Brewing alcohol #2

Mead, cyzer, cider.
Small batches, 10 gallons in all.
Pitch yeast at SG1.135 for meads and 1.08 or just really sweet tasting for cyzers and ciders. FG 1.02-1.03.
I use goferm and qa23 yeast and everything turns out great.

What are you guys opinions on big mouth bubblers compared to glass carboys? I'm getting a starter kit from Northern Brewer and I noticed they have two different kits one with glass carboys and one with big mouth bubblers and I'm wondering which one I should get or if it even matters that much.

>>1003412
I like the glass better. Less nooks and crannies and a little more durable to heat and won't melt.

>>1003412
Glass. More durable, easier to clean and easier to get replacement parts for.

So since the OP from the last thread got yelled at/wad given mixed answers, and I have zero experience like him, can anyone here explain the easiest process for making booze at home? I really dont care what kind although Id prefer something with a high ABV. Is there a way to distill with little to no equipment? Because Id rather not buy a bunch of stuff that I quite possibly wont use again in the event I dont pick this up as a hobby. I dont mind getting a big glass jug or one-time-use stuff like yeast or balloons though. Also, why were a bunch of anons in the last thread saying to pop a hole in the balloons? What does that do?

>>1003752
Don't fucking distill if you don't know what you are doing. Just make some mead or cider instead okay? If you make a mead or wine with champagne yeast you can get like 16-18% ABV without the risk of going blind.

>>1003752
You can make cider really easily, juice and yeast. If you want higher ABV, add sugar and use a yeast like 1118, you could get 16% or higher, though you'll probably need some yeast nutrient. The hole in the balloon is to let the CO2 out without letting contaminants back in. You could freeze distill without equipment if you like, but it's not like normal distilling.

>>1003373
>What are you brewing?
Coopers Pale Ale
>What is your setup?
Kit & Bits, end of year gonna be lazy and buy Grainfather with the still addition
>How have your other batches done?
10 so far and they have done really well when using 3rd party yeast, US05 etc. Kit yeast seems to produce a lot of esters. Could be underpitching with just 7g.
>Tips, suggestions, or resources for others to start?
Read John Palmers "How to brew". It will usually have all the answers you need regarding brewing beer.
http://www.howtobrew.com/

I'm experimenting with honey mead.
I left a bunch of honey water with some fruit on a table in an open bowl. I didn't add any yeast.
It has started to ferment after three days and it tastes quite nice. I think I'll remove the fruit and place the stuff in bottles and let it ferment for a week or two.

So this thread is just for undereaged faggots and not real brewers?

Never brewed.

Just had what must be acerglyn the other night. Looekd up recipes, and don;t want to do it with honey.

What i had was 11% sugar maple sap (sap that had been boiled down until it was 11% sugar) with some sort of yeast added. Put in a carboy, and then at some point moved into bottles. Nothing else added. Suppsoedly 4.8% alcohol. Outrageously good. More like a soda pop.

Can't wait to try making some.

>>1003955
Home brew threads normally have a mixture of both. It skews towards underage during the summer for obvious reasons. Its not really that big of a problem though.

>>1003752
Buy an airstill they are really simple to use. but they don't make good quality spirit.

>>1003373

A new simple high IBU citra hop ipa
Random glass carboy's, stainless steel pots, and a turkey fryer all just randomly bought
Other batches have been hit or miss but no infections so far
My first brew was a cider with champagne yeast with a bubble airlock. It was crude and rough but it was mine so I was proud.

If anyone has resources for something closer to a pro setup and where to get it from that would be appreciated. Something close to a 10 gal setup?

I could've never guessed that brown sugar kilju with a tiny bit of lemon juice in it could taste this enjoyable

A 5 gallon plastic water jug and about 11 2 liter bottles.

Such is being poor.

>>1004179
See
>>1003936

You should buy a copy of John Palmers How To Brew or just read through that website as I am pretty sure it is the whole book.

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Thinking about making some apple jack and everyone is up in arms about it being unsafe because of the methyl alcohol.

I don't understand why this would be so though. Freezing concentrates the alcohol, methyl and ethyl, but it doesn't increase the amount of methyl. If I drank ten glasses of cider I would be consuming the same amount of bad alcohol as if I drank ten shots of apple jack. Freeze distillation doesn't separate out the two alcohols at different times like steam distilling which is why it is particularly dangerous because you can have drinks entirely of methyl if you take the wrong part of the distillation.

Am I wrong here? How is getting drunk on the cider any more dangerous than getting drunk on the freeze distilled applejack made from said cider?

>>1004955
It's fine. People on the internet are dumb, making apple jack is my next project.

FWIW there's a British brewery that freeze distills their beers to crazy high ABV, they test for methyl alcohol and it's never been an issue.

>>1003886
>>1003821
Sorry I was under the impression that not distilling was dangerous, is cider or wine fine to be left as just juice and yeast then?

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>>1003373

Recent Brew was a high hopped IPA infused with Juniper and Earl Grey, which is going to a beer Festival
Setup pic related
It's always a learning experience just read up as much as possible, currently reading 'For the love of hop' by Stan Hieronymus.
I started small with kit beer to learn basics and just grew from there, Best option is to become friends with a local brewer

>>1004953
Kinda been working on that level of equipment for the past year. Looking at up scaling to a little more than stove top. Like multi vat or a micro micro brewery level.

>>1005255
Either one is fine. The danger comes from the fact that the concentrations of methyl alcohol are higher. Too much of that stuff and your body starts shutting down. Just doing a sugary liquid that's boiled to kill the bacteria, left in a sterile vented container, with some kind of yeast added will yield alcohol that is perfectly fine to drink.

>>1004955
It's because of the concentration, not necessarily the amount. Assuming that applejack is ~35% ABV and homemade cider is ~5% and you don't start going blind until 16 shots of applejack (or 8 doubles - which, at only 35%, is not all that difficult to do), you'd need to drink about 168oz (14 cans) of homemade cider in the same amount of time to get the same amount of methyl alcohol.

Drink in moderation and mind your fermentation carefully and you'll be fine.

>>1005311
16 shots is a fucking shitload. It is literally enough to kill some people without the methyl.

>>1005272
Did you even read it?

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Brewing spirits currently, will be the 10th batch I've made - averaging 10 - 12 litres of 40% ABV per batch. Not a bad drop either

>>1005342
I want your whiskey.

>>1005342
How do you get it all the way to 40%? No way you can hit that without distilling

>>1005379
Do you not know what whiskey is? He said "spirits" in the post. Of course he's distilling.

>>1005329
8 doubles over the course of a night isn't very much, m8. For that matter neither is 14 cans, but if you're drinking heavily it's much more efficient to go with liquor.

>>1004955
There are a lot of scare stories out there probably going back to prohibition. I made applejack last week and drank it on the weekend, it'll be fine. There's nothing in it that isn't in the cider.

Protip: a salad spinner can help separate the liquid from the ice crystals.

>>1003373
brewing mead for the first time
got a batch of mixed water, honey and a orange (or lemon not sure)
it goes well i think i am waiting till it's stop bubling

>>1005342
So what's your process like? The mash for whiskeys is pretty similar to beer right? For the rum are you using molasses? If so, is it pretty much "water plus molasses, mix, add yeast, wait, distill?" What are you aging in? What kind of still are you using?

Sorry for all the questions, but distilling is looking more and more interesting to me.

>>1005272
All the same shit in that book applies. I think they even go over it all.

If you have alot of money and want some quality gear. http://www.blichmannengineering.com has great equipment.

>>1005761
As far as the process being similar to beer, I can't comment as I've never tried making it, for the majority of spirits on a simple level the process is, for me at least;

Add X volume of sugar (volume depends on sugar type - so far dextrose is my preference). Dissolve in water. Add yeast into mix, put airlock on to fermenter.

Leave until fermentation is complete - bubbling will stop, usually takes around 7 - 10 days. Was only recently told by someone who has been distilling for years to leave it for a month regardless. Highly recommend doing this for flavor and yield.

When satisfied, clear the wash - either naturally, or by using commercial additives. These draw the bulk of the sediment (dead yeast etc) to the bottom of the wash.

Transfer to boiler. Heat. Distill. (I use a T500 still)

So that's the gist of my setup, as for aging I drink a lot I and I sell a fair bit of what I make, so it doesn't sit around too long, howerver I do have 10 litres of whiskey in a charred oak barrel under the house aging currently.

I highly recommend distilling, it's satisfying and if you drink like me it saves a hell of a lot of money.

>>1005959
Thanks for the write up. So you're using the same base distillate and then flavoring accordingly? Does dextrose give you a cleaner base product to work with?

I've been thinking of getting into distilling, since other than cider, I drink mostly brandy, apple brandy being a favorite. I was thinking something like making some extra high ABV cider using a lot of concentrate and maybe some brown sugar or molasses, then distilling that and aging it in an oak cask or on some toasted oak chips.

>>1005963

Happy to help. Yes, all the spirits I have made are effectively the same minus flavoring, aging and ABV differences.

As for dextrose, it is cheaper than the white sugar commonly used, but more than anything I've found it makes a far less sweet tasting spirit, I haven't noticed any real difference in clarity however dextrose does have a pinkish tinge when hydrated.

Will be trying fructose next - I work for a nutritional company so I can get my hands on some less common powders.

Not much of a cider or brandy person but there is a large variety of brandy flavorings.

