Homebrew booze

[Anonymous No.502644]

Hey /diy/, anyone have any homebrewing knowledge to offer up? This can include recipes, chaepskate recipes, brewing setups, anything relevant. Pic is of my current brew, Dick's Hard Lemonade.

[Anonymous No.502645]

Care to share how you make your hard lemonade?

[Anonymous No.502649]

I'm using a simplified version of someone else's recipe with a couple of my own twists. This is his recipe http://skeeterpee.com/?page_id=17, I'm playing around with the lemon juice/water ratio, and I'm using more sugar for a higher alcohol yield. That and I only used lemon juice, sugar, water, dead yeast, and live yeast, plus a bit of honey. The straw set up is to let CO2 out but not let O2 in, all gas escapes through the water. It'll probably be done in about 5 days, today's the second day its been going. I've made a few other types of batches as well.

[Anonymous No.502650]

>>502644
I am trying this right now, it seems to be working
>CO2 is bubbling up from the brew
>it has a fine "brewing smell" to it
but i know /ck/ is quite good at homebrewing

[Anonymous No.502651]

>>502650
I've done something similar on a smaller scale, 64oz of apple juice, 1.5 cups brown sugar, some yeast. It turned out pretty good. It didn't take 2 months, although I can see how it would take a bit longer for a bigger batch. So far my favorite has been a homebrew 64oz 1.5 cups white sugar wine, it fucks you up pretty well. Glad your brew is going well, make sure you siphon it at the end, the yeast and shit at the bottom is pretty nasty. Live yeast gives you the shits btw. and also, try freeze distilling some of whet you make, it's stronger and tastes better in my opinion.

[Anonymous No.502652]

and I'll definitely check out what /ck/ has to say about this, thanks for that.

[Anonymous No.502654]

>>502651
thanks for the advice

[Anonymous No.502656]

>>502654
No problem thanks for sharing what you're up toand telling me to check out /ck/, I hadn't thought of that.

[Anonymous No.502662]

bump

[Anonymous No.502668]

bump

[Anonymous No.502678]

no one wants to take a whack at this? Do it yourself booze, come on!

[Anonymous No.502703]

>>502650
Jesus Christ. I swear that image is 10/10 in every fucking homebrew thread now.

[Anonymous No.502710]

>>502703
Yup. It is unfortunate that it "skims over" pretty much everything that is important... and that its being spread everywhere. I hope 502650 has based his brewing off of other sources or his "batch" is gonna suck.

[Anonymous No.502720]

>>502703
Thanks. It's good to know so I wouldn't have been attempted to make a batch of that in the future.
+1 internets to you, my friend.

[Anonymous No.502725]

>>502678
I'm a bit interested in it. I probably won't do it for a while, but maybe someday. Hoping the brew goes well.

[Anonymous No.502727]

>>502720
You can still use similar ingredients, you just need some way for pressure and CO2 to escape without letting oxygen in.

[Anonymous No.502728]

>>502725
Thanks. It's definitely very fun, and if your into biochemistry it's something cool to play around with. Ultimately, its the promise of cheap(er) booze that hopefully tastes good, and is something you can be proud to say you made. Including friends in it is always nice as well. Good luck in any future endeavors.

[Anonymous No.502729]

>>502727
Not sure how that would work. Thanks for the info, though.
>>502728
Sounds like a good time. Good luck to you as well, bud.

[Anonymous No.502737]

>>502729
>Not sure how that would work.

Airlock
Blowoff tube

The thing in the OP image is actually a type of blowoff tube, but the diameter of the tube is a bit too small so you can just call it an airlock.

[Anonymous No.502743]

>>502737
Yeah, it doesn't work well for foam but it does a great job for CO2 release and keeping oxygen out.. I made do with what materials I had.

[Anonymous No.502745]

>>502737
Ah; alright. Thanks.
>>502743
Good man!

[Anonymous No.502752]

So far whats fucked me up the most out of everything I've brewed has been the wine I made. Its easy to make and set up, but the main goal here was cheap.
Buy:
>64oz generic grape juice, avoid preservatives, make sure it's not artificially flavored, it can come from concentrate thats fine.
>White sugar, I use 1.5 cups for this recipe
>Bakers yeast. Not bread machine yeast, or fast rise. Any brand should work, though like I mentioned earlier I've heard red star works the best for booze.
>Bendy straws
>Hot glue gun and glue sticks for it
Begin by washing your hands, cleaning up an area and sterilizing a knife or drill. Remove the cap of the grape juice, drill or stab a hole in the lid about big enough for a straw to fit through but a tiny bit smaller. Next, squeeze the short end of the bendy straw into the hole so that the long end is sticking out of the top of the cap as well as the bend. Then, put a glue stick in the hot glue gun, heat it up. Keep testing it to see when the glue can come through. As soon as it can come through the gun, affix the straw to the cap on both the top and bottom of the cap. It's important that the glue is as low of a temperature as possible while still functioning, if it isn't, the glue will melt the straw. Make sure the straw/lid/airlock object is air tight, so that air can pass through the bottom of the straw under the cap, through the cap, to the top, above the cap. When that is done, place a small amount of body temperature water into a small bowl, and add 2-4 teaspoons (play around with it see what works best), and add a pinch of sugar to the yeast water. Let that sit for 15 mins. Meanwhile, free up some space in the 64oz juice bottle by pouring 1.5 cups of it into a measuring cup, another cup in a glass to drink. Mix 1.5 cups of sugar in the measuring cup with the 1.5 cups of juice already in it, stir a bit. Now pour the juice/sugar mix into the grape juice bottle, scrape any sugar thats left behind (will be continued)

[Anonymous No.502757]

from the measuring cup into the bottle. Place your clean hand over the mouth of the bottle, shake it. Remove your hand, wash your hands again. Pour the yeast water into the bottle. EVerything should fit into the bottle and there should be 2 inches or so of air space. Shake again, wash hands again. Screw airlock lid on. Put the other end of the straw/airlock into a pre-sanitized bottle or cup full of water. Store in a room temperature or slightly cooler dark area. If all goes well, bubbles or foam will be seen. In 3 days, remove the lid, again with clean hands. Place hand on opening, shake. There will be pressure. Release slowly or it will foam like a shaken soda bottle but worse. Once you have slowly released pressure, screw lid back on. Make sure the other end it still submerged in water, and wait 4-7 more days. There should be no bubbles or foaming at this point, if there is, wait until there isn't. Once there isn't, cool it in your fridge (with airlock), once cool, siphon into one or more new containers. Drink now or let it age, it'll be good either way. Enjoy!

[Anonymous No.502761]

>>502752
>>502757
Cool read. Thanks, Anon. I always thought alcohol took years to ferment, though...?

[Anonymous No.502762]

>>502761
thought whatever you're turning into alcohol*

[Anonymous No.502774]

>>502761
Actual fermentation of sugar into ethanol doesn't take too long, most of it can happen within 1-4 weeks, it takes longer depending on the sugars you are fermenting. However, the non fermentable or non sugar ingredients' flavors will blend with the ethanol over time, and any lingering fermentables will be fermented, if you let your booze age. So time makes it taste a hell of a lot better, but alcohol for alcohols sake can be brewed pretty quickly.

[Anonymous No.502779]

hey guys I have made 5 hard ciders in 1/2 gals. And I have three 1/2 gals of wine in the basement. I have also made peach snaps. I want to make vodka or other liquir. Any ideas? or how much different will the process be?

[Anonymous No.502788]

>>502779
Lessee... did you distill and flavor your shnapps yourself or did you flavor preexisting liquor ? If you want to make vodka, the basic process involves denaturing potato sugars with barley enzymes into something yeast can ferment, then letting it ferment and distilling the result. Most liquors have a similar process, ferment and distill. Distilling is illegal in most places unless you have a license, but thats not your main problem. Do you want to know how to distill??? If not, an alternative would be to freeze the water out of your wine or cider multiple times till it's mostly just alcohol left. Any questions, I'll answer ASAP

[Anonymous No.502791]

>>502788
I filtered shitty vodka that became decent vodka. But I put 1/4 sugar, 1/4 water, and 1/2 vodka, with a whole peach in each of the 5 mason jars. And no I have never made liquir. Just hard cider and wine. I was curious how much harder the transition will be?

[Anonymous No.502792]

>>502788
I live in PA. But I thought it was illegal to distill a bunch of it. If I make say a gal thats not illegal is it?

[Anonymous No.502808]

I currently have a gallon of this fermenting. Anybody have any experience with it?

http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/fast-cheap-mead-making.htm

[Anonymous No.502810]

>>502774
So the fewer sugars I have, the less time it should theoretically take?
Interesting...
>>502808
Never had mead. Anyone here have any opinions on it?

[Anonymous No.502824]

>>502791
Uh...alot more difficult/different/dangerous. Home distillation or distillation without a license is illegal throughout pretty much all of the US, so yah, a gallon would still be illegal. However, if you;re careful about it you probably won;t get caught. One way to get caught would be trying to sell it though. So basically distillation works off of evaporation and condensation. You heat your brew in a sealed container with one exit, while monitoring the contents temperature. Methanol will exit first, methanol is bad, you do not want to drink it. Then Ethanol will exit, thats your alcohol, you want that. Then Water and fusel oils will exit, you don;t really want those. They will all exit at their set temperature, in a vapor state, and they will travek through your condenser, which will cool them to a liquid state. You collect the liquid at each stage, keep the ethanol, get rid of the water, methanol, fusel oils, and other impurities. That is a very simplified explanation.... main dangers include flammable gases escaping near an open flame, which can cause explosions or fires, or you could end up not distilling properly and end up with methanol in your booze, methanol will damage your optic nerve cells, or kill you, or both... keep in mind this is all overly simplified, it's a bit more complex. Do you need further elaboration?

[Anonymous No.502825]

>>502810
Not neccesarily the fewer you use, but yes thats part of it. Mostly fermentation time is based on what yeast you use, what nutrients the yeast has, whether or not the yeast is in a completely anaerobic environment (which is good), and how complex the sugars you use are. For example, honey generally takes longer to ferment, whereas sucrose takes less time.

