home brewing thread #4

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>>1066760
Just bottled my oatmeal stout, I threw in a cup of mayan spicy hot chocolate powder near the end of the boil to see what would happen, it actually tastes not bad.

>>1066760
Gahhh op just go to an apple orchard

>>1067059
trying to save some scratch by getting the juice and jug at the same time

just a jug alone would be like $8 from amazon

found a place locally that sells just jugs for $4....that's the cheapest they're going to get

>>1067069
There is this whine at food for less that cost $8 you have whine an a jug to reuse

>>1067394
I thought about that, looked today but the cheapest was $15

I'll look in the bottle rooms for empties

Can i actually brew anything with just kitchen tools and récipient ?

I wanna try brewing but i'm not willing to buy anything else than ingrédients

>>1067468
they don't call it toilet wine for nothing

>>1067470
>Toilet wine

No.

I have a carboy, if it helps

>>1067468
What do you want to brew? It helps if you tell us. We ain't clairvoyant.

>>1067471
it will help

>>1067473
Anything that does not require distillation

Preferably beer or wine, but i'm open to things like mead aswell

>>1067476
I have no fermentation lock, can i build myself one ?

>>1067478
Read this: http://www.howtobrew.com/

>>1067473
>>1067478

I never brewed anything, so choose for me, i font care as long as i brew something thats décent

>>1067480
Best would be to start with extract brewing. All the info you need is in anon's link >>1067479

Transfering my cider into keg today, its a bit sour though, might have to back sweeten. Quality has been kind of a crap shoot last couple years as I've just been using whatever random apples I can get from people.

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>>1067394
Exactly. I've had this exact same scenario. Cheaper to buy 4 L. of wine than just a gallon bottle.

No pics, but I fermented molasses in the leftover sludge from my grapefruit brew. Running second distillation today then adding cannabis extract to add stage two rockets in order to reach Andromeda.

>>1067511
how much sugar did you add?

Just brewed a Patersbier following the recipe from Northern Brewer's website, and I am a little disappointed. It is very similar to a hefe with lots of banana esters. I had hoped for other, more complex belgian esters. I fermented fairly low, I think 65 then 68 then finally 72 for the final few days, my understanding is that usually banana appears at higher temps, more in the 70s.

The beer is good, but just doesn't live up to the hype (I am sure it's an error in my process) and would have probably been better as a hefe.

Also made a fantastic IPA with Eureka and El Dorado, grain bill is simple with American 2-row and a small amount of Munich. Eureka is one of the best hops I've used, so fucking dank. The funky pine character gives way to a massive fruity melon flavor from the El Dorado. It's very drinkable and very dangerous at 7%, so one of the better beers I've produced in my opinion. Eureka is a beautiful and underused hop and I encourage everyone to try it, if you have had Cedar Creek's Dankosaurus you know how fucking good it is.

Currently in the fermenter is a robust American porter, based off of a Founder's Porter clone I found and altered slightly.

>>1067666
had about 4 gallons, i added a litre of apple juice back in, a little better i dont think adding anymore is going to help it

>>1068050
Sorry 2L, forgot I poured 2 of those containers in

>>1068050
I meant how much sugar did you add before fermenting?

I got a question about methanol. My plan is to make some cider and also distill some of it.
Now when you distill you are supposed to discard the first round of distillate since it has a high methanol content.
Are you supposed to try and filter the methanol out of the cider as well?
Would partially distilling it, to get rid of the methanol make the cider better?

How long do I need to condition beer after bottling?

It has fermented for 2 weeks and just put it into bottles.

So what's it feel like being The Creature Hub, guys?

>>1068248
You do not need to remove methanol from fermented drinks. The ethanol will kill you long before the methanol does. Could be a fun experiment if you feel like it, though.

>>1068336
It'll probably be lightly carbonated after about a week, enough to try one if you're impatient. Fully carbed after ~3 weeks.
But you will want to save some bottles to enjoy a few months down the road - the taste of beer, wine, mead, whatever tends to change a lot over the first few months, usually for the better.

>>1068709
what

>>1068709
No lie that one of the ways I was exposed to making mead. Along with watching Ian from forgotten weapons do it.

>>1068134
none, OG was already 1.068

>>1066760
Echoing previous statements. $9 for a gallon jug of organic juice is awesome. Just add yeast & airlock.

Nothing fermenting at the moment. Started a pretty nice 2 gallon batch of cherry wine last month, bottled this week. I don't have a discerning taste for wine, but it is already pretty ok. Will open a bottle for Thanksgiving or something, if it is doing well will give a couple away and cellar the rest until summer.

I just bought a used 5 gal bourbon barrel, need ideas for what to brew & age in it. Just a nice american stout for first run maybe? Idk, most of my experience is with lighter beers, getting heavier body right scares me.

Also trying to improve a ginger beer w/ vanilla & clove recipe. So easy to dry hop the shit out of it with spices. Will probably get that, something to barrel age, and cider going before returning to wine next month.

