/diy/ - Do It Yourself

I can't really call myself a homebrewer, but I really want to start. What's a good booze for a clueless beginner to break himself in with? What kind of gear is essential?

>>253301

Depends on what you like. Wine/mead is definitely the easiest to make with less equipment,but you do need to wait longer.

Most beers can be in the bottle by 4-6 weeks,but they require more equipment.

Most homebrew supply stores sell starter kits,with instructions and choices of a few kits that are pretty easy. It's not that complex,if you can handle cooking,you can homebrew.


Quite possibly the cheapest/simplest way to make something would be to buy a large container of grape juice,rubber bands,yeast,and some balloons. Open the juice,pour in the yeast,and secure the balloon around the top with a rubber band. Make sure to put a few small holes in the balloon to let gases escape. Set it in a dark cool place. The balloon should expand,then after 1-2 weeks go down. Then pour it(carefully,leaving the yeast cake at the bottom) into another clean container,and put another balloon over the top of that. Let it age,maybe check it every week or so. Technically you could drink it right then,but it's best to let all the yeast fall out.

>>253301

Also to add on,northern brewer has a learning section,and homebrewtalk.com is a good place to learn.

Going to be getting stuff together to start making a mead this afternoon. I'm getting a glass carboy, fermentation locks, yeast, yeast extract, and honey. This will be my first attempt at a mead so please wish me luck!

Just bottled my first ever batch of homebrew. Ended up a fucking perfect belgian style ipa. Ever heard of Belgo by New Belgium? It tastes just like it... fucking stoked.

Ended up with 91 bottles from 10 gallons.

Is it a pain in the ass to brew a hefeweizen?

>>253329

I would suggest getting a fermenting bucket. Either a 2 gallon for small batches or one of the 6.5's

Easier to mix in nutrients,and get fruit out. Still get the carboy,but use it for a secondary.

>>253355
No,it's about the same as any other. I know several places have them as extract kits,can't be too tough.

I just brought in my oldest bottles of homemade wine from my wine cellar. I have a spare fridge that will hold better temps than the temporary wine cellar. Too bad I can't fit in all my 1-gallon jugs full of wine. I'm considering turning my temp wine cellar into a large fridge.

>>253299
You need to invest in a corker. Even a cheap chute corker will do a good job.

>>253376
> chute corker
http://www.brewsuppliesdirect.com/equipment/wine-corking/plunger-corker.html

This exact style is pretty good and shouldn't split at the seams like the cheaper ones doe after a bit of use. These are reinforced near the bottom to prevent cracking.

I have never made this, i plan on it at some point, but maybe it can be useful for someone.

Standard dry mead with mixed honeys (I bought several types for tasting), EC-1118 yeast, stepped nutrient addition.

First time I've tried a mead. It's been fermenting 9 days now and still going.

>>253372
Sounds cool. I'm more into root beer than actual beer, but I kinda like hefeweizens. Might be cool to try and brew one with a bit of raspberries or something.

>>253463
Did that recipe. It's sitting in my parent's basement, but it works and is delicious!

I'm proud to have brewed my first batch of beer, which should be ready in one more week.

I do have a question, though. When I bottled my beer from the primary fermenter, I tasted some of the left-overs. It was definitely beer and alcoholic, but it just tasted ... off. It will have been fermenting in the bottles with the priming sugar for 3 weeks, how different of a taste should I expect when I sampled the beer from the primary fermenter?

Pic related: one of my boxes of beer.

>>253463
It should be mentioned that you don't want a temp over 115 °F for the yeast. When I make bread, my yeast usually goes in water that is between 110 °F and 115 °F.
If you don't have a thermometer, the rule is "warm enough to give a baby a bath in"- if you wouldn't stick an infant's foot in it, don't put your yeast in it.

Been turning my hand to Choc Stout, certainly turned out better with 100g of lactose to sweeten a little.

Ready to go: raspberry wheat ale, petite saison, vanilla mead
Aging: raspberry mead, semi-sweet mead, rosehip mead
Brewing later this week: patersbier (a low ABV Trappist beer, basically)

Is homebrewing legal in usa?

>>253584
Yes. Since 1978.

However, homedistilling without a license (there are certain limits) is illegal.

>>253584
It depends on state laws.

>>253667
Illegal:

Alabama
Delaware
Iowa
Kentucky
Mississippi
Ohio
Oklahoma

These states have laws that are ambiguous at best:

Louisiana
Maine
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
New York

>>253670
>>253667
>>253584
Who cares if it's legal or not, I doubt ATF's gonna break down your door for making a few jugs of wine, gallons of beer, liters of liquor.