[Anonymous No.502826]

>>502810
I haven't had mead but I'm gonna start brewing 2 different recipes at the same time in 2 days or so.

[Anonymous No.502829]

>>502825
Ah, very interesting. Thank you for the information!
>>502826
Sounds like fun. Good luck with that, champ.
You & anyone else here want to give me updates when they've finished their booze batches?

[Anonymous No.502830]

>>502829
Sure, I can give you some kinda update or follow up info, pics included and stuff. If this thread isn;t alive anymore I'll just do a new one with the same name. My Dick's Hard Lemonade should be done in 5 days, my wine in 7, my brown sugar brew in 7, and my meads I'm not sure yet.

[Anonymous No.502831]

>>502830
Alright. What sort of time do you think you'd update? It's 6:39 PM in PST right now.

[Anonymous No.502834]

>>502831
I'm in wisconsin, its 8:41 now so we have a 2 hour difference ... I can just post at 2:00pm on friday about the lemonade, if I can't at that time I'll do it around 1:30am saturday. As for the other brew updates, I'll figure that out later. so 12pm friday or 11:30pm friday (your time).

[Anonymous No.502835]

>>502834
Alright, cool deal. I'll be there in a few days, then. Good luck, pal.

[Anonymous No.502839]

>>502835
Sounds good, enjoy your week until then. Thanks for the interest, it's always appreciated.

[LookingForwardToIt No.502840]

>>502839
--& thanks for the chat. See you in a few days.

[Anonymous No.502901]

>bump

[Anonymous No.502924]

bump

[Anonymous No.502935]

bump damn it.

[Anonymous No.502949]

>Bump

[Anonymous No.502956]

>>502949
>>502935
>>502924
>>502901
read the fucking sticky you dumb cunt. its a slow board, and the more you bump, the more you piss people off.

[Anonymous No.503034]

>>502703
Not only that, but its dangerous and could make you blind.
That shit needs to be distilled to remove the methanol.

[Anonymous No.503042]

>>503034
You're so wrong I don't even know where to start...

1) Beer/wine/mead isn't distilled at all, either commercially or in homebrew. Distilling wine and other alcoholic solutions produces spirits, such as brandy, rum, and vodka.

2) The process of producing beer/mead/wine doesn't produce nearly enough methanol to do any harm, whether it's produced commercially or homebrewed.

3) Distilling actually concentrates the methanol content, and if some complete idiot fails to distill it properly, the final solution will actually be far more dangerous than the initial one.

[Anonymous No.503043]

>>503042
>if some complete idiot fails to distill it properly, the final solution will actually be far more dangerous than the initial one
That's to say that he drinks the methanol which comes over first as-is. If you just fail to separate the methanol, the resulting moonshine will have about the same amount of methanol as the wine or whatever was used to produce it.

[Anonymous No.503045]

>>503043
Aye, correct. However, the final distilled solution will still have a greater methanol concentration if it is not discarded, as a fairly sizable portion of the distillate is discarded (water, fusel oils, etc). So the amount of overall methanol will be approximately equal to that in the starting solution, but per fluid unit, there would still be a greater concentration of methanol, as the amount of overall solution has decreased. Still probably not enough to seriously hurt you, unless you pound back some obscene amount of the stuff in a short period of time.

[Anonymous No.503094]

>>503034
The above troll recipe wouldn't contain anywhere near enough methanol to hurt someone who's drinking it. If it were potato vodka pre distilling then yeah there'd be some methanol worries.

[Anonymous No.503097]

>>503094
sorry posted this before everyone else's posts were registered by my computer...

[Anonymous No.503096]

>>503045
Would drinking 6 shots of methanol laden vodka in 15 mins do that do you think?

[Anonymous No.503103]

>>503045
It also has much higher concentration of ethanol (duh) and the methanol:ethanol ratio is pretty much the same as the starting material. So, for the same level of intoxication you'll get the same amount of methanol.
Or less, if you aren't an idiot.

[Anonymous No.503106]

>>503103
But it's best not to be an idiot and keep as much methanol out as possible, what with it turning into formaldehyde once it's been metabolized, then selectively damaging your optic nerve cells and fucking with your respiratory and circulatory systems... upside is, ethanol is part of the cure for methanol poisoning, so theres that helpful factor when idiots don't distill or distill properly...

[Anonymous No.503107]

>>503106
>turning into formaldehyde once it's been metabolized
actually it metabolizes into formic acid, not formaldehyde

but yeah, it's still bad, mmkay

[Anonymous No.503108]

>>503107
ah my bad. I knew it was something similar. But yeah...bad.

[Anonymous No.503113]

Anyone have brewing horror stories?

[Anonymous No.503262]

>>503113
This was exciting. Not enough head room for the foam so a blow out resulted. It was kept in the shower and tub, so there was no problem.

[Anonymous No.503268]

>>503262
Ooh. How did it end up tasting/ how long did you ferment it/ age it? I haven't done anything with bananas yet, though I was gonna try making some Tepache (pineapple beer of a sort) at some point.

[Anonymous No.503271]

>>503268
You'd need to check the archives to find that info,

>>>/rs/Tepache+Archive

[Anonymous No.503275]

>>503271
Ah thanks but I have a recipe in mind

Ingredients
1 mature pineapple (around 3 pounds)
12 cups (3 liters) of water
2 3/4 cups (600 grams ) of piloncillo or brown sugar, packed
1 small stick of canela (about 3 inches)
3 cloves

>Instructions
>Wash the pineapple completely, clear the stem and cut the rest in big pieces even with the rind.

>Place the pieces of pineapple in a big container and add 8 cups (2 lt.) of water, piloncillo, the cinnamon and the cloves.

>Cover and let sit for 48 hours.

>Strain the resulting liquid and add the other 4 cups (1 lt.) of water. (Or if you prefer, add 1 cup (1/2 lt.) of ale and let rest another 12 hours.) Strain and add 3 cups (3/4 lt.) of water. Serve cold with ice cubes.

I'm gonna do that except I'll add a bit of yeast and let it sit for 3 days perhaps. I don't think methanol content will be a problem.
Any thoughts?

[Anonymous No.503749]

Anyone have experience breeding yeasts for specific homebrews?

[Anonymous No.503777]

>>503275
Why would methanol be a problem in the first place?

[Anonymous No.503780]

>>503777
If the yeast started to ferment the non sugar components of the recipe ( IE the flesh of the pineapple) It could produce methanol. It'd be a problem because depending on how much is consumed it can cause vision impairment or complete blindness, respiratory/circulatory problems, or death. But it won't be a problem, I'm not planning on letting it ferment for a month or anything like that.

[Anonymous No.503786]

>>503780
Let me make it clear, YOU CANNOT DRINK ENOUGH HOMEBREW BEER OR WINE TO SUFFER FROM METHANOL POISONING.

No matter how bad you fuck it up, your brew wont produce enough methanol to hurt you. Methanol is present in all store bought beers and wines. You would have to drink gallons and gallons of that or homemade brew to feel any ill effects.

Methanol starts becoming dangerous when you DISTILL and CONCENTRATE the methanol. This is why moonshine can supposedly make you go blind. However, throwing away the 'heads' and the 'tails' (the first and last ~50mL for a 5 gallon batch) you can avoid the buildup of methanol. This is because methanol comes over just before the ethanol. and other fusel oils and hangover nasties come over later in the process.

tl;dr
There is NO significant amount of methanol in homebrew beer or wine, UNTIL you distill it.

Let this be /ck/ precedent. Tell your friends.

[Anonymous No.503793]

>>503780
Let me make it clear, YOU CANNOT DRINK ENOUGH HOMEBREW BEER OR WINE TO SUFFER FROM METHANOL POISONING.

No matter how bad you fuck it up, your brew wont produce enough methanol to hurt you. Methanol is present in all store bought beers and wines. You would have to drink gallons and gallons of that or homemade brew to feel any ill effects.

Methanol starts becoming dangerous when you DISTILL and CONCENTRATE the methanol. This is why moonshine can supposedly make you go blind. However, throwing away the 'heads' and the 'tails' (the first and last ~50mL for a 5 gallon batch) you can avoid the buildup of methanol. This is because methanol comes over just before the ethanol and other fusel oils and hangover nasties come over later in the process.

tl;dr
There is NO significant amount of methanol in homebrew beer or wine, UNTIL you distill it.

Let this be /ck/ precedent. Tell your friends.

[Anonymous No.503795]

>>503780
Let me make it clear, YOU CANNOT DRINK ENOUGH HOMEBREW BEER OR WINE TO SUFFER FROM METHANOL POISONING.

No matter how bad you fuck it up, your brew wont produce enough methanol to hurt you. Methanol is present in all store bought beers and wines. You would have to drink gallons and gallons of that or homemade brew to feel any ill effects.

Methanol starts becoming dangerous when you DISTILL and CONCENTRATE the methanol. This is why moonshine can supposedly make you go blind. However, throwing away the 'heads' and the 'tails' (the first and last ~50mL for a 5 gallon batch) you can avoid the buildup of methanol. This is because methanol comes over just before the ethanol and other fusel oils and hangover nasties come over later in the process.

tl;dr
There is NO significant amount of methanol in homebrew beer or wine, UNTIL you distill it.

Let this be /diy/ and /ck/ precedent. Tell your friends.

[Anonymous No.503861]

>>503107
Methanol has a lower boiling point then ethanol (Heads) which is what you want to throw away. Ethanol boils at 174 F I believe which is the good stuff. Tails is 200 F + Where water and isypropal come into the mix (tails

[Anonymous No.503866]

>>502808
>http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/fast-cheap-mead-making.htm

That mead recipe is perfectly fine. Age it and it will be delicious.

[Anonymous No.503874]

>methanol

Methanol is a troll word in Homebrew threads.

>>503795
>Let this be /diy/ and /ck/ precedent. Tell your friends.

There's too many newfags coming through for it to matter. It's been the same thing that's come up in these threads in /ck/ since 2008.

[Anonymous No.503876]

>>503874
unless the context is distillation

[Anonymous No.503882]

>>503874
>>http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/fast-cheap-mead-making.htm
Thanks for teh recipe, I now have 3 I'll have to try out

[Anonymous No.503883]

>>503882 >>503866
whoops wrong person.

