What are you drinking tonight 2021?

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Neipa next, still not sure on this
IMG_20211221_215604075.jpg
 
Well, having been disappointed with my Sunday glass of Brewferm Christmas Ale owing to its impersonation of a glass of Pepsi, no head. Just opened another bottle and it's like a different bier. This has body, nice level of bitterness combined with a dark brown sugar and raisin / dried vine fruit sweetness and flavour. Quite a revelation in difference. The difference being Sundays a swing top and tonight's a crown cap. Am I clutching at straws?
 

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That's a small sample size but revealing. Gasket on the flip could have been faulty. Sometimes the priming sugar (depending on how you administer) could be the culprit if it's not mixed completely.
Take your points David. This kit is a 1 tin no added sugar or anything, even for priming. As it only makes 7l not many bottles but as the week goes on shall see how it behaves.
 
Some of the research suggests that the vegetable matter in hops added later in your process absorbs previously released oils/thiols so there is an optimum regime to retain maximum flavour/aroma but the science is immature and it isn’t clear what that regime is yet. I dropped the late dry hop addition on this basis but I don’t think it made a big difference either way - maybe in a wort loaded with precursors, dry hopping takes away as much as it gives if this research is right?

If mash hopping can load the wort with precursors and fermentation with the right yeast(s) can release them then maybe mash hopping alone could be a solution for bittering, flavour, aroma, and antioxidant. I’ll be testing this by putting all my hop additions (300g) into the mash. 🤞

300g wow! I remember your recipe was that high but didn't actually conceptualize it all at once.

A couple follow up questions will you dump the hops with your grains? If so are you planning an 80c mashout? I am imagining extraction might be limited at <70c. Or the other option is to bag the hops and toss them in the boil after mashing?

Another thought is to shorten the boil time to 15-20min and get your hot break and any dms to offgas. No need for longer if there are no hops.
 
Yes, as I understand it, my wine would be 24-28% proof over there. Not entirely sure though lol

Hi Lisa,
Happy to help clear this often encountered muddled topic:
Here you go, ( and @DavidDetroit)
From my ANCIENT brewing and wine making book :

IMG_20211222_132738.jpg


And I recently found this easy to use 'plug in your numbers' calculator link below.
You don't need to do all the lower bit about volumes and units,
just enter the alcohol strength scale you know in one of the top 3 boxes, then tap 'calculate it'.

http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/ccalcoh4.htm
The important thing to hold on to is;

Europe uses % Alcohol by Volume, ABV.

USA - Just double the %AbV to give their US Proof in degrees °.

UK use an ancient Proof system based on 'Will gunpowder burn if soaked in it?' which as my old book chart says is:

To convert %ABV into British °Proof, multiply by 7, then divide by 4.
Or to convert British °Proof into %ABV multiply by 4, then divide by 7.

The oft-used term, '% proof' is mixing units.
It's like saying, "it's 10 degrees Fahrenheit Centigrade today"
It can be seen from everything above that alcohol strength is in either:
%ABV,
or 'degrees Proof', °Proof.
(even here British or USA degrees proof should be stated, or confusion will continue to reign).

I hope this helps clear all these different systems up.
This may look long, but alcohol strength is confusing, in so many ways! 😉🍻
 
Last edited:
Hi Lisa,
Happy to help clear this often encountered muddled topic:
Here you go, ( and @DavidDetroit)
From my ANCIENT brewing and wine making book :

View attachment 59870

And I recently found this easy to use 'plug in your numbers' calculator link below.
You don't need to do all the lower bit about volumes and units,
just enter the alcohol strength scale you know in one of the top 3 boxes, then tap 'calculate it'.

http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/ccalcoh4.htm
The important thing to hold on to is;

Europe uses % Alcohol by Volume, ABV.

USA - Just double the %AbV to give their US Proof in degrees °.

UK use an ancient Proof system based 'Will gunpowder burn if soaked in it?' which as my old book chart says is:

To convert %ABV into British °Proof, multiply by 7, then divide by 4.
Or to convert British °Proof into %ABV multiply by 4, then divide by 7.

The oft-used term, '% proof' is mixing units.
It's like saying, "it's 10 degrees Fahrenheit Centigrade today"
It can be seen from everything above that alcohol strength is in either:
%ABV,
or 'degrees Proof', °Proof.
(even here British or USA degrees proof should be stated, or confusion will continue to reign).

I hope this helps clear all these different systems up.
This may look long, but alcohol strength is confusing, in so many ways! 😉🍻

Thank you for that, I'll take a good butchers!
 
I just learned that one of the UK beer gurus doesn't recommend adding priming sugar. Well, there you go.
Now, I'm tempted to go a little lighter on the priming sugar.

I think that this is only for this particular kit - it used to finish at 1.020 and instructed you to bottle with no priming sugar. The last time I made it, the instructions said it would finish at 1.010/12 (can't remember exactly) and gave an amount of priming sugar to use. They must have changed the yeast in the kits. Not sure what the current instructions are as I haven't made it for 4 or 5 years.
 
Hi Lisa,
Happy to help clear this often encountered muddled topic:
Here you go, ( and @DavidDetroit)
From my ANCIENT brewing and wine making book :

View attachment 59870

And I recently found this easy to use 'plug in your numbers' calculator link below.
You don't need to do all the lower bit about volumes and units,
just enter the alcohol strength scale you know in one of the top 3 boxes, then tap 'calculate it'.

http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/ccalcoh4.htm
The important thing to hold on to is;

Europe uses % Alcohol by Volume, ABV.

USA - Just double the %AbV to give their US Proof in degrees °.

UK use an ancient Proof system based on 'Will gunpowder burn if soaked in it?' which as my old book chart says is:

To convert %ABV into British °Proof, multiply by 7, then divide by 4.
Or to convert British °Proof into %ABV multiply by 4, then divide by 7.

The oft-used term, '% proof' is mixing units.
It's like saying, "it's 10 degrees Fahrenheit Centigrade today"
It can be seen from everything above that alcohol strength is in either:
%ABV,
or 'degrees Proof', °Proof.
(even here British or USA degrees proof should be stated, or confusion will continue to reign).

I hope this helps clear all these different systems up.
This may look long, but alcohol strength is confusing, in so many ways! 😉🍻
Interesting. I was good on the US proof/ABV relationship (not that I ever drink the hard stuff) but not on the rest.
From the chart, I didn't get why one entry, 114 proof US, was not listed by half at 57 but 57.1.

Now curious enough to look, the below may or may NOT be true. I didn't check it out properly.

"Proof is so called because, back in England in the 1500s, the government would levy a higher tax on liquor containing a higher amount alcohol. Alcohol content was determined via a rather crude test. Basically, the government would soak a gun pellet with alcohol and try to set fire to the gunpowder. If it lit, the alcohol content in the liquor was high enough gunpowder to ignite, the liquor was to be deemed to be a “proof spirit” — as in, there was proof it contained a high amount of alcohol — and was taxed at a higher rate."
 
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