Just started a gallon of Joe's Ancient Orange Mead earlier today. I have never had mead before so I figured I would start with a 1 gallon batch before I bother using my 5 gallon carboys.
Are beer bottles with caps fine to use when I bottle or should I use cork?

The summer is my off season for brewing. I have just about consumed my batches made last year, a red ale, a stout and a batch of apfelwein.

Gonna get going here again when the weather breaks in a few weeks...

Do you have to put the whole orange slices in there? or would the juices alone be okay?

>>253677

you have no idea how seriously the atf will fuck you for stuff like this.

Federal law allows you to brew up to 100 gallons of wine or beer for personal consumption. If your household consists of two or more adults, that amount is raised to 200 gallons per year. You do not need a permit or license to home brew wine or beer, nor will you be required to pay tax.

You are allowed to own a still without a permit provided you are only manufacturing distilled water or essential oils.

For a someone who doesn't normally drink alcohol, would mead be good? i see all these fruits put into it, would it be similar to those fruity alcohol drinks?

>>253742
You don't have to put any fruit in it at all if you use yeast nutrient (or if you're prepared to wait a long time until it's ready).

Lots of people promote JOAM (Joe's Ancient Orange Mead) for beginners, but I have no idea why because it's much more complicated than honey + yeast + yeast nutrient. The EC-1118 yeast I'm using is pretty much indestructible.

>>253463
Thanks man.
Anyone got any more tutorials like these?

>>253742
Mead is good, but sweet. And the hangover it gives can be brutal.

Threw down an APA today. 2 Row Pale for the base grain and Caramalt and Carapils for specialty. Used more Carapils than normal this time so head retention should be a touch better. Don't want too much though.
Also hopped the fuck out of it with Zythos. Hadn't seen it before in my local brew shop but have had a few beers with Zythos recently so thought I'd give them a whirl. Really understated aroma in pellet form compared to most other hops. 20g of Pacific Gem was left in the fridge from a previous brew too so 10g went in the boil with 10mins to go and at flame out.
Now the waiting game...

>>253761
Mead is a type of wine. It can be sweet or completely dry.

If you are getting hangovers, it is 100% your fault. Learn to drink plenty of water and snack lightly on food with any alcohol beverage. You need to drink about as much water as you drink alcohol.

If you are getting a hangover it is because you didn't drink enough water and are not replacing enough electrolytes. Drink water and eat a bacon sandwich.

Quad Berry Skeeter Pee. Will be bottling a Tropical Citrus Skeeter Pee next weekend. This stuff is fucking delicious and only took a couple weeks to make with 11% ABV.

>>253730
No. The federal limit is 200 gallons per household. Some states amend this to the rule you are speaking of.

>>253847
>Skeeter Pee

You mean hard lemonade.

>>253853
Except in this version, the lemon juice really only there for acidity. Most hard lemonades don't even come close to wine ABV levels. It's not even really hard lemonade.

>>253299
Never understood why you would do small batches if they aren't for oddball experiments. A 5 gallon batch takes just as long to age as a 1 gallon batch.

>>253863
Incorrect. The smaller the container the faster the aging process. This is why you should bottle your brew as fast as possible if you want to it age the fastest. Otherwise, you keep it in the largest possible container if you want it to age slowly..

You've got that backwards, bulk aging allows for more consistsnt batches of higher quality.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/bulk-aging-v-bottle-aging-163604/

>>253893
That isn't what I said and you are correct.

I stated that smaller containers age the brew faster.
I did not state that it makes a single batch consistent or less consistent. Although, I was going to say that too, but I didn't think it necessary.

>>253863
If you're brewing mead, 5 gallons worth of good honey is expensive.

>>253874
Nope. Bottle aging leads to inconsistent taste from bottle to bottle.

>>253897
About $50 for a 5 gallon batch yeah. Better to spend money up front and have more when it's done since mead should really be left to age for at least 6 months.

>>253927
That's about how much a double IPA costed me.

>>253897
5 gallons is a shitton of honey. 8, 10, or 15 pounds is the max amount of honey you should be using for 5 gallons of mead.
But I think you may have meant the amount of honey to make 5 gallons of mead, not 5 gallons of honey for your mead.

just made two recipes to brew tomorrow. a robust porter and a nugget nectar clone.

also, just got this little baby

>>253946
I think he meant that the honey to make 5 gallons of brew. Not actually 5 gallons of honey.

