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/diy/ - Do It Yourself


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67076 No.67076 [Reply] [Original]

college student looking to make his brew his first alcoholic drink.

From what i have read mead and hard cider are the easiest and cheapest to brew. Is this true?

Any tips or tricks to brewing would be much appreciated.

pic unrelated.

>> No.67078

>>67076
have fun getting botulism =/

>> No.67079

Another interested college student here. One site I have found is stormthecastle.com. They have a good section on mead.

>> No.67086

>>67079
there is a link in the sticky. iirc it has links to homebrew sites.

>> No.67094

The homebrew links seem to have been removed or at very least I can not find them. The safety of the entire project really pivots on knowledge of sanitation and when yeast produces ethanol as opposed to when it produces methanol. IMHO

>> No.67102

2 welches 100% grape juice (no preservatives)
put in 1 gallon empty jug
add 3 cups sugar
add 1 tsp yeast
fill to top with water
place balloon on top of jug
rubber band balloon in place
let set til clear...
pour/siphon liquid off sediment
drink

>> No.67103

>>67102
specifically welches frozen concentrate

>> No.67208

>goto /ck/
>make homebrew thread
>wait for tepache to post
>bask in his glorious homebrew knowledge

While waiting, rapidsearch (or whatever is used anymore) tepache. There's some 120-150 threads saved. Your questions are probably asked ten times over in the archives of those threads.

>> No.67237

This is the best time of year to make hard cider. There is always a glut of apples which get turned into cider. Walmart even often has a stand set up as you walk in the door.

Look for the shit that has some residue on the bottom. Sometimes this will even ferment in the fridge on its own.

Just a pinch of yeast in one of these bad boys will get it going.

I have made some bad ass booze by putting a hole in the top and making a cheap penny bubbler to vent the gas. A cheap penny bubbler = straws tapped together, hole in top of jug sealed with dough, and other end placed underwater in an old bottle filled with water and a dash of bleach.

Enjoy.

>> No.67596

my university recipe: 3week hard cider

take 1 gallon demijohn add 4x1L of apple juice <i used stuff thats not - from concentrate>
add 200g Sugar
add yeast <wine or champaign yeast you want it strong dont you>
add yeast food <idk how necessary it is but i did>
leave at room temp under airlock for a week

rack into another demijohn
add 200g more sugar
leave for a week

rack into another demijohn
add 200g more sugar
leave for a week
at this point fermentation should be fairly slow <bubble every coupple of mins or so>

you can now kill off the yeast any way you like, freezing heating or chemical all seem to work well. clearing the stuff may take an egg white, but i didnt bother. anti pectin stuff will apparently also help, but i haven't tried that either.

bottle it:
i did taste tests on different bottles. found dark plastic bottles seem to keep it nicer for longer,< don't forget to keep releasing the pressure if there's any fermentation still going> although that shouldn't matter much since your gona be drinking the stuff more or less straight away.

end result is between 7 & 12% by estimation sweet hard cider, its got a good kick to it and gets you very drunk.

i used some cheep vodka for sterilising.

>> No.67923

>>67082 ?

>> No.68034

The balloon idea is actually bad, has a much much better chance of fucking up the drink. Get yourself some rubber tubing (Tye for like fish tanks) Then grab a small lil bottle like a 12 oz soda bottle. Put the tube into the bottle you are making your drink, make sure it's nice and tight and not letting air get into it. Lead the tube into the smaller bottle that is filled with water. The gases will be able to escape and not let air back in. You will get a much better product every time. Also if you are really not liking the taste. Do the sugar,water and yeast set up. Then add your crap in after words. I always do that, then add one can of those welchs things. So damn good.

Also if you poor more and more sugar into it, it will up the alcohol %. So two cups of sugar plus what ever is in the juice already. Make it around 12% Add like six cups of sugar, jumps to over 40%

>> No.68041
File: 164 KB, 479x500, 1319664691513.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
68041

>>68034
uhh...%40 is a BIT of a stretch.