Be aware that what comes off the still is 90 - 94% ABV so be careful as it is potent stuff. Have got some chips I have been meaning to try. I've heard good things

Currently just making weak ass shit. Apple and peach in water for like 10 days. More like soda than alcohol

>>1006000
add lots of sugar

and of course yeast

hey guys,
just made 3 gallons of cider.
used:
3 gallons apple juice from concentrate (no preservatives)
5 cups white sugar
2.5 cups brown sugar
1 packet champagne yeast

2 weeks time to ferment inside of a 4 gallon sparklet's jug with a store-bought airlock.


tasted it, and transfered to smaller containers, leaving sediment.


gives me a little bit of a headache after a glass. not too alcoholic, but barely sweet.

anything I can do to reduce the murkiness? or anything i'm missing here?

>>1006435
>anything I can do to reduce the murkiness?
Fining.

>or anything i'm missing here?
Lots.

>>1006435
What temperature did it ferment at?

>>1006589
>73 maybe?

>>1003821
>>1005272
>>1005311
You guys really don't know what's up, do you? Okay, here's the skinny: distilling is not going to make you go blind unless you fuck up and drink the heads. If you distill your whole run into one container you'll be fine. The heads (first part of a batch) contain most of the methanol. The hearts (middle of the batch) contain most of the ethanol. The tails (end of the batch) are where the proof drops off and you get watery product.

The treatment for methanol poisoning is ethanol. That means if you have your whole run (heads/hearts/tails) in a single container, the ethanol from the hearts will counteract the methanol from the heads.

Now, on to some fun facts: Yes, methanol can make you go blind. So can shady distillers, by doing things like using an old automotive radiator for the worm (antifreeze will blind you). Yes, the government will rape you for distilling without a license (if you live in the US -- I can't comment on laws elsewhere on the globe). Yes, it is a fun and rewarding hobby even though it's illegal. No, you probably won't get caught if you're not being a jackass.

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>What are you brewing?
Beer for now, I am planning on doing a Mead after some research, and a cider when apples are in season. At the moment have a saison, and a lemon pepper Belgian ale carbonating. My next brew will be an ipa.

>What is your setup?
10gallon All grain igloo cooler mashtun, a 7 gallon boil kettle, a low pressure propane burner, and some 5-6 gallon glass carboys

>How have your other batches done?
For the most part, I've only had a batch or 2 get infected.

>Tips, suggestions, or resources for others to start?
Sanitation is the foundation of brewing. Clean everything that will touch your beer/wine/Mead and use a good sanitizer. How to brew by John Palmer is a good starting point.

>>1003373
>what are you brewing
I've got 2 3 gallon batches of Dragonmead Final Absolution clone going, 3 in primary, 3 in seconday. My second batch I went a little more traditional Belgian and used more sugar. Also I've got 6 gallons of Graham's English cider going, kinda meh on that recipe, but I'll give it more time as cider needs to age. I've got a few random gallons of ciders and wines I've tested out.

>setup
a stovetop, 2 fermenting buckets, 3 5 gallon carboys, a 3 gallon plastic carboy, some 1 gallon jugs, I'll be getting a 6 gallon pot soon. For bottling/kegging I have a CO2 tank, a 3 gallon keg, bottling bucket, carbonation cap, lots of bottle cappers, bottles, grolsch top bottles, caps. Next is getting BIAB gear.

>how have other batches done
Pretty good, I'm getting into the groove with cider, testing out beer, but I'm really not a beer fan outside of Belgian and German beers. Fruit ciders have been tops, for straight cider I need better temp control. The last batch was good as it was a bit cooler, but when it heats up it messes up cider fermentation. I've had one infection.

>starting tips/resources
Homebrewtalk forums are super useful, also keep an eye out on craigslist for deals on equipment. The grolsch swing top style bottles are super useful, if you drink at a bottle shop at all you can ask them for empties, I've got about 30 of them at home now.

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>>1007385
>grolsch swing top style bottles
Why drink Grolsch when you can drink Hacker Pschorr? Plus the bottles are brown so your beer doesn't go skunky. Only 50 cents more than empty swing tops at my local brew store.

>>1007475
FWIW I don't actually drink Grolsch or use actual Groslsch bottles, it's just a common term for swing top bottles that people use. I mostly use old swing top cider bottles from higher end cider, most of which are brown or clear. Grolsch is gross, I may have to try that beer.

How long should i wait for my cider to be done? Second day right now and i can hear it bubbling pretty hard. Is it like two or eight weeks?

>>1007548
Depends on the yeast and the fermentation temp. Assuming that you've pitched your yeast correctly, with a more aggressive yeast and a relatively warm temperature it'll probably be done inside of two weeks and become breddy gud with about the same amount of time in secondary or bottle conditioning (I mean, you could just cold crash your primary and then siphon off what you need but it would be a little funky) but if you pitch an ale yeast and keep it cold it could be months depending on the composition of the juice but on the other hand it'll probably be significantly more nuanced for it.

Personally I like my cider very dry and very tart so the first method works great for me but I've been thinking about laying in something sweeter for the holidays.

>>1007475
>Hacker-Pschorr Weisse
mein neger

I want to make some melomel tomorrow.

I'm only going to do a 1 gallon batch.
I have my honey, strawberries, yeast, nutrient and energizer and carboy and airlock.

How do I avoid making a mead grenade?

Because I have the strawberries already, I'm going to throw them in during primary fermentation.

Melomels typically don't have trouble fermenting to completion because the fruit adds what the honey lacks.

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I made some applejack from part of my two recent batches of cider and it's great. One had some cherry in it giving a dark red color.

Maybe it's because my cider was aged 5 months first but it is smooth as hell. It's tart but I can't even taste the alcohol.

>>1003752
You can freeze distill. That's where you take some alcohol and freeze it and remove the ice, concentrating the alcohol and flavors. You can repeat the process a few times to make it stronger.

I'm working on a batch of applejack right now, which is the freeze distilled version of cider. If you don't add sugar the cider will finish at 4-8% and then with jacking (freeze distilling) you might be able to crank it up to 20-25% if you do it enough times and the starting cider is already strong.

My batch just finished fermenting a few days ago and I've done two rounds of freeze distillation so far. Based on taste I'd say it's maybe 9% abv and I plan on freeze distilling it one more time before aging it for a few weeks. Jacking helps clear out the yeast as well so the flavor's already improved substantially. Hopefully it should end up quite drinkable after a bit of aging.

Quick question that will make me sound retarded. Going to attempt in a few weeks to start brewing for the first time. I am not going to initially invest in any sort of climate-controller fermenter. I know a lot of beers work best at cooler fermentations, and long story short I'd be storing at roughly 75F.

Is there anything I need to know about doing this? I'm specifically interesting in German style wheats like Hefes.

>>1007958
Higher temperatures will tend to lead to fruity "off" flavors; for beers that are supposed to have a little bit of funk and/or fruit (such as wheat beers) that's tolerable or even desirable. Do some homework before selecting your yeast and you should end up with a decent result.

>>1007961
That's basically what I read elsewhere, but I wanted to be sure. Thank you, Anon.

>>1007962
An option, until you have the ability to control temps, is to brew the a style that works with the temp you're stuck with. Belgians are the first that come to mind, but there are others.

>>1007920
5 months, thats impressive aging

I was on /ck/ and saw something on Kombucha. Now, it does sound interesting, but I'm thinking now about making just fermented tea, alcoholic tea.
Now if I wanted to make tea, sweeten it and ferment it does anyone think it would come out fine? Ever made anything like it? Suggestions for ratios, how strong tea, how much sugar, opinions on different sugars (honey seems obvious to try).
I just figured I'd ask before i go wasting shit.
>inb4 Google
When googling it I can't seem to find shit, mainly cuz there's fermented tea leaves you make tea out of and I keep getting directed back to Kombucha,

>>1007996
Well, I did find some shit but still would like to know opinions.

>>1007996
I'm loaded up on ideas and recipes for your sweet tea w a kick! I have brewed Kombucha (growing SCOBYs myself), infused a plethora of alcohols with imaginative ingredients, made 3k mL of Limoncello and oh so much more. The big winners of my taste-tests (I don't like the taste of alcohol) were my infused, sweet tea vodka & the Chai Tea infused version. Sweet tea is very fast and simple too!!

>>1008017
>3k ml

So three liters? Why not just say three liters?

>>1007936
>You can freeze distill
I'm considering doing this but what about methanol? Isn't it poisonous in high concentration? I'm considering boiling it to get rid of methanol. I'd like to know if anyone tried that method.

Is there any way to get yeast without buying it? Once you get yeast, how do you make a simple brew? Do you just put the yeast in fruit juice/honey/whatever? How do you avoid having it taste bad?

>>1008363
Freeze distillation does not change the ratio of Methanol:Ethanol at all. If you have 8 drinks worth of cider, or 8 drinks worth of apple jack made from the same cider, you are consuming identical amounts of methanol and ethanol. So if you can drink your booze, which you most likely can, you can freeze distill it with no concern.

>>1008363
>not sure why my reply disappeared so I'll try to rewrite it
Freeze distillation does not change the methanol:ethanol. So if you drink 8 drinks of cider and 8 equivalent drinks of applejack made from that cider, you are consuming identical amounts of methanol and ethanol. Assuming your standard booze is fit to drink, your freeze distilled booze will be also.

>>1008379
>>1008378
Oh fuck me.

>>1008377
God damn, son. I don't mean to be rude but this is a "can my gamecube play Xbox games"-tier question. Read a fucking book and/or google it.

