BATTLING pH! -Cosmopolitan Wine 🤬 

One thing I would like to see is you guys try to intentionally make vinegar. Especially because Tasting History recently did an episode where he used Honey Vinegar. Both because I think you guys might be able to show how much needs to go wrong for vinegar to be produced in a standard brew, and because I think you guys might try making a rather interesting flavor of vinegar.

Most municipalities don’t use chlorine anymore, they use chloramine, which doesn’t evaporate. You will need to filter any tap water.

If you want to get the flavours from citrus peel but not much of the pithiness, look up oleo saccharum. Basically toss the peel in sugar and the sugar pulls out the flavorful oils. There seems to be a misunderstanding amongst home brewers as to why cranberry is such a pain to ferment. It's not exclusively the ph, which is the same as lemonade which isn't nearly as much of a headache to turn alcoholic. Cranberry actually has some antimicrobial properties. As far as I understand it affects the cell walls of some bacteria and proteins so my guess is that this hurts the yeast, possibly that's why the pectic enzymes didn't work properly either.

"You don't need a scale" you said, to measure your sugar. You are correct, but there is a more accurate way than "bout dammuch": Granulated sugar weighs about one half pound per cup. Two pounds? Four cups. (Two pints, One quart.) You can get close by measuring volume. As always, guess low and add a little after you take a reading.

I have been rewatching your older videos just to make sure I upvoted everything. Yeah, you're wonderful. Thank you for your work.

BTW, the sanitizing fluid that came out of the baster sanitized the towel 😁

I enjoy your early flavor method. Try this. Make your traditional to 15/16 % then add frozen crushed cranberries 1.5 lbs. 1 & 1/2 lime peeled, 3 mandarin orange peeled let that sit for 4 weeks, then add anything else you want from there. But let’s keep this between us. Lol. You guys Rock!!!!!!

I had been wondering about PH lately and specifically when to test it and how to adjust. Clearly you made this video to address this specifically. Again Mr. Wizard, well done !!!

It was such a pithy that you couldn't get the peel to come off all in one. I was looking forward to seeing the Bejeezus Unleashed but the little big mouth is ok too. I just started a 7 super fruit wine on Friday. I am really looking forward to that one!

Great educational video, yet again! I actually pH corrected for the 1st time today! I did use baking soda though, because it was easier to buy at the grocery store. And I'm cheap😆

I started my first brew last night. It had activity in 90 and is bubbling away enthusiastically. It is cider, just apple juice, FermaidO and S04 yeast. So excited!❤

Somehow your videos started popping up in my feed. I’ve never brewed ( unless you count the times I was drinking age adjacent and brewed swill because I couldn’t buy it). Other than that never even considered it before. Not sure why it popped up there but But I watched the video and …enjoyed it. Have continued watching your videos , and even started baby’s first mead. Maybe will get more complicated as I learn but enjoying your content! Thanks!

Excellent information ❤. I've learned the same things as you talked about. A pinch of baking soda or citric acid does help the PH and I keep my sugar (ABV) at a level that the yeast is "comfortable" with and the taste and smell seems to be more pleasant. I've also noticed (which makes sense) it ferments out quite quickly 👍. My stabilizing system has always been to hydrate all dry additives just because (as you mentioned) it's easier to mix, and there's no extra "liquid" because I use the juice from the fermenter. For clarity, I've always relyed on pasteurizing. A lot of suspended particles drop out of suspension as temperature drops in liquids and it's much safer in storage and when back sweetening. Thanks again for spending your time with us and sharing sound information, this is what we need more of ❤.