[Anonymous No.503884]

>>503874
Methanol isn't a troll word here... many legitimate questions about it can be asked, namely for anyone interested in brewing and distilling homemade potato vodka. This is also helpful information for anybody who saw this and was interested in home brewing, but had a preconceived notion that there where methanol dangers. So.... it's important info, at least in my opinion.

[Anonymous No.503890]

>>503876
Homebrewing isn't distillation. Home distillation is. Threads for each need to be kept separate.

[Anonymous No.503891]

>>503884
>Methanol isn't a troll word here.

You're new though. Read up the archives.

[Anonymous No.503896]

>>503890
Not to be a dick, but as OP I disagree, distillation is perfectly
>relevant
information with regards to the topic of home brew, Distilling any of the homebrewed beverages one produces is just another step in the production of tasty alcohol, I see no reason to create a separate thread unless someone wanted to, say, build a still themselves.

[Kristin No.503964]

I do it all the time. Just get an empty 5 gallon water cooler jug. Clean it real well. Pour 5lbs sugar and two packs of yeast into it. Then add %100 fruit juice (no citrus) till its aboue 3/4-ish full. Put a regular balloon around the top and poke 1 small pin hole at the nipple of the balloon. Let it sit for 1 month siphon it into a different (clean) jug. and let it sit for another month. After the first month it is good to go but I personally leave mine about two months if not more.

My personal favorite flavor to make is Northlands Blueberry Pomegranate.

[Anonymous No.503966]

>>503964
Sounds fun and good, one suggestion, don't use a balloon as it may be affecting flavor. There was some info about making a cheap easy airlock in my wine recipe, it's optional of course, but it may help your flavor and your fermentation time.
>>502752
>>502757
(links)

[Kristin No.503989]

>>503966

I use percolators on my bottles. Balloons are for a cheaper alternative. I used them a few times (I've done up to 5 different kinds at once) and the wine comes out very nice. I give homemade wine as gifts and have bartered with it. I work at a bar so I have the bartender save bottles and just clean and reuse them.

[Anonymous No.503997]

>>503989
Ah okay. That's good. Lucky you on the bar-bottles situation, my container supply is remarkably low unfortunately.

[Anonymous No.504000]

>>502644
Op, i know where you live... I will give you all left over bottles... The gatorade bottles we have are good to store small quantities of finishes product in...

[Anonymous No.504014]

>>504000
Yes "anon", they are good for storage or brewing I guess, but eventually all glass would be preferable, No toxins or off flavors, much more sanitary.

[Anonymous No.504102]

>>503896
Homebrewmen have always separated distillation out because it isn't homebrewing. Distilling is a whole different thing and deserves its own thread. It also is ruled by completely different laws and is illegal without a license and without certified distillery equipment in most places. Trying to lump it together with homebrewing hurts both because of the lack of focus in the single thread.

[Anonymous No.504144]

>>504102
Per yours and others requests, it has been done.

[Anonymous No.504145]

OP here
Anyone interested in distilling should head over to my new distilling thread instead of here, thanks!
>>504142

[Anonymous No.504271]

>>503997
I collected lots of wine bottles from bar dumpsters, but they are few and far between. they have tons of glass beer bottles of course.

I found that antique stores and thrift shops were the best places to buy used glass carboys and jugs; 1 gallon all the way up to 15 gallons.

>>504145
>>504144
Hey, thanks.

[Anonymous No.504273]

>>504271
Thanks for the tip, and no problem .

[Anonymous No.504285]

OP is going away from computer for 5 or 6 hours, talk to you all later

[Anonymous No.504498]

OP is back, will be available for 3 hours.

[Anonymous No.504514]

Don't worry everyone, homebrewer who takes his shit way to seriously checking in. I built this entire setup myself, fully temperature controlled, automated.

Feel free to ask questions.

[Anonymous No.504516]

>>504514
It's beautiful. I am impressed. Well done.

[Anonymous No.504519]

>>504516


Thank you. I can do 20 gallon batches of wort under 1.060 but for bigger beers above 1.080 the mashtun is a bit small and I can't really do more than 10-15 gallons.

But really, who needs 20 gallons of a 1.090 beer? Ha!

[Anonymous No.504520]

>>504516

Thank you. I can do 20 gallon batches of wort under 1.060 but for bigger beers above 1.080 the mashtun is a bit small and I can't really do more than 10-15 gallons.

But really, who needs 20 gallons of a 1.090 beer? Ha!

I just got a new job though, so now my system looks like this.

[Anonymous No.504524]

>>504520
well. Damn. You starting your own microbrewery? If you aren't you should strongly consider it... very much well done. It must be nice enjoying beer you yourself made, pretty much whenever you feel like it. And you still have plenty to share or sell at that point. Wow.

[Anonymous No.504527]

>>504524


Haha that second picture is from a microbrewery. My new job is as a professional brewmaster. I was an obsessive homebrewer for a couple years so I just decided to make the leap and I was blessed to find a job in my area doing what I love.

And yes you're correct, it's immensely gratifying. I don't want to sound arrogant but I would put my homebrew up against ANY bottled or canned beer you can find, and my friends agree. It's great to be able to bring some bottles of great beer to a party, or customize a batch for a special occasion etc.

[Anonymous No.504530]

>>504527
That's an amazing stroke of luck and skill meeting. very cool, you may have given me a few ideas on my own life goals haha.

[Anonymous No.504534]

>>504530


Dude just go for them. I've never been happier.

[Anonymous No.504536]

>>504534
That I will. Everyone should find a job they enjoy

[Anonymous No.504543]

>>502808
I did this same one, but also put green apples in it. It was pretty good but definitely a little "cidery" tasting since i put the apples in there in the beginning.

I didn't let it age either because I was impatient, but It was good enough.

[Anonymous No.504774]

>>502808
I tried it once and it came out tasting decent. I didn't age it long enough for it to bring out the flavors and mellow out, and if I remember right I tweaked the recipe a little bit, but it was good nonetheless. My first brew, actually.

[Anonymous No.504946]

So I have my first batch of Hard Cider coming up within a few days to be bottled and I want to get it sweet

I see a bunch of people suggesting "artificial sugars", but also that they suck.
I can't seem to find anyone who's made a sweet cider without stopping fermentation early and force carbonating it.

Tell me if my plan sounds insane or not.
1) Let it ferment out dry
2) Potassium Sorbate to stop yeast reproduction
3) Wait 2-3 days
4) Move to bottling bucket to add sugar
5) Add enough sugar to get sweetness (not worrying about the yeast as it will stop soon)
>crazy part
6) Transfer 2 Liters at a time into a Soda Bottle
7) Drop enough dry ice into it to carbonate it
8) Let it purge the air, then cap it and shake the fuck out of it so it carbonates and doesn't just explode
9) Once completed, crack it open, transfer into bottles
10) Drop a tiny bit into the glass bottle
11) Let it purge the air out
12) Cap the bottle and shake the fuck out of it and pray it doesn't shatter
13) Repeat for each bottle

I figure some carbonation will be lost transferring from the 2L to the bottle, so I add a tiny bit to purge the air and add more carbonation to the bottle

Does this sound retarded? Even if it does, should I try it with a 5 gallon batch?

[Anonymous No.504976]

>>504946
do it

[Anonymous No.504978]

>>504976
The biggest issue I see is that dry ice isn't sanitary.

[Anonymous No.504982]

>>504946
Just be super fucking careful with all of this extra carbonation and pressure, you wouldn't want the vessels to burst or to have your brew spurt all over the room when the vessels are opened. Other than that, sounds like a fine plan. Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

[Anonymous No.504984]

>>504982
After further reading into it, it appears dry ice is gross as fuck.

I might just have to settle for dry hard cider since the yeast I used goes to like 15%. Next time I'll get something that dies out around 7-8

[Anonymous No.504985]

>>504984
pretty sure there exists a product that looks like hard candies for the purpose of carbonating drinks

[Anonymous No.504989]

>>504985
yup, Carbonation Drops. They're on amazon if you can't find them in a homebrew supply store

[Anonymous No.504990]

>>504984
Hm....You could make applejack with your cider.... if you wanted. Cold crash it in the fridge first, then put it in the freezer (allowing room for expansion) and then after 8 hours or so, tip the container upside down over a receptacle of sorts until it's stopped dripping or you think the ice is melting. Then you'll have some cider flavored, higher abv liquid. You could take that, and mix it with tonic.... I dunno, it's just an idea.

[Anonymous No.504992]

>>504985
>>504989
Aren't those just sugar tablets for feeding the yeast? I didn't think they actually carbonated, but rather gave a steady level of priming sugar to the yeast

[Anonymous No.504993]

>>504992
yeah they're just glucose and sucrose...so more fermentable sugars... that kinda defeats the purpose.

[Anonymous No.504994]

Would anyone recommend any unfermentable sugars?

[Anonymous No.504997]

>>504993
Unfermentable sugars wouldn't carbonate it.
I did however find something that will help. Try this link http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
go to the site, click on style, at the bottom of the list pick either one of the 2 ciders, then enter how much you are bottling, measure the temp of your completely dry cider, enter it. Calculate. Now you have a good amount of sugar for back sweetening to carbonate. It might be a good idea to use a tad less than what they tell you to, just to be certain you avoid making bottle bombs.

[Anonymous No.505002]

My goal is to carbonate it and sweeten it
I don't have equipment to force carbonate it
Does anyone know the names of unfermentable sugars? I'm having difficulty finding them, and can I buy them at a supermarket?

[Anonymous No.505010]

>>504997

Glucose and sucrose are fermentable sugars.

Dry ice and shaking is retarded, you're going to blow one of your hands off eventually.

[Anonymous No.505012]

>>505010
Yes, I know, I responded to my own thread on accident. i meant to respond to his about unfermentable sugars.

[Anonymous No.505014]

>>505012
*post. Not thread. Sorry

[Anonymous No.505016]

>>505002
Yeast can ferment monosacharides and disacharides but not starches. If you can find a starch that is sweet enough to serve as a non fermentable sweetener... you could use that maybe

[Anonymous No.505018]

>>505016
Note it can ferment starches that have been broken down into simpler sugars by enzymes, IE when you use barley enzymes to break down potato starch to make potato vodka....

