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5/1/13 11:18 A

The English Pale is looking good. I think I'll take a sample on Friday morning and maybe bump up the orange peel or the Kent Golding in the dry hop. Next, maybe I'll brew a toasted coconut amber ale for spring.

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4/29/13 3:58 P

Hi - going to rack the hybrid pale porter and add curacao with a vanilla bean. This is going to be so fun.

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4/25/13 10:52 A

WooHoo - the little pale porter is spitting up quite nicely in the brew closet. I really wonder how this one is going to turn out!

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4/23/13 12:24 P

Good morning,

bottled a Robust Porter yesterday and working on a hybrid - pale porter this morning. Mead is still in primary; an APA and and IPA aging in bottles and currently sampling a Biere de Garde.

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3/10/13 9:55 P

Never used oak in my beers when I brewed them but guessing little if any difference between that and wine...

Speaking of wine, just racked my chianti which had been soaking in some oak for the past 6 weeks. The taste is outstanding! Plan to keep in the carboy for just a week before I bottle it next week and start the aging process.

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2/5/13 8:37 A

I started an apple graff and a cranberry cider last week. Looking to start a coffee stout and a bourbon barrel ale in the next week or so. Does anyone have any experience with oak chips in beer? I was looking to probably put a few in the primary and the bulk of them in the secondary.

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1/27/13 7:00 P

Racked my Chianti again, and added the infusion spirals in -- medium plus French oak. Did a tasting -- yummy! And that was before the oak. Last racking on 3/10. Can't wait to taste it then!

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1/10/13 10:19 A

Ordered a package of Oak Infusion Spiral - pack of 2 - French Medium Plus Toast for my Chianti. Was going to build my own infuser but with the advent of the spirals, decided this was the better and easier way to go. I'll rack my Chianti again on 01/26 and the oak will go in then. Aiming for bottling towards the end of February...

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1/9/13 10:22 A

Cracked open the first bottle of the basic oatmeal stout last night. The head was a bit weak (still a nice hiss of carbonation when popping the top, though), and a good, smooth mouthfeel. It should still improve a bit with age. Need to start brewing again.

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1/2/13 9:11 A

We had some friends over for NYE, and my best friend had a chance to taste my Shiraz, which has been bottle aging since May of last year. His comment: "It tastes like what he would spend $20 in a wine store for!". Now THAT is a compliment! And I think my Pinot Grigio, which I bottled in October, will even be better! Maybe that'll be the $50 bottle!

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12/28/12 9:51 A

Bottled an oatmeal stout about 1:30am on the 25th (brewed on the 5th) and gave a sixpack as an x-mas gift later in the day. I have a koelsch up next, but I really just need to get some apple juice and make a couple gallons of Apfelwein.

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12/27/12 7:42 A

Racked my chianti yesterday -- tasted a sample and it is quite good. I'll rack it again on 01/26 and add some oak. I saw yesterday that many home brew shops are now selling oak spiral infusers, which is perfect for carboys. I was going to buy / build an infuser, but this spiral ones I think will work out much better.

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12/22/12 9:52 A

Forgot to post last month that I racked my chianti, and it is due for another racking on Tuesday. I'll do another in January and add some oak to it. Need to obtain and/or create an oak "tube" so I can drop it into the carboy.

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11/4/12 5:43 P

Checked my Chianti yesterday and the SG was at an even 1.00. Looking to get it as dry as possible (0.996 or so) before I rack it again and start to stabilize it.

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10/21/12 11:25 A

Chianti was racked to secondary this morning. SG at 1.006.

Heading to a local wine and beer festival today. There is a wine seminar at 2PM, so hoping to pick up some more hints and tips on home winemaking. I'm feeling pretty confident now, but I'm only on my 3rd batch so I'm sure that are TONS more tips to pick up.

One of the things I'm going to look for today is one of those slender oaking devices that fit nicely into a carboy. Had all sorts of fun extracting out a grain bag from my Pinot Grigio (forced me to but another carboy!), so would prefer an easier and cheaper solution. Understand they are made with PVC with holes in them.

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10/20/12 8:16 A

SG now at 1.010, so time to rack the Chianti! Have one carboy cleaned and sterilized so will get it moved later today!

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10/16/12 2:15 P

SG dropped to 1.020 this morning. If it drops again tomorrow I'll rack the Chianti to a carboy.

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10/15/12 8:57 A

In two days the gravity has dropped to 1.030...great fermenting going on! And the basement smells wonderful!

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10/14/12 8:51 A

Got the Chianti going. Gave it a good stir, initial gravity reading was 1.073. Surprised how sweet the must was, considering how dry it becomes.

