9:45 If you run the end of the tube under warm water for a bit, it gives it a bit more temporary flexibility and getting it deeper onto the bottling wand takes a lot less work!
You should get an auto siphon clamp. It'll totally free you up so you have an extra hand. You can adjust the siphon up and down easily and it'll stay put above the bottom.
I have started making mead , beer and am now sitting and drinking a young homemade red wine, made from a neighbours surplus of grapes. I would not be sitting here drinking it if you had not said in your mead making video ''what have you got to loose'' Now I am about to put my first batch of beer into bottles and all thanks to you. Ps , I plan to put the bottles under my mother in laws bed as I do not have a bomb proof box, if I loose a bottle or two they might be going to a good cause. Thank you's from Denmark.
I just got to say it is so it easy and understanding to watch you guys do your videos, you are not ripping a page from somebody book it’s all by what you know works, and you guys work great as a team Thanks.
cheers guys i just bottled my dark ale, made out of a best before 2007 tin of brewers malt. hydrometer tells me its a 3.7 , so quite chuffed. cristal clear., and dark as coffee. followed your vids and just fiddled with the ingredients a bit. well impressed . cant wait to try it with me home made cheese in a fortnights time.
I landed here from the How to Make Mead video that was done some time ago. I have to compliment your video productions skills and how they have improved over this short period of time. Feels much more natural now as opposed to before. Thanks for all the great content!
Hi guys. Thanks for the video. I’m still new and learning and I picked up a trick from your video. I used my 5-gallon bottling bucket to bottle a 1 gallon batch and soon there after I realized that was not the best idea. I like your idea of racking into a pitcher and then filling the bottles.
Grolsch also comes in the swing top bottles ... I need to purchase some at moment using the plastic ones that came with kit .... Don't overly like them but they do the job
About 20 brews in, i have had only 2 that tasted already good when bottling. Other beers weren't that good when bottling, but developed into wonderful beers over a few weeks. So, don't think you failed when your beer is slightly off-putting when bottling. Have some patience. Try again after 2, 3 or 4 weeks. I've had beers that tasted good after 1 week and got off a bit after 8. Not bad, but not crisp and vibrant anymore. More mellowed and mature. I've had beers that were still developing after 10 weeks and going (Stouts and strong beers). Beer is made with water, malt, hops, yeast and A LOT of patience.
Thank you for all these inspiring videos!! I'm now waiting for my first batch of mead to finish fermenting.. Keep those videos coming! Greets from The Netherlands.
Love your videos, learning a lot from you both and I appreciate you both! Oh and the same five people hitting thumbs down should stop watching....it’s always 5.
Always a little lease after my bottleing i don't worry about it too much never really get any in ya pint if watch while i pour .. I have brought a pressure barrel for next lot tho . that cherry pilsner turned out real nice and around 5.8% ... It went quick tho . thanks for previous advice
Hey! I was wondering if it were possible for you guys to make Chicha? A friend mentioned it to me, that it’s a fermented beverage and you guys are by far the best and most fun Chanel
I took a very long look at the Everclear and thought to myself... I wonder if that is how Brian get his hair to grow so fast? Lol love you two! You both crack me up.
You guys got me into the hobby! Yeah that’s a thanks or a curse.. but I enjoy. I’ve moved from wine over to beer. I’ve made several brews now. I like a high ABV in my brews. Like 7-I0%. I also use 1118 yeast to do it. One thing I do is use a honey for sugars to get that %. My question how is it the sugars produced from the barley doesn’t caramelize completely during the boiling phase?
7-10 isn’t all that high and you could use any yeast to do that :). The sugars don’t caramelize because they are diluted in water. You’d have to boil off all the water for that to happen.
I've seen people use the soda bottle test and then pasteurize the rest of the bottles once the test bottle reaches the desired firmness. I think he was making a sparkling hard cider but i assume the same method would work for beer.
Carbonation in beer is easier than mead. Most times you ferment beer out dry and it's lower ABV, so it's simpler and a lot less "well if this, then...".
