For those who don't catch the reference, try reading this, eh ( Read more... )

A few months back, I filled a carboy with cider and added yeast. It appears that I erred in making the yeast my favorite champagne yeast; as of yesterday afternoon, it's almost flavorless (imagine cidery without any detectable sweetness). [Stats for the brewing geeks: it started out with a specific gravity of 1.058, and is down to 1.000 ( Read more... )

laureth had fond childhood memories of visits to the Franklin Cider Mill, and the cider they make. Since Friday was a day off with decent weather, I suggested we make a trip of it; after all, it's a bit less than an hour's drive away. She suggested that we preserve some cider the old-fashioned way, so I took an inventory of empty carboys before we ( Read more... )

So, I volunteered to write an article on brewing beer for a non-profit religious organization I belong to. I wrote it and passed it to another brewer who also volunteered. He seems to have liked it, because all he did was convert a few of my personal grammatical quirks into more normal American English, and add a couple more recommended books for ( Read more... )

Long-time readers may recall the Pumpkin Ale I started almost a year ago. I bottled it today. I filled 60 bottles, although the last one had quite a bit of sediment come through the tubing.

The flavor was just slightly sour and mildly alcoholic, resembling nothing so much as a low-power clone of my pumpkin meadBefore bottling, I added 0.5 oz. of ( Read more... )

This actually was flavoring of mead "left over" when I had too much mead for another batch, so the recipe starts with the original recipe ( Read more... )