10
This is no problem at all. To address your questions:
"what effect (taste, strength, yeast effects) might I expect from adding the sugar at the start of fermentation?"
Priming sugar (almost definitely glucose a.k.a dextrose), being nearly tasteless and highly fermentable (90+%), will increase ABV% without adding either residual (unfermentable) sugar or ...
10
Having done both, I can tell you that sugar (corn or table, doesn't matter) is the way to go. It's easy reliable and tasteless. Priming with gyle (the name for what you propose) is uncertain and offers no advantage to your beer.
9
Yes, fermentation will produce orders of magnitude more CO₂ than it takes to bubble the airlock.
But usually when people are not seeing bubbles, it's because there is some other, easier, way for the CO₂ to escape. Either an improperly-sealed bucket lid or an improperly-set bung in a carboy neck.
Don't worry about seeing airlock activity, except as it might ...
9
Beers do tend to age and have a sweet spot, per se, of when their flavor peaks. Every beer and beer style is different without a doubt.
But what you are describing is more related to your experience level. When beers starts to "decline" they don't normally start to pick up strength. In fact, when the beer went into the bottle it should have been done ...
9
I advise looking at HotHead from Omega Labs: http://www.omegayeast.com/portfolio/14158-2/
Flocculation: Medium-High
Attenuation: 75-85%
Temperature Range: 62-98° F (16-37° C)
Alcohol Tolerance: 11% ABV
8
Adding water to something will lower its gravity.
When adding water to wort from a concentrated extract brew process its not uncommon for the two to not mix completely. When you added the water you turned over some of the wort and took a sample of something that was more dense than intended. No big deal. It will equilibrate and the fermentation action of ...
7
Likely late in the game now, but you can also put oak chips on a sanitized cooking sheet at 200F or so and leave in the oven for 15 minutes or so. This will sanitize the chips, and subtly brings out some of the flavour, but not too much tannic or other astringent flavours. Essentially you are pasteurizing the oak chips by heating them to 138F (min), before ...
7
Well, it's either the yeast or the wort that's giving you the trouble. You can find out by doing a forced fermentation test - take a small amount of wort, and pitch a relatively large amount of yeast (e.g. 1/2 sachet of dry yeast.) Keep it at 75F or more so that the yeast ferment out any fermentable sugars.
After at least 1 day, or once the yeast have ...
7
It is impossible to predict YOUR FG. I know nothing about your skill level, your fermentation processes (temp, O2, pitching rates). I know nothing about the yeast you plan to use. I know nothing about the true fermentability of the extract and booster you are using.
That said some estimates can be made. In the best of scenarios if we assume a 65% ...
7
At this point in the process, you're pretty much committed to letting the ferment continue to completion. With fruit wine, the usual course of action is to add meta-bisulphite to the juice or pulp, and leave it for 24 hours before adding the yeast. The sulphite reduces the activity of wild yeasts and bacteria, giving the brewer's yeast a head start.
If the ...
7
Duct tape....I've done it more than once.
7
This will not work with a tea-bag or any other kind of cloth. Unless it's enclosed in a very fine membrane the yeast would easily be able to get through, then disperse and propogate in the main liquid.
However, something like this can actually be done. Some homebrewers have taken a high-technology cue from industrial beer and do what's known as an ...
7
You're fine, no need to panic. Leave your beer alone for another 2-3 weeks. Seriously, don't touch it, look at it, think about it, etc. Just leave it be for as long as you can stand it, and bottle it after 2-3 have passed.
Regarding the smell, fermenting beer throws off all kinds of crazy, nasty, wonderful, weird smells as part of the fermentation process. ...
7
Grape skins have wild yeast on them that will, in time, ferment the grape juice. Depending on the particular blend of yeast on your grapes, you may get complete fermentation, or the yeast may have low alcohol tolerance and the fermentation will halt before all the sugars have been consumed. Yeast contribute to the flavour profile of the wine, and ...
7
According to info I got from John Palmer for an upcoming article I wrote for BYO magazine, the cleanup happens concurrently with fermentation. Here's the quote..."Yeast have 3 phases in their life cycle: Adaptation, High Growth, and Stationary. (See Yeast by CW and Jamil) They do not have a maturation phase where they clean up byproducts. Adaptation phase ...
