/diy/ - Do It Yourself

show me your 5gal mash tun and lauter tun...

>>56681
I second this , i have been gathering the supplies on the intent of making hard cider

Anybody got any good mead recipes?

I do

I want to make Mead and Cider

Has anyone had any experience of this and can you share a basic guide?

Also how much to those big Carboys cost?

OP here 5gal carboys can range from 20-55 dollars depending on where you get it ,http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/mead-recipes.htmis a great resource for mead.

I'd love to make some flavored mead. Any good resources in particular, or are the top results on google just fine?

Beware of youtube those people will be fuck ups but you can go to your local brew shop the books there can be trusted.

You all need to go to /ck. There have been epic brewing threads on there for YEARS. Just look around for anything with "Tepache" 's name on it. Bonus points if you find the archive of epic /ck brew threads.

LOL you guys wanting to do a cheap mead brew.

Mead is the fucking wine of the gods.

I have been wanting to do this for years but every time I price honey I almost have a heart attack!

You can't fuck up mead. Good wine yeast. A bare amount of hot water to kill off the bad bugs.

Throw in a couple of gallons of prepared yeast formulae and you got mead.

You can no longer find honey cheap in our lifetimes which is why this will always be a great brew.

Good luck.

>>56841
Half the people I know have bees and are looking for ways to use all the fucking honey they have. Move somewhere less shitty.

anyone suggests a good horilka recipe/tutorial?

>>56817
I BRING NEWS "
This is taken from a guide and the only american measurements I have. This will take approx. 14 days.


| o one gallon milk carton
| o one pack of any baking yeast
| o 3 quarts of water
| o 1/2 cup of apple juice or a pealed and sliced lemon
| o 5 cups of sugar

- Wash the milk cartons first (and wash them very well!)..
- Then mix 2½ quarts of body temperature water and 5 cups of sugar in any
kind of pot or bowl (has to be clean too!)..
- Funnel the mixture into the carton..
- Add 1/2 cup of apple juice into the carton..
- Mix the yeast and half quarts of body temperature water and funnel it into
the carton, and SHAKE it!
- After this, find a good place for the carton, the warmth should be about
72-76 degrees warm (room temperature)..
- After a short while, the carton should release quite a stink.. ;)
- The carton will also produce CO2 and some foam, that is why your carton is
not full, the rest of the space is used for the pressure and the foam..
You should leave a small opening where the pressure can escape (remember the
stinky ;)
- You should notice some pressure coming out in about 24-48 hours, otherwise
your yeast is dead because of too hot water or your place for your cartons
is too cold.
- After a couple of days, shake the carton a bit..

1/3"

That guide is shit.
Here are some things i've learned:
Go out and buy the Cider, try for unpasteurized.
If you do decide to home pasteurize with heat, buy pectic enzyme; it will prevent a haze in your liquid.
If you want your cider to clear the easiest way to get a translucent liquid is to "cold crash" in the carboy. What this entails is rapidly cooling the cider and then chilling until clear.
Be aware of how long you ferment. Dry cider is not popular.

>>56681
reported for /ck/ shit in /diy/

keep brewing and mug browies out of /diy/ you morons

justin you in here?

>>56864
u amd?

>>56849

Using baking yeast will create a fowl-tasting vat of crap. Alcoholic (low percentage, but alcoholic) crap. Wine yeast is cheap and much better suited to this sort of project.

FWIW, I think that if you minors want to get drunk THIS BADLY, you should just ask an older kid to buy you a beer.

Ive used milk jugs to make soda, do more than just pour hot water in that shit. Unless you want whatever you make to come out smelling like dirty asshole. I recommend Idosphor (sp?) sanitizer.

brewing is DIY

>>56700
For my first attempt at Mead I tried to make coffee mead, Tried a little this weekend after letting it sit in the cellar for a few months and it tastes like rocket fuel. I'm gonna stick to brewing beer, I feel like I have more control there.

