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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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173079 No.173079 [Reply] [Original]

Iv started to do this (pic related) but iv done it in a smaller bottle (1.5l)

Is the brewing time going to be shorter or about the same because the balloon has already gone limp

and befor you ask, yes, i put 1/4 of everything in not the full ammount

>> No.173393

bump

>> No.173405

So... What exactly is this?

>> No.173407

Ask on the website at the bottom of your image, post back here when you get a reply. The person who made the /diy/ mead directions will know better than the general rabble of /diy/.

>> No.173409

Yeast is a live organism that eats sugar and craps alcohol. If you use healthy yeast it'll keep eating, crapping and multiplying until the alcohol is strong enough to kill them. Using bread yeast is borderline retarded because it's weak and imparts a bready flavor. Try shaking up your batch and see if the balloon starts to stand up.

Next time you do this try to get a hold of brewers yeast. If you can manage to get a cork into a bottle you can age it for a couple months to even out the favors. I would filter out the orange peels and whatever else you put in before aging though

>> No.173413

Also, the image says to put it in a COOL dark place. Yeast like to be around 69*F so WARM and dark will yield more active yeasties.

>> No.173641

If you believe honey is to expensive to make with, use brown sugar. The taste will become even stronger then with honey.
And then let it rest longer than 4 weeks to get the real effect.

>> No.173649

OP, you didn't mention how long yours had been going before the balloon went limp. If it was within days, something is wrong.

Either way I'd transfer it to a second container to age and clarify another 2 months. That's when yeast really becomes great.

Someone else mentioned getting brewer's yeast, which is ideal. Using beer, wine or champaigne yeast all result in some nice unique flavours.

If anyone is interested in another mead recipe on a much larger scale, I recently added a black berry mead tutorial to manlyprojects.blogspot.com.

>> No.173689

2-4 weeks?!

Even 6 months isn't enough, takes at least 9!

4 Weeks is the point where you should rack it, not drink it

>> No.173690

>>173641
Supermarket honey is expensive. But there's about 1000 reasons why you shouldnt buy supermarket honey.

You can get honey for pretty cheap from any local beekeeper. Will be about 100x better quality, and much cheaper.

>>173689
WTF are you talking about....? This isnt high grade complex wine you're making, it's just cheap mead. Usually only takes a month or so for full fermentation and all the flavors to soak in.

>> No.173854

>>173649
when you transfer to the other container, do you just cork it? or put on a balloon?

>> No.173871

>>173854

I've always used airlocks, but I hear balloons generally work fine for others.

>> No.173876

As an actual homebrewer, I absolutely hate these homebrew threads that show up on /diy/

>> No.173879

>>173876
glad to hear I'm not the only one.

>> No.173882

>>173879
Well, most of the time, it seems all the guys here are looking for is cheap alcohol, which is a pet peeve of mine.
Also, these threads only show the most ghetto way to make prison wine available.

Because these threads started showing up here, however, there are no more homebrewmen threads on /ck/

It's like its designed specifically to fuck actual homebrewers in the ass.

>> No.173884

Ok,besides not quick rise,get some actual brewers yeast,like maybe a Lalvin Ec-1118.It's about 75 cents a packet.
Also a 3-piece airlock is only a buck and a half plus maybe 75 cents for a stopper to put it in.
Beats the hell out of a balloon.Just sayin

>> No.173887

White wine or champagne yeast is great for this. It actually fits the budget of typical DIYhardfag around a buck at local brew store or up to 2 bucks shipped.

ALSO, the orange peel will make the mead bit harsh, just use the orange without the peel, you could also use the zest, but do not use the whole orange peel. Enoy the mead in less than 2 months.

Ohh another thing, buy an air lock for whopping 1.20!!!!! it is way more efficient and sanitary to use one. Airlock locks the air out, prickled balloon does not.

>> No.174007

>>173876
As an actual homebrewer who's not a fucking douche, I love them.

>> No.174024

so i tried the other version of this, with apple juice, and it turned out alright.

but if there are actual homebrewers here, i wouldnt mind some tips on the next round i do.

so far i got : get bread yeast, get an air lock, possibly use brown sugar, and dont use the whole orange (seemed obvious.)

other thoughts? if these infographics are annoying actual brewers, maybe we can make a classier one. just sayin. lets spread some knowledge.

>> No.174039

>>174024
>>174024
Don't get bread yeast if you have an alternative. Get Champagne yeast if there's a homebrew shop near you or if you can get some delivered to you (Amazon.com has tons of yeast available). Orange tastes fantastic in cider, but the peel makes it smell like compost. Peel the orange first. Any sugar will do fine for a kicker, though cider doesn't actually need kicking. I use either honey or molasses, but brown sugar has done me well in a copper ale. Don't use white sugar, it leaves funny flavors. Get the airlock if you can, do it while you're getting your yeast. If you can't get an airlock, make one. Don't make one from a garbage bag or a napkin or something, make one that utilizes water to keep oxygen from getting back in the brew. All that said, the best tips you can get from another brewer is to help diagnose problems. There are only a handful of ways to fuck up your brew, but there are a million ways to address the problem. Any one tip could be the wrong thing for you personally, but identifying your mistakes is the way to learn from them and discover a method that works well for you.