I’m not sure if someone else has brought this up about potassium bicarbonate, but there is a similar adjunct you could try instead for pH: potassium carbonate (K-Carb). K-Carb will raise the pH with less amounts than bicarbonate. Additionally, yeast need potassium for a healthy fermentation, so it was not a negative thing to add the bicarbonate after fermentation had started, especially if the fermentation is still active and you see nucleation when adding adjuncts. However, it should be noted that K-Carb has more potassium per molecule than bicarbonate. Personally, I follow a nutrient schedule that suggests adding 1.5g of K-Carb per gallon to the must alongside nutrients before adding the yeast. While this amount will barely raise the pH, it adds extra potassium to the must for the yeast. All that said, it depends on the goals you are trying to reach for your brew. I think if pH adjustments with minimal additions is the goal, you should give K-Carb a try. Maybe a side-by-side pH test using the 2 adjuncts in a controlled amount of water? And if you’re looking for a source, I bought my K-Carb from MoreBeer.

I love watching your videos. Thank you for the insight! I really like making my brews with Cranberry. I have never even thought of worrying about my Ph balance. My wife really enjoys my Cranberry spice. I do most as a cyser base. I do treetop sweet and tart apple juice, 2 lbs Nates pure honey per gallon. 2 lbs frozen Cranberry (blended) per gallon. 1/2 ginger per gallon. And 2 sticks of cinnamon per gallon. I typically do 5 gallons at a time. I will also use Brogravin (i think that's how you spell it) yeast. It has a ginger bite, but it is so good. I don't know if it's because I'm using whole Cranberry and letting it leach into my brew, but I've never worried about my Ph. I'm sure this is too much info, but i just wanted to share. Thank you guys. I really do enjoy watching your videos.

I'm new to brewing...this looks like it would work really good with Roselle hibiscus (I have lots of it). It would add the tart, cranberry flavor without the pH issues, it gets dry (0.990) and clears really nicely. Thank you for doing this!!

Thank you for everything you do! My father and I have really enjoyed brewing together, and we have you guys to thank for that. I was wondering if you guys have ever considered brewing a fuzzy navel wine? I would love to see your take on a recipe for that!

Good morning, love your videos! Thanks for sharing the fun and your knowledge

I've only ever put lime in primary once and it came out tasting very bitter and unpleasant. It ended up being the only brew I've had to tip away (no others so far 🤞). Hopefully whatever funky flavour you're getting from it will disappear with time!

Cranberry and citrus is gonna bottom out the ph. Glad y’all made it work.

I just bottled a delicious plum blueberry wine and it's coudy af. Tastes just fine. Not as good as my morat, but it's definitely drinkable.

I’d be interested to see some brews based on the 4 seasons, like how Derika did the Beltane mead! I’m doing a mulled wine at the moment to be ready for winter cuz I thought it would be fun to introduce all the flavors of a mulled wine during fermentation rather than buying a red wine and doing all the things to it.

Hi guys. You are great. One problem I witnessed is that adding potassium bicarbonate after fermentation has started, will add a lot of co2 to your wash and the brew will stall before it finish its job. So for later experiments I suggest adding potassium bicarbonate before adding yeast is a must.

Brian and D are the masters of brewing! ❤

She's always talking about the smell, and that's something I am really interested in too. I've found there's a startling difference between people's ability to smell things. A test I've found to be a good indicator is this: can you smell salt? If you take a spoon of table salt, and smell it - there's a decent amount of the population who literally can't smell anything coming off the salt. I'd be willing to bet she CAN smell it.

Hey Brian and Derica! I recently got into making wine because of you guys and have been watching your videos to learn, they have been super informative! I have a degree in molecular biology and a minor in chemistry and wanted to answer your question about invert sugar. In order for yeast to digest the disaccaride sucrose (table sugar) they have to first break it down into glucose and fructose by secreting invertase. This happens outside of the yeast cell wall so that they can import the digestible sugars inside their cell walls. Since invert sugar is already broken down into glucose and fructose, the yeast do not have to go through this preliminary step. In theory, this would make fermentation more efficient due to the fact that the yeast can immediately transport the sugars inside their cell wall and begin digestion. However, since I am not an experienced wine maker yet, I’m not sure of the actual increase in efficiency. I hope this helps, thanks for the awesome videos!

