Homebrewing - Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider

I made some #Makgeolli, a milky white Korean rice "wine". It's made by fermenting steemed rice with the "nuruk" starter culture, which contains both the enzymes to break down the rice starches into sugar and the yeast cultures for turning the sugar into alcohol. I used the Danyangju recipe from A Primer on Brewing Makgeolli.

The most difficult part is finding the Nuruk online. I found it in a Korean online store as "Powdered Enzyme Amylase". And you need a steamer that fits 1 kg of glutinous rice. But the fermentation is done in a single step after just around 7 days at room temperature.

Today I filled it into plastic water bottles. Not pretty on pictures but the store version is also sold in plastic and it makes it easier and safer to gauge the pressure, as it will contiue to ferment and make CO2 (though slowly after refrigeration).

I first tried Makgeolli in Asian supermarkets, but the exported one is pasteurized and not alive anymore, which is why I wanted to mak my own. The homemade one is much stronger in Alcohol than the store one, so usually I dilute it before drinking, and thus the 2L brewing yield is not that little.

I have a few things on the go at the moment.

Currently Fermenting:

A toasted coconut and cacao nib stout (going for a nice chocolatey stout with a sweet coconut finish à la Mounds or Bounty bars)

Currently Drinking:

A Sorachi Ace saison with some spices brewed with Omega - Jovaru.

A Brown Ale with Applewood-Smoked Hops that I'm not too happy with how the beer turned out which is a shame because this is my favorite beer label I have ever designed

Currently Aging (fairly long term):

A 16% oaked dessert mead with Lapsang Souchong and maple syrup (it's probably somewhere around 4 years old at this point and has been blended several times over the years with various dry meads.

A bochet with cacao nibs that I'm still trying to figure out how to improve (it smells AMAZING and chocolatey but the body is too thin and acidic and just lacking in something)

Stoked to have found this community, as I'm very interested to start brewing after I move to my new house.

Have never brewed previously but have have sampled my fair share!

Will be keeping an eye out for pearls of wisdom and will likely ask a question or two.

Sure, I’m around, trying to figure out how subscribing works to this.

The one that always gets asked about is a hibiscus mead! I have fallen behind my usual brewing schedule this year, but there’s always five gallons of this around somewhere in production.

It's been so long since I made a batch of mead.. Long enough that I've forgotten half the homebrewing lingo lol. Honey is just so dang expensive nowadays, even in bulk!!

I will brag just a tiny bit about an old creation though... A meadery opened in my state several years ago and it's been awesome to see their business thrive. The mead is absolutely fantastic. But I will admit... I was super proud when I compared a sample of one of my traditional batches (d-47, orange blossom honey) to a bottle of their own. I'll be the first to admit when one of my batches just ain't hitting right, but I honestly preferred mine. Pretty sweet moment for me, especially since I remember babying that batch like you wouldn't believe.

That was a couple years ago, but that mead is still aging in bulk. I wanna say it's around 6 or 7 years old now, but I've lost all my old notes. About time for another sample, I think.

I'm going to keg an IPA today made with 90% marris otter 10% table sugar, hoped with Idaho 7 and Mandarina Bavaria, then dry hopped with BRU-1. I am trying to make something Pliny the elder/heady topper inspired, so quite bitter, no oats/wheat, heavy on sulfates, and heavily dry hopped. This is my first iteration with another to follow in a few brews. This one also used a Kveik blend I had on hand. Next one will use verdant dry yeast.

Great to see a homebrewing community starting up! I don't have anything in the fermenter right now, but in the coming days I'll probably brew my house helles :-)

Recently bottled a Peach Ginger mead that managed to get to 19% without permission. Tbf though I didn't try to stop it. I Have English breakfast, Chai, Black Currant, and Chocolate Vanilla meads that need to be bottled. Next plan is Pineapple Cayenne. I have Carolina Reapers growing that my friends want to try a mead of...might try a very small batch just to see if its feasible.