10 HOMEBREWING MISTAKES YOU LEARNED from YouTube brew channels | Brewin' the Most
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 มิ.ย. 2024
- At some point we all turned to online how-to videos for information on making cider, beer, wine, or mead at home. Homebrewing can be complex! But there are definitely some common mistakes being taught online about brewing, including using raisins as nutrient! We're breaking down ten of the most common faux pas seen in TH-cam home brew content - especially those focused on beginner brewers.
Lots of love to the TH-cam homebrewer community. We are SO THANKFUL for your insightful and entertaining content. :)
What brewing mistakes have you seen being taught online? Any mistakes that we're making? Let us know in the comments. 👇
Website: dointhemost.org
Insta: / dointhemostok
#mead #howtomakemead #homebrewing #homebrewinghacks #homebrewingtips - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Timestamps? We've got your timestamps right here!
1:02 Bread Yeast
2:30 Under-thinking yeast
3:50 Flavor extracts
6:26 Extreme experiments
8:35 Spice and everything nice
10:23 Raisins as nutrient
12:55 Mixing measurements
14:12 Not enough fruit
16:08 Where’s that water from?
18:11 The rush to consume
You can turn on chapters for the video and magically those stamps will become 'things' if you put them in the description. Oooo!
I have used bread yeast in wine and had the after taste, but for the next batch I used Fleshman's pizza yeast and didn't get the after taste, and the alcohol content was 16% abv. This was all store-bought concord grape with 1 litre of black current and about 2lbs. of fruit sugar. It did turn out totally dry so I back-sweetened it gradually to taste. It turned into a very fine tasting wine. I am going to make a 5-gallon batch next but use Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast and see how it turns out because 1-gallon batches go too fast LOL
instaBlaster
You have to look at bread yeast as a gateway drug to home brewing. Some people have a threshold they need to overcome when it comes to home brewing and that is usually the hassle of investing in more stuff. I did a simple brew with just bread yeast and organic apple juice... and man... im hooked. It actually tasted great and this gave me the push i needed to go ahead and get the proper equipment and yeast. I'm going for my first hard cider brew soon :-)
Fleishmanns PROS: works very well with spices (perhaps a little too well, be careful) and citrics (add some peel, they love it), also tropical fruits. The honey taste is very present after the yeast subsides and the alcohol tolerance is quite nice, around 12% ABV in my years of experience (frequently more with the right conditions). Pour a lot of it, and you'll be giving the yeast the nutrient it needs. I had a hydromel dry out in only three days, with a very present honey profile. Works well with both sugar and honey.
Fleishmanns CONS: the yeast cake is non-existent, the bottom layer is like dust on suspension (so it takes a couple of extra racks for you not to find wisps in your bottles). Do not expect it to extract a lot of tannins (it doesn't) or color (it doesn't). You'll have to add them accordingly. Because of that, I'd not recommend Fleishmanns for dark or red berries and wines.
I've bought red star, bought lallvin, and ultimately decided that Fleischmanns yeast is not only perfectly fine, but a very good yeast, even in comparison with the best ones.
Take back what you said about banana runts.
😂😂😂
Pretty good list of pitfalls.
I took my first steps into mead making alongside someone who did it ‘no tech’: no hydrometer, just a fermenter with an airlock, boiled (and cooled) tap water, honey, yeast (or a wild fermentation but that was rare), a handful of flavourings and TIME. Lots of transferring the ferment into new clean vessels. Working by eye, smell, ear and instinct and being extremely scrupulous about hygiene (which then leant bleach and boiling). Since then I’ve graduated to using a hydrometer and a few more doo-dads but not many.
Most things boil down to common sense, really. Be patient. Don’t overcrowd a recipe. Don’t change up too many things at a time. When you want a fruit flavour, use A LOT of fruit. Try to remember how various tastes, flavours and scants marry together.
One piece of advice I’d add is this: KEEP A JOURNAL/RECIPE BOOK AND SLAP LABELS ON YOUR FERMENTERS AND BOTTLES. One day you’ll open a bottle, it’ll taste mind-blowingly good, you’ll hear the angels sing and you won’t remember how you went about making it. An old notebook containing your recipes/fermentation notes and a piece of decorator’s tape with the pertinent information on the bottle will do fine. Come to think of it, if you’ve got several fermenters going simultaneously, better label those too. Sorry for the caps. It’s a sore spot. LOL!
Good video.
AGREED!
Seen some pretty good tests where it’s shown raisins are in fact a nutrient. Run all three, nothing, raisins, brewing nutrients, and the brewing nutrients win every time, but there is 100% an effect with raisins, just not as large.
Bread yeast can make very good tasting alcohol as well. I feel like this guy is just spouting shit he has read without trying it for himself.
@@Moostery come on now, that's complete bull... I think you need to try different yeasts before you can understand how bread yeast suck... I have been brewing past 22 years.
@@slaprakshas I have Lalvin 71b, red star premier blanc, safcider AB-1, Red Star D.A.D.Y, fleishmanns bread yeast, and a couple strains of my own wild yeast. I also currently have 31 gallons fermenting in the form of meads, ciders, and wines. Bread yeast can absolutely make a good alcoholic beverage as long as it's a good yeast such as fleischmanns.
