that is a lot of patience. I applaud you. my beers always get tested during the aging process enough so that by the time they get to the 6 month mark I maybe have 6/34 left. and the conclusion on the final ones is always ‘should have let them all age until now’. I never make lambics though

thanks for the travel beer log! I was always curious about the craft beer scene in Spain and Portugal, but never had the chance to go out and see for myself. seems like I’m not missing much, though.

if you’re headed to the Netherlands afterwards by any chance, I can recommend Uiltje and Jopenkerk in Haarlem, they have pretty good stuff. Jopenkerk also had a gruit at one point, not sure if they still make it.

while not exactly what you’re asking for, I did some rice wine with red yeast rice once and it had some fluorescence. Normally clear red, there was a nice green shade to it in direct sunlight.

nice. did you add anything to them or just straight up water and yeast?

Damn it, now I want a shoggoth beer. Eldricht flavours beyond your tongue’s comprehension!

Not sure about the how, but it appears that in Germany they make some sort of spirit out of them. So they can be fermented at least.

If you usually ferment beer I’d try and substitute some (boiled or baked and mashed) for part of the grain. Just remember that they’re like 18% carbs or so, so you’ll need quite a lot. And don’t forget the rice hulls, to prevent a stuck mash.

Wikipedia also says that when they’re stored, inulin converts into fructose, so if you have some lying around from last season maybe try those first.

TIL, thanks!

Never considered the perspective of actual things growing on/in the corks. Sort of always assumed that, being some type of wood, as long as it’s stored properly (like not in a damp cellar), things growing wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but the issue that remains would be transfer of spoilage microorganisms on the surface.

Just curious about the corking process. Only from hearsay I know cork had to be steamed before use. Is that the case and, if so, why the need for sterility when repackaging the stoppers? They can just be sterilized via steaming pre-use.

Fair enough, there goes the enzyme theory then. So then probably just what’s in it.

Did you use raw pineapple juice or was it heat treated in some way? Raw juice would contain some enzymes that break down proteins and the resultant fragments could increase foaming. Just a random thought though, I’d be curious if cooking it reduces the effect.

Only used pineapple myself as freshly juiced, a tiny bit for bottling kombucha, instead of sugar for carbonation.

Otherwise, could be the fruit contains some unfermentable poly-sugars that increase foaming.

also happens with strawberry mead, for some reason

I suggest looking into Turkish cuisine or any cuisine influenced by the Ottoman empire for ideas on vegan cabage rolls. Look for sarma or dolma to get inspiration for fillings. You’ll get some results with grapevine leaves, but you can substitute cabage or sour cabage if the filling fits.

To echo the other poster, a good starting point would be mushrooms, rice/barley, spices. Could probably add some walnuts in there, or pecans.

Try looking at what cigkofte is made of (the veggie one, not the raw meat one) to maybe get some inspiration?

Guinness isn’t (or didn’t use to be - not sure now tbf). They used isinglass - fish bladder - to clarify the brew.

In retrospect, I should have saved it, but it was my second beer ever and went for an overly complex recipe also. Knowing what I know now, it would have probably aged nicely.

I’ve discovered boiling is not fully necessary to get a good brew and that heather tips make it awesome. I’ve just added maybe 1-2 handfuls now to the mash. Next autumn I plan to go nuts on collecting the thing and will try to fit maybe half a kilo in there, see how it comes out.

Honorable mention to red yeast rice, I have this notion of doing a rice mash for maybe a week with it and then plopping that into a raw ale mash to get enzymes and flavour of red yeast rice wine in a beer, as I’ve noticed that its enzymes also work up to 70ish Celsius.

Did a raw ale with heather tips foraged from the forest that turned out pretty good.

And now fermenting a raw pumpkin ale. Added around 3 kg pumpkin mash to the mash. A bit difficult to work with and had an OG of around 1.055, bit on the low end there. Fingers crossed it’ll be drinkable. Assuming it’s going to come in at session strength.

Loving the goblin fermentation vibes you re giving off there. Never stop.

Mostly beer brewer here, so dumb things I’ve done were mostly process related. Fermenting beer with unsanitized wood chips - turned sour. Adding too much rye or pumpkin - took me 12 hours to get the damn thing made - stuck mash.

Fermentation wise, not brewing, messed around with some koji with varying degrees of success.

If you’re doing things like spam alcohol, have you also considered miso as an ingredient?

that link returns a 404 error for me

taking this opportunity to not double post and comment on your post as well

don’t remember where I heard this from, was a long time ago (perhaps during some sort of botany class or another) but hop compounds should exhibit some surface tension action (like what soap does to water), so that might be the explanation for the foam

christmas-y cider sounds awesome.

edit - ninja’d on 404 comment - ignore that part

In addition to everything else suggested here already, I would say maybe cloves or tonka beans, if they suit your palate. Careful though, they might be overpowering. Maybe a vanilla pod or two, depending on the quantity.

Planning on trying my very first raw ale. So far, was thinking of doing a 3ish hour mash, finishing for about 30 minutes at 80 C, and adding something like 60g Simcoe (14.4%) to the mash. For laziness reasons I’d like to avoid doing a hop tea. Has anyone tried this before?

Sweet. Are you planning on using any spices or just the apple juice?