>>1066760
Me and my friend have been making cider every autumn for the last 5 years.
We just drive around the countryside and search for apple trees that don't belong to anyone.
This year we made 400l. Those apples make some good fucking cider since they're mostly bastard trees grown from seeds somebody tossed out their car window 20 years ago.

>>1069453
cool story bro

>>1069453
>making cider every autumn for the last 5 years
ya gotta give some more details than that

I finally bought a secondary fermenter so I can brew better beer and more beer.

Got a nice breakfast stout in the secondary now with an og around 1.095 made with coffee I roasted myself. The recipe called for more grain than my mash tun could handle, so it's sort of a mini-mash with 9lbs of extract and 14lbs of grain. I'm slightly concerned that I'll need to add some distiller's yeast before bottling, given the potential alcohol. Anybody have experience with ale yeast above 10% abv?

>>1069700
but 5 gallons is a lot of juice to chance not coming out very well and I doubt I could consume that much

even one gallon once made might last quite a while

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>>1066760
>thread #4

There was a time when /diy/ had the 30th of these threads and /ck/ over 100.

>>1066760
>Suggestions for where to get apple juice in 1 gallon glass jugs?

I got mine at a state fair. Fresh pressed right in front of me by whatever boyscout troop it happened to be.

>>1067468
I started with plastic milk jugs, plastic water jugs, and stainless stock pots with pin-pricked party balloons as airlocks. Now I have over 200 gallons worth of glassware and everything you'd ever want to brew with. Some of my best stuff was made with the ghetto setups though.

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>>1069790
And I went from stuff like in that pic to stuff like in this pic.

>>1069790
>There was a time when /diy/ had the 30th of these threads and /ck/ over 100.

well it's #4 since people starting following and keeping track....recently

>>1069786
I must be an alcohol. I brew a 23L batch of beer every 2 weeks.

Just bottled my beer. I hope it was not too early. Well it is my first beer so failures are allowed...from calculations I get about 3.3% ABV. Sounds a bit little I guess.

Still have some yeast left (put it in water sugar mix, allowed it to ferment a bit then put it in the fridge, hopefully it survived) so I can make another batch.

Considering to get an electric seat warming pad so I can keep fermentation temps up.

>>1068248

The fermented stuff is fine, but when you distill it the methanol concentrations are toxic. This only applies to distilling though (except, EXCEPT, if you're a total dork and ferment huge amounts of wood).

When you distill it off you will want to remove the first part, which will smell badly as it is (something like glue / nail polish remover ), keep the middle part, and remove the ending part.


I'm personally thinking of making a very nice still right now. Some of the still described in the bible (not the most common one) are pretty nice, but sound dangerous.
What would be the best way to pursue this project without spending too much money and without having any tools?

>>1069786
The thing is that homebrew needs to age, especially anything 10%+ ABV like wine or mead. 5 gallons may seem like a lot, but it gives you a stockpile of bottles that you can hoard away. Then you have a greater chance of having bottles around in a year or two when they will start to actually taste good. If you make a 1 gallon batch, you end up with a handful of bottles that will be gone as soon as you start to get curious/impatient and drink them.

>>1070278
how long should one most efficiently age cider?

I'm not saying never, but I'd rather like to gain some experience first before committing to larger batches

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Help!! First time brewer what should I start with!?

>>1069982
You live in a very cold house? Usually the problem is that fermentation temps are too high, they are ideally around 68F, depending on the yeast and what you're trying to do. Hotter than that and you start to get more esters from the yeast.

In the future if you question whether it may be too early to bottle, just wait. I usually just do 4 weeks by default. Even after it's done, extra time in the fermenter always helps clear up the beer. You may have heard it "picks up off flavors from sitting on the yeast" or something, but that's mostly bullshit, it won't have any noticeable effect on your beer unless you let it sit for several months or something.

What were the original and final gravity readings for your beer? 3.3% might just be it... I'd be kinda surprised if fermentation stalled early at such a low ABV.

>>1070284
Whatever you make, you can just taste it over time and see what happens to it. I've brewed some beer that was delicious after a week, and some stuff that was disgusting until like a year.

But I've only made one recipe for cider and it's this super dry cider made with cheap store juice:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14860
As he says in the OP, it starts to get good after 6 months or so.

>>1070285
Whatever you like to drink. That recipe I just posted is a pretty cheap and easy way to just start fermenting a thing. I think beer tastes better, but you need to read a little more and get more equipment (read Palmer's how to brew online)

>>1070315
that's pretty much what I was going to make, just smaller

>>1070315
Thanks desu!

I put starsan in my airlock and it just made heaps of bubbles, what do you guys use in your airlocks?

>>1070503
Don't fear the foam, starsan in the airlock is the way to go

>>1070297

I don't live in one of those countries that have warm winters. I did bottle it and now it's fermenting the priming sugar just fine.

I appreciate your input though. Next fermentation will take place a little bit longer.

>>1070503
Starsan. I put that shit on everything. But I run a blowoff tube into a jar of the stuff for the first day or two until things settle down.

