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Don't soak
those corks. Oil them up!
Winemakers have always been advised to soak corks in
hot sulphited water for a period of time before inserting
them in the bottles. The reason for this was to make
insertion easier. Cork manufacturers advise against
doing this because the moisture that is trapped in the
cork can cause growth of moulds and other micro-organisms.
Even if you use sulphite, it breaks down over a period
of time leaving no protection. Most modern corks are
sterile when packaged and are coated with food grade
silicone. Even though the silicone makes insertion a
lot easier it still can be difficult, especially if
you are using a hand-held corking machine. To help insertion
you can wipe each cork with a special cork insertion
oil or glycerine. A very light coating is all that is
needed. Don't over-do it!
Take the
hassle out of santizing. Spray it on!
Here's a great tip that will save you lots of time and
energy. Use a spray bottle to apply your sanitizing
solution to your equipment. You will find these bottles
at your brew shop or gardening centre. Avoid using old
bottles that have contained other liquids and never
use bottles that have been used to apply insecticides
or herbicides. Play it safe and use a new bottle.
Fill the spray bottle with your sanitizing solution
and pump it to spray the entire surface of your buckets,
lids, spoons and any other equipment that needs to be
sanitized. Follow the instructions that came with your
sanitizer as to the proper dilution, standing time and
rinsing.
Wooden spoons can be big trouble. Stick to plastic
or stainless steel.
Avoid using wooden spoons to stir your juice or wort.
Because of their porosity, wooden spoons are almost
impossilble to sanatize . We have traced many of our
customer's spoiled batches back to wooden spoons. The
only time you can safely use a wooden spoon is during
the boiling of wort but once the wort is in the fermenter
you should switch to a plastic or stainless steel spoon.
Remember, over 90% of all microbiological contamination
happens during this critical stage. Be sure to sanitize
your plastic or stainless spoon before stirring.
What's the big hurry? Bulk age your wines for
superior quality.
The greatest asset that good winemakers have is their
patience. Good wine cannot be rushed. Even though most
wine kits give you a recipe that will produce a drinkable
wine in four weeks, all wines will benefit from a period
of bulk aging or cuvaison. After 28 days you should
transfer your wine into a glass carboy. Top it up if
necessary with a similar type wine or distilled water.
Attach an air lock to the carboy and store the wine
in a cool place (an unheated basement is ideal)
for two to four weeks. Siphon the wine off any sediment
that may have formed then filter and bottle it according
to instructions. You can also add sweetener at this
time if you desire.
So don't rush it. Your patience will be rewarded by
producing a superior wine.
Keep those carboys and buckets fresh. Add a little
sulphite
It is very important to keep your equipment clean. Sanitizers
are not effective on stained or dirty equipment. You
should clean your equipment as soon as you are finished
with it. Once your carboys and buckets are spotlessly
clean you can add one cup of sulphite solution to them.
You should then seal the carboy or bucket tightly with
a solid rubber bung or plastic wrap. The sulphur dioxide
gas given off from the sulphite solution will protect
your equipment and keep it fresh and sanitized. When
you are ready to use your fermenter again just pour
out the sulphite and rinse with clean water. There is
no need for any other sanitation.
Give your wine or beer a kick-start. Add more
yeast.
When you add yeast to your juice or wort it goes through
a cycle which includes respiration, fermentation and
sedimentation. During the respiration part of this cycle
the yeast takes up nutrients and goes through a very
vigorous period of growth. This growth will continue
until the optimum number of yeast cells are present
for fermentation to begin. This is the most vulnerable
stage of the yeast cycle and the risk of infection is
at its highest. If you add an extra packet or two of
yeast you will shorten the growth period considerably
while greatly reducing the chance of infections.
Don't trust just anybody with your brew. Pour
it up yourself.
As any homebrewer knows there is a technique to pouring
naturally carbonated beer. You have to tip the bottle
slowly and watch the neck of the bottle. As soon as
you see sediment about to enter the glass you stop pouring
and discard the last half inch or so. If you are serving
your beer to the uninitiated they may not be so savvy.
They may end up pouring all of the sediment into their
glass turning your beautiful clear beer into an unappetizing
cloudy mess. To avoid this you should serve your beer
from a jug. Just open several bottles of beer and carefully
pour them into a jug. Place the pitcher of crystal clear
beer on the table and let everyone help themselves.
Be careful how you store your grain.
It is important that brewing grains are stored properly
to maintain freshness. Don't store your grains in the
refrigerator. Like bread flour, grains are spoiled by
moisture such as the condensation caused by a fridge.
Your best bet is to store them in a good quality airtight
container (eg:Tupperware) in a cool dry place. They
will then last for a least six months without changing
the flavour or brewing quality.
