Recipe Building - Alcohol Tolerance - Specific Gravity - Mead Wine Cider Homebrew
Вставка
- Опубліковано 4 лис 2023
- Not sure how to build a recipe? Need to understand Alcohol Tolerance of yeast? What pH should your must be at for mead? What specific gravity is too high? Find out in this month's CSB Unpasteurized!
Super Simple Cyser: • Cyser - Apple Mead - U...
_____________________________________
Fun T-shirts: city-steading.com/product-cat...
You may notice we do not have a lot of sponsored products or sponsored ads in our videos! That's intentional. We have found most offered sponsorships are completely not appropriate to you, our audience, so we don't want to waste your time. What we actually do is offer you links to products we USE and BELIEVE in. We use the Amazon Affiliate Program for these links and we DO receive a small commission if you purchase using our links and all this comes at no additional cost to you!
_____________________________________
Become a City Steading VIP - Click to learn more
www.city-steading.com/vip-club
_____________________________________
Want more City Steading?
Website: www.city-steading.com
Instagram: / citysteading - Навчання та стиль
I'm loving the spok figure. I strongly suggest that he should have a mini mug of mead!
I am trying to create a recipe for a wine/mead for a kingdom in my home brew D&D game. I have an idea for what I want but I am not sure if the ingredients go together. I need some tips if you guys can help or if you can recommend a good place to go where I can figure this out
@jamesstockbridge4298 ....Howdy from Texas
They did a Klingon Bloodwine in the beginning of the channel, it's one that has several videos and it's own playlist.
Hope this helps 😊
When I first took an interest in brewing a year and a half ago, i wanted some 16-18% stuff because of the whole bro vibe: "let's get sloppy and have fun". I worked as a bartender in a craft beer brewery for 4 years, so you can imagine the kind of company i kept lol. Luckily i got over that notion before i made my first big batch and now I actually have that 12-13% as my "neutral", same as you. A big part of that is that's the lower end tolerance for the yeast i like to use and an even bigger part of that is the advice I've gotten from this channel.
I still prefer that wine style abv because I'm limited in space- no room for lots and lots of lower abv brews and definitely no beer brewing equipment. But it's also just been nice to approach brewing from a flavor first mentality and willing to be flexible with the abv. I want to be proud of the complex flavors, not how quickly my brews will get your head spinning. Ive watched a lot of brewing channels, but city steading is by and far the best resource I've found for the theoretical side of brewing. You guys are just incredibly helpful on so many levels!
Happy to help!
For me 5% cider , back sweeten and add some bubbles is a really great drink on a hot summer day! Thank you for the help making ciders that a lot of people like to drink! I stick to my recipe because of that. People like it.
Totally thought the cat was the distraction lol. This is a good lesson for everyone.
Another great video. I like how Derica was the facilitator and kept everything on track and Brian provided the depth to the conversation.
My new go-to binge channel. Thanks guys!
Lol, thanks for watching 😎
Perfect timing once again. Looking forward to the next video you referenced as well.
I'm brewing my first Pyment targeting a 10 to 12 abv and using local grapes directly off the vine. My plan is to pasteurize and backsweeten. It went totally dry and when I removed the bag and racked I had to taste. It didn't have any bad odors,...but I didn't expect it to be so tart. Can't wait to figure it out.
So thankful for this video. Some key takeaways have fun, you need to like what you make, there is a process you can't just throw in stuff it needs a recipe. I will refer back to this video so much to learn.
After watching your videos I've started my first few batches. Thanks for getting me into a new hobby, cheers!
You are welcome. Happy to help!
I made your traditional mead and it was dry but I've been watching your videos more and have learnt so much from you guys. Thank you for teaching me how to brew
Y’all crack me up! Got crazy this morning and went out with my wife and son! We were brew supply shopping for our first attempts. I’m after your basic mead recipe. My son is wanting wine or beer. We got supplies for all three.
NEVER stop learning!
Thank you Brian and Ms. Derica.
Our pleasure!
everyone should watch this 3 times...... alot of great info all in 1 video
As someone who has made some of these recipes, and had vastly different results, YES, the yeast you use is rather important! When these folks use "bread yeast" for their grape juice wine, if you want something that resembles what they describe brewing, USE BREAD YEAST! Oh, I imagine an ale yeast would be pretty close, but using an aggressive wine yeast will NOT give you what you expect. I had concord grape juice wine that came out something more akin to a slightly musty port both in flavor and ABV, and not a pleasant sweet wine, drinkable when young. it was pretty tasty a year and a half on, though.