>>253893
>>253896
Find a happy medium and just age it in two or three meadium-to-large size jugs.

>>253937
In terms of cost to make:

Premium Grape Wine > Wine Kits > Mead > Beer > Wine

What is the fastest fermenting beverage?
I heard of something made from pineapple juice that only takes three days.
> also the proud owner of a gallon of neanderthal mead that I started late June, most likely be ready in August but I'm waiting until Autumn to drink it

>>254249
There is a low alcohol beverage known as "tepache" that uses pineapple rinds and takes less than 3 days. There is also "kilju", but it takes a standard week. The main draw for kilju is that it is a sugar wine and is consumed without any aging. It is rather harsh and is normally only made for the alcohol content. You can age kilju, but then you couldn't strictly call it kilju anymore. Aged kilju is good for making mixed drinks. Tepache on the other hand is pretty good when made correctly. It is far less harsh and has an alcohol content comparable to a light beer. It is akin to a pineapple and spice flavored wine cooler with low alcohol content. I recommend clearing it and making the yeast go dormant. Otherwise, you'd be drinking live yeast which is not all that fun in the end.

>>253702
Hey I'm going to be using blue berries in my mead and I was wondering if it's OK to leave them in there for the entire fermentation process or if I should remove them at some point?

>>254269
They can be left in.

>>253702
You can use caps. Cork is used to allow a partial long-term flow of oxygen into the bottle to age it slowly. Caps will mean no oxygen flow and the oxygen aging will only occur from oxygen already in the brew; which comes from the racking/bottling process.

>>254265
Ohh patron saint of Pineapple liquor. Give us your divine words on how to properly prepare a decent batch of your names sake.

>>253949
I've been thinking about going AG. Post your experience with this Expensive machine. I have been thinking of making my own AG setup with an ice chest and a kettle.

>>254265
funny how you mention kilju because that was the first thing I ever made with a few bananas, i prepared it about a month after starting and to think that I thought it wasn't finished. It wasn't too bad with lemon juice and arnold palmer mix
I was thinking of trying it again.

>>254276
>>254265
also yeah the drink I was talking about was tepache.

>>254272
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Recipes/Cold-Beverages-654/Tepache-702.aspx

That is the recipe I started with. It's pretty good. I can recommend a few things after you've tried the base recipe. Clear it and make it sparkling. You can treat it like a soda and add CO2 either from a canister like you normally would, or allow the yeast to ferment some in a tightly sealed soda bottle in the fridge (like in home soda making). You will get a cleaner product in a shorter amount of time using the CO2 canister. I personally use priming method of bottling to make it sparkling. Having this beverage sparkling is a real treat.

I've also made a wine with it. Take head, the clove gets much stronger as the wine ages; don't use very much if you plan age it a few years. It is one of my best wines.

>>254276
I started brewing tepache then banana wine. I use the entire banana, peel and all to really give it a good fruit flavor (wash the peel first). My first bottled batch of banana wine was made in 2008 (and posted on /ck/). It is quite amazing stuff now.

>>254279
Thank you my good man, I'll definitely try both in the future, but forgot to mention in my earlier posts but the yeast part in >>254265 is true, luckily for me it settled in the bottom and made it somewhat sparkling, it was all about pouring carefully

>>254286
Make it with real piloncillo and not brown sugar at least once. It makes a world of difference in the flavor.

>>254290
Will do, is it a blatant improvement or is it just a different taste, and what about the banana wine? would piloncillo be better too? because I like the idea of a liquid banana's foster

>>254296
It is a blatant improvement. If you've never had piloncillo before I recommend buying some and buying the standard brown sugar you normally buy. Taste test them side-by-side. It is like the difference between honey and corn syrup. Use it in whatever you like, if you like the flavor.

>>254299
I've had it before, they're good, I'm going to put it in both then. I'll start using it instead of brown sugar and sugar in general, hell I'll try making the new kilju with it. Thanks

>>254272
I have only done one brew with the new equipment on friday so I have no idea how it will turn out but as far as the process, its easier and a lot more accurate with this thing.

I also built my own setup at first. I have a number of large pots that I put electric water heater elements into to convert them into a kettle and hot liquor tank. i used and igloo cooler for a mash tun with a sparge/lauter manifold in it built out of copper tubing. I coiled 50' of 3/8" copper for a wort chiller and i have various vessels used as fermentors ranging from a SS conical to plastic buckets.

