Topping Off Help!

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Melwyn

Melwyn

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Joined
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Hi, I have a question about topping off. I may not be getting my food grade marbels in time before I have to move it to a secondary carboy. I have called every store and no one sells marbles food grade or otherwise. I thought and thought of what might be natural object to use instead of marbles, and all I can think of is rocks that I collected from outside for my house-plants a long time ago and I have several natural crystals that I wonder if I could use. I am currently disinfecting almost 2 lbs. of rocks right now, but wanted to know if y'all might have any other ideas and if my idea might or not be a good idea. Thanks so much!
P.S. I almost forgot to ask, would it hurt to wait, if the Meade has fermented enough, to leave it until this Tuesday or Wednesday until I get my marbles. I suppose if it has hit my target, I should move it. We started it Jan.12, tomorrow will be the two week mark.
Hum, I just checked it, and it is bubbling once every 10 seconds and it is still fizzing, but has slowed down considerably. I might be able to wait, hopefully. I will not do anything rash until I get advice from y'all! It most certainly smells like it's fermenting fine, yummy!!!
 
goto Walmart or any craft store and get the small glass decorations. they look kinda like melted marbles or glass stones. boil them and viola food grade glass
 
Like BS said get some flat marbles from Walmart or a craft store. Sanitize them and you are good to go. If two weeks into your ferment and still chugging away i would consider letting it go. Even if "done" it will absolutely not hurt it to let it sit for a while in the lees.
 
Oh yay!!! Our Wal-Mart does not carry marbles in our biggest city. No one does! I called several stores, nothing.Geez, I am starting to feel old, I loved playing with marbles when I was young! At any rate, I can probably wait because I did order food grade marbles from MoreBeer! I won't get those until Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully it will be okay until then, but I doubt if it would turn to vinegar that soon. Thanks so much for the advice! I really appreciate it!
 
Did you look by the fish/aquarium supplies? and don't just ask employees at Walmart they have no idea half the time. I don't know where you live, but the craft stores everywhere I have been have items you could use
 
The problem with rocks and stones is that even if you succeed in sterilizing them the PH of the beverage could cause minerals to dissolve.
 
Melwyn said:
Oh yay!!! Our Wal-Mart does not carry marbles in our biggest city. No one does! I called several stores, nothing.Geez, I am starting to feel old, I loved playing with marbles when I was young! At any rate, I can probably wait because I did order food grade marbles from MoreBeer! I won't get those until Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully it will be okay until then, but I doubt if it would turn to vinegar that soon. Thanks so much for the advice! I really appreciate it!
Click to expand...

I think they disappeared from toy stores for liability reasons (choking hazard) and if you do find them they're outrageously expensive. I bought glass filler stones sold in crafts stores in the flower vase section. Just make sure they're lead free.
 
Thanks so much! Yeah, I live in rural Nebraska. Not much for stores in my town. The one store that might have carried them is The Dollar General and they only carried painted rocks. Yikes, nope!
I live too far away with no transportation and called to our biggest city, no go from any of their stores with bags of marbles. If they had, I could have found a ride, but no.
Oh, unless I wanted to buy I individual marbles at Wal-mart, hum, no thanks! I'm not that rich!

I ended-up buying the marbles from MoreBeer! (thank goodness for online stores!). They should be here Tuesday, hopefully.

Yeah, probably save the rocks for a rock-bed!

It sounds like the Meade is still fizzing pretty good yet, so hopefully it'll be okay for a few more days!

Thanks so much once again for all of your help and advice! I truly appreciate it!!!
 
The butter-knives might work, but my ash-tray probably won't fit thru the neck of my carboy!!! :-( LOL
 
Sometimes I ferment in buckets. No ash tray, but something similar that holds a tall cylindrical vase.
Cheers
 
Nice!!! And I'm thinking butter-knives might just work pretty darn good if need be, thanks!!! Cheers right back at ya AKTom!
 
22645252139_dd1d5072e0_z.jpg
 
Now THAT is a beautiful site Maylar! What type of Meade did you make? What are you using, rocks???!!! or what to top-off??? Thanks for sharing! Congrats!!!
 
Like others have said I have used Glass decorative stone from any craft store, just clean and sanitize and your good to go.
1548596830635.jpeg
 
Say, they have a Dollar Tree in the next town to where I live! Thanks BeerBomb! You the Bomb!
 
All of you folks are awesome and I thank you much for all of your advice and for taking the time to help me! We took a gravity reading yesterday! It is reading at 1.048 and at 7% abv. We are leaving it for the time being until I get out and buy my pebbles!
It marked a fortnight yesterday when we took the reading. Are any of you folks brewing anything? I'd love to hear what, if you care to share! Have a great day!
 