@@Moostery many "good" Bakers Yeast are actually Brewers yeast sold for baking. Mamy yeast manufacturers do this. We all know Brewers yeast are better than bakers yeast at even baking.
@@Moostery THIS guy is the most experienced brewer on TH-cam! Bread yeast is shit & raisins aren’t nutrients 😂 You’d be wise to learn from BC!
#1 Bread/general purpose yeast - you can absolutely use it in your brews. I have never had any problems using it and for a malty flavor profile it's great for cider, mead, beer etc. It doesn't give this refined sophisticated taste that let's say a champagne yeast would give to a mead for example, however it is tasty and I'd say closer to a wild yeasts.
#9 WATER - THIS is sooooooo overlooked in the homebrewing community, i'm glad you talked about it!
Thanks for the video, looking forward for the next one!
Cultured yeast ARE wild yeasts. They are just gathered in places where the outcome is known - ie Bordeaux and cultured (multiplied) for the masses. Sorry, I get sick of people saying that they use feral yeasts to be more "natural". Commercial yeast IS natural! Just maybe not natural for your specific region - ie northern Minnesota.
@@SirWussiePants have you ever visited a yeast factory like white labs ? I bet you would eat those words after that
@@paulaxton72 yes, there are gm yeast, but most currently and widely available ones are just natural yeast
Rushing to consume is my biggest problem! Happened already with the blueberry mead recipe I followed your footsteps with. Already bottled stuff up to try to get it out there for friends and family for xmas. I’ve been trying real hard to not touch the stuff we put together after. Good points in the video! Keep the great content coming!
We’re excited to revisit brewing another blueberry mead soon!
Thanks for your opinions on these, though, most aren't necessarily mistakes but choices that could lead to a bad brew if not used appropriately. Just a reminder that everything should be done in appropriate measure. The mistake it over or under doing something.
Like pitching yeast???
I don't really agree with the bread yeast comment. Lots of homebrewers, farmhouse brewers use it, and even some professional ones. It has to be used differently, but saying that it doesn't work is like saying that Kveik yeast doesn't work at 20 degrees.
dont use it
@@tomgoodwin7134 make me
Another great video! I do love the extreme experiments though, love pushing the boundaries of what has and has not been done before :) Not because it is clickbait, but, after brewing for 35 years and every recipe has been done, made, drank, and enjoyed - looking for the next step up. Seaweed wine, for example - complete extreme experiment and it turned out to be a heck of great wine. Some wines are a complete fail, but breaking the boundaries is never easy :)
Raisins heck yeah!
Homebrew can not be rushed, if you are wanting to have a drink this weekend, either start brewing ages ago or go to the shops! People often hound me wanting to hear taste tests for wines I have made, but, a year later, I still feel they are not ready!
And we love your extreme experiments!
Some pretty solid advice, especially on fruit quantity. However, 1)making wine is not "brewing". 2)raisins will provide nutrients to a wine. But no nitrogen to speak of. Yeast does not live on nitrogen (and sugar) alone. 3)I would use 5 lbs/gal blackberry & skip the merlot
Being metric, I’ve developed a simple rule of thumb that serves me well. Per 4 litres (a little over a US gallon) I add 3 kilograms (around 6.6 lbs) of fruit for wines and for meads where I want the fruit to play the main role. For a mead where the honey plays the main role but that has a fruit flavour, proportions may vary. Same goes for ciders, as apple is the main character and other fruit ‘only’ play a supporting role. Raspberries and blackcurrants are very strong. They’ll quickly overpower other flavours. That means you will want to use less.
The key os ‘use enough’. Depending on what you’re making and the effect you want to achieve, the definition of ’enough’ will vary. DC’s statement that you should not skimp, remains valid. 😊
I've watched a lot of you-tube videos and feel very good about this one! Thanks for your help, as a lot of videos say 6-8 weeks and just can't believe that statement. I just started brewing beer last September and opened my last bottle the end of January and it was so darn good! So patience is vertue!
That’s some impressive patience! What did you brew as your first beer?
@@DointheMost Did a5 gallon batch of Toasted Coconut cream ale! It came out Great! I found out though I should have waited for about two months longer as it really got better!
@@billkorpela1976 That sounds incredible! Love coconut!
I appreciate all homebrew content and by no means would I ever consider myself an “expert” at anything as the word implies there is nothing left to learn and I believe no matter how much one knows there is something to be learned.
All that being said people have different goals, different opinions and like any form of art or tastes subjectivity is everything.
For me when it comes to home brewing I am not trying to create a new masterpiece, I am not out to push boundaries or flavor envelopes. I make the styles of beer that I enjoy and want to make them as close to my own subjective tastes as I can. In short if I am making a strong English ale then I am trying to make it the best representation of that style within relation to my subjective tastes . Should I want a more exotic or unusual brew I just go buy it.
I just wanted to comment because it seems to me what gets overlooked in so many great homebrew videos is that subjectivity .
A TH-cam video told me to use raisins instead of yeast nutrients for my mead. After three weeks Gravity had dropped from 1.110 to 1.100. I added nutrients and it finished to 1.012 in two more weeks
Thank you so much for adding proper creative commons citations IN THE VIDEO
Been brewing for 7 years and never used an extract. Just brewed an extract kit beer for a video that uses blueberry extract. Mostly did that recipe just to show how customizable an extract beer can be. For the record, Primarily I’m an all grain brewer. Thanks for the video!
