Brewing Update - 09/05/10

Apfelwein
The Apfelwein has cleared and I've racked it into another 4.5L jug. Which may cause problems because it was only 4.2L to begin with and with two gravity readings taken it really should be in a smaller jug. But I don't have anything to put it in at the current point in time >.<
The FG is .998 which gives it an ABV of 7.6% or so and since it finished dry is very tart. I'm hoping that once it ages a bit this will fade. If it does I can see myself liking this very much. I'm going to see about getting some smaller jugs and maybe putting in some potassium metabisulfate to preserve it as it ages.

Basic Mead
I brought this upstairs for a few days to see about kicking the yeast into action with a little more heat. It showed signs of renewed fermentation and I tossed into a few raisins in hopes of further coaxing the yeast into doing their job. After some rearranging in the basement it is now sitting in a slightly warmer closet. This should allow it to fully ferment and be out of sight so I should be able to leave it alone until it finishes.

Jalapeno Mead
The newest gravity reading is 1.018, which means that it's dropped .018 in the last two weeks. Gave it a taste and its still really really jalapenoy, I would really like it if aging this mead brings out the heat and reduces the jalapenoy taste. I'll check it again next week and if its 1.010 or below I'll try cold crashing and racking into a smaller jug. (At least if I have any) 

JAOM
It appears that the fermentation has more or less stopped on this one. And some of the orange peel has started to sink to the bottom,  with any luck it will clear by the end of the month. I'm hoping that this turns out well, as it stands the other two meads are disappointments.

Ginger Beer
Still tasting good, it seems that the sugar has lessened some and the ginger has come to the front. Of course that could be because the yeast is still active and carbing the bottles. I had two explode last Sunday breaking the bottom of the PET bottles it is in. Good thing that it was in the basement :P Next time I'm thinking a little more ginger, a little less sugar and a sharp eye to make sure that none blow.

Brewing update - 08/22/10

Apfelwein
I've been reading a lot about cider of late and decided that I needed to give this a taste. It still has a fair amount of krausen on top and is very cloudy. The nose was fairly strong with the scent of alcohol with a hint of apple in the back. The taste was bitter/tart upfront with an overly bitter/tart finish, not undrinkable but something that would need to be paced. The funny thing was that after I had taken a sample the krausen started to dissipate. Which I thought may have been due to either the k-meta that I used to sanitize the baster or opening it up. But when I went back down 15 minutes later it was back where it was before the sample. 

Basic Mead
Has an unpleasant medicine nose that's just as bad if not worse then it was before, tastes rather sweet and fuzzy with a sour and unpleasant after taste. Somewhat disappointed with how it's come along. I may have made a mistake and stressed the yeast or it could be the yeast itself. So far I haven't been too impressed with the EC-1118 and hope that the Afpelwein turns out ok.

Jalapeno Mead
Took a gravity reading and did a taste. The gravity had fallen down to 1.036 from the 1.045 it was on the 13th, hopefully it will keep fermenting. I'll try and not touch it for two weeks and then give it another test. As for the taste, it had a peppery nose that didn't really appeal to me. If I try this again I'll look for a pepper that smells good on it's own instead of the jalapeno. It was very sweet with a cloying mouth feel with a jalapeno after taste and no heat at all. So far this has been a disappointment, but I'm hoping to catch it somewhere in the 1.002 – 1.010 range and cold crash it and bottle. Maybe some time in the bottle will improve it.

JAOM
I didn't touch this at all as per the instructions... perhaps that's what I need to stop playing with things. Recipes that say walk away after installing the air lock. The bubbling has slowed down a bit over the last few days and some of the orange zest has started to fall. Only a month to go on the 25th, so I'm hoping that it will start to clear soon.

Ginger Beer
This is one of the few things that has turned out nice. I chilled a couple of bottles and took it over to a friends place for some testing last night. It's fairly sweet with a nice ginger taste and nose, And it's not zingy like some of the commercial brands that I've tried, but it's refreshing none the less. I opened one today to get a gravity reading and it fizzed up all over the place. It seems that the yeasties did a good job carbing it. I did notice quite the difference from it being chilled though, it was a lot sweeter (almost cloying) and was really really carbed. As for the gravity it was still at 1.044... which would mean that it didn't fall at all in the bottles. So I have not idea what the abv would be it there is any at all. I suppose that I'll have to try one on an empty stomach to see if there is any alcohol it in or not o_O.

Apfelwein

I lurk around the home brew talk forums a lot and found that a number of people had something called Apfelwein listed in their signatures as something in the works. Curiosity took hold and I gave it a google and ended up finding a recipe and description... also on the home brew talk forums.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

It's pretty much described as a very dry cider of German origin. And, like many things, is an acquired takes a little bit getting used to, 2-3 glasses that is... o_O

I scaled the recipe down for 4.2L of juice, why 4.2L? Cause that's what 4 cans of Allens apple juice came out to and I didn't see the point in buying another for only 300ml.