Have you guys made a Kolsch Beer? I took a kit by Brewer's Best and added 1/2corriander which I would change to 1/8 tsp, 1oz sweet orange peels and 2 lbs of orange blossom Honey for a 5 gallon batch.
My favorite beer, Black Butte Porter (Bend, Oregon), I do not like so much cold. I drink it room-temp often, and occasionally toss in the freezer for a few minutes to "cool" it. With beer, warmer brings out the flavors and cold buries them. There's a reason American "beer" tastes like arse when it's warm...it's not good beer. Keep it cold as possible? Kills the bad flavors. Addendum: Rice is not beer...just sayin.
I was under the impression that beer makes about 10 points of non fermentable sugars during the fermentation process and that you should figure that into your final gravity. Have you heard that before?
Hey guys I was just wondering what type of air lock that was on top of the carboy? Are they any better than me standard type of air lock? I'm trying to find something that is really low maintenance! Thanks guys loving the videos
@@CitySteadingBrews I'll double check, i definitely don't mind, (all great vids) I've been having problems sucking air when i do a transfer, i believe it's the aerator thingy at the bottom. I'll double check and thanks for the reply
Hi Derica and Brian. I have a couple of questions and i hope that you can help me? Do i have to bottle the beer after two weeks or does it get better the longer you ferment it? And the second question is do you swivel the beer when it ferments? Best reguards Nicklas from the dark forrests of Sweden. p.s i love your channel :)
I swirl everything for a few days at least. It's helpful. Once beer is done fermenting, it's done fermenting. It won't ferment more. That said... it's usually personal preference on aging beer. Some swear by it, others say no. I think it depends on the style. Higher ABV can benefit more than lower ABV I think.
Hey helpful tip: try using a lighter to slightly warm the syphon tube it goes on way easier disclaimer dont do it to close or to long noone wants burnt rubber smell lol
Any reason why you use swing tops and don’t use a bottle capper? Does the swing top rubber washer on the bottles have to be replaced often? Haven’t done a beer yet and just thinking about my logistics.
Great videos you guys, started my first batch of mead thanks to you fine folks - going to be doing some beer next. I know this is a super old video so this might go unnoticed but I'm concerned about carbonating in the bottle and having a beer bomb go off in my fridge after I've let it carbonate. In your experience, is there a "safe point" at which over carbonation isn't going to happen? Like if the two weeks (give or take, obviously) elapses of in-bottle carbonation and nothing explodes, am I probably safe? Thanks!
If your brew was finished fermenting before you added priming sugar to carbonate and you used the right amount of sugar to carb... it can only ferment so much and it should be fine. How much sugar did you add?
@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks for the reply! You guys are awesome. I'm probably going to stick to the measurements and ratios that you guys mentioned here when it comes time. That's good to know that it really is dependent on the amount of sugar you put in, so I'm going to be extra careful!
Also I'm weird about star san still being in my bottle a little bit when I'm bottling, so I've started rinsing out the bottles with a splash of the beer in bottling before filling them. It's probably unnecessary and psychotic, but if there's anyone like me that's weird about anything aside of the beer being in there at bottling.
I use other kind of homebrew sanitizer that says it needs to be rinsed off. Our water is very clean so I don't worry about it, i just rinse the bottles and put them upside down over a clean cloth. There should't be anything growing, I do it the same day I bottle. Never had any issues. No off-favors telling me there's bacterial growth. You could boil some rinsing water if you are worried that the water isn't clean enough to be used after sanitization but i guess your method is good too.
When I received my hydrometer, I realized that I accidentally ordered 2 of them. I told myself "Well...at least I have another for when I inevitably break one."
Did you use any special kind of sugar when bottling this? Or just plain white granulated sugar? The reason I ask is I recently did 2 brews and bottled them with just white sugar but got no carbonation in one brew and a very slight carbonation in the other. Of course maybe the yeast was totally completely without a doubt dead, and Im ok with that but just wondering if the sugar has an issue. Thank you very much!
Well, yes it did finish at 14% with a final gravity of 1.006. However I had a bottle last night and its super good! A coffeeish wine! Thank you for your help!