I am currently fermenting two 6 gallon batches using Bakers honey and Cote Des Blanc Yeast OG 1.125 and FG near 1.004. One I added Hibiscus Tea in primary both I used TOSNA 3.0 nutrient protocol with the recommended amounts and addition times of Go-Ferm and Fermaid-O. (First time using TOSNA 3.0 and I think it gives a bit cleaner ferment. The hope is that this protocol reduces the amount of time to age a pretty high ABV Mead.) Added 8 Pounds wild plums from northern MN, 2 oz vanilla and 1 oz American med toast oak in secondary to the one with tea. To the other I plan to add 7 pounds fresh pineapple and maybe some acid if needed. (First time for Pineapple and probably should have used a lighter honey, maybe clover. We'll see how it turns out.) I have two additional batches in tertiary both using wildflower honey Cote Des Blanc Yeast 1.120 OG. One I added 2 oz of dry Citra hops in secondary the other I made an apple Cyser (Apple Juice in Primary instead of water) added black tea in primary and med toast oak, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves and star anise in secondary. I did my "normal" SNA protocol using DAP and Fermaid K.
 
Oh wow, nice going! Yummy, that sounds delicious! You really got it happening! I once helped our local winery pick wild plums to make plum wine. Really good stuff right there!
 
Melwyn said:
Hi, I have a question about topping off. I may not be getting my food grade marbels in time before I have to move it to a secondary carboy. I have called every store and no one sells marbles food grade or otherwise. I thought and thought of what might be natural object to use instead of marbles, and all I can think of is rocks that I collected from outside for my house-plants a long time ago and I have several natural crystals that I wonder if I could use. I am currently disinfecting almost 2 lbs. of rocks right now, but wanted to know if y'all might have any other ideas and if my idea might or not be a good idea. Thanks so much!
P.S. I almost forgot to ask, would it hurt to wait, if the Meade has fermented enough, to leave it until this Tuesday or Wednesday until I get my marbles. I suppose if it has hit my target, I should move it. We started it Jan.12, tomorrow will be the two week mark.
Hum, I just checked it, and it is bubbling once every 10 seconds and it is still fizzing, but has slowed down considerably. I might be able to wait, hopefully. I will not do anything rash until I get advice from y'all! It most certainly smells like it's fermenting fine, yummy!!!
Click to expand...

What about those rock "ice cubes" that are sold for the purpose of getting them cold in your freezer and then putting them in your beverage so as not to dilute it from melting ice? At least in theory, those should be food grade. Otherwise, wouldn't people just be putting ice cold marbles in their drinks?

Thinking a bit outside the box: maybe it would be cheaper to buy an ultra-high molectural weight cutting board and saw it into chunks? I presume that would be food safe if it's labelled as such.

Also, what about orbeez? Aren't they supposed to be non-toxic? Not sure what would happen if you added them to mead to rehydrate (maybe a higher ABV mead?), but maybe you could rehydrate them in sterile water first. I haven't looked into it, so it's just a brainstorm idea.
 
Last edited:
beerbomb said:
Glad to help, Melwyn, I hope it works out for you.
Click to expand...
Well, I have it in the basement now! I think I racked it too soon and I might be making kool-Aid. Is 7 percent ABV kinda weak, eh? It said to rack 3-5 days and I didn't see it said to wait until 1.040, mine was at 1.060!
 
NeverDie said:
What about those rock "ice cubes" that are sold for the purpose of getting them cold in your freezer and then putting them in your beverage so as not to dilute it from melting ice? At least in theory, those should be food grade. Otherwise, wouldn't people just be putting ice cold marbles in their drinks?

Thinking a bit outside the box: maybe it would be cheaper to buy an ultra-high molectural weight cutting board and saw it into chunks? I presume that would be food safe if it's labelled as such.

Also, what about orbeez? Aren't they supposed to be non-toxic? Not sure what would happen if you added them to mead to rehydrate (maybe a higher ABV mead?), but maybe you could rehydrate them in sterile water first. I haven't looked into it, so it's just a brainstorm idea.
Click to expand...

I ended up p buying glass marbels from "MoreBeer", but if it ever happens again, I have lots of great ideas, thanks!
 
Melwyn - I'm a little confused or i missed something and you started another batch. (Entirely possible I missed something) End of Jan you stated 1.048 and today asking if 7% is a little week and stated 1.060. 7% IMO is a little week if your OG was 1.115 or so. If your OG was 1.060 and your down to 1.006 then your good as 1.006 is semi sweet and a drop of .054 is just over 7%ABV Rough calc 0.054 X 131.25 = 7.1 ABV. If truly 1.060 you definitely are making Kool Aid! Hope the 1.060 on today's post was a typo or copy and paste error.
 
According to Wikipedia, "Marbles are also made in China and may contain lead, arsenic, and/or cadmium due to the manufacturing process of old glass."

Who knows what kind of due diligence (if any) that MoreBeer did?

You wouldn't want to get sick only to have them say, "Sorry. We didn't know."
 

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