I can see that working out okay since it is a complementary flavor. Thanks for watching!
I sure wish that I found you back in October. Really enjoy your content and thanks for making these videos!
I just pitched actual Brewers Yeast for the first time this week I was extremely impressed that this S-04 completely ran through this Apple Juice in two days!
Great video man! Love it!
Have you looked into City Steading Brews
I've been watching their videos for a long time and it has been interesting to see their process evolve over time.
@@Skulltap I have been with them from when they started and love them from day 1
I have very few issues with CS Brews. I don't share their views on a few things (eg. sterilisation practices, use or lack thereof of additives, Derika's incessant screaming of "Red Bucket of Sanitisation!"), but they explain their views on such things eloquently and they've a fantastic drive to experiment without going insane with the flavour profiles. At least most of the time. I have seen them make one or two monstrosities.
@@FunkyFyreMunky When they stopped doing it 6 months ago I missed it. Now I wish she would only do it 2 a month or do don't stop doing it. But make it a punch line, not the whole joke; if that makes any sense. Although is reaction to it is licensee sometimes.
I used to use bottled, spring water for wine when I first started winemaking 4 years ago. Then one day I was making my first mead in a small batch, so I used my tap water. I drink it all the time and it tastes better than bottled or filtered water. It turned out really good and everything since then has been made with our tap water. I will say because of youtube channels making mistakes, I can avoid them or be all smug to myself saying I already knew it (even though I probably didn't).
Good to hear. I have and use my spring H2O that comes right out of the ground, unfiltered and NO chemicals added, just pure natural goodness. After this video I thought that was my mistake, but after hearing your comment, I do feel better. I am making a lilac blossom wine.
INGREDIENTS
6 cups lilac blossoms, stems and green parts removed
5 1/2 to 6 cups sugar
A few blueberries (optional, for color)
Juice of 3-4 lemons
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/8 tsp tannin powder (optional)
Wine Yeast Red Star Premier Blanc Wine Yeast,
I bought the right yeast and the nutrients, but it isn't doing anything. So I looked at utube, and they said it needed to be cool, so I moved it to a cool spot, still no action, so I added more yeast, STILL NOTHING. Now I see perhaps I should move it back and put it on a warming mat? This is my very first brew experience, and I gotta tell ya gathering all those Lilac blossoms and picking them clean was a lot of work, I hope not to just fail...Very disappointing
@@e.s.8684 It could be the lemon juice inhibiting the yeast or it might be too much sugar for the yeast to get going. I'm not sure. I would think that yeast would be pretty hardy with it being a champagne yeast. Even if your airlock isn't bubbling, it may be going. Check for bubbles in the wine and check the gravity reading in a few days to see if it has moved.
#9 is often overlooked. It's like 90 something % of your ingredients. It's so important.
I appreciate how you call out the bullshit on some channels and have seen how they try to cover it up. Scientifically I'm sitting there like... "how is that even close to being enjoyable?!"
Though I haven't even made my first batch of mead. I have tasted several brews. From 4 months to 2 years old. My gods the 2 year old mead was soooooo good....
The hurry up and wait game is strong.
I dig your channel, keep preaching the truth broham. 👍
I do have to take issue with #1 Bread Yeast. Nothing you say there is wrong, I just think you're a bit too harsh on your bias against bread yeast. Please keep in mind that for the past 3000 years, there was zero difference between bread yeast and brewing yeast. There is some benefit to brewers yeast in that it does flocculate far better, but that's not really a necessity to brewing. There is also a benefit in that certain strains do grant a fine-tuning of the flavor of your brewing. But if you're just getting started in the hobby, you may not be able to taste the difference between two yeast strains, or be able to notice the difference in flocculation either. You're not wrong, it's just that it's a bit... Nose in the aire. It's not a MISTAKE to use bread yeast. Using bread yeast won't make your fermentation fail or taste terrible.
no
@@tomgoodwin7134 Yes
@@tomgoodwin7134 useless
@@ethanlevy5412 don't use bread yeast
@@ethanlevy5412 here's an actual comment. You can find beer yeast very readily nowadays...all over the internet and homebrew stores are a lot more common than they used to be. If you're going through all the effort of acquiring brewing supplies and ingredients, why do yourself the disservice of using bread yeast? Sure it might not taste "terrible" but I would argue everyone has subjective tastes and for someone just getting into the hobby a beer made with bread yeast is going to come off as strange and may discourage them from trying again. You can find 11g packs of US-05 for like 4$ on Amazon...just use that instead.
Just want to take a second to appreciate that you are both a Pokemon nerd and homebrewer like myself. You love too see it!
Agreed about rushing things. My rule of thumb is let meads sit in secondary for at least a year if not two. I have never made wine so I have no idea. Beers OTOH, I have won a competition with a Hefeweizen that wasn’t even a month old and I won another with NEIPA that was just over a month old. Those are simple beers though that don’t require aging for other stuff. If you’re throwing tons of stuff in with secondary, then it might be best to wait. I’m a lazy homebrewer though, once I got the beer in the fermenter, I don’t want to do anything until It’s time to keg.