Well I was just thinking if I made a braggot. Could I force carb it and then bottle it. Or would I lose too much carbonation in racking. Was thinking about force carbing in a keg or maybe even a soda stream. I also thought about maybe making the braggot twice the gravity and then maybe diluting with carbonated water by half? Just some thoughts because bottle carbing doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve just seen a lot of inconsistent results, although it does seem to be what most people do.
I generally don’t carbonate that but one ounce of sugar per gallon of wine should do it. The only issue is... the yeast is at tolerance so it probably won’t carbonate. If you ferment with less sugar it might work though.
Curious, isn't the pitcher tall enough that you can place the hydrometer in for a reading, and skip the whole process of using the baster and graduated cylinder?
@@CitySteadingBrews okay, that's what I thought. One of the reasons I'm glad ri have buckets for primary now, is being able to skip that extra step. Thanks for another great video
@@CitySteadingBrews Cool. But I rather a lower abv beer to enjoy it and it's refreshing low. If I want strong I'd drink a whiskey or other liquor or that mule kicking apple wine of mine lol.
Brian and Dericka! We love you, your channel but we especially love beer. Come check us out and celebrate a belated beer day with us (and subscribe plz). Let us know how badly we screwed up our home-brew. Cheers! 🍻
"We're frugal" as you stand in front of 3 cabinets of whiskey, bourbon and Scotch. Love you guys
Priorities!
@@CitySteadingBrews i wanna see the mead stash that you guys probably have now
Dericka has definitely had her coffee today! Love you guys, don't stop.
9:45 If you run the end of the tube under warm water for a bit, it gives it a bit more temporary flexibility and getting it deeper onto the bottling wand takes a lot less work!
You should get an auto siphon clamp. It'll totally free you up so you have an extra hand. You can adjust the siphon up and down easily and it'll stay put above the bottom.
I have started making mead , beer and am now sitting and drinking a young homemade red wine, made from a neighbours surplus of grapes. I would not be sitting here drinking it if you had not said in your mead making video ''what have you got to loose'' Now I am about to put my first batch of beer into bottles and all thanks to you. Ps , I plan to put the bottles under my mother in laws bed as I do not have a bomb proof box, if I loose a bottle or two they might be going to a good cause. Thank you's from Denmark.
I just got to say it is so it easy and understanding to watch you guys do your videos, you are not ripping a page from somebody book it’s all by what you know works, and you guys work great as a team Thanks.
Thanks for that! We truly appreciate it!
cheers guys i just bottled my dark ale, made out of a best before 2007 tin of brewers malt. hydrometer tells me its a 3.7 , so quite chuffed. cristal clear., and dark as coffee. followed your vids and just fiddled with the ingredients a bit. well impressed . cant wait to try it with me home made cheese in a fortnights time.
I landed here from the How to Make Mead video that was done some time ago. I have to compliment your video productions skills and how they have improved over this short period of time. Feels much more natural now as opposed to before. Thanks for all the great content!
Thank you! We work really hard to improve!
The after credits scene was the best! Love you guys!
Derica, you're awesome! Never stop being so silly.
The sediment in the bottom of beer is called Trub, Lees are in wines.
Yep, you're correct technically, but they are literally the same thing. Like must and wort.
Hi guys. Thanks for the video. I’m still new and learning and I picked up a trick from your video. I used my 5-gallon bottling bucket to bottle a 1 gallon batch and soon there after I realized that was not the best idea. I like your idea of racking into a pitcher and then filling the bottles.
Grolsch also comes in the swing top bottles ... I need to purchase some at moment using the plastic ones that came with kit .... Don't overly like them but they do the job
About 20 brews in, i have had only 2 that tasted already good when bottling.
Other beers weren't that good when bottling, but developed into wonderful beers over a few weeks.
So, don't think you failed when your beer is slightly off-putting when bottling.
Have some patience. Try again after 2, 3 or 4 weeks.
I've had beers that tasted good after 1 week and got off a bit after 8. Not bad, but not crisp and vibrant anymore. More mellowed and mature.
I've had beers that were still developing after 10 weeks and going (Stouts and strong beers).