Only time will tell which makes better beer, but the braumister cuts brewing time down to like 3 hours which means multiple batches in a day which means more beer. thats winning.

Not exactly homebrew related, but is there an easy way to tell if a bottle is twist off or not when buying beer?

>>254299
>>254299
Tepache! Good to see you man, I remember you from the threads back on /ck/. I was wondering if you've ever tried making Tea Wine? I've heard that it is very simple and quite good, I've been debating trying it but I'm not too sure how to go about making it.

>>253828
What you're saying is nothing new to me, but with mead I have a harder time avoiding one. I assume its the extra sugar in mead that does it since too much sugar at night does that to me the next day.

>>254352
Commercial mead is usually sweet because buyers are idiots and assume it has to be sweet because it's made from honey, but If you brew your own you can ferment it until all the sugar is gone.

The other possible problem is high fusel oil content. You can control this with proper nutrient/temperature management, and picking a clean fermenting yeast. Also you can partly reduce fusel content by aging. If you don't boil the honey aging will work better, but the taste is different and some people prefer the taste if you boil.

BTW, ordinary boiling will not kill the Botulism spores that are sometimes present in honey, but they don't germinate in low pH, so correctly made mead should be as safe as the original honey (don't feed it to babies). If you deliberately raise the pH to speed up fermentation it could be dangerous if you do it wrong.

>>254346
I've not made that exclusively. I have used tea bags on several occasions to add tannins to some wine recipes. A tea wine would be interesting.

>>254352
If you are drinking sweet meads and you are having trouble with sugar at night, try dry meads instead. Honey contains glucose in freer form than it is in sucrose. Glucose can act as a osmotic diuretic. If you eat lots of sugary foods or foods containing honey you can have trouble with the net water level of your body (as well as needing to use the bathroom a lot). You'll need to drink more water to replace the water you are losing. Couple this with the affects of alcohol and you'll need to drink even more water to prevent a hangover. You will need to eat a snack that has ample amounts of electrolytes to help compensate for the water loss and water intake. If you dry out and are low on electrolytes, your body won't be able to flush out the tannins and impurities of darker alcohols and a hangover with a headache will be your punishment.

>>254403
The adult digestive system easily destroys live botulism spores. An infant's digestive system can not, which is why you can't feed honey products to infants; it can kill them.

A low pH level doesn't kill the spores, it merely keeps them from activating and creating the deadly toxin. The range of pH that botulism grows in is 4.8 and 7. Pure honey pH is around 3.9. Yeast likes a pH level range of 3.7 to 4.6.

When fermenting, you should check the pH level and add acid to the brew after it has fermented. Acids like citric acid get metabolized during the fermentation process to a certain degree with can raise the pH.

With proper fermentation and storage, there should not be a problem with botulism in mead.

What's some easy stuff I can make that only takes about a month before it tastes good?

>>254671
Google "turbo cider".

>>254671
>>254671
Beer using simple beer kits that you can buy from homebrew stores (or in supermarkets where I live) I've found are totally sweet to drink in a month.
Cider made from apple juice concentrate is alright after a month, but way better after 2 or 3.

>>254403
I got paranoid about what you said in regards to botulism so I checked several homebrew forums and the general word is that botulism is not a threat when it comes to mead. And if it were, then the homebrew recipes would probably have plenty of warnings.

is there an alcohol-resistant yeast that i can use?

also is there a ratio of yeast/volume?

like will 1 packet do the same for 1 gallon and 5 gallons?

>>254975
Use a wooden masher from 1950's Italy

Mix grapes, don't pretend to be high class by seperating white-red

>>254976
Do proper fermentation process
Acquire shitloads of beautifully colored wine you keep in basement

>>254977
>dat olde
>dat rossi
>dat old wine gear

cali bro? Also more pics and details

>>254988
I'm an 18 year oldtalented /diy/erin NYC
Here's another ancient contraption,
this ...Screw-Top Smash Barrel? Is that what it's called?
I got it with the grinder/mulcher

>>255004
And yes i'm using a barbell to spin the damn thing

>>255004
>>254988
I put most of it in the 1.5Gallons, some I put in Old English bottles so I could take with me.
Here's previous batch in OldEng with new batch in glass vessels, cool color difference

>>255010
At least take off the labels from the shitty table wine bro.

>>255028
Then it leaves white glue streaks over the bottles, and theres over 100 of them, i'm too fucking lazy man, if i could afford new clean/bare bottles, i totally would... But i got all these for free...so I can't whine...
>random mid-mulch picture

>>255030
It's really not that hard if you know what to do.