Great show! I'm at the point in learning, that I understand everything you've discussed here. Thank you!
Awesome!
I love you guys you are cool. I don't make but half gallons in the original container of juices. But I have lids with grommet's and bubblers which are sanitized with Starzan. If something goes South I only loose about a quart and s half. Out of about twenty only 1 failed. BTW just started using bubblers. Loose lid and kept in a cooler worked perfectly.
Great one guys. We ty for all you do. Sweet discussion. No Brian I'm not picking on you as a brewer I love everything you are doing. You folks are my 'go to' brewers.
Hey CSB, love your channel, thanks for sharing all your knowledge with us!
You're very welcome!
Just found out your channel. You guys bring loads of info in a very charming funny way. Thank you.
Thank you!
Outstanding video!❤️
Thank you!
Just began watching your videos a few weeks ago. Very informative and entertaining! Thank you guys, very much!!! Looking forward to brewing lots of wine throughout the winter season. Cheers and Happy Holidays! :-)
Awesome! Thank you!
Awesome video you guys really are so helpful… keep it up
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it!
I may not always comment but I always watch and leave an upvote. Thank you for your work.
Thanks for watching!
Teacher always told me the same thing, if she only knew, great one you two.
I've just started brewing my first cider ,made my own press and all the other bits , I've nearly got all the kit now. I'm obsessed . You both are doing a fantastic job, very informative all the way from start to finish . I've got so many recipe ideas and if they work I can't wait to share them with yourselves . Keep up the good work . Jay from Norfolk . UK
Awesome :)
Just another Nice and relaxing brew talk that clarifies so many of the deep mysteries of brew making.
Just love it 😍.
Greatest wishes of good health and good brewing to you!!!
Thank you and same to you!
When I design a recipe I generally start with an idea and go from there. Sometimes I want them sweet, sometimes I want them dry, it depends. I have noticed that the sweeter the final drink is, the easier it is to hide the alcohol taste. I personally aim for an ABV between 6.5-9%. The higher the ABV, the less I can drink, so I am for a lower ABV. For those that do want a Higher ABV, one option is to introduce half the sugar at first and then a week later add the rest of the sugar.
Some spices such as cinananananminminamin do have anti fungal properties if there is enough of it present, but, such levels are extremely higher than most people would use.
Good show
Right now I am on the mix the stuff, and see what works phase.
I'd have to say this was one of, in my humble opinion, your top 5 best videos I've ever seen. Brian you made a comment on a past video where you suggested aging on Amburana wood ..... How about a few videos creating recipes that favor that type of finishing. Thanks for all you two do.
Thank you!
We did something like that: ua-cam.com/video/hGv4x4dooik/v-deo.htmlsi=cZeGQagmOGUTQ5h8
First of all, thanks for all your great and very informative videos! Next week I'll try to make my first ever mead, following your simplest recipe, the one with the raisins, black tea, orange peel etc., except I'll be using wine yeast because I live in Romania and bread yeast is quite random here, I know that from my bread baking experience.
I ordered much of the equipment, I'm still waiting for my hydrometer which comes from China and the Star San which comes from Belgium (I couldn't find any business that sells it any closer and also ships it to my country), those should both arrive within 2-3 days at most.
I have an excellent source of honey, a childhood friend of mine is a beekeeper. For now I decided on a more neutral mixed honey, but he also produces Acacia flower honey.
Wish me luck!
I have learned the hard way about higher alcohol in the start of my brewing. It was a beer that I brewed and it went crazy, then stalled. I ended up with a sweet IPA..... Yes, can we all say EEWW!
I wish I had started watching you guy's before that mishap cause I had 5 gallons of brew nobody in their right mind would drink. With that said, It's in bottles, I didn't throw it out, but had I watched your video's, I would not of added the additional 2 lbs. of barley malt TO THE ORIGINAL RECIPE! Geeze, is this a lesson all brewers go through? I am in the process of making one of your meads and can't wait to taste, Earl Grey mead.