Beer is made with water, malt, hops, yeast and A LOT of patience.
I'm Very Bad but, "Ok, you hold it, I'll pump", had me Crying!!
You Guys Are Awesome!!!
I love your content man so much fun to watch even though i don't like beer
Thank you for all these inspiring videos!! I'm now waiting for my first batch of mead to finish fermenting.. Keep those videos coming! Greets from The Netherlands.
I guess I lucked out, I like using the swing tops as well. I don't like the Pumpkin spice but my daughter does. And my wife likes the French lemonade.
I always get a laugh when someone doesn't know that 1oz is 28grams...I learned that in high school...emphasis on the high
I didn't know.
I just say 28 grams.
And liters,
kilograms,
meters.
All nice and metric here.
28.4
Northern Brewer has a hydrometer that's supposed to be unbreakable that you may want to check out.
You guys are absolutely great. Enjoying your shows. Dericka are you German?
Derica is Danish mostly.
I enjoyed the video 😊 you two look great
Thank you! 🤗
Love your videos, learning a lot from you both and I appreciate you both! Oh and the same five people hitting thumbs down should stop watching....it’s always 5.
It is, isn’t it?
2:53 So, every Friday that ever comes along,
I get up early and sing this little song
Run Racking - run Racking- Run! Run! Run! ..=== Fun fun Fun ..
Lol you made that on my birthday cool
Always a little lease after my bottleing i don't worry about it too much never really get any in ya pint if watch while i pour .. I have brought a pressure barrel for next lot tho . that cherry pilsner turned out real nice and around 5.8% ... It went quick tho . thanks for previous advice
How did you get it so incredibly clear in just two weeks?
Brian's shirt is awesome
Hey! I was wondering if it were possible for you guys to make Chicha? A friend mentioned it to me, that it’s a fermented beverage and you guys are by far the best and most fun Chanel
As long as I don't have to chew it....
I took a very long look at the Everclear and thought to myself... I wonder if that is how Brian get his hair to grow so fast? Lol love you two! You both crack me up.
I don’t get it...
But... thanks!
You guys got me into the hobby! Yeah that’s a thanks or a curse.. but I enjoy. I’ve moved from wine over to beer. I’ve made several brews now. I like a high ABV in my brews. Like 7-I0%. I also use 1118 yeast to do it. One thing I do is use a honey for sugars to get that %.
My question how is it the sugars produced from the barley doesn’t caramelize completely during the boiling phase?
7-10 isn’t all that high and you could use any yeast to do that :). The sugars don’t caramelize because they are diluted in water. You’d have to boil off all the water for that to happen.
Great video. You make your videos
Fun to watch..
Thanks!
Sweet beer
I've seen people use the soda bottle test and then pasteurize the rest of the bottles once the test bottle reaches the desired firmness. I think he was making a sparkling hard cider but i assume the same method would work for beer.
As a new hobbies, carbonation makes me nervous. I think I'll stick to the non-carbonated meads. Lol. Great video though. Thank you for the advice.
Carbonation in beer is easier than mead. Most times you ferment beer out dry and it's lower ABV, so it's simpler and a lot less "well if this, then...".
Not sure if you guys already have, but you really need to make and try Maple and Treacle mead :P
Quick question, wouldn’t be safer to bottle all beers in flip tops instead of caps?
Relatively, yes. We normally do!
Have you guys made a Kolsch Beer? I took a kit by Brewer's Best and added 1/2corriander which I would change to 1/8 tsp, 1oz sweet orange peels and 2 lbs of orange blossom Honey for a 5 gallon batch.
My favorite beer, Black Butte Porter (Bend, Oregon), I do not like so much cold. I drink it room-temp often, and occasionally toss in the freezer for a few minutes to "cool" it. With beer, warmer brings out the flavors and cold buries them. There's a reason American "beer" tastes like arse when it's warm...it's not good beer. Keep it cold as possible? Kills the bad flavors.
Addendum: Rice is not beer...just sayin.
Well the warm and cold with flavors is true of anything, whiskey, cheese... etc. Then I'm glad mine tasted good warm!
