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I'm trying my hand at making some home brew!

FF got me a beer making kit from the beer shop in BG (basically 2 6 gallon buckets made for brewing along with all of the other essentials) and a German Bock pre-packaged mix. I whipped it up yesterday. I just checked and the frementation process has begun!

I'll keep you posted as to my progress through this first batch.

Congrats on the kit and don't forget to post pics.

Here is my latest Mead, Orange Blossom Honey with a lime twist, almost clear enough to bottle. Right around 16% alchohol, it really warms you up.

How is the barley pop coming along, any updates?

oaklane2 wrote:How is the barley pop coming along, any updates?

It's down in the basement aging. I bottled it about 21/2 weeks ago. It looked kind of cloudy at the time but peering through the bottles now, it's cleared up. My guess is that there will be some sediment at the bottom of the bottles but I'll be pouring it into a glass to drink anyway so I'm not too worried about that. I'm tempted to pop one open just to see, but patience is a virtue. Everything I read is that it takes about 15 days after bottling for the fermentation of the sugar and carbonation to complete, but it should set for another month or so after that for the best taste.

BGFan wrote:

oaklane2 wrote:How is the barley pop coming along, any updates?

It's down in the basement aging. I bottled it about 21/2 weeks ago. It looked kind of cloudy at the time but peering through the bottles now, it's cleared up. My guess is that there will be some sediment at the bottom of the bottles but I'll be pouring it into a glass to drink anyway so I'm not too worried about that. I'm tempted to pop one open just to see, but patience is a virtue. Everything I read is that it takes about 15 days after bottling for the fermentation of the sugar and carbonation to complete, but it should set for another month or so after that for the best taste.

I actually enjoy tasting the changes as the beer ages. I'd encourage you to try one now... then pay attention to the changes that happen as the beer matures and finally ages. It's pretty cool and there are some real obvious changes, especially with some of the "bigger" beer styles... porters, stouts, and barleywines in particular.

ZiggyZoomba wrote:

BGFan wrote:

oaklane2 wrote:How is the barley pop coming along, any updates?

It's down in the basement aging. I bottled it about 21/2 weeks ago. It looked kind of cloudy at the time but peering through the bottles now, it's cleared up. My guess is that there will be some sediment at the bottom of the bottles but I'll be pouring it into a glass to drink anyway so I'm not too worried about that. I'm tempted to pop one open just to see, but patience is a virtue. Everything I read is that it takes about 15 days after bottling for the fermentation of the sugar and carbonation to complete, but it should set for another month or so after that for the best taste.

I actually enjoy tasting the changes as the beer ages. I'd encourage you to try one now... then pay attention to the changes that happen as the beer matures and finally ages. It's pretty cool and there are some real obvious changes, especially with some of the "bigger" beer styles... porters, stouts, and barleywines in particular.

I took your advice and cracked one open! It was quite tasty! I took a couple of pictures of the glass but haven't uploaded them yet. The beer was nice and clear, although, as I suspected, there was sediment at the bottom (which is no big deal). So far I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt!

BGFan wrote:

ZiggyZoomba wrote:

BGFan wrote:

oaklane2 wrote:How is the barley pop coming along, any updates?

It's down in the basement aging. I bottled it about 21/2 weeks ago. It looked kind of cloudy at the time but peering through the bottles now, it's cleared up. My guess is that there will be some sediment at the bottom of the bottles but I'll be pouring it into a glass to drink anyway so I'm not too worried about that. I'm tempted to pop one open just to see, but patience is a virtue. Everything I read is that it takes about 15 days after bottling for the fermentation of the sugar and carbonation to complete, but it should set for another month or so after that for the best taste.

I actually enjoy tasting the changes as the beer ages. I'd encourage you to try one now... then pay attention to the changes that happen as the beer matures and finally ages. It's pretty cool and there are some real obvious changes, especially with some of the "bigger" beer styles... porters, stouts, and barleywines in particular.

I took your advice and cracked one open! It was quite tasty! I took a couple of pictures of the glass but haven't uploaded them yet. The beer was nice and clear, although, as I suspected, there was sediment at the bottom (which is no big deal). So far I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt!