Hell i did it with the 30 cases of free bottles I got from local wine bars. :/

best method for hard cider?
want to make some up also some cheap way to make wine/mead or something quick and no not beer... thanks very much /diy/

>>255030
Use a citrus-based Goo Gone cleaner and a stainless steel pot scratcher. The pot scratcher's metal should be like ribbons and not like simple rounded wire. Those work best. This combination of cleaner and scouring pot scratcher makes extremely short work of label glue.

>>255044
Stuff required:
Carboy or similar
Stopper for the carboy
Airlock
Siphon (optional)
Another carboy (optional)
Sanitizer (you can use diluted bleach if you rinse it very carefully, but brewing sanitizer is easier)
Dried yeast (liquid yeast is more complicated and not any better).
Apple Juice, enough to nearly fill your carboy
Sugar for more alcohol (optional). Maximum 1lb per gallon.
Yeast nutrient (optional but recommended)
Fining agents (optional)
Hydrometer (optional)
Small jug for yeast rehydration (optional)

1. Sanitize all the equipment. Work in a clean place. Avoid touching things after you've sanitized them.
(optional) 2. Rehydrate the yeast according to the instructions.
3. Half fill the carboy with apple juice.
4. Add the yeast and optional yeast nutrient (according to its instructions) and optional sugar to the carboy.
5. Stopper the carboy and shake the shit out of it for at least 15 minutes. Or use aeration equipment if you're got some. Or just shake it until everything is dissolved if you're lazy.
6. Add the rest of the apple juice, don't fill it all the way to the top or it will overflow when it starts fermenting.
7. Fill the airlock according to instructions, fit it to the carboy.
8. Wait until the bubbling has stopped (in practice very occasional bubbling, eg. 1 per hour is ok). Usually takes about 2 weeks.
(optional) 9. Siphon the cider into the 2nd carboy, taking care not to siphon the yeast that's settled to the bottom. Let it sit for a month or so to mature. You can use the optional fining agents at this point.
(optional) 10. Siphon it into bottles or something
11. Drink

If you have a hydrometer, you can use it at the start and the end to calculate the alcohol content.

>>255131
now when i use apple juice what are some good brands to use, since you're not supposed to use some brands because of the preservatives inhibiting fermentation
i saw one guy making cider on youtube and he suggested that if you use juices with preservatives in it you should pour them into your fermenter, cover them with a cloth, rubber band the to leave it sitting for two days to let the preservatives dissolve out. Is this bullshit or can this work?
i know that the best option is just to go for straight pressed apple juice from a farm, but being that i live in the city my only real options are concentrates or preservative packed

>>255131
Also, if you're going to bottle it you really do need the hydrometer so you can be sure it's completely finished fermenting and the bottles aren't going to explode. This can kill or seriously injure you so it's worth checking.

>>255334

Just look for ones that say no preservatives. Check the ingredients. Most don't have any. If they do it's sulfites,and you add that anyways,so it doesn't really matter.

>>255131
I made pear cider last year using practically exactly the same procedure as you described, but it came out very dry and not sweet and sparkly at all, also pretty strong, alcoholic-wise.
I made about 30 gallons of it, and drank about half a gallon (its just not any good)...

Will be trying this year with apples, but am afraid the results will be the same...

I'm thinking about stopping the fermentation a few days in (using sulfur), so the yeast wouldnt use up all the sugar.
Any thoughts 'bout this?

>>255384
add a non fermentable sugar like glucose ( available at any home brew shop) and that should keep sweetness. no matter how much ordinary fermentable sugars you add, it will not keep any sweetness as the yeast basically eats it and shits out alcohol.

>>255130
I've had much better luck with Oxi-Clean than the citrus cleaners.

>>255462

Wrong on two counts. Yeast loves glucose, maybe you meant lactose? Also yeast eats up to its tolerance, a very sweet must of fully fermentable sugars will still result in a sweet wine.

what abv does bread yeast usually get to?

im using turbo yeast on a gallon batch of mead as my first ever brew. what should i be expecting without a hydrometer?

>>255507
You can typically get a max 19%ABV depending on the brand name you use. It is a lot like wine yeasts only it is normally designed for harsh environments and creation of CO2. Using it means you'll have more foam than you'd normally expect.