[Anonymous No.505054]

>>505018

Or ya know, like barley enzymes to break down barley starch for beer.

[Anonymous No.505056]

>>505018
To go along with what this fine fellow's saying...
Those enzymes are Alpha-amylase and gluco-amylase. They're bulk, cheap, and do work. Cook your mash with some of this at a temp of around 100° for a while and then add yeast.

[Anonymous No.505076]

>>505010
>Glucose
>sucrose
If these are unfermentable then I'd be fine using them.

Time for the hippy question:
What are the 'dangers' of using these sugars. I know various sugars 'pose risks'. Is it worth worrying about for a 5 gallon batch? (I'm pretty sure glucose is in coke and I drink a ton of that so....)

[Anonymous No.505079]

>>505076
>Glucose
>sucrose
>If these are unfermentable then I'd be fine using them.
They are FERMENTABLE. Just to clarify. Sucrose is normal white sugar, like for baking and the like. Glucose is the other monosacharide, its in plants, fruits, etc, it's the byproduct of photosynthesis in many plants. They're both safe.
>My goal is to carbonate it and sweeten it
I don't have equipment to force carbonate it
Does anyone know the names of unfermentable sugars? I'm having difficulty finding them, and can I buy them at a supermarket?
If you add sucrose or glucose, dextrose, maltose, lactose, fructose, etc, those will be consumed in part by the yeast, and produce carbon dioxide and alcohol as the main byproducts. So if you add them to your dry cider, in the right amount, they will carbonate and sweeten your cider. Its the amount thats the problem.

[Anonymous No.505080]

>>505079
These should have been greentext as well, my bad
>I don't have equipment to force carbonate it
>Does anyone know the names of unfermentable sugars? I'm having difficulty finding them, and can I buy them at a supermarket?

[Anonymous No.505098]

>>505080
Okay, thank you. I think I more or less get it now.
Basically I just gotta go with fermentable sugar and play around.

[Anonymous No.505110]

>>505098
Yeah. Like I said the calculator might help. Experiment in very small amounts so that you don't waste too much if it goes downhill. Good luck, let us know what happens.

[Anonymous No.505161]

>>505056
Make sure your mash has cooled down before you add your yeast though. Just a friendly add on to avoid brewing issues.

[Anonymous No.505193]

Brew question.

Instead of going to a local store to buy a plastic bucket for 20 dollars would any normal bucket work? Would this do for fermenting my wash?

http://www.mcmaster.com/#pails/=nzhkk5

[Anonymous No.505250]

The temperature where I live is a consistent ~30º celsius or ~90º farenheit throughout the whole year, with the temperature in my fridge being something like ~10ºC/50ºF.

What kind of stuff can I even brew in these climates? Not beer I guess...

[Anonymous No.505255]

>>505193
>would any normal bucket work?

Yes. It is preferable that when you use plastic, you use High-density polyethylene (HDPE Recycling #2). It still leeches plasticizers like the rest of the plastics, but leech less than others in normal conditions. Keep on the hunt for cheap stainless steel stock pots. Those have thin bottoms so using a metal plate under them helps prevent scorching it you use them to heat anything.

>>505250
Anything really. Some things would need aged a bit longer due to the heat, if you did nothing to lower the temps. Bottom-fermenting yeasts love cool temps, so your fridge would work for that. For beer and generally reducing high temps, you can use evaporative cooling to bring the temps down to the 70s at least. I know some Homebrewmen have done that in the past. They just sat the brew bucket in a tub of water with a wet towel over the top. You can use ice to further lower the temp in that setup, just bring the temps down slowly.

[Anonymous No.505258]

>>505076
>glucose is in coke
if you live in murika, you're drinking iso-glucose, ie. HFCS. Otherwise you get cane sugar/sucrose

[Anonymous No.505263]

>>505258
HFCS meaning high fructose corn syrup of course.

[Anonymous No.505264]

>>505250
If your basement is any cooler than the rest of your house, that may be a good area for fermenting.

[Anonymous No.505277]

>>505080
>>505080


Yes, Lactose. That's why Milk Stouts exist. It won't add a ton of sweetness but it'll add a nice fullness and creamy mouthfeel to the body.

[Anonymous No.505278]

>>505056
>>505056

First off, glucoamylase is a human intestinal enzyme, and not found in barley malt. The ones you're thinking of are a-amylase, β-amylase and β-glucanase.

All of those enzymes are at peak activity around 140-160 degrees F. cooking at 100 will hardly accomplish anything.

[Anonymous No.505279]

>>505193
>>505193


The actual answer is no. Don't listen to the rookie saying yes. You need a bucket that can seal airtight or you have a serious risk for infection from foreign wild yeast and various airborne bacteria.

[Anonymous No.505280]

>>505279
>>505193
Well, one could use the bucket and just find an airtight fitted lid for it, drill a hole and seal an airlock into it... so don't dismiss the idea completely....

[Anonymous No.505284]

>>505280
>>505280

That is SO much harder than you think. Finding an airtight lid with a gasket, drilling a properly sized hole and finding ANOTHER gasket to seal the airlock, at that point you might as well just spend $20 to get the proper bucket.

[Anonymous No.505287]

>>505284
Given enough patience and research, or previous skills, I'm sure it'd pay off if he's that concerned about money. If he isn't, he'll just by the proper bucket. But I figure it's best to give him a few options, I'll let him decide if his time or his money is more important, I just want him to know that rigging his own bucket is still an option.

[Anonymous No.505290]

>>505279
>>505284
All you need is some plastic wrap used as a gasket over the top of the bucket before putting the lid on. You can use clay or a piece of a balloon for the airlock hole gasket too. It is rather easy to do and I've done it for years.

Let me repeat, it is EXTREMELY easy to make it air tight for brewing purposes.

[Anonymous No.505294]

>>505264
>>505255
Well, the usual cooling technique they use in my country to make wines is to bury the bottle deep underground, but I live in an apartment complex, and 29ºC is the coldest spot in the whole place. I'd be happy to take some time to keep my batch cool with ice baths and such, but I simply don't have all that time to spare. There also isn't really a homebrewing culture here and it's very hard to get specialized yeast strains, so I have to make do with active dry bread yeast (I can buy beer yeast online but it's expensive).

Should I just drop trying to get into this hobby? Or is there any type of drink I could brew in this heat?

[Anonymous No.505295]

>>505294
You could always buy a small fridge or wine chiller and set it to 13C/55F

[Anonymous No.505297]

>>505294
Noooo don't stop the hobby. Bread yeasts are actually ok, it's what humans used originally, at least after or alongside wild yeasts (which also worked just fine).
like >>505250 said, it will still work. Use your fridge or just a dark area of your apartment, it should still work.

[Anonymous No.505305]

>>505295
I was actually thinking of that, but I'd have to put it way down on that long list of things that I should be putting my money on. Meanwhile >>505297 is bread yeast really ok to brew things in my fridge? I'm under the impression that anything I put there just stops fermenting altogether, or maybe I'm just too used to seeing heat-crazed bubbling yeast action?

Anyway thanks for the input so far, I appreciate it.

[Anonymous No.505306]

Update on all 3 batches.
Hard Lemonade's fermentation has slowed down but it is not done yet, other than that nothing to note.
Brown sugar batch: It appears the yeast I'm using loves brown sugar.... it's expelling a ton of CO2 still, pic related, btw the floating objects are raisins (cut in half, yeast nutrient substitute).
Wine: Going just as it always has, it's the most predictable, it'll chug away at a steady rate like it has been, nothing too special to note there (pic related for this as well).
Better explanation of pic: The bottles are in insulation (keeps the temp controlled), and my airlocks are submerged in a bottle of water. Brown sugar batch on the left, wine on the right.

[Anonymous No.505308]

>>505294
Bucket of water saturated with salt, use a few strings and a brick to keep the bottle mostly submerged, and that should do the trick. Insulate the bucket with foam or use a cooler, if you're out for the day.

[Anonymous No.505319]

Hey guys. So i bought a 1 gallon glass carboy from amazon, and an airlock to go with it. My question is, should I still clean the brand new carboy? If so, how do you go about sanitizing your containers?

Thanks,

Newbie homebrewer

[Anonymous No.505332]

>>505319
YES! Always clean everything. I personally use hot water with a little bleach, fill it, let it soak, and rinse many times (yeast will not tolerate the presence of bleach At All). If you don;t feel comfortable using bleach, just use boiling water. Clean the inside and outside, as well as the airlock.

[Anonymous No.505338]

>>505319

The best options for sanitization is Star-San or Dyno-mite which are both no-rinse food grade sanitizers

[Anonymous No.505341]

>>505338
Or you could use bleach.
California child care guidlines on sanitizing food surfaces/containers recommend 1 tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water and to allow 2 minutes of contact time with the solution or allowing it to air dry

[Anonymous No.505343]

>>505332
so even though they're brand new, still in the packaging, i should sanitize?

Thanks for the tip, I was going to use it without sanitation!

[Anonymous No.505363]

>>505343
Yes. It's always better to be safe than sorry, it'd suck to have to waste 1 gallon of product due to contamination.

[Anonymous No.505417]

>>505341

Yes, you already mentioned that you use bleach. I was providing a second option.

[Anonymous No.505435]

>>505417
Actually, I mentioned bleach (>>505332), >>505341 was another person, Not me.

[Anonymous No.505465]

>>505332

Also, as soon as you rinse the bleach off your container is no longer sanitary. Tap water is teeming with microbes, which is why the industry standard is no-rinse sanitizers. Bleach requires that you either rinse it off and desanitize (which is retarded) or drink bleach (which, I guess if you want to

[Anonymous No.505470]

>>505465
Not if you use water hot enough to kill microbes for rinsing...

[Anonymous No.505475]

>>505470
or if you let it air dry

[Anonymous No.505478]

>>505341
>>505465
You can use straight bleach to sterilize things; not just sanitize them. The contact time is 20 seconds. I usually go 2 minutes anyway then rinse with water that's been boiled.

