newbie beer question

[reisjdmd]

hi all. hope you don't mind a basic newbie question.i usually post on the vineyard forum, but now have abeer question. i bought a bavarian kit; hopped malt. i have made many batches successfully using my 2.5 gallon brown jug kit. easy as pie and great beer. however, this time i want to add fresh ground up apples from my orchard to this kit. i was plannig on doing everything the same as always and simply adding maybe 8-10 cups of ground up apples, right at the beginning,figuring it will settle out pretty good after havingits sugar fermented anditsflavor added. however, before i ruin a batch, does any one have any warnings or suggestions???

 

[grapeman]

Never thought to try such a thing. Not sure how it will turn out, but it sounds interesting. Let me know how it goes. One thing I can think of is that you will not get a ton of sugars out of the apples. You will get some malic acid and not sure how it will affect things. It could start a malolactic ferment after initial fermentation, but that would just add more carbonation.

 

[reisjdmd]

hey appleman
if i don't poison myself, i'll let you know how it turns out. am not doing it for thesugar, but for theflavor. i want to try to reproduce to some extent the flavor of kentish "cider." maybe i should just try to add some apple flavor extract, but i can't resist trying the home-made stuff. good to see you on the beer board also. always appreciate your thoughts.

 

[uavwmn]

Appleman, I just racked my Stout yesterday in a 6 gal carboy. There is alot of room between the beer and the top. I know this is a "no no" for wine.
It says to leave the beer in the carboy 10-15 days and there may be bubble action. I looked this morning and I don't see anything going on.
Is this normal?
This is my first go around with brew.

 

[grapeman]

Like Masta said in the other post, give the carboy a gentle rock and some gas will come out of solution and fill the headspace. There isn't as much alcohol in beer as wine, so the ferment goes quick. Give it a couple weeks before racking, priming and bottling and all will be fine. Relax and have some wine until your beer is ready(or go buy a nice Irish Stout).

 

[uavwmn]

Appleman, umm, maybe I will open a bottle of the Mezza Luna Red (my 2nd kit) which is 4 months in the bottle. That should relax my beer worry woes.

Thank you, as always, for sound advice.