>>56849
this guy is a dickhead doesnt know what hes talking about

dont use bakers yeast when brewing yeast is the same price.

>>57431

Just guessing but coffee has a lot of cellulose in it which I think might turn into dangerous wood alcohol if fermented.

>>57613
Yeah, I'm thinking if i were smarter I would have just infused the mead after the fact.

Here you go

>>56858
Pasteurized cider is likely to just end up vinegar and not booze.

God how i'd love to be able to start brewing beer. I really want to get some all grain brewing on the go but at the moment my money situation isn't up to it. I'd definately start doing so though some time next year.

One recipe i'd like to work on is a Christmas Ale that has a subtle taste of Mince Pie.

Other than that i'd mostly like to make stouts/milds with the occasional hoppy pale.

>>56899
I've been getting drunk legally for years.. and it's not a money problem either. But I would love to get some homebrewing started.

Read rules.

No drug paraphernalia.

Alcohol is a drug.

>>57695
i see no rule saying no drug paraphonalia, only regarding compliance to US law. making drugs is illegal, making hard liquor is illegal but not wine/beer/hooch in regards to united states law.

http://www.4chan.org/rules

>>57695
0/10

NOAH???????

Hey noah, it's Henry
I want you to know that you are a faggot, and you will never be the best Mead brewer in Nevada

NEVER

also If you see a 3 gram bud lying around the apartment, yeah it's mine

>>56700
Here you go mate, I thought it was ok.

/ck/ had lots of homebrew threads, maybe ask them as well

>>56681
How about asking for bread recipes too?

Anyone have any good bread recipes?

Oh, right, this isn't /ck/. Perhaps you should move this thread to /ck/ instead, where it belongs?

contribootin

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Home_Brew_Recipes.html

Not really brewing, but it has alcohol :)

This is one of the best threads in DIY I've found this is great

Any one got a link to burnt mead recipe

How does freeze distillation actually work? Do we have a guide for it yet?

>>57982
Put your brew out in the snow. After a while there will be a ring of ice around a core of liquor. Break the ice and pour out the liquor. You can't throw out the front end, so expect a severe hangover.

how do you stop beer explosions if your heat goes out in the winter

>>58147

I think it is called jacking. Like apple jack.

It started in the pioneer days when they would ferment their cider in the fall and then mid winter put it out in pails and scoop out the ice thereby concentrating the alcohol. It has to be way below freezing though to make sure the alcohol doesn't evaporate.

Fruits are higher in fuesel alcohols which cause hangovers so I have heard this packs a mean hangover although I have never tried it myself.

I still think that anything you make yourself is probably going to be better than store bought though.

>>58193
I wonder would that work for honey mead to make honey liquor

It seems like it sould

how long should mead take

>>58193
This is called" freeze distillation" , i heard something that since it removes the water the concentration of methanol will fuck you up or something along those lines . For the love of god dont quote me but just look into that before you try it ... or else you wont be able to look anymore

Good Plan read from real sources before creating deadly liquors and imbibing

>>56681
My set up

>>58272
Im done :D , now i wait

i'd love an info pic about the freeze distilling trick, that sounds genius.

had i ever done it myself i would make an infopic on my own

>>58251
also known as "jacking", it's how I strengthen my ciders I make.

works well here because it gets freezing outside, you can leave an untopped jug out to freeze, then pour off the hard stuff from the top of the juice

as long as you aren't trying to make something too pure (i.e. you are leaving some of the flavor in, the watery liquid ) it works fine and is safe.

Freeze distillation could be done in a freezer i assume?

Has any one done corking and is it better to use real corks or synthetics.

