The Beer Thread

[MartyS (Gromit)]

 I wonder if you could use probiotic pills?  If it's the same bacteria as in yogurt. 

 Of course you still would have needed to start several days ago, so not really the issue.

 I bottled my wine today, shook the jug until no more bubbles came out the airlock, that seems to have gotten most of the extra carbon dioxide out of it without adding any oxygen.  It has cleared up nicely (well, before I shook it), and tastes less harsh after getting out the CO2.  Put the bottles in the basement and in several months maybe it will be reasonable table wine.

 Not sure what my next beer experiment will be, want to wait until I taste my current batch and that won't be until Friday when I bottle it.

[wihogfan]

Pro biotic pills might work. But while using lactobacillus seems expensive, I've only ever used 1 pet bottle of soured wort per 5 gallon batch as it's pretty strong. So making a gallon batch of soured wort is enough for 6- 5 gallon batches.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

My wheat beer started getting more bitter, but also some other flavor(s) were starting to develop, so I put all of it in the fridge.

It's not to the point I don't like it, but don't really like it either, so kind of neutral on it, so I won't throw it out, in the fridge the flavor seems to have stopped changing.  I wont' be making that recipe again, but I'll use the left over ingredients in other beers.

My other batch of semi-dark ale is getting better with age.

[wihogfan]

Have 3 beers on tap for the first time in awhile.
Miller Lite-esque lager, an ESB which reminds me a lot of Bass Ale before In-Bev bought Bass, and an IPA which isn't as hoppy as I was expecting but is good if you call it a Pale Ale and not an IPA.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I'm waiting to taste my current batch before starting my next one, while bottling I didn't notice much difference from the batch I was trying to adjust from, so maybe I have to make bigger adjustments in order for the taste to change enough.  I have been collecting 12oz soda bottles and used one of them to finish off the batch so I'll try that one this weekend and then decide on a recipe for my next batch.   

Finished off the wheat beer.

Tasted my wine again, it's improved quite a bit in just 10 days since I last tasted it, I've had store bought wines that tasted worse.  I had put the wine into 2 beer bottles but one week apart near the end of primary fermentation, the first one is rock hard and must be very carbonated, the other one didn't do much, so I've got that one open now and will use it up.  That leaves 1 sparkling and 2 regular glass with cork bottles that I will next taste in the spring or summer. 

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Started 2 new batches last night, harvested a bunch of ginger from the greenhouse at work, so did a ginger beer experiment.

Used a blender and a cup of water and all the ginger I picked, about a cup, and ground up the ginger pretty fine.  Then boiled that with 1.5 lbs. of wheat DME for about 45 minutes.  Most recipes I read added lemon so I added a few table spoons of lemon juice.  Made around 1 gallon.  Used US-04 yeast.  I'm hoping the wheat malt will simply add some body and the ginger flavor will dominate, but I only had a cup of it so might not have been enough for a gallon, we will see.

I've been saving small soda bottles so last week when I bottled I used one for the half bottle that was left over, tasted it last night and it was very good, still not as much hop flavor as I was going for so made the same recipe again but put 5g of citra hops in at 2 minutes (previous batch had 2g at 5 minutes), made 6 quarts.  Also used the 04 yeast, so 2 changes to the recipe actually.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Looks like my ginger beer was a failure, only a slight "burn" on the back of the tongue and barely any ginger flavor, the stuff is so strong when fresh picked that a tiny piece can feel like you ate hot peppers but I guess I still needed more even for one gallon of beer.

Bottled the batch with the extra hops at flameout and it is pretty good, certainly more hoppy, but I was expecting the same bitterness as my previous version and it was less bitter, I did use the S-04 yeast instead of the US-05 so I wonder if that accounts for less bitter?

Today I'm going to try and replicate a batch I bottled a month ago that came out really good.

[wihogfan]

Don't think the S-04 vs the S-05 yeast would affect hoppy-ness.

Just tapped my keg of Irish Stout that I made with the Coopers base. It's good and very much an Irish Stout, but still missing the sourness that you get with Guiness.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Roundup found in most beer and wine:

https://uspirg.org/news/usp/popular-weed-killer-found-top-beer-and-wine-brands

[wihogfan]

Yeah... roundup found in most food too (similar news stories about finding it in most breakfast cereals and meat and milk thanks to it's use in livestock feed have made the news cycles recently as well). Not sure whether to believe the pros or cons of it's use and whether or not it causes cancer, but a weed killer in a final food product just doesn't sound like a pro.

[wihogfan]

Was going to brew 3 weekends ago, but got sick with a terrible head cold- had a splitting headache for about a week and then a cough and for a week after that.
So brew day tomorrow. Making a lager and an amber ale.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I've got a nasty head cold right now, was in bed most of the day, eating cough drops when I'm up trying to get some housework done.

Bottled my latest batch Friday, tasted pretty good so hopeful it will be a repeat of my 4th batch that was very good.

The beer I made with the s04 yeast is carbonated but doesn't taste great, so both the ginger and regular beers made with that yeast didn't come out great.  Either I messed up with both batches or I just don't like the taste of that yeast.

[wihogfan]

I've always found S04 to be a pretty neutral yeast- works to convert sugar into alcohol, but doesn't impart any flavor like more speciality yeasts.