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>tfw no shredder

>>1070297

European winter. Secondary fermentation set in when after prime&bottle, so it's ok for now. I think I made an error when reading OG.
The product did taste like it had quite some alcohol in it when I tasted it before botteling.

We'll find out in a week or so, and see how drunk it makes...then I can say for certain that it was a measurement error...

Or I have to step by step through all I did to find some other stupid error.

By the way, for /unrelated purposes/ what are the 1.5 kg coopers malt extract cans made of? They might make nice...continuous...vessels.

input on making hard cider from regular cider vs juice?

>>1070596
damn is that all real marble? beautiful

very euro. must be from the look of the outlet, where are you at?

Also just picked up 2 24 litre carboys and am looking to start brewing.

My end game is to put it into a still and make some hard stuff, so can you guys help a brother out with some reliable online resources?

>>1070757
kek I wish. It's particle board but the fact that it tricked you makes me feel better about it :^)
I'm from germany. I'm also currently in the making of a pot still together with a friend.
We just picked up some copper pipes from the junk yard for 10 bucks to build the cooler.
Gonna make the pot out of an old steel pressure cooker and weld a connection piece towards the cooler onto it.
Some people say it's better to use a copper pot to catch sulfites, but I guess I can just add some copper pieces into the pot.
There are lots of good online sources I guess. I mainly browse an austrian forum, so that might not be too helpful to you.
First you should decide what you want to distill.
If you just want to make high quality neutral alcohol you should go for a reflux distill design.
I'm gonna make a pot still, because I wanna get some flavour out of those apples.

>>1070763

Besorgt euch den Einkochautomaten von Lidl. Dazu vom Gastroversand einen Deckel in der richtigen größe. Dazu eine Ratsche mit Seil oder einen Expander, um den Deckel zu fixieren. Interessanterweise geht das.

Die Temperatursteuerung des Einkochtopfes ist genau genug für diese Applikation. Denkt daran die Gastemperatur, nicht die Maischetemperatur zu messen.

>>1070763

Anstatt zu schweißen kannst dir auch eine Silikon-Backmatte holen und zurechtschneiden. Dann könnt ihr das Steigrohr mit Schrauben fixieren und es ist trotzdem dicht.

>>1070881
good idea. now that you're saying it, I still have this badboy in my basement
http://www.shoppingfever.de/prod/Kochstar-Automatic-2500-SM-Einkochautomat-Einkocher-elektrisch-609151.html
so we don't have to ruin a perfectly fine pressure cooker.
Is 33€ fair for a 35cm stainless steel lid? That's the cheapest I could find so far.
https://www.amazon.de/Edelstahl-Topfdeckel-Pfannendeckel-152116138-GGG/dp/B015EL41HW
I can't quite believe, that just pressure through springs is enough to keep it sealed.
>>1070882
also seems like a good idea, but we have access to welding equipment so I guess that should be easier

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>>1070913

My bad, I meant what is known to be a Spanngurt. Pic related. It works out fine, and if the pressure ever gets too hight it's able to vent off.

33€? I think mercateo has one for 22.50€, but it's a one time investment.

If you're able to weld stainless, by all means do so. Stainless lids are kinda expensive though, I know. If you're able to weld, you might want to make your Steigrohr not cylindrical, but use a rectangular one for higher Querschnitt.


Forgive my English today, I'm kinda tired.

How much mead should i make out of 64oz of honey?

>>1071055
mercateo unfortunately is only for businesses though
>>1071525
yeast can metabolize 1kg of sugar into around 0.5-0.6 liters of pure alcohol.
So the ammount of mead you can make out of it, depends on the end alcohol content you're going for.
If you for example want to make a mead with 10% alcohol content, you would need 200g of sugar for one liter - but that's just in theory.
There are plenty of recepies out there

>>1071540

Oh yeah. Right.
Also Honey has sugar in itself. So you'll have to get a measurement of how much sugar is already in the honey and then adjust accordingly.

What kind of yeast should I get? I tried using quick rise yeast and ended up wasting 1 gallon of berries from my property so that's a no go.

>>1071918

You'd want a wine yeast if doing berries. Specific yeasts are used for specific results.
This question could've been answered with some simple google fu:
https://winemakermag.com/959-i-make-mostly-sweet-fruit-wines-what-is-the-best-yeast


While (almost) all yeast is useful for making alcohol, not all of it is suitable. Bread yeast, for example, does make alcohol. But you'll end up with some bread type flavor. A product that gets you wasted, but tastes like shit.
So go for different kinds of yeast strains, experiment and find one that makes a flavor you like.

>>1071936

I know it could've been answered by google fu, I suppose I should be less ambiguous with what I wanted answered.

Why was it that the fast rise yeast didn't work at all? I cleaned both the jar and the musk vessel with sodium metabisulfite, activated the yeast, etc, etc. I mean I would get if fast rise yeast did very little as it's probably just meant for a shortlived fast fermentation process, but it didn't do anything.