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10/13/12 9:54 A

Picked up a bucket of Chianti must yesterday. Will start the fermenting today...

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10/8/12 8:38 A

Just checked the bottles of Pinot -- no corks popped out overnight! Will give it one more day before I put them in the wine rack for aging.

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10/7/12 10:33 P

Just bottled my Pinot Grigio this evening. Smells VERY good right now! Can't wait until it has done some bottle aging!

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9/27/12 8:14 P

Racking my zin off the gross lees this weekend, then on to ML ferm!

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9/19/12 10:33 A

We bottled our bourbon porter on Monday.

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9/18/12 11:14 A

Just put in an order for a bucket of Italian Chianti juice. Should be shipped to my brew shop from Italy in early October. That' will work out perfect -- bottle the Pinot Grigio at the end of the month, then new wine to be worked on!

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9/17/12 8:53 A

I filled a bottle of my peach wine to take to my uncles this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised, but a little too much alcohol. I think it is ready to bottle.

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9/4/12 9:33 P

God, SAVE the Pinot!!
But seriously, hope all is well! Tornadoes are so scary!
I'm in full fermentation throttle, punching down those beautiful caps!

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9/4/12 8:10 A

My DW and I had to evacuate to the basement yesterday due to a tornado in the area, but she got a chance to see the Pinot in the carboy. It is looking VERY clear! I am excited to get this one in the bottles...

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9/3/12 5:50 A

Sampled a bottle of my 4 month old Shiraz with family last evening. Still needs to age more in the bottle but it is going to be a very good wine as it matures.

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9/1/12 1:45 P

I harvested and crushed 100 pounds of zinfandel yesterday, and pitched my yeast this morning (a slurry with Assmanhausen, this year). I love this time of year!

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8/29/12 8:29 A

Racked my Pinot Grigio to the new carboy last evening. Had a taste and the oak REALLY improved the flavor. Thinking one more month in the carboy then time to bottle and age.

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8/28/12 3:45 P

I'm going to rack the peach wine this weekend and check the SG. I think it may be ready to add some inhibitor and get ready to bottle.

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8/26/12 10:33 P

Could not locate any 6 gallon cubes, so ordered another plastic carboy, and it will be here tomorrow. Plan to rack my Pinot in the next few days less the oak chips! It looked pretty clear when I was in the basement this morning so I figure I'll let it rest for another month before I bottle it.

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8/20/12 6:46 A

Good news / bad news with my Pinot Grigio: Good news is the oak flavor REALLY improved the taste (tested it yesterday). Bad news: the bag is stuck in the carboy! Oh well, I need to pick up a new carboy anyway, and I think I saw someone mention something called a "cube" so I am going to check into that. Was planning to rack the wine in a few weeks anyway, and the oak chips aren't going to hurt anything.

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8/13/12 11:09 A

We're going to bottle our 'bourbon barrel aged' porter on the weekend. The Boy is pretty excited. This one is his baby. I can't say I'm not curious how it turns out :)

On the weekend I found out that one of my aunts has been growing her own hops (purely out of curiousity - they don't brew) and they're going to give us their yield! We're totally excited! Now we need to figure out what kind of recipe to make with it.

Also, our beekeeper friend told us that the blueberry honey is just about ready so we're just about ready to get started on our first attempt at mead! This will be quite an experiment :)

edited for typing errors

Edited by: NINJA_SMOO at: 8/13/2012 (11:10)

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8/13/12 9:26 A

I added a half gallon of water with some yeast nutrient to the peach wine after racking into a carboy and repitched. The next morning it was starting to work, then I left for a week and is still fermenting. I'll check it in another two weeks when it's time to rack again.

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8/11/12 11:19 A

The Pinot Grigio is clearing up quite nicely in the carboy! Going to leave the oak chips in there one more day for sure. Will taste it tomorrow and see how that flavoring has taken, but everything I have read indicates oaking for a week is more than enough.

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8/5/12 9:04 P

Busy wine day. Added potassiums and oak chips to my Pinot, which has cleared up considerably since I racked it to the carboy last weekend. Also brought up a bottle of my Shiraz for dinner and it is quite good for having only been bottle aged for 3 months (my home brew shop said that kit does age quickly). A few of those bottles will be going down to our family reunion over labor day weekend.

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8/4/12 10:39 A

Oak chips and potassium sorbate / potassium metabisulfite arrived yesterday. Will get them added to my pinot this weekend.

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7/31/12 11:08 A

So between conversations with my home brew shop and some research I did on the internet, I'm going to be just fine with leaving the carboy out in my basement (no refrigeration required).

