Brown Hard Cider

Once again Supe and I have teamed up for another brew session. This time we are making a batch of really hard cider, using apple cider from Hudaks Farm.

Recipe:
2.5 gallons of cider
5 lbs. White sugar
2 lbs. Dark brown sugar

When we went today to get the cider today we were able to get it fresh off the tank because they had not gotten to filling jugs yet. Upon getting home I put the sugar in the carboy and poured the cider on top. 1 gallon at a time so I could shake it up and help get the sugar dissolved faster.

After a few hours and shake sessions later, the sugar was finally dissolved. So I gave it lots of good vibes and took the gravity reading.

1.150! That's right this is indeed the largest thing I have tackled by far. A whopping 20% potential abc. So I pitched my wine yeast and now I wait.

With this one I have not added any other flavors and right now it is a beautiful dark brown.

Wild Wine

A friend of mine has an enormous tree covered in wild grapevine. Needless to say I climbed my scrawny ass up there and got a large paper bag full of grapes (after asking permission from both tree and grapevine). I put the bag into my freezer to for two reasons. 1st, to kill off any creepy crawlies that may have come with the berries. 2nd, to freeze the juice inside the berry, which breaks the cell wall, to help extract the juice.

After freezing for a few days I sat down and pulled the choicest berries from their clusters and placed them in a bowl.

Recipe:   Sept. 21, 2011
2 1/2 - 3 lbs wild grapes
1 lb white cane sugar

The sugar went into the jug first, then the frozen berries. Over that I poured near boiling water. Then shake till sugar is mixed. I gave it a little while to make sure that it was "blood temperature" then I added a dash of red star wine yeast. I want some highly flocculent yeast to hopefully help pull some of the wild yeast out of the wine. But I want the wild yeast present on the grapes to hopefully be dominate to fully showcase this particular grape.

Another Round of Hard Cider

So the family and I went out apple picking at Shelburn Orchard last friday.  While I was there we grabbed some unpasteurized apple cider. 1/2 gallon of this was mine to do what I do.

Recipe:
1/2 gal. unpasteurized apple cider
3/4 lbs white cane sugar
1 tsp. mulling spice (This is a blend bought from my local herb shop. It has some dried orange peel, cinnamon, clove, and all spice.)
10 whole allspice (on top of what was in the mulling spice)

I put all this together and added a small shake of wine yeast, then shook the crap out of  the jug. I capped it with an air lock and set this next to the spiced viking in the kitchen.

It started slow but picked up speed after a couple days.

An Idea!

This is something that struck my brain today (Tuesday Sept. 13, 2011). If soaking grain helps predigest the gluten and other inhibitors found in the grain, would soaking the (beer) grains before the mash do the same?

My family has decided to go gluten free because of my son. This could have put a dampener on my brewing if I did not totally enjoy wines and meads as well. But the desire for a good beer is still there.

I have known about sour dough starters for a while now. I have also known that soaking grains (wheat flour usually) over night pre-digests the anti-nutrients and gluten (as well as some other stuff) present in the grain.  Now I am thinking about applying this to my brewing, but some questions I have are "will the gluten be broken down enough?" "will there still be enough starch to convert to sugar?" "will this even work?"

I plan on (someday soon) trying my hand at a small batch and feeding it to a friend with celiacs (and yes he will know about it before I even get the grain).

If any of you have tried this or know someone who has or even have experience with fermented grain bread and sourdough starters let me know, I would love some help here.

Spiced Vikings

For a Viking good time.

So two of my friends (Supe and Travis) decided to have me make them a Mead.

Recipe:
10 lbs local raw honey
4 6inch long sticks of cinnamon
5 whole nutmeg
2 tablespoons of all spice

The first 1 1/2 cups of honey were offered to the Great Fay on Saturday September 10th 2011 in a half gallon growler with warm water. I then "blessed" this with about 2 minutes of shaking before putting the cheese cloth on top of the jug. This is the starter for the yeast for this mead.

By Monday night it was noticeably cloudy with trace amounts of settlement on the bottom.

Tuesday after work I decided to cap it because the settlement has gotten more noticeable and it is far more cloudy than on Monday. Hopefully by tomorrow or Thursday I should be able to actually pitch it into the rest of the mead with the spices.

I am not going to decoct  the spices this time, they will go into the primary with the rest of the ingredients.

More to come soon.

TreeBeer(d)

So I have started a fermented beverage that I am dubbing TreeBeer(d). This is because it is a combination of Pine, Sumac, and Maple.