When I use bread yeast I only use Rapid Rise Fleischmann's bread yeast. I recommend only using it in recipes that call for it specifically, in recipes that you need to substitute Lalvin EC-1118, and to get a stuck fermentation unstuck. When making your own recipes with it treat it like you would the EC-1118. Use a blow off tube airlock instead of a typical airlock.

Other brands tend to produce more fusels and off flavors. I don't recommend using turbo yeasts except with kilju for which most kilju recipes call.

Try this alcohol calculator:

http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=745&Itemid=16

Quick question for brewmen. After a weak of fermenting with a beer kit, I had a taste from the tap. It was yeasty, not sweet, and alcohol was definitely present.

The instructions say it can be bottled but I was wondering if I could wait another week or two. after such time, would the yeast still be around and lively for the carbonation stage?

Its a pale ale wort with a special blend of apricots and a banana.

>>255610

You should follow the instructions. Yeast starts to break down if left too long, giving off flavors you dont want. That said, an extra week probably wont matter. Why do you want to do that anyway?

>>255610
Leave it another week. It takes months for the yeast to break down and harm the flavor.

>>255384
I prefer cider to be more like a stronger beer in alcohol levels (6%-8%). So, I prefer using Nottingham yeast for my cider.

Should try that next time if you don't want something super strong.

I get into my beer brewing, got a coffee chocolate porter bottle conditioning at the moment.

But my real passion is distilling spirits. I have a pot still and a re-flux still. The last re-flux still run i did on saturday yielded 9.5L of 95.6% abv. By the time I have flavoured and watered this down I will have about 30 bottles of spirits. With an average cost of $3-4AUD each.

Any other home distillers here, the only real hurdle is the cost of entry as still's are not cheap to make.

>>255844
Will do, thanks.
I used the one in the pic, but as it is the only one I tried I can't really say how good it is, it gets the job done I guess...

>>255701
>>255622

Thanks gents. For the sake of experimentation, I squeezed out a bottle today to start a control of "instructed" carbonation. Then left the rest to ferment for another week. Goddamn is it yeasty, your own beer is under MUCH more scrutiny than than the store bought stuff.

just bottled 20L of hard ginger beer, gonna wait 3 weeks then test.. too bad i forgot carbonation drops in like 6 bottles =/.
also 5L of hard apple cider and a few other bottles of a shitty ginger beer i made that is excessively sour/bitter due to far too much lemon/lime juice and rind.

I used to make wine...would make it out of anything that would ferment

tomatoes
potatoes (they have a name for it, but I can't remember what)
coffee (blech)
dandelions
grapes (duh)
apples
pears
blackberries
huckleberries
cranberries (didn't turn out too good..i think I didn't compensate for the ph or something. turned into vinegar...my current brewing hobby)
wheat
and some shit I'm probably forgetting

been thinking of getting into mead or maybe sake (the fungus is a little expensive)...my great uncle used to brew beer so I never really felt the urge to go that route...may have to give it a try one of these days.

I'm really interested in homebrewing, but hate alcohol. Are there any ways of making drinks like this but non alcoholic.

>>256465
It's called juicing.

>>255030
easiest way to remove the labels is just leaving the bottles in a bucket of cold water with a few tablespoons of baking soda overnight. The labels will fall off an the glue will dissolve or be wiped off easily with a damp washcloth. The Oxyclean method works, but isn't as effective in my experience unless the water is kept warm or even hot; not great if you want to remove labels from bottles with booze in them.

I've got my first 3 gallon batch of mead going right now. Used 6 pounds of honey ( would rather like some more, but money got tight really quickly), champagne yeast, two squeezed valencia oranges, yeast nutrient, and crushed blueberries.
It will probably take around 6 weeks to ferment, then I'll transfer it to smaller bottles and let it age for at least a month before I crack the first one open with the guys.
Oh, and on a side note, while I was brewing the mead "wort" the smell of warm honey attracted a swarm of bees to my kitchen window so anyone who is allergic to bee stings should take care while brewing mead.

>>256506
Mead should really be aged for at least 6 months.

>>253670
Okiefag here it was legalized to home brew in Oklahoma back in 2010. There was much celebration.

>>256530
state law can not supersede federal law, you were always legal to brew in OK. None of you were intelligent enough to challenge the law properly before 2010.

>>256508
Some might need 1 month, some might need 2 years. Depends on yeast type/temperature/nutrient management/pH/etc. It's complicated so just go by taste.

>>256560
It is Oklahoma after all. They aren't that bright of a state...

>>256551
It is Oklahoma after all. They aren't the brightest state of the bunch...