>>505475
Don't let bleach-cleaned items air dry. The sodium hypochlorite stays behind and will make things taste like bleach as well as stress the yeast you use.

[Anonymous No.505490]

>>505470

If you're able to handle the carboy, then the water isn't hot enough.

[Anonymous No.505547]

>>505279

As long as it is food grade,and there is a lid,it's fine.

It should only be used for primary. 4-6 weeks maybe at the most. During active fermentation,it doesn't have to be airtight.

None of my brewing buckets are airtight(from Midwest,Norther,or Austin). Just use it for what it's meant for.

>>505465

As a note,you are sanitizing what you brew in(and anything you put in it). Not sterilizing.

Sanitized means "clean/hygenic".

There are bugs everywhere that will get in your brew,no way to stop that. You just want to keep their population low enough to let your yeast rapidly take over.

You could fucking dip your balls into your brew in the middle of the ferment,and it would be A-OK. The yeast will kill any competing buggies,as will the rapidly changing PH and alcohol content.

I usually just wash my buckets with some soapy water and rinse them very well. Only had one incident for my years of brewing. And that was when some bugs got into a BB because the airlock dried out while it was in tertiary.

[Anonymous No.505554]

>>505547
>Sanitized means clean
clean means it's free from debris
sanitized means 99% of bacteria has been killed
disinfected/sterilized means 99.9% killed

[Anonymous No.505563]

>>505554
sterilized means 100% killed

[Anonymous No.505570]

Carbonation for my first gallon of IPA is about to be done.
Soon trying out an unfiltered, organic hard apple cider.

[Anonymous No.505573]

>>505563
Which is effectively impossible outside of lab conditions. Sterilization in domestic terms means 99% of all microorganisms

[Anonymous No.505589]

>>505573
>impossible outside of lab conditions
Exactly. Though it is also true for surgery conditions to an extent. Sterilizing anything in your house is effectively impossible, that's why you can only sanitize things.

[Anonymous No.505594]

>>505547

Regardless of your needless semantic disagreement, my point still stands. As soon as you rinse your sanitizer off with water it's no longer sanitized. Fuck off with sterile, it's not sanitized either.

[Anonymous No.505619]

The amount of newfags in every single one of these threads is always fucking staggering.

>>505573
>>505589
Sterilizing is easy with proper equipment or chemicals. Bleaching with high concentration bleach will sterilize in 20 seconds of contact time. Baking in a standard oven at 350F for 3.5 hours will sterilize. Using a pressure canner/autoclave at 10lbs pressure for 15 minutes will sterilize.

>>505594
BOIL the water before you use it to rinse something sanitized. If you want sterile water you need to use a pressure canner to make it first. You can even pressure can lots of water far in advance and have it completely sterile for when you need it.

[Anonymous No.505621]

>>505594
and regardless of it's cleanliness the goal is to get rid of blatantly obvious biological contaminants, IE if you're reusing a bottle, bacteria that previously resided in the human mouth, or if you have been handling the container with dirty/oily hands, which also provide a good place for microorganisms..... what I;m getting at is you can't kill everything in it, and whatever's in your tap water? Generally gonna be safe for your yeast.

[Anonymous No.505631]

>>505619
>high concentration bleach
unsuitable for food-ware. bleach-resistant bacteria exist

>Baking in a standard oven at 350F
can't be done with plastics, can't be done with certain types of glass, and requires an oven that is big enough to hold large containers or awkwardly shaped pipes. There exist heat-resistant bacteria, therefore sterilization is impossible

>autoclave
All the problems of the oven, now in a smaller container and pressure stress added

You don't need sterile conditions for homebrew, only sanitary.

[Anonymous No.505849]

>>505631
>bleach-resistant bacteria exist

[citation needed]

If it is true. It may only be for weak solutions of bleach or for bacteria that won't harm homebrewing in the first place.

I use that type of bleach all the time with my gear and it doesn't effect it. That includes stainless steel. The only thing that it harms of mine are the rivet on my stainless steel stock pots, so I keep it away from those when making other solutions.

>can't be done with plastics,

I don't use plastics when brewing. Only metals and glass. For plastics, you use bleach.

>heat-resistant bacteria

That don't harm homebrewing and they won't be found in your home, because all bacteria in your home will die in that temperature for that length of time.

>sterilization is impossible

You don't know what you are talking about. Please, do more research.

>All the problems of the oven, now in a smaller container and pressure stress added

Something tells me you don't know how to pressure can your own food or even why that is done.

>You don't need sterile conditions for homebrew, only sanitary.

Correct, but that wasn't the point of my post.

[Anonymous No.505852]

>>505631
Watch out kids, it's impossible to clean anything when you're this edgy.

[Anonymous No.505864]

>>505852
Haha thank you for that
You're right, it'd be nice if we stopped discussing sanitation/sterilization methods and got back to talking about making awesome booze ourselves

[Anonymous No.505913]

bump before afk.

[Anonymous No.505920]

>>505849
>If it is true. It may only be for weak solutions of bleach or for bacteria that won't harm homebrewing in the first place.
weak solutions are the highest concentration recommended for food surfaces, and just because the bacteria is inconsequential to home brewing doesn't mean it's not there.

>I don't use plastics when brewing. Only metals and glass. For plastics, you use bleach.
That you don't use plastics or non heat-resistant glass is great, but you reccomended the oven as a go to sterilizer for all equipment

>That don't harm homebrewing and they won't be found in your home, because all bacteria in your home will die in that temperature for that length of time.
Bacillus is one example of a group of heat-resistant bacteria found in a typical home

>sterilization is impossible
>You don't know what you are talking about. Please, do more research.
Nice out of context quote there. I said sterilization is impossible in the oven because of heat-resistant bacteria, not just "sterilization is impossible"

>Something tells me you don't know how to pressure can your own food or even why that is done.
I'll admit that autoclaving does have one advantage over the oven in that autoclaving kills the 'B.'s, but it is extremely impractical given the size of a cheap pressure canner and the cost of a large one.

>Correct, but that wasn't the point of my post.
Then what was the point of your post?

[Anonymous No.506013]

>>505920
>weak solutions are the highest concentration recommended for food surfaces,

Bleach from the jug is normally 10% solution. That is all that's needed to sterilize in 20 seconds.

>but you reccomended the oven as a go to sterilizer for all equipment

No I didn't. Try reading the post again.

>I said sterilization is impossible in the oven because of heat-resistant bacteria,

Which is completely untrue.

>Then what was the point of your post?

To list the methods of sterilizing. That should be pretty obvious. There was literally no other info, reason, or anything else given in the sterilizing section of >>505619

You are just looking for a trolling argument.

[Anonymous No.506147]

OP here. Not to be a dick or anything but can we please drop the sanitation/sterilization argument? I get that it's a crucial part of homebrewing but everyone has made their points by now, and it's just an argument. We should be directing this thread towards making alcohol not cleaning methods. Thanks :D

[Anonymous No.506211]

Is 60ºF too cold to brew mead properly?

[Anonymous No.506214]

>>506211
No, your yeast might move more slowly,and take awhile to get fermentation up to full speed, but you should be fine.

[Anonymous No.506221]

>>506214
Yeah but isn't it a bit too low? I'm wondering what effect that could have in the final result, all other things equal.
Also wouldn't fermentation rise the temperature just a bit?

[Anonymous No.506229]

When I began brewing I used a balloon as an airlock and noticed something. At some point, the balloon would deflate, of course, but it wouldn't stop at going limp. The bottle seemed to try to suck the balloon in.

Now I didn't give it much thought at the time, but now that I am, I'm kinda worried that the water from the airlock or the outside air might get sucked in right into my brew, along with all the nasties.

Should I be legitimately concerned by this or was my first batch just a weird one?

[Anonymous No.506278]

>>506221
>Yeah but isn't it a bit too low?

It'll still work.

> I'm wondering what effect that could have in the final result

Less floral esters and fusol alcohols, less aging needed. Longer fermentation time of course. Top-fermenting yeasts like temps that we like; 72F.

>Also wouldn't fermentation rise the temperature just a bit?

Yes, but nothing of real note.

>>506229
>The bottle seemed to try to suck the balloon in.

That is suck-back. this happens when the fermentation process is complete and the yeast are no longer expelling CO2. since there is no longer positive pressure in the container, air pressure can move both ways. If the container gets cold even by a degree it will start sucking outside air in due to the inside air contracting. When it gets hotter it will push air out. In a sense, during the course of a day the container will "breath".

This is why most people use vodka in their water-based air locks. If suck back occurs only vodka will enter the brew. This won't prevent contamination however. Suck back can be so bad that it can empty an air lock completely. It can even suck up liquid from the tub of a blow off tube quite a long ways and dump it into the brew.

The best prevention of this is to monitor the number of bubbles per minute. Once the bubbles reach 1 bubble per minute you can rack and continue the next phase. For balloons, as soon as the balloon falls you can rack and continue on.

Even when there's more than 1 bubble per minute there can be a chance of suck-back if the temperatures drop dramatically. I've lost a few brews like that before.

Here's a pic of suck-back happening. The more air in the container's head space the more suck-back will occur. Which is why you should always top off your brews as much as you can. Left unchecked, these would have sucked water all the way into the brew.

[Anonymous No.506304]

>>502824
there was a vodka distillation in the UK that blew up about 7 months ago, all the locals knew about it and it turned out locals super markets where buying it cheap instead of the regular stuff and just relabeling it

[Anonymous No.506309]

>>506304

>>504145

[Anonymous No.506311]

>>506278
Do you like my solution? In case of a suck-back the water at the end of the blow off tube gets sucked into the small bottle instead of your carboy. The chances of if being bad enough to fill the bottle are much lower than if it were the plain tube alone.

[Anonymous No.506341]

>>506311
>>506278

I prefer the S type airlocks with very little vodka put in them.

No matter the pressure change,I've never had issues with suckback.

I do mostly wines/meads though. I've seen some beers take straight the hell off though. Blown lids and the like off. I usually use a very oversized bucket for primary for that reason.

Never had it happen to me,but after you've seen the aftermath pictures in someone's kitchen...you prepare!

[Anonymous No.506347]

>>506341
Prepare indeed. That's something they should mention to every newbie in all those recipes when talking about sanitation.