Aaaaand this is WHY when making hot sauce ferments I check the ph. Anything below 4.0 in a 3% kosher salt solution at the end of fermentation is shelf stable. So we add about 25% AC vinegar, some brine if needed, some bourbon and spices, and let it age in a gallon jug. My favorite hot sauce channel is Chillichump . I wanted to be able to make a shelf stable Louisiana style hot sauce without ages of storage in bourbon barrels in salt caves😂 He also makes ciders etc. Its amazing the differences that various yeasts and lactobacillus planterium etc have on the things we enjoy eating. This stuff is fascinating. Thanks guys!

My wife is also a cranberry fan so this'll be my next. great vid as usual

Bummer it didn’t quite go as you would have wanted it. However it has the potential of becoming something really, REALLY good. It already tastes good. With some age on it… possibly wow! Can’t wait to see your one year tasting!

Interesting video as always. The Shelf of xvz Fermentation goes along better with your unique standard naming convention, whereas fermentation station is more widely used and the first time I heard it I think was several years ago from Brad from Bon Appetite. In case you're interested in user input =]

Alton Brown references are always welcome. I would make one myself, but that’s a different post.

The fumaric acid in the cranberry could very well be the source of the cloudiness. Fumaric acid esterizes easily and the unsaturated bond in the middle can undergo all sorts of reactions that leave the molecule stereochemically "shaggy."

I just started a chamomile apple cider. Will keep posted as to how it turns out.

I'm a weirdo. I pitch my yeast with a pinch of sugar and let it sit for an hour before adding it to my brews, only because I want the yeast to start the funky dance of love so they can be stronger when introduced to their all-you-can-eat buffet. I could be talking out my backside, but I'm thinking a stronger starting colony might help get the fermentation going quicker, and better avoid infection. Something else: my own cranberry wine only got to 8.5% ABV, despite using Beast and raisins and a cup of black tea. Darned pH levels.

Loving the videos as we are just getting into home brewing! Two questions.. Can you guys do a video on your recipe making process? And cause I am in Australia, fermenting containers of different sizes are super hard to come by so we only have 5L ones. How much head space in secondary fermentation would make you worried about oxidation?

Make a shaga mead! What would it taste like? I DONT KNOW! First boil the shaga then steep it in the alcoholic wine

I have five citrus trees on the property: owari satsuma mandarin, two cocktail pomelo (not a cocktail citrus tree - this represents that more than one citrus type is grafted onto a single plant), tahitian pomolo, and tangelo. Mixing the juice from the cocktail pomelo and tangelo together is really nice.

hi guys, big fan of your videos - got some inspiration for my own brews here. Why do you not use Bentonite to clarify your brews? I had great results using it.

Chloramine is difficult to filter out.... Also, check out Transite piping. It was used everywhere in the USA by cities in our domestic water supply. It is also called a.c. pipe due to the fact that it is made from a combination of concrete and ASBESTOS!!!! I've done hundreds of repairs on water mains over my 27 years as a commercial plumber where we've run into it. It all showed loss of material on the surfaces inside due to water velocity and wear from particulates in the system.

Only problem I see is that buffering after the yeast was added allowed the yeast to be stressed/damaged by the overly acidic enviroment before it was brought into range. I always buffer before yeast when I have to. Could be the Issue, well that and cranberry is famous for being hard to ferment.

the people obsessed with sanitization need to remember wine was made for hundreds of years by stepping on grapes with bare feet in a wooden bucket on a dirt floor

I think it's interesting adjusting pH, it's obviously a logarithmic scale, so making small adjustments doesn't get you far up that logarithmic curve. I'd also be interested to see an aggressive "swirl" or something would do to get dissolved CO2 out, and figure out how much that'd affect pH (if at all), as CO2 lowers pH to some extent

I so love a cosmo!