Ginger Ale. 6 liters

Three bottles were given away at this point.

4.5 litres red wine.

Anyone considered selling their stuff privately to others? If so, what's a good price?

Hope my questions didn't cross any lines.

>>256851
It's EXTREMELY illegal to sell alcohol without a license. If the wrong people find out, you're in incredibly deep shit.

Not worth the chance.

>>256851

Don't try it.

Only thing I would say you could do is brew for a friend. Either they will buy all the stuff(kit,bottles,etc),or they give me the money and I buy it all,I brew it,and give them their stuff. No one will arrest you for brewing for a friend.

>>256851
Why sell such a good, unique product? Isn't it better to get righteously drunk on some shit that cost a buck fitty' to produce, and easily outclasses 12 dollar a bottle wine for the same volume? I mean, 200 gallons a year works out to about 0.55 gallons a day. That's 0.55 gallons of 10-14% fresh red wine per day, totally legal, for you, made by you. That's enough to stay wasted for ever. Why screw up a good thing? My personal wine costs next to nothing to produce, takes about two weeks to be ready to drink, and is stronger than most anything you'll find in the store in a 5-12 dollar price range. lol, what's the incentive for selling this, exactly?

>>256871
>>256871
Two weeks to produce? I assume this doesn't count the aging process right? Unless you drink really gross shit, or have a radical super fast fermenting wine?

Recipe please?

>>256871
>red wine
>2 weeks to produce
>>outclasses $12 a bottle wine
yeah I doubt that

>>256878
Grape juice, sugar, Fleischman's yeast. It's hobo wine. Fermented for a week, then let to sit for a week, then filtered through a coffee filter and just a bit of charcoal. It lacks the subtle nuances of a proper wine, but I assure you it's entirely drinkable, and very strong. This is my setup:
>>256813
It's a series of 750ml bottles, in which the "wine" is fermenting. The corks/caps have been drilled through, and have aquarium airline inserted therein, which is hot glued to form a seal. those lines are run deeply into a large jug full of water with a tiny bit of soap in it. The fermentation is very fast, taking about a week. It can be drank strait at that point, but is very yeasty. However, it can be filtered as previously described, or can be allowed to settle for a week or two, and then syphoned off of the top, leaving the last half inch or so of sludge in the bottle. It's usually about 10-12% ABV, taking a very light pink colour and having an aroma of a very strong body homogeneous red wine with a bit of a tartness to it.

>>256880
It's not my fault if you're not good at brewing shit to drink.

>>256886
The purpose of the bubbler jug is byproduct diffusion. There will always be byproducts of the fermentation process. These little fuckers will make your hobo wine smell and taste like either a rotting sock, or a whore's vagina. HOWEVER, this is a byproduct of using pressure caps that keep the gaseous production of fermentation locked down. those acids, those whatevers cannot escape. With the airline water jug, this is not a problem, and therefore your wine will not taste all funky. The time consuming "aging" process can be avoided in this way. Will it ever compete with high end designer wine? Fuck no. Will it get you wasted for the rest of forever, with a decent taste? Fuck yea.
Also, I have to mention that I'm using water that's about 8.6 PH. The mixture needs to be pretty basic like that. The little bit of of water the yeast is started in is that, the water in the bubbler jug is that BEFORE the added soap. In this way, these light byproducts are expunged by the carbon dioxide gas expulsion, and diffused into the water of the large jug. It will go from clear to seriously cloudy and fucked up over the course of the fermentation. Also, if you're the gardening type, this process also cleans the CO2 gas, so it can be used in your "indoor hydroponic seed starter chambers", if you catch my drift. ;)

>>256886
>it's entirely drinkable, and very strong

we used to call that stuff sneaky pete (some people call it nigger wine, but that's offensive)...cause you'd drink a whole bottle and feel fine...then you stood up and the shit hit you like a mack truck...snuck up on you

>>256921
Lol, a good name. It sort of does have that creeper quality to it, but I'm cool with that. I'm just glad there's some prior work on the product.

>>256886
>>256917
Take your hobo shit elsewhere man.

>>256943
Then show me your "superior" product. Show me purer ethanol production in conjunction with such antioxidant compounds for the same price.

>>256951
You sound like someone who only cares about the cheapest way to get wasted.

>>256951
You sound like someone who only cares about the cheapest way to get wasted. At least use proper equipment and wine yeast.

And yes I can get cheaper and better quality. About 25$ using fresh fruit to make 6 gallons of wine using proper yeast and equipment. That makes 30 bottles of wine. That's about 80 cents a bottle.