And to answer that question, there's free yeast everywhere. if you just leave a sugary liquid out at room temperature wild yeasts in the air will start to ferment it in a few days and then you can either wait for it to finish or use that wild yeast slurry as a starter; before isolating yeast cultures became a thing, this was how most fermented beverages came about.

>>1003373
I was dismayed to realize I had nothing brewing currently, so gainst my better judgement I gave into my curiosity tonight and started a gallon of kilju. Wish me luck.

Also have all the ingredients ready and waiting for a BIAB oatmeal stout, which I''ll probably start in couple of days when I have time.

>>1008415
I always wondered about using kilju to make hard soda.

>>1005959
Don't you use a hydrometer and do a forced ferment test to see what your final gravity should be?

>>1007548
Buy a hydrometer and learn how to use it.

>>1008383
Thanks man

>>1007548
It's done when all the bubbling stops. Mine stopped in 3 weeks.

Does anyone have any ideas to fish a mead fermentation? I don't want to stabilize with chemicals, just finish the fermentation.
It's a methyglyn and its been four months and the bastard still ends up bubbling every once in a while.

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>>1008591
If you don't add any nutrient for the yeast, that's just how long it's going to take. Fruit meads like a melomel pyment, don't have this problems because the yeast can get it's nutrients from the fruit. I wouldn't do anything like bumping up the temperature because that will cause ester-y flavors.

Anyone got any tips on Kilju distillation?

Finished my last batch but felt as though it could do with ending up higher percentile. Multiple distillations don't seem to be working that well for me though, what could I be doing wrong?

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I'm currently in the planning phase for my next brew this Sunday.

A couple of brews ago I made a steam beer, using lighter malt and a bit more hops. (pic related) It turned out pretty nicely and I want to iterate a bit on that. Maybe add some more aroma hops. I have a bunch of left-over Mosaic at the moment.

Disregard the "Way Hoppy" part in the IBU/GU scale. Brewtarget seems to call everything way hoppy.

>>1009119
In case anyone's wondering: The reason why I'm going for a lager/steam beer instead of an ale is because I currently have no place with proper ale temps. The temperature in my flat varies a lot over the day (up to 25C) and my basement is around 13-14C right now.

>>1009122
I feel you, temp control is next on my list of things to get. Supposedly an aquarium heater is an inexpensive way of keeping your brew warm enough when it's cold, but cooling off accurately seems to require a lot more work.

>>1009170
>cooling off accurately seems to require a lot more work.

No. You can get a fridge for free most of the time and then buy a STC1000 for less than $15. Plenty of write ups online about how to wire it up.

can anyone give me tips on brewing kwas/kvass (Slavic bread beer)

>>1009257
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/the-tsars-kvass/

>>1009257
Ingredients:
1 Lb Darkest Rye Bread available (I use pumpernickel)
2.5tsp (1 packet) yeast
4 cups sugar
Handful of dried fruit (I use raisins)
2.5 gallons of water (10 quarts)
Half batch can be made, halve everything
DAY 1
Blacken, but do not carbonize bread. Add to hot water.
DAY 2
Remove bread, strain fluid from bread. Mix sugar, yeast and fruit, let sit for a few minutes. Add to fluid. Stir every 2 hours or so for 8-12 hours. Only gentle agitation is needed. Let sit overnight.
DAY 3
Bottle (in soda bottles, they're made for pressure), leave warm for 8-12 hours. Refrigerate.
DAY 4
Keep refrigerated, for at least 24 hours, then enjoy. Kvass will slowly loose sweetness and climb in alcohol 1-2 proof per day refrigerated, 2-4 per day warm. If keeping warm, be mindful to relieve pressure every day.

My recipe. Instead of letting the bread sit overnight, remove it and add yeast when it cools to ~110F (Don't go above 115, some yeast can die above this), this will help carbonation and alcohol content.

>>1009339
thanks m8

>>1009354
thanks
what sort of yeast do you use?
when you say to blacken the bread do you mean bake it in an oven?

>>1009377
Use whatever. General purpose works fine.
When the bread smokes, its done.

brown ale, just bottled. hefewiezen to go in this weekend.

after all that waiting for 8 months, my mead turned out horrible. not sure what happened, but i knew immediately shit was up when there was negative pressure. oh well.

>>1009382
>negative pressure
hahaha what the fuck?

hey guys, someone directed me here when I mentioned starting to home-brew

I just got some basic wine making equipment (champagne yeast, campden tablets, airlock, hydrometer). Has anyone ever tried making cherry wine? Do supermarkets even sell cherry juice, or will I have to make the juice myself?

Also, how do cranberry/strawberry wines taste? I've never had them but I imagine they could be pretty good

>>1009393
Santa Cruz Organics makes readily-available unfiltered pure fruit juices (ie. not blends) without preservatives from pretty much every kind of fruit or berry that you can think of but the downside is that you pay for the pleasure; a liter or so of cherry juice will run you ~$6 depending on where you live and berry juices are a bit more.

So yeah, have fun with that.

For my second ever homebrew, I made two 1 gallon batches of an apple mead, one with cinnamon. I racked the mead into my secondaries and hard capped them, but must've ended up siphoning some active yeast into them as well.

In about two weeks, the batch without cinnamon ended up exploding under my dresser five minutes before I got out of bed that morning. I felt shards of glass hitting the blankets I was under. I bundled up with a parka and goggles and depressurized the other batch. It ended up being too sweet (too much honey), so I diluted with plain vodka and apple juice. I'm just happy I didn't shred my legs to an exploding glass carboy; I found shards of glass in the corners of my room on move out day.

>>1009410
And on-topic, making a mead with blueberries right now, only ten days in but all seems well.

>>1009413
Best of luck, all my attempts at unusual brews (blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, banana) turned out shit, probably because I was doing it just to get drunk, with fleischmann's yeast and minimalist open-air setups. I'm sure if you do things proper and use a real yeast strain it will turn out well.

>>1009399
thanks anon, do you know which groceries or supermarkets carry this? I have easy access to kroger and target and trader joes, also piggly wiggly but I doubt they would have it if it's not cheap

>>1009420
I know for a fact that Kroger does, but check TJ's for a house brand. As long as it's unfiltered and preservative-free then you should be golden.

>>1009420
never mind, replying to myself because I looked it up and they have it

>>1009410
HotTip: even after sitting for a month, it will still have yeast in suspension.

You bottled before fermentation was completed.

>>1009455
So what's the best way to stop active fermentation? Stick the carboys in a refrigerator, or just wait it out (increases ABV though)? From what I've read, there are only pills to prevent yeast from activating, not any that stop already activated yeast.

>>1009415
I did this with my first attempt of homebrewing, balloons, plastic jugs and all. Turned out terrible, and really shouldn't have expected much out of it. Equipment for a few gallon batches isn't even that costly

>>1009474
Cold crashing is more like extreme dormancy but there are chemical solutions, namely sulfite. You know how wines have "contains sulfates" on the bottle? That's because sulfates are what they normally use to stop the fermentation process and kill yeast during wine-making. They've been doing it for centuries and in fact before it came in convenient tablet form they used to burn sulfur candles inside of barrels that were going to hold wine because the sulfur would kill any yeast that survived and prevent fermentation.

Mead is essentially honey wine and doesn't peter itself out like beer or cider does; if you don't completely kill the yeast then it's very easy to get bottle bombs.

I want to get 95% alcohol so I'll have to brew just pure sugar
what do I need to Know, will I make any methanol?

>>1009544
you are retarded my friend
read something, anything at all, it's clear you read nothing

you cannot make 95% alcohol with fermentation, you need to distill, yes you will always make a little bit of methanol. Pure sugar will not work as well as almost any other fermentation fuel like grape juice or mash, because yeast is a living thing and needs NUTRIENTS (kilju works but is also usually supplemented with some floating gobs of fruit)

just wait until you're out of middle school to buy alcohol, it's clear you need all the brain cells you can get

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Day 0 of making dragon blood wine. I haven't added the yeast yet because I've just added a campden tablet.

>>1009544
Read up on some basics, without distillation the highest ABV you'll get is around 18-20%.

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>>1009544
Here's your future with more burned cabinets...

Whats the purpose of siphoning into a second fermentation?

>>1009927
You leave the lees behind and consequentially the taste improves and it's easier for more yeast to drop; if you use a secondary fermenter with a spigot then bottling is piss-easy as well.

>>1009718
Holy fuck

If you can stand the taste/body of a light beer, and own a coffee maker, here's a simple sort of small beer you could try.

Things to buy:
1# malt barley. It's to give the yeast things to eat, so who cares what kind. One of the cheapest will do.

1oz hops, because that's how it's sold. If you are unsure what to buy, go with saaz. You'll recognize it once you taste it, I'm sure.)

Some sugar. How much you want to use is up to you, there are calculators out there. Just use whatever you have in your cabinet, white, brown, in the raw, or whatever is on sale at the store. But not powdered sugar, that has cornstarch in it, and that's a more difficult animal.

Yeast. You could buy a bottle of bread yeast. or you could spend 50 cents more and get some sort of ale yeast, I'd recommend the ale yeast that is most compatible with the place in your house where the temps are most stable.

Also, if you think you are ever, ever going to do this again, buy an ale pail and an airlock to go with it. Otherwise, 5 gallon bucket, with lid. poke a hole in the lid, put a straw in there, and slip the ol' balloon with hole on it.