Excellent. Keep up the good work dude. I'll be watching
Thanks for watching! 🍻
In relation to "not enough fruit" I did make a bochet with a 1/4 lb (~120g) addition of raspberries. I only added them for a tiny addition of acid and tannins for when I back-sweeten.
rasberry in particular impart alot of taste compared to other fruits
Been doing heaps of reading before I make first mead, I'm very confused about enzymes for when using whole fruits? Would it still be the same if your where to use a juice that was strained? (E.g pomegranate instead of putting in whole with seeds, squeezing and draining till it was only juice). Are tannings and bitters a must also?
#10 for me for sure just because I've only just begun making mead/wine. I made my first batch after Christmas and tasted it after bottling and was appalled. It was so bad. I wanted to throw it out but decided to just throw it in my basement and I'm going to check back 6 months later hoping it's gotten better. My second and third batches seemed to go better and I'm also aging those now. Patience definitely seems key.
Did it get better?
I have a question!!! But first a little background!
I have been making my own Mead since March right before the pandemic took off!!
Since then I have joined Man Made Meads Facebook page and other Mead pages on Facebook to advance my knowledge and skill at making mead!!
One of the things I keep getting conflicting information on in some of these pages is regarding ABV tolerance of yeast versus the potential ABV of the must.
Some people have said that your yeast should have a higher tolerance than your musts potential ABV, while others have also said that having a yeast with a slightly lower ABV tolerance won’t stress the yeast as much from lack of food/nutrients.
So my question is, which scenario causes the yeast to be MORE stressed?? Lack of food when the fermentable sugars run out...or a slight abundance of sugars that will carry them clear to their ABV cap?
Many people say that a lack of food causes the yeast to put off bad flavors and become stressed because they start to die when there is no food.
For the beginning meader like myself, that would make more sense for the yeast to have slightly more food and leave honey for sweetness rather than depriving them of food when they have consumed all the fermentable sugars.
Example 1: More gravity! My must has a potential ABV of 16%, and I choose Lalvin D-47 which has an ABV tolerance of 14%. Leaving 2% for sweetness.
Example 2: Less gravity! My must has a potential ABV of 12% also using Lalvin D-47 which has a 14% ABV tolerance.
Now, some yeasts will go beyond their ABV cap by 1-2% and finish dry.
I am not adding Lalvin D-47 into a must with a potential ABV of 20% making it super sweet. I would use K1-V1116 which has an 18% ABV tolerance for that.
I just don’t thing that a 2-3% difference up or down makes that big a difference.
What do you think?? Is a higher gravity or lower gravity better for the yeast in regards to them getting “stressed”?
Candy canes don't belong in meads?? I feel attacked... ;) Just kidding! Love the video!
Much love, hah
I was thinking about your mead while watching this! Also, Apple Cinnamon :(
I felt some of this was directed towards you but you are still my go to Mead channel no matter what they say. :-)
MMM has a better intro song
I like your guy’s friendly competition you have going on haha. Also that you guys now do videos together is awesome!
MAN! one of the best video i ever watch here in youtube explain things about home brew. I have a question for you if you are pleasure to answer sure.
I brew mead, and most times in my traditionals end up with a harsh and hot taste like alcohol(looks like cheap wisky), not smoth and soft. What maybe i do wrong? My proceds, tosna nutri add, aerate once per day for five days, og 1090 fg 1000. So yes dry, but not should taste like alcohol right?
too warm during fermentation
Your thought on using filtered water from the fridge -vs- tap water from the garden hose? It tastes fine from garden hose. Will filtered fridge water be noticeable??
Filtered water tends to be fine. If it tastes good, usually, that means it brews well.
I made some Kilju that's not completely fermented yet but it was done with Red Star bread yeast from the amish store, not the stuff in little sachets but this one just came in a little plastic container. I was worried that it would taste bready and it definitely smells like yeast since the yeast hasn't dropped out of solution yet but it somehow had a cider-like flavor with no bread taste, I'm wondering how many other bread yeasts are good for this stuff.
Bread yeast doesn't just make co2, it's also there to flavor bread. A lot of flavor from good breads comes from the bread yeast, I wouldn't write it off completely. It's there to provide flavor, there's bread that doesn't use yeast and uses soda instead and it always lacks in flavor because the yeast isn't there to help it.
I have to disagree a bit on the fruit. One of my favorite 5 gallon batches to make only needs 2 lbs of frozen mixed fruit. The base is Cran-raspberry juice so that is a factor but you can absolutely taste the added fruit over the base juice. I call it "berry bomb" and it is awesome.
I agree. I did a one gallon batch and added 12oz of frozen raspberries, thinking it was going to be weak. The raspberry came through just fine! 🍷
How long can mead stay in the carboy, perticularly in secondary rack.
Will the air space in the bottle be an issue over say , 6 months or a year or what ever...?
Thanks for the brutal honesty!
Great video, especially number 9. Cheers for the info.
I’m making a watermelon wine and I filled my primary fermenting bucket close to the top. Should I pour some out or just leave it alone?
Keep an eye on it and punch the cap as necessary!
I use tap water. But my water is good and I use Camden tabs to clear out the chlorine and chloromine
That’s a very good point re: campden tabs. Unfortunately OKC’s municipal water is not super great.
