/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>348321
Here's one of the first old recipes, This was made for use in 2.5 gallon water jugs. Adjust proportions as needed.

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It seems something in the way the text is formatted is triggering this, so here's a screenshot of the text instead.

>>347378
My first wines were banana wines. They turned out very nice.

>>339475
I've really wanted to get wine barrels, but they are not worth it for my small scale stuff. I think sticking to oak spirals, chunks, and chips will be fine. Though the cool factor for barrels is pretty awesome.

>>339581
That sucks. I've been lucky not to have anything, made of glass, break on me. Good thing is was just 1 gallon. I can't imagine having one of my 15-gallon demijohns exploding. My place would stink of alcohol forever.

>>345146
I can speak for Fleischmann's bread yeast. you need to treat it like Lalvin's EC-1118 champagne yeast. It will create more CO2 that EC-1118 and you need to give it lots of headspace the first couple of days while using a blow off tube. It will create lots of foam. A blow off tube is a precaution and you can switch to a 3-piece airlock a few days later. Keep temperatures around 72F and always activate the yeast prior to pitching it.

If you are experiencing a stuck fermentation with another yeast, you can use Fleischmann's to kick start it. Though, that will change the character of your brew depending on what it is, but that can save it.

It is best to use recipes that are specifically built around specific yeasts. It is best to use the yeast that is called for instead of making a substitution. This is really only for consistency in the recipe.

Regardless of yeast type, most people use yeasts incorrectly and never know it. This is why sticking to a recipe is so important. If you are merely looking to get drunk then it does not matter what non-wild yeast you use.

>>339029
>5th year brewing

Nice. I'm closing in on my 5th year this January.

>72 gallon batch

Wow, is that all one container or more than one?

>>339026
>raisin date wine, and the other was blueberry wine.

Nice. I need to do a blueberry wine again.

>The freebies took the pressure and I was able to save them in time.

You are referring to the 1-gallon glass jugs? Are you sealing them off for carbonation purposes or was it just a freak accident?

>>339020
>Considering I've never tried it before, it went pretty well!

Great to hear! Congratulations! Now you'll never stop!

>The mead doesn't taste as good as the beer or wine I would buy from the liquor store, but its certainly drinkable, and makes a nice sangria.

Keep trying. The slightest thing can change it from one batch to the next. Even the ambient temperature of the room can do that. It makes things interesting and when there's a solid winner it makes it all the more special.

>a) rack once, and b)let it age a bit longer.

I normally rack as many times as I need to, until there's no more sediment falling out to the bottom. I may wait a month between rackings to let it do that. Although, racking too much without some argon or CO2 in the container can put too much oxygen into the brew. Aging with mead is extremely important. Always age it at least a year no matter what. Always save out one bottle and let it age a long time if you are so impatient that you need to drink all the rest in a short amount of time.

>wine
>Anybody recommend a good variety?

A real wine or a country wine? A real wine is one made with grapes and a country wine is made with everything else. How about a half and half? Cranberry and grape?

>>339003
I also second >>339005 midwestsupplies. I started out with one of their wine kits. Get one with all equipment and no ingredients.

I racked some Queen Anne's Lace mead a couple days ago. It's the 5-gallon carboy in foil in this image. It's bound for bulk storage before bottling it. It is 15.23%ABV if I did the calculations and measurements correctly. Some notes I made,
---
Odor: Sweet, strong alcohol; no floral or carrot smell now
Looks: Great dark reddish amber color, no indication of infection, but there was a "semi-suspicious thin-white film on top of the brew" (decided to taste test because of this), fairly clear, but could use a fining agent to get rid of some finer suspended material (will try clay, if I use any fining agent.) There was a very tiny amount of CO2 build up on the bottom of the test glass.
Taste: Somewhat sweet, burns the back of the throat and stomach a bit, okay aftertaste; no floral or carrot flavors detected yet.
Outlook: Good. Aging and degassing should help remove some of the bite and bring out more subtle flavors, if they survived. Since there is a lot of head space with oxygen in it, I will age this in bulk for about 3 months then bottle it with solid natural cork where it can age longer.
---
I normally don't taste test a young brew, but there was a suspicious film on it. Everything seems fine, it just tastes and feels "young". Hopefully, as the stronger stuff breaks down during aging the florals and carrot flavors will be noticeable. It seems bound for being a great mead.