Recipe:
2.5 gallons water (plus some to get to a full 3 gallons)
2.2 lbs of Maple Syrup
1/2 lb of Pine needles (I actually left them in clumps, still on the last bit of branch where the needles all stick out)
1/2 lb of Longhorn Sumac drupes


I boiled the pine needles for 30 minutes in about 2 gallons of water and tossed in the sumac drupes during the last five minutes. Cooled that in a cold water bath then strained it into the carboy on top of the maple syrup. Then I added a little cold water to bring it to full capacity.

The gravity reading was 1.040 right before I pitched the packet of Fermentis US-05 yeast.

Before the maple syrup it was a lovely dark red. After the maple it became a sort of maroon.

Homemade Hard Cider

So this year my apple tree out front actually produced some apples. They are small but really sweet, and since they were falling off the tree I decided to harvest some and make some hard cider.

Recipe:

1 Basket full of apples

1 lb. white table sugar

After juicing the apples I was able to get about 1 gallon of juice and some pulp. I let this settle out over a day and then transferred the juice to another gallon carboy and added the pound of sugar. The natural yeast on the apples got this going really quickly but it still took about 2 weeks to finish out.

I crashed it for a couple nights in my fridge and racked it to a half gallon growler to go to a friends house where we all drank it and thoroughly  enjoyed it.

I also have a second batch going with apples from another tree (not mine) but this group yeilded only 1/2 gallon of goodness that is still going in a clear half gallon growler. 

Unfortunately I did not get a gravity reading on either of these but im guessing it to be around 4.5 to 5 abv.

Peach Tej

So I have started my first batch of Peach Tej. My wife had bought a crate of wonderful peaches and I stole 3 to go into a 3 gallon batch of Tej.
I first cut the peaches so that I could get the pit out and then blended (in a blender) them with a little bit of water to a liquid state. That got poured into my sanitized carboy and capped with an air lock while I bottled the last tej I made (yes the one I made last month and have done nothing with since). I bottled straight from the primary carboy and stuck those bottles straight in the fridge. I did not get a final gravity reading because I was in a rush to get the peach stuff made and get out of the way. (we have a small kitchen and when one person is in it doing something everyone else suddenly has something to do in the kitchen.) I also wanted to use the left over sludge from the first to start the second.
So the liquified Peaches and the previous troob go into the carboy.  I then mix the honey with warm water until I can pour it into the carboy. I then top it off with water from the tap, cap that with the airlock again and set it in the basement to let it rock.
Within minutes it was going pretty strong.

This is the part where I go over what many people will say was a mistake. First I did not peal the peaches, this is sometimes considered a mistake because there is a natural yeast on the skin of peaches much like what is on the outside of grapes. most people do not want this yeast to "infect" their batch of carefully prepared must.  I personally don't care. I know it will not be a big problem (if at all) because of the full starter I tossed in with the peaches. Also if the peach yeast does change the flavor some then all the better because I would get tired of drinking the same thing over and over (hence why I have yet to duplicate a recipe).
Secondly I did not boil the water. My water goes through a water purifier that uses bleach and a charcoal filter, nothing should have gotten through. I have been drinking this water for almost 4 years now and have yet to get sick from it.

"Take a Chance"

I have started my first spontaneous fermentation. On July 4th 2011 at 3:15 pm I mixed 1.75 cups raw honey with 4 cups warm water in a 1/2 gallon mason jar. Initial Gravity reading was 1.130. I used this as a starter for a larger batch.

  As you can see the initial starter was working fine. I had it sitting in the corner of my kitchen by an open window with a washcloth rubber-banded around the top. I (or my wife) would stir this with a chopstick 2-3 times a day. by the second day it was starting and by the third it was really starting off. I waited till day five to make sure that the yeast had really taken hold of what was there because I was adding it to four gallons of water which I did at 2:00 today July 9th, 2011.




The gravity reading after the rest of the 5 lbs, and 4 gallons were added was 1.048 with a estimated finishing gravity of 1.012 (according to Qbrew, but I personally think it might go lower.), and estimated A.B.V. of 4.7 (we'll see about that).

I have moved the carboy to the brew corner of my basement where I will let it sit for 1-2 weeks before either transferring it or bottling it depending on what happens. I might take a gallon of this and dry-herb it for another couple weeks. Maybe with some oak chips and coffee beans, or with some Borage.

Spontaneous Fermentation

I have been reading about and thinking about doing a "naturally fermented" mead commonly known as Tej (an Ethiopian honey wine). I first read about this in Sandor Katz's book "Wild Fermentation".