I didn't even think about using campden tabs for chlorine, but I use them in the start of my mead brews anyways. Whenever I make a mead with fruit in it, I usually go get fruits from a local "whole food" store, so I always put a tab into the must before I pitch yeast to kill off wild yeasts. Fringe benefit, I guess.
I find the best wines and beers made is when you dont follow a single recipe or guide and wing it! Some of my best wines ive made is when i had no clue what i was doing but wanted to learn.
Thanks for great content, I just subscribed. I'm trying to do cider and a lot of the things you're mentioning here are extremely helpful fx the water.
Awesome! Thanks for watching! We have a cider video on the channel but we’re planning to do a revised version by summer.
@@DointheMost Already watched the ones on cider. Looking forward to more :D
Brasco Music We’re looking forward to making more now that our recording setup has improved. :)
@@DointheMost That is awesome! What is the chance of getting your help with brewing some quality cider? I have so many questions and you obviously know a lot about what you're talking about. I totally understand if you don't have time for that, and I don't want to be a bother.
Brasco Music If you have Instagram, hit us up in messenger at @dointhemostok and we’d be glad to help!
Ok, just stumbled on these videos, looks interesting, especially the part about "raisins as nutrients." So at what point do I consider using yeast nutrients over raisins? Like how many gallons are we talking about? Please elaborate on what you mean by "over time." I'm on my 4th 6-gallon batch, (first batch using EC1118 for a traditional mead, then the rest of my batches were melomels, I used KV1116); I used dates as nutrients on my first batch and raisins for my melomels: all have been very successful (granted I put in over 12 raisins, but nowhere near a gallon). I'm sure there's something to it, such as if and when people consider doing large commercial batches; however for the homebrewer, I still don't see the need to put in any Fermaid.
I would never use raisins for nutrient because they barely contain any nutrients. Your meads may have turned out fine regardless of the raisins. What you’re really asking is at what gravity would organic nutrients make the most sense. The consensus on that seems to be at about 9%+ potential ABV or over 1.070ish starting gravity. Up to that point something super cheap like diammonium phosphate is fine. Or just letting the yeast putter about on their own.
My thinking regarding raisins was that their value came not from their nitrogen levels, but their magnesium. The reason JOAM works ok is that it gets its nitrogen from the orange peels and its magnesium from the raisins. Combined, these nutrients emulate the benefits of using fermaid k. If that's BS, I'd love to know.
Great video! The part about raisins reminded me of something I saw you talk about with MMM on his channel. Did you ever do any investigation into bananas helping to clear your brew?
I myself use diatomic clay to clarify my brews. It works extremely fast just dissolve a couple of tablespoons of it into a slurry and lightly stir it into the carboy and watch in amazement at how fast it works. The nice thing about it is it doesn't change the flavor of the brew at all. Within an hour about 1/2 of the carboy will be clear but let it be for a day or two. I like to rack it into another carboy and leave it another day in case some of it got siphoned in the transfer. It works great for wine but I don't know how it would work for carbonated beverages when you start racking into bottles, as it gets dragged up with each bubble from the bottom of the carboy.
Does cider need to age, and for how long? Can it age in secondary fermentation for a long period? I wanted to eventually back sweeten it with apple juice concentrate, let it sit in the bottles for a few days to carbonate, then put it in the fridge to stop the yeast. I would probably have just a few weeks to drink it to avoid a bottle bomb. I like a sweet carbonated cider.
You can always pasteurize.. 140 F 15 minutes
#4: You may think i'm uncreative and you may think i brew boring beers. But I always brew only with water, hop, malt and yeast. And I think these are the only ingredients to make a nice tasting and interesting beer. With all the modern hops and malts you can adjust the flavors just like you want it to be. When i want a beer to taste like lemon, i use cascade hop. When i want it to taste like banana i choose the right malts and yeast for that. You don't need fancy ingredients. I think the real challenge in brewing beer is to brew it in a way that makes it taste like you want it to taste and not just to add extracts and stuff.
Not uncreative. You like beer & design your recipes to taste like beer.
I see a lot of people using black tea in their meads for a Tanner what is your thoughts on that
So, i've also adapted your Wampus Cat Braggot recipe for what i can get where i am, and i am wondering about replacements for sparkolloid. I see people saying it is diatomaceous earth and polysaccharides. I have access to diatomaceous earth but have no ideas about polysaccharides. Should i just try with the diatomaceous earth or just let it be cloudy?
You could use gelatin, bentonite, cold-crashing, or other methods of clarifying. Gelatin is pretty easy to get ahold of - for a five gallon batch, bloom a tablespoon or two in warm water for 30 minutes. Then microwave it for 1 minute. Stir, and slowly add to the carboy.
bentonite is the closest substitute
#10, yes. 4-6 months works great for me.
Excellent info. Entertaining and agree with most, especially the water as I mention how much I hate my local water in many of my videos plus I am allergic to chlorine so I can smell that crap a mile away and in Jacksonville, FL I swear they added it to the city water by the truckload. The measurements I agree with 90% of it as I learned to do sourdough bread last Summer and the best bread making teachers push to do everything by weight which I do even in my beer brewing but I sometimes work with products like Super Moss HB which their direction recommend by volume over weight so as I am still testing the product I follow their directions for their product, plus distilled water of course but I do of course weight the salt additions to be added to the volume of water.