The other two bottles are Pagan Queen's mead (2010) and Dandelion (2009) wine that have been in long term aging. I don't hold much for those two. They were awful when racked last time. I hope the aging will help, but I'm still leery of the dandelion wine, (too much green in it due to laziness when picking and separating the blossoms.) The 1st batch was really good though. The Pagan Queen's mead is an experiment though.

>>324275
Yes. Although, there's too many variables to gauge efficiency. Converting solar energy into thermal energy then into mechanical energy then into electrical energy is wasteful. It is better to have a two stage process. Either solar to thermal or solar to electrical.

There are steam engines and Stirling engines that convert solar to thermal to mechanical to electrical.

There are also hybrid systems that have PV cells and thermal collection build together. The PV cells convert solar into electrical and also heat up as normal PV cells do. They are backed with pipes and act as a heat sink. Liquid is pumped through the pipes to cool the PV cells. It increases the longevity of the PV cells and gives heating for things like water or houses.

>>324227
Oh, I like that image.

>>324227
>is this how they work?

Fundamentally, yes.

>i havent seen syphons with mirrors or polished metal

I've made a couple, as practical conceptualizing.

The best way to design them is with a use in mind. If you will be adding reflector panels, the air or liquid passing through the collector will get very hot dependent on its speed and volume. This will allow a faster flow rate. Since the flow rate can be faster, you can increase the diameter of the channels or piping and make them straight vertically instead of zig-zag.

However, the amount of heat you put into the system needs to be taken out just as quickly on the other end for whatever use you are using it for. Otherwise, you are essentially wasting all that extra reflector space.

>>324242
That depends on too many factors to accurately determine; unless you have those variables to calculate. If there's no flow, it is well insulated, and the collector size is large, then it can get so hot that it will ignite wood. Conversely if the flow is very fast and volume high it will be barely warm to the touch.

Essentially, you will need a square area of full sun equal to about 3 feet x 7 feet to make enough warm water for a good shower or bath. Adding reflector panels can increase the temperature, but might not increase the flow rate very much.

I think I've reworded the same information enough to give you an idea. Here's some quick tips,

1: larger diameter piping = easier flow starting faster flow
2: fewer bends = easier flow starting faster flow
3: reflector panels = hotter, which can allow for a faster flow design
4: zig-zag is good for slow heating applications
5: straight pipe is good for fast heating applications
6: good flow will only occur when you have a good heat exchanger to remove the heat

>>323857
Don't use mirrors. Use polished metal at the very most. However, you only need something painted white in order to reflect enough light. Scattered light from non-mirror sources is best for plants anyway. Otherwise you can risk burning them. Painting all the surfaces in the greenhouse white will also help scatter the light around. Keep in mind that by painting everything inside white you will be cutting down on the amount of light that is converted into thermal energy to heat your greenhouse.

Also, do some rethinking on the types of plants you are raising for food. You may find that you can grow other edible types that are more shade tolerant which can provide you with adequate food.

I worked in a tomato greenhouse for many years. They did not use grow lights, but the greenhouse was exposed to the full sun. In the summer they used shade clothes and removed them for the winter months. This area gets a 4.x range of sunlight like these places do,

Akron 4.1
Columbus 4.2
Cleveland 4.1
New York City 4.6
Rochester 4.1

>Solar Radiation Data Manual
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/pubs/redbook/

So, if where you live can give you comparable numbers then your greenhouse should do fine in the winter. You may find you only need to supplement the plants with artificial light for a few hours a week; like on cloudy days. You could DIY up a timer that comes on for daylight hours and a sensor that will turn on the lights when the sunlight is too low during the daytime.