Why didn't the pectin enzyme work? Maybe because emzyme is ph and temperature sensitive? Edited. I also just googled "ph buffer wine calcium carbinate vs potassium carbonate" And found out that a wine site reports. "Calcium carbonate is used to reduce the acidity of wine. It does not require cold-stabilization to force complete precipitation, as does potassium carbonate. However, calcium carbonate is more likely to affect the flavor than potassium carbonate, and may take a few months to fully precipitate.", And another page on the same site reports "Potassium Carbonate is used to lower acidity levels in wine. 3.8 grams per gallon will reduce acidity by about .1%. Potassium Carbonate requires that the fermenter be stored cold for several weeks after application. During the period of cold stabilization the tartaric acid drops out as potassium bitartrate. Maybe some of the cloudiness is simply potasium bitrate that has not fallen out of solution.

I just started an apple cider and trying to find a pumpkin wine to try

So I recently started bee keeping for a new hobby. I decided to use my new found supply of honey to get into mead making. This new venture brought me to your youtube channel, love the videos by the way. I have been binge watching your kids and using your Amazon affiliate links to get supplies. One thing I did get that I haven't seen you use is a conical fermenter. I,m curious if you have tried one and what your thoughts are.

pH of the must will change immediately after adding Potassium or Sodium Carbonate. Few minutes if using Calcium or Magnesium Carbonate, much longer if you're adding straight sea shells but still in minutes or hour range, not hours. Also, for sugar wash type must, aim in 4-5 pH range instead of 3-4. pH 3 has 10 times acid of pH 4. Finally, pH buffering is most important at start of fermentation and first 1-2 days, during yeast replication. Once replication has stopped and colony is settled, pH won't change much.

Hi! This brew brings up a general question I have: how would you carbonate a brew like this which didn't originally use up all the sugars in the original fermentation? My usual method of adding a bit more sugar before bottling would not work (correct?)...so are these brews "uncarbonatable" (without a CO2 machine)? Maybe something for a future video?

a very shorty lived girfriend of mine from france took me to angers (pronounced aun jay) where we visited the distillery :) question: does boiling the water help the chlorine evaporate faster?

Hello, I was shopping in the baking aisle and found a product that interested me. It’s called nutritional yeast flakes. The only ingredient is dried yeast and says it can be added to food or beverages for flavoring. I wonder if it could be used as a yeast nutrient?

You can add water or more cran like 2-3 cups .. yea you have more must but that also means you have more good stuff.... so all RIGHT~!

Hi 👋. I’ve been watching your videos from a very long time and I love how you make home brewing so fun 😁 I have a question if that’s ok. I started a strawberry wine, I used 2.5 litres of strawberries juice, 1kg sugar About 2.5 litres of water Yeast nutrients. First reading is 1.090 First day everything was ok. On day 2 fermentation was so violent I had to swap the airlock with a pipe and pint of water. I did it very quickly and I’m concerned about infections. Since it’s primary fermentation what are the signs I should look for in case it’s infected?? Many thanks 🙏

I'd love to see CSBs take on margarita wine!

wanted ask a question I made a wine sp was 1120 at start when it finished was 1012 so what would the alcohol be in it im not real good with numbers

I wouldn't worry about changing the flavour with potassium carbonate. All that remains in solution is the potassium, the carbonate reacts to form carbon dioxide which you get through fermentation anyway, and potassium is relatively low in flavour, slightly salty and bitter but unless you're using potassium chloride as salt substitute you're probably not going to notice. In terms of adjusting pH there really isn't a way around it either, you have to substitute an ion for every hydrogen ion you neutralize after all, and there really isn't much better than potassium.

having watched your older videos it seems you have the best success getting high ABVs when you step feed vs adding all the sugar at once. maybe your stalling problem is just over stressing the yeast?

In looking for a good Blackberry Wine recipe, I found many that were using RedStar Premier Cuvee. RedStar info states it is an 18% tolerance yeast and is more like a champagne yeast but it is often used to fix stalled brews. It is also stated to be a slower yeast. Might be worth looking into. My Blackberry Wind started @ 1.108 and in six days ended @ 0.988.

When using bottled juice, at what point or kind of juice do you add water? And do you have to?

I personally like Calcium Carbonate for buffering. But either works well.