One more thing, Danika, hair looks GOOD!
Thank you for what you do. I have a "concept" for a mead I want to try but I think I'll reign myself in till I have a lot more experience under my belt before trying.
Always a good plan!
Thank you guys! I'm always learning! love brewing. Once I feel like I've "learned to brew" there's always another breakthrough, always new techniques, then there's always new perspectives, challenges to ideas, then I went from beer to mead, which got me to try wine before mead because my daughter loves lemonade and heard "skeeter pee" through my headset and was like what dada???
Lol
I swear you two have some unknown mental acuity no other human possesses. I have just begun my journey in fermentation. Your videos have been instrumental in making this hobby, one of the most enjoyable experiences. You taught me the basics, and I understand them well. So, it was no more than 24 hours ago - prior to this video - I was pondering EXACTLY how to go about building a recipe. Low and behold, you two pop up in my feed. Amazed.
We have microphones planted everywhere to hear what people need.
Jk.
Tons of good info, well worth the time spent to watch. Some things are common sense.... but common sense isn't always so common.
Thanks for watching!
I always backsweeten to taste when I make anything. I always let the yeast do its thing then I change the taste to what I like. not once have I ever thought that backsweetening is "tring to fix a mistake".
Yesterday I backsweetened some cider that I made from home-grown apples from the tree in my garden, I didnt plan on doing it, but after it went to 0.90 and 9%(ish) ABV I thought it needed just a little bit. not a mistake, just making the product exactly how I want it.
PS. I love all your videos. keep doing what you are doing. Love from the UK :)
Great content! I made a minor change on the ‘Viking’s Blood’ mead. I didn’t have any lemon zest, so I substituted lime zest from a fresh lime. The lime overpowered the mead. It aged out nicely though. The overpowering lime flavor mellowed with time. I now have a cherry lime-aide mead.
All good so long as you like it. This further proves tiny changes can have huge effects. :)
I have had the same experience with lime (juice, not zest). I make a "guacamole" mead with avocado honey, cilantro tea, and fresh lime juice (both added after fermentation). The punch of the lime is very intense for the first month or so, but mellows and blends nicely after that. I've never had a bottle last for more than a year, so I can't speak to long term taste. 🙂
Just brewed my first braggot yesterday. Man brewing beer is a lot more detailed than making mead/wine. Had a blast fallowing along with yalls recipe while i was brewing. Cant wait to try it when its done.
Good stuff!
A brewery near me brewed a series of braggots for our local Renaissance festival and I fell in love with the stuff! I don't have the means or space for anything with beer ingredients at the moment, but a good braggot is going to be my white whale to slay in the coming years
I had a dream last night of you guys. Which probably says I've been watching your content too much. In the dream, the recipe you were making sounded good, but I think you will agree that dream logic does not result in an actually good brew. Because in the dream you made biscuits and gravy mead.
Lol, yeah... that logic is faulty!
The way I think about (and explain) recipes is that grape juice has the ideal amounts of sugar, acid and tannin. When we make wine with something else, they will have different amounts of these and all we're doing is manually adjusting the must to match that of grape juice. This makes the yeast happy and we get a nice brew.
Sort of? Depends on the grape really.
Loving the conversation halfway through the video. Reminded me of the chat my brother where I had to admit I have next to nothing to make wine. I still couldn't admit it's hard affording the sugar and juice XD; luckily, I have a 2lb bag of bread yeast in the freezer I figured would help me get used to the process. He actually recommended a product he can buy locally which sounded suspiciously like starsan (I need to see his set up! ) and Lavin 71B which I will probably always say beast at the end, cause of you guys. That's where I couldn't admit $1 a packet was out of my price range at the moment. XD but it gives me time to hone other skills needed.
My first purchase (though it should be bugs and airlocks) will have to be a hydrometer...though I'm curious if a refractometer would work well. I'd love to test cocktails made with hard liquor for tests, though I have no intrest in distilling. Kilju is pleasant to my husband, and I found it can make a slightly off tasting wine taste a lot better if mixed in. I'm pretty sure I'll always have a bottle of plain kilju brewing, and if my brown sugar ''not exactly Cap'n M'' version of it works out, I'll have another wine my hubby might enjoy.
