it through about a 1 micron filter that would remove the yeast cells I believe. Or do the campden and metabisulphites and cold crashing will help with that too. I dunno if I can think of anything else other than just leaving it dry. It may be great as is you never know.

 

[Sissy907]

Alli,
I hope I didn't come off as condescending or devaluing your situation. You have every right to pine over the nuances of your craft and passion. I hope this batch comes out just the way you like it. I also hope that this is only the beginnings of a whole lot more to come. If you ever want to come brew a beer with us then you are more than welcome. My brew days usually last anywhere from 5 to 9 hours depending on the beer at the time. You can watch part or all and I would be glad to share the why's of every step I take. My background is in biology and before that I fixed electronics in the army. I use some technology and some backwoods ingenuity. All that said I love brew days because that's where the action is. When everything is in the fermenter is when I get all of my second thoughts.

Not at all, I really appreciate you telling me to take a step back and breathe, and I would love to come and watch you brew! Where are you? I will have to find a day you are brewing that works in my new schedule (I am starting back to school in the fall).

~Alli

 

[Sissy907]

So in my wine experience which isn't very long lol if I wanted to make a sweet wine I would use a yeast that was for a sweet wine. Ec1118 is a beast capable of like 18% plus depending on nutrients available. 1118 is for a dry wine I believe. You can still backsweeten it but there's a chance it'll continue to ferment. So if that's still what you want to do then there are options. You can effectively kill off the yeast by heating it to a temperature somewhere around 150-180. That would be pasteurization then backsweeten it after that. You could also filter it through about a 1 micron filter that would remove the yeast cells I believe. Or do the campden and metabisulphites and cold crashing will help with that too. I dunno if I can think of anything else other than just leaving it dry. It may be great as is you never know.

The gent at Bet-Mar said that yeast would work for pretty much anything and prevent the fermenting from stalling, so I just went with it. I don't really know what yeast goes with what, and I think the video showed the guy using that yeast (can't remember off the top of my head- trying to get ready to go camping for a few days but didn't want to leave you guys unanswered).
Ok, so, if I drop say 6 campden tablets, and another 1/4 tsp of meta do you think that will be sufficient? I don't have a filter or fridge capable of holding that big of a container.


I think it's a fair trade if I get into brewing y'all should get into winemaking!! hahaha Then we can all learn together and I don't have to be fumbling around in the dark alone. LOL

Thanks again guys!

~Alli

 

[Morrey]

Reason I am asking about campden to retard yeast development is I'd like to try my hand at making a sparking (kegged) cider with fresh pressed apple juice when it comes in season this fall. I figure if the juice is unpasteurized will need to kill wild yeast prior to pitching the yeast of choice. Then will the cider need to be back sweetened with an alcohol sugar like Xylitol so the yeast doesn't see a new food source? When it comes apple time this October, I hope to ask for some advice.

 

[Sissy907]

Reason I am asking about campden to retard yeast development is I'd like to try my hand at making a sparking (kegged) cider with fresh pressed apple juice when it comes in season this fall. I figure if the juice is unpasteurized will need to kill wild yeast prior to pitching the yeast of choice. Then will the cider need to be back sweetened with an alcohol sugar like Xylitol so the yeast doesn't see a new food source? When it comes apple time this October, I hope to ask for some advice.

When making wine with fruit we are told to put campden tablets into the primary and mix well and let sit for 24 hours to kill any wild yeasts before pitching the yeast. So you have the right idea when starting the cider. I would start it the same way, with or without the fruit pulp.
I don't know about your choice in back sweetening. I would just use some apple juice concentrate as it would have the same flavor profile. (if you ad the meta and sorbate it should retard the yeasts so as not to start fermenting again when back sweetening) Of course, all this is just coming from a beginner. I have read a ridiculous amount of books, but still seem to be lost with what I am doing, so.... LOL

~Alli

 

[Sissy907]

Reason I am asking about campden to retard yeast development is I'd like to try my hand at making a sparking (kegged) cider with fresh pressed apple juice when it comes in season this fall. I figure if the juice is unpasteurized will need to kill wild yeast prior to pitching the yeast of choice. Then will the cider need to be back sweetened with an alcohol sugar like Xylitol so the yeast doesn't see a new food source? When it comes apple time this October, I hope to ask for some advice.