Oh, and bleach, but, you already have that. Surely.


Alright, now take your coffee maker, and run a pot of water through. Pour that out, and run another one through, this time pour out just enough so you can add all of the malt to the pot (you did get the malt crushed when you bought it right? If not, roll over it with a rolling pin, or smash it between two plates untill most of the grains are cracked open). Now, leave the pot on, and go glue wigs to your cat or something for about an hour. After your cat has a nice fro, pour the water back into coffee maker, take as much of the malt as will fit into a coffee filter, and toss the rest. Run the water through the malt in the filter, then put the pot into the fridge. Once it's cool, add yeast, set it on the counter, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. (1/2)

>>1009718
>pic related

when your chili is so hot, your pot explodes for your asshole.

>>1010370
Now, pour some bleach and water into the bucket, swirl and wipe it around until everything is covered, then dump it out, and rinse with hot tap water.

Put in your sugar, add water, making sure you leave some room at the top of the bucket, this will eventually foam some.

Pour the contents of the coffee pot in there, add between 1/4th and all the hops, depending on how cheap you are, and stir it all up. (please sterilize the spoon with bleach first)

Wait a week or two, siphon it all into some 2 liter soda bottles. and if you have done everything right, you should have something that is better than 3/4ths of the beer that the founding fathers of the US would have gotten at the local pub.

(2/2)

This was all meant for
>>1003752
but somehow the quote got lost in the first bit.

>>1010375
No carbonation sugar for the bottling?

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What does /diy/ think of this brewing machine?

It's sort of a cheap version of the grainfather/braumeister, but seems pretty well thought-out overall. Price is around $600.

Does that seem like a reasonable offering to you? It would allow me to finally go all-grain.

Here's a (Norwegian) video showing it in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwNnk6CeUQ

>>1010483
Forgot link: http://brygging.no/bryggeutstyr/brewcrafter25

>>1010483
Much like the robobrew in Australia.
Good system, produces nice wort. Sort of in between a BIAB and a 2V system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ04U5FtYaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KJzSAEIlpY

As long as you have a nice strong fermentation, you will have very good beer.

>>1010495
Linked a wrong vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBoRhiF10vk

>>1010439
I was drunk, and forgot that step.

So, yes, add a teaspoon or two of sugar to each of those two liter bottles, or about a half cup to the whole batch just before bottling.

>>1009679
Okay it's been 36 hours or so since I added the yeast and I don't see any bubbles at the top. Did I fuck something up?

>>1010850
Was probably too acidic

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Does this look right for washed/rinsed yeast? I harvested it today from the fermenter after I had bottled all the beer.
It's my first time doing this, so not too sure.

>>1010899
I should add that I used deionized water to do the rinsing. Will that hurt the yeast at all?

Not brewing again until next weekend, It should be good in the fridge for a week.

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Anyone ever tried making their own malt vinegar? It seems quite straight forward if you already have the setup for beer brewing. Just take a bit of the unhopped wort, ferment it separately and add some mother of vinegar.
Or is dealing with acetobacter in the same place you're trying to brew your beer a BAD IDEA™?

>>1011010
Don't make your vinegar in the same equipment you brew with.

Typically when you sanitize you are killing bad stuff that would frankly be pretty rare on your equipment. Anything used to make vinegar will be absolutely covered with the enemy of all alcohol. While you can still sanitize it and kill it all the chances of something slipping through or sticking in a scratch will have increased greatly.

So,if I want to make wine,I just need some kind of container(preferably made out of glass)some kind of opening so that air comes in but no contamination,fruit juice and yeast?Then I just pour the juice into the container,mix it with the yeast(ratio) and let it sit in the dark for two weeks at room temperature.right?

>>1011100
Read a book.

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Haven't brewed before but I'm not afraid of chemistry and lab equipment.

I also have this healthy lemon tree in my yard that's going nuts.

I googled around a bit and the best I've found was a 'Skeeter Pee' guy that said to dilute 3/4 gallon of lemon juice with 4 1/2 gallons of water and throw in a really healthy yeast slurry from a fruit-wine and some other stuff to clarify at the end.

http://skeeterpee.com/recipe

He says he can't recommend natural lemons because naturally they have too much shit to prevent fermentation.

Does DIY have any suggestions? I'm a newb so I don't know shit but I'm guessing at boiling the lemon juice to breakdown (???) and reduce the pH and balance it with malic/tartaric acids to make a champagne yeast happier?

Would boiling be necessary? Anyone know what exactly is my enemy in brewing lemons?

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>>1003373

A 10-12% raspberry Belgian tripel and an Anchor Steam clone with triple the malt and quadruple the hops. Again, at about 10%

>>1011356
What yeast did you use?

>>1011359
2112 for the Anchor Steam clone, and because it is a great Rush song.

3787 for the tripel.

>>1010899
Looks like you did well, nice creamy color with no nasty trub.
Not sure about the deionized water, but considering they came from a fresh brew theu should be healthy yeast. If you wanted, you could put a bit of yeast nutrient in to be sure.

I have question about sugar ratio for wine. I'm looking into making a 5 gallon batch of watermelon wine, 5lbs of sugar.
Is this enough? Is sugar amount more an abv thing? Like if I wanted it more sweet than dry, would I just rack it when it's reached my desired final gravity

>>1011356
>an Anchor Steam clone with triple the malt and quadruple the hops.
That sounds.. interesting. Care to share your recipe?

I'm completely new to this stuff and want to try making my first batch. Is it really as simple as just putting some bakers yeast and sugar water in a jug and shaking it a bit and letting it sit for a couple days? I am old enough to buy my own alcohol, this would just be more of a project than anything. Really wouldn't mind making this a hobby.

How do you make sure that wild yeast slurry isn't contaminated/won't make a poisonous drink?

>>1010900
DI and living things don't usually go together well.

Where are you even getting DI? Do you work in a lab?

>>1009420
>piggly wiggly

I wish I had markets in my area with stupid names.

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>>1010850
Last night I still had no bubbles so I rehydrated another packet of yeast in warm sugar water for like an hour, and then I poured it into the must.

Woke up to pic related. I could hear it bubbling. Smells yeasty but at least it's fermenting now.

>>1011498
Spend $.50 more and get a wine yeast. They're generally $1.00 a packet at a homebrew shop.

Don't just add sugar to water, if you want simple, get a gallon jug of cider, an airlock and some yeast. Google "simple hard cider" and you'll find a ton of basic tutorials.

>>1010483
This product seems expensive for how much better it will likely make your beer. If you want to make all-grain beer, why not buy or make a 10 gallon igloo cooler mash-tun? it would be much cheaper and it would allow you to increase batch size in the future.

>>1011545
I made skeeter pee once and this was my take on it. It's OK when it's done, pretty strong, drinkable, but when it's about 2/3 the way done, 8% or so, it's glorious as the best fucking berry lemonade ever.

>>1011512
It's actually demineralised water. I just thought thats what Americans called it.

>>1011673
How do maintain temp, step mash and mash out?

>>1011718
That's really good to know, thanks.

>>1011545
>>1011718
Sorry, Unicorn Blood, the berry version of skeeter pee.

>>999999
>>1000000

>>1011781
You're thinking of distilled water.

>>1011857
Do Americans like to call DI water, distilled water? Isn't demineralised water much closer to DI water than distilled water is?

>>1011880
Distilled water is nearly pure water, obtained either through vacuum/thermal evaporation or reverse osmosis. Deionized is cheaper and only removes disolved solids.
By purity, the ranking is: demineralized > distilled > deionized

>>1011888
>demineralized > distilled > deionized

So my washed yeast might be fucked then? I used demineralised water to wash it.
Was planning on brewing with it this weekend.

>>1012325
I use local filtered water, and I've used distilled before. I think you'll be fine.

Just out of curiosity, if I used the hooch method, just pouring yeast and sugar into a bottle of juice and letting it sit 2 weeks, but instead of juice, I use milk, would I end up with alcohol, or even drinkable alcohol? Not that I want to do it, it sounds repulsive even it does work, but I am curious if I could make "milk hooch".

>>1012439
charlie?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEMlvjJ9uxo

>>1012445
kek, that actually looks somewhat edible besides the raw egg

>>1012439
Nomads made it all the time. Its called kumis. They still make it in the central Asia.

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>>1012403
Says demineralised as the main product label but then describes it as deionised.

So confused.

>>1012785
No minerals in de-ionized water.
On the other hand, de-mineralized water does not necessarily pass as de-ionized water.

HOW MAKE BEER FROM RICE!?

>>1013081
Boil rice
Add yeast
Leave ferment
Drink your stuff

>>1013156
You need something like Koji to supply amylase otherwise the carbohydrates won't break down into fermentable sugars.

>>1013206
Jiuqu is yeast. Thats what you use.

Add yeast.

>>1013211
The yeast balls also have mold, a similar mold to koji, which converts carbs to sugars. I've used them and make rice wine from time to time.

>>1011545
The fermentation slowed way, way down. I took the fruit bag out. It tastes like wine now, but I don't like it. I'll siphon it into a carboy tomorrow or the next day and sweeten it next week.

>>1013215
That was my experience with it, it goes from being awesome berry lemonade to fully mediocre wine. If sweetened and force carbed it becomes drinkable, I've still got 3 gallons that I may just freeze concentrate to practice that technique before making apple jack.