Have you guys tried freeze condensing juice at all? I saw it as a method for making homemade midori and am curious to try it when I can get ahold of juice after I get a way to measure gravity.
I appreciate this talk, because it gave me new research avenues to think about in developing recipes. I'm learning fermenting at the same time, and made more mistakes than my first wine. XD it hasn't developed problems yet, so my research into dry fermenting put me at ease, and my accident of forgetting to add water was inconsequential so far! Though if I forget water in my kilju, I'd just have an instant kilju jar -just add water- sitting around until I remembered.....and I better be senile when that happens. Or pretending to be to cause chaos when I go grey.
So I,m starting my first mead.. Strawberry, Mango, Pinapple, Habinaero Thanks to you both for your help!!
Good luck, but for your first I highly suggest following a recipe. Lots of little things come into play and until you understand all of them.... well... it may not turn out as expected.
@@CitySteadingBrews I'm modeling it after one of the Videos I watched, I've been Power Watching all your Shows, and Just woke up, to your 'first live stream' that was a FUN show!! Much Love from the Great PNW!!
So great video. Love hearing your thought process on the making of a recipe.
Had a couple of comments about things covered.
I do have a few friends that ask on the abv on some of my beers. This does stem from my skill/luck or whatever it is for making things like an imperial stout or Belgian triple/quad with fairly high abv that is very smooth so you don't realize it. The question is more for a how much of this can I drink before I need to stop.
And yeast can have some varying results. My last quad using a standard ale yeast that should top off around 11-12% it went to about 15%. Made it hard to carbonate but it tastes great. As is now that it's aged.
One of my favorite aspects of homebrew is the creative side of recipe design. From what can I pair with this base taste in a wine, mead or cider to what flavor combo of grain can I make work together and get a great beer out of.
Everything is a learning curve and I'm lucky that through patience and research I've had very few bad misses in about 7 years time
I’ve recently discovered mangrove jack mo5 and I can say that yeast does play a very significant part. I have found that that yeast is best from citrusy meads. Pasteurizing a lemon zest mead right now that feels like I’m drinking honeyed lemonade and it’s a sleeper at 13%.
You are a regular 'Smokey Bears'... (stamping out fires)... 😏 Or maybe that's Yogi & Boo-Boo... sorry... 'Boo-Bette'?... 🤣😁
Thank you. Trying to decide where to start was my biggest hurdle. I think that I understand what not to do.
Best way to start is choose a recipe you have seen done that sounds good to you and follow it as closely as possible :)
Thanks for the comments on fruit. I have been doing this for three years now. Gravity based on water and honey is one thing, but my attempts to add fruits have been all over the place. I have no idea how to measure fruit, knowing the fruit might add more sugars and water into the brew. When I did blueberry, mango+habanero and blackberry I used a hand mixer for air which also crushed the fruits in the batch. I also did a rhubarb mead with barely upped the gravity but it stopped fermenting at 1.030 maybe due to the high ph. Now I did the bochet cyser with apple juice (concentrate) and a bag of apples. The gravity shot up to 1.133. :P
I also tried to backsweeten 3 batches for the first time yesterday, but I have no yeast stopper at home. My batches are aging and stored with an airlock so I figured it doesn't matter if it keeps fermenting more. I upped the gravity to 1.020 on all three and I will check them later to see if they change.
Finally; due to the temperature I have to brew in I tend to use QA23 instead of D-47 and I know how to use the right nutrients so all my batches end up around 15-18%. I guess I could go with 71B if I wanted lower than that.
I just look up the quantity of fruit and how much sugar it contains. I tend to use my judgement for how much of it to "count", as it's unlikely to all get converted and not racked out.
Good idea to use a hand mixer to mix your honey/sugar and juice!
New brewer here, love your channel, Have had several successful brews, the problem I am having is I always drink it faster then I can make it….😢
Make more :)
@@CitySteadingBrews Challenge accepted!
I love ginger. I've found, because it's antimicrobial, to add it into anything I make after I rack it after fermentation. I peel the ginger and slice it and put it in boiling water like I was making tea. Basically pasteurize it. Then I put it all into the container I'm racking into.