>> No.174042

>>174039
cool i ll work on getting those for my next batch. basically for the first round i did lots of apple juice and white sugar, bread yeast (didnt know there was a difference actually, but hey learning) and then added oranges later. i let it sit for like 3 months, and then it was really watery right after i filtered it.
any thoughts on that? i mean obviously imma change the yeast, sugar, and get an air lock.

why do people use honey btw?

>> No.174047

>>174042
>i let it sit for like 3 months, and then it was really watery right after i filtered it.
any thoughts on that?
I'm actually kind of new to cider. Did you use a shit-ton of sugar? The fermenting process leaves behind whatever flavors aren't sugar. When brewing straight sugar, you'll get something a lot like water. I've also never filtered cider (and I've drank a lot more than I've brewed) and have found that the grit in the cider is tasty as hell. I don't know if your problem is related to filtering because I've simply never filtered a brew. Since I'm still working on my cider technique, IDK if I'm even close to your problem. I would, however, personally play around with what sugar I was adding if I had a watery but otherwise drinkable brew.

People use honey and molasses because they leave more flavors behind than heavily processed sugars do.

>> No.174050

All I have to add is stay the fuck away from ANY dry yeast. Any extra work to rehydrate the yeast increases your chances of fucking up and contaminating your yeast. Go with liquid cultures or smack packs of brewers yeast where you don't open the package/container until you are ready to pitch the yeast.

>> No.174055

>>174050
I've used dry yeast. For beer, I simply mixed water and yeast nutrient and then added that to a sterile container I could cover, which I then put the yeast in. With cider I do the same thing, but with a little cider instead of the water. If you do it at the same time you brew, you minimize the risk of infection. Even liquid yeast cultures recommend doing this, so it's really the same overall. But yes, the less risk of infection you can generate, the better.

>> No.174056

ITT: people can't tell cider from mead

>> No.174363

I really don't know why people use bread yeast. Yes, it works. but it's an incredibly cheap substitute for an already cheap product. Champagne and wine yeast is typically under 1.50USD, an air lock + bung (capper) is another 3USD at most. And a glass jug can easily be attained by simply dumpster diving behind a local liquor store, or recycle your own.

Raw honey is expensive but definitely worth the asking price if you want a good batch. But you can (and I have) gotten by with several 3 pound jugs of the clover honey you can buy at Walmart.

Stop trying to find a cheaper method to an already cheap way to make mead or hard cider, your taste buds will thank you for it later.

>> No.174507

>>174363
I used bread yeast because I'm in a dry county and the homebrew supplier is 200 miles away. I've been starting new batches with the dregs from the old and it gets more drinkable each time. More potent too. But it wasn't bad to begin with. It beats the shitty beer I would have to drive 40 miles to buy.

>> No.175794

>>173409
Don't get "brewers yeast". The yeast most commonly labeled "brewers yeast" is really not all that useful for brewing. I don't know why it's got that name. For mead what you want is champagne yeast. Or at least wine yeast. Ale yeasts WILL work, but I wouldn't recommend it until you know what you're doing and what you want your mead to taste like. If there is no homebrewing shop near you, you can order from a number of places. In the US I like northernbrewer.com.

>>173413
Yeast DO like warm places. But if you brew mead at 69 and above, you're not going to get the kinds of alcohol you want. The yeast will go crazy...producing jet fuel. 60-65 F or so is the way to go for most mead. The yeast will still be active, but they won't be producing an undrinkable waste.

>> No.176814

I'm getting a little sick of these brewing threads on /diy/ that seen to only cater to people who want to make super cheap booze to get them drunk, ala prison wine and shit.
There are ways to make booze that tastes really nice, really cheaply. If you want to make a cheap cider or wine, that tastes great, google "Apfelwein", a guy named Ed Wort made a great recipe that is really cheap and really easy to make. Just buy an airlock and some proper brewing yeast.

>> No.176831

>>176814

I dunno, I kind of like them. It's a good opportunity to help inform others of proper homebrewing methods like you, myself and a few others have done so far.

It'd be shitty if everyone just stood around patting eachother on the ass saying how awesome gutter cider is, but as it's /diy/ there's usually some sharing and discussion of decent information.

>> No.176835

>>176831
very true. it's the discussion and the good advice that comes from the threads that I love. I want to know more and know how to do it better. whole point of diy right?