HomeBrew for Idiots

[Anonymous No.19504141]

Asking DYI as well but I want to get multiple answers: Dummy question: For wine and mead I get conflicting answers: Do you add the yeast and yeast nutrition at the same time? Some suggest adding the nutrients a week after. Do you degas? Some call for a acid base while others do not. do any of these steps really make a difference?

[Anonymous No.19504168]

>>19504141
can i make alcohol out of soda?

[Anonymous No.19504171]

The thing with brewing is it's all highly subjective and you need to play around a bit and find what works for you. Mead from what I understand can take its time because there's not much nutrients in just the honey mash for the yeast to work with. I've only really brewed ciders so I never bothered with nutrients. Maybe adding them from the start will help. Acids from what I understand are used to round out a flavour profile so it depends on what you like. Make sure you get the proper gear like an autosiphon and a gravity reader so you know your starting gravity and final gravity. Or if you're fucking lazy like me, brew till it's sweet or dry enough to your liking then cold crash it. A lot of this stuff is trial and error and finding what you like. I would recommend doing a cider brew, throw in some spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and a little clove after you get the hang of brewing. Also be aware you will make a mess using your auto siphon the first time so work in an aware you can mop up easily. Little spills happen

[Anonymous No.19504177]

>>19504141
Miller lite and makers mark is good enough. I'm not a europoor or neet that needs to make their own alcohol. Your home made stuff is shit.

[Anonymous No.19504178]

>>19504168
You could, you can brew anything as long as there's sugar for the yeast to work with and no preservatives that would halt the fermentation, I wouldn't let something like that ferment completely dry though, or you could let it go dry then back sweeten. I've never tried using pop but I did use some lemonade once you can use almost anything but results will vary especially from batch to batch as you learn what you're doing, there's a lot to learn

[Anonymous No.19504232]

>>19504168
It depends on the soda. If it has sodium benzoate in it, no.

[Anonymous No.19504274]

>>19504141
No, add the yeast then wait a few days and add the nutrient. Hunger builds character.

[Anonymous No.19504289]

i have no idea what "yeast nutrient" is.
I just throw the yeast in the grape juice and let it do its thing.
some wine makers say you can throw a couple raisins in there too, to provide extra carbon and phosphorous molecules that the yeast uses to make their little bodies.

[Anonymous No.19504303]

you are overcomplicating this.
people have been making hooch for over ten thousand years.
prisoners make alcohol using nothing but fruit and stale bread

[Anonymous No.19504349]

>>19504141
What I used for mead is that I bought champagne yeast from red star. It worked pretty well but you don't want to overdue the amount and let it sit for days, becomes too alcoholic and not sweet enough. After that you just make the mead hot enough to kill off yeast which then you place it in bottles or whatever you want.
For my mead I used the regular honey but I also added oranges and raisins mainly for the yeast to eat on. Came out pretty good.
Wanted to try out other fruits like strawberries and also vanilla but I left the yeast alone for too long and just stopped experimenting due to financial reasons.

[Anonymous No.19504360]

>>19504141
Break out the ale. These men are thirsty.

[Anonymous No.19504505]

>>19504349
If you're not making a lot and you're just dabbling in brewing you can just cold crash and keep them in the fridge opposed to going through the whole boiling process

[Anonymous No.19504544]

>>19504141
You add the nutrients at the beginning, adding the nutrients later is only if you're step feeding or if your brew stalls or something.

[Anonymous No.19505170]

>>19504141
> Do you add the yeast and yeast nutrition at the same time?

Ideally, you should create a starter. A small batch of water high in sugars for the yeast and add in the nutrients at the same time. Creating like a sourdough starter, but for brew. The more yeast, and healthy the culture, the better your ferment in a brew will likely be. No need to add nutrients later on, they should rapidly multiple in your brew. If adding later, it can only help if fermentation stalled, however you also run the risk of adding in wild yeasts or bacteria.

>Do you degas?
No. It has its place, but not that necessary of a step at a small scale. Best is to just keep a a good seal on the ferment or move it to bottles once it's stopped fermenting.

>Some call for a acid base while others do not do any of these steps really make a difference?
The can make a difference. But will tell you the greatest thing is to get a good healthy yeast started then pitch it in the ferment. Right temperature and conditions, and keep things as clean as possible. Good dissolved sugars and you will get a final product that you will enjoy!

Highly suggest "The Compleat Meadmaker".

[Captain Snibles No.19505591]

>>19504168
Orang soda ferment as dos most fruit flavored sodas. Coke or Pepsi , root beer, not very fast if at all. My advice is to add a cup of orange juice too the soda .the yeast needs food I have even tried adding multi vitamin to the soda , but I find no difference. I tried just putting in 2 cups of suger and some yeast in the soda, shaking it real hard and untwisting the cap on till it just starts hissing then add a few drops of super glue so the cap stays in place , pull over a Pinching bag party balloon over the cap as a second safety seal and poke a pin size hole in the balloon after it inflates to about the size of a cantaloupe the hole will close as the pressure gous down trapping a fist size amount of CO2 in the bottle even if the balloon tares you can brobably drink the wine if the bottle is still hard when you squeeze the bottle . Water at least a month siphon out the wine and filter withe a coffee filter several times . The advantage of using a cap as an air lock you can move the bottle if you need to or chang the balloon. Glass is a pain in the butt to clean I have made 5 gallon batches using arrow head bottles , becous the jeast heated the wine better fire winter. On a personal note it's not a good idea to use a heating pad on a timer. I burnt a big ass hole in my carpet.