>>1071958

That is definitely weird. Hey, can you try fermenting some sugar water with it?
Maybe you killed the yeast somehow.

>>1071958
Was your must especially high-gravity? The more sugar is in your must, the more live yeast you need to add to be able to start a healthy fermentation, and at some point it gets really difficult to even start it at all (maybe above like 1.120 SG)

Like >>1071936 said the main reason not to use bread yeast is that it makes your brew taste like shitty bread, also it doesn't flocculate nearly as well and it isn't as alcohol-tolerant as wine yeast... but it should technically work.

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Just waiting for this batch of American Pale Ale..

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po mans setup

>>1072359

Some truly inspiring design. What is fermenting?

>>1072360
apple juice. I didn't have an extra airlock so I improvised

curious to see if it'll function properly

>>1072359
noice. I'd just screw on the lid semi tightly.
that way no flies can get in and there's still a pressure difference to keep oxygen and other shit in the air out

>>1072365

This is what I do with mason jars to keep yeast strains alive. It works quite well.

>>1072011
>>1072059

Ah, I think the problem was I added to much sugar, then. I tasted the must simply because I was curious and fuck it was sweet. It was so sweet it burnt my throat and I was coughing. Next time I'll try adding less sugar, and probably just start with juice instead of berries.

>>1066760
pro brewer of 3 years here. work on a 15bbl system with ~200bbl capacity, also in charge of special projects (pilot batches/recipe formulation, casks, barrels, etc). happy to answer any questions if people are interested. I'm no master but I have a good grasp on homebrewing and pro brewing.

>>1072462

Waaay too much sugar. Berries already have sugar, so you have to adjust accordingly, same with honey.
Just try the juice before fermenting, add sugar as deemed necessary (not much) and then let it ferment. You should be pretty successful.


ITT: I forgot to turn off the water tap and had to remove 4L. Hope I did not loose too much from my beer :(

>>1072467

How much effort does it take to get to a nanobrewery scale?

howdy boys quick few questions. planning a neutral spirit, local brew shop only sold beer and wine yeast so went with wine.

apparently K1V-1116 dies at 16% abv does that mean my "wash" before distilling it will only be 16 percent ethanol? Seems whack that a 20L wash would only yield a few litres of 95% liquor but i guess after watering it down youd get a lot more?

Also, secondary question. As I read, reflux stills are only useful for pure distillations as any tasty bits are fluxed out. So people use pot stills because they want something less pure even though they have to run it through a couple of times to get juuuust the right amount of impurity for taste?

>>1072462
I would suggest finding a recipe online for whatever you're trying to make. You can use that as a template so you can see how much fermentables to water ratio you should have to get a good starting gravity for the yeast it suggests to use. A hydrometer can also be useful.

>>1072467
Hey fellas. I want to back sweeten my dry cider (used cote de blancs) with more cider or something else before bottling. Last year the stuff was too dry for most people's taste. I don't need/want carbonation and I don't want the new sugar fermented, so I want to kill the suspended yeast or otherwise stop fermentation. I have potassium sorbate, is adding this enough after a 2 week primary? Or should I try something else like pasteurizing after bottling?

The reference book I picked up says that sodium benzoate might be a better option, but it requires campden, which I didn't use at the start because my must is all UV treated (maybe it's fine, then). The book also says these preservatives each carry their own flavor impact, which I'm not familiar with how big a deal that might be.

quote:
"Unlike sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate will not stop an active fermentation. Do not expect to keep a cider sweet by adding a dose during fermentation. However, adding it post fermentation will prevent the yeast from restarting and eating the sweetness you've added."

This makes it sound here like the sorbate would be perfect for this purpose. My bubbler has slowed to a crawl, but it's only been a week, so it's probably still teeming with active yeast. I'll probably re-rack or just bottle a week from now.

>>1072680
I believe people use artificial sweeteners such as splenda

>>1072648
k so apparently most people distill from around 10% as that produces the best taste? Didnt think taste was a factor when boiling to 95% purity, hm.

Gonna go with birdwatchers i guess, modded to a quarter size

who /beer/ here?

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recipe for toilet mead, if anyones interested

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Just distilled a couple litres of neutral @ 92%. Only used the basic recipe so far. Sugar, yeast, tomato paste and water. Next time I'll branch out and try a grain or corn wash. The result is evil evil moonshine but when watered down and filtered and flavoured you can make some amazing stuff.i in no way endorse homebrew stores for distillery products after market (their "special" nutrient yeast, "turbo" yeast and various clarifiers). Spend a little more time and way less money for the same result. I will say to their credit that some of their flavourings are on point. Made a Canadian club and added real Oak and within a week you couldn't tell the difference, and the mouth feel of their liqueur mixes make a brilliant kahlua. 60% Apple brandy is also phenomenal.
Also made an infusion with some good tea that was half Russian Black half Forest berries. 50% sickeningly sweet cordial that when mixed with mineral water was to die for

>>1072808
This still gave me a boner, and it even looks like a boner. Reflux column with marbels or Raschig Rings?

