problems with bottle carbonating but a love of hydromels finally pushed me to getting a kegerator. SO SO SO much easier to carbonate, literally fail proof, and now I have chilled bubbly mead on tap. The life, this is it!
Re: priming sugar. I’ve had good luck dissolving my priming sugar in a small amount of water before adding it to the canning pitcher. Then, I rack the brew right into the sugar water. I find it mixes the sugar very consistently with my brew and I don’t have to worry about sufficiently mixing the sugar grains because they’re already in solution.
never clicked on a video so fast!! thank you for all the knowledge i made a mead like 6 years ago (before it was COOL! ) and back then there wasn't a lot of information available so i was kind of improvising but the results were amazing! now your classes makes me want to start a serious brewing! Again Thank You! From Argentina!
Life likes to happen and get in the way. I had 2 single gallon carboys in my basement that have been ready to bottle for over a months. The both of you are doing great things. I have learned so much from you both. Thank you for you content and keep it up!
I swear I love you guys. You inspired me to start this hobby in the beginning and now I am experimenting with my own mead's/wines. I just finished making a mango/passion fruit mead that people are lining up to get their hands on lol.
I'm a more newbie to your channel, I found you looking up water kefir videos and home made wine. In just a short month I'm learning so much from both of you, and thank you for the tip bits of did you know. Those are great to have in your pocket.
13:26 Just in case you can't get your bottling wand back out of the tube, run it under hot water. The heat will soften the silicone making it significantly easier to get the wand back out.
So I’m in the middle of this one. Added previously chopped and frozen pears in secondary. Has about a week left before I wrack it off of them. Glad I watched this again as I wasn’t sure about carbonating it but I’m going to now. Also, came up with the idea of doing it again but adding rosemary in secondary. Never done herbs before so it will be a new adventure. As always, keep up the good work folks! I truly enjoy your videos.
I started my first Low ABV Mead on May 11/2022 and it is doing good. I did your recipe, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. I learned so much from you both. Have a Good Day.
I jumped in with both feet after studying a lot of your videos got all the stuff to make this fun and easier habanero mango mead simple wine Viking blood mead I’ve done a huckleberry mead the wine my family drank all the rest are doing there thing close to conditioning thx
I'm new and have started a gallon of grape juice with 2 cups of sugar and a half packet of bread yeast just to see what happens. This question isn't about that, do you have any suggestions on sweet wine recipes that I don't need to back sweeten? What are the lowest abv tolerance yeasts that are available and suggestions on brands? I would like to make some easy recipes that are sweet either for warm or cold drinking with low abv? I have watched many of your videos, enjoy your outlook on this hobby and looking to learn by experience. Thanks and brew on!!!
For my latest attempt at a hydromel, I divided a gallon of must between two one-gallon demijohns. Used 24.4 oz of local wildflower honey mixed with a gallon of water. Initial SpGr was 1.056. Divided the must between two demijohns, 2 quarts each. Dry pitched one-half packet of Lalvin EC1118 in each. After one week, the SpGr was 1.006 in Demijohn A. Bottled using four Grolsch flip-top bottles. Let them sit for 48 hours, then into the fridge. Good carbonation. There was some residue in the bottles, but the liquid was clear when I poured it in the glass. And it was delicious, like drinking a glass of flowers. I left Demijohn B alone for two weeks, and it has cleared quite nicely. Will bottle that one this weekend. I like to use carbonation tablets. Have had good luck with them. I enjoy watching your videos. Very instructive.
Sounds like a nice base for a summer treat! Also, I was considering an experiment with wacky grape varieties like cotton candy, gumdrop and moondrop grapes in a wine or payment when August rolls around.
I have enjoyed an have learned at lot from you guys an have made a few batches successfully an I am trying out an apple wine an adding a cinnamon stick to see if if will come out like an apple pie ty guys so much for everything
I’ve got a five gallon very similar to this going right now with kveik ale yeast. I tried keeping it as hot as I could since that is supposed to be the condition that kveik thrives under. Since you guys are in Florida with plenty of summer heat, and thoughts on playing with kveik for a brew? According to some other brewers it adds great flavors at 90 degrees and above (fruity if I remember?). I’ll try to comment on this same video later to tell how mine turned out.