>>1013206
>>1013211
>>1013212

I NEED RICE BEER FROM HOUSEHOLD INGREDIENTS

Koji mold isn't a household ingredient here

>>1013156

CAN I JUST REHYDRATE WITHOUT BOILING THEN HEAT IT UP LIKE A GRAIN WORT?

>>1013391
What you can do is stop typing in caps.

>>1013389
Go to asain store an ask for Jiuqu

>>1013389
Unless you have access to a koji/jiuqu type mold or another source of amylase, you won't make booze out of rice. In beer making this is the entire reason for mashing.

Go to an Asian store or order online, Amazon has them, but they're kind of pricey.

Is there a reason it has to be rice wine? There are a lot of easier to ferment ingredients which most of us have access to.

>>1013609
He is underage and only has access to mum's kitchen.

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thoughts on this recipe? I dont mind waiting 6 months

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

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My first attempt at Mead making, I'm hoping for a medium on the slightly dry side. I did a 3 gallon batch and tossed it in 3 jugs, I might add fruit to one later.

I picked up ken Schramm's compleat guide to Mead, but I was disappointed to see no section on Staggered Nutrient Additions. I added a 1/4 tsp of energizer and another 1/4 of nutrient before pitching the yeast. Does anyone have any good sources for staggered nutrient additions info / schedules?

>>1013910
Don't worry too much on your first batch. Just split it up along with your honey. Even later remember not to follow every one else too closely, homebrew is full of people who only do what they read and then pass it on as gospel. Also expect dry mead. Mead tends to ferment out so it wI'll typically be dry unless you stabilize or make it a ridiculous strength. I just bottled a methyglyn I've been letting sit since Jan. And it is a great summer drink when chilled.

>>1013081
>cook rice
>add crushed yeast balls(contains what you need to break down rice to simple sugar)
>keep in a not airtight container for two weeks
>pour liquid out of container and squeeze leftover rice
>sweet very strong drink created
>cook bottles to pasturization temperature to stop all the shit going ibside and to break down the protiens to be more drinkable

I could write pages more for people who want to do it perfectly

>>1014301
Different poster, but what kind of rice do you prefer using?

>>1014301
Give me the deets, kind anon, my curiosity is aroused

>>1014301
I never drank rice beer. How does it taste? I might get into it if it's worth the effort.

>>1014330
>>1014392
>>1014521
The drink is called mijiu and it is fairly sweet and is typically a slightly off white.

You should use a sweet sushi rice. You need to cook the rice first, I highly recommend steaming. Whatever way you cook it don't let it it get dry and rubbery. You will most likely need to cook several batches unless you have an enormous steamer. After the rice is cooked let it cool. You can let it air cool or use water. I use gallon bottles of refrigerated spring water so there is no bad bacteria to worry about. Let the rice drain a bit but the rice being wet is good.
Now you take a yeast ball and crush it to a powder. You can find them at Asian grocery stores. You cannot use regular yeast because it does not have the microorganisms to saccharify the rice. In a large glass container or fermenting bucket you alternatively put down layers of rice then sprinkle the crushed yeast ball on top. Do not use a carboy. After the rice is all inside dig a hole down the center of the rice to the bottom. Put a clean piece of cheese cloth over the top and set the lid on it. Do not make it air tight, it needs the air. Put it in a cool dark place and wait. The rice will essentially liquify as it is turned to sugar and the sugar to alcohol.

>>1014611
In a few days stir it with a sanitized implement and repeat every few days if necessary.

After about 2-3 weeks the container will be full of liquid and the rice will all sink. Pour off the liquid to bottle then start collecting the rice in cheese cloth. Press the bundles of cheese cloth like you are juicing them. When all the mijiu is extracted you will have a small amount of bland rice mush. My wife cooks a few things with it.
Bottle the liquid and pastuerize this to let it keep and the heat breaks down the rice particles further making the drink much much smoother.

Sediment will sink to the bottom of every bottle and you drink that too. You can shake the bottle before drinking to give give it all a sweet taste or you can drink the clearer top leaving the bottom of the bottle to be extremely sweet. This drink has a very high alcohol percentage.

>>1014284
yeah I'm expecting it to be dry, I had an OG of 1.09~ish. If I wanted to hit 11%, I'd need an FG of 1.006.

What are you brewing?
I've got about 2.5 gallons of plain mead in a secondary, another 2ish gallons of melomels (fruit meads) that are aging, and a 3 gallon batch of cyser in primary.

What is your setup?
I've got a 3 gallon, and about 7 one gallon glass carboys to ferment in, and some smaller jugs for racking into. It's pretty basic.

How have your other batches done?
I've got about 12-13% ABV on my first meads, some tasted a little strong of fusels, letting them age.

Tips, suggestions, or resources for others to start?
Despite the blasphemy, reddit has some decent subs such as /r/homebrew, /r/mead, and /r/firewater with good links to resources.

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Here's my first attempt, wasn't trying to spend too much. I do have a 7 gallon glass jug for next time though.
So basically I went and bought this apple cider, like 5 bucks each. Poured some honey in there to fill space and add sugar, then champagne yeast. I got filtered and non filtered cider just for shits and gigs but the filtered is actually having better production with the yeast. Any tips for my next brew? Would like to attempt a spiced mead. Do I need some nutrients to help my yeast along?

I'm making my first brew of cider this year, made of a combination of apples and pears from my home garden, my friends gardens and a tree i found on the side of the road. managed to get about 20l (approx 5 gallons) of juice, added a kg of honey from my mums beehive, pastuerised using campden tablets, added a cider yeast and some yeast nutrient, and currently waiting for it to finish primary fermenting using my dads old beer brewing stuff.

As far as I can tell on the internet, theres mixed opinions about why you would want to do a secondary fermentation, but as far as I can tell, its just to get the cider to clear up, if im not fussed about how it looks, should I be worrying about a secondary fermentation?

>>1015292
Not really, no. It'll be cloudy ("rustic" or "farmhouse" are popular adjectives here, I believe) and probably won't improve as much with age but assuming that nothing goes wrong it'll still taste fine and if you're not planning on laying some down in the cellar for longer-term aging you should be totally fine.

I also recall that cider that's been through a secondary fermentation also becomes drinkable more quickly, but don't quote me on that.

>>1015294
Honestly, if it tastes half drinkable, it wont be around for long enough to age. I usually prefer a cloudy cider over a clear anyways, so that works out pretty damn well for me.

>>1015292
Secondary is for aging getting yeast out of suspension.

Your cider won't clear much in secondary but yeast that would normally fall to the bottom of the bottle will be in your secondary container. Less lees.

It also let's you batch age instead in individual bottles.

>>1015292
For beer, there's mixed opinions on secondaries, I didn't use one for my recent belgian, but since cider needs some age before it tastes good, I always use a secondary.

>>1015292
Been home brewing for about 10 years here, so I thought I'd chime in with my experience. There are a couple of reasons to use a secondary, but not everyone needs to do it.

The first reason is, as >>1015336 mentioned, it allows you to batch age instead of bottle age. This makes a difference if you have a sophisticated recipe (different types of fermentables) or if you are going for maximum attenuation. Because of reasons, the fermentation works better in larger volumes, so you're better off letting it ferment as one big volume, then bottling it when it is completely fermented and aged.

Another reason for using a secondary is, if you plan on an extended fermentation period (more than a month), it's best to get rid of the trub at the bottom of the primary fermentation vessel. The logic here is that you want to avoid yeast autolysis, which is when the yeast cells start to cannibalize other yeast cells. The more yeast in the carboy, the more likely this will happen, especially as the easily digestible sugars are gone. This usually isn't a problem unless you are fermenting for a really long time. I've tasted it in old champagne before and it is not a pleasant flavor.

On the other hand, if you are interested in just getting rid of the haze, you can 'cold crash' the cider, which means move the carboy in to the refrigerator for a few days. The cold temprature will cause fermentation to stop and the fine particles to drop to the bottom of the carboy. Then, when you syphon the cider out, you leave all that business in the carboy and end up with clear cider.

Tldr, there are reasons to use a secondary, but in your case you probably don't need it. If you decide that you want the absolute most alcohol (and because you added honey) then move it to a secondary and give it another month or three. If you don't want haze, just cold crash it. If you just want to drink it, don't do anything extra, just bottle it.

I'm adding some wild black raspberries I found to one of my mead jugs (see >>1013910). what is the best way to sanitize the berries? I don't want any wild yeast or bacteria infections taking root because honey is expensive as fuck.

would a boiling water bath followed by an ice water bath work?

I'd consider using campden tablets, but I wouldn't want to risk killing the yeast colony in the jug of mead I'm tossing the berries in.

Any thoughts?

>>1017025
microwave?

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>>1017036

Like this?

>>1017040
no

>>1017025
Mash them up, add water and then simmer them for ten minutes.

The solids will settle with the rest of the lees and you get way more flavor this way.

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'Bout to brew a batch of this up. I have some extra mosaic hops... any thoughts on using them to dry hop it?

>>1017322
You can use them. Just wait for the vigorous part of fermentation to finish before you add them.

It's a nice looking recipe, but it looks like it's going to come out to about 3% or maybe 3.5% ABV. Of course, that's fine if that's the style that you're shooting for, but I always figured if I'm going to go to the trouble to brew a batch in the first place, might as well bring it up to 5% or 6%.

>>1017335
Agree, this is the batch I brew for people who aren't normally craft beer drinkers to try and win them over. Rn I've got a red ipa bottled that's up around 7%

>>1017336
Ah, that's a pretty good plan.

