re: Homebrewing: In-Process Thread

My porter is fermenting away, but has bubbled through the airlock once again. Whatever is bubbling out has the concistency of cake batter. Is that bad?

Thanks, at least it stayed on top of the fermentor and not all over the floor.

That's great! The closet I keep mine in stays at 68. I've had 2 brews in a row start crazy action in less than 24 hours. I still just worry about sanitation.

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Also used this for 5 ounces of flameout hops. Will use it to dry hop as well.

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Do these things affect hops utilization? I like the idea, but worried about low utilization.

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No different than using a mesh bag for the hops.

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I don't do this either. Just wondering how much of a difference it is, as opposed to just adding hops straight. Sounds like a job for Google.

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Just wondering how much of a difference it is, as opposed to just adding hops straight.

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I want to say I read that hop bags decrease hop utilization by 10% or something like that.

ETA: and Google says... LINK

"The ROT I've always heard is that bags reduce utilization by about 10%, so I just use 10% more hops." - Denny Conn

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Did you add hops to this through out the boil or just use this it for your largest addition?

I've thought about building a hop spider, but this looks more convenient for clean up.

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Yeah, this was just for the 5 ounces of flameout hops. I added the bittering hops and 30 minute additions to the pot as usual. It was supposed to be 4 1/2 ounces at flameout, but I hate breaking up bags, so I rounded up to 5 ounces. There's the 10% more.

nm

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I'd recommend adding at flame-out.

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I read an article on beersmith. Here's the text.

This leaves a dilemma for the brewer, as you need to sterilize the honey to eliminate the bacteria without boiling off the aroma oils and destroying the enzymes. One way to use honey with your beer is to pasteurize it without boiling it:
• If possible, mix the honey with water to dilute it to approximately the same gravity as the wort you are planning to add it to.
• Heat the honey to approximately 176 F (80 C) and hold it for 60-90 minutes. Ideally you would like to keep the honey under a CO2 blanket if you have a CO2 tank, but if not at least cover the pot.
• After cooling the honey, add it directly to the beer while it is fermenting. Ideally it should be added at high kraeusen (when fermentation is at its maximum activity). (Ref: Daniels)
• Allow additional time to ferment before bottling. Honey takes a notoriously long time to fully ferment. At a minimum I would allow 3-8 weeks more for full fermentation, though many meads are fermented for a year or more.
• Another option is to simply add it in the fermenter after the boil. Though honey is high in sugar, it has many antibiotic properties that help preserve it for long periods without storing, so many beer and mead brewers use it directly without pasteurizing it first.