I have a silly question could you mix ferm maid o and yeast together in one step

IN this wine did you ever stir up the yeast when adding the potassium Bi-Carbonate? Obviously a gentle stir? when I have been adding ingredients after the initial day I usually take a sanitized spoon and stir the yeast back into solution gently. If we are balancing for the yeast and the yeast hove collected at teh bottom stirring them into the fresh environment seems like a logical idea.

Mmmmm. Crunchy Oranges

Water mains in the USA are either ductile iron, c900, or Transite ( i.e. asbestos concrete)

I've heard of egg shells or oyster shells being used for pH control too..... Obviously cleaned, and then baked if I remember correctly....

Seven million asbestos fibers per liter or less in our drinking water has been deemed "acceptable" by regulatory commisions set up by our goverment. It is a known cause of digestive system cancers. There are still an estimated 600,000 miles of a.c. pipe still in use in the USA and Canada. All of it is past its date of serviceability.

Do you think this would be good as a 5 gallon batch to be put in a keg and carbonated for a summertime beverage?😁

rofl best video....the pith police ...classic

an Alton Brown reference is never unwelcome.

I made a cranberry wine recently and it took about 2.5-3 months to finish fermenting. OG was 1.09 FG was 1.002 using a 1/2 pack of premiere classique yeast. Here’s my brew notes: Cranberry wine Sg 1.09 ish Cranberry juice, 1 cup Lipton tea, 2ish cups sugar, 1 expired ec1118 for nutrient, 1/2 pack premiere classique Started 8/22/22 Very slow fermentation, possibly from low pH 1.002 on 11/26/22 ~11.5%

you have added the ph boost a couple of times.... and stired the brew to mix it in... do you think that stiring the brew and in so doing also helped it degas.... is it posible that the degasing also makes a difference??

Great Video! Would bentonite of been a good idea in this case to help clear? Any reason for not using it?

Hi both and community! I need help! I'm making the Viking's Blood 2020 in two 1 gallon containers. Now I'm just starting so they're plastic. I have 4 plastic containers. Nice and cheap. ($2.50 each?)Day 1 both are bubbling away and I'm all happy! Day 2 (today) and in 1 of the containers (fermenters) the airstop? Bubbly thingy at the top? It's stopped bubbling on one of them. I've checked the actual liquid/cherry stuff and it's bubbling away quite happily! But the air stopper thingy is level. So I've got a hole in the plastic bottle somewhere... Ok. Now I've felt around with my hands and I can't feel any realise of any air anywhere. I was hoping I would have felt something and just sellotape the entire top of the bottle? Oh, and there's no liquid seepage so the hole's at the top somewhere... (And I've re-screwed the lid till I'm bored) I did work in a chemical works? And this is the time they'd put very soapy water over the entire pipe to locate the hole. Soap on my fermenter to find the hole? FORGET IT!!! The liquid is bubbling so I'm happy. But should I be? Now here comes the dodgy decision... It's day 2. I've heard (I'm a noobie, I know nothing!) that it's ok to oxygenate till day 3 (I'm just doing the careful swirly thing so no mould grows... I guess because that's what Brian said to do?). Do I move the contents to a new container (I will sanitise first) - I have four, using two - and throw this one because there is a hole somewhere? (P.S. whatever the decision, I'm throwing this one anyways!!!) Or do I just Metallica ride the lightning and do an eye: "Is it still bubbling" till the 2 gravity readings - 1 week apart - to see if it's done, using the first one as a bench mark? A kinda guide? And yes, contents of both are the same, half yeast packet in one, the other half in the other. Now I don't think the 'hole' is big enough to let in fruit flies - but I am in an area where fruit flies are a thing (crack a beer, 1/2 hour later, fruit flies) So this is a major, major concern for me. Should I transfer it into a new container? (In which case, it will oxygenate. These cherries? Where ever they are? They don't wanna go anywhere else! And that cinnamon stick? Man. It's so not going to play ball!) Or just leave it, first brew, live and learn, see what happens, 30 mins of me staring at a bottle to see if it's still bubbling in like 3 or 4 weeks, (I'm still at the point I like watching the bubbles!) grav read it, leave it 1 week, grave read it again... Ya know, don't worry, it'll be fine... I'm happy to leave it, but hey! Community! It's good to talk! Any/all feedback greatly appreciated! :) Oh, and PS. I'm also, obviously, worried about oxygenating during the entire fermentation process. Is oxygen getting in? I don't know. But I'm quite happy to run the experiment, report back the results - community. Together, with our collective knowledge, we are stronger!