>>321014
>I'm always glad when he reposts pics

I really need to finish some of my other cookers and take new photos.

>note that the glue wasn't used in this cooker's construction.

>>320994
Try here,

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Solar_cooker_plans

They have quite a bit of information and a few plans. I am not aware of a comprehensive collection of solar cooker plans.

>>321014
The color black allows better transfer or heat. It also is the best color for turning light into thermal energy. The heat sink on the back of a fridge or freezer is black for the former reason. The black allows it to get rid of the heat faster than other colors.

For a solar cooker, I think its outer color is mostly negligible. If you don't have insulation then it may play a role in transferring the heat out of the box faster than normal. If you have a great amount of insulation the amount of heat transfer shouldn't be a problem at all. Keep in mind that the sides of a solar cooker are never directly exposed to sunlight because they are shaded by the reflector panels. Thus, they only receive ambient light. The amount of ambient light and ambient environmental thermal radiation hitting the sides won't be enough to make much of a difference to the internal temperature of the cooker.

If you have very little insulation, I would paint the sides white to prevent transfer of heat to the outside of the cooker.

>pic is another repost

This is a simple experiment to create a solar funnel/panel type cooker using the least amount and lightest materials. It is a mylar emergency blanket. An egg was placed on a foil covered plate and a glass jar with black-painted aluminum foil inside was placed over the egg. It worked in "hard boiling" the egg, but it did take a rather long time (2.5-3 hours), mostly due to cloud cover.

The pros to this one is that the jar can have a lid instead of a plate and the entire unit can be concealed and carried in the jar. The cons are the need for stick and you can't move it easily.

>>320550
This was its first test cooking. I used it too death while out on job sites and camping. Looks like it was topping out as 225F. It uses a single pane of regular plate glass. If it were to get hotter, it would most likely crack. Had I used 2 pieces of glass then I would have needed a piece of thermal glass on the inner side because it would have been far hotter.

This one didn't cost me anything except for tape and foil. It also feels, " feel cheap, flimsy, and disposable". Which is why it was just a concept test.

>>320549
Here's another reposted image of one I made. I don't have it anymore and I'm working on a more durable design. This is intended to be stowed behind my seat in my vehicle and used for camping or where ever.

>>320467
I've made many, in many different styles. In the end, I prefer the "Heaven's Flame" style of reflectors for a box cooker.

Here's a reposted image of my main cooker. It can reach up to 380F right now, but it needs some reflector maintenance. Normally, when it is empty it can reach 430F or around there in about 15 minutes. When food is placed in it, the food absorbs the heat very quickly so ambient temps are usually 200F-250F.

This one was made with scrap building materials and insulation. Most of the cost is in the handles, wheels, and tempered inner glass. This has 2 panes of glass and several inches of insulation. It normally takes things an hour to cook/bake.

You can make these for pretty cheap and the glass should be the most expensive part. You always need the inner glass to be tempered if your temps are going to be over 220F. Otherwise, it'll crack.

>Does anyone actually live off of cooking from a solar oven?

I don't live off mine entirely. I do it in phases. A month in the summer may go by with all my meals coming from the cooker. I don't use it in the winter normally because I dislike being out in the cold, but it works well in -10F temps.

>How much did it cost you to put together?

Unknown really. Probably, $75.

>How hard are they to clean and maintain?

Pretty easy. However, mine uses aluminum foil on the reflector panels and it needs a new layer. Oxidation has turned the foil white in places now. I can simply epoxy/glue a new layer on it after scrapping/sanding off the old. It took about 2 years to get bad enough to need changed.

>>313841
>pic

Terrible typos everywhere. I must have been taste testing that day...

>>313830
This one? That reminds me, I need to rack the current one and put it into long term aging. You can modify the recipes. The flowers are merely for flavoring and phytochemicals.

The archives are in /rs/ under,

Tepache Brewing Archive 001.part1.rar
Tepache Brewing Archive 001.part2.rar
Tepache Brewing Archive 001.part3.rar
Tepache Brewing Archive 001.part4.rar

The old original recipe was a country wine and not a mead,

16 cups boiling water
1 banana (pureed)
15oz raisins (pureed)
5 cups sugar
1 gallon Queen Anne’s Lace flowers
1 package bread yeast

The image here is the latest one for mead.

