/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>233319
>changes in temp/pressure can result in water getting sucked into the airlock.

Which is why I use long tubes now. Though, it only happens when the yeast is almost completed fermentation and there's hardly any internal pressure.

I don't rely on standard airlocks anymore now. I have like 30 of them, but I've converted to blow-off tubes for some time now.

>>233044
Brewery shops want you to buy their products, not the grocery store's products. Each yeast is different. Just as all brewing yeasts are different, so to are bread yeasts.

I've used nearly every wine yeast there is and several bread yeasts. If you want to experiment as much as I do then go for whatever you wish. Any failures you have should be well noted and you will learn a great deal from them; perhaps you'll learn more from those than your successes.

>>233092
These statements are completely incorrect and based exclusively on ignorance. A bread yeast like Fleischmann's is often used to restart a stuck brew because it is more aggressive, hardier, and can take far higher %ABV than typical yeast strains without being stressed. When used properly, its only real drawback is the amount of foam produced (for which is was designed to make).

The juice in the OP pic plus the added sugar gives it a max of about 3.8 cups of sugar can result in a max of 16.68%ABV. The wine is just barely sweet with very little residual sugars left over at all. This is because I stopped fermentation before it became dry, using potassium metabisulphite. Otherwise, it would have completely used up all sugars in the brew becoming extremely dry.

You can't mask "impurities" with sugar. You can only age them out, which is what you are supposed to do in the first place.

After bottling:
Tepache: 3 days of aging
Kilju: 1 week of aging (if you age past this, it no longer is considered kilju)
White wine: 6 months to 1 year of aging
Light red wine: 1 to 1.5 years of aging
Dark red wine and light meads: 1.5 to 2 years of aging
Dark berry wines and dark meads: 2 to 5 years of aging
Black Elderberry wine/mead: 10 to 20 years of aging

I have meads from a few years ago that I haven't even tasted yet, because they are aging. Most experience brewers tell people not to taste their brews until after the aging process. this is to prevent newbies from tossing out perfectly good batches of wine because they think the wine is bad. I recommend that people new to brewing taste their brews at every step along the way while keeping in mind that if it tastes bad at that point, it will more than likely taste great after proper aging. You can get invaluable information this way.

>>232867
My apologies, but I don't do that sort of thing. You can find me here and on /ck/ in Homebrewmen threads. Both boards have quite a few brewers. Though, I don't post as much as I once did, I still lurk.

>>232770
>>232771
>graphic?

Yes. The original thread was on /ck/ a few years ago and included the entire recipe, not just the image; hence the numbering.

>wine you prefer?

Mellow ones and sweet ones. Dry is fine. I don't like overly tannic wines. I made some 19%ABV and 0.989S.G. attenuated dry stuff. The really dry high %ABV stuff like an aged kilju is good for mixed drinks.

>difference between yeasts?

Yes. Some yeasts give you floral flavors for instance. Some make the brew taste beer-like and have a "hay/barley" flavor. How stressed the yeast is, plays a massive role in how well the brew will taste. A very stressed yeast will rupture its cell walls and expel innards into the brew, tainting it with pretty bad flavors. They can also produce other types of alcohols, other than ethanol, while they are stressed. These fusel alcohols/oils can be really bad tasting. Most wines have these to an extent and this is why wines take a long time to age. The aging process mellows the harshness of these flavors through a slow oxidation process.

Among fermentation yeast variants, there are some pretty good charts on everything from their perfect environment to their flavor profile.

As a rule of thumb, don't swap one yeast type or brand for another if there is a recipe that calls for a specific yeast. If you swap them without knowing quite a bit about both yeasts and the recipe, you may not get a good result, or at worst won't get the same result as what the recipe calls for. I don't recommend bread yeasts even if it is Fleischmann's unless a recipe calls for it, you know specifically how to deal with it, and/or you want to experiment. though, if you must use a bread yeast, Fleischmann's brand is what I recommend.

>>232701
>>232722
>>232725
>>232728

The water is my blow-off tube airlock. It is extremely simple and highly effective and is very commonly used with high You may note that it actually blew off foam into the reservoir. Had a normal S or 3-piece air lock been used they would have clogged and may have caused a messy eruption.

>Blow-off Tube:
>A venting tube exiting a bung and either fitted with a valve or seated in a sulfite solution. When a demijohn or carboy is used as a primary fermentation vessel, the blow-off tube allows foam formed during the initial, violent period of fermentation to escape without disturbing the integrity of the airlock.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/glossary.asp

I know /diy/ is not full of retards, but this thread man.... the people answering question know only enough to get themselves into trouble. I could write a book with enough corrective material from the absolute bad information posted ITT. It is like you are all trolling the OP.