I can't help but think this Hydromel would be great with watermelon. Somersby Hard Apple Cider has a watermelon flavour and its top notch. I'm not a big alcohol drinker but i'd drink that on a regular basis, if I was. I'd like to see you guys do something with watermelon if you haven't yet already. (If you have i've missed it and would love a link).
I like doing big batches, but I only do them if I have a clear plan for it. I never just leave the whole 6 gallons plain. I divide it into smaller batches and add stuff in the secondary to alter tastes and characteristics + I always leave 1 batch plain. Otherwise I just stick to 1 gallon fermentations. Also, if I want a carbonated, sweet mead, I just use a bit of a non-fermetable sugars to bring the sweetness back.
That turned out really good. You guys should look into carbonation drops. It's 2 drops per bottle. If you just get half a bottle, it's only 1 drop. I'm waiting till I get paid again before I start another batch of cranberry Vodka so I can change to the Lavlin EC1118 champagne yeast.
I just put a black forest fruits mead into conditioning after racking off a pound of sour cherries and 2 ounces of French oak chips after two weeks... oh my goodness, if the taste test is anything to go by this is going to be incredible.
I forgot one bottle and few month later I found it and the truth is that I was afraid of try it but the honey character was interesting very clear, and the flavor was very very good, almost no carbonation, I just felt some on my tongue.
Great video as always guys! For the priming sugar, would this scale up and down as well? For example, 1 gallon is 28 grams, 2 gallons at 56 grams, and half a gallon at 14 grams, etc.?
One of my best received brews by my partner was a 7-ish% hydromel, totally dry, and oaked. She isn't a huge fan of totally dry, but this gallon went faster than anything else Ihave brewed. Now I am wondering if I carbonated another batch of the same for a summer drink... ::grabs Mead Idea Book::
Hi guys, love your channel, im hoping you can answer a question for me, You have most likely explained this in one of your videos but i cant find it. I have just made my first beer brew, it is bubbling but my air lock is not working, i filled it up to the marker as i should have , i have tightened the lid and still nothing what have i done wrong, ??
Hi guys, two questions... I attempted this recipe and two things happened. (1) I didn't get carbonation, (2) The drink tasted very stale (like a bad stale bread aftertaste). Now I saved the drink by injecting C02 gas into it, so now it's nice and fizzy. As for the stale bread aftertaste, I've encountered this a few times, and often the solution is to just add more time. I used an Austrian yeast that typically works well for me (Nottingham Ale Yeast). Do you know what I mean when I say a bad stale bread taste? Do you guys have any advice on that? Thanks a bunch, and great Channel!
Could be oxidization. Stale flavor usually (in my experience) come from being exposed to too much oxygen anywhere from primary to bottle. Also, if you're not aerating your must enough before pitching your yeast.
Thank you. So guess i could flavor during the racking stage. I was also thinking of priming with honey rather than sugar by using a syringe and injecting into the bottles.@@CitySteadingBrews
Hey! Is it really necessary to change the bottle and let it sit for 7 days to clear? Or is it just to have more good-looking hydromel in the end? Can I skip that part or will it change the flavour a lot? Thanks!
You can skip that part if you really want to. Part of the clearing process is allowing particulates to settle out of solution. Some of these particulates are yeast, so not allowing it to settle out may leave a brew with a less favorable flavor.
Re: upsizing from a 1 gallon to 5 gallon brew: have you noticed your off-camera 5 gallon batches take longer to ferment? Yes, you would add a whole packet of yeast vs. a half packet; but, there’s 5 times the amount of sugar that the yeast has to chew through. I’m talking absolute amounts, not SG amounts
Dericka elluded to adding fruit to a hydromel to add a fruit flavor. At what point would you add the fruit? I usually add fruit for 2 days after fermentation is complete, and the mead has been racked at least 2 times.
Just out of curiosity, why add the priming sugar as a dry powder rather than as a simply syrup? I can't imagine that the added volume of liquid there would be enough to change the flavor of a mead, and it would mix in with the brew much more easily.
3:25 you kinda touched on letti g a brew sit too long before carbonation. I have a cider that's getting close to going into conditioning (made purely of 0.050 testin apple juice and yeast). What would u suggest so I can let it age/clear in the fermenter but I can also carbonate it??