I like ginger enough that I've put too much in the fermentation stage and killed the yeast...😂
Started a mead with a kit I got recently, (water, green tea, raw clover honey 4LBs* approx, 4tsp malic acid, 4tsp tartaric acid, 2tsp yeast energizer, 1 Packet fleishmann active dry yeast(since they forgot to send a proper yeast): 2G volume, sealed with airlock) Initially my gravity was 1.080 and it seemed a little slow at around 60F so I warmed the fermenter up to 75F and it seemed to work better. Seemed to peak out there, anything above that was diminishing returns for energy in terms of quantity of co2 coming out. That having been said I ran it for a little over a week and checked it when it was done bubbling. Stalled, gravity 1.060. Added some more yeast from a different batch but same strain, seemed to kick on again, so I continued to monitor and 5 days later I did a check when it appeared to stop again, seems to have stalled at 1.050, so I added some more motivated yeasties and put it all back to work. I re-watched the video after writing this - not having the ability to test PH at the moment, but stopping to think about it, the acidity of the honey + the acidity of the added acids probably took the PH too low. That's probably what did it, so I'll have to adjust my recipe going forward, and maybe look into a way to bring it up
I'm a trained, practicing microbiologist working in the biotechnology industry. Your "poop in the pool" analogy was spot-on. 😂
Thanks :)
Love the videos, and you guys are the reason I want to try making mead... I like the idea of bananas and honey, so would like to see a banana mead.
We did ua-cam.com/video/RYUn7VFhH2w/v-deo.htmlsi=tw3f5pP7DruFWHcL
You said SO MUCH there that almost made me slap myself on the head in stupidity! ...on my part, not yours.
Things like overstressing the yeast, especially my bread yeast.
Also how sometimes I do everything exactly like you do, except for one thing, and that is usually my yeast choice, cuz I usually don't have one.
Thanks again guys!
Oh, and I really want Brian's tee shirt!!!
Later Fam
Nicely done 😅
Thanks!
One reason for a higher ABV is higher tolerance to alcohol while trying to lower your calories (not that i can count these calories). i make the banana wine you guys made frequently, It's always around 18%. With the exception of 1, which by my math went to 20% after back sweetening started fermentation again. I can easily drink 2 of the 750ml bottles and not feel it. Usually I'm halfway through a third bottle before I feel it. I know just stick to liquor, and 99 bananas isn't bad, that's not the flavor I'm looking for. So yes things like the mixed berry mead is good better at 13% for most people I prefer the flavor of the fermented honey I get at 16%.
Alcohol has a lot of calories. 7 calories per gram vs sugar at 4 calories per gram.
Do a video showing the best 5 things youve tasted/made
We did a couple years ago, guess it's time for a new one.
I’ve been thinking it on many videos and now I must ask. Where did you get those shelves? Thanks for the great content!
Target! Years ago.
You might have answered this, Is sweetening past the yeast tolerance a good way to sweeten wine?
(Given the proper testing)
Love the channel.
Y’all taught me to make wine. Thanks for that.
It can be. Best practice is to leave it under airlock and check the sg again after a week or two, to see if it fermented.
I've been following you guys for a while and finally got brave enough to try a couple of your recipes! Thanks so much for your hard work btw. I tried the wine from grocery grape juice and mead. I used the Lalvin QA23 and I live in the tropics and room temperatures are like plus 80°F. Both my wine and mead was made in a week. That is, the airlock stopped bubbling. I let it go a few more days to make sure there were no bubbles. So I tasted it and it was wine and mead. My question is, does the high room temperatures here affect the quality or taste of the wine and mead or how well it ages?
High temps make the yeast more active. This could sometimes lead to off flavors.
Great video guy's, very wise words about sticking to the recipe first time around. What is your preferred ph testing tool?
Thanks.
I think we linked it in the description.
Well I have been drinking but I can only see fun T-shirts and I'm not sure how that would work.😂
@farminfabrication2208 sorry, apparently not in this one. Here it is: amzn.to/49B9r15
Sweet thanks!!
Now I'm curious what the new wine is like. Guess I'll have to wait. Home brewing is supposed to require patience, right?
Yup!