A basic recipe is:
    3 quarts water
    3 cups honey (preferably raw)
Mix this in a large enough open container and stir till mixed thoroughly. Leave uncovered by a open window for 3-4 days (longer if cool outside) stirring when you think about it (about 2-4 times a day) till bubbly. When it starts to bubble good transfer it to a gallon carboy and cap with an air lock. let ferment for 2-4 weeks until fermentation slows. Bottle and drink or age.

Any number of fruits or herbs could be added at just about any stage of the process. Chopped fruits in the beginning will get it started faster and stronger while some herbs you may want to put in during the sealed fermentation or aging stages.

Any spontaneous fermentation will tend to be cloudy and might taste a little funky.

An informative page is here

Sidheherbal's birthday mead

So the mead I have been working with is now in the bottle (bottles really, I did get 27). I had added an extra 2.5 lbs. of honey and the rest of the yeast and let that roll for another week or so.  I then tested it and decided that it could use just a hint of bitter to work with the sweetness of the dandelion flowers. I took a half gallon of dandelion leaf and made another infusion with them and added that. Another week rolls by and it has completely fermented out. No foam or even flecks on top and it had dropped clear. I took a gravity reading and it was at 1.000. I was totally excited, I fermented a mead back to water.
I then transferred that to a third vessel to make sure it was done and (after a few days) added another pound of honey to give some sweetness to the completely dry mead. At bottling time it was wonderful, I almost cant wait till the 13th for Sherri's birthday but I guess ill have to (there's only 27)

As for the mint chocolate brew... I tossed it. I know there are people who would scream about this but i figure that we (my family) have gone gluten free and I don't want to spoil that with a potentially bad beer.

Now I just need to think about the next mead I'll make.

The Long Awaited Update

Well it has been a while since I last shared with all of you out there.  I have to admit though I have not really been doing a whole lot of brewing.  I did get a mead in though. I started with 2.5 lbs raw honey in 2.5 gallons of warm water and let that sit till room temp. I then tossed in about 1/2 packet of Fermentas US 05. I know what your all gonna say "That's underpitched!!" Well dont worry Ive been listening to some brewing podcasts (Basic Brewing Radio mainly with Final Gravity when it comes out) and in particular those with David Myers from Redstone Meadery  and I have found out that this could actually be called a starter at a potential 1.035 (I forgot to take a reading). I started this about 3 weeks ago and it formed a nice krausen by the time I got home the next day. I has continued to bubble along at the same rate since then although the thick krausen is no longer present, just a little skim of carbonated foam on top. I also added 1/2 gallon of Dandelion Infusion from fresh dandelion flowers from my yard (note I pulled the yellow flowers from the green head and had only the yellow flowers and none of the green.) I am going to add some more honey as soon as I get it, and will probably add the rest of the yeast at that time. 

The mint chocolate mud is still sitting in the tertiary carboy because by the time I found time to bottle, it had started to grow a white mold on top.  I stepped back and thought "Well now what? Do I toss it? Or bottle it?" so I did some research and talked to my boss (who also homebrews) and found out that the mint chocolate mud is now possibly a Belgium too. "The white mold is safe, just push your raking cane down past is slowly and try not to take too much down with it. And don't try to get that last little bit like we both do, just let it go" he says nonchalantly and then concludes with "Now if you do ever see any other color like red, blue, green... I'm serious... especially black... take a roll of duct take and wrap the whole top, bubbler and all, and get rid of it. that can kill you!"
So here I am a couple weeks later the carboy is still there with the Mint Chocolate Belgium still in it. I know I should just bottle it and set it off in a corner somewhere for the next 5 years but... Anyway that is where I am at right now.

Chocolate Spearmint Ale

I have had some good chocolate stouts in the past and wanted to try my hand at some chocolate beer. So I started doing some research. Most of what I was seeing was using Hershey's chocolate syrup but that just goes against my principals, but I did find some places saying that you could use any form of chocolate from bean to nibs to powder to bar or chunk. Most recommended between 2 - 8 ounces and using less if using powder. I have read use in every stage of the process, bean in both the mash or boil, nibs and powder in both boil and just fermenter, the bar or chunk was typically suggested to be in the boil around the last half or so.
I want to point out the importance of the selection of a quality chocolate what every way you go because you never know what mineral oil will do to a beer. So the closer to the natural state you can get your chocolate the better.
I chose to go with Dutch process cocoa powder, bought from my local market. One whole pound of it. Thats right I did say earlier that most people suggest using less than a half pound and less for powder but nobody said you had to, also those guys were using hops. I used one ounce of spearmint bought from my local herb shop. And last but not least the ferment-able sugar, 7.75 lbs light malt extract.

