It's Alive! (Or, Adventures in Zymurgy)

[SADShooter]

After a multi-year hiatus I've resumed homebrewing. Sanitized my equipment and cooked up a mini-mash Negra Modelo lager clone on Saturday afternoon. Watched the airlock nervously on Sunday and...nothing. Gave the wort a stir last night, and arose to bubbles this morning. A high gravity stout is next, then a Dortmunder Export clone.

I'm going to get a few more batches under my belt (figuratively and literally ) and early next year I'm thinking I'll join the meadmaking fraternity.

Thanks for reading

(edit for space-out)

[AZRedhawk44]

I have a batch of mead that I'm about ready to bottle.  About 6 gallons.

This was a mesquite-honey that I spiced with cinnamon and anise for the first month in my primary.  I have it in two glass carboys as secondaries right now, and I really should rack it one more time to eliminate some of the sediment prior to bottling.

I used a champagne yeast (very aggressive, tends to make a dry mead) like the first batch I made a couple years ago, but that was starthistle honey.  I think it had a higher sugar content than the mesquite honey, because it brewed up much stronger and dryer.  Too dry to many of the folks who drank it.  I didn't measure it but I think I was somewhere around 16% alcohol by volume.  A lot more kick than most wines.

This batch will probably be in the low teens, or maybe even 11-12 percent. 

I have yet to try any beers.  Once I clean my gear, I may venture into beer brewing next.  Lord knows I'll have enough mead for a year or so.

[SADShooter]

I enjoy dessert wines, so I'll probably start with a traditional sweet or perhaps a metheglin. Cinnamon/anise sounds like an interesting combination.

[SADShooter]

OK. Got home to active fermentation in the fridge, but it smells a little funny. I used a yeast fuel, so it could be that, but it smells like it may be contaminated. I'll taste it before I rack it into the secondary, hoping for the best.

[Devonai]

Hobbes once played Zymurgy on a triple word score.

[Strings]

I've got three carboys of mead going downstairs right now.

One's a straight for a friend's wedding.

One's a blueberry melomel suggested as an experiment by another friend: should be ready to bottle in a week or two. Running at 12% last time I checked it, but tastes like blueberry juice.

Third's an apple/cherry suggested by Rev. That's got some more time to go, but already tastes good...

Next one I try is going to be a sack mead, using montrecet yeast (been using cote de blanc). Going for a mead that will not only knock the fly off the wall, but will get the wall itself, too...

[AmbulanceDriver]

Yet one more reason I'm so sad the house we bought doesn't have a basement.   Garage is too hot/cold/hot/cold to brew my own, and the Mrs. doesn't want a carboy (or three) sitting around the house....

[Strings]

Make your first batch at a friend's. When she tastes the result, there won't be any argument about a carboy or three around the house...

[SADShooter]

AD, I lager in a small chest freezer, out of sight, not that I have to impress anyone. Just find a tall end table or something you can throw a cloth over and store fermenters under it. Then you can tell guests not to worry about the smell, it's just that sometimes SWMBO's cooking doesn't agree with you...

[JonnyB]

I'm drinking - and sharing - a batch of American Light Ale from a partial mash recipe. It is, in a word, Yummy!

The previous batches have been just a little under-carbonated for my liking, so I added a bit more priming sugar this time. It made a big difference!

As have the rest of my beers (ales, that is), this one suffers a chill haze, so I gotta do something about that next time.

I have a beat-up refrigerator in the basement, so can now start making some decent lager brews.

jb

[SADShooter]

JonnyB, how do you cool your wort?