30 replies to this topic

[ANUSTART]

I tried to dispense from the keg last night, it's clogged like crazy. I guess there were too many fruit bits going into the keg. It'll probably be a while until I get around to transferring to another keg. It smelled good when it sprayed all over the kegerator though.

[toonces]

Otherwise, you could ferment bone dry, stabilize, then backsweeten.

this is what i do.

For a yeast I'd go with Lalvin 71B.

yep.i usually use 6 lbs of puree, 12(iirc, maybe 10) pounds of honey, and ~3.5 gallons of apple juice. however, that will yield you a 11-16% melomel, depending on the fruit used. without promash in front of me and playing with it, i'd say that using water rather than apple juice would likely cut the og in half. think of apple juice as being a base grain.

[ANUSTART]

I finally got around to transferring out of the clogged keg through a mesh. It lost some carbonation in the process, so I'll see how it is fully carbed in a few days.Since I had less volume after the blackberries drank my mead, I backsweetened too much. It's at 1.030. It's not undrinkable, but I wouldnt drink more than 3 or 4 ounces at once. It's very pink with light pink foam when initially poured. There's a strange bitterness that I think is from the blackberries. Kinda like when you eat one that's not sweet. All in all it's pretty good, but not spectacular. Due to the cost of this compared to a batch of beer, I may only make one or two batches per year. I think I'll try the same recipe with frozen blueberries instead of fresh blackberries next.

[ANUSTART]

I challenge Guest and strangebrewer to a blackberry melomel taste-off (not off-taste) labor day weekend (translation for Guest: labour day weekend).I know Guest's is done... strangebrewer, you are on notice!

[strangebrewer]

I challenge Guest and strangebrewer to a blackberry melomel taste-off (not off-taste) labor day weekend (translation for Guest: labour day weekend).I know Guest's is done... strangebrewer, you are on notice!

You sure you want to set yourself up for that kind of embarrassment?

[ANUSTART]

You sure you want to set yourself up for that kind of embarrassment?

Mine's made and on tap. It would only be embarrassing if I talked about it for months but never finished it.

[ANUSTART]

I need to get mine in a keg and use your guy's CO2 to pressurize and dispense.

Just buy a tank and regulator with that new paycheck.

[ANUSTART]

I don't know what kind of things I need. I have the normal cornies - but tubing, connectors, tanks, etc - I don't know what I need.

Start with a tank and regulator, then get a bunch of barbed gas (gray) and liquid (black) ball lock QDs, cobra taps, and 100ft of beverage line. I use worm gear clamps too, but I'm not sure how necessary they are. That's it.ETA: Oh yea, something to split the gas lines would be helpful if you have more than 1 keg. There are many options from a simple T to a secondary regulator for each keg.

Edited by Odacrem, 04 August 2010 - 10:58 AM.

[strangebrewer]

I added some acid blend to the glass to tarten it up, and I am going to proceed tartening the rest in the keg. It is not nearly as cloyingly now and the acid gives it a nice bite.Now - how do I go about adding the acid blend to a keg that is already under pressure...

Remove the gas QD, pull the pressure relief valve on the top of the keg until it stops hissing, give it a minute and then pull the valve again, pop the top, add whatever, mix if needed, and seal it back up. Easy cheesy.

[strangebrewer]

Will that release only the head space or will it flatten the carb?

It will release the headspace which will cause the liquid inside to start giving up its CO2. Just be quick about it and it won't make much if any difference to the carbonation level.

[ANUSTART]

It will release the headspace which will cause the liquid inside to start giving up its CO2. Just be quick about it and it won't make much if any difference to the carbonation level.

I'm not sure what the acid blend is, but in my experience, adding any kind of powder to a carbonated liquid will release a lot of CO2. Just make sure you have enough headspace if it foams up like crazy. If youre mixing in a liquid, it probably wont do anything.