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.