I have an old ph meter but ran out of calibrating solution. Got tired of having to constantly calibrate it. Seems like they need recalibrated every couple of uses

Suppose you really wanted this to ferment closer to your target gravity. What would you do to kick start fermentation so that it would work on the remaining sugars? What are some typical options? For example, could you add more yeast, even another type? Or is it the case that trying to do too much could ruin the brew? In other words, when it's done .... it's done!

You putting in a lot more bicarb than you expected doesn't surprise me. pH is logarithmic. 1 point pH equates to a concentration difference of a factor 10.

Did it stall because the yeast was partially killed by the ph level being too acidic before you added the potassium bicarbonate? Maybe adding more yeast after getting the ph correct would have helped?

I’d like to see you guys do a durian wine.

GET THE GOOP

Oh, Brian an AB joke...love him.

As I was looking at Amazon to purchase Potassium Bicarbonate and I found a version from LD Carlson and it says on the label "Not to be used to reduce acid beyond 0.3% or used on wines higher than 3.5ph". This may explain why you could not reduce the PH above that range.

I think the word you are looking for is titratable acidity. sounds like youre combining it with tartaric acid

1 imperial gallon is 1.20095 US gallons

I have noticed a trend with this channel I've done my best to watch most if not all of your videos I am a true fan BUT. I have noticed additives such as Camden tablets wine tannin and peptic enzyme. Have your opinions changed about wine additives and or stabilizers? In the younger videos on this channel I never saw any additives it was all organic and mostly natural ferments please don't take me as being disrespectful at all I have learned so much and I'm grateful just honestly curious if I as a fellow brewer missing out? thank you for your time reading my long-winded comments

Hey guys i know this isn’t about the video but I’ve got a question, the hydrometer I’m using is the brewers elite one you guys have listed in your equipment, now I’ve used this thing in water which is supposed to be 1.000 i even dropped the temp of the sample to 60° for calibration purposes but it was reading 0.994 is this the same with yours? Or did i just receive a faulty one..?

They sell 2lb bags of sugar.

How about making an oxymel. Can an oxymel be developed with mead instead of raw honey, and utilize 25-year-old balsamic vinegar?

36:21 i LOVE your shirt where did you buy it?

Just one question do you not have to calibrate the pH-meter?

Why not just add lemon juice to bump the acid level?

Can you guys make a moscato?

Preference tasting score = transparent bias

Brian, bud, i love ya, but how you get the stuff off the bottom of the bottles legit bugs me. XD Open it, dump half, then shake up the rest. The liquid moves more because it has more room, and its a lot easier to get the stuff off the bottom.

Can you guys make an Apflewein? Traditional German apple wine made with honey, maybe carbonate it?

I think this is easily repeated. If you added the sum of the ph additive it would probably come out almost exactly the same.

.... so that's not a slide-rule in your pocket... ta-boom

Google sez a British 20% more than a US gallon...

Also settle the debate From the Uk And i used to pump gasoline as my first after school job 22 years ago A Uk Gallon is 4.54 litres 😂😂

I want to send you guys a bottle of my mead but i dont think it would make it i live in Washington State on the opposite side of the country than you guys

Journey before destination. How you reach your goals is more important than the goal itself 😂. Or multiple trains. However you’d like to put it haha. Only nerds will under my comment

Gosh. I am so stumped the i'm helping bit. I remember the movie but not the name. Stupid Lupus. I like so know this but its just not coming out. Lol smh