Get your temperature under control. Use a stick-on
thermometer
The next time you are into your brew shop pick up a
couple of stick-on thermometers. They are inexpensive
and make checking temperatures much easier. Just peel
the backing off the thermometer strip and attach it
to the outside of your bucket or carboy. You should
position the strip at the middle of your fermenter.
The thermometer changes colour to indicate the temperature
and can be seen clearly at a glance.
Want to brew more beer in less space? Try high-gravity
brewing.
High gravity brewing is used extensively in commercial
breweries to reduce cost but it can also be used by
the home-brewer to compensate for smaller fermentation
vessels. Here is how high gravity brewing works. You
are using a 24 litre fermenter and your recipe makes
24 litres of beer. This poses a problem because you
can't fill your fermenter right to the top. Doing so
would allow the fermenting beer to gush over the sides
of the bucket creating an enormous mess and a great
loss of beer! You prepare all of the ingredients as
per the recipe and add the hot wort to your fermenter
but Instead of topping up to 24 litres with cold water
you only top to 20 litres. This will result in a full-bodied
beer with a higher alcohol content. When the fermentation
is over and you are ready to bottle, boil up 4 litres
of water and add your bottling sugar. Cover the pot
and let the water and sugar solution cool. You can then
add this solution to your beer which will bring it up
to the full 24 litres. This will result in a beer very
close to the style intended in the initial recipe.
Running out of wine rack space? Use your cartons.
It happens to every wine maker. Our enthusiasm for the
hobby usually results in an abundance of wine. When
this happens we often run out of wine rack space. In
a pinch you can use the carton that your wine bottles
came in. Make sure that the carton still has its dividers
intact. Just fill the box with your bottles of wine
and turn it on its side. Presto! An instant wine rack.
Note: this is only good for temporary storage. As soon
as you have wine rack space available you should use
it. If you take bottles from the box while on its side
it will become unstable and may topple over. This could
result in loss of precious wine.
Going to the cabin? Lighten that load. Use plastic
bottles.
You can lighten your load considerably if you use PET
bottles instead of standard glass wine or beer bottles.
These are the same type of bottles soft drinks come
in. They are economical, reusable, and can withstand
carbon dioxide pressure. Great for sparkling wines,
ciders, beer or any other beverage. We recommend using
PET bottles for short term storage only (less than 6
months) because oxygen will gradually pass through the
plastic.
Pure liquid yeast cultures not only make great-tasting
beer but they can also be economical.
More and more brewers are using liquid yeast cultures
these days. We carry the Wyeast
brand which is reliable, easy to use, and comes in many
different strains. The difference that Wyeast can make
to your beer is remarkable, but it has a reputation
for being expensive. The truth is that Wyeast can be
very economical. All you need to do is harvest yeast
from the bottom of your fermenter.
After fermentation
is over rack your beer leaving the sediment (yeast)
behind. Sanitize a pint jar and lid. If it is an ale
yeast collect 1/2 cup of the yeast slurry or 1 cup
if it is a lager yeast. Seal the jar and immediately
put it in your refrigerator. The collected yeast should
be used within 2 weeks. When you are ready to add
your yeast to your next brew just remove it from the
refrigerator and add it directly to your fermenter.
Fermentation should begin in about 2 to 4 hours.
Wyeast is easy
to use, economical and gives superior results.
Can't get your hands on fresh juice? Try sterilized
juice.
More winemakers are experimenting with fresh juice these
days. Wines made from fresh juice can be superior if
the juice is good quality and the winemaker has some
experience and a lot of patience. Fresh juice is perishible
and may not be available in all markets. A good alternative
is sterilized fresh juice. Sterilized juice is shelf
stable, easier to make and is ready to drink sooner.
Trying to make a classic beer style? Your water
is important.
Most of the classic beer styles such as Burton Pale
Ale and the famous Czech Urquell Pilsener derive their
unique flavour from the water used in brewing. For instance
the water used for making Burton pale ales is very hard
and contains a lot of mineral salts whereas the Urquell
water contains far less minerals. If you use your local
water for brewing it may be difficult to duplicate the
true flavour of a classic beer style. The anwser is
to use distilled water. Distilled water has no minerals
making it very easy to adjust. Just add the necessary
salts to mirror the type of water traditionally used
in the style of beer you intend to make. It is important
to make sure that you are using distilled water. Most
bottled waters are not distilled but are either spring
water or filtered tap water. You can find more information
about distilled water here.
Prolong the freshness of your homemade beer.
Commercial beer is filtered and pasteurized and more
care is taken to prevent oxidation during processing
and bottling. This results in a longer shelf life but
as any homebrewer knows the flavour is altered in the
process. The homebrewer makes a natural beer with no
artificial perservatives. To keep your beer fresh it
is necessary to follow these steps: (1) Take
care to minimize exposure to oxygen. Avoid splashing
when transferring and bottling. Leave a maximum of 1/2
to 3/4 inch of head space in your bottles to minimize
oxidation. (2) Reduce the amount of yeast sediment
in your bottles. Use a carboy for settling and add finings
if necessary. (3) After your beer becomes carbonated
refrigerate it to maintain optimum freshness.