My next to-do's:

- Order light oak chips, potassium sorbate, and potassium metabisulfite (done)
- When all that arrives, add to my carboy
- Taste test at least 1x/week for proper flavor
- Rack again in 1-2 months (will need to pick up another carboy at some point)
- When proper clarity and flavor is achieved, bottle and age!!

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7/30/12 3:37 P

If it is just for storage I wouldn't think 40F would hurt anything. That temp may be the ideal for serving temp.

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7/30/12 9:01 A

If I am reading the directions on the bucket correctly, this would be for storage. Unfortunately, the downstairs fridge has other items in it (i.e..eggs, milk, etc) so turning the temp up is not an option. Maybe it is time for me to find a "wine only" fridge, since I think I am going to have the same issue once I bottle it (although none of the white wines in the liquor stores are chilled so why would this be any different?).

The gravity is at .990, so I think it has done all the fermenting it needs to. But I am new to all of this....

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7/30/12 8:37 A

Can you adjust the temp of the frige? Is that fermentation temp or storage? Higher temps may cause the yeast to produce more esters and give a different flavor than what you may want, but it should still work.

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7/29/12 4:59 P

So they good news is the pinot grape must tasted just fine, so I've racked it to my carboy. Sent an e-mail to my local brew shop as I have a bit of a dilemma -- the bucket says I need to move it to a cool place -- 50-55F. My basement is well into the 70's. The only place I can think of is my basement refrigerator, but it is going to be around 40F. Any input is appreciated here....

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7/28/12 10:17 A

Going to check the pinot juice today or tomorrow to see if it is usable. I have not been able to get to it for nearly 3 months but my home brew shop thinks that since I have not opened the juice bucket it may still be OK. I'll know soon enough....

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7/20/12 9:05 A

Racked the peach wine from swcondary and fermentation stopped three days later the hydrometer was reading 1.041 when I racked. I need to get some yeast nutrient and repitch.

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6/18/12 2:57 P

I bought some peaches on Friday and now have 3 gallons of what should be peach wine in the primary fermenter. This is my first try at wine making, so we shall see how this goes. My book tells me to stir one or twice a day to keep the fruit from getting dry, does that sound right?

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6/11/12 1:00 P

I was thinking of doing something similar. Using some peat smoked malt and doing a secondary over bourbon soaked oak chips, kind of a scotch ale. May try it sometime. I'm looking at getting stuff together this week to make some peach wine.

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6/11/12 11:49 A

We made another porter yesterday. When we move it over to the secondary we're going to add in some oak chips we've had soaking in boubon for a couple months (and some of the bourbon) to go for a 'bourbon barrel-aged' flavour.

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6/4/12 12:37 P

We tried our chocolate porter on the weekend. Turned out really tasty! :)

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5/23/12 2:19 P

I need to get some fresh peaches and make either a wine or melomel(sp?). They are in season and my job takes me to the growers, so I might as well take advantage.

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5/20/12 10:43 A

So the bottled Shiraz stayed corked while we were out of town, so plan to move them to the rack for continued and proper aging. I also need to start working with my Pino grape juice which has been sitting in a bucket in my basement unattended for a few weeks now.

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5/11/12 11:00 A

We moved our limey ale with the NZ hops over to the secondary fermenter last night. Nom nom nom. Tasty so far!

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5/8/12 8:36 A

All the corks stayed in! The directions say to let the bottles stand upright for 3 days before transferring them to rack. I'm going to be out of town for a week, so I am tempted to let them stand upright an extra week so I don't come home to a "surprise"!

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5/7/12 8:40 A

Shiraz had a very nice clarity to it, and surprisingly tasted quite good! Even my wife commented on the flavor, and she is not a dry red wine person! Got the bottles all cleaned and sanitized yesterday, and bottled my first wine late last evening. I LOVE the corking machine -- so much nicer and easier to use than the capper I used for capping beer bottles.

Have not been downstairs yet today to see if all of the corks stayed in. I have a feeling I overfilled one bottle so I won't be shocked if one bottle has a cork missing. Hopefully that is it. Still have some equipment cleaning to do. The on to the Pinot Grigio.....

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5/3/12 10:44 A

My Australian Shiraz can now be tested for clarity and of course flavor! My only issue is if it is ready I don't have the bottles ready to go yet, as they were donated to me by a friend and need a thorough cleaning. Oh, and I also need corks and a corking machine, which I'll pick up on Saturday along with my next kit -- Pinot Grigio (grapes from Chile!). We're going out of town next week, so a lot happening all at once.