Could you do a talk/video about how you can adjust the acidity of a must/brew? You mentioned there’s ways you can adjust it if it’s too acidic and caused a stall
You add sodium bicarbonate or potassium bicarb. We have done it in a few videos. ua-cam.com/video/X8M7025Phoo/v-deo.htmlsi=zAZDbNasC9pO-Wjt
Love this video, and 100% should have watched it sooner. I recently started a peach/apricot mead with 3.75lbs of honey with a 1140 starting specific gravity, almost ended before it started. First two days were a struggle. Been step feeding it and it is happily (I think?) bubbling away. We'll see if it tastes like dirty feet and hate once it is done, and praying it doesn't stall. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Wine is typically 11-15% alcohol because of the sugars naturally present not necessarily because it's the best.
Though I personally do agree above that is excessive.
wlp099 is not a turbo yeast and advertises 25% but I've not seen it get past 19% in a mead and that was overestimating the abv by not accounting for dilution from the honey on a step feed.
I bought some to try hit the 25% but ended up using it to fix a stalled beer.
In general that's true but it can easily be altered with more or less fruit.
I think the analogy works better as pee in a pool, rather than poop, lol
am on batches 3 and 4... yup, super-noob! first blueberry melomel (french oaked, lalvin 1116) came out to 11.88% very tasty, 2nd acerglyn (french oaked, lalvin 1116) was 12.15% and very good as well. 3rd acerglyn slightly different with 1/3 american oak, 2/3 french oak, and latest - pure fireweed honey mead with lalvin 1118 - very neutral and will likely be minimally french oaked. shooting for about 13% on last two, although my OG notes on the 3rd batch are MIA. need a system I can keep track of! once one understands the components and their role, play away :)
Availability of ingredients all around the world is so variable, even finding the same yeast let alone the same juice without adatives could be hard, i'd love to see a video on ingredients availability around the world based on feedback from viewers..... even as simply as which yeasts are available and equivalent in different countries...
That's almost impossible to do... t varies from city to city as well as country as well as seasons...
if you want 20%, fortify with vodka etc....
👍❤️
❤
I started my first mead this weekend! My starting gravity was 1.096. I want a sweet mead and I didn’t want to back sweeten though I am not opposed to it. Do you think I am on track for that? Also, I used the whole packet of D47 instead of 1/2 for one gallon. I am so excited to see how it turns out!
We always plan to sweeten if needed. Having a fermentation complete is far more important than trying to get past the tolerance.
New to Homebrewing, your videos are excellent for my info dump needs. Quick question. I don't like the idea of back sweetening out of laziness, I am trying to go as natural as possible with wines and meads, part of that is being lazy or efficient. Fox grape (wild) berry wine, making half gallon, did the math, I'm using a "14%" yeast, going for "sweet", this one is experimental but It should end with 30 gravity points above dry or 1.030 give or take. My question is, have you preloaded sugar for a sweet wine successfully , and is there a ending gravity of sweet that fits both your palettes well? Granted this is on taste, but is there a "Norm" range to shoot for? like what an industry standard sweet might be? Thank you!
We talked about this in the video. It might work, or might stall early or might go dry anyway. The tolerance is a guide, not a rule.
Hey Brian and Dericka! So ... I've got a whole slough of stuff on the way. I do have a basic wine brew going now...( You're recipe that's like paw paws ..lol) But I'd love to try a Mead that could possibly be ready for Christmas. Grocery store mead? I promise I'll follow the recipe. Any suggestions? I've got 71 beast on the way., and some bread yeast..plus of course a little big mouth bubbler....hydrometer and cylinder ...an auto siphon. Two 4 liter Carlo Rossi jugs for backup....and starsan...#6 stoppers and and six airlocks...just looking for suggestions....if you get time. Thanks for everything. Love your channel. oh and the only mead I've had is Oliver Winery's " Camelot Mead" ...which is delightful. I don't know if you've tried it ..but I love it ... Lol. I've also got some tannin...acid blend ...nutrients.... So I'm ready to tackle this. I'm so excited. 😎. Thank you both!!!
Grocery store mead is a good option!
@@CitySteadingBrews okay...I'll do that first! Thank you. I'll keep you posted!!!
Proof that everyone has different preferences-the mead you mentioned is the only one I've ever tried and I made it 3/4 of the way through the bottle but really didn't want to finish it and ended up dumping it after it sat open and ignored for almost a month...Definitely curious about finding a mead that I like!
As a person who has accidentally put 5 lb in instead of three. I can tell you how I did it. I read the bottle wrong. I thought it was a 3 lb bottle. It was a 5 lb bottle.