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>>1072821

Its full of these copper saddles
http://www.liquorcraft.com.au/afawcs0133827/CATID=122/SUBID=451/ID=6544/SID=947863621/Turbo-500-Copper-Saddles-100gm.html

Its an out of the box system. As I said, I'm very anti-pimping the stores that sell this shit but even the people that actually know their shit in the distilling community admit it's a good system. Once I figure out what I'm doing recipe wise I might buy the alembic top.

Theres no middle ground here in Aus sadly. This kit was < 1k but the really beautiful stuff is sold bit by bit and it'd cost 5k+, making it far less cost effective and I may as well get a job at a distillery if I'm gonna be that serious about it rather than set and forgetting and ending up with jugs full of quality moonshine I should have no right (certainly no sense) to have made,

Is Mr. Beer decent for first time brewing? My girlfriend's dad just gave me an old Mr. Beer kit he had lying around after I told him I was gonna start trying to homebree. I figure it's not the best but it might be fine for having never brewed before.

Help guys, tried to taste a glass of my mead that is being cold crashed right now, and found out I have put waaaaaaay to much spices in it, it tastes like liquid cinnamon.
Is there any way I can still save the mead ? Maybe add some honey and let fermentation restart a bit ?
I have another batch still fermenting, but with the same amount of spices, so am fraid it will yield the same result, is there any way to save this one ?

>>1072907
either add some water and honey or make another batch without any spices

>>1072907
This
>>1072916

>>1072898
It is good enough. A good way to learn the principles.

>>1072898
I sort of inherited one of these too, and the malted hop whatever had an expired date stamped on the bottom of the tin by a couple of weeks. It tasted somewhere between bad and okay, but we never finished it and tossed half of the bottles a while later. Might be fun since the kit has everything you need so zero cost. Just don't be discouraged to try again with better ingredients if you don't like the product.

>>1072773
what are some of the basic investments to change about this recipe to make it better?

>>1066760
Right now I've got 6 liters of Kombucha brewing in my closet.

>>1073217
buying wine yeast instead of bread yeast

>>1073299
Not the person who asked, but any other tips to add? Nice dubs btw

>>1073323
Never made mead, so take it with a grain of salt.
When you want to get as much alcohol content as possible (for example for distilling), you want to get a ph of around 4.5-5.0
I'm not quite sure if the orange is enough to achieve that, so you might want to add some lemon juice.
This might not have a good influence on the flavour though, so I suggest you do your own research on that.

>>1073218

Where did you get the kombucha culture from?


Also I have another batch of coopers lager here, but it must've been contaminated with something.
Well the fermentation looks healthy otherwise so I'll just ferment it for a nice long time and then check out what it
tastes like.


> Not owning a HPLC device to know what is in your beer
> feelsbadman.jpg

>>1073217

First of all, actual yeast - wine, champagne. Second correct pH levels (don't remember right now, sorry). Third, a device to check sugar content in the honey. Fourth, be sure to add corret amount of sugar.

And since it's wine maybe something to contaminate it with so it gets some nice fruity flavours - although that probably will gurantee a headache :^)


When I head back home for christmas I might check my notes. Then I can be more specific.

>>1072871

'tis legal to still in australia? It does look nice. However, it seems to be for neutral right now only.
Making your own still is usually a pretty safe way to go if you know what you're doing.
And a lot cheaper.

Do get an Alembic or Pot style still though. First distill the neutral part, then destill it through a pot still with aroma sieve in between. You'd be surprised (or you can cut out the column still completely, but that makes it hard to cut off the headachy stuff - though it increases flavours).

>>1072574
opening any size brewery (in the US) takes a minimum of 6-8 months, more like a year, to get TTB (federal) and ABC (local california) approval, before you can get local inspections done and begin producing beer.

then there's your equipment costs, installation costs, rent while you're waiting for approval, etc. depending on the size of the brewery you're hoping to start, a minimum of 100k would probably be necessary. our brewery cost about a million to get up and running.

>>1072680
I would transfer your cider to a kettle once fermentation is done, and heat it to ~180 for 10 minutes to kill anything in there. then backsweeten and bottle to your liking

>>1073362

Wouldn't that evaporate the alcohol?

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I have this and empty water bottles. I want to make hard but I can't do full blown set ups. Feel like trying to make something myself.

Where do I buy yeast from, and is it possible just to activate the yeast, put some in a water bottle with the cider with an airlock balloon and make shitty hard cider after a week under my bed? What do I need to do exactly for ghetto style set-ups?

>>1073455
You can just pour out a cup or two of juice for headspace, add yeast, shake, put cap back on loosely so that CO2 can escape and you're already ahead of where brewers were hundreds of years ago in terms of sanitation. It's not a perfect setup, but honestly it works pretty well to get you brewing and thinking about brewing.

>>1073455

Basically what you need is good sanitation, sugar, yeast, water and an anerobic (no air) environment.