We're still struggling to make measurements consistent. Darn Imperial system!
@@DointheMost Funny you say "Imperial System" as I only use metrics when bread making as that is how I learned to make bread sadly nothing else.
Did lavender, cocoa(from nibs tea) , ginger, and mango. I used light brown sugar. My mead-mead is honey and a wine yeast. I bit of sugar
Oh yeah... totally forgot to ask. You mentioned the issues with extracts. What is your opinion on making your own extracts? I recently I did a peanut extract by soaking peanuts in grain alcohol to get a peanut butter extract. It smells pretty damn good, and only 2 ingredients. Do you have issue with that as a flavoring additive to specifically mead?
Definitely no issue there! That’s how I make vanilla and cinnamon extracts. It’s the weird not-natural extracts that I stray away from. Even the ones that claim to be natural are usually not made from the thing they’re supposed to be tasting like.
So I live somewhere with good quality, somewhat neutral water. There's nothing wrong with it for brewing as a base, but so many brewtubers add nothing about water treatment or profile. This kept resulting in a darkening of my beers which was very frustrating. As soon as I added salts to increase the calcium and get a sulphate/chloride ratio it fixed it right up and tasted better.
That’s super interesting and something we’d never considered, regarding color differences. Great info!
@@DointheMost If you plug my city's water profile (which I had a lab test) into beersmith the colour range is 6-11srm 🤨 lol
Yyyyyikes!
That shows that their in it for clicks
Hello, I'm Saingleng, from Cambodia! I wonder, the weather here about 30-35 °C inside room! So I would like to ask you, can yeast beer produce methanol in my homebrew?
How we know, methanol appear in our homebrew?
I was the 1,000th subscriber 🙌🏼
How come we can't heart comments more than once? A heart and a like, then! THANK YOU so much!
Thank you for the amazing and informative videos!! They are so helpful and entertaining also 🙏🏼
If you live in Norway, you have perfect water in the tap ;)
Ja d he mi
Yes we do 👍🏻
Rub it in. No literally. I would pay for a massage using just the water from Norway.
@@Kooma4Yew1600 lol 🤣
except if you need gypsum or chloride
Spring water is good for some methods of brewing, but it's too high in alkalinity/HCO3 for beer brewing. Best to use RO or Distilled and build up with Salts, for consistency & perfect profiles.
As for the infection issue the professor faced, it's likely because you need to go beyond 100C to kill spores. Yeast labs typically sterilize their vessels with ~115C + . Distilled water avoids this because of it's process.
Personally, I use my tap water which comes from our great lake, is treated well. Then I use campden tablets to remove chlorine/chloramines & salts to adjust my profile further. But this is for beer, and not Mead, which I would like to explore eventually.
Good video, especially outliing the yeast attributes of Wine that I wasn't familiar with.
Great insight, appreciate you mentioning brewing salts. It’s a topic we’re just starting to explore, but we mainly make meads and wines/fruit wines.
@@DointheMost Great. I'll continue to tune in for further Mead info.
Great. Educational, entertaining, subscribed. Time to go threw the back log.
Yeast was the hardest thing for us to find good information on for sure.
Ooh where did you get the s&k coffee mug?
Boiling water won't make it sterile. Boiling anything used in homebrewing won't make any of it sterile. The temperature is too low for that.
Also most bottled water is not sterile. It is free from bacteria though.
You can make "Using the terms sterile and sterilising instead of the cleaning/sanitising/disinfection" your 11th point.
Another thing. Bread yeast is Saccharomyces cervisiae (same ale yeast). It will have higher alcohol tolerance and ferment at higher temperature (like kveik) than beer yeast. And it does make good beer. I don't use it myself though. Many traditional Norwegian farmhouse brewers (the real kind of farmhouse ale) only use baking yeast. Most use kveik. Also see www.garshol.priv.no/blog/411.html
pasteurization begins around 150F wtf are you talking about
and bread yeast sucks. stop it
@@tomgoodwin7134 The two aren't the same
@@tomgoodwin7134 You think it sucks. Many traditional Norwegian farmeales are still fermented using regular bread yeast.
You do a pretty good job of criticizing bread yeast, but you make a mistake a lot of critics of using bread yeast make, and it was also your first criticism. Yes, it makes co2, but it makes the same amount of co2 and alcohol as any other yeast at the same abv tolerance. It's simple chemistry. Glucose molecules make equal parts ethyl alcohol and co2. Other fermentable sugars require h2o, but they also ferment into equal parts co2 and ethyl alcohol. As I said, you did a good job, so don't take this the wrong way, I just thought it was worth pointing out.
Hi there! I never said this? I said it's used for CO2 production not flavor, not that it magically makes more CO2 than other yeasts. Thanks for the comment, but it seems you misheard.
fucking stop with the bread yeast already
As a brewing comunitity we need to educate our selves on cloridane. It's being used more and more in tap water. I've seldom seen it mentioned. Unlike clorine it isn't so easily boiled away or allowing your brewing water to sit for a few days to disipate clorine.
Cloridane is great for prevention of bad stough in our water but it's also hard on our yeast.