That will definitely do it!
Do you make your own vinegars? I'm very new to all this and haven't even made my first mead yet. I'm still studying up. I'm a cook and am interested in fruit vinegars as well. Can I turn just about any mead or wine into vinegar easily? I'm looking for uses for foraged fruit in my neighborhood.
We haven't done much with vinegar yet :)
I am making my first batch of mead. I started before I had all the equipment, so I do no know my starting gravity. I used three pounds of alfalfa honey, one pack of D47, and water in a one gallon fermenter. It did not ferment much. I later added ten grams of fermaid O and a partial pack of Mangrove Jack's M05. Now I am getting bubbles every three seconds. I am thinking of adding some dried elderberries after it finishes and I have stabilized with pasteurization. How much do you think I should add?
Dried elderberries? A pound or so. I highly suggest a hydrometer though.
What is the best mead to buy or order to see if I even like it before I buy all the equipment. I put everything in my shopping cart on Amazon but decided I should drink some before I go through the whole process and spend a lot of money too.
Thank you
The thing with mead is that there is no one representative type. The range is huge. If you can appreciate wine, you can certainly appreciate mead.
I need a little help building a wine recipe. I know what I am aiming for but I am not certain how to get there without some convoluted frankenbrewing. I was wondering if you guys could help out. I want to make a purple wine. I saw the Butterfly Split Pea pods and figured they would be instrumental in achieving this. I want to use primarily things that could grow in a colder climate so I chose plums to add in the conditioning phase. I would use pears as a base in primary. I'm not sure if this would be good as a wine or if I should add honey and make it a mead. I am tossing around the idea of using black tea, raisins, and lemon zest and maybe Fermaid O and Lalvin K1-V1116. Does this sound like a good start or is there a better way to do this? I want to make a full-bodied, complex wine (or mead) that is semi-sweet, rich, and exotic in both appearance and flavor. I want to shoot for a lighter color of purple so that it is more striking and clear. What do you think?
We have hundreds of recipes on our channel. Nothing you're suggesting seems wrong or harmful though.
I may be way out there somewhere, but could you feasibly make a brew from baked cinnamon rolls? YES, actual cinnamon rolls. I feel that since they are full of sugar, the yeast should love them. But I was wondering if the bread/dough would bring an unexpected result to the brew other than serious mush, sediment and cloudiness.
It would likely spoil before fermenting into something drinkable.
I'm curious about the antibacterial info. You didn't say whether it's good to address...should I be aware of a potential issue in using, for example the mention of cranberries? Adding spices to a mead/metheglin re antibacterial, why or how does adding in primary vs secondary affect this? I am probably not making much sense lol but the section about Antibacterial issues caught me off guard. I had actually been researching how to build a recipe and the reasons for additions. ie Tannins/acids...so I'm off to continue that research now lol.
Many things can inhibit fermentation. We don't get too worried but it's usually best to put them into conditioning instead of primary.
Tannins and acids are for taste and complexity. Best added afterward unless you know how much you need. Acidity can also harm fermentation.
This is another excellent, educational video. After about 4 months in this craft I feel like I'm understanding more about all of this. Your videos really help to put it all together. But I do have one question. At around 18:30 talking about specific gravity you say, "I don't mean take a gallon of water and then add sugar to it. I mean 1 pound dissolved into a gallon of water." Are you saying the difference here is that the sugar needs to be dissolved? Because in both cases it seems as though you are saying start with a gallon of water and then add 1 pound of sugar. What am I missing?
The end volume is a gallon. Sugar adds to the volume but to be 1.046 it should be included in the 1 gallon. Does that make more sense?
@@CitySteadingBrews I see. The final level is 1 gallon. So in essence, put 1 lb of sugar into the empty container, add water to hit the 1 gallon mark.
Exactly.
I say if someone wants more alcohol in the brew. Well, let it finish first. Then just add some 151 in it and then you got more alcohol. I say perfect abv is around 12. In my opinion
Hello! Why do you use 135 rather than 131.25 to calculate ABV? (OG-FG) x 131.25 or 135
ua-cam.com/video/NpBZctKaPis/v-deo.htmlsi=U_6v5PqYgyWCRT4T
Just wondering, can you pasteurize first than back sweeten? Would it make a difference with the taste? Not sure if you created a video on this dilemma 😂😊
If you use honey... I wouldn't. It can have viable yeast.