I would love to see a spiced hydromel cause honestly I don't know where to start on that one. also if I would make this fruity do I add fruit or do I add fruit juice?
Re Headspace when carbonating: My understanding is quite the opposite. you add a finite amount of gas determined by the amount of sugar added. the more headspace, the more gas escapes into the compressible part -> fewer CO² in the non-compressible liquid -> less pressure -> weaker carbonation.
Well. You're both right, and here's why: Brian is looking at it from the gas pressure on the glass. You are looking at it from the gas pressure in the liquid. Less gas dissolved in the liquid indeed means a weaker carbonation. But in return that means more pressure above the liquid, increasing the chances of bottle bombs.
@@elricthebald870 But we add a specific volume of gas to a confined space. if there is more compressible headspace you´ll get a lower overall pressure in the vessel. imagine an empty bottle add a valve and add one pump stroke of air. you won't see a big pressure rise. now think of a full bottle and add one pump stroke. the gas has nowhere to go -> more pressure.
So I bought 16oz bottle for my cider that's yet to be carbonated, would it work the same at a plastic bottle (how if u open it and drink some and close it again it firm's up again and recarbonates or is it essentially once u open the bottle all the carbonation is released and closing it will make it go flat Thought about it after I bought the bottles and thought if I didn't finish it I could put it in the fridge and finish it the day after (but if it goes flat then I'll have to drink all of it)
So I'm currently making my own very first mead. After racking and re-racking and re-racking now I'm still degasing about 2 months later. Is that normal?
On some videos you refer to bottles that aren't really rated for carbonation (my words, not yours), and you also sometimes recommend using a plastic bottle to get a tangible way to know whether carbonation is working...I'm curious if there's a way to telll what glass bottles are sufficiently strong for carbonating vs those that aren't?
LOL - ok...I have a bunch of used bottles I picked up from other brewers...most of them pretty hefty seeming, brown and often with flip-tops affixed...I was wondering "if it looks like a brew bottle" does that mean "it can 'probably' handle carb?" - or are there classes of "deceptive looking" glass that aren't really carb-ready?! @@CitySteadingBrews
You might want to try something like Chemipro Oxi. Mine was stained a deep dark red after racking a fruit wine. Soaked it in Chemopro, pulled a tube brush through it and was again clean as a whistle.
On the subject of bottle carbonating and just to clarify; If I start with a totally dry brew (1.000) and add a fermentable sugar for carbonating, I should look for a specific gravity of about 1.003. (0.46/16 = 0.002875 ) Correct? Thank you.
While I’m carbonating if I open one to see where it’s at, does that one essentially start over or lose a lot of carbonation? Even though I measure out my brew precisely for carbing I’m always anxious so I open one up every 3-4 days but I’m curious if that one lost a lot of it’s carbonation compared to the others
We're planning to flavor our hydromel, but not sure how to calculate the SpGr after adding the juice if we're looking for a 1.020-1.025...do we need to include the % of juice volume vs the volume of hydromel, or simply add the juice and take a reading of the mixed beverage?
Other reasons to not brew large batches is less waste if you have a bad batch, you are only allowed by law to keep a certain amount of home brew on hand, you can have a bigger variety on hand.
I don’t think extra headspace will cause more pressure to build up inside the bottle. If you have a fixed amount of sugar in in your brew, only a fixed amount of carbon dioxide will be produced. Less sugared liquid will produce less carbon dioxide. Extra headspace will allow more carbon dioxide to migrate to the headspace, instead of staying in the liquid, so the brew in that bottle will have even less carbonation incorporated than those with less headspace.
That is true, but there will be a fixed amount of carbon dioxide produced inside the bottle. Temperature is much more important than volume when one is considering pressure of “compressed” gas in the headspace of the bottle. Since you added the sugar before bottling, the potential amount of carbon dioxide is proportional to the amount of liquid. Some of it will remain dissolved in the liquid, and some will move to the headspace, depending on temperature. That is true regardless of the volume of liquid. The bottles are more likely to explode if you don’t leave enough head space because the liquid can only hold a finite amount of gas at any given temperature. The excess gas will be in the head space. Less head space means greater gas pressure in that head space.
