SpiderShoeCult
@SpiderShoeCult@sopuli.xyz
- Comment on What's brewing? April 2025 1 week ago:
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
- Comment on What's brewing? April 2025 1 week ago:
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.
- Submitted 1 week ago to homebrewing@sopuli.xyz | 14 comments
- Comment on How can you explain a smell you've never smelled before? 2 months ago:
depending on your and your target’s degree of synaesthesia, you could try associating shapes and/or colours with smells. won’t work for everyone though, and some might look at you strangely.
for instance, chlorine, smells a bit concave and brownish-white, whereas ammonia smells like a highlighter-green (the darker kind) arrowhead.
then there’s the question of whether we all smell things in the same way (even without the synaesthesia)
- Comment on What are you brewing? 2 months ago:
nice. did you add anything to them or just straight up water and yeast?
- Comment on What are you brewing? 2 months ago:
Damn it, now I want a shoggoth beer. Eldricht flavours beyond your tongue’s comprehension!
- Comment on What are you brewing? 2 months ago:
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.
- Submitted 2 months ago to homebrewing@sopuli.xyz | 19 comments
- Comment on Mead - what type of bottles 2 months ago:
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.
- Comment on Mead - what type of bottles 2 months ago:
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.
- Comment on What is it about pineapple juice that's so foamy? 2 months ago:
Fair enough, there goes the enzyme theory then. So then probably just what’s in it.
- Comment on What is it about pineapple juice that's so foamy? 2 months ago:
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.
- Comment on Something has gone awry 3 months ago:
also happens with strawberry mead, for some reason
- Comment on What are you brewing? 3 months ago:
Guinness isn’t (or didn’t use to be - not sure now tbf). They used isinglass - fish bladder - to clarify the brew.
- Comment on So…. What’s the worst idea you went through with? 6 months ago:
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 the its enzymes also work up to 70ish Celsius.
- Comment on What are you brewing? 6 months ago:
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.
- Comment on So…. What’s the worst idea you went through with? 6 months ago:
Loving the goblin fermentation vibes you re giving off there. Never stop.
Mostly beer brewere 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?
- Comment on 6 months ago:
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. what spices did you end up adding?