/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[Anonymous No.94284]

So basically I just made this.
I made the batch half the size of the on ine the pic. and didn't put the full amount of sugar in it, so the fermentation period is way shorter.
Hopefully I will have some decent tasting apple cider at new years eve. Roughly 10 liters.
Any advice for a first time brewer? :)
I can provide pics if you want it.

[Anonymous No.94291]

>2011
>fermenting with making yeast
ISHYGDDT

[that one /k/omando !mnjbuYi9uM No.94295]

it's gunna taste like shit op, and never think you are smarter then the recipe

[Anonymous No.94300]

>>94295
Oh, you must have done it before. How will it taste?
The amount of sugar I've used will only affect the alcohol %.

[Anonymous No.94302]

Sweet, OP.
Post results, will be waiting.
/k/omando, GTFO you nigbag... fucking with recipes is how people learn shit and that's how /diy/ rolls.

[Anonymous No.94305]

>>94302
Thx :)
Will post some pics.

[Anonymous No.94318]

So this is the batch I made last night.
The balloons are inflating slightly, so that means the fermentation process is well under its way.. :)

[Anonymous No.94319]

When I look closer I can see small bubbles rising to the surface.

[Anonymous No.94322]

>>94318
imo don't take it off the yeast cake till new years. if you want to be super slick, wait till the day after xmas then ciphon the liquid out of the bottles into new bottles, add more sugar and put the balloon on it.

but tbh that's overkill for the crap you're making.

[Anonymous No.94324]

>>94322
I'm thinking the taste can't be too bad. It's not low quality apple juice made from extract, but pure juice.
Also this is only an experiment for the fun of it.
If it gets me drunk I'm happy.

[Anonymous No.94326]

>>94318

Why everyone here uses air balloons?

[Anonymous No.94328]

>>94326
Well.. My reason is basically that I saw the recipe and didn't want to wait for different things, that I would have to order online.

[Anonymous No.95147]

Op, either stop brewing, or make sure to distill everything you make, then drink the methanol.

[Anonymous No.95152]

While I am generally open to those wanting to edit and create their own recipes you should at least know what you are changing first.

First off, lowering this sugar will NOT only effect the alcohol %. Less sugar ferments quicker taking away the sweetness. Yeast dies due to alcohol %, depending on strain, so not all sugar will end up fermented unless you used wine yeast which has a higher alcohol tolerance.

Yeast also works in sections. As the brew ferments the yeast work through the hard to ferment down to the easier to ferment. Once they get to the easier stages they can not go back to the harder ones. Sugar is the easiest form of food the yeast can break down. Therefore yeast will get to the sugar last. They will first break down the sugars in the apple juice then move onto the sugar. Yeast can't break down everything so apple flavors will remain, but the longer it sits on it the weaker the flavor will be.

If you try to make something finish early you are often going to end up disappointed with the results. Good brew takes time, and while this is not one of them it still requires time. Drink it too early and you will get funny flavors. One of the most common is a 'green' taste, kinda like sour apple but not entirely. If you encounter this taste have no fear, there is a simple solution. Let it ferment more, it's not done yet.

This batch will probably turn out dry and chalky. If you want cheap booze that has decent taste I suggest 2 things. Try making mead, and plan to give it plenty of time until you drink it.

If it wasn't obvious enough, yes I've done this before.

[Anonymous No.95155]

>>94326
Balloons are cheap and effective.

[Anonymous No.95154]

>>94328
dont use balloons, they will ruin your brew

>>94328
dont order home brew supplies on line, just go to a home brew store.

[Anonymous No.95157]

>>95154
Balloons are fine if they are properly cleaned and sanitized. Granted a 3 piece air lock shouldn't cost you more than two dollars with the inclusion of a bung, but not everyone wants to go out and get that specialized equipment; although it is cheap and reusable.

[Anonymous No.95158]

>>95155
airlocks are just as cheap and even more effective.

with balloons, condensation builds up on them, and that condensation develops a rubbery latex taste which drips back down into your brew making it taste like shit. im talking from experience here.

[Anonymous No.95165]

Good for you, OP.

You're going to catch a lot of shit from homebrew snobs, but there's nothing wrong with making cheapass hootch like you if that's all you want it for.

But, it IS probably going to taste pretty rough because it's going to be full of yeast and stuff and maybe other contaminations that make it taste like shit because you didn't sterilize anything or use a proper airlock.

But it won't kill you to drink it and it'll do the job. If that's all you're looking for, good on you.