BTW, I have been binge watching your channel for the past several weeks. I love what you guys do. I mean no offense when I explain my take on what happens with partially filled bottles. I have made wine and a few batches of beer off and on for over 20 years, with varying degrees of success. I retired seven years ago after working in a pharmaceutical lab for over 35 years, so although I am not a physicist, I have a lot of education and experience in science. Mostly biology, chemistry and pharmacology. Watching your show has inspired me to try to salvage several carboys of wine that I gave up on and lost interest in about five years ago. Turns out that in spite of being neglected for so long, a couple of them aren’t too bad, and I think a couple others could use a tiny bit of sweetening. Finally: the main reason I can see for not keeping a partially filled bottle of primed brew around is that the contents probably won’t carbonate very well and may become oxidized.
not scientific here, but I would assume the flavour difference between fermentation and carbonation is because yeast dont only produce CO2. So, in fermentation stage you are producing the 5% ABV, meaning that you wil have a higher percentage of the other gasses than the (maybe) 0.5% ABV you are fermenting for the purposes of carbonation. like I said, I have no scientific basis for this, it's just the most logical explanation I can think of.
can you wash it by adding water to the lees then racking of the water and some of the off eliments then dry the lees in dehdrator and use it ss nutrient
@@CitySteadingBrews I figure, just a wish thinking from my side, just figure out my own base session mead like 1 Month ago(similar) to this one) probaly wont last a year but fun to know how it changes over time
![[Part 1] ทารกน้อยถูกทิ้ง👶 หญิงชราเก็บขวดขายเลี้ยงดูเขาจนโต #โลกการละคร](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nPTDvFCExks/mqdefault.jpg)
I have 5 of yalls brews fermenting right now. You guys have absolutely kindled an obsession, thanks for all the info!
Same, I got 4, about to do another lol.
problems with bottle carbonating but a love of hydromels finally pushed me to getting a kegerator. SO SO SO much easier to carbonate, literally fail proof, and now I have chilled bubbly mead on tap. The life, this is it!
Re: priming sugar. I’ve had good luck dissolving my priming sugar in a small amount of water before adding it to the canning pitcher. Then, I rack the brew right into the sugar water. I find it mixes the sugar very consistently with my brew and I don’t have to worry about sufficiently mixing the sugar grains because they’re already in solution.
Cool idea, how much water since u are technically diluting ever so slightly
@@elijahkaehler9369 no more than 1/4 cup. That dissolves enough sugar to prime a 5 gallon batch.
@@chrisschmalhofer4348thank you so much for that information
never clicked on a video so fast!! thank you for all the knowledge i made a mead like 6 years ago (before it was COOL! ) and back then there wasn't a lot of information available so i was kind of improvising but the results were amazing! now your classes makes me want to start a serious brewing! Again Thank You! From Argentina!
Life likes to happen and get in the way. I had 2 single gallon carboys in my basement that have been ready to bottle for over a months.
The both of you are doing great things. I have learned so much from you both. Thank you for you content and keep it up!
I swear I love you guys. You inspired me to start this hobby in the beginning and now I am experimenting with my own mead's/wines. I just finished making a mango/passion fruit mead that people are lining up to get their hands on lol.
The world is a better place thanks to your wonderful mead making videos. Cheers! 🥂
I'm a more newbie to your channel, I found you looking up water kefir videos and home made wine. In just a short month I'm learning so much from both of you, and thank you for the tip bits of did you know. Those are great to have in your pocket.
This is my next brew. My strawberry jam cider/seltzer is almost ready to rack all thanks to watching you guys
Awesome!
13:26 Just in case you can't get your bottling wand back out of the tube, run it under hot water. The heat will soften the silicone making it significantly easier to get the wand back out.
Excellent. Niiiice one. Happy Days.
So I’m in the middle of this one. Added previously chopped and frozen pears in secondary. Has about a week left before I wrack it off of them. Glad I watched this again as I wasn’t sure about carbonating it but I’m going to now. Also, came up with the idea of doing it again but adding rosemary in secondary. Never done herbs before so it will be a new adventure. As always, keep up the good work folks! I truly enjoy your videos.
I started my first Low ABV Mead on May 11/2022 and it is doing good. I did your recipe, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. I learned so much from you both. Have a Good Day.