Thankfully, I contacted the company that produced my Shiraz kit and it can stay in the carboy up to two weeks longer, even if it is ready today!

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5/1/12 10:51 A

Cool! I am curious about the honey. We'll have to give it a shot sometime. Your summer ale sounds like it will turn out tasty!

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4/30/12 12:12 P

I used table sugar to prime a few times and it was pretty slow for me, took over a week to properly carbonate. The malt should work just fine. You can also try honey. I think I may work on a Summer ale, something light with honey and agave nectar with a hop profile like a good pils.

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4/30/12 12:04 P

We bottled our chocolate porter on the weekend and brewed what we're calling our summer ale. We found some limey hops and think it will be a refreshing summer drink :)

My parents recently bought an old house and the previous owner left a lot of junk in the basement. They found some awesome old gallon growlers as well as still-sealed Hires Rootbeer brew-your-own extract from 1928! We're going to give it a shot and see how it turns out. We also picked up some ginger beer extract because we really liked how it turned out before.

For the chocolate porter, we're experimenting with using dry malt extract as the priming sugar. We're both allergic to corn, so instea of corn sugar we've been using regular table sugar so far. We'll see if there's a difference soon :)

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4/27/12 11:36 A

That was my experience with my IPA's -- the longer they aged the better the taste. I can't drink any carbonated beverages any more but still kept a few of my favorite IPA -- going to have my son taste one the next time he is down and see what he thinks of the aged ones....

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4/27/12 10:53 A

The IPA went over a little better than expected, half got consumed. It wasn't as balanced as I would have liked, but I had to tweak the recipe. It probably should have bottle conditioned a little more as it was a touch harsh. I have some bottles set aside and will see how they are tonight. The hop profile gives it a very nice bouquet, citrus and flowers.

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4/20/12 8:24 A

Added the stabilizing ingredients to my Shiraz yesterday and gave it a good whipping!



Had to go get a degasser tool so that I could apply the "whipping" -- 10 minutes of degassing using the tool attached to a power drill. Very cool process! It smells quite good. If all goes well, I'll bottle it in two weeks. A friend of mine is donating a box of wine bottles for my effort -- will pick those up tomorrow and start cleaning them.

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4/10/12 1:44 P

Nice! We've been thinking about getting a big wine rack for our 650mL growlers - right now they're all stacked in boxes. Cool you got a sale price too :)

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4/8/12 10:52 A

Ordered a 60 bottle wine rack late yesterday. It had been priced at Amazon.com for $67, but the price dropped to $60!

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4/7/12 4:24 P

Moved my Shiraz to the secondary fermentor today. Smelled WONDERFUL!

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4/4/12 2:16 P

On Monday night we moved our chocolate porter over to the second fermenter and chucked in some chopped up vanilla beans. It smelled soooo good. I can't wait!

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4/4/12 8:52 A

Way to spread the message on home brewing! The difference in flavor between the mass produced garden variety beers and what we make as home brewers is huge!

Checked my fermenting shiraz this morning and the yeast is still very happy! In fact I noticed that in my air lock there is some grape stains in there so the yeast was getting pretty carried away with itself overnight! Another party I was not invited to!!

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4/3/12 5:00 P

I think there is hope for my coworker, The last beer of mine he tried was a very heavily hopped porter. It is in the 70IBU range and he liked it.

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4/3/12 11:25 A

My dad is all about the corona too, but we got him to try Nectar of the Gods by Russell Brewing and now he actually tries everything we hand him without dismissing it out of hand. Have hope for them!

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4/3/12 9:14 A

I work with a guy that thinks Corona is the absolute best beer. He tried one of mine, something similar to Unibrau Moudite and he didn't like it because it had too much flavor.

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4/3/12 8:59 A

Nice...yeah, the Bud Light drinkers should have an interesting look on their faces when they taste a REAL beer!

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4/3/12 8:51 A

I think I may try to make some wine this Spring and will keep that in mind. Popped the airlock on the carboy around midnight last night and at six this morning the yeast was starting to wake up. I had to tweak the recipe at the last minute. Most of the party goers are bud lite drinkers so I had to tone it down and use a little less malt so it should end up a respectable 6%abv.

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4/3/12 8:28 A

One of the recommended items I purchased for my wine is a brewers belt, as I was told by the brewmaster at my local store that the wine ferments much better at 75F or higher (as opposed to beer where you can get away with lower temps). Checked on my wine this morning and the airlock was bubbling like crazy!! I have some very happy yeast!

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4/2/12 9:08 A

The ingredients for an IPA are on the UPS truck heading for my house now. Brewing it up for a wedding reception at the end of the month.