For what it's worth, bread yeast works well (in my experience) for kvass, probably since kvass is bubbly and basically non-alcoholic anyway
I love banana Runts. You can buy tubs of just banana Runts on Amazon, that's peak capitalism. Good list, I just did my first wine with my own grape vines, grapes only/wild yeast, and it's a lovely sour (Leon Millot). I'm using it on a hard cider now to see what happens. You don't necessarily even need to buy yeast, especially if you are into a funky/sour brew.
Oyster stout are not weird, they are historical and the chimistry works! You need a higher ph in the water to balance the acidity of the dark grains. What can help you with that? Oysters sheels! I love oyster stout!
Do you have a video specifically on nutrients? I'd love one
fermaid K and DAP at 1g/gallon. add at yeast pitch and then again at day 3-5
not enough fruit...You nailed it!!!
Okay so I’m going to brew my first gallon using fleischer bread yeast, cane sugar and water. So I asked some ppl I’m my town for tips. All of them suggest adding pieces of split wood that will “soak up the poison” is this true? I’ve been reading and watching vids and neither of them had this step.
Heh?
Okay, I will preface with the fact that I am NOT qualified to offer advice as I've only started getting into learning about all of this and have not ever actually made anything, done any fermenting, or literally anything that gives me that qualifications to offer a solid opinion.
That being said, what 'poison' is being referred to? Alcohol? Ethanol? Nothing about your ingredients sounds like it's going to produce a poison that you shouldn't be consuming, aside from the ones that you want to be there (or in the case of ethanol, in very small amounts)
Also, your ingredients sound really bland to me, but maybe you know something I don't. You're literally fermenting water? The sugar is going to be fermented out, leaving you with water and alcohol, which while perhaps something that can make you drunk, doesn't sound worth drinking, let alone the effort of brewing.
Maybe the people you talked to thought the wood would give your brew some flavor
Awesome tips! I'll be using bottled spring water for my next homebrew! Should I add any minerals for taste or are they in there already?
Depends what minerals are in the water already and what type of beer you're brewing.
Don't use zephyrhills.
you have to get the water report/buy the lemotte kit to test your water before adding minerals (aka brewing salts). Also check out bruun water!
If you are in the US, most tap water is safer than most bottled water, in terms of bacterial count.
Most so-called spring water is straight out of the tap and run through a series of filters and sold on the pretense of being spring water, so be aware of what you're buying. I myself use distilled water and all the batches turn out ok, just a tip.
I have one question for you about bread yeast, the packet of bakers Yeast says that it is Saccharomyces Cerevisiae and my packet of US-05 also says its Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. so my question for you is:
Is US-05 the wrong yeast to use if it also used as a common Bakers yeast, when I am brewing american style beers?
All yeasts are the same species, but there are different "breeds" of yeast, just like there's different breeds of dogs.
What David said
I can buy store made wine with a bunch of chemicals, that’s why I’m home brewing to get away from that.
cool! make crappy wine that sours quickly
@@tomgoodwin7134 mine lasted for a year before I gulped it down. That was without added chemicals too. If you are using properly sanitized equipments and glass bottles for storing wine, then it won't go bad for atleast two years.
I learned my favorite winery uses sulphate gas to kill yeast. It then gasses off leaving no sulphates behind. They pretty much use technique over tricks with chemicals. I get what you mean as some products go the wrong way.
been making my own meads for over 20 years, Fleischmanns yeast is the best, just gotta be careful with quantities...tannins can be added by adding a cup of black tea...raisens provide nutrients for your Fleischmann's yeast, not sure about other yeasts...good advice on the other stuff tho
I like ec1118 because, I like a 'sipping' mead. I am landing around 20% for mine. I add a a tincture of spices that helps with that.
I totally mix measurements. some things are easier and better to measure by volume. adding weights together is like 1000 times easier in grams. but tsp and tbsp is the way to go with chemicals
I freaking love your Sonic/Knuckles coffee cup
That game came out a very long time ago. Put Sonic 3 into it and basically got 2 new games. Genius product design on their part.
Your bit about not adding enough fruit has me a bit worried.. So, I know this may be dumb but I started a gallon of mead about two weeks ago, I used around a pound of raspberries and 2 pounds of honey, is the raspberry flavor not going to come through at all? Have I essentially wasted my money and time trying to get raspberry flavor into my mead? (This is my second gallon ever, the first one is a traditional)
My forray into wine making ended when I tried the low fruit recipe results. The whole process seemed like an excuse to be an alcoholic on the cheap.
What do you think about Amoretti Artisan Flavors? They are 100% puree I believe.
they're pretty decent but sone of them come off fake. if you've ever had a blood orange ipa you're probably drinking amoretti
I'm thinking about using a dragon fruit in a melomel, I want at least one more fruit.. I want to do acai berry, but I was curious what you might think?
Açaí or maybe goji berry might be a fun complement - would definitely help bring on a nice pink color!
So after some research, I think I want to get a few more dragon fruit, and pair it with mango and strawberry. I've done a melomel with strawberry before, and was told to add banana to help bring out the flavor, what is your opinion?
BlackSmith Beta I’m not a huge fan of brewing with bananas themselves, because of clarity problems. However, you may look into tossing in a banana peel or two. I know it sounds weird, but it can accomplish some of the same things, including adding nice body to the finished product.