I jumped in with both feet after studying a lot of your videos got all the stuff to make this fun and easier habanero mango mead simple wine Viking blood mead I’ve done a huckleberry mead the wine my family drank all the rest are doing there thing close to conditioning thx
I'm new and have started a gallon of grape juice with 2 cups of sugar and a half packet of bread yeast just to see what happens. This question isn't about that, do you have any suggestions on sweet wine recipes that I don't need to back sweeten? What are the lowest abv tolerance yeasts that are available and suggestions on brands? I would like to make some easy recipes that are sweet either for warm or cold drinking with low abv? I have watched many of your videos, enjoy your outlook on this hobby and looking to learn by experience. Thanks and brew on!!!
For my latest attempt at a hydromel, I divided a gallon of must between two one-gallon demijohns. Used 24.4 oz of local wildflower honey mixed with a gallon of water. Initial SpGr was 1.056. Divided the must between two demijohns, 2 quarts each. Dry pitched one-half packet of Lalvin EC1118 in each. After one week, the SpGr was 1.006 in Demijohn A. Bottled using four Grolsch flip-top bottles. Let them sit for 48 hours, then into the fridge. Good carbonation. There was some residue in the bottles, but the liquid was clear when I poured it in the glass. And it was delicious, like drinking a glass of flowers. I left Demijohn B alone for two weeks, and it has cleared quite nicely. Will bottle that one this weekend. I like to use carbonation tablets. Have had good luck with them. I enjoy watching your videos. Very instructive.
As always great info, now I’m gonna have to make a hydromel
Sounds like a nice base for a summer treat! Also, I was considering an experiment with wacky grape varieties like cotton candy, gumdrop and moondrop grapes in a wine or payment when August rolls around.
I made a sparkling mead with the cotton candy grape juice. Turned out great! Never heard of the other two so I guess I should keep an eye out
I have enjoyed an have learned at lot from you guys an have made a few batches successfully an I am trying out an apple wine an adding a cinnamon stick to see if if will come out like an apple pie ty guys so much for everything
Oh heck yeah. I'm making this for the summer. Big props
I once found a Lemon Braggot that was over a year old. Opened it. Drank it and was amazed. Quit good but rare with beer.
I’ve got a five gallon very similar to this going right now with kveik ale yeast. I tried keeping it as hot as I could since that is supposed to be the condition that kveik thrives under. Since you guys are in Florida with plenty of summer heat, and thoughts on playing with kveik for a brew? According to some other brewers it adds great flavors at 90 degrees and above (fruity if I remember?). I’ll try to comment on this same video later to tell how mine turned out.
Here is a helpful tip: silicone hoses are much easier to put on and take off. I picked mine up from Amazon
I can't help but think this Hydromel would be great with watermelon. Somersby Hard Apple Cider has a watermelon flavour and its top notch. I'm not a big alcohol drinker but i'd drink that on a regular basis, if I was. I'd like to see you guys do something with watermelon if you haven't yet already. (If you have i've missed it and would love a link).
I’m starting to make mead today never knew this information existed
I like doing big batches, but I only do them if I have a clear plan for it. I never just leave the whole 6 gallons plain. I divide it into smaller batches and add stuff in the secondary to alter tastes and characteristics + I always leave 1 batch plain. Otherwise I just stick to 1 gallon fermentations. Also, if I want a carbonated, sweet mead, I just use a bit of a non-fermetable sugars to bring the sweetness back.
I just bought a 6.5 gal bucket on Amazon and am waiting for it to arrive to do this exact thing.
That turned out really good. You guys should look into carbonation drops. It's 2 drops per bottle. If you just get half a bottle, it's only 1 drop. I'm waiting till I get paid again before I start another batch of cranberry Vodka so I can change to the Lavlin EC1118 champagne yeast.
I just put a black forest fruits mead into conditioning after racking off a pound of sour cherries and 2 ounces of French oak chips after two weeks... oh my goodness, if the taste test is anything to go by this is going to be incredible.
Great video, like always! Can’t wait for you to do a fruit hydromel....please! 😁
I forgot one bottle and few month later I found it and the truth is that I was afraid of try it but the honey character was interesting very clear, and the flavor was very very good, almost no carbonation, I just felt some on my tongue.