OP if you want fun get yourself a still.
if you can make a reflux for a still and get yourself a pressure cooker and wamph the reflux through the lid of it and make it all airtight you can pop your wash (5kg sugar 20L water and about 130g of active yeast is what we do you can find better recipes) into the pressure cooker pot and boil that fucker up. keep it at 78 degrees C and then you can pull out about 100proof then dilute that with water to whatever % alch you want (dont be silly about %50) and then run that through an active carbon filtering process. you can then buy liqueur and spirit flavorings to put into base alch. any spirit or liqueur you want for about $4-5 a bottle? yes thanks.
but brewing in general is just easy. buy yourself a brewkit get yourself a brew barrel and airlock and maybe a heating pad if your place is cold. as long as you stay STERILE and you follow the directions you cant go wrong really.

>> No.68090

>>68034
Wrong. His idea for a blow off tube is ok, but the proof is just wrong.

A balloon works fine. I've used it every time a brew, no problem. However, sometimes, especially with really active brews, the krausen (shit and foam and bubbles on top) can climb up the side of the bottle and foul the balloon. This is where a blow off tube helps. It won't clog.

The % calculations are shit. Even the most robust yeasts have problems past 20%, and that's if you buy specialized yeast meant for brewing past 20%. You can take a yeast that'll normally die off at like 12-15%, and nurture it up to 18-21%, but it takes constant feeding and stuff.

Adding more and more sugar makes it brew out stronger, to a point. After that, it gets sweet. Just, sweeter and sweeter.

>> No.68200

>>68041
fuck making my own brew

i wanna make this now

>> No.68471
File: 58 KB, 500x500, 1319067330840.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
68471

>>67076

>college student

>first alcoholic drink

>> No.68533

>>68200
make sure you carbon filter your %50 base alch. oh and when you distill you wanna throw out the first 100ml of 100proof getting up to the 78 degrees C that you want it to stay at.

>> No.70045 [DELETED] 

What movie is OP pic from?

>> No.71434
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71434

OP: Cider or wine. The cheap winebrewer kits makes very drinkable wines, white is best. Mead is great but expensive as hell. Beer is really hard to make, but if you want to try, a dark stout is somewhat easier to not fuck up.

>>68041
>>68090
They might mean "% proof" which is half as much as "% vol." My best mash using turbo pure yeast fermented the shit out of 8kgs of sugar and topped 20%.

Also,
>>68041
i posted this in the other thread too: www.amazingstill.com . So much easier than a classic still. 2 buckets, a heater and a cold room distills (actually condensates) 40%+ booze. I've used mine about 20 times by now and it's so simple. Just leave it for 3 days and voila.

>> No.71532
File: 68 KB, 347x700, En1yV[1].gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
71532

In regards to this image, does anyone know how much (i.e. how many grams or what have you) yeast you need?
My local supermarkets don't sell anything like in the image, I have just dry yeast I'm going to substitute in.

>> No.71782

>>71532
Saw this image earlier too. Anyone know if this won't fucking kill me? (I am understandably cautious about recipes that came from /b/)

>> No.71803

After you brew your first batch, do not forget to offer up a small ceremonial libation of it upon the earth or upon a small fire to the Great God Dionysus, lest he drive you to ecstatic madness through your consumption of his beverage.

>> No.71887

>>67078
Not likely: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/botulism-50389/

>>67094
More sanitation than anything. With homebrewing the amount of methanol produced is harmless unless methods of concentration (fractional freezing, distilling) are incorrectly used.

>>68034
Yeast won't tolerate environments once they reach a certain amount alcohol content. I the think the strongest beers made through fermentation alone top out in the low to mid 20's in terms of % ABV. BYO Mag has an article on this:
http://www.byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/9-all-grain-brewing/51-21-alcohol-all-grain-be
er

>>68041
>>68533
Probably best not to discuss this as it violates global rule 1. Unlicensed distillation is illegal in the US. Private citizens will probably be able to home-distill about the same time marijuana is legalized, which is to say "No time soon."

