Recent content by biggmatt

I am going to be making a chocolate mint gruit. The chocolate mint leaves have enough chocolate taste that i don't have to use chocolate malt or cocoa. (yes really). Since i don't have to worry about those taste, the malt just needs a cookie taste. I am going to do a partial mash with 5lbs...

when i lager i add a pack of yeast at bottling. If you can wait a month. It will be even cleaner if you carb at 47 to 59f. If not 65f will do. 70f will create esters

You should try w34/70. It's a very forgiving lager yeast with mild honey like esters, if you get any all. I have a couple ferment get up to 68 by accident and didn't get any esters. I lager on the basement floor most winters. I like to put a blanket over it so it is the same temp as the floor

I am going to make a honey pilsner with some hops I have on hand. The recipe 3 lbs pilsen dme 2.5 lbs honey w34/70 bohemian lager yeast I have 2 ounces Northern Brewer, 1 oz cascade, 1oz tettnang, 1oz hallertau I usually make dark lager and it's been 15 years since i made pilsner, any...

oxidation taste like stale cardboard.

Pouring blackberry mead over ice cream

Lagered blackberry mead and ice cream

if you haven't bought it yet, you don't need honey malt. It is not that much honey flavor.

if I want a bread taste, I like to use 2 ounces of dry munich malt extract per gallon. Any malt will work but munich malt is the toasted bread taste of german beers

Most dark malt has some caramel taste with the carafoam you'll get just a bit more. It's really personal preference. Find a beer you liked and google a clone recipe. Check out some kits and see what they have in them. Most don't say on the store page, but in their instructions or a online pdf in...

It's got a slight caramel taste, but with the others your using, you probably won't notice it. Yes, i wanted more head too.

To kill germs. Honey is not supposed to have any but I prefer to not take any chances. There's a number of ways to go about it. You can bring the water and honey up to 160 and scrape off the scum for 30 or 45 minutes for the best result. You can use campden tablets. I like to add the honey to...

When I made a braggot I used Carafoam malt to add some body to it.

A big time for diacetyl is most often produced at the very first. Make sure to bring your brew down to temp before pitching. Also you can help get rid of diacetyl faster by racking right after your rest. So it has a chance to escape

an ounce a gallon is standard priming sugar. 5 ozs for 5 gallons. You can buy the 5 oz packages of corn sugar. I know it's a couple bucks for a pack but all you have to do is wipe the outside with sanitizer and dump it in.