So basically what >>1073475 said. Yeast is bought either in online shops, or in certain speciatly shops (or in the local supermarket if you're in certain countries).
You can use bakers yeast, but it will give a shit taste. Buy wine yeast.

Depending on location your source might differ. Find out your countries homebrew (online) stores and then order a yeast strain. Amazon also works.

>>1073217
>>1072773
1. use the original recipe:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=49106

2. use a sanitizing solution or high temperatures to sanitize anything touching your ingredients, rather than just make them 'really clean'

3. use a real airlock instead of a balloon, they are like one dollar. A glass jug would be nice too.

4. leave it alone for more than 2-4 weeks, do 2 months like the original recipe indicates. Bread yeast takes a long time to settle to the bottom. Then cold-crash it.

5. don't try to pour slowly to separate your mead from the crap at the bottom, instead use a siphon, very carefully. It takes a long time (months) for all the dead yeast and such to drop out of your mead, and if you mix it all up by pouring it then at least some of that shit will mix together and you'll have gross cloudy mead again. (also pouring can oxygenate the mead, which is a good thing to do pre-fermentation, but a bad thing to do post-fermentation)

Wine yeast is usually more appropriate to use for mead, but if you want to use wine yeast then maybe find a recipe that calls for wine yeast instead of that one - wine yeast will probably have higher attenuation than bread yeast and will make that recipe really dry.

>>1073342
Bought GT's "gingerade" kombucha since it was the closest to "original" I could find. Then I just let the scoby grow for roughly 3-4 weeks.

I tried drinking that brew. It was so acidic I got a stomach ache. So I went online and read "Don't drink your original scoby growing brew, it'll be too vinegary".

Live and learn!

>>1073672

So how do you drink it then?

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>>1069532
Aaaand bottled it today. This is what you get from a 5 gallon batch without much waste. It weighed in right around 10.5% abv. I guess I'll report if it fails to carbonate, but I'm pretty optimistic that the yeast will hold out. There were still a few tiny bubbles forming in the secondary today before I bottled.

Word to the wise, a $3.50 bottling cane is a goddamn revelation. I bottled my first batch with the spigot on my mash tun and a length of hose, and managed to spill a bunch of my product.

Auto-siphons are great until you use one 2-3 times and it starts sucking air. A carboy cap and an ordinary racking cane is godly by comparison. Hands-free operation and you can start/stop the siphon at any point in the process.

I made the leap to all grain this year and I've brewed 36 gallons of beer, so far. In the process, I've learned that equipment is important, but nothing saves more time than preparation.

>>1073716

> that fourth beercrate from the left
> one "L" too much

Else it looks noice.

>>1073716
My bottling setup is really easy. I have a bottling cane (spring loaded, not the other kind) on about 4" of tubing connected to the spigot of a bucket. I set it on a counter top, sit on a low stool and I'm good to go. So far this has been the easiest setup I've come up with. Recently I've started bottling off of a keg to avoid having to deal with bottle bombs or waiting for bottles to carb up, it's been great so far. Just search "we don't need no stinking beer gun homebrewtalk" on google and you'll find the thread.

Just tasted my first brew. It was nice. Definitly not the 3.3% that have been calculated. Must've been measuring error.

Is good.

Got a carboy full of mead in the larder. Already finished, just too lazy to filter and bottle it. Remember: always buy your honey from a local beekeeper.

>>1074078

Or do it yourself. Source: my dad's a beekeeper. Mead made from it certainly is something different.

Has anyone here made liquors of any kind? I am new to homebrew and wanted to try making sour cherry liqueur, aka Ginginha or Ginja. Does anyone have any experience with it? I have found some recipes online but ingredients and procedure seem to vary between all of them.

>>1074114
Liqueurs not liquors. Excuse the typo.

>>1073863
What was your OG and FG?

first time making cider, 1 week in thus far

how should it be smelling as it goes along?
there was a ring of white something around the rim, is that normal?

>>1074369
Doesn't matter. Sometimes fermentation can smell really gross but that's not necessarily a sign of anything bad. Now that it's fermenting there's nothing to do with it besides leave it alone, wait for it to finish and clear up.

>>1074078
I'll probably try and find one soon. I was at the grocery store looking at honey, and all of them said "pure honey" as the sole ingredient. I assumed that meant it wasn't packed with yeast killing preservatives like most fruit juice typically is. Is that generally the case and it's just a quality issue then?

Retardedly broke college student here, don't want to spend a week's pay on brewing equipment. What's the best thing I could brew with $30 of equipment?
I know beer is a more intensive process than beer and wine, but I just need something that's alcoholic that tastes good that I can totally not sell to people

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>>1074654
just make hooch
>boil water
->add sugar
> let cool
>put in container with yeast an lemon juice(and raisins
>wait

you could also make kvass, it's just a bit more work
http://natashaskitchen.com/2012/02/19/angelinas-easy-bread-kvas-recipe/

>>1074654
Buy a cheap airlock that fits a juice container ($5), a gallon of apple cider or other sweet juice without preservatives (sorbate inhibits yeast growth), some sugar, and some yeast. i"d recommend actually getting special yeast, but bread yeast works poorly. If you can't afford an air lock, a condom with a hole poked in the top will work. Anyway, your brew probably won't taste great, but it's cheap and will get the job done.