[Anonymous No.95170]

>>95158
I'm with this guy 1000% Please please stop with the balloons, airlocks are cheap as fuck, they are sanitary, shit doesn't go backwards through them into the brew, they don't build up stupid amounts of pressure, they don't add any flavor to the brew. Please, I'm begging you for the sake of the crap that you have put into a giant plastic bottle and are letting rot in your basement, please stop. Throw all of it away, get a food safe 5 gallon bucket with a lid with a hole in it and an airlock, sanitize it all, I use iodophor, you can use bleach and a shit ton of rising or you can use star san or whatever the fuck you want, but sanitize your shit.
Want a good recipe?
13 lbs of honey and fill the rest of a 5 gallon bucket with boiling hot water, stir continually until the mix reaches 80°F(26.7°C) then add 1 packet of either 3632(dry=more alcohol) 3814(sweet=more sugar) mead yeast (just google the number + mead yeast of which ever characteristic you want more in your drink, this yeast is good for the crap your making too.) Then put the lid on that mother fucker and hid that bitch for 3 months, in 3 months transfer it to 5 carboys (I keep mine inside cheap foam beer chests so that the temperature is constant) make sure those motherfuckers are sanitized too. I swear to god if you give a single drop of that to another human being without telling them exactly how you made it I will beat you to death with a rake. Holy Christ, I hate your setup. I'm not mad at you personally, I'm proud your willing to learn, but holy mother of god I wish I could slash open your bottles. rip the balloons from their orifices and stomp the contained liquid dry.

[Anonymous No.95182]

http://www.howtobrew.com/
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

I put a link to the intro because I've had people get lost on the main page and some how magically not be capable of finding the blue letters that say "How To Brew" or the button that says "Enter"

[Hale !!/bUhHCOt6wU No.95382]

Bakerfag here. And I don't approve of you using bakers yeast. Perhaps you should try cake yeast or brick yeast. They are the same thing. It may be a little more expensive but you'll find them to offer a better result. Most often bakers yeast is dry active/instant. If you use instant yeast you're going to get no alcahol at all as it is only the enzyme that is contained in yeast. If you use active you're going to need to proof it first in 70-80 degree water with a pinch of sugar to help. Your yeast may also need to be refreshed every so often by adding more food, aka sugars or carbohydrates every few days, perhaps once a week, maybe twice. You should also understand that yeast's favorite temperature is about 75-80 degrees and it should hopefully stay around that temperature if you can manage. Now onto alcohol. When yeast breaks down sugars and carbohydrates it forms acetic acid and alcohol. Yeast hates acidic enviroments such as citric acid and acetic acid, which will slowly begin to fill your cider as they work. This is ok for you though as you want to kill off all the yeast you can with out having to actually boil it. For your rig I do recommend losing the balloon. Yeast hates high pressure and thrives off oxygen heat (usually between 70 f- 90f any hotter or colder and you slow down or kill the yeast) and moisture.
Ive never actually done any homebrewing of the sort but I will also tell you to strain that through a double or triple layered cheese cloth. Yeast tends to stay clumpy if not mixed well enough. ~fin.

[Anonymous No.95399]

It is going to probably taste so bad you will want to vomit.

[Anonymous No.95402]

alcohol is a drug why is this allowed

[Anonymous No.95406]

>>95402
cry more faggot

[Anonymous No.95407]

the yeast you want to use for making cider is this:
http://www.amazon.com/Danstar-Nottingham-Ale-Dry-Yeast/dp/B000MI70GW

fucking baker's yeast, cake yeast etc is not meant for brewing. DO NOT USE IT unless you dont give a shit if your cider tastes like bread.

Use an ale yeast...the one above is great because it's very hungry and will ferment quickly. A little goes a long way.

[Anonymous No.95411]

>>95402
Grasping at straws much?

Moot is using the term "drug" and "drug paraphernalia" as in illegal drugs. As in content that could cause problems with advertisers or law enforcement.

Not "drug", any chemical or substance that has an effect on the body.

[Anonymous No.95437]

>>95402
Cept it's a legal drug and brewing without distilling is perfectly legal in the US.

[Anonymous No.95536]

You do realize you can actually go blind if the wrong micro life grows in your brew, right?

I've never brewed before, but I remember watching something on Discovery about moonshiners poisoning themselves. Yeah they distill, yadda yadda.. just sayin

[Anonymous No.95549]

>>95536

Nah. If your booze has dangerous amounts of methanol, you can bet your ass that it was added to it intentionally.

[Anonymous No.95716]

>>95536
That's only an issue for distilling. In wine and such the methanol levels are never high enough to contend with, but during the distillation process, one of the first alcohols to hit it's distillation temp will be methanol, usually for the first 10 - 30 mins you can smell the methanol coming out of the still, after that it gets clear, the easiest way to tell is you can smell the difference in the methanol, don't toss the methanol though, store it in plastic bottles and burn it in alcohol stoves.