>>256551
State law cannot supersede federal law. But states can outlaw behavior even if the federal government hasn't. If the feds explicitly protect a right, states are powerless. Otherwise they can ban whatever they want.

homebrewfriends~!

greetings, I come in peace as a non-drinker. I come searching for information.

I have a friend who loves the beverage produced by the juice-to-alchohol kit of thinkgeek, http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e683/

The packets that make this magical transformation happen are supposed to contain "yeast, organic evaporated cane juice, emulsifier." adding up to a gram total. Instead of buying lots of these kits can anyone suggest a home solution with measured-out amounts of brew yeast and sugar or something?

homebrewing is effectively legal in any state since there's no way that anyone will ever know about it. the police can't just walk into your house for a homebrew inspection. there's no way you can ever get caught unless you confess it yourself or one of your friends turns you in.

Made an Apple "wine" a few months ago that is just starting to mature now. I use the term wine liberally as the alcohol content is about 18% and tastes more like a brandy than wine.

I have a 5 gal batch of grape wine brewing at the moment.

>>256962
>"yeast, organic evaporated cane juice, emulsifier."

That is just yeast and sugar to feed the yeast. The emulsifier does not have anything to do with converting the sugars in the juice to alcohol.

Just go to a home brewing store and ask to see their yeast varieties, there you can pick from alcohol contents and yeasts which produce fizzy alcohols. Also, get a bottle of LD Carlson yeast nutrient for like $3.

If you are going to make store bought juice into wine, get organic juices, or juices without preservatives. Really you should pick the correct yeast for the juice, and not vice versa.

Hallo brewfriends from Australia!

Tomorrow I'll be going out to buy some kit for a first attempt in brewing. I want to make an apple/pear cider. So far I know that immediately I'll need:

- Fermenting bucket (+ airlock + tap)
- Preservative free Apple/Pear juice (Most likely Berri, ~5 litres)
- Yeast (I was planning on using Vintner's Harvest SN9, 8 grams)
- Hydrometer
- Steriliser for containers/utensils

And in a couple of weeks:

- Bottle filling apparatus
- Bottles, caps and a capper
- Sugar (to fizz the cider up)

Could the yeast use some nutrient? Would some tannin help? Is it true that black tea can be used as tannin? Am I missing anything else?

>>257040
Cider doesn't really need any tannin.

Nutrient and energizer would probably be a good idea. Cider tends to give off a lot of SO2 when fermenting so that will help minimize it.

>>256958
As always, you people have clearly missed the point. It's not JUST a cheap way to get wasted, it's also perfectly good and tasty wine. There's nothing wrong with my equipment, it works just fine. The nature of the equipment doesn't matter as long as it's properly cleaned. Also, the yeast is fine too. You wine snobs need to chill the fuck out. Don't take my word for the quality of the wine, brew it yourself.

>>257068
It's not about being a wine snob, it's knowing about fermenting.

Bread yeast is a shit yeast for brewing. It has bad flocculation which makes it harder to filter/rack. It's also unpredictable. You could end up with something that's 10% ABV one batch or 15% ABV another batch.

Also, filtering with charcoal removes some aromas and taste.

Seriously, do yourself a favor and use quality equipment, yeast, and ingredients. You'll end up with a better product overall.

>>257087
>knowing about fermenting.
>shit yeast.
Maybe you're just not very good at wine making. My wine has been just fine, and consistent for years.

>>257087
The wines and meads I have made, using Fleischmann's bread yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae Fleischmann's Strain 139 ATCC 9896), have won awards (mead taste testing using the AOCC recipe and country wine tasting using my Tepache wine recipe). 7 times out of 10 they have done extremely well. Now that I have a large body of information and experience regarding that specific strain, I'm getting 10 out of 10.

Specific wine yeasts have had decades to be developed and for the wine makers to learn how to use them. The same can not be said for bread yeasts. however, with use and familiarity, you can achieve very good results matching and sometimes exceeding wine yeast performance.

It seems to me that the anti-bread yeast sentiments in nearly all brewing discussion stems solely for lack of knowledge regarding how to use it properly. It boils down to a typical anti-skub mentality.

Well my IPA looks like it's finished primary fermentation. The thing is that it's a bit weak (3.4% ABV) and it's a bit yeasty. Will the yeasty taste go away after I bottle it or will it stay this bitter? I'm not too concerned about the % if it tastes nice.