When you find a recipe you like, and want to make larger batches, do you just multiply your ingredients by the number of gallons you'd like to make? Or does the fermentation process change with a larger batch?
Yes, just scale up. All but yeast. A packet is good for 5 gallons.
Kiwi is a weak flavor? how are you adding kiwi? When i made strawberry kiwi session mead I had to dial back the kiwi on the second batch because it was too strong. I freeze them, peel them, chop them up and throw them in like that.
Whenever I have had kiwi, it wasn't all that strong a flavor to me.
So, based on comments in this video, if you made your spiced metheglin now, would you just do a basic mead with 3lb honey, then pasteurize, back sweeten with honey to 1.054 and add the spices?
Yes, but... I would probably sweeten to taste rather than a specific number 👍
One quick question: What are your thoughts on using potassium sorbate ?
We've never used it.
Hi guys, wondering if you could explain what you mean by an “off flavour” and how to recognise if I have created one?
Off flavors means anything objectionable that shouldn't be there. Grassy, cardboard, sometimes grapefruitlike. Things like that.
I was transferring to secondary yesterday and when cleaning up I knocked over the primary container and the vibration must have caused enough oxygen to get into the leftover liquid that it immediately turned a black color it was wild watching it just change immediately. At least that's what I'm assuming happened I don't know if you guys have ever seen that before
It could be? I have heard of instant color changes but not seen it myself. It's likely not oxidation though as that takes time.
What is your brew called if you use sorghum as your fermentable sugars?
Sorghum wine.
Have you ever made a brew with Agave nectar?
ua-cam.com/video/NHZfXCykCJk/v-deo.htmlsi=3DqbDDY6UB2oA93U
I love cranberry meads. How do you overcome the low pH and antibacterial properties for consistent brewing results?
when using 100% Cran juice in primary
We use a buffer.
Do you always use yeast from packages, or do you also collect yeast strains from your brews to store and re-use?
We haven't seen reliable results from reusing yet.
@@CitySteadingBrewsMy 11 year old (obv cant drink) started collecting our live yeasts. He's into cookig and started kinda doing his ow thing, using them to make things that he's actually allowed to have. He's just started brewing your coffee mead, since you guys mentioned pancakes and chocolate cake. =)
Can i make 1 gallon mead in a 3 galon fermenter? Or i should look for a smaller one?
You can. After racking though, you want something more size appropriate :)
So my last brew became vinegar and I was told that all my equipment cannot be used anymore, I was wondering if there might be a way that it could still be used for my brews
You sure it was vinegar and not just dry?
Also... you can use boiling water to sterilize everything.
Does black light effect your yeast/brew while brewing?
I don't think so.
I messed up! I made too much acerglyn in a 3 gallon brew bucket and had to dilute. As a new brewer, I forgot the "in a gallon of must" rule and added a full gallon on top of my fermentables. I need help figuring out how to properly calculate the gravity of my diluted "gallon"; I didn't have the tools to rack to a pitcher. I'm not putting the brew into secondary, I just had to move it from the bucket to get started on the CSB pineapple cider.
The SG was 1.114; I know it's high but I used a 18% yeast. Before diluting it, the gravity was 1.026. After dilution it is 1.018. I added ~32oz of water to dilute, in order to fill headspace in the carboy. Now I have 1 carboy at 1.026 and the diluted one at 1.018. Do I even need to worry about the alcohol difference between the 2? Thank you in advance. Your channel is 100% responsible for getting me into brewing!
1.114 is not that high. I would let it sit and see if it ferments further.
@@CitySteadingBrews that was 100% the plan, however I mistyped. SG was 1.140, not 1.114. I was just curious if there was going to be a negligible difference in ABV/gravity from 1 to the other - and more specifically how to calculate that. Thanks for the response.
I'm not convinced that Brian is an Adult...because that would make him unlike the rest of us. Brian is like the rest of us he's a child trying new toys and flavors...we want him to be like I don't know like Peter Pan, so that would make Derica...yes, she is. 🙂
Can u use propel packets in mead making
I don't think it would work well. They are loaded with preservatives.