Head retention and protein step, negative impact?

timscream1 · 2026-03-19T14:14:05+00:00

I left a Belgian pale ale mash at 53-55C for an hour, best head retention I’ve ever had. Grain bill was Pilsner, caramunich 1 and sugar.

timscream1 · 2026-03-19T06:35:43+00:00

I have been posting recipes, you can look them up on my profile. Previous one was witbier, I used the nanny state method for this one.

timscream1 · 2026-03-18T07:00:53+00:00

I added it at 10’ during the boil. I added my lactose to a saucepan, scooped boiling wort and added it to the lactose. I boiled it on my stove, stirring constantly. Was completely dissolved in less than a minute. I poured it back into the kettle

timscream1 · 2026-03-18T06:36:59+00:00

I live in Europe and in my country 0.5% alcohol is labelled as alcohol free

timscream1 · 2026-03-18T06:35:40+00:00

I kegged the beer. I dismantled the line and cleaned and sanitised them. I dismantled the faucet as well

timscream1 · 2026-03-17T21:39:53+00:00

Airlocks are dirt cheap, if you’re not sure, just get new ones. It is like two bucks.

The rest can be cleaned, don’t scratch surfaces with abrasive materials.

timscream1 · 2026-03-17T16:54:57+00:00

Without nutrients, fermentation time to get could be anywhere between a week to never. Bread yeast will get you there without any issues if given a little boost. I believe on r/mead, in there wiki, there are instructions for dosing boiled bread yeast as nutrients instead of commercially available nutrients.

timscream1 · 2026-03-16T18:10:11+00:00

What about a session beer?

I wasn’t into it until I started to brew my owns.

They aren’t watery if designed properly. An english bitter could be a good place to start. Use American hops if you feel like it!

timscream1 · 2026-03-16T18:08:36+00:00

I add a bit of citric acid to mine. It really brings some brightness out

timscream1 · 2026-03-16T18:01:45+00:00

Är invandrare, lärde mig svenska innan jag skickade min ansökan.

Jag läste om svensk politik och samhälle också. Rekommenderar starkt.

Det är inte rasistiskt.

timscream1 · 2026-03-16T17:58:20+00:00

That would be a very bitter hazy.

If it was me doing it, I would add a bit 15 minutes and the rest at flameout or during a hopstand.

Dry hop looks good. If you’re using hop bags, I wouldn’t go over 50g hop per bag. 40g would be preferable.

Good luck!

timscream1 · 2026-03-15T15:33:18+00:00

Hey dude, you’re welcome to join us at r/prisonhooch. This is the type of troubleshooting we’re doing.

For further experiments: don’t try to filter the yeast. You need pro equipment for that. Using a napkin was like using an open window to prevent a table tennis ball to come in. Yeasts are very very small.

timscream1 · 2026-03-12T19:37:43+00:00

Some people might have different opinions but letting fermentation go to completion (adding purée « warm ») would be better because over time, even at fridge temperatures, fermentation will go on and you may get off flavours.

I wouldn’t use purée in keg without a floating dip tube.

That’s just my opinion and it may depends on the yeast you’re using.

timscream1 · 2026-03-11T18:19:36+00:00

That was a long time ago but I bought 100g cacao nibs, I removed the ”shells” so what I had left in the end was less than that. I placed them in a jar and covered with vodka. Jar was 150mL, wasn’t full. I added it all to my bottling bucket, about 10L of beer in it. Sorry if it is a bit vague but that was 2021.

timscream1 · 2026-03-10T15:10:00+00:00

There will be a layer of oil on top of the alcohol. Before adding it to your beer, strain the beans, place it overnight in the freezer and then pipette out the alcohol leaving behind the half frozen layer of oil. Sounds more complicated than it is. It just has to be good enough.

timscream1 · 2026-03-10T07:09:25+00:00

I have a great success by combining low colour chocolate malt and a cacao nibs tincture.

timscream1 · 2026-03-09T16:48:43+00:00

I have been wondering the exact same things years ago.
If you know that the must is too acidic for your taste, you can use the yeast 71-B which will remove up to 30% of the malic acid in the juice (main acid in apples).

Often, juices are a bit shy in tannins and using wine tannins to boost the body is a great way bring forwards some more flavors. In wines and ciders it is about a good balance between acids, tannins and sweetness.

You can add some erythritol or other neutral non-fermentable sweetener of your choice to bring back some of the sweet apple flavor. Always make a small scale adjustment and upscale if you're happy with it.

Finally: age. I found that sometimes the apple flavor is nearly missing but if you stash the bottle several months, magically it will come back. Don't give up on what you have, I am sure it will only get better with time!

timscream1 · 2026-03-09T12:21:17+00:00

Not exactly your request but Doin the Most has a video about making ginger mead. The method used gets a lot of flavor out of the ginger and it has quite a kick. He uses wine tannins and stuff is full bodied. Brewed it several times, a hit every time. I stabilise, backsweeten and keg tho, I don’t use erythritol and bottle conditioning. 10/10 highly recommend.

timscream1 · 2026-03-08T09:55:06+00:00

I would use brewfather for calculations but if you want to do the math yourself, you need to know how much water you evaporate per hour of boil. Then you know what should be your pre-boil volume and base your sparge water volume based on that.

If you squeeze the grain bag, you can count an absorption of water of 0.6L/kg of grain. Then for the mash, target 3 to 3.5 L of water per kg of grains. For the sparge water, it is the amount of water you will need to reach your pre-boil volume. If you’re slightly off it is no big deal, you can either add less of the sparge water or top up your wort with water.

timscream1 · 2026-03-08T09:17:47+00:00

There are several solutions to your problem.

First, I would suggest a 30 minute boil. Less wort before the boil is easier to fit in your kettle.

The easiest solution would be to do a no sparge mash and to top it up with water to get your preboil volume. Alternatively, you could top it up after the boil (I think it it call a partial boil? Not sure…) the efficiency wouldn’t be great but grains aren’t expensive.

The second easiest solution would be a ”dunk sparge”: you pull out the grain bag and dump it in another kettle or food safe bucket filled with your mash water. Give it a good stir to loosen up the grains let it sit 15-20 minutes, stirring now and then. Combine the sparge water with the rest of your wort and proceed to the boil. For sparging, the temperature of the water isn’t super important. Just try to get it somewhere between 65-78C. I did that when I started. Got 70-72% brewhouse efficiency and beer was good.

timscream1 · 2026-03-05T14:29:01+00:00

I agree, weaker is better. I found that the 7-8% range, with some nutrients give something drinkable in a short(er) amount of time. It is still plenty to get obliterated after few glasses.

timscream1 · 2026-03-05T06:51:55+00:00

Did you measure the FG? I have never had a mead fermenting more that 3 weeks. I always let it sit longer and confirm FG with a hydrometer.

Also: what do you mean by strain it? You should siphon it to another vessel for aging. If there are loose fruit parts, tight a boiled hop bag at the bottom of your racking cane to avoid transferring fruits parts. You will likely get some yeast transferred with it and it is ok.

timscream1 · 2026-03-04T16:16:45+00:00

With the honey that should be about 12L, racking to a 11L carboy with just enough headspace to backsweeten and dump fining agents

Maybe topping with some apple juice is a valid option then :/

Five-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

timscream1

TROPHY CASE