Now to the process.
I brought 1.5 (ish) gallons of water to a boil, then removed it from the heat to add the malt extract. Once the malt extract was mixed in well I placed it back on the burner and brought it back to a boil. Then I added the Spearmint with cover on for 30 minutes. Then added 1/2 the chocolate stirring vigorously for about 5 minutes.
After the boil I poured the rest of the chocolate into the primary bucket and dumped the wort (mint and all) on top added about another gallon warm water and stirred that up, then added the rest of the water cold.
I snapped the lid on to the bucket and shook it for about 3 minutes to aerate (something I almost all-ways forget to do) then put a twin bubble airlock in the grommeted hole and let it cool till morning

Sat. Feb 19 2011
Starting gravity at room temp (64) was 1.064 and I poured the dry Fermentis Safale US-05 yeast into the bucket.

That night
Bubbling nicely, I cant wait to for the first racking so I can get my first tasting.

Saturday Feb 26
The bubbling of the twin bubble airlock slowed from once every 8 seconds to every 12 seconds to every 2 minutes (well I saw it bubble and waited 2 min till I said "It's done" and stopped watching). So I grabbed my hydrometer and took a reading 1.018. "Woohoo" I said and racked to the secondary carboy. This is where I tell you why everyone only suggests a couple of ounces of chocolate powder. The sludge was so thick that I was forced to start the siphon with the racking cane suspended in the bucket (meaning I could not just let the racking cane tip rest on the bottom of the bucket, I had to start with it off the bottom and slowly lower it to the bottom). I was able to suck off more of the liquor than usual but there was also about 3 times the troob.
I took a sample of it when it started to run "clear" (after the initial bout of troob pickup after setting down the racking cane but before the second troob pick at end of transfer) and it was really REALLY chocolaty with a very powerful hit of spearmint in the nose and on the front of the tongue. although there both really strong in their respective flavors neither is stronger than the other so it is balanced. the only problem really is that all the sweetness is gone. it is almost like eating dry mint leaves and bakers chocolate.
Its in my glass carboy down in the basement now, current ambient is around 50 but the weather is about to change now so it may be a little warmer but should not go above the upper 50's. I hope this cooler secondary fermentation helps drop some of the suspended matter because right now it looks like mud. Another week or three and Ill bottle this

Spiced Mead

Thurs. Feb. 17 2011
I am trying my hand at another mead. Its going to be kinda small but that will be okay. I have 5 lbs of raw honey from Honey Gardens and I'm making 3 gallons.

Recipe
10 3inch long pieces of cinnimon stick (broken)
3 nutmeg (chopped)
2 tablespoon (approx.) whole all spice

5 lbs honey (raw)

3 gallons water (VT well)

I boiled the spices in half the watter with top on for 1 hour then strained. Used the hot decotion to "melt" the raw honey. poured the mixture into the 3 gallon carboy and added cold water from tap (no I'm not worried about contamination) till full (well the top line at least, I need to leave some head room).

Starting gravity was 1.062

The next morning
I popped off the rubber cork and airlock off and just pour the dry Red Star Premier Curvee yeast straight in. I replaced the cork and went to work.

That night
Fermentation had officially started.

Spent Grain Cookies

So I was looking at the spent grains one of the times I had them and decided to make cookies with them. I will pass on the recipe and tips to those of you out there.

2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup spent beer grain
2 (ish) cups flour (add slowly and adjust if need be, you may want about 1/2 to 3/4 more)

Start by putting the grains through a food processor to get the hulls smaller, otherwise they might get stuck in your teeth (my kids did not like that part)

Soften the butter and mix in the sugar. Next mix in the grains, then add the flour until it becomes slightly sticky. Scoop this out with a spoon onto a cookie sheet making small lumps and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Leave them on the sheet for another 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Enjoy.

Just to let you all know you can put spent grains in just about anything. Use them in bread to add flavor (substitute 1 cup grain for 1/2 cup liquid and 1/2 cup flour). Cakes (banana and zucchini "bread" come to mind) and to add body to soups.