No one said Rice is beer, but in Japan they use it to make wine... and from I have heard if you aren't careful it can knock you on your ass.
@@adventuresofpyro9020 They put rice in light lagers/pilsners for the (lack of) color and to cut costs
Where did you get the cool blue bottle?
I used to have 3 or 4 Redstone Meadery bottles that were that lovely cobalt and swing-top....pretty positive my ex wife absconded with them. = (
I was under the impression that beer makes about 10 points of non fermentable sugars during the fermentation process and that you should figure that into your final gravity. Have you heard that before?
It varies.
You the bomb Derica
Hey guys I was just wondering what type of air lock that was on top of the carboy? Are they any better than me standard type of air lock? I'm trying to find something that is really low maintenance! Thanks guys loving the videos
Would you please make a cleaning ( how to put together a racking cane shhh) video
Don’t we show that in every racking video?
@@CitySteadingBrews I'll double check, i definitely don't mind, (all great vids) I've been having problems sucking air when i do a transfer, i believe it's the aerator thingy at the bottom. I'll double check and thanks for the reply
Hi Derica and Brian.
I have a couple of questions and i hope that you can help me?
Do i have to bottle the beer after two weeks or does it get better the longer you ferment it?
And the second question is do you swivel the beer when it ferments?
Best reguards Nicklas from the dark forrests of Sweden.
p.s i love your channel :)
I swirl everything for a few days at least. It's helpful.
Once beer is done fermenting, it's done fermenting. It won't ferment more. That said... it's usually personal preference on aging beer. Some swear by it, others say no. I think it depends on the style. Higher ABV can benefit more than lower ABV I think.
Thank you :)
Hey helpful tip: try using a lighter to slightly warm the syphon tube it goes on way easier disclaimer dont do it to close or to long noone wants burnt rubber smell lol
The instructions say to use warm water
Yep, I use warm water!
Any reason why you use swing tops and don’t use a bottle capper? Does the swing top rubber washer on the bottles have to be replaced often? Haven’t done a beer yet and just thinking about my logistics.
Mead Brown ale (MBA)
Great videos you guys, started my first batch of mead thanks to you fine folks - going to be doing some beer next. I know this is a super old video so this might go unnoticed but I'm concerned about carbonating in the bottle and having a beer bomb go off in my fridge after I've let it carbonate. In your experience, is there a "safe point" at which over carbonation isn't going to happen? Like if the two weeks (give or take, obviously) elapses of in-bottle carbonation and nothing explodes, am I probably safe? Thanks!
If your brew was finished fermenting before you added priming sugar to carbonate and you used the right amount of sugar to carb... it can only ferment so much and it should be fine. How much sugar did you add?
@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks for the reply! You guys are awesome. I'm probably going to stick to the measurements and ratios that you guys mentioned here when it comes time. That's good to know that it really is dependent on the amount of sugar you put in, so I'm going to be extra careful!
Also I'm weird about star san still being in my bottle a little bit when I'm bottling, so I've started rinsing out the bottles with a splash of the beer in bottling before filling them. It's probably unnecessary and psychotic, but if there's anyone like me that's weird about anything aside of the beer being in there at bottling.
I use other kind of homebrew sanitizer that says it needs to be rinsed off. Our water is very clean so I don't worry about it, i just rinse the bottles and put them upside down over a clean cloth. There should't be anything growing, I do it the same day I bottle. Never had any issues. No off-favors telling me there's bacterial growth. You could boil some rinsing water if you are worried that the water isn't clean enough to be used after sanitization but i guess your method is good too.
When I received my hydrometer, I realized that I accidentally ordered 2 of them. I told myself "Well...at least I have another for when I inevitably break one."
Did you use any special kind of sugar when bottling this? Or just plain white granulated sugar? The reason I ask is I recently did 2 brews and bottled them with just white sugar but got no carbonation in one brew and a very slight carbonation in the other. Of course maybe the yeast was totally completely without a doubt dead, and Im ok with that but just wondering if the sugar has an issue. Thank you very much!
Just white table sugar. Your yeast may have been close to alcohol tolerance? That’s about the only reason it wouldn’t carb.