Now that you have said this it makes me want to try making a wine with apple cider. I think I will try making a small batch with it this fall and see how it goes. If it turns out good I may just make a big batch!

~Alli

 

[SHAIV]

Y'all know it takes like 6 months for the fresh pressed unfiltered stuff to be good? I don't really want to wait that long. Maybe you have more patience than me

 

[Morrey]

Now that you have said this it makes me want to try making a wine with apple cider. I think I will try making a small batch with it this fall and see how it goes. If it turns out good I may just make a big batch!

~Alli

I made some sparkling cider last year but it was not that good. It was Costco apple juice and I used Cotes des Blanc wine yeast and it finished dry as a bone. Instead of using campden to retard the yeast so I could back sweeten with frozen apple juice concentrate, I use Xylitol as a sweetner which the yeast wont consume as a food source. I carbed it in keg and it was kinda meh...nothing special. Maybe I learned enough to pull it off this fall with some fresh pressed juice.

 

[Morrey]

I have shifted over to SS uni tanks with glycol chillers so I have a couple of fermenters that are not being used. If anyone is interested I'll meet you on my next trip to Cola and we can save the shipping.

30L Speidel Fermenter retail $60
60L Speidel Fermenter retail $90
NorCal rotating racking arm w/ ball valve, coupler and 1/2" barb retail $65
Thermowells in lids retail $30

Total retail $245. These are like new with only a few uses.

I think $125 for all is fair, so let me know before I list it on CL.

 

[Quasinovo1]

I have shifted over to SS uni tanks with glycol chillers so I have a couple of fermenters that are not being used.

I am very curious as to:
1) how many unitanks and what capacity you have and
2) what you are using for a glycol chiller and
3) how you decided on what you have.
Care to elaborate?

I am still low tech: fermentation chest freezer, 14 Gallon SS Brewbucket & an assortment of 20L, 30L, 60L Speidel fermenters. However, I am always looking to make sensible upgrades.

 

[Morrey]

I am very curious as to:
1) how many unitanks and what capacity you have and
2) what you are using for a glycol chiller and
3) how you decided on what you have.
Care to elaborate?

I am still low tech: fermentation chest freezer, 14 Gallon SS Brewbucket & an assortment of 20L, 30L, 60L Speidel fermenters. However, I am always looking to make sensible upgrades.

I previously used plastic fermenter pails in freezers as ferm chambers with Inkbirds. I had two Speidels but the 60L wouldn't fit in a freezer so it never really got used.

I bought out a fellow brewer's gear which included a Ss Brewbucket 7G which I used in the freezer. That got me started on SS fermenters so I ordered a second one. I got hooked on Ss, then I wanted to use the freezers for conditioning/carbing kegs so next came FTSs cooling kits for the buckets. The ice bottle in cooler method was labor intensive, so a Penguin Glycol Chiller got added....which is awesome.

I have two boil kettles (10G and 20G) and the 20G kettle is great for making 11G batches split between the two buckets but with that I am using both my buckets for one beer.

I have ordered 2 14G uni tanks from Ss BrewTech which will up my game significantly. I have a buddy who has the full BBL version so I have learned from him the art of dry hopping, carbing and O2 free transfers with the uni tank. He is commercial so his uni tank is for developmental test batches before he does 8 BBL runs.

I have everything in place to start with little else to do but get the tanks ready to fill with wort. Just makes sense to make double batches of my more popular beers (NE IPA example) and use the 7G buckets for developmental and specialty beers that don't move as fast.

My plastic pails and Speidels are taking up room but they are in new condition if you know someone who wants a good deal.