What are you brewing?

[archer]

Interesting.  How's this made?  Like dandelion wine?

I’ll 'borrow' my wife’s recipe and post it here.

[1greenman]

Does Water Kefir count?

It is a fermentation.  Gets right bubbly delicious if conditions are right!

[David in MN]

Well my tripel was a flame-o disaster. Way too dark, way too malty, a little sweet, rummy notes, etc. Basically it drinks more like a quad, which was not my intent. I obviously went too high on special grains and gravity while not adding enough sugar to lean out the body. But I don't mind calling it a quad while I plan the next attempt. Led to funny conversation with my wife where she asked about the alcohol content and I told her it was just short of 11%. She asked why I insist on making every batch as potent as possible, especially when my favorite tripels are usually ~8-9abv. Good point. Back to the drawing board.

Today I'm starting another dry cider between beer batches. My next batch will be an IPA for my father in law. Right now I'm planning 100% Marris Otter and Fuggles for bittering, aroma, dry, and keg hops. Before you ask, yes it will be 9-10abv as is my preference.

[Smurf Hunter]

Well my tripel was a flame-o disaster. Way too dark, way too malty, a little sweet, rummy notes, etc. Basically it drinks more like a quad, which was not my intent. I obviously went too high on special grains and gravity while not adding enough sugar to lean out the body. But I don't mind calling it a quad while I plan the next attempt. Led to funny conversation with my wife where she asked about the alcohol content and I told her it was just short of 11%. She asked why I insist on making every batch as potent as possible, especially when my favorite tripels are usually ~8-9abv. Good point. Back to the drawing board.

In other words, you made a loaf of bread in a pint glass

[David in MN]

In other words, you made a loaf of bread in a pint glass

Not my worst miss. The yeast "funk" is great yielding a fantastic nose and the malty back works if I call it a quad. To be fair, I'm a newbie on the Trappist type ales. Most of my brewing is more Belgian farmhouse so I'm trying to expand my knowledge. Not surprising my first crack at a tripel smacks more of a a biere de garde. I've done dubbels in the past but my bread and butter are saisons.

[archer]

The Elderflower wine recipe and my wife's notes:
This recipe does not need yeast added to it. The elderflower contains it's own yeast and plenty of it. I found that you need to keep the temperature to about 70-to 80 when letting it steep. Just a wee bit cooler than bread proofing. Too hot, gives it an off flavor. It might get some mold. I found a a little blue mold is ok but not heaps. I also found that filtering with a wire mesh strainer first then with a funnel and coffee filter make for a clearer and nicer flavored champagne.
This recipe was originally from the band ”The Cure” website. It is Robert Smith's own recipe. He seemed to be thinking in metric when writing this. The metric measurements are correct. I had to do some correction of the American measurements. I do love this champagne. I hope you do too!

You will need:
1 and a half pounds of white sugar (750g)
1 and a half gallons of cold, filtered water (4.5 litre)
1 large lemon
4 fresh or dried elderflower heads
2 tablespoons of white or apple vinegar
large pot or bowl or bucket that is non reactive
medium pot

Warm about a quart of the water and dissolve the sugar in it use medium pot.
Let it cool.
Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the sugar water. Zest or slice the peel off lemon and also put into sugar water.
In large pot or bowl combine the sugar water/lemon,flower heads, vinegar and remaining water.
Let it steep for four days in a not brightly lit area. Do not fully cover it. It needs to out gas.
On the fourth day bottle it in very clean airtight bottles.
Allow to steep in bottle for another 6 to 10 days in a not brightly lit area.
Steep time in bottle is also dependent on temperature of room.

[David in MN]

My kombucha kit just arrived. I plan to start this week. I'm very excited as I have no problem drinking two per day and at $4 a pop it's just too expensive. Hopefully brewing my own will cut the cost and let me drink this stuff by the quart. So pumped up for this project...

[David in MN]

Just finished bottling my currant mead and kegging my cider. The mead tastes great and I finally have a use for the currant plant (other than as a living bird feeder).

[LvsChant]

I have three projects going right now...

Apfelwein (1 gallon) using EdWort's recipe: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/edworts-apfelwein-33986/ (in secondary)
Beaujolais (5 gallon) from concentrate. Just racked it into a 5 gallon glass carboy today.
Concord wine (1 gallon) from the recipe here: http://www.alabrew.com/ (in primary)

I did not order the pectic enzymes recommended for the concord wine, so proceeded without that particular recipe item. Any idea how much this will affect my success?

Also ordered a kit for Noble Trappist Ale for my husband to try out beer brewing. http://www.midwestsupplies.com/noble-trappist-ale.html

I know this is an old thread... but just for fun, thought I'd let you know about a bottle from the batch of Concord wine. After moving two times and keeping one bottle of this batch from 2010 until this week... I have to say that silly little batch of Concord wine tastes pretty good. Aging did help it a lot. Although you still get the flavor of concord grape juice to some degree (strange in a bottle of wine), it has a slightly tart bite to it and is a lovely sort of cognac color. It is a bit sweeter than I usually like, but totally drinkable.