Yarrow Barleywine

My wife @sidheherbal bought me a book called "Sacred and Healing Herbal Healing Beers". In it is a entire chapter on Psychotropic beers. I wanted to try my hand at Gruit but I'm unable to easily locate two of the ingredients, so I went with just one. Yarrow.
I did not have the fresh Yarrow (although it grows rampant in my yard) and since it is my first time using a even slightly Psychotropic herb (in brewing), I decided to use a little less than that recipe calls for, and since I was already changing the recipe I just went for the gusto and totally changed it.

7 3/4 lbs light malt extract
1 lb American Munich
1 lb Chocolate Malt
1 lb Flaked Wheat
1 lb Flaked Oat

1 1/2 ounce Yarrow

I am not sure what temp I mashed the grains at, I just brought 2 1/2 gallons water to right before a boil and dumped the muslin bag of grain in then set my electric stove on low and left it for an hour.










Then I used my fermenter bucket and a large strainer as a cheap batch sparging system. I then used 2 gallons hot water from my tap and rinsed the grains, then poured that back into my brew pot.

Added the extract.

I know most say to boil your wort for at least an hour before chilling but I'm lazy. I brought my wort to a boil (which took at least 30 minutes) then tossed 1 ounce of yarrow into the pot and turned off the burner and put on a lid. I let that sit for 45 minutes before transferring to the fermenter bucket where I had 1 gallon cold water from my tap (keep in mind I have a well and it wicked cold out there) .






I am going  to let that sit until tomorrow morning when I will pitch the yeast. I usually do a starter but I think this beer is big enough that I wont this time, I am just going to open the pack of dry yeast and toss it in

-Next Morning-
After some coffee and a bagel I check gravity. It reads 1.052. It's a little low for what my calculations said but no matter to me. I cut open the packet of yeast and pour it into the fermenter, snap on the lid and put in an air lock.

-That Evening-
It is bubbling away nicely. I hope there is enough head space and I don't wined up with a mess.

-Update  Jan. 30 2011-
Just finished transferring to secondary. It probably could have gone another 2-3 days but as I have stated earlier I am an impatient brewer and that is probably my downfall. The hydrometer test was at 1.28 as of now but since I lost the bottom of my raking cane more troob went into the secondary than usual so there is still plenty of room for improvement. I will let this set in the glass secondary until it's clear (or I "deem" it clear) which I hope will only take a week but it may take longer. I still do not know what I want to prime (if I want to prime) with. I might get some maple syrup or maybe get an extra 1/2 cup malt from my next batch, or maybe just use some turbinado sugar. Ill take suggestions and consider them seriously.

-Update Feb. 15 2011-
Well its been longer than a week but hey its all right. So I finally bottled the Yarrow Barleywine that did not really turn out a Barleywine. It got stuck around 1.024 for the last week so I only used 1/4 cup maple syrup to prime with. It may not be enough or it may be too much only time will tell. Stay tuned for the first tasting.

Willow Wine

I know what your thinking, your thinking "What the hell is this guy doing? He's making a mockery of homebrewing!"
Your probably right, but oh well.  I do have a good reason for this though. Willow contains salicylic acid which is the main part of aspirin. Also my wife @Sidheherbal makes Tinctures out of herbs and grain alcohol. I figure if I can brew a wine out of the herbs then maybe that would be cheaper (and I would get to brew more often).

I decided to go with a simple willow bark wine to start with (because we are running out of the tincture). I boiled 3 ounces of willow with 2 gallons of water for 30 minutes, then transfered that to the carboy. I then made a simple sugar solution of 1 gallon of water and 7 lbs of white sugar. To make the solution just heat until it becomes clear. I then put that in the carboy.

I wanted to use the troob of the pine wine since it was still a little active and I was transferring that to a secondary but I don't think it was quite enough so I also pitched in (two days later) the saved troob from the volcano mead and the apple cider I had made earlier.

I made this on New Years Day.

I tasted it today, there is a faint alcohol smell under the bitter earthy smell of the willow. There is no alcohol taste and it is still way to sweet, I also cannot taste the willow in it as strongly as I thought I would but maybe it will come out later after it ferments out some.

So it's Tuesday march 1 and I have learned another lesson, even if a "wine" seems to be stuck at 1.022 for two weeks, it probably isn't. I had bottled this about 2 1/2 weeks ago and its carbonating nicely. I did not mean to carbonate it but it's doing it. I have lost one bottle, but it may have been bottle fatigue or cracked earlier I'm not sure what happened.

As for the taste it is wonderful. it could be a little dryer but it is still very good. the willow taste is even less than prior but so is some of the sweetness. The smell is still the same as prior.