[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/diy/ - Do It Yourself

View post   
File: 68 KB, 347x700, 1319524743410.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
44710 No.44710 [Reply] [Original]

Yet another brewing topic? Of course!

To start: Will a condom work as an airlock?

>> No.44711

>plastic jug
>traditional baking yeast

NO THANKS

>> No.44713

>>44711


May I ask why?

>> No.44723

bump

>> No.44724

Or get a 14$ beer kit which won't taste nearly as bad as ghetto cider.

>> No.44742

>>44710
how are you not drinking poisonous methanol with this setup

>> No.44747

Bump

>> No.44748

>>44742
it's pretty much how all cider is made really, except you don't really use cheap ass apple juice and sugar

you just press the apples and add yeast

>> No.44757

i made 2 bottles using a gallon jug of apple juice (no preservatives, important), some saflager-23 yeast, and a balloon with a needle hole in it for an airlock.

one turned out ok after some backsweetening, the other was a bit dry. neither killed me

trying another batch with bread yeast, the rest of the saflager, and 2 cans of apple juice concentrate. bubbling away happily right now.

>> No.45514

>>44713
Granulated sugar leaves nasty flavors when you ferment it, storebought cider contains preservatives that will make the yeast sick, and baker's yeast produces bad flavors during the fermenting process. There is nothing wrong with a plastic fermenter if it is food grade plastic, but glass is better. Two-stage fermentation is also better, but it requires two fermenters.

If you must use the method in OP pic, use champagne yeast, "organic" cider or cider bought from a fruit stand (cider that doesn't have things added to it) and a legitimate airlock.

>>44742
Methanol is made by burning wood in a vacuum and distilling the vapors.

>> No.45522

Also:
If regularly obtaining yeast is an issue, just culture your own. There are many guides on how to do it that you can google. I used to do it by brewing small batches into beer bottles with airlocks on them. I just took a small amount of the beer at the bottom of the fermenter and mixed it with a small batch of unfermented beer and then bottled it with an airlock and kept it in the fridge until I was ready to brew again.

>> No.45529

>>45514
methanol is also made by yeast when they turn their gaze toward any pectin present in the mash.

a good rule of thumb is if you can make jam with it, you'll get a thumping bad hangover from it.

cider actually gives pretty rotten hangovers, as does red wine. beer is better, decent spirits are even better (because the trace methanol can be separated easily by throwing the first few mL that comes out).

>> No.45550

>>44710
Don't use a condom, balloon or napkins. Airlocks and Rubber Stoppers are cheap. If you're only ever going to have one brew going just get yourself a single airlock and then a range of stopper sizes in case you ever want to change the size of the jug you're using. For what you'll spend on a bag of balloons just to use a single one you'll have spent enough for an airlock. Condoms are just WTF. Finally, napkins are not an effective oxygen barrier and you can't exactly sanitize them.

>>44713
Plastic jugs are not 100% air-tight and they tend to stain and hold odors. Try getting the smell out of a plastic pickle bucket some time.

I personally see nothing wrong with bread yeast depending upon what you're brewing. It can sometimes add a starchy or bread-like flavor to whatever you're brewing. Sometimes this will complement your brew. Other times you might want to look into a more neutral yeast that doesn't interfere with the intended flavor of what you are making.

>>45514
There are plenty of brands of store-bought apple juice that lack preservatives, artificial coloring and artificial sweeteners. I've used White House Foods brand apple juice for a one-off batch of cider. Using Montrachet on it I ended up with a fairly strong cider that tasted a little bit like Strongbow. I did use ordinary sugar and if I were to do it again I'd probably opt for a different sugar-source to boost ABV. Something like honey or malt.

>> No.45567

>>45529
>methanol is also made by yeast when they turn their gaze toward any pectin present in the mash.

Are you sure that's methanol? I thought it was a different kind of alcohol (whose name escapes me at the moment). Even so, it won't be present in amounts needed to poison oneself.

>>45550

>There are plenty of brands of store-bought apple juice that lack preservatives, artificial coloring and artificial sweeteners.

They are usually labeled "organic" (in USA anyway), hence me specifying that. I should have been more clear. I personally still prefer to buy it from local farmers who simply press it and jug it. It's that time of year right now and that shit is everywhere.

>I did use ordinary sugar and if I were to do it again I'd probably opt for a different sugar-source to boost ABV. Something like honey or malt.

Be careful with honey, it has a lot of VERY long sugar chains that can take a long time to finish. I've had bottles explode because of it. If you're not priming it when you bottle, you might get a pleasant bubbliness, just be careful if you're both using honey AND planning to prime for carbonation. Substituting brown sugar or molasses for granulated white sugar seems to solve the problem and add a caramelly flavor. The process of bleaching the sugar into white is what makes the bad flavors pop up from using white, so brown works. Molasses is better in my opinion, but is less concentrated in the sugar department.

>> No.45576

>>45550
>Try getting the smell out of a plastic pickle bucket some time.

I've done it with iodophor and elbow grease. I even got the smell of rotten titty milk out of a baby bottle with that shit.

>> No.45593
File: 291 KB, 702x1254, IMG_20111101_050408.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
45593

I have a few ghetto batches going for shits and giggles while I wait for my L1118 yeast and extra better-bottle.

>> No.45599

>>45593
Looks like a mighty fine batch of jenkem you got going there.

>> No.45606

>>45514
or simply heat your brew to 70°C in a distilling pot.
Enjoy your blindness and learn to properly distill the hard way xD

>> No.45615

>>45567

Unrelated but really? I thought honey was almost pure monosaccharide.

>> No.45626

>>45615
The bulk of it will be fermented in a week, the remainder can take over a year. That remainder will ferment so slowly that it will appear to be done, but it will ferment quickly enough that in a couple of weeks you will have exploding bottles. In all fairness, even with honey I've only lost about 10% of a batch to broken bottles and the remaining 90% were gorgeous.

It's not so much something to be scared of as it is something to keep in mind when placing your bottles in a location you might have to clean beer out of.