The fruit wine part is all too true. I have been guiltily a ton of this as most of my fruited wines are berries that i pick ( mainly Huck, Goose, and Choke). Sometimes, the year is not meant for it. Just freeze them and wait till next year
I live in a West African country where i can't just buy fermaid-o. Do you have any suggestions for yeast nutrient from natural ingredients that are available to most folks? Any idea how folks solved this problem historically, before there was packaged yeast nutrient.
Boil some baker's yeast and you can add that as nutrient, at the rate of about 1-2tsp per gallon of must. :)
@@DointheMost thanks!
Ive always just worked with dried fruit because i have pounds of the stuff and cultivated wild yeast
I cant afford 30 pounds of fancy honey and no one around here sells and brewing yeast of any kind
Awsome coffe mug
Different yeasts do have different nuances and alcohol tolerances,...to a point. You can also cultivate strains of yeast with the must you wish to use it in. When it all comes down to it all yeast is cut from the same mould.
Whats the best way to increase ABV. I love a nice Maibock with 7% ABV, but there are no kits out there that offer it. Im a newbie, so have only really done the wort kits so far.
You could add in some table sugar or honey if you need just a slight bump in ABV. Honey can dry a beer out, and thus thin it out. If you’re brewing extract beers, you could easily add additional liquid or malt extract to bump it up. Online brewing calculators should help you determine how much you need.
Many years ago I took a first place at NHC for a doppelbock that was all grain for the base recipe and boosted fermentables with a good quality liquid extract. Resist the temptation to use honey, sucrose, or other simple sugars. It will achieve higher ABV but so too would vodka/everclear if that is all you are seeking.
sugar
I like that sonic and knuckles coffee mug.
Ahh, a fellow admirer of culture.
@@HisVirusness oops, LIKE, not LIVE. I corrected the mobile typo.
First sip offa two weeks is always rocket fuel. I just do it to see if there is any of the original flavors still there on the back end. Mostly do this with melomels.
I like the 2 week all spices example taste acting.
I cant find the link to the.yeast washing vid
What was the Reddit oage that had mad adjuncts?
Thankfully im blessed to have pretty sterile well water so i use that for my brews
1. A couple years ago I decided to make mead with bread yeast and supermarket pasteurised honey. The result can only be described as my body immediately rejected it as soon as it touched my lips. It was like I had taken a sip of a random vial in a chemistry lab. Would not recommend.
Ok I hear you but now I wanna try to make a twix bar bochet 😆
I have two mead books where the guy mixes measurements in every recipe. Drives me crazy. 🤣
I've used bread yeast and it does ferment. Is it designed for making brew? No, but if you're on a budget, OR, have a ton of bread yeast, then you use what you've got. Saying bread yeast is a mistake... different strokes for different folks. As for flavor extracts... I prefer to keep things as natural as possible. I stick with fruits as opposed to chemicals. That means no yeast nutrients, or chemicals of any kind. Why? Man was making brew long before lab/factory produced chemicals were ever a thought, and we're still here today to tell the tale. lol... I love how he said don't believe the internet and yet here he is telling us this stuff ON THE INTERNET!!! So, are we not supposed to believe you?
I agree with the last point... You need to wait and let the aging process take place. As for the other points, I think you're stressing them a bit. As long as you're making a product you enjoy and tastes good, then you're doing it right. I use tap water for my meads. Why? Because it tastes good and I'm cheap. I can't see paying for water when it comes out of my tap clear, odor free, and with no taste. Are all these points you bring up mistakes, or just your opinion on several of these topics? Not everyone brews the same. That's fine. If everyone brewed the same, there wouldn't be as many interesting recipes out there. Just a bit of constructive criticism... in the future, try to let people know that the points you're making are just your OPINION. Unless you have a degree in chemical engineering and Brewing, OR, have been making brews longer than anyone has ever been alive, I think it's safe to say we're all novices here and use techniques that work best for each of us.
we sell wine yeast for $1.25/5g. dont use bread yeast
Speaking of mistakes... I just lost a 5 gal. batch of mead when a carboy exploded... (yea... flooded the AC system!) anyway you mentioned silicon carboy stoppers, but I can't recall in which video. How about a link so I can convince my wife that she'll never have to help clean up our indoor swimming pool again?!
That sounds like a nightmare! Here's a link that also helps support the channel: amzn.to/3gcxRBO
Oh man I once tapped to jars together, like a kiss. One proceeded to begin pouring out its solution in minutes. I put a towel over AC vent quickly. Smelled like berry citrus jam and grapes for a while. It was a failed grape mead, forget the term for mead class. So I figured hey lets learn how to use jam and develop a measuring system for it. One survived though.
I agree with most if not all of your thoughts , especially of the measurements.
I totally disagree with the mixed measurements when I watch cooking, baking or brewing channels!
Hate to see bloggers not giving the exact weight! They usually says 1~2 tablespoon of this or that. We can have heapspoon, level spoon and sizes of spoons varied
This type of measurements are really not good enough! Giving the weight of the ingrdients is the only way to go!
Whoa, i havent had a pair of airwalks in over a decade. Never even seen their other apparel.