Cap and Cork

If you’re a homebrewer of either beer or wine, you’ve easily read hundreds of recipes.  It’s what we do; find even more, even better recipes than we currently have!  To that end, everyone writes their recipes differently.   Some call for a cup of ingredient #1, while others call for a pound of that same ingredient.  Some use liquid malt extract, some use dry malt extract.  To the even moderately experienced homebrewer this usually doesn’t pose any problem at all.  It’s the newer guys (and gals) that are often left wondering and searching for answers.  As I myself am barely creeping into the moderately experienced category, the following is my own little Beer & Wine Cheat Sheet, if you will (in no particular order):

• Granulated table sugar weighs 0.45 pounds per cup of measure; one pound of sugar is 2.22 cups
• Honey, on average, is 0.75 pounds per cup; one pound of honey is 1.33 cups
• One pound of liquid malt extract is equivalent to 0.8 pounds of dry malt extract (i.e. DME is “stronger”)
• One pound of granulated sugar is equivalent to 1.25 pounds of honey in terms of beer and mead making
• For stabilizing ONE GALLON of wine prior to bottling (a lengthy post about this will follow) use no more than 1/2 teaspoon of Potassium Sorbate (I use just over 1/4 teaspoon) and 1 campden tablet (or 1/5 of 1/4 teaspoon of Potassium Metabisulfate).  I also follow Jack Keller’s advice where I do not bottle immediately after adding these items.  I allow an additional time period of 10 days to allow any final yeast I kill off to settle out.  I then bottle normally.
• Corn sugar is best for priming at a rate of 1 ounce per gallon for typical carbonation.

These are but a few of the things I have jotted down here and there in my brew journal (which is a must for all of us).  I am going to create a page here at CapandCork.com with a listing of these notes that I can update regularly.  We’ll call this BrewBits V1.0.  Please let me know if you disagree (or agree) with any of my notes or conversions.  Also, if you have some of your own that you think would be a good addition to the list, please let know and I’ll get them added.

Other than a generic filler post (since removed), this is my first foray into online content for CapandCork.com, my site for all things homebrew related, with a few of my own personal stories thrown in for balance.  Think of my recipes as the malt and my musings as the hops…  Balance my friends.  Balance is good.  With that being said…

Welcome!  I am certainly glad you found your way here.  Hopefully you find something that proves useful, or at the very least entertaining.  I’ve been brewing beer and wine at home for almost a year and a half now, and I’ve certainly learned a few things along the way.  By no means am I an expert, I simply know enough to be dangerous.

Coming soon:

• Some very useful conversions for use when making beer and wine with common ingredients.  (Some recipes call for cups of sugar and some call for pounds - these simple conversions will make life much easier.)
• Some basic DIY Wine-at-Home recipes.  Very basic, but very drinkable wine.  I’ve read more recipes online than I care to admit, and these recipes take the best from each one of those and create some womderful hybrid recipes.
• An array of beer, bragoot and mead recipes I’ve come up with, as well as my take on how they’ve turned out.  Wait till you see my friends IPA recipe; it’s a keeper.

Also, a quick thank you to the guy who helped me get all this up and running, TheAverageWhiteGuy.  Be sure to check his blog out via the link on the side.  I can assure you he always has something interesting to say over there!

 Again, welcome!  And enjoy…