7
Interestingly, I found a presentation by Thomas H. Shellhammer, professor of fermentation science at OSU, that shows the composition of a typical hop cone:
Cellulose and Lignin: 40-50%
Protein: 15%
Alpha Acids: 2-15%
Beta Acids: 2-10%
Water: 8-12%
Minerals: 8%
Polyphenols and Tannins: 3-6%
Lipids and Fatty Acids: 1-5%
Hop Oil: 0.5-3%
Monosaccharides: 2%
...
7
'Anything to worry about?'
Really, it's nothing to worry about at all.
'Could this have oxidized the beer?'
Sure, technically, but to a really negligible amount.
How much this might effect the beer depends on when during fermentation/conditioning this was. During primary it's really inconsequential. During conditioning may be a tiny bit worse since ...
7
This is caused by a drop in temp before co2 is being produced. Just cap the fermenter in sanitized foil until you're past the lag phase, or cooled to fermentaion temp. Though a little bit of starsan won't hurt much, foil is better than an open airlock IMO.
I don't put air locks on until the wort is at fermentaion temp. I also remove the airlock then foil ...
7
Chlorine you can boil off before use, usually a hard boil for 20 minutes will get rid of Chlorine. Unless your water district uses a binder which is rare.
Chloramine cannot be boiled off and needs to be chemically stripped. Campden tablets do well.
7
The problem is that the hydrometer is used the amount of sugar in the solution, not the amount of alcohol. So you can measure the original gravity (OG), and the final gravity (FG), but in kombucha the alcohol produced by the fermentation is transformed into acetic and other acids. So you can not measure if there really is alcohol in the kombucha.
The only ...
6
Some widely respected people advise against it, like:
Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary
Whilst it might be true, in some cases, it is not true in case of strong stuff, stuff that will stay in fermenter long time. See wine resources - for yeast wine with nutrient is not so different than wort. And even if this particular part, this one reason ...
6
I had a pretty decent hard iced tea made by a fellow homebrewer one time. Don't remember his exact recipe, but it consisted of fresh brewed organic black tea, a whole bunch of brown sugar and some yeast nutrient (and yeast, of course!). 1 lb of brown sugar per gallon of tea should yield a brew of about 4.5% ABV.
Here is a good list of fermentables you ...
6
Given the recipe, that's exactly the sort of flavour I'd expect. I've never made this beverage, but I've made sauerkraut and it's done in an almost identical way except using cabbage instead of beets. The fermentation is bacterial, and lactobacilli play a predominant role. These bacteria produce lactic acid which is what makes sauerkraut sour, and presumably ...
6
You have the potential for oxidized beer. It may not happen, or if it does it may not be too bad. But the best thing to do would be to drink the beer soon, before potential oxidation has a chance to get worse.
6
It looks like the fermentation is complete, as the specific gravity has essentially stabilized. However, I'd leave it at 20C for another week at least to let the yeast clean up before cold-crashing. This is called the "conditioning phase", and can greatly improved the beer's flavour.
6
I think what you made is safe, but there's no way to not produce alcohol with that method.
6
No it wont. In fact it can break up yeast floculation and aid fermentation.
There is risk of oxidation if much alcohol has been produced when it was shook. But the c02 in headspace should minimize it.
I once fermented a 5 gal 1.086 apple wine to 0.992 in a couple days on a stirpate to completely deny the yeast floculation.
6
Depends on batch size. If your doing 2-3 gallons. I would recommend using glass 1 gallon jugs from wine or Apple juice.
The cheeseball containers I believe are made from the same foodgrade plastic as 2 liter soda bottles. They are novel in that they have more volume and a large opening for dry hopping.
I think either would be a good fermentor untill you ...
6
If you live near a good juice bar or restuarant that serves smoothies, ask the sales clerk if they have any empty glass jugs. Many drinks have an apple juice base and organic apple juice often ships in 1 gallon glass jugs. I've found two shops that happily give the jugs away for free, though I usually buy a smoothie in gratitude. Being a tipping patron ...
6
The standard wisdom I've seen is, as mentioned, that glass and metal "should" be fine but plastic is much more prone to scratching, making it a concern.
Brett has a reputation of being very resilient and being able to survive in small nooks and crannies of your equipment, waiting to infect future batches regardless of how well you may try to sanitize it.
I ...
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