Anyway, I've never personally used mosaic hops, but from what I understand they are full of west coast flavors like citrus and pine. With that in mind, it's kind of hard to recommend how much to add for dry hopping.

On the one hand, you usually add quite a bit for dry hopping because the flavor doesn't transfer as well as if they were boiled. On the other hand, you don't want too much extra flavor if this is supposed to be a pretty tame beer. Maybe someone else has a suggestion, but I would guess you would only want around 1 or maybe 2 Oz for dry hopping. If I were dry hopping an ipa, I would tend more towards 4 or 5 oz. After 10 years or so, I'm still a hop head though.

Again, just wait until the really vigorous part of fermentation is done before you add them. In this case, probably just 2 days or so. West coast hops should be a perfect fit for this batch.

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>>1017450
Excellent. Really appreciate your input. I actually was planning on doing 2-3 days in primary bucket (until active fermentation stops), then going to glass carboy with 1.5 Oz of mosaic in bottom for secondary. Then bottling after 5 or so days, leave that for a week and I'm ready to drink.

Great thing about this recipe is it's ready to drink in about 2 weeks.

>>1017461
Yep, sounds like you know exactly what you're doing.

I made some mead about two weeks ago. Fermentation has stopped. Can I drink it without killing myself or do I still need to cold crash and/or make it dormant with potassium sorbate?

For my own knowledge, can I still restart the fermentation process if I add some more yeast nutrient/energizer even though its been about a week or so?

>>1017600
>Can I drink it without killing myself
Yes. I suspect it isn't very clear right now though so it might be kinda gross and yeasty.
>do I still need to cold crash
It would be a very good idea.
>make it dormant with potassium sorbate
Nah, if it stopped then it stopped. It definitely stopped if it has the same gravity for like 3 days in a row. Don't trust the fact that the airlock stopped bubbling as absolute proof that it stopped - there could be an air leak or it could just be finishing off very slowly. It doesn't hurt to leave it another week (and more time helps it clear)
>can I still restart the fermentation process
Depends on why it stopped fermenting. If it ran out of fermentable sugars, then you could restart it by adding more sugar. There's still plenty of live yeast in there. If it stopped because it reached it's maximum alcohol tolerance... then I dunno, maybe it'd restart if you added more water and sugar?

>>1017613
>Yes. I suspect it isn't very clear right now though so it might be kinda gross and yeasty.
Its actually pretty clear right now. I racked it about a week ago and it seems to be clear enough with minimal garbage at the bottom.

>It would be a very good idea.
kk

>same gravity
I haven't checked because I lose out on potential volume of mead that way.

>Depends on why it stopped fermenting. If it ran out of fermentable sugars, then you could restart it by adding more sugar
I'm about 95% sure this is the reason as to why it stopped bubbling.

>>1003412
I don't see the need to reach into the carboy. It seems like scrubbing that plastic would create space for bacteria to hide. PBW eviscerated all organic matter in my glass carboy the last time i used it.

Hi guys, it's my first time brewing, and I've been reading here, alot of confusion. I'm making mead to start off with, in the meantime I'm learning more about making other things and the process. My friend started me off with mead, saying to use a plastic milk jug and the process of making it with honey and water and using bread yeast. I understand that it wont make the best alcohol, hence the yeast being just bread yeast, for the most part I understand. But From what I've been reading is the production of methanol. I've done some research online and couldn't find a clear answer, alot of you guys seem like vets so I'll ask here. I understand after the fermantation of about 6 weeks, it's proclaimed 'ready'. My only concern is it producing methanol, since the smallest bit of methanol can be bad, how do I avoid making methanol, or how is it made in the brewing process? Anything I can do to prevent it?

>>1017980
As ethanol is the standard treatment for methanol poisoning, and you will be creating vastly larger amounts of ethanol than methanol, you'll be fine. If it wasn't that way, most of us in this thread would be blind by now.

>>1017980
methanol is only really a worry when distilling, your homebrew beer is fine.

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Going to brew another version of what i am currently drinking, Unfiltered dirty high oat ipa with lots of late additions and high dry hop content.

Love this style of ales with loads of taste and low bitterness!

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>>1017025
>what is the best way to sanitize the berries?
>I don't want any wild yeast or bacteria
You might want to re-think that.
Bacteria found in the skins can lead to malolactic fermentation, giving the final product a smoother flavor.
I've done 3 batches by just mashing up the berries, then adding water, honey and yeast.
No regrets.

>>1003752
You can build a servicable still for like 60 bucks in an hour. It will need filtering and you'll get 45%ABV out of the still at best if your mash is very strong. You also need a cool spot for it, below freezing is optimal. And you won't get all of the goodness from the mash, so a lot of waste compared to a real LM or VM still, but the best part is, it's a slow still. Just empty it every 3 days. Not dangerous unless you are a moron and get yourself electrocuted by using the wrong kind of heater. The name is "Amazing Still".

>>1017980
You'll make barely any methanol. Without going into it to much methanol is generally produced as a result of pectin which if you don't have any fruit, etc you can expect very little. Don't use bread yeast though it'll max you out at 5-8% alcohol and will taste like shit. A package of yeast is like $2 you can buy the shit off amazon use an actual brewing yeast at the very least.

>>1019971
Not him, but what if I'm planning a citrus wine? How to reduce methanol fermentation?

>>1020081
Methanol is a virtual non-issue for alcohol that isn't distilled, even when dealing with fruits.

>>1020081
By not fermenting fruit pulp.
But like the other anon said, it's not really a problem. Even if you distill your stuff, it isn't a problem unless you specifically do things the stupid way.

Guys, I'm thinking of buying a Speidel Braumeister, but my friend insists on using pots and kettles. Can you really beat the quality of machine brew or is it naive thinking?

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Could I repurpose this stainless steel diesel tank into a beer keg?

>>1020341
No, unless that tank was made to be pressurized.

>>1020341
Might make s nice rocket stove, depending on the size.

What's the most compact distiller kit?

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Tap treated with campden, or bottled spring water?

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>>1013898
Welp here goes. Ive done a root beer once before, so this is my second brew experiment. Could make for a tasty new years.

I plan to rack into a bunch of old wine bottles in about a month, and add some flavorings to some at that point. Vanilla, nutneg, cinnomon....? Each from both the cloved and plain primaries

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Sima, a.k.a. Lemon Kvass, is the best fucking fizzy drink I've ever had chance to taste.

Made 12L batch in half of June, most of it was gone before July.

>>1020793
I'm partial to bread and apple kvasses. But its all good, simple, and works.

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What do brewers think of Brewie?

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>>1021085
Hey if you've got the keesh...

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>>1021338
>mfw I only got into brewing so I could justify buying the lab/chemistry set I always wanted as a child, not so I could feed a black box overpriced chemical packets.

>>1010375
>>1010375
>bleach in bucket
>rinse with tap water

fucking hell you are retarded. Get some sodium metabisulfite from the internet and sterilise properly by allowing it to evaporate after a rinse.

>>1021376
>sodium metabisulfate
>not starsan

>>1021085
A lot of people brew not just for the pleurae but also for the lower cost.
I would wait until its been released at least to see how well it sanitizes itself. Doesn't take much to fuck you over and if you have to clean out all the little valves and shit each time you won't appreciated the time it saves you.

>>1021085
You could get a more proven system for the same price, which makes much larger batches. The first one that comes to mind is the GrainFather, which makes 5 gallon batches and costs half of what the Brewie does.

Hey guys, so I normally make soda with a 2 liter soda bottle, juice concentrate (concord grape is really good) and about a cup of sugar for the yeast, and let it sit for 3-4 days to carbonate. I typically use the yellow Red Star packets of champagne/wine yeast.

If I put a air lock on the bottle, how long should I let it sit to get around say, 5-7% ABV? Would I need to add more sugar? And I presume to keep the carbonation I would want to cap it off again 3-4 days before refrigerating it?

>>1021769
it depends on the temperature you're fermenting at and how much sugar is in the juice. get a hydrometer they're like 10$. measure the OG of the juice then use a chart or formula to determine the ideal FG for your target alcohol content. Measure it every couple days to see where it's at. Once you do it for the first time you can get a base line for how long it will take, assuming you are pitching the same amount and type of yeast and fermenting in the same conditions.

>>1021794
Jumping in here, it's not a matter of time to get your target alcohol content, it's more a function of your starting gravity and the attenuation of the yeast.

You know fermentation is over when it stops bubbling. To get 5% with a halfway decent yeast (your red star champagne is fine), you would need to start with an initial gravity of around 1.060. To get 7% you need to start with an initial gravity of around 1.080. You can up your initial gravity by adding more sugar. Just add enough sugar to get the original gravity to what you want, add the yeasy, let it ferment until it's done, and drink. Of course, confirm your results by taking a final gravity measurement as well and actually calculating the abv.

As >>1021794 mentioned, you must buy a hydrometer to do all of this.

>>1003373

I just started brewing wine about a month ago,

at the moment I'm burying a shipping container so I can store bottles down there.

>>1021838
Have you tried making imitation crab meat flavored wine yet?

>>1021840

That's a good idea, I'll try it with my next batch, and report back in 6-8 months after it's had time to sit.

>>1021840

not who you replied to, but I'm thinking about brewing an oyster stout if that does anything for you.