Fu´sel
n. 1. (Chem.) A hot, acrid, oily liquid, accompanying many alcoholic liquors (as potato whisky, corn whisky, etc.), as an undesirable ingredient, and consisting of several of the higher alcohols and compound ethers, but mostly of amyl alcohol;

This nasty stuff is left behind in your beverage when you do freeze distillation, It tastes bad and is what gives nasty hangovers. I don't recommend doing it. (It is considered distillation by the BATF although I doubt they enforce it often.) That said, lots of people do it. Wine treated this way is sometimes called "ice wine". Proper mead brandy is made with standard distillation methods.

bump

Of all the advice I could give about making mead, the most important one is about adding spices. Many mead recipes call for large amounts of spices to be included. I have tasted many, many meads which were carefully made but utterly ruined by being excessively spiced. If you want a spiced mead, make it without spices, then add the spices afterwards. Make a tincture by soaking your spices in a small amount of vodka or grain alcohol, then mix a small measured amount into a measured amount of mead. Keep adding tiny amounts until you reach the flavor you want. Then calculate how much to add to the whole batch. Add 1/2 this much to the batch, and taste, slowly adding more and tasting to make sure you don't overspice.

>>58844

What he said.

If you want a gay sugary concoction just go to the store and buy some wine coolers loaded with syrup.

I sure do!

I'm currently interested in mead because it's easy to make and I can offer it up as libations to Lugus, mighty Celtic god of the arts.

>>58844
I've made a shit ton of wine in the past, but have never managed to get mead started. The anti-biotic properties of the honey seem to kill the yeast.
I've tried numerous brands of wine yeasts, yeast supplements, equipment sterilized etc
Where am I going wrong

My mom lived in Saudi Arabia for a while, and can attest to the fact that homemade alcohol takes a long time to make and isn't very good.

>>59042
Nope

Using Tesco red grape juice, Youngs wine yeast and a dessert spoon of sugar for ltr of juice I can make 12/13% wine in a week.
In SA brewing yeast is illegal, forcing ex-pats to use baking yeast which usually make foul tasting muck which takes ages to produce anything

>>59050
Ahh, very interesting.

i am a total homebrewing nut
ask anything
AIM: flyinepee

>>59063
It has to be said it taste's more like alcoholic win juice than wine due it not being aged but its palatable
I tend to make a batch if I foresee a patch I will be skint for a week or so, and I'm running low on traditional and aged home brew hic

Do I!

I have been making ciders for about 6 months now.

My latest brew is a Grenadine and Apple concoction. Been sitting for a week, still bubbling away nicely

I likes Jenkem

>>59087

OP is gunna have a wicked trip when he huffs that shit

Prepare 1 qt. starter batch of yeast 1 to 2 days before you start. Use 1/2 cup of honey and 1/4 tsp yeast energizer with about 20+ oz. of water.

Vigorous aeration is important to prep the must before fermentation.

Trying to make a very high gravity sack mead is difficult, too much sugar makes the fermentation process struggle.

Use a good quality champagne yeast or mead yeast.

bump

how do you reuse yeast

The easy way to reuse yeast is to save some sediment from the primary fermenter (in a quart bottle with an airlock) in your fridge.

The fancy way uses petri dishes and agar medium and you cultivate just a few yeast cells, improving long term quality by eliminating wild yeast contamination.

can you use wine yeast for beer, also has any one used a floor corker/capper combo

>>59843
I always use both ale yeast and wine yeast, but I brew high gravity beers.

Made some cider yesterday and went for the most ghetto option as I was short on time and just wanted to do something to fill in time before starting work.

One batch is 3L of blackcurrant and apple juice with 2 1/2 cups of table sugar and half a sachet of lager yeast

The other is 2.5L of apple juice with 2 cups of sugar and a teaspoon of bakers yeast

Both are bubbling away nicely but I'm regretting not spending any time researching proper methods and I'm unsure what the final result will be apart from obviously being not great.

Does using sucrose make large amounts of methanol or is that just a myth?

Will the large amounts of sugar make it very alcoholic? and if i wanted to keep some sweetness, what is the best way to kill the yeast after 5-6 days of fermenting?

>>56864
>>57755
brewtroller.com
brewtree.com

This is now (more) /diy/ related and you can safely remove the stick from your hindquarters.