Bottle bombs ARE REAL. I had one back in 1996 was cleaning up broken glass and wine mess FOR DAYS
Great video as always guys! For the priming sugar, would this scale up and down as well? For example, 1 gallon is 28 grams, 2 gallons at 56 grams, and half a gallon at 14 grams, etc.?
One of my best received brews by my partner was a 7-ish% hydromel, totally dry, and oaked. She isn't a huge fan of totally dry, but this gallon went faster than anything else Ihave brewed. Now I am wondering if I carbonated another batch of the same for a summer drink... ::grabs Mead Idea Book::
Hi guys, love your channel, im hoping you can answer a question for me, You have most likely explained this in one of your videos but i cant find it. I have just made my first beer brew, it is bubbling but my air lock is not working, i filled it up to the marker as i should have , i have tightened the lid and still nothing what have i done wrong, ??
How did you calculate the amount of priming sugar? Never made a hydromel, but I want to.
Hi guys, two questions... I attempted this recipe and two things happened. (1) I didn't get carbonation, (2) The drink tasted very stale (like a bad stale bread aftertaste). Now I saved the drink by injecting C02 gas into it, so now it's nice and fizzy. As for the stale bread aftertaste, I've encountered this a few times, and often the solution is to just add more time. I used an Austrian yeast that typically works well for me (Nottingham Ale Yeast). Do you know what I mean when I say a bad stale bread taste? Do you guys have any advice on that? Thanks a bunch, and great Channel!
Could be oxidization. Stale flavor usually (in my experience) come from being exposed to too much oxygen anywhere from primary to bottle. Also, if you're not aerating your must enough before pitching your yeast.
I thought you were a bit nutty about that pitcher, but then I got one. Now I'm nutty too🤣
See? ;)
@@CitySteadingBrews 😄
Great stuff - currently have this on the go. just wondering could i flavor this before i bottle it? i'm thinking about adding some dry hops.
I am far from a hophead. I don’t see why not though.
Thank you. So guess i could flavor during the racking stage. I was also thinking of priming with honey rather than sugar by using a syringe and injecting into the bottles.@@CitySteadingBrews
Much better to mix it into the whole batch. More consistent.
Delighted to say it came out lovely. Planning my next batch. I have a lovely jar of soft set honey. I wounder if i can use that? @@CitySteadingBrews
I made some white wine from Kroger juice, a year later it's slightly bubbly. I'm surprised how good it is from cheap grape juice.
Hey!
Is it really necessary to change the bottle and let it sit for 7 days to clear? Or is it just to have more good-looking hydromel in the end? Can I skip that part or will it change the flavour a lot?
Thanks!
You can skip that part if you really want to. Part of the clearing process is allowing particulates to settle out of solution. Some of these particulates are yeast, so not allowing it to settle out may leave a brew with a less favorable flavor.
Re: upsizing from a 1 gallon to 5 gallon brew: have you noticed your off-camera 5 gallon batches take longer to ferment? Yes, you would add a whole packet of yeast vs. a half packet; but, there’s 5 times the amount of sugar that the yeast has to chew through. I’m talking absolute amounts, not SG amounts
Dericka elluded to adding fruit to a hydromel to add a fruit flavor. At what point would you add the fruit?
I usually add fruit for 2 days after fermentation is complete, and the mead has been racked at least 2 times.
how can you know that wine has matured? I mean its when we I know its done Thank You kindly
Just out of curiosity, why add the priming sugar as a dry powder rather than as a simply syrup? I can't imagine that the added volume of liquid there would be enough to change the flavor of a mead, and it would mix in with the brew much more easily.
Adding water is diluting it. You can if you prefer but I don’t wish to change the abv or flavor.
3:25 you kinda touched on letti g a brew sit too long before carbonation. I have a cider that's getting close to going into conditioning (made purely of 0.050 testin apple juice and yeast). What would u suggest so I can let it age/clear in the fermenter but I can also carbonate it??
In Brazil we don't have a name for low ABV meed, hydromel. This name is the portuguese word for any mead, "hidromel". :)
Not speaking French but the standard French for mead is hydromel as well. French and Portuguese are both Latin languages so the etymology makes sense.
@@elricthebald870 Nice. Didn't know that.