>>232705
Incorrect. It was one of the best wines I've made. It is a sweet wine though, not a dry wine and finished as close to 16%ABV as possible though it was more like 16.3%ABV I think.

>>232711
Fleischmann's bread yeast is extremely powerful and I've had it reach 19%ABV. You treat that yeast like you would Lalvin EC-1118 as both have the same needs and flavor profiles. You may interchange them in recipes, though I recommend a slightly cooler environment with Fleischmann's yeast than with EC-1118. Be warned though, leave lots of head space or use a blow-off tube because Fleischmann's has more foam (which protects it greatly from infections).

>>221207
If it had a pump for it then it should work. Like using the pool's own pump to pump the water around the circuit. Otherwise, it won't work because of the cold water being below the heating area. When the heating area is below the cold area then it will work without a pump very well, depending on the diameter of the piping, the number of bends in the piping, and the style in which the heat exchanger is made.

>>220971
The amount you use depends on the pool's needs and the weather in your area at the time. Removable black items are better than permanent ones. That way you adjust as needed.

Anything black that touches the water in any way will help convert light into heat and conduct it to the water. Anything black laying on the surface will do the same thing, but some heat will radiate into the air. Even black solar blankets such as >>221012

A better solution would be to use a completely clear solar bubble blanket and use mats on the bottom of the pool. The mats on the floor heat the pool because sunlight goes through the bubble blanket. The air pockets in the blanket help insulate the water and the blanket itself prevents evaporative cooling. This is what the blanket in >>221110 helps achieve.

Such a setup can heat any size pool in a very short amount of time. This obviously depends on the weather, the starting temperature of the pool, and how many square feet of black mats you use.

To more directly answer your questions,

>And what about making the floor full black?

You would more than likely have the water far too hot. So, making it adjustable would be best.

>or even just use black plastic thing you use for pools instead of the blue one

Yes.

I recommend using something black in the pool first. It is the easiest method. You can easily resize mats on the pool floor to adjust the temperatures to you liking.

Something like >>220895 pic will not work unless the heating coil is below the waterline. Otherwise, the hot water will remain in the top section of the coil.

The pool already has a pump. you can hook it to your pipe heating system as in >>220906 and use any type of heating system from fuel to solar. Cold pool water would enter the filter, pass through the pump, through the heating coil, and back into the pool.

Again, placing black items into your pool like in >>220897 is by far the easiest, cheapest, method for a solar heating solution. you'd be surprised just how hot that can make a pool.

>>219525
It really depends on the recipe, if you are using one, and/or your personal preferences and skill level. Yes, you can treat them like a wine in that regard. There are some that go as far as to aerate the brew for the first day using an aquarium aerator. Not all brews need this obviously.

>>219062
Never has the word filter been perfectly used. lol

That's pretty awesome idea, anon.

>>219065
You can make your own,

http://www.solar-power-answers.co.uk/controller.php

Circuit Diagrams,
http://mdpub.com/555Controller/

>>219219
It depends on the brew really. With wine it is okay for the first rack to have extra oxygen in it, but the rest of the rackings should have as little as possible. Regardless, with any racking you are not actively trying to aerate the brew. It will occur despite your best efforts if you don't fill the second container with an inert gas such as argon or CO2.

Most beers won't need any extra kick starting when you are racking it. Wines however may not have reached the target %ABV and when the brew gets a small infusion of oxygen during racking the yeast can be revitalized, become less stressed, and produce a better brew in the long run. Fermentation will pick up as the yeast multiplies more rapidly for a short amount of time the new oxygen lasts. This larger colony of yeast will work faster in making alcohol when the O2 levels drop low enough. This can be a way to prevent a stuck fermentation.

As I said, you won't be able to prevent an infusion of new O2 unless you fill the air space with a gas prior to racking.

>>218884
With a wine, degassing is easy once the brew is bottled with corks. Simply stand them upright for a week or more prior to storing them on their sides. With a beer you'll need to degass it prior to racking, unless you are going to bottle with corks. Degassing is only needed if you want as much CO2 removed as possible to prevent a sparkling beverage.

>>218830
It is suspicious. Don't rack it again. Wait it out and see if it grows. Racking it again, so soon will put too much oxygen into the brew.

>>218842
That is up to you. If you like how it tastes and it has the right %ABV then go for it. You could drink half and see how the rest develops for further experience for you.