>bought a 1 gallon kit over a year ago
>finally made it today
>get everything prepared
>time to put it in the carboy
>yeast packet is expired by two months
>an hour later, nothing is happening
So can I just buy some yeast and add it a few days from now, or do I have to throw out the whole batch?

>>1022300
Neither. You should be fine as you are. Yeast doesn't show proof of working in the first hour, it usually takes several hours if everything went perfectly. Given that your yeast was 'expired' it may take a little longer to start working, but check back tommorow and you should see some kind of action in there.

Protip for everyone else in here too: just because a yeast packet is past its expiration date doesn't mean it's bad, it's just not guaranteed to take off as quickly. If you want to make an expired package of yeast work like new, just spend 1-2 days propagating it first. Just dump it in a little bit of sanatized wort with an OG of about 1.040, cover with foil, and shake it every couple of hours. You will likely end up with a yeast culture that is better than new. Also, you can get some really good deals at your home brew store on 'expired' yeast.

Thinking of making something similar to aquavit, but with fresher lighter flavors.

Planning on taking a cheap Canadian whiskey (so it comes aged and I don't have fuck around making a barrel) and adding in rosemary, juniper, some kind of citrus, and a very small amount of cloves and ginger.

Anyone see anything wrong with the idea of have any ideas for pairings of flavor? I mainly want that juniper and rosemary flavor, but I have been thinking some kind of pine flavor would go nicely with the juniper.

>>1010899
How do you measure the yeast/L you need with home made yeast for the fermentation ?

>>1022362
For a gallon you use half a packet of yeast and for anything up to 6gal you use a full packet.

>>1022378
In fact I asked for homemade yeast like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wTt8VGyBdk

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Post ur fermentation closets/chambers. R8 & H8

>>1022317
Alright, thanks. I just checked on it and it seems to be working just fine.

>>1005379

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLihr7Nbql4

Hey I'm curious to start distilling spirits in Victoria, Australia. Is it worth it having to go through all the bullshit to apply for the license or would it be easier just to buy my alcohol?

Hi, I would like to know if it's possible to make a still without a copper tube or if it's necessary to use distilled water for the fermentation

>>1022512
Don't bother. Just go to Brewcraft and get an air still. Customs n Excise won't come after you unless you tell them or you sell your booze. They kind of turn a blind eye to home consumption which is what you'll do if you forget to get rid of the methanol.

I just started a Berliner Weisse using the "Training Wheels Berliner - good intro to sours" recipe on homebrew talk.

How can I make an airlock at home? I have 2 pet bottles with sugar wash and as an airlock I used plastic bags attached to there with a rubber band, but it sucks.
I was thinking about putting the normal seal that was there before but with a very small hole poked in it. Will it work?

>>1023690
Airlocks cost ~$0.70 and stoppers a bit less than that; you have no excuse.

>>1023693
I live in a small town, there is no brewing shop. Goddamn, there must be a way

>>1023694
So just use the balloon method.

>>1023694
You could just leave the blow off tube on it while it's fermenting, if you had a decent stopper.

>>1023690
DIY airlock
Air tight lid on fermentor. Stick a hose in it so it's exposed only to the fermentors air gap/froth
Run hose into a bucket of water. It is unlikely to burp badly enough to suck water very far up the hose. Or just put some sanitizer in the water too.

>>1003373
Got a brown ale and an IPA that are waiting to be kegged next weekend.
Grainfather and old fridge used as fermentation chamber.
Fermentation temperature control is the gateway to better brewing IMO.
Be anal about sanitation and look into fermentation temp control.

>>1024216
I literally literally could not agree with you more anon. "Be anal about sanitization and look in to temperature control" should be in the sticky on every one of these homebrewe general threads.

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>>1003752
>ginger beer
>buy large jug of water
>buy brown sugar
>buy copious amounts of ginger
>buy 1-3 packets of yeast
>dump quarter of water out
>fill with grated ginger, brown sugar
>add in yeast
>cap and let sit for a week
>drink it from the jug like a man or let it sit even longer for more alcohol content

>>1024216
Fermentation temp control is my next project.

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>>1022439

>>1003373
This is total blue sky thinking hear but does anyone know how you could brew beer with weed as an active ingredient and would the THC remain active?!

I'm thinking that with the ongoing acceptance of weed in America a market for weed beer could be a profitable one.

It annoys me that distillation of alcohol is illegal in my state (NC). I want to make some moonshine.

>>1024789
I've heard weedbeer tastes disgusting, and I think the legal issues would make it very difficult to sell profitably.

>>1024962
Its not illegal

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So all I really need to get shitfaced forever on hard cider is a big glass jug and an adequately sterilizable airlock, right?

>>1025944
And yeast.

How expensive is it to start home brewing?

Is it cheaper for 2nd patch since you have all the gear?

Is it cheaper than just buying beer (canada)?

>>1026112
If you want to make kvass, dirt cheap. Pot & sterilized soda bottles. It goes up from there. Wine/mead/ other double digit stuff takes carboys and airlocks. Beer takes a bit of equipment.

>>1025944
Or just use the loose cap method and be even more of a cheapass, you run more of a risk of infection but it's still pretty rare, and really obvious.

>>1025944
In college we used just get jugs of cider, throw some yeast in and then put a balloon on the top with a hole poked in it. Worked every time.

>>1005249
any good sources on freeze distillation?

>>1026185
homebrewtalk is my go to site, but literally it's
1. Take booze and put in plastic container.
2. Freeze container.
3. Turn frozen container upside down and let thaw for a while, usually until all the color is drained from the remaining ice.

There are ways of doing larger batches, but for homebrewers, that's the usual way.

>>1026202
>>1026185
Oh, and collect what drips out, I should have stated that explicitly. That's your freeze distilled goodness.

I've been homebrewing for 6 months and every beer I've made has the same off-flavor lurking underneath. Both extract and all grain. Hoppier/darker beers cover it up better, but I can always find it because I am always looking for it. Is it my water? I treated with campden last time and the same problem persists. Should I try spring water next time or go right to distilled and building water?

>>1026277
Do you use temprature control?

I have to use flea foggers tomorrow. Should I put a bag over the airlock or something? Moving it out of the house isn't an option because it's so damn hot outside.

>>1024789
THC is not water-soluble. Hemp beer is a thing though.

>>1026277
Can you describe the off flavor more? It could be a lot of things.

Possibly (and most probable imo) is that your sanitization isn't good enough. This is extremely important between the boil and capping it with an air lock. Since it is the same flavor every time, it could be from some piece of your equipment, or from a wild yeast or bacteria living in your kitchen and drifting in to the wort. Cool the wort as quickly as possible and transfer to the carboy to minimize potential exposure.

Possibly a residual flavor from a sanatizing agent (read:bleach). Even the tiniest amount of bleach water residue can ruin a batch pretty quickly. Just use Star San or Idophore instead.

Possibly from oxidation. This happens sometimes with old liquid malt extract, but can also happen because you stirred it or let it splash when moving it from one container to another. Minimize splashing as much as possible after fermentation by completely submerging the syphon tube when transferring. Never stir the beer after fermentation; carefully add your priming sugar 1/4 of the way through syphoning then let the fluid transfer do the mixing for you.

Possibly fermentation temprature, as >>1026280 mentioned. Usually a warm fermentation will lead to excessive esters which isn't horrible, but isn't part of the style guidelines either. If your fermentation temp is way off, you can get some pretty bad flavors.

Adding hops too late in the boil can sometimes contaminate a batch, since the hops won't have enough time in the boiling wort to become sanatized. This is true for other additives as well. Usually not the case with dry hopping because the alcohol will be enough at that point to kill most infections.

There are other causes of off flavors too. You really need to identify what type of flavor it is to dig much deeper. Chances are good that it's not your water. No tablets are needed, the water is sanitized during the boil. Don't use distilled water.

>>1026171
>>1026179
>>1026104
Okay, so lemme get this straight. I basically just buy like a big-ass 6-7 gallon glass jug, fill it about 2/3 full with organic cider from the co-op down the lane, dump some of my breadmaking yeast in it along with an indeterminate amount of sugar, let it sit for a month, then shove that shit in bottles and let those sit for about a month more.

Did I get it all?

...Will it be a problem that no room in my house ever reaches under 80 degrees Fahrenheit because I live on a tropical island and haven't had an A/C in a decade?

>>1026386
>breadmaking yeast
No.

>>1026387
Oookay. So some sort of special yeast. Not just fleischmann's-off-the-shelf-whatever.

Do I have to pasteurize the end product before I bottle it or anything so as to avoid bad things happening?

>>1026387
You can use any type of yeast to brew alcohol and a lot of verities like saccharomyces cerevisiae are commonly used by both bakers and brewers.

> Do I have to pasteurize the end product before I bottle it or anything so as to avoid bad things happening?

Homebrewers rarely do this. The yeast colony does a pretty good job not letting other microbes move in on its turf. Take simple precautions like cleaning your equipment before starting. If you do decide to pasteurize it's not a simple process. You'll evaporate off a lot of your alcohol if you just heat it in a stove pot.

>>1026420
Ah, okay. So I won't have to worry about bottled end-product cider exploding or popping off its cap? I know I have a buddy who makes beers and meads and cordials, and he told me that once happened to a few bottles of his, though he said it was because they were crappy recycled ones and I can't remember what he'd put in them.