>>71532
It'll work. Use concord grape or plain apple juice. Pasteurized is beneficial to ensuring nothing already in the juice competes with your yeast. Avoid anything artificial colors, artificial sweeteners (which may not ferment) and preservatives (which may inhibit the yeast). Don't use balloons unless you have to. Don't use rubber bands and napkins at all (you can't exactly sanitize them and they aren't an oxygen barrier). I recommend buying an airlock and a drilled stopper for the jug and a $0.50 packet of wine/champagne/cider yeast. Altogether it shouldn't cost more than about $10 including shipping if you order online. Google Maps the name of your town plus "Homebrew." You probably won't spend more than $5.00 for the items there and you won't have to wait on shipping.

>> No.71893

>>71887
Thanks for the info, Anon. I'm not sure why, but I find this whole process fascinating. I really don't feel like buying a distiller and having to screw with it, so the whole gallon jug thing appeals to me. Is the info image correct that you have to wait 2 freaking months?

>> No.71906
File: 29 KB, 500x500, 41dE+J4SfIL._SS500_.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
71906

>>71893
That's because it is fascinating! I've been reading [pic related] and while a lot of it is beyond my own scope it has still been enjoyable. You and others here (especially any bio/chem majors) may take more away from it than I currently am able to: http://www.amazon.com/Brewing-Practice-Woodhead-Publishing-Technology/dp/0849325471

A pdf exists and should be pretty easy for you to find via a Google search.

To answer your question: Yes, give or take. The length of time will depend on things like the temperature, the amount of sugars the mix, how tolerant the yeast are, etc. With an airlock or blowoff tube you'll have a visual cue as to whether or not fermentation has finished (bubbles from the yeast producing CO2). A hydrometer may be something you find worth investing in as well and is essential if you want to continue brewing as a hobby. It allows you to take gravity measurements which can be used to determine whether or not fermentation has stopped and also allows you to calculate a rough % ABV of your brew.

>> No.72098

>>67076
http://textfiles.com/uploads/hybrid-3.txt

this.

>> No.72144

Op of this post here >>71532
>>71887
Thanks for the info bro. I've found a few places nearby that sell homebrew shit, chances are I'll be paying a lot more than 50c as I live in aussieland.
Also, the ingredients of the Apple Juice I've got are: Reconsisted Apple Juice (99%), Acidity Regulator (330), Flavour and Vitamin C.
Do you reckon this will be alright for the cider?

>> No.72168
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72168

>>72144
as long as it doesn't contain potassium sorbate or other stabilizers it should work fine. Juices from frozen concentrates should be fine, as should anything organic. Pasteurized juice is what you want.

check out winemaking.jackkeller.com for some good info on wine production. IMO wine > mead. It is ready faster, sugar is cheaper than honey, and I just like the taste more.

pic related : it's my current batches (prickly pear, basil, oak leaf, carrot, and mixed berry)

>> No.72192
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72192

Vitamin C is a preservative and inhibits yeast activity.

There is too much wrong information in every brewing thread that I have seen on this board. The few Anons who know what they are talking about are buried under an avalanche of idiocy. Go to a homebrew shop (in person is best, online or phone if you must) and get reputable advice. You need to get the yeast from them anyway.

>> No.72228

>>71906
Awesome resource. I'm definitely going to try and make something simple (such as the pic here: >>71532 ) and see how it goes. Hopefully won't give myself a shitload of bacteria lol

>> No.72345

>>72192
vitamin c inhibits oxidation but should not harm the yeast. I've used it several timesin winemaking to inhibit browining of fruit. Always fermented fine.

>> No.73594

Op of this post again >>71532
If I'm following the image and adding 14 litres/4 gallons and 10 cups of sugar, how much yeast should I be adding?
Is just dry yeast alright?