I would love to see a spiced hydromel cause honestly I don't know where to start on that one.
also if I would make this fruity do I add fruit or do I add fruit juice?
Re Headspace when carbonating: My understanding is quite the opposite. you add a finite amount of gas determined by the amount of sugar added. the more headspace, the more gas escapes into the compressible part -> fewer CO² in the non-compressible liquid -> less pressure -> weaker carbonation.
Well. You're both right, and here's why: Brian is looking at it from the gas pressure on the glass. You are looking at it from the gas pressure in the liquid. Less gas dissolved in the liquid indeed means a weaker carbonation. But in return that means more pressure above the liquid, increasing the chances of bottle bombs.
@@elricthebald870 But we add a specific volume of gas to a confined space. if there is more compressible headspace you´ll get a lower overall pressure in the vessel.
imagine an empty bottle add a valve and add one pump stroke of air. you won't see a big pressure rise. now think of a full bottle and add one pump stroke. the gas has nowhere to go -> more pressure.
Most bottle bombs are bottle partially full… so…
So I bought 16oz bottle for my cider that's yet to be carbonated, would it work the same at a plastic bottle (how if u open it and drink some and close it again it firm's up again and recarbonates or is it essentially once u open the bottle all the carbonation is released and closing it will make it go flat
Thought about it after I bought the bottles and thought if I didn't finish it I could put it in the fridge and finish it the day after (but if it goes flat then I'll have to drink all of it)
Now I need to make a fruity carbonated hydromel… no idea why I never do them anymore.
Wondering, is there any mead that uses ginger bug?
I wish my mead cleared as fast as yall does i feel like I’m doing something wrong haha
Nah. Temp plays a part.
So I'm currently making my own very first mead. After racking and re-racking and re-racking now I'm still degasing about 2 months later. Is that normal?
On some videos you refer to bottles that aren't really rated for carbonation (my words, not yours), and you also sometimes recommend using a plastic bottle to get a tangible way to know whether carbonation is working...I'm curious if there's a way to telll what glass bottles are sufficiently strong for carbonating vs those that aren't?
Those sold for carbonated beverages or those that held them before 👍
LOL - ok...I have a bunch of used bottles I picked up from other brewers...most of them pretty hefty seeming, brown and often with flip-tops affixed...I was wondering "if it looks like a brew bottle" does that mean "it can 'probably' handle carb?" - or are there classes of "deceptive looking" glass that aren't really carb-ready?! @@CitySteadingBrews
@averylambert248 most swing tops are carbonation safe. Generally if it had a bottle cap it might be too.
I apologize I mean without a hydrometer is it possible to tell when my brew is done?
Is there any issue with yalls syphoning tube getting discolored? Mine is starting to get discolored too
You might want to try something like Chemipro Oxi. Mine was stained a deep dark red after racking a fruit wine. Soaked it in Chemopro, pulled a tube brush through it and was again clean as a whistle.
On the subject of bottle carbonating and just to clarify; If I start with a totally dry brew (1.000) and add a fermentable sugar for carbonating, I should look for a specific gravity of about 1.003. (0.46/16 = 0.002875 ) Correct? Thank you.
More like 1.004 but yes.
While I’m carbonating if I open one to see where it’s at, does that one essentially start over or lose a lot of carbonation? Even though I measure out my brew precisely for carbing I’m always anxious so I open one up every 3-4 days but I’m curious if that one lost a lot of it’s carbonation compared to the others
I think you are losing quite a bit each time, yes.
We're planning to flavor our hydromel, but not sure how to calculate the SpGr after adding the juice if we're looking for a 1.020-1.025...do we need to include the % of juice volume vs the volume of hydromel, or simply add the juice and take a reading of the mixed beverage?
Add it and take a reading if what you want is the spgr :)
Other reasons to not brew large batches is less waste if you have a bad batch, you are only allowed by law to keep a certain amount of home brew on hand, you can have a bigger variety on hand.
Most places it’s 200 gallons MADE per year. Not that I know how they can tell how much you make.
So I wonder if a coffee hydromel would be worth it
I don’t think extra headspace will cause more pressure to build up inside the bottle. If you have a fixed amount of sugar in in your brew, only a fixed amount of carbon dioxide will be produced. Less sugared liquid will produce less carbon dioxide. Extra headspace will allow more carbon dioxide to migrate to the headspace, instead of staying in the liquid, so the brew in that bottle will have even less carbonation incorporated than those with less headspace.