Well, yes it did finish at 14% with a final gravity of 1.006. However I had a bottle last night and its super good! A coffeeish wine! Thank you for your help!
Can you rack something after it’s been carbonated?
Normally you carbonate in the bottle so it would be difficult. Unless I am misunderstanding your question?
Well I was just thinking if I made a braggot. Could I force carb it and then bottle it. Or would I lose too much carbonation in racking. Was thinking about force carbing in a keg or maybe even a soda stream. I also thought about maybe making the braggot twice the gravity and then maybe diluting with carbonated water by half? Just some thoughts because bottle carbing doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve just seen a lot of inconsistent results, although it does seem to be what most people do.
So, how should I condition/carbonate a 1gal batch of your grape juice wine recipe? Same method and amount of sugar?
I generally don’t carbonate that but one ounce of sugar per gallon of wine should do it. The only issue is... the yeast is at tolerance so it probably won’t carbonate. If you ferment with less sugar it might work though.
LOVE THE VIDEOS, I AM A SMALL BATCH BREWER. SWING TOPS ARE THE BEST I THINK TO CARBONATE IN. IS IT BETTER TO DO SUGAR TABLETS OR TO PRIME?
Same thing really.
Question answered later in video.
3:30 I've broken none cause I've bought none... I'm about to buy my first Monday
Curious, isn't the pitcher tall enough that you can place the hydrometer in for a reading, and skip the whole process of using the baster and graduated cylinder?
Sometimes, but I just do it out of habit. The angle and color of it would be harder to read too.
@@CitySteadingBrews okay, that's what I thought. One of the reasons I'm glad ri have buckets for primary now, is being able to skip that extra step.
Thanks for another great video
To get an accurate reading use the graduated cylinder...they are calibrated that way and sold together for that reason...
@@edwardmoon5221 sigh...
That has nothing to do with a hydrometer reading...
What would happen if you used bread or a wine yeast in beer?
It would ferment and be beer. Yeast is yeast really.
@@CitySteadingBrews
True lol
But I was more curious if you would end up with a high wine like abv beer.
Abv is controlled by fermentables and yeast tolerance. Most beer is lower gravity than wine but you can make high gravity beer like barley wine.
@@CitySteadingBrews
Cool. But I rather a lower abv beer to enjoy it and it's refreshing low. If I want strong I'd drink a whiskey or other liquor or that mule kicking apple wine of mine lol.
If you pasteurise, will it kill or reduce the carbonation?
Nope.
No readon to pasteurize beer though really.
Brian and Dericka! We love you, your channel but we especially love beer. Come check us out and celebrate a belated beer day with us (and subscribe plz). Let us know how badly we screwed up our home-brew. Cheers! 🍻
Any ideas about how many carbs and calories?
Nope. It’s homebrew and alcohol...
Let’s say it’s probably not good for you, lol.
In stead of sugar could honey work for carnations?
What?
Would you use the same process for bottling gruit?
Yup!
Good to know. Thank you!
How long did you sanitize your bottles?
A minute or so.
Star san has a contact time of 60 seconds.
After mixing the priming suger, should the bottle be kept in the fridge for carbonation or outside. Please answer.
I did answer you, on another video where you asked the same question.
@@CitySteadingBrews opps .tnx
Are you saying you have a "new lees on life"?
Groan, lol.
I protect my hydrometer like that all the time
I have a refractometer.
Needs just a few drops for readings.
And a tool or a table to correct for alcohol, after fermentation.
@@mhordijk0871 smh....
@@edwardmoon5221 Hey, i'm not the one loosing a pint over the course of a fermentation ;).
@@mhordijk0871 I dont lose anything....everything is sanitized so the test amount goes right back in
Refractometers are known for being innacurate for fg readings, even with the charts and calculations.
I’ll bet the whiskey is gifted from their occupation...am I right?
Nope. I bought it all.
Wow, quite an investment! Awesome .
We had over 200 bottles a while back.... been drinking it down!
First
I broke 2 hydrometers in my first week of brewing ever 🥲
Sorry to hear that