Also, crosslinking current thread on /ck/:
>>>/ck/3218071

>>58251
Most every homebrew fermentation will produce methanol to some degree but in extremely minute amounts. That is to say you'd you'd drink yourself to death via ethanol poisoning before ever succumbing to methanol poisoning. Some fermentable materials produce more unwanted byproducts than others. Fruit is especially guilty of this. When yeast eat the pectin from fruit they produce a lot more methanol and the other above-mentioned fusel alcohols. Again, not so much of an amount to cause serious damage but now you're taking steps into hangover-land.

Fractional Freezing, which I believe falls under the category of "Fortification" and thus is illegal in the states, can at its simplest be described as the freezing and removal of water from the brew. In doing so you concentrate *everything* else in the brew that does not freeze and become readily removable. This means concentrating both the wanted and unwanted forms of alcohol which is where the danger becomes more apparent.

>>60432
I've heard that the ''fusel'' alcohols don't cause more of a hangover than the regular ones do. They're still worse in some way though.

I've also heard a lot of whiskies have a fair amount of fusel alcohols in them, because they give a different taste. It's in beverages like wodka where fusel alcohols give a ''bad'' taste.. because these are supposed to be cleaner. But this is all shit I've just read on the internet somewhere, still going to do a good amount of research before I drink anything I've freeze distilled myself.

Fusel alcohols are exactly what gives you the hangovers. Really, really good booze has almost none of it.

You almost need to know someone with a still to get good booze anymore as the greedy corporations are more concerned about nickles and dimes that producing a good product.

Also to all you brew nuts this is the time of year to pick up whole cider cheap. A lot of times they have a display at Walmarts as you walk in. If you get the good stuff without preservatives and the sludge in the bottom you are good to go for hard cider.

It has already been pasturized prior to being put on the shelf. If you have a carboy and air lock already set up you can throw in your yeast mixture and some extra sugar and you are good to go. Easiest brewing bar none.

>>59075
That actually sounds good. I like grape juice but wine is just too... winey.

Great thread guys has any one tried to make wine from oranges or orange juice:also has any one seen a way make your own corker

more

>>61301
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1097/01.ALC.0000078828.49740.48/abstract

A test on mice, saying fusel alcohols don't cause worse hangovers.
Do you have any sources saying fusel alcohols do cause hangovers?

>>61301
>Fusel alcohols are exactly what gives you the hangovers.
What gives you hangovers is being dehydrated. Drinking lot's of water along with your alcohol will decrease or even eliminate hangovers.

>>61301
In my experience, hangovers happen because of dehydration. But fusels will contribute to your headache in the morning.

>>61398

I made a batch of orange wine. 80 oranges, 10 lemons and 2kg of raisins (minced). Juice and zest fruit, boil and add minced raisins, top up barrel to 20 litres.

I decanted into another barrel at 5 weeks, then bottled 7 weeks later after SG stabilised.

Tastes OK, bit raw at the moment, will see if some bottle time helps.

>>61845

Also, 5kg of raw sugar and 2 wine yeasts.
Ended up bottling 8 litres as some product drunk from the tap when the beer ran out one day.

If you guys go to >>>/ck/
we have a 100+ post week long brewing post going on and we're filled with great brewing recipes and a lot of people are dumping their brews
If you /diy/ brewers check it out, maybe you can learn something from us and we could learn something from you

>>61860
I think most of us do frequent both the threads, I know I do.

I think Its great the idea that brewing is more of a DIY be cause it takes a lot more than just to cook it

I've recently become interested in it. I've got my first hard cider fermenting right now, HomeBrewTalk.com is an excellent forum for help brewing anything.

I made pruno when I was in jail, I carried around a ziplock bag filled with crushed oranges, koolaid packets, water, sugar and ketchup taped up against my body to keep it warm and burped out the gas every day.

currently brewing a Scottish Ale
will be kegging prob tomorrow
OG: 1.078
CUrrent G: 1.032

>>56704
grilled cheese on the floor, thanks a lot!