>>183683
Actually, you can even use an electric water heater using a solar water conversion kit. They are special coils that replace the 2 heating elements in the electric water heater. Although, those are intended for active water heating systems, not passive ones like in my pic.

Additionally, the system in the pic is the entire water heater, the water tank itself is not a water heater nor a repurposed water heater. This is why it is labeled as ,"insulated water tank". This tank can be as large as you want. That is long as it can withstand the required pressure at the heat levels it will be subjected to. Many people, with a passive, winter-ready, solar water heater use a 2 heat exchanger system in the water tank. The water in the tank is self-contained. 2 large diameter coiled PEX pipes are placed in it for passive systems. 1 is for the heating and the other is domestic use. In an active system there is only 1 coiled PEX pipe for domestic use and the water or anti-freezing solution in the tank is cycled through the solar collector system.

Here is one of my designs. I recommend using 2nd hand glass sliding patio doors for the glazing. It keeps them out of landfills, is normally free, and their double glazing helps keep the heat in when wind hits it. Minor fogging of the glass due to the seal being compromised isn't that big of a deal (which is why people toss these for new ones, fyi).

For the collector you can use large diameter copper pipe. For the rest you can use large diameter PEX tubing. The more bends and elbows there are the less water flow, but the larger the diameter the better the water flow. So, it is all about finding the right diameter piping for water flow and cost. This is of course a passive system without any pump, hence the large diameter piping. An active system with a pump can use smaller diameter piping and the collector and storage tank positions do not matter.

>>181888
Well enough and considering that is my pic collage, you're good in my book (/ck/ may argue otherwise. lol)

>>180162
I had Hughesnet's satellite and Verizon's Mifi cellular. The satellite was balls out HORRIBLE for tons of reasons. The Mifi was a lot better but came with a 10GB a month cap they call "unlimited" because they don't cut your net, they just start charging you $10 for every 1GB over the 10GB/month limit. Hughesnet had F.A.P. Fair Access Policy. FAP throttles back your speed to dial-up if you use x amount over x time. That's just the start, I'm not going into the rest.

I have Frontier DSL now. Unlimited REAL UNLIMITED bandwith without fucking fees or throttling.

>>180132
i used free dialup around the Washington state area for years until this year. Finally, DSL came to my remote area. It's boss.

I torrented all the time with dial-up. I don't with DSL. Odd.

I had time to test the stand and lens today by making breakfast. I fried sausage patties. Pics related.


Here's a video of it,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGhj3JHzEbU

>>179869
i just threw it together, but I recall something similar from a few years ago from someone's SDR. I've also seen a couple pics of Fresnel lenses with frames like that. I think I may add holes on the ends of the boards on the bottom. That way I can drive spikes into them and into the ground to make it more wind proof. I also want to install something for the hinges that allows my to set them with tension.

Here's a hot-to video,

>FRESNEL LENS STAND HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN STAND
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTkUyJ7OHPk

I used a single table saw to do all the cuts.

I just completed the stand for this. It rotates on 2 axis. I'll be moving the center cross bar down lower and putting more corner braces for that too. It hinges on nails and all the wood is repurposed scrap 2x4s. It brings the focal point up to at least waist level and should make things lot easier.

>>179773
Thanks. My welding helmet has positive pressure ventilation so I could be in a room of smoke and not once breath it. So long as the intake is elsewhere, it is fine.

An ex-coworker gave me a super fuzzy rear projection TV. Inside I scored tons of components including 3 really nice 3.5" lens and a 28"x33" Fresnel lens. I just got around to making a wooden frame for the lens. The next step is to make a holder and stand for it so I can turn it on both axis. That way alignment, with the sun, will be perfect. However, I couldn't resist testing it out with the new frame.

I took a penny, painted it black on one side with a marker, and set it on a rock. I aligned the Fresnel lens with the sun and nearly vaporized the penny. Had the zinc not run away at an angle it would have vaporized it. the copper coating was vaporized. I also scarred the rock with it and it popped and chipped away in the heat. This thing lights wood on fire instantly and chars it to nothing. In order to even use this I have to wear a welding helmet and look through dark lens. Otherwise, it would blind me like a welder.

Video of the carnage, too bad you can't see anything for the massive blinding light,
>35.61MB - no audio
>DSCN9576-1.m4v
http://www.mediafire.com/?syf0x5e5oyrcl0a

I really would like to try melting small amounts of metal with this and casting something small.

>>171981
>The one in the link i

lol fixed

>>171973
>>171978
>>171979
The only in the link is a good solid design that many people use. You can cover sections of the thermal solar collector area in order to lower the overall temperature if you need to without letting in more air.