The Homebrew Alcoholic Beverage Thread (Beer, Wine, & Liquor)

I didn’t see a thread for making homebrew alcohol, so I figured I’d start one. If My eyeholes weren’t properly working, please let me know.

This is meant to be encompassing of all styles of alcohol brewing. If enough interest for a distillation thread is warranted, we can start one for that specifically. We can share recipes, techniques, equipment and anything else that may be relevant. None of that “I’ll never tell you my recipe and I’ll take it to the grave”.

After a long hiatus on a small scale, to kick off the new year of '025 I started a batch of mead with a yeast I haven’t used before. The intent is to build up the strain for future use as a potential “house” strain.

Mead: “Fuck it, we’re doing hive (2025)” base batch.
Nothing special.

Ingredients:

Honey:
3lbs Kirkland Raw (US)
5lbs Kirkland Wildflower (Argentina)

Yeast: Kveik K.22 Stalljen

Nutrient: Staggered additions of DAP, Wyeast nutrient, and Yeast energizer

Starting Gravity: 1.080 (Jan 1, 2025)

Topped up the fermenter to 4 gallons water + honey. Dosed with O2 via stone.

Pitched the yeast at 81f, was about 66f about 28 hours later. Wrapped a seedling mat + a jacket around to help bring temp back up since it didn’t look like there was much activity going on. Earlier today when adding a small amount of nutrien + degassing, yeast activity could be seen.

Kveik generally moves quickly, but if anything this was an underpitch at a lower temp. Have used a different kveik in the past and ran into something similar until after making a beet with it.


Sorry, it sent an inappropriate picture earlier of something sticking out. Was supposed to be cold and turtle like.

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This might be the first time I’ve been flashed by a mash tun, but I’ll allow it.

Edit: This is mead. No mash. Stainless steel carboy, maybe? :rofl:

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Yeah SS Carboy works, though a carboy is generally looks like water cooler jugs. I just call it a fermentor, tank, or a combination of both as fermentation tank. Would like to get an electric element that works with the lower tri-clamp port and a column for the top so it could be used as a still too. Would have to be careful with it not being able to use all of the mash since the bottom cones to collect yeast/fallout.

As for this batch, just checked it a moment ago and the blowoff was bubbling occasionally. The internal temp rose to 88f-89f, which is completely fine for this strain/kveik’s in general.

I mixed it up to off-gas the mead and rouse any yeast that may have fallen to the bottom. Not much bubbling occurred, so the yeast is still probably building itself up. Having a bunch of headspace may be a contributing factor.

Fed it a 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient at the same time. Honey doesn’t provide much nutrient in general for yeast, which is why step feeding is helpful.

Edit: About 2 hours after stirring it up, started chugging along. Internal temp is 90f 6 hours after the stir. The yeast just needed to be catlike for a moment. Had to stretch their legs and squeak-yawn while waking up. Since Kveiks can work quickly, going to check it again tonight before going to sleep.

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