>>1074548
it currently smells vinegary

what would be a sign of something bad?

I'm making my first batch ever, just as an experiment. I dumped half a kilo of table sugar in a 2 liter bottle filled with lukewarm water and mixed it well. Then i added the yeast. For 30 minutes the cap was open, then i closed it. How long does it take to ferment 1.5 liter batch? How can i tell that the fermentation has stopped?

>>1074654
this >>1070315
That recipe calls for 5 gallons, but you can get whatever size carboy/bucket and airlock you can afford and scale down the recipe accordingly (don't have to scale down the yeast though).

You need a carboy/bucket (would recommend PET or HDPE, 5$-30$ depending on size and material or salvage one), an airlock and bung to fit the hole in the container (should be like $1 each), and a racking cane & tube (like $3 or $4) used to siphon ("rack") off the delicious brew from the shit that gets left at the bottom. To bottle, you'll want some clean empty beer bottles (free, use non-screw-top empties), new caps (like $1), and a 'wing' style bottle capper (like $15)... probably also a spring loaded bottle filler ($5) to make your life easier. You also need some way to sanitize your equipment - I recommend star san or iodophor, but i've heard there's ways to make no-rinse sanitizer with like bleach and vinegar or something on the cheap.

>>1074690
>How long does it take to ferment 1.5 liter batch?
Probably a week and a half. It will taste and look better if you let it sit for longer than that, to accumulate all the dead yeast and other particles at the bottom. But your recipe sounds gross anyway
>How can i tell that the fermentation has stopped?
The gravity reading that you take with a hydrometer will be stable from one day to the next. Or you can just wait a longer time, like 3 or 4 weeks, and it's definitely done by then.

>>1074690
Your yeast will probably die off before fermentation is complete because there are no nutrients. Next time at least throw in some raisins or something.

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Attn: homebrew fiends

Aldi's is selling this stuff for $1.99/bottle, which is cheaper than empty swing top bottles usually cost. They're pretty easy to delabel, and the cider inside might be fermentable (I'm in the process of checking) as it doesn't contain any sodium benzoate or other preservatives, according to the label.

>>1075272
neato

anyone ever made ginger ale?

there are kits but all they have in them is some yeast and flavoring....I already have yeast and ginger ale flavoring for soda is widely available

>>1075272
I gotta say the bottle looks like a penis from the thumbnail

>>1074685
If you want top notch product everything needs to smell, look and taste great throughout the whole process.

>>1075139
If it dies early how much alcohol will i lose? I was assuming 13% or so. Also it's been 72 hours and it's still bubbling as much as on the first day.

>>1075421
Don't really know, I only tried kilju once out of perverse curiosity and didn't take any gravity readings, I just know it was still sweet without much sediment when my ghetto cider is usually pretty dry by that time so I dumped it. From what I've read that seems to be a common problem if you try to ferment straight sugar water without any nutrients. Hope you have better luck than I did though.

>>1075372
I've made soft ginger beer before from sugar, yeast and ginger (just fermented enough to carbonate, not alcoholize), is that the kind of thing you were thinking of?

>>1074690
>For 30 minutes the cap was open, then i closed it
If you keep the cap closed it will either blow the fuck up or if the bottle is strong enough-- stop fermentation when it reaches about 7bar.
If you're lucky and it doesn't blow up you need to be really careful about how you open it.
I do bottle fermenting and it takes 24g of sugar to pressurize a 1l bottle to 6 bars (provided you leave the right amount of head space).

Only 1.5 weeks into cider making (1 gal + wine yeast) and the yeast seems to have really slowed down and it looks clearer. Should I try adding more sugar to kick it back into gear? place it somewhere warmer?
>>1075630
>I've made soft ginger beer before from sugar, yeast and ginger (just fermented enough to carbonate, not alcoholize), is that the kind of thing you were thinking of?
yeah, maybe

I like strong ginger ale, I'm not sure how it would taste with alcohol

>>1075635
only 24 grams of sugar? also i'm using >>1072359 type of airlock so nothings is gonna blow up. Can you tell me the exact recipe (bottles, yeast type etc.) that you find easy and safe to brew in a bottle.

>>1075647
1.5 weeks is a pretty normal amount of time for fermentation to finish. Definitely don't put it somewhere warmer because then the yeast may produce more esters. You should leave it alone in a cool but not cold place and let it clean itself up for like another 1.5 weeks though - it's probably still fermenting slowly a little bit and will clear up more.