>>1026386
> let it sit for a month, then shove that shit in bottles

You're missing a step. For the first couple days you need to splash around the liquid to get oxygen into it. This gives your yeast the oxygen they need to reproduce quickly. Next you just let it sit. When yeast stop getting oxygen they have to use a different chemical reaction to get energy. They can't reproduce quickly in this state, but this is what produces the alcohol.

> along with an indeterminate amount of sugar
Keep in mind that the liquid can only get to somewhere between 5% and 10% alcohol before the yeast die (different strains have different tolerances). At a certain point increasing the sugar will just makes the beer sweeter not stronger.

>>1026425
Ah! So I should... leave the airlock off for the first few days? Or take it off, slosh it about, and replace it periodically? Also, I was told some yeasts could survive at around 16% - would I need to seek out a special strain for that sort of saturation?

>>1026427
> Or take it off, slosh it about, and replace it periodically?

Slosh it about several times over the first couple days, then never touch it. Giving the yeast oxygen will make them stop producing alcohol; you just do that at the start so the small amount of yeast you use turns into a lot of yeast.

> round 16% - would I need to seek out a special strain
I bread machine yeast that

I've got results like that using bread machine yeast. Just a rough estimate based on how drunk I got off a liter of it.

>>1026429
Okay, thanks! I'll give it a shot!

>>1026420
>You can use any type of yeast to brew alcohol
If you want shitty cardboard flavours, go ahead and use baker's yeast

>>1026425
>willingly oxidizing your brew

>>1026427
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/yeast/yeast-nutritional-needs/oxygen

>>1004955
It applieseems to large batches. When distilling directly into bottles, the lighter methanol evaporates first. The first bottle contains unsafe levels of methanol and the last bottle contains fusel alcohols.

>>1026280
Yes.

>>1026370
Thing is, it is not a sour flavor at all so I figured it wasn't infection, and I am pretty anal about sanitation. I do use starsan, not bleach. Oxidation struck me as a possibility, I don't think I splash much at all but my racking tubing is short and when I siphon into a keg (or formerly bottling bucket) it sometimes slashes for a few moments before I can get to it and run it down the side. I have looked at charts of off flavors and have a really hard time describing it based off of those.

>Adding hops too late in the boil can sometimes contaminate a batch, since the hops won't have enough time in the boiling wort to become sanatized
Really? My understanding was that hops were a strong anti-septic due to their chemical structure, and that's why sour producers use massive amounts of dried out hops to prevent further bacterial contamination in their spontaneous beers. I am not an expert, that's just what I read. Maybe late hop editions are the issue.

>>1026482
Do you clean first ie sodium percarbonate, then use starsan?

>>1026441
>not sanitizing your equiptment

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>>1003373

>What are you brewing?
Just beer
>What is your setup?
20BBL brewhouse
>How have your other batches done?
Ok, I guess.
>Tips, suggestions, or resources for others to start?
Go all grain asap. Nail the "basic" styles first and brew same recipe many times. Keep notes.

>>1026482
This guy >>1026370 again. A couple more notes for you.

It sounds like you take sanitization seriously, which is good. I've always taken sanitization seriously as well, but have been surprised to get infected beers every once in a while. Many times those infections got traced back to a piece of equipment that I thought was good but later proved wasnt. For example, once I found discoloration inside the spigot on my bottling bucket. Once I traced it back to a section of vinyl tubing that was re-used too many times. Once I even traced the off flavor to a contaminated CO2 line in my keggerator. Even when you are doing what you think is a great job at sanitization, you may be missing some seemingly small aspect that makes a big difference. So, even though you're probably doing a good job at sanitization, it's still worth going back and critically analyzing you whole system.

Also, not all contamination tastes sour. Sometimes it can be astringent, or like solvent, or sulfury, or phenolic, etc.

As far as hops go, late additions can definitely contaminate a batch. When people first figured out that hops help to keep the beer longer (making IPAs) they were adding bittering hops, not aroma hops (hence the higher IBU of IPAs) and, all of a sudden, the beer could make a voyage across the sea. Of course, higher alcohol levels found in IPA also helped. Aroma hops don't help much in preserving beer because they aren't in the wort long enough to break down and release the alpha acids. Also, typical aroma hops are lower in alpha acid anyway. Aroma hops are fine, but make sure that they have atleast 10 minutes in the boil. Same goes for any other addition.

As far as your syphon splashing, it sounds like that's probably not too much of a problem here.

Check out these flash cards that are used for studying for the BJCP exam. They may help you identify the flavor or identify the problem in your process.

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/OffFlavorFlash.pdf

>>1026596
I see in those flash cards that oxidization lists a cause as aeration of hot wort.

Wasn't hot side aeration proven to have no effect?

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I'm getting some very vigorous fermentation on day 2 for my first 5 gallon beer batch. This is just a basic extract porter with chocolate malt.

I only have the gear for extract brewing now, but I might go all-grain with my next batch. I've brewed two other smaller batches of beer, and they were great.

Beer is so much more fun than wine. I wish I'd started with beer straight away. Buy a 6.5 gallon carboy for 5 gallon batches. You need that head space to keep the krausen out.

>>1026872
Not sure. I'd really have to study that up.

As far as I know, it's still unresolved. Some people argue that it makes no difference because the yeast will consume all the oxygen at the beginning of fermentation. The other side argues that when you aerate wort when it is hot, some oxygen binds to other compounds, and is only released late in fermentation, which would lead to a cardboard or musty or sherry flavor.

I'm really not sure that I have enough experience at homebrewing, even after 10 years, to really weigh in on the topic. In my opinion, and I underscore the word opinion, I would say that hot wort aeration might make a slight difference, but that it is undetectable. The flash cards are probably technically correct, but still shouldn't list that as a possible problem. It's not something that has ever been a problem for me, but splashing fermented beer around can definitely cause a cardboard flavor.

Thanks for pointing that out anon. It really got me thinking, and it shows that even "professional" sources are sometimes wrong.

Hey /b/,

My cider turned out great! Second fermentation was a great success.

Now im gonna make the strongest applejack i can.

>>1026112

You can get started for $15 ($10 for a glass gallon jug of apple juice, $3 dollars for an airlock, and $2 for a yeast/nutrient blend (Cider House Select, for instance, has the nutrient blended into the yeast). Open it up, pitch the yeast, put the airlock on, and wait a month.

Once that's done, you'll have some mediocre cider (that can become decent if you let it sit in bottles for a few more months, as well as a gallon carboy to start experimenting with other fermentations. I'd recommend getting 4 or 5 gallons of apple juice, so that you have 4 or 5 carboys for experimentation as you get more into the hobby.

If you're brewing larger batches, you'll need some more equipment, so the more you use them the more you'll amortize the costs over, so it will progressively become less expensive per unit produced.

>>1013910

Only thing I would consider changing is topping off two of those carboys (possibly with the third). During primary fermentation it's not a big deal to have some air in there, but once you're in secondary and aging, you want to minimize the air so as to prevent oxidization, so you'll want your fill level to be up to where it gets narrower.

>>1026389
Depends on how much food the yeast still has. If you ferment it until it's dry then it'll be fine but otherwise you have to stop fermentation before bottling.

>>1026203
so what's the maximum ABV you can get from this? can you make whiskey from beer this way? does it taste good?

>>1026387
why not? made a pretty good mead when i was just starting out with a little bread yeast

>>1026424
protip: take bottles with return money, they're made to reuse, brewerys will clean them out and refill, unless you do that

Does anyone know how long a solution of sodium percarbonate can be reused for or how long it lasts?

I want to fill up a 10gal bucket and put my bottles in it after i have emptied them, then when bottling day comes just rise and sanitize them.

>>1027464
Whiskey is generally made from corn or rye, with other grains being less common. Beer, with its hops and anything else you add, would likely make a shitty distilled drink. Whiskey, by definition, must be distilled to no greater than 80% ABV, then reduced to no greater than 62.5%, using only water, and must come into contact with oak.
I highly doubt you will get a high enough concentration from freeze distilling beer.
>>1027467
Bread yeast adds a noticeable yeast flavor. Brewing yeasts do not contaminate the flavor nearly as much.

>>1026277
Same here, except I have only brewed up Coopers pre-hopped stuff. I use a fridge, heat belt and a STC1000 to control temps. Usually I ferment at 18C. But I still encounter this "homebrew twang".

>>1028824
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/is-my-beer-ruined/common-off-flavors

Maybe that will help you identify it?

>>1003412
glass for all reasons stated. plus it looks cool and isnt that much more expensive than plastic

>>1003752
dont even consider distillation until you master beer and/or wine making. good distillate is built on good fermentation

>>1003373
Short story. Just finished my ale today. I'm happy with it.

>>1028825
>Acetaldehyde
>A flavor of green apples or freshly cut pumpkin; it is an intermediate compound in the formation of alcohol. Some yeast strains produce more than others, but generally it's presence indicates that the beer is too young and needs more time to condition.

I am certain it is this, so just leaving it to sit for longer in the bottles will cause it to disappear?
Thanks for that link, that site has some great info.

I tried freeze concentrating some watermelon juice to add to my berliner weisse, but it didn't seem to work. There wasn't a drain of color from the ice left behind at all. I think I stared at that for 8 hours while melting for nothing.

Alright lads, I need your opinion on back sweetening mead.
Crash > Potassium Sorbate > Add honey ??
Do I just stir the honey in and jack off for a bit or what?
What I have now is a mix of dry and sweet but more dry than anything else.

>>1030222
>Do I just stir the honey in and jack off for a bit or what?
Yes

Just mix it in to taste