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4/2/12 8:58 A

My Australian Shiraz is in the primary fermentor (got it started last evening, 4/1). So far so good....

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3/19/12 10:44 A

We bottled our bitters on Saturday and started a ginger beer yesterday. On Friday I'm going to pick up a second secondary fermenter :)

Posts: 297
3/16/12 11:01 A

As soon as I finish moving I will brew up an IPA for a wedding reception. I will have to be careful with the hops because most of the people that will be there thing Bud lite is the best beer out there.

Posts: 2,441
3/16/12 10:39 A

Bottling the bitters tonight and starting ginger beer tomorrow! I'm excited. Mmmn!

Posts: 2,441
3/5/12 11:37 A

We opted for a bitters recipe instead! Let you know how it goes. Our porter turned out pretty tasty!

Posts: 2,441
3/2/12 11:41 A

We just bottled a porter last weekend. Starting an IPA or a pale ale tomorrow. Haven't decided yet...

Posts: 25
1/17/12 12:16 P

well we will be brewing on the 28th of this month. We'll be doing a double brew day in honor of hubby's birthday. We will be brewing a batch of his wheat triple which is really fantastic. We will also be brewing a hoppy red ale. We went and made a brew schedule for the year and so we have a beer planned for each month. :)

Posts: 297
1/10/12 8:28 A

I have three bottles left of a heavily hopped porter. I was thinking of brewing up something with honey and blackberries.

SparkPoints: (5,117)
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Posts: 79
1/9/12 7:43 P

Just did a partigyle today... RIS with a stout/brown ale second.

I really hope this comes out well. I'm a huge fan of RIS... which is interesting when trying to balance beer and diet.

current weight: 243.0

255 238.75 222.5 206.25

190

Posts: 47
12/9/11 9:27 A

This has been a good year in the brewhouse/vineyard. I made several wines during the winter including a to die for strawberry and a few brews in spring. Summer gets busy so I bottle something when I get a hare to. With the first cool breeze of October I started a peach porter that everyone liked. Then I did an experment making a "Dos XX ambar" clone and an Irish ale using the same grain bill but different hops and yeasts to produce an ale and a lager. Thus far there is no clear winner they are both good. While I was lagering I made a commercial type beer with pilsen light extract, rice and sugar,a very cheap to make beer and my son wants a keg of that for Christmas. Then I started the 2011 Andropolis Vineyards Estate Red with some Welch's some 99 cent grapes, some OJ, some wild grapes, a bag of muscadines,blueberrys and some black and rasberrys. Hoping for a complex flavor. Time will tell.

Posts: 7
10/12/11 9:54 A

That's what I've read. It seems most people try to wick the oil out after toasting. We'll see how it goes.

Posts: 297
10/12/11 9:41 A

Don't have any experience with brewing with nuts, but I would think the oils would interfere with head retention. Try it and see what happens.

Posts: 7
10/10/11 9:52 A

Just picked up the ingredients for a pecan ale. I'm going to toast them tonight and maybe brew it up this weekend. Anyone have any experience with this? Homebrewtalk only had some partial information.

Posts: 297
10/6/11 1:35 P

bottled a hoppy porter Saturday and I will see how it is tomorrow. I tried a sample as I was bottling and it wasn't bad at all flat and room temp. It was smooth and light with a nice hoppy bitterness and aroma, with a little smokeyness, I can't wait to see what it is like after a little bottle conditioning.

Posts: 2
9/11/11 8:55 P

Just moved the Octoberfest Marzen to the secondary. Using the "wet t-shirt" lagering method, wrapping a wet t shirt around the carboy and setting it in a low pan of water in the basement. The wicking/evap action of the water in the t shirt keeps it a little cooler.

I'm excited/worried about Octoberfest. I've been having this party with my best friend for a number of years. It's kind of a gluttony fest. Sigh.

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Posts: 2
7/5/11 3:56 P

Just kegged my share of the ESB from the club big brew. Monday (7/4/11) I brewed 10 gallons all grain Belgian Pale Ale, 10 gallons Vanilla Porter, and 5 gallons Belgian Wit.

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7/3/11 3:08 P

Just tried the first bottle out of my IPA I had bottled back in May -- yummy good! Time to ask my wife to make the labels!

current weight: -1.0  under

5 2.5 0 -2.5

-5

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Posts: 78
7/3/11 11:44 A

Just added the apricot to an Apricot IPA. had great success last month with the Mango IPA & hoping this will be just as good! In this Florida heat it's nice to have ligher, more refreshing beers this time of year. This is our 1st year playing with fruit beers, so it's kind of an experiment!