4.2L Allens Pure Apple juice (4 cans)
204g cane sugar (should have been 201g, I over poured and didn't want to bother with 3g of sugar)
1 packet Lalvin EC-1118 yeast
1 4.5L glass jug

I re-hydrated the yeast in about 200ml of juice and had intended to leave it for only 10 minutes. But it took me longer to clean the jug and mix the juice and sugar so it ended up being 20 minutes. I funneled the sugar into the jug and then poured two cans of the juice on top of it. I then capped and shook until the sugar appeared to be mixed. Next I added the remaining two cans, capped again and gave it a quick swirl. Then took a hydro sample, pitched the yeast, swirled and airlocked.

The gravity came out to be around 1.056 and with the EC-1118 should ferment out to .999 or so. Which should make it a good 7.3% abv. I was aiming for closer to 8% so I think that the next time I do this I'll toss in another 50-100g of sugar.

Also here is the math for the down scaling, one gram of sugar equals 20.895ml of liquid. Writing this here now I realize that I should have taken a gravity reading of the juice before adding the sugar. But oh well :P.

See below for an image of the apfelwein about 3 hours after pitching, the little yeasties hard at work.

Re-pitching the Basic Mead

I picked up some more Lavlin EC-1118 tonight to re-pitch into the basic mead. I poured the yeast packet into some room temperature water and left it for 5-6 minutes. Then I turkey basted a little bit of the must out of the jug and added it to the re hydrating yeast. After another 5-6 minutes I gave it a good stir and funneled it into the jug. The reaction was more or less instantaneous, bubbles! Lots and lots of bubbles! So many in fact that that it almost overflowed the jug. I'm hoping that this will help the must finish fermenting and speed up the clearing. 

Also, I'm a little annoyed at the availability of the Lavlin strains of yeast in this area, the LHBS that I tend to go do only stocks the EC-1118 and the internet reatailer i've been looking at also only seems to stock the EC-1118... Oh sure the internet guy has all kinds of other yeasts... just not the ICV D-47 or 71B-1122 I would like to try in an upcoming mead.... jerks

Bottling Bitter take two

Over all the bottling was a success! The only issue that I can think of off hand was that the gravity was still a little high at 1.010. I didn't want to wait any longer and wouldn't have the time during the week for a bottling, so today had to be the day. I just hope that it doesn't cause any bottle bomb issues, but considering that the ginger beer seems to be doing ok I don't think that it'll be an issue.

I boiled around 200ml of water and added 160g of cane sugar and poured it into one of the 23L carboys I picked up a little while back. I then pumped the finished wort into the carboy, mixing the wort with the priming solution. After I finished filling the bottles I cleaned out the pail and carboy, giving the bottles a chance to start to carb and push out all the oxygen that would have been on top of the wort. Next I capped them and put them up on a dresser in me basement. I figure that I'll leave them up there for about a week and then put them on the cooler floor. And then into the fridge some time before drinking them. I plan to crack some open on the 3rd to taste. Also, see below for pictures! And it came out to 45 500ml bottles.

EDIT: And that's everything, I'm all caught up now. Everything from this point onwards will be fresh and new. 

Mead updates and such

I've learned that mead is something you need to be willing to forget about and then come back to in 6 months or so. Over the past few days I've taken gravity tests of both the basic and jalapeno meads, the basic seems to be stuck at 1.030 and the jalapeno was only down to 1.045. If I hadn't messed with the basic by racking it I'm sure that it would have kept going. Next time I'm in the LHBS I'll see about picking up some of the same yeast and re-pitching.

As for the jalapeno, I wrote up some tasting notes. (even though I don't really know what I'm doing with tasting...). It had a mild jalapeno nose with a slight jalapeno taste and a rather sweet and cloying mouth feel. I'm hoping that with age the jalapenoness will recede and lend the mead a hotter mouth feel and taste.

Also, I've resolved not to touch any of the meads (except for adding more yeast to the basic) until they clear. Whenever that may be. 

08/06/2010 Munton's Premium Bitter take two

That's right take two, didn't make any mistakes this time (third times the charm eh?) and used the plastic pail. Which is funny because I found it easier to clean and use then the glass carboy. Maybe if I can find a source I'll switch over to the clear plastic better bottles.

Even though I didn't over water this time the gravity was still a little short at 1.038. I pitched in another 100g of sugar to try and up it the last two points. Another thing was since I didn't want to spend money again on spring water I ended up just filling the empty containers from the previous attempt with tap water and leaving them over night for the chlorine to evaporate.

I went to bottle it last night and was in for some disappointment. The gravity 1.012 when it needed to be 1.008... Since I'm still new to this I didn't want to take the chance with bottle bombs and so left it for tomorrow. I'm not going to have time during the week, so for better or worse it's going into the bottles tomorrow.