>>313249
I certainly wouldn't. A few simple extra steps like clearing, racking, and aging go a long way with any brew; from hobo to award winning. It would seem most of you would be very amazed with what can be brewed on the stingiest of brewing capital. I know I have been.

The only real thing hobo recipes lack most of the time is consistency because there is almost always substitutions between batches.

Those that cry foul the loudest seem to be the most inexperienced with most forms of brewing except their own singular experiences and methods.

>>299760
The people saying that most likely don't know the causes of the "sour apples" flavor they are referring to.

If your beer is becoming sour it is more than likely because there is an aerobic bacteria infection. Those need oxygen to grow and they sour a beer. This isn't an oxygen problem this is a contamination problem. It you actually get sour tastes from oxidation then you've let your beer age for....too many years. lol

The only real environmental problem that isn't a contamination, that I can currently think of, would be UV radiation. Not all beers have problems with UV (those that don't use hops and are low in sulfur compounds), but most of them do. The UV light causes them to be "skunked". Incandescent light is far easier on beer than the UV from the sun and from fluorescent bulbs.

Wine rarely ever has this problem with light, but you need to keep it in the dark so the color doesn't fade. Some flavor change will occur of course.

>>299745
You're not actually supposed to stop oxidation. You only need to control it.

Oxidation is what is going on during the aging process. This is why wine using natural corks in their bottles age faster than wines using synthetic corks in their bottles.

If you have a somewhat tannic or "young" bottle wine that you just opened, you can pour part of it into another container, seal both up and try them again a week later. The wine should have oxidized to a certain extent and be much mellower. You can "save" a bottle of wine in this manner. Of course contamination is always a concern.

>>299733
Don't disturb your brew. Just take the napkin off and slip the pin-pricked balloon onto it.

The problem with infection is after the yeast starts to stop fermenting and goes dormant. That is when the threat of contamination is highest as you rack it out into another container.

When beginning your first few brews, you should do your best to minimize all infections. This way you will not become discouraged from the start if everything fails because you were using lax methods of brewing. Once you get it right the correct way, feel free to experiment in any way you can think of. You can even make brews that are purposely inoculated with wild yeasts and bacterias in a search for new flavors or new disasters.

If you brew starts to smell like vinegar in any way, you should probably make the decision to stabilize it or let it turn to vinegar. If you stop the fermentation at that time and stabilize the brew you'll at least have a lower alcohol brew that only partially tastes of vinegar which can be tolerable.

>>299679
I regularly attain 14%-15%ABV every time I brew. The highest %ABV was with a kilju and it reached 19%. Second highest has been 17%ABV on a few occasions. Fleischmann's is a great yeast to break a stuck fermentation when all other yeasts fail. I think I made around 200 gallons with it. Now I rarely use it except for older recipes I've developed.

If you are having problems with it then it is more than likely that the recipe is not properly tailored to it.

>>299647
It really depends on the strain of yeast. Fleischmann's bread yeast will give you fruity flavors if you brew it around the 90F-95F range. Around 70F-80F it acts in nearly all respects like Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast. You need to use a blow off tube with bread yeasts. Otherwise the excess foam most likely will cause a blow out.

>>291276
Occasionally.

>>277844
Time is the best filter. Once fermentation ceases the yeast falls to the bottom. Once that happens completely the brew should be crystal clear enough to read through. If there is a haze left then you may need to clarify it using either a freezing technique to make the particles drop down or use one of many clarifying agents based on the type of haze it is.

For a tepache, I recommend storing the brew in the fridge which should be set to be pretty cold. You can try the freezer, but with such low alcohol content it may inadvertently freeze, which you don't want to happen. Instead you just need to chill it as much as possible. the longer it is chilled the more yeast will settle to the bottom. Then you'll be able to rack the brew into a new container.