If you are bottling the beer you will always have sediment at the bottom, so you're good to not care about that. The yeast is eating the extra sugar you provide it to create the carbonation...in doing so it will multiply again. That new yeast will settle to the bottom of the bottles...not much you can do about that. If you look at commercial beers a lot of microbrews will have the sediment at the bottom as well (Bells, for instance). The ones that don't have sediment are using artificial means to carbonate.

hammb wrote:

BGFan wrote:

ZiggyZoomba wrote:

BGFan wrote:

oaklane2 wrote:How is the barley pop coming along, any updates?

It's down in the basement aging. I bottled it about 21/2 weeks ago. It looked kind of cloudy at the time but peering through the bottles now, it's cleared up. My guess is that there will be some sediment at the bottom of the bottles but I'll be pouring it into a glass to drink anyway so I'm not too worried about that. I'm tempted to pop one open just to see, but patience is a virtue. Everything I read is that it takes about 15 days after bottling for the fermentation of the sugar and carbonation to complete, but it should set for another month or so after that for the best taste.

I actually enjoy tasting the changes as the beer ages. I'd encourage you to try one now... then pay attention to the changes that happen as the beer matures and finally ages. It's pretty cool and there are some real obvious changes, especially with some of the "bigger" beer styles... porters, stouts, and barleywines in particular.

I took your advice and cracked one open! It was quite tasty! I took a couple of pictures of the glass but haven't uploaded them yet. The beer was nice and clear, although, as I suspected, there was sediment at the bottom (which is no big deal). So far I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt!

If you are bottling the beer you will always have sediment at the bottom, so you're good to not care about that. The yeast is eating the extra sugar you provide it to create the carbonation...in doing so it will multiply again. That new yeast will settle to the bottom of the bottles...not much you can do about that. If you look at commercial beers a lot of microbrews will have the sediment at the bottom as well (Bells, for instance). The ones that don't have sediment are using artificial means to carbonate.

I figured that was the case, but it's good to know. I'll be bringing some to the first tailgate...

BGFan wrote:

hammb wrote:

BGFan wrote:

ZiggyZoomba wrote:

BGFan wrote:

oaklane2 wrote:How is the barley pop coming along, any updates?

It's down in the basement aging. I bottled it about 21/2 weeks ago. It looked kind of cloudy at the time but peering through the bottles now, it's cleared up. My guess is that there will be some sediment at the bottom of the bottles but I'll be pouring it into a glass to drink anyway so I'm not too worried about that. I'm tempted to pop one open just to see, but patience is a virtue. Everything I read is that it takes about 15 days after bottling for the fermentation of the sugar and carbonation to complete, but it should set for another month or so after that for the best taste.

I actually enjoy tasting the changes as the beer ages. I'd encourage you to try one now... then pay attention to the changes that happen as the beer matures and finally ages. It's pretty cool and there are some real obvious changes, especially with some of the "bigger" beer styles... porters, stouts, and barleywines in particular.

I took your advice and cracked one open! It was quite tasty! I took a couple of pictures of the glass but haven't uploaded them yet. The beer was nice and clear, although, as I suspected, there was sediment at the bottom (which is no big deal). So far I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt!

If you are bottling the beer you will always have sediment at the bottom, so you're good to not care about that. The yeast is eating the extra sugar you provide it to create the carbonation...in doing so it will multiply again. That new yeast will settle to the bottom of the bottles...not much you can do about that. If you look at commercial beers a lot of microbrews will have the sediment at the bottom as well (Bells, for instance). The ones that don't have sediment are using artificial means to carbonate.

I figured that was the case, but it's good to know. I'll be bringing some to the first tailgate...

There are even some of us who like to let the sediment mix in a little. It adds some interesting flavors. If you've ever had a hefeweizen, you've probably noticed it was a little cloudy. That's the result of natural filtering and fermentation, and the sediment being allowed to mix in a little. Usually, this adds a yeasty, wheat-y taste to the beer, and in pretty much any case, when I get a beer with some sediment in the bottom of the bottle, I allow it to mix in so I can taste the full range of flavors the beer has to offer.