Gas is more compressible than liquid.
That is true, but there will be a fixed amount of carbon dioxide produced inside the bottle. Temperature is much more important than volume when one is considering pressure of “compressed” gas in the headspace of the bottle. Since you added the sugar before bottling, the potential amount of carbon dioxide is proportional to the amount of liquid. Some of it will remain dissolved in the liquid, and some will move to the headspace, depending on temperature. That is true regardless of the volume of liquid. The bottles are more likely to explode if you don’t leave enough head space because the liquid can only hold a finite amount of gas at any given temperature. The excess gas will be in the head space. Less head space means greater gas pressure in that head space.
BTW, I have been binge watching your channel for the past several weeks. I love what you guys do. I mean no offense when I explain my take on what happens with partially filled bottles. I have made wine and a few batches of beer off and on for over 20 years, with varying degrees of success.
I retired seven years ago after working in a pharmaceutical lab for over 35 years, so although I am not a physicist, I have a lot of education and experience in science. Mostly biology, chemistry and pharmacology. Watching your show has inspired me to try to salvage several carboys of wine that I gave up on and lost interest in about five years ago. Turns out that in spite of being neglected for so long, a couple of them aren’t too bad, and I think a couple others could use a tiny bit of sweetening.
Finally: the main reason I can see for not keeping a partially filled bottle of primed brew around is that the contents probably won’t carbonate very well and may become oxidized.
not scientific here, but I would assume the flavour difference between fermentation and carbonation is because yeast dont only produce CO2. So, in fermentation stage you are producing the 5% ABV, meaning that you wil have a higher percentage of the other gasses than the (maybe) 0.5% ABV you are fermenting for the purposes of carbonation. like I said, I have no scientific basis for this, it's just the most logical explanation I can think of.
Hey, should i pasteurize before or after adding sugar? Or should it be pasteurized at all?
If you pasteurize before adding priming sugar it will not carbonate. That said, we didn't pasteurize this since there was no need.
The Finnish "Sima" we make for some parties in the spring might be considered a hydromel. Try making it?
We can check it out :)
@@CitySteadingBrews Compared to Kilju. It will be most pleasant.
I like sweet… Could I back sweeten this hydrogel with something like Allulose, then carbonate it?
Absolutely.
Will the taste change with age like a Meade will ?
Could make skeeter pee with the lees by mixing it into some lemonade and fermenting it; usually lees is used because of the high acidity.
All my meads come out yellow. Never have got that nice golden brown.
Depends on your honey and additions.
I'm doing a party xD with these 6 gal viking themed
can you wash it by adding water to the lees then racking of the water and some of the off eliments then dry the lees in dehdrator and use it ss nutrient
In theory yes. Some people like to do that. We find the results inconsistent
KegSmiths 150 bucks with the bundle and 3 5 packs of food grade c02 catridges. Easy peasy.
Natural carbing is even simpler and cheaper though :)
Can you carbonate a higher ABV and sweeter mead?
Yes, to a point. As long as you don't surpass the yeast alcohol tolerance.
Not related to this video, but is anyone else getting an expired certificate warning when trying to go to their website?
Do they make carbonation tablets?
They are just sugar.
@@CitySteadingBrews there aren’t any CO2 tablets that dissolve into carbonation?
Can a fruit mead, say blackberry, be made as a hydromel?
You guys got anything left for a 1y tasting?
I don't think we keep low abv for a year generally.
@@CitySteadingBrews I figure, just a wish thinking from my side, just figure out my own base session mead like 1 Month ago(similar) to this one) probaly wont last a year but fun to know how it changes over time
Brian's instructions on auto siphon sounds like 8th grade sex ed. Nice video as always, howdy Derrick.
Peace Luke T
I'm trying to see if someone could tell me how to make one have a silky mouth feel
Silky? Probably lactose.
@@CitySteadingBrews I was thinking a rolled oats thoughts?
Hello
Or you could drink that soupy sediment like a dear friend of ours 😜😜
No… just…no.
@@CitySteadingBrews hahaha Oh dont worry im with you on that one. *shudders* 😬