Recent content by MaggieO

How much honey did you use with what volume of water? Even a 1.070 OG, about 185g honey per liter, mead should not be pale.

Seems like a lot of headspace in those bottles. Might want to fill them fuller next time.

Mash cooler. Makes a more fermentable wort. You can make some small, four liter test batches trying different mash temps and see what happens. Shame to make 20 liter test batches. You could try dropping 500g of malt and replacing it with 400g of sugar. This will thin the body though, slightly...

If you're bottling your priming sugar adds about 0.5%.

I hope this turns out for you. It may not be great but it will probably be good. Be patient.

On a tangent. I made one of these a few months ago. It was okay after three weeks in the bottle. It was a LOT better after six weeks. It's now at about nine weeks and better still. Be patient.

I imagine a bacterial infection could cause this. Especially as it started with no change in your equipment or process. Could also be remnants of a diastaticus yeast used in a saison for example.

This is supposed to be a very nice kit as it is. If it was my first go I'd just make it to the instructions. Friend of mine, his grandfather had a fairly big company many years ago. When he was hiring a new manager he would have them to his house for dinner. If they put salt on anything before...

You are correct. Dark extract would be more appropriate.

I've also seen this done as one Coopers Stout can and a can of Cooper's light liquid malt extract.

I don't secondary anymore. Didn't see any advantage plus it creates another opportunity for oxidation and infection.

Looks nice. Congratulations.

Here where I'm at the hospitals were mandated to prep for COVID-19 cases. All elective surgery was canceled or postponed. Lots of cancer patients going untreated. Suddenly, they're laying off hospital employees because there isn't anything for a lot of the staff to do. For those areas that are...

I would at least rack that cider into another carboy. Then you can let it sit a while longer. Sitting on that yeast at room temp the yeast is going to start breaking down which will give some unpleasant off flavors. Top off the receiving carboy with some boiled water to reduce the air space.

What temperature are you fermenting at? US-05 is bullet proof pitched directly into cooled wort without rehydrating.