The thing about S type airlocks is that they let air in in case of a suck back. It may be less of an issue than letting in water in terms of contamination, but the danger is still there, all in spite of the fermentation supposedly being done at that point. Oxygen is another thing to consider in that case, not so much of a danger but still.

So best advice for airlocks: don't forget to count the bubbles.
Best advice for blow off tubes: >>506311

[Anonymous No.506348]

>>506311
Yes, that will work. The volume of air in the lines needs to be more than the volume of air in the head space of the container and you'll never have a problem.

>>506341
I just do wine and mead and always place new brews in my tub and shower for 2 days even with a big blow off tube, just in case.

[Anonymous No.506350]

>>506311
A low-flow check valve would also work. I'm actually surprised some air locks don't have that feature. With blow off tubes it is easy to add.

[Anonymous No.506419]

>>502703
Sanitisation is only important if you're using unsanitised stuff (i.e. re-using a brewing vessel). Commercial stuff from cartons and the cartons themselves are already as sanitary as you'll get. If you buy the 5gal water container, pour it all out and follow this recipe, you will definitely make some cider. Okay, fair enough, the napkin over the top will let more air into the brew than you'd like, but it will still work.

[Anonymous No.506447]

Just tasted my first successful batch of mead and I gotta say it came out unexpectedly delicious. The only thing is it's a bit too sweet. It was my fault, of course, since I decided to use a bit more honey because I thought maybe the honey flavor would get lost. Should I leave it like that or can I add some water to fix it?

[Anonymous No.506450]

>>506419
When you pour out store bought liquids, your local air goes in to replace it. In some places that can be a bad thing and you'd need to sanitize, like where I live for instance. In other places like drier arid climates it won't be a problem.

12 unsanitized soda bottles are also a problem since you'll have been saving them up for a while.

The image is still a troll image.

[Anonymous No.506470]

>>506450
>your local air goes in to replace it
Do you brew in a vacuum?

[Anonymous No.506485]

>>505570
Fuck that IPA was goddamn delicious, but over-carbonated, nearly a bottle bomb.

[Anonymous No.506505]

ya'll argue about the stupidest shit.

anyone know any good places to get stuff in toronto?
I am currently buying from here. Its got really good selection and prices.
http://www.torontobrewing.ca

[Anonymous No.506634]

>>506470
You can't pour out a liquid without having air go in at the same time unless the container collapses 100%.

People even use CO2 or argon to keep outside air from getting in during racking to prevent outside air from getting in, but that's for keeping oxygen out mostly.

[Anonymous No.506726]

I fucked up and posted my thread before seeing this one. Would anybody care to help me out? I see the recipe I'm using was already mentioned by several anons here

>>506667

[Anonymous No.506779]

Update: Lemonade is very slow, I will be ending it tomorrow, probably gonna cold crash it, rack it, and do a taste test. I might add more lemon juice, but probably not more sugar, I might mix it with oj, or I might freeze concentrate it. I can't decide yet, but either way I'll post images and info tomorrow. As for the Brown sugar batch, its slowed down a bit but it's still going faster than the wine, and the wine has also slowed down a bit. I'm not sure what my next project will be, I'm thinking meads. After that, a ginger and black tea brew I think. Just keeping everyone updated, I'll post again tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.506796]

So, I used to lurk these threads ages ago, but have since drifted and can't remember most of the info. I live in a small apartment, but would like to do small brews of anything in particular. Ales particularly.
I'm a complete beginner at this, though. I can get all the basic gear, and have learned a little from these threads about the dangers, and what to watch out for when brewing. Is there a decent definitive beginners guide online anywhere other than lurking here?
What's a good brew to start out with? Not necessarily ale, either, i'll try anything to get a feel for what I'm doing and how to progress beyond the early stages of brewing.
Rather than pester ye with questions, if anyone has any good links that google doesn't generally spit out, I'll take them. Or, without going into too fine detail (so as not to waste your time), could someone list the basic gear for a micro brew-op? I saw a selection of glass jars and stoppers in a kitchen store recently, I have access to any tools necessary to make gear and tubing myself. I just get lost when it comes to what to brew to begin learning.

[Anonymous No.506826]

>>506447
Anyone?

>>506796
Try this one out, it is pretty damn good
http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=6114
Don't forget to sanitize and stay in the temperature range.

Google is your friend, but so are we and other brewing forums. Ask away if you can't find your answer.

[Anonymous No.506900]

>>506447
Watering it down isn't a good idea usually. Trying to get the yeast to ferment more might work, though you might need to use champagne yeast.

[Anonymous No.506953]

>>506447
Using water will water all of it down, so it'll be weaker, but if it's the only solution you see to a sweetness problem, I guess. You could always put something in the mead that offsets the sweetness, maybe something sour or bitter. It could turn out well

[Anonymous No.507216]

>>506953
>>506447
this may be obvious, but in case it's not, try watering it down and adding things in smaller samples (not the whole batch) so if it fucks up you didn't ruin the whole batch

[Anonymous No.507273]

>>506826
Thanks! I'll only bother ye when I get stuck of fuck everything up hilariously.

[Anonymous No.507275]

OP here: Final Hard Lemonade "Update". The hard lemonade is finally done. I definitely would like to make it again, next time I'd use the proper lemon juice to water ratio. It turned out pretty good, I like the flavor better than Kilju's, but it has one somewhat similar to that of kilju, just tarter, and slightly less sweet, with an unplaceable but not unpleasant undertone. My other brews are still going, they have anywhere from 3 days to 7 days before they are done. I know some people may frown upon not aging your brews, but for the ones I'm making right now (not neccesarily the ones I will make in the future) the main goal is cheap, fast, easy, and that it taste good. So far so food. Thanks for listening!

[Anonymous No.507414]

This thread is everlasting....like in harry potter...or rugrats....or porn....or donkeys making horrible horrible makup sex.
0101010100100100010011011110101010210220100110101101010110010101010100101010101010010101000100101100110101001001101010101010110110101010110100010110110111010101101001010101101101010110111010010101010101000110001001000101110110100101101010101010101010101 ^_^

[Anonymous No.507557]

>>507414
01100111011000010110000101100001011000010110000101100001011000010110000101100001011000010110000101100001011000010110000101100001011000010110000101111001

[Anonymous No.507855]

last time I cleaned my fridge, I threw away some cans of jam. maybe I can mix jam+ water+ yeast and let it ferment to make alcohol. what do you think?

[Anonymous No.507863]

>>507855
I also had molasses

[Anonymous No.507865]

>>507855
>>507863
You could ferment your jam but it'd have to be as preservative free as possible and not be too acidic ( a little acidic is actually good) . Still, it wouldn't be the best beverage, it'd be alcoholic jam... also molasses ferments out well, it just has a very unique flavor many people don't like. If you want to expirement with it, go ahead, if you like the flavor, drink it, if not, mix it with something else. Or you could always freeze concentrate it into weak, but still harder than what you had, rum of a sort.

[Anonymous No.507894]

>>502650
I did this, it worked, it tasted like shit but got me drunk as FUCK. So to make it takste better I made it into moonshine to mix with w/e

[Anonymous No.507895]

>>502703
>>502703
Its ment to get you drunk fast, it works...

[Anonymous No.507896]

>>503042
this

[Anonymous No.507956]

>>507894
>I did this, it worked, it tasted like shit but got me drunk as FUCK.
Did you do it right like it was mentioned here? >>502703
>So to make it takste better I made it into moonshine to mix with w/e
Did you actually distill it?
>>503042

[Anonymous No.507967]

>>507895
If it turns into vinegar or bitter water during those 2 months then it won't get you drunk at all because the ethanol will have been eaten and turned into something else by other microbes.

It is also not meant to get you drunk fast because it takes 2 months if you go by that recipe. Kilju is meant to get your drunk fast because it takes only a week or less. You're actually better off making kilju.

>>507894
>suspicious post is supicious

[Anonymous No.507970]

>>507967
Thank you. As you can see I had suspicions too >>507956

[Anonymous No.508061]

OP here. Update on my brown sugar batch and my wine: They have both slowed down, but the wine is still slower than the brown sugar batch. Most of the sediment at the bottom of the brown sugar batch is yeast, but theres still a tiny bit of sugar I think, so it's still slightly supersaturated. The wine sediment is now just dead yeast, so it is no longer supersaturated. I plan on brewing some weak pre-tequilla with 12oz of blue agave nectar, and about 45 oz of water, with maybe some black tea leaves for nutrient? Or possibly just raisins again. Then I'll freeze concentrate into a stronger, but still weak, tequila flavored beverage. Once the wine and brown sugar batches are done, I'm doing two meads side by side, 2 different recipes, to see which turns out better. Thanks for listening, I'll keep you all updated.

[Anonymous No.508168]

It seems the /ck/ thread has 404'd for some reason: >>>/ck/4689662

[Anonymous No.508230]

>>508168
OP of /ck/ thread, I posted a new one.
4716296

[Anonymous No.508232]

>>508230
My bad
>>4716296

[Anonymous No.508233]

>>508232
Damnit.
>>>/ck/4716296

[Anonymous No.508645]

OP here. Looks like my brown sugar batch is nearing completion and that my wine batch will for sure be done tomorrow. I prepped my agave batch with 11.5oz agave, ~50oz water. I will add yeast tomorrow. Once my wine and brown sugar containers are free, I'll brew two different meads side by side.

[Anonymous No.508702]

So, i've been reading a website that's explaining a beer-in-a-bag method. Is there anything wrong with this? it seems quite easy, but the author called it unorthodox earlier on the site.
http://homebrewmanual.com/brew-in-a-bag/

I'm in the process of reading up on the methods. Living in an apartment, but I have plenty of space, cupboards and presses to house gear and brews, but I'd like to try something like this if it doesn't affect the end result.

[Some Goddamn Loser No.508723]

Those of you interested in brewing beer may find this link useful:

http://youtu.be/I-bS3CGrPec

It's a clone of the first craft beer brewed in America. The ingredients are extremely simple, and as demonstrated in this video, you can start with just a gallon batch. You can use a similar method to experiment with other strains of yeast or hops or malt, see what you get.

