Ok, so after a few extract batches under my belt, I thought of what’s next. I took a subtle step today and altered the paragon dry dock’s apricot blonde kit (found here on NB.com). Baby steps here, but fun nonetheless. I’m hoping this turns out:
Instead of brewing an entire 5 gallon batch with the apricot additions, I’ve decided to halve the additions into an apricot and an orange. So I’ve acquired two 3.5-gallon primary fermenter’s (which I’m very proud of) and 2-3 gallon carboy’s for secondaries. I’m making an orange puree and will add an orange extract before bottling (just as the recipe would call for the apricot additions).
As you can tell, I’m very proud of my little tweak, and was wondering if anyone else has a special tweak or creative twist that they add or change in a recipe that they’re excited about. And of course…if you have any advice on my endeavor here, please feel free to share!
My two FREE small batch fermentation vessels!!!vvvvvv
[attachment=0]fermenters.JPG[/attachment]
nice fermenters! I recently got a 3 gallon carboy, and i’m using it tomorrow for the first time.
Your tweak sounds solid. as for advice: you dont NEED to secondary. Although that is up to you. an extended primary will work (3-4 weeks) and will not harm the beer.
How about tweaks that I’m not proud of? A few years ago I decided to replace priming sugar with hard candies to add some flavor complexity to a solid, but intentionally bland wheat recipe I’ve got. Worked great for the priming, but the flavor was variable. Some candies faded away almost completly, while other overwhelmed way beyond what anyone would want. Hint: don’t try this with Fisherman’s Friends. Enough menthod to blow the top of your head off.
[quote=“S.Scoggin”]nice fermenters! I recently got a 3 gallon carboy, and i’m using it tomorrow for the first time.
Your tweak sounds solid. as for advice: you dont NEED to secondary. Although that is up to you. an extended primary will work (3-4 weeks) and will not harm the beer.
good luck :cheers: [/quote]
Thanks! I’ve heard that a lot about the secondaries. So far I’ve had success with it. I plan on using just a primary on a few recipe’s after I’ve done them once or twice so I can notice differences (if any).
Now that’s funny! I thought about priming my White House Honey Porter with honey but was too chicken.
Fisherman’s Friends are the best, worst tasting, lozenges I’ve ever had! They work pretty good for cold symptoms, probably not good for beers though.lol
I have given the natural extracts in a bottle a try from NB (apricot, strawberry, raspberry, and apricot). They weren’t bad. I added 2ml per 12 oz. bottle. I would give them all a shot again except strawberry, too sweet.
I’m thinking the Brewgods are having their fun at humbling me. Brewed on Thurs. night and thought everything was going to plan. Split the batch perfectly amongst my 2 newly acquired fermenters and confidently pitched my yeast (Wyeast #1056 SmackPack). Noticed the tops to the buckets didn’t quite seal the way I wanted so I used some handy dandy duck tape to get them sealed up good and tight. Once I had them all taped up, I threw my airlocks on, set the fermenters in a good resting place, and kissed them good night.
Welp, the next day and a half I kept checking for bubbling to no avail. The aroma of that sweet wort was nice and strong and I just couldn’t help but to open the lids to see what may or may not be going on inside. To my surprise a nice thick layer of krauzen was established!
I’ve resealed to the best I could, still with no bubbling going on in the airlocks. I’m wondering if I’ll be ok to give a couple more days and just rack to the secondary (which is a better sealed vessel) or is all lost…
You nice folks here have said it to me within this very post even, but here’s my lesson learned: You don’t need to rack to a secondary, and if you have a suspect vessel that may not seal tight, go ahead with the one you know seals up and just leave it in that!!!
Just let them be. It’s likely that the container isn’t as air tight as you we’re thinking.
This isn’t necessarily bad since c02 is going to push out any oxygen. And once fermentation is done, the c02 is heavier than air, and it will keep it out for a little while.
I wouldn’t bulk age in a vessel like that, but it should be just fine for a primary.
[quote=“stompwampa”]Just let them be. It’s likely that the container isn’t as air tight as you we’re thinking.
This isn’t necessarily bad since c02 is going to push out any oxygen. And once fermentation is done, the c02 is heavier than air, and it will keep it out for a little while.
I wouldn’t bulk age in a vessel like that, but it should be just fine for a primary.[/quote]
Staying the course and learning some patience. Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do
Depending one what time frame you consider, I would be fine with 3-4, maybe 6 weeks in that icing pail. Outside 6 weeks a BB or glass would be appropriate.
Priming with Fisherman’s Friend? I thought they were sugar free? Maybe “dry hop” with 1 in 5 gallons.
Not really an alteration, the Ex actually picked up an issue of BYO I has laying around. She saw a recipe for a Kiwi Wit beer and asked me to make it. I took a wheat beer I had made before and had the ingredients for and added Kiwi to it. She liked it and so did a friends wife.
