9
votes
What are the benefits of using brewing sugar over types of sugar?
Sorry to revive an old thread but my experience of 15 years is this - controls of the same kit, same temperature, same time, same everything except sucrose in one and dextrose in the other. Result - ...
- 91
7
votes
Why are there raisins floating in my ginger beer?
Putting a few raisins in a bottle before you cap it, will let you know when its carbonated as the raisins, will float to the top after. They sink at first.
- 71
7
votes
Accepted
Can theatre buttered and salted popcorn be used for brewing brewing at home?
Yes, yes it can. Have done so before with Pumpkin Popcorn IPA. It was really good!
Salted will pump up your chloride ion count, so be aware of that, and the buttered aspect makes no real difference ...
- 7,048
6
votes
Website for grain bill determination by style
I'm not sure you're going to find anything besides recipes that are especially prescriptive about what goes in to the beer. Check out BeerSmith, BrewToad, and other sites to find some recipes. They ...
- 933
6
votes
Why are there raisins floating in my ginger beer?
The skin of sultanas or raisins have natural occurring yeast needed for the fermentation process.
Older recipes typically used a 'ginger bug' derived from the yeast on sultana skin in stead of ...
5
votes
Accepted
The different forms of corn
The big issue with corn is the germ, which is relatively high in fat (at least compared to other brewing grains).
Flaked maize - this will always have the germ and the husk, removed. It is basically ...
- 6,437
5
votes
Accepted
How do you take ingredients from a brewer's website and make a recipe
It's impossible to look at a beers ingredient list and derive an exact recipe from it. You have to go through a process of trial and error, using any information you can get from the manufacturer ...
- 78
4
votes
What are the benefits of using brewing sugar over types of sugar?
There is much more to this question than how much sugar and how much alcohol !
It is about the taste of the beer.
My 15 years of brewing has strongly borne out what is stated in "The Art of Making ...
- 41
4
votes
Accepted
Will supermarket fruits make a good wine?
The problem with much fresh "Supermarket fruit" is that it is usually picked early and is usually unripe. If one can find "ripe" or "over ripe" fruit in a supermarket then IMHO that is the fruit one ...
- 5,641
4
votes
Brewing with Bananas
IMHO the bananas are best added (mashed up) to the hot wort post boil. Boiling for any significant time can drive off esters that add to the flavour and aroma. Adding to the mash can also increase the ...
- 5,641
4
votes
Accepted
Using Pine with Beer
Among the conifers, there are two that are used in brewing; Juniper and Spruce. None are used widely I think.
You probably don't want to use Pine because all parts of the pine tree will add some ...
- 156
3
votes
Adding Ingredients to an IPA Kit
In general, when it comes to modifying extract kits, you have a few options to make it better:
1. Add less water to increase flavor and alcohol content (ex: 20L instead of 23L)
2. Steep some ...
- 4,806
3
votes
3
votes
Is this a good recipe for a 5 hop brew?
It looks fine, but I'm not sure you're going to get the desired effect from the diverse hops. I expect that the Fuggle especially will be washed out by the other hop flavors. If you really want to ...
- 933
3
votes
Formulating a recipe with birch sap
I've made birch sap wine before now and there was no real discernable difference between that and sugar-water wine.
I have read that to make birch syrup you need to reduce 100:1. 1.005 in sugar ...
- 181
3
votes
Accepted
Salt additions to the glass
It's probably simpler to prepare a solution with CaCl2. For every gram of CaCl2, take 2 gram of distilled, demineralised or reverse osmosis water. Mix well, so you obtain a solution of 33% (W/W) CaCl2....
- 3,665
3
votes
Can theatre buttered and salted popcorn be used for brewing brewing at home?
It should work, depending on style. Popcorn is essentially cooked corn starch, so it comes pre-gelatinized and when mixed with sufficient diastatic malt it should saccharify.
As the previous posted ...
- 2,585
3
votes
Using Pine with Beer
You might want to check out "Unlocking Kveik's Mysteries" by Lars Marius. It's a documentary of sorts on the history and origins of Kveik yeast along with the traditional use of Juniper in ...
- 936
2
votes
What are the benefits of using brewing sugar over types of sugar?
I am not sure how much this will help, but in my limited experience with sugars, plain table sugar (sucrose) just made my fermenting time a bit longer as compared to corn sugar (dextrose). As far as ...
- 31
2
votes
Any People with Celiacs Tried Clarity Ferm?
A little late to the party but thought I would add my experience with Clarity Ferm. My wife is Celiac, and very sensitive, small cross contamination results in a serious reaction. I started using CF ...
- 21
2
votes
Chile Pepper Ale
So far I've made two brown-chili batches and here's what I did.
I actually made a chili concentrate by having hot chili flakes boil in raw alcohol (100% ethanol) for about 30-45 minutes, because ...
- 121
2
votes
What is Extract Twang?
I saw a new answer on here- what the hell- I'll post.
In my experience- what you're describing is typically a byproduct of old (oxidized) liquid malt extract. It gets a really cloying flavor due to ...
- 1,783
2
votes
Brewing with Bananas
Even though your question pre-supposes using bananas to impart a banana flavour into the beer, may I humbly suggest an alternative? It requires FAR less effort than what you're getting yourself into ...
- 157
2
votes
Brewing with Bananas
I’m somewhat new to brewing but I’ve brewed a few different beers with fruit and in my experience adding fruit to the secondary fermentation seems to work better if you’re trying to keep the flavors ...
2
votes
Brewing with tamarinds
Consider what will happen to the sweet and sour balance when the fruit and honey undergo fermentation. The fructose and glucose will be converted into alcohol. They shouldn't leave any noticable ...
2
votes
How much special yeast do I need?
The yeast is not what is special, it is naturally produced lactobacillus bacteria from the vagina. The beer is classified as a sour ale, and to culture this bacteria you would need to collect a sample ...
- 156
2
votes
What changes the alcohol content of beer?
In a word, sugar. In presence of yeast. The yeast acts as a catalyst to a chemical reaction where sugar plus water converts to alcohol and carbon dioxide. More sugar, with yeast in the background, ...
- 3,425
1
vote
Adding Ingredients to an IPA Kit
What yeast you use depends on the flavour profile you want out of the kit, Safale US-05 will give a clean drier flavour profile, while S-04 would give a more ester rich profile, there are so many ...
- 7,048
1
vote
Will supermarket fruits make a good wine?
Yes, you can make good "wine" with supermarket fruits, but as you mentioned they are not always the most fresh resource available.
Local fairs are a good source of fresh fruits, etc ... Not sure if ...
- 460
1
vote
How do you take ingredients from a brewer's website and make a recipe
Short answer: No.
There is no way to just look at a list of ingredients, with no quantities, and with great accuracy know how the beer is made, or what those quantities are. The best you can do is ...
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