Hope you enjoy it.

(By the way, brewing your own is, in the long run, significantly cheaper than buying anything from the store. Well, depending upon how complex you make it...)

[Anonymous No.508762]

>>508723
Thank you, I was trying to find a simple one to start off with.

[Anonymous No.508771]

>>505465
>Also, as soon as you rinse the bleach off your container is no longer sanitary. Tap water is teeming with microbes
jeez, cant have a homebrew thread without sterilisation fetishists....
There may be alot of microbes in Tap water, but none that are in any way dangerous to your brew (unless you live in some 3rd world shithole).

[Anonymous No.508845]

>>504520
could you give a hint as to who you work for? at least the state?

i'm a somewhat serious homebrewer along with my friends in northern california, and one of my buddies is thinking about starting his own microbrewery. i'm not looking for advice, just looking on in admiration at what you've been able to do. congrats on living the dream.

[Anonymous No.508916]

>>508771
Boiling it before using it negates all that possible problem anyway.

[Anonymous No.508968]

>>508771
I live in a 3rd world shithole and never had a problem rinsing my carboy with tap water.

[Anonymous No.508976]

>>508968
Not everyone has the same quality of tapwater.

[Anonymous No.508982]

>>508976
>>508968
>>508771
>>508916
On the topic of sanitation/ sterilization, just do whatever works best for you. Buying actual cleansers for brewing, using bleach, boiling water, or tap water are all acceptable. Just make sure your brews are clean is what it comes down to. How you get there doesn't matter much as long as it works for you and it's safe

[Anonymous No.509014]

>>508976
They do on this country.

[Anonymous No.509023]

>>509014
Well, I'm in the USA and everyone has different tap water.

[Anonymous No.509149]

>>509023
Well, over here you either have tap water or you don't.

also polite sage for pointless discussion

[Anonymous No.509179]

Anybody ever tried doing something like a "hard coffee"? I'm kind of thinking about doing something like fermenting sugars in coffee, or using coffee in place of water in a mead recipe. Thoughts? I also read online that there are "Coffee Berries" that grow from a very similar plant that are also similar flavor, but have lots of their own sugars built into them.

[Anonymous No.509180]

>>509179
By sugars in coffee, I know that actual coffee doesn't really have any sugars, I mean adding sugar to the mix (I can do this without losing my black coffee man card if it's to ferment into alcohol, r....right?)

[Anonymous No.509200]

>>507956
yes, I put a bunch of bounty paper towels over the top with 2 rubber bands holding them down, I did like 2 folded 4 times. used cheap as shit apple juice, 10cups of sugar and store bought yeast. This I did first it work then the second time I did the same thing except I bought proper bublers to actually keep air out and used yeast that was rated for 20% alcohol. That I used in a still and distilled like 5 gallons in to about 1 gallon. You may have seen me post in another thread about how I almost burned my house down... had 3 5gallon jugs
first went fine, second almost died, threw out third. had a gallon of moonshine that i wastered down to like 90% because of fire hasard.

[Anonymous No.509205]

>>507967
>>509200
it took quite a whole like a whole semester I didn't say anything about it being quick but it defiantly worked and defiantly was not vinegar

[Anonymous No.509211]

>>509179

...it won't turn out tasting anything like what you would hope.

I know there are some stout recipes that use coffee,but it wouldn't be great by itself.

[Anonymous No.509225]

>>509179
coffee is generally too acidic to support fermentation properly. Try making some form of homebrew booze and letting coffee beans soak in it for secondary fermentation.

[Some Goddamn Loser No.509255]

>>502808

A friend of mine made his first brew like that--he called it Ghetto Mead. It was actually decent, I was surprised.

[Anonymous No.509314]

Distilled Kilju guy reporting in.

Starting work on that hard lemonade now, gonna wait until I'm finished my Papercraft project though.

[Anonymous No.509345]

Anybody here have any good Mead recipes they would be willing to share?

[Anonymous No.509355]

>>509314
>Distilled Kilju
You must be talking about pontikka.

[Anonymous No.509406]

>>509355
>pontikka

Moonshine

[Anonymous No.510065]

Well I finished my Cider a week ago
It isn't clear at all

Any suggestions for future attempts?

[Anonymous No.510079]

>>510065
Did you cold crash it?

[Anonymous No.510083]

>>510065
Use pectic enzymes to break down the pectins from the fruit 24 hours before you pitch the yeast in. You can also use it to get rid of a pectin haze after the brewing is done.

[Anonymous No.510140]

>>502650
I want to follow this kind of procedure, but with the proper method outlined in >>502703

Here is what I plan to do so far:
>Buy two 5 Gallon Jugs, clean in dishwasher, high temperature
>Get one filled with water at the grocery store
>Divide it evenly
>Drop grape juice concentrate in
>Buy champagne yeast, activate, drop in when it's time
>Shaky shaky
>Stick pricked balloon secured with rubber bands on both jugs
>Wait two weeks
>Transfer inside smaller bottles when it's done, with a sieve to filter the nasty shit

I assume this is the simplest way to do it without getting diarrhea as a result.

[Anonymous No.510171]

>>510140
>but with the proper method outlined in >>502703

Good, then google "hobo wine recipe" and use whatever juice you want to use.

>I assume this is the simplest way to do it without getting diarrhea as a result.

Yes. Although, diarrhea with homemade alcohol is normally a sign that you drank live yeasts, not because of a bacteria problem.

[Anonymous No.510178]

>>510171
Sorry I was referring to the resulting wine's taste. Bad metaphor now that I think of it.

Also this is pretty much exactly how the first link suggested doing it. I did forget the sugar, though.

Also how would one go about sterilizing a 5 gallon jug? If it's too much trouble I'll just get smaller ones and stick em in the dishwasher.

[Anonymous No.510200]

>>510178
>Also how would one go about sterilizing a 5 gallon jug? If it's too much trouble I'll just get smaller ones and stick em in the dishwasher.

Just bleach it then rinse it out with a pot of water you've boiled.

[Anonymous No.510205]

>>510200
Alright, thanks.

And is boiling the water before dissolving the sugar necessary, or do people do this to make sure it's free of bacteria?

[Anonymous No.510212]

>>510205
When you add sugar it does help dissolve it, but when you are shaking it up to oxygenate it you normally are able to dissolve it. So, boiling only helps to keep things a little more sanitary. I wouldn't boil your juices, that can have a negative impact on the bew's taste.

For honey, you always stir it into warm water because it can be a real bitch to dissolve properly just from shaking. No need to boil the honey though.

[Anonymous No.510292]

>>502808
I haven't tried it. I heard it was a good starter for home brewers who want to try it.

I'm making a traditional mead. I have a 1/2gal in the aging stage. Smoother than Voldemort's face. Sweeter than Bumblebee jizz.
Mead rules dude.

[Anonymous No.510350]

>>503964
jay? is that you?

[Anonymous No.510374]

OP updating everyone on his brews. Brown sugar batch finished today, I'll be letting it settle a bit though. The agave I started 2 days ago must have gone off like crazy, had a minor blowout. It still has a large head, so I guess I'll see what happens. I think I'll start the meads sometime between wednesday and sunday, and a ginger/black tea brew after those.

[Anonymous No.510539]

Just finished my first batch, was wanting to do it right but my sister was visiting from another state and wanted to brew something in the short time she was here so it got rushed.

The recipe we found online for a one-week brew that we followed gave us 1.5 gallons of concord grape juice, 1.5 cups cane sugar. We used some wine yeast we bought from a wine store (forget what the strain was) in a 6 gallon foodsafe bucket with an airlock (both of which we purchased from the store.)

The brew ended up not tasting very good. It isn't bad to the point that it can't be drank, but it's bitter and smells slightly (but doesn't taste) vinegary. It's definitely alcoholic.

What did I do wrong? Would racking it again fix this? I may have jostled the container getting the top off when I transferred it and I think I bumped the siphon (a battery-powered siphon) on the bottom momentarily. I know that would affect the taste, but even the first liter tastes the way I described so I'm wondering if sediment is the issue or just the batch itself.

Should I throw it out and start again? Would racking/aging it improve it? If I'm to start again, what should I do differently?

[Anonymous No.510547]

2 years ago i found this gem.
I share it with you.

[Anonymous No.510624]

>>510539
I just recently had some of my own one-week wine, and you are right, it doesn't really taste the best. This is largely due to the lack of aging, and the presence of live/dead yeast as well as various other fermentation byproducts that are still floating around. Letting all of that sink to the bottom, racking, then aging would definitely improve the flavor, heck, even just aging it would.

[Anonymous No.510626]

>>510547
OP here. Thank you so much, that is a glorious gem of homebrewing and belongs here. Thank you for your contribution.

[Anonymous No.510643]

>>507275
I did something like that, I just made water wine (just sugar and yeast in water, purely for the booze) and just added crystal light to it, came out really good

[Anonymous No.510661]

>>510624

To properly age it, should it be in a refrigerated or non-refrigerated environment? If in a non-refrigerated environment, will it matter if it's been refrigerated for a couple of days?

Right now it's in a glass bottle exactly like pic related, will that work for aging or should it all go back into the 6-gallon bucket? The airlock had stopped releasing any air for a couple of days when we siphoned it out.

Thanks for your reply, btw!

[Anonymous No.510672]

>>510643
Yeah, thats called Kilju, at least in Finland, and you're right, it's made purely for a quick, cheap, easy booze. I've made it myself, I definitely liked the hard lemonade better flavor wise though. If you end up wanting to try it, let me know.

[Anonymous No.510673]

>>510661
No problem on replying, thats why I made the thread haha. I suggest letting it age in your basement, assuming its dark and somewhat cool. I suppose you could age it in your fridge but most people don't, I believe it'd alter the flavor. Ideally, a dark, cooler than room temp place works well. Don't put it back in the bucket, but do make sure you've gotten all live and dead yeast out, and that there is little to no pressure buildup, I'd hate for your wine to explode due to CO2

[Anonymous No.510743]

What are some good books on homebrewing? More precisely I'd like to try my hand at making decent beer.

Also could I convert a room into a passable distillery with a budget of $1000?