Follow these
guidelines and your beer will remain fresh for months.
Don't ignore the grape concentrate when making
wine from fruits.
If a fruit wine recipe calls for grape concentrate use
it. As a matter of fact we recommend that you use grape
concentrate in all fruit wine recipes. Simply replace
2 cups of sugar with 2 cups of grape concentrate per
five gallons. Some people try to save money by replacing
grape concentrate with sugar but concentrate improves
the flavour of most wines and is essential to others.
Blueberries, for example, are high in natural potassium
sorbate and don't like to ferment. Concentrate helps
them along.
Carbon filter pads can be used to lighten the
colour of your wine.
If you want to lighten the colour of your wine you can
use carbon filters. Carbon filters will remove colour,
odors and flavours from your wine. This works the same
as the carbon filters used to purify drinking water.
Do not use carbon filters on red wines. It will remove
the colour.
Remember, carbon
filters also remove flavours and aroma and they should
be used only on wines that have evident flaws. The resulting
wine will be almost colourless and somewhat insipid
but it can be used for cooking or blending with other
wines.
Put a little honey in your beer!
Try replacing sugar with honey in your beer recipe.
Lighter honeys like clover and alfalfa are best. Honey
can give your beer a pleasant flavour. It can be used
in greater amounts than refined sugar to increase the
alcohol content without the off-flavours associated
with other sugars. For best results don't use more than
30% honey. A beer made with honey typically has a drier
crisp flavour, lighter body and higher alcohol than
a similar beer made with corn sugar or sucrose.
Making fruit wines? Don't use your blender!
Avoid using a blender to crush the fruit or berries
required in fruit wine recipes. A blender will crush
the seeds and can add a bitter taste to your wine. It
is best to use a potato masher or a heavy bottle (eg.
wine bottle) to do the job. If you have a large amount
of berries to crush you may want to use a fruit press
or if you don't mind a little workout a pick axe handle
works good. So avoid the blender and make better wine
not bitter wine.
You know that summer fruits make great wines but
have you tried using them to make liqueurs?
Summer fruits can be used to make a large variety of
delicious liqueurs and they are remarkably easy to make.
The procedure usually involves crushing the fruit and
adding sugar, vodka or some other distilled alcohol.
Some recipes also use different herbs, spices and other
flavourings. The mixture is then sealed in a jar and
is allowed to stand for a period of time so that the
alcohol can extract the flavours from the fruit. The
solids are then strained and the liqueur is left to
clear before bottling. So give it a try! You can find
a list of liqueur recipes
on our Liqueur Page.
Wanna make light beer? Take a page from the big
breweries handbook.
It's hard to beat an ice-cold light beer to quench your
thirst on a hot summer day. You don't have to buy a
light beer kit to enjoy this style of beer. Take a tip
from the pros and add pre-boiled water to your finished
beer before bottling. Boil about a gallon of water and
add your priming sugar. Cover and cool. Transfer your
finished beer into a large fermenting bucket. Add the
sugared water and stir gently. Bottle and carbonate
as usual. You will end up with a light beer and pick
up an extra 12 bottles as a bonus.
Is your brew all hot and bothered? Throw a wet
blanket on it!
Summer brewing can be a challenge if you don't have
a cool place to brew your beer. Fermenting beer above
30º Celsius can cause problems. Your beer will
be more prone to bacteria infection and there is a good
chance that the yeast will be damaged resulting in an
incomplete fermentation. Warm brewing temperatures also
promote increased ester production which gives beer
a fruity flavour.
First you
should move your brew to a cooler area. Basements
are usually about 10 degrees cooler than the rest
of the house. Get an old blanket or towel and soak
it in water. Wring out excess water and wrap the blanket
around your bucket or carboy. Evaporation of the water
will keep your brew cool. Depending on the air temperature
in the room you may have to wet the blanket two or
more times a day.
Making light coloured North American style beers
is a challenge for most home brewers. Follow these 10
quidelines to make top quality light beers.
(1) Use the freshest ingredients possible.
When using extracts check the dates for freshness.
Old malt extract will be darker in colour with a coarse
taste. Also avoid using bulk malt extract dispensed
from a drum. (2) Use adjuncts such as
corn and rice syrup, but limit them to 10 percent
of the fermentables. (3) Use fresh liquid
yeast cultures. (4) When boiling do not
scorch the wort. (5) Chill the wort as
fast as possible. (6) Use a two-stage
fermentation. (7) Use fining agents. (8) Ferment
at the correct temperature for the yeast. (9) After
fermentation minimize oxygen uptake. Avoid splashing
or aerating the beer. (10) Refrigerate
you beer to prolong the quality.
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