>>1075688
hmm, I thought it was going to take twice that long

I'll wait and see how it does....I don't know if I'll try bottling it or just leave it in the jug

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https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Inspired-Bottle-Caps-Random/dp/B0085OI97O/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1477448194&sr=8-5

Am I going to regret buying these over my usual tried & true homebrew bottle caps? The ones I usually get have details advertising their manufacture and the rubber seal that meets the glass. They're well made. I think these ones however are geared more toward etsy types who want to make fancy schmancy stuff to hang on their wall. But they look nicer on bottles than the straight gray that I've used for years.

What do you think? Any other ideas for bottle caps that aren't plain?

What's goin on /diy/, I just started my first batch of mead, just wanted to check if anything in my recipe seems off.
1/2 gallon distilled water
3lb clover honey
2 1/4 tsp Fleischmanns yeast
1 frozen orange
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp clover
1/4 allspice

tasted my cider and it certainly tasted of booze, but very bad booze

I imagine it will need a good amount of sweetener and a much longer rest

>>1076275
What was wrong with it?
If it was too sour you could keep it in the same container for a few more months and let malolactic fermentation take over.

>>1076277
it was probably the equivalent of toilet wine, having never made any...if I was some underage malfeasant it would likely be perfect

I'll wait a few more weeks, then rack and let it sit...I'll see if it has improved at all

people keep saying the number one factor is time and not to give up on it till it has had long enough to let the flavor come back

I might also try a 2nd one starting with cider, not juice, depending on if it goes on sale again

> make beer
> drink beer
> only five bottles left
> the hangover this morning

oh god, why?

Other than that it was a very enjoyable evening.

When I have the space and money, I'd like to brew something more interesting but until then I've just been buying those 2 gallon apple juice bundles at Costco, dissolving a cup of sugar in each, putting in some champagne yeast, and letting them sit for a couple months.

Switching yeasts made the biggest difference. Bread yeast wasn't very tasty and champagne yeast makes it taste more or less like characterless, cheap wine which is what I'm going for. Hard to complain for ~$4 a gal.

>>1076411
What yeast did you switch to? I switched from a sparkling wine / champagne yeast to dry wine, and it tasted a lot better to me.

>>1076272
OK, update. Checked on the must this morning, and the yeast seemed to be doing its thing (small bubbles coming up the side of the jug). Came back this evening, and there's been a drastic drop off of bubbles. Should I be worried or am I just watching out too closely? Should I remove aerate?

>>1076659
Re-aerate*

>>1076659
sounds normal. what temperature are you at? I would wait another day before trying anything.

>>1076662
About 70 degrees
>I'm in a dorm room so advanced temp control is kinda out of my wheelhouse

>>1076610

Did not switch any yeast, same as always. What comes with Coopers lager kit.
You can make beer with wine yeast?

>>1067478
take a balloon or a condom and span it over the opening, then tear a little hole in it, that's the simpelest airlock you can have.

I started fermenting my toilet cider yesterday and I was wondering what should I do when the balloons(airlocks) become empty and it has stopped fermenting. Should I put the caps on and put them in the fridge or what? How long will the cider be drinkable, is there an expiration date?

>>1078067

Are you measuring gravity?

If you are, wait until the gravity doesn't change for a 2-3 day span, then bottle. If you aren't checking gravity, wait until there's no visible activity for a week and then bottle.

Also just cold crash after that, and the lower the alcohol content, the shorter the expiration date. 5% beverages have about 6 months on them roughly.

>>1078224
Visible activity meaning stuff moving in the liquid? There was foam forming on top of the liquid but that has cleared after two days.

>>1078067
>expiration date

it depends how you bottle, and how clean your setup is. If you do it properly they can last many years, but I always try to drink mine before a year is up. Cider lasts longer than beer but not as long as wine. remember to keep your caps dry by storing vertically, unlike wine/cork.

>>1078067
>>1078355
Usually when the balloon is deflated completely it's done fermenting. decant the liquid off of the yeast into a sanitized container and mix with priming sugar. stir gently then bottle/cap your cider. wait a week, rousing your bottles after 3 days, and put them in the fridge. cider, like beer, is best drank fresh. if you're fermenting with a balloon airlock, your sanitation is sketchy at best so I'd drink as soon as makes sense, probably no longer than a month. if it goes bad, you'll be able to tell.

>>1078871
>>1078355
this assumes your cider has been fermenting for at least 7 days... 10 day fermentation is usually a minimum for anything under 8%abv

>>1067672
Northern is now owned by big brewers.. just a heads up. I love founders Porter though. I got 32 KBS fr this year sitting and will soon do a year funnel for the past 4

>>1075272
Thanks jut picked up 20 today.

>>1072680

I've had good luck with stevia extract. Two drops per gallon does a nice job of rounding things out without giving it a medicinal flavor. No need to kill off the yeast either (which is good, since I bottle-carb my ciders).

>>1072773
Concidering trying this out, any suggestions for what kinds of spices to add and generally which kind of yeast the recipe is refering too? Would something as simple as regular breadyeast work?

Seem to be getting a brewhouse efficiency of 82% with this grainfather. Easy to use, just need to make a pre chiller to cool my tap water some more.