[Scraf No.510761]

>>510743
Booze for free, by Andy Hamilton. Has recipes arranged by season, a decent range of different beverages, as well as tips on growing and foraging for ingredients. It's about £10 I think.

[Anonymous No.510766]

does anyone have a detailed explanation of a system for freeze concentration?

everywhere I look for information on it either just says "freeze it and take the alcohol out" (which I feel is like saying that your wine recipe is "put the juice in a bottle, put in the yeast and let it sit") or turns into a shitflinging mess about "FUCK YOU BUDDY WE DON'T TALK ABOUT ILLEGAL THINGS" "It's not illegal though, it's-" "NO BUT YOU SAID FREEZE DISTILLING DISTILLING IS ILLEGAL IT'S NOT LEGAL GO AWAY" "okay but it's not the same it's totally le-" "I WILL REPORT YOU TO THE POLICE DISTILLATION IS ILLEGAL GO AWAY I HATE YOU". And if it ain't that it's yelling about the concentration of heads and tails in freeze-distilled concentrate.

protip: it's not illegal, but I still want some clear and if-not-detailed at least understandable instructions on what to do. and tips from anyone who's done it.

[Anonymous No.510769]

>>510766
Yeah it is, its a means of concentrating alcohol from existing liquor, therefore falls under distillation law.

[Anonymous No.510772]

>>510761
I'd be more interested in the detailed process of brewing, and the knowledge necessary to improvise and brew things I'd like to drink.

I'll look into it, and maybe it'll prove sufficient.

[Anonymous No.510775]

>>510772

Try out homebrewtalk.com

[Anonymous No.510777]

>>510775
I intend to read in the bus. Sadly I don't have a data plan. But thanks for the link, this'll definitely come in handy.

[Anonymous No.510778]

>>510769

no it's not illegal in the united states, it's not considered a form of distillation, it's considered a form of concentration. the reason for distillation's restriction to licensed operators is because of the dangerousness of the alcohol vapors igniting, not the idea of having stronger alcohol.

and either way distillation isn't a taboo in these threads so can someone please just help me out

[Anonymous No.510781]

Could someone tell me if I fucked up?
>>>/ck/4722252

[Scraf No.510785]

>>510772
it does go into that too, it's a good general all rounder.

[Anonymous No.510786]

>>510778
Basically the idea is that you put the booze into a freezer and the ice that forms will have a lower ABV than the remaining liquid, since water freezes first.
The colder you get the higher ABV can freeze, so the remaining liquid will be stronger, but you'll be losing more alcohol to the ice

[Anonymous No.510790]

>>510786
At what ABVs is this a viable option?

[Anonymous No.510788]

>>510778
distillation for personal use fall under state law iirc. CO allows home distillation.

[Anonymous No.510792]

>>510790
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39JTc_k9pc

[Anonymous No.510801]

>>510778
If you think for one second that the laws are for our own protection, you must be fucking retarded.

The laws are so that liquor can be taxed highly and the states dont miss out on any revenue by letting people distill at home.

[Anonymous No.510804]

>>510790
Depends how cold your freezer can go to for the upper limit(around 30% if it's -9F/-23C ), but there's no real lower limit besides the fact that you'll get very little final product from 1 litre of 1%.

[Anonymous No.510819]

>>510804
>but there's no real lower limit besides the fact that you'll get very little final product from 1 litre of 1%.
Right, but I suppose that, if you want to, you can use said product for something else, or does it generally get spoiled?

[Anonymous No.510821]

>>510819
Not sure what you mean. The final product is the concentrated drink, the leftovers will be a frozen solid with a low alcohol content, but may still be okay-tasting

[Anonymous No.510822]

>>510821
Yeah sorry, I'm too tired for this, was referring to the part which has its alcohol extracted.

>but may still be okay-tasting
Okay

[Anonymous No.511012]

I'm a beginner and was wondering; what types of yeast is good in which situations and brews? - I've only used normal bread yeast so far

[Anonymous No.511013]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYc1XqfU-Jo

[Anonymous No.511017]

>>505306
Looks nice. Keep updating!

[jay No.511088]

kilju is a good recipe. ot involves water. any kind of sugar and bakers yeast. google it, you can make 5 gallons for around $10

[Anonymous No.511091]

>>510292
Do you have a recipe? - I'd love to try it out!

[Anonymous No.511094]

I did the "Troll-brew" >>502703 and it tasted like a strange white wine, no vinegar taste or anything def. not very good taste either, though.
I scaled it down to a 1,5L batch (dat metric)

My question is; How do i separate the yeast at the bottom, from the rest of the brew, without getting it mixed?
> complete and utter beginner here, a really basic explanation would be greatly appreciated!

[Anonymous No.511172]

>>511088
I am an old-goer of the Kilju field, may I enquire as to your recipes and methods?

It's always nice to know more techniques.

[Anonymous No.511174]

>>511094
Basically, after fermentation is done, you need to siphon the alcohol into a new container, commonly a demijohn or glass carboy. The simplest way to do this is put your fermentation vessel on a table or desk, and the carboy on the floor. Then put a sterilised plastic bendy pipe in both containers, holding it an inch or two above the dead yeast in the fermentation vessel.

Now, suck on the lower end and the brew will start to move into your next vessel. Just plug the pipe with your thumb when done.

There are better methods, involving automatic pumps and u-bends to prevent even more sediment getting in, just google home brew syphons.

[Anonymous No.511306]

Here's a picture of my current projects. On the right are my two half gallons of mead from the Storm the Castle simple recipe. On the left is an experiment. I read about somebody making a coffee wine, and decided I'd play with it a bit to see what I can come up with (since I don't have any yeast nutrients, energizers, etc)

Basically, I put about about a cup of coffee grounds and hot (not boiling) water into a jug, sealed the top, and shook furiously, then allowed it to sit for a day. This is "cold brewing" coffee, which apparently gits rid of the bitter flavors (It kind of does. I tasted it, and even cold it's damned good). I then ran it through a coffee filter into my coffee pot and transferred that over to another half gallon jug (since the filter wouldn't work with the jug, I'd end up with spills, and don't have a funnel). Once I had the coffee in a jug WITHOUT the grounds, I proceeded to add 2 cups (equal to one pound) of granulated sugar, shaking furiously every quarter of the way or so. I dropped in about 6 raisins to act as yeast nutrients (not optimal, but they do help apparently, and don't impart much flavor, if at all). Finally, I poured in a packet of Fleischman's yeast and shook it once more, then put the balloon with two small holes on top to act as the airlock. I did this last night around 8 PM or so, and as you can see, it's already going good. When I woke up this morning around 6AM, the balloon was just as erect (lel), and it had lots of foam. Turns out yeast foams and really gets going with coffee, according to the internet. The original recipe I derived from called for 2 weeks of primary fermentation, so I'll let you guys know how it is shaping up to be around then. I smelled it, and it somehow had a hint of chocolate smell to it. I can also already smell the alcohol.

There's a bit of brown sludge (basically grounds that dissolved) at the top, but I think this will sink to the bottom once the foaming has died off, and will be gone after racking.

[Anonymous No.511336]

>>511094
a siphon. fluid contair on top and empty at a lower elevation (doesn't have to be much, us a chair). Stick a hose in one end then suck till is comes out. IT would be easiest to have a harder straight tube on the top side so you can have more control but it works without.

[Anonymous No.511341]

>>502810
No you need as said fermentable sugars, fructose and sucrose, then using a yeast for quicker fermentation like a typical ale yeast you will have results in under a month start to finish.

Less sugar= less ABV% and more sugar helps to a point. Most gravity starting points your looking for are around 1.050 and you will know its done when you leveled off and its lower ex: Final OG 1.010 and this would leave you with a 5% ABV which is fine for a home brew. To much an you end up with wasted sugars.

A higher % will take more malt (sugars broken down from various plants) and then higher efficent yeast, more time and a lot more attention to detail as it wouldn't take much to miss your mark on a 12% beer.

[Anonymous No.511344]

>>505056
nobody cooks mash at 100. The water out of my faucet is hotter than this. you need 150-170 dawg

[Anonymous No.511346]

>>505338
I use an iodine based solution, I forgot what its called though

[Anonymous No.511347]

>>506147
negative, we all have suffered loss from making the mistake of not being clean enough.

[Anonymous No.511419]

>>511306
Oddly enough, it now also kind of sort of looks chocolate colored.

[Anonymous No.511777]

>>511336
What kind of tubes can be used? - I don't really have any equipment. So what, that you would normally have at home, can be used?

[Anonymous No.511797]

>>511777
food grade tubing. You can get it at a pet shop if you ask for aquarium tubing

[Anonymous No.511881]

Ok, so I'm interested in Homebrewing, cause it seems like a good timesink
If I bought a 2 liter bottle of apple juice (which is sealed) would that be sanitary enough to use?
(Btw, I'm referring to this pic)

[Anonymous No.511972]

>>511881
Google, "hobo wine recipe" and follow those instructions using whatever juice you want.

[Anonymous No.512001]

>>511306
Does anybody have any thoughts on if this will be good? It got a bit lighter again today, and almost looks like the color of hot chocolate now.

[Anonymous No.512004]

>>512001
Be patient.

Make another batch with another recipe while you forget about that one for a while.

[Anonymous No.512106]

>>512004
Any other suggestions besides the mead, considering a siphon tube, the jugs, balloons, and ingredients are about the only tools I have for this?

[Anonymous No.512263]

>>511972
You don't need yeast nutrient in the Hobo-recipe?

[Anonymous No.512267]

>>511013
I'd marry her, poo wine or no poo wine.

[Anonymous No.512434]

OP here, I need some ideas on how to go about making my fermented ginger root and black tea beverage. Anybody have experience/recipes for this?

[Anonymous No.512608]

>>511306
I did another small taste test of the mead, and something isn't right. It vaguely reminds me of that mouth feeling of drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth, but extremely subdued and not as intense. I'm really hoping it's not infected.

[Anonymous No.513103]

Im looking into planting hops next spring. What sorts of breeds should I plant and just general advice.

[Anonymous No.513107]

>>512608
How long has it been fermenting? Also how's the hard coffee going, I want to try making some myself.