homebrew thread

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Anyone have insight or protips on electric brewing? I found a 14gal. openhead HDPE drum, 5500w and 1500w water heater elements, and locknuts to install and wire right on the kettle. To go 240v to 120v I'm making a 10-30r to 5-15p to power the 5500w when a dryer isn't available. Eventually I'll upgrade to all steel and pretty little triclamp and camlock everywhere. For now I'm just ready to start doing all grain BIAB.

Pic is a hibiscus lemon sugar wine I put in keg a couple weeks ago. Not much body and almost insipid but it's pretty. At 4 weeks I'll backsweeten a bit to see if that brings out any taste. If not I'll add a little glycerol and frozen pink lemonade concentrate or similar. I wanted a basic panty dropper type drink at 10%abv, nothing fancy.

My current plans are to make
Skeeter pee (thanks last thread)
A smore porter
And a mead using local honey and strawberries from today's farmer's market
I'll also be racking my current orange blossom ginger mead, still a few weeks off from bottling a "shit I had lying around" amber ale, and a fat tire clone.

Opinions on kefir?

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>>1183719
>10
>tfw just finding over 2 years worth of homebrewing threads from 2008-2010

Can't believe its been almost 10 years now. I still have bottled brews from back then too. They have mellowed out nicely.

>>1183783
it's gross

>>1183854
Did you flavor it? I made some with raspberries and it's pretty good.

Is mr beer the cheepest option for malt extracts?

Planning on starting another batch of Blueberry wine next month, or a test run of apple. Anyone have recommendations on what type of apples to use?

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How accurate is this?
Any better ones?
Could always use one of those weird tube lids instead of some napkins like

>>1183792
Care to upload some to MEGA or another service? Even torrenting is fine.

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>>1184112

accurate about how bad toilet wine is?
accurate about how much you'd have to drink to be drunk?

>>1184112
Make sure your apple juice doesn't have preservatives, otherwise it might prevent the fermentation.
Also, I'd use wine yeast since they're only 1$ a pack and it tremendously increases the quality of the brew.
And you could use a balloon for the airlock, or, you know, an airlock, they're not exactly expensive (I'm assuming a tube lid=airlock?).
Other than that, it seems like a legit way to to make cheap hooch.

>>1184117
I'm new and I could get all the equipment in under an hour and set it up in like 10 minutes. Will this make me ill? And are their any other "poster" type things for this?

>>1184119
It might taste bad. It might make you hung over. But it won't be any more toxic than other 14% alcohol beverages are, and you won't die from it, provided you won't die from alcohol poisoning.
Posters are usually only good for these "get drunk cheap in highschool" type recipes. Other than that, you're going to have to read.

>>1184119
>Will this make me ill?
if the intention is to drink a large amount of it in an attempt to hide from larger problems in your life, then I would imagine you'd end up ill before you reach a state of blissful inebriation

if you mean in any amount, likely no, unless you manage to let it get contaminated or spoil

>And are their any other "poster" type things for this?
you won't get any different end result

>>1184118
>>1184120
>>1184121
Thanks anons. I might do this with an airlock + cork now, see how that goes and add sweeteners, sugar, flavouring etc. when it's done
If that goes well I'll read up more and invest in some more professional equipment.

>>1184122
it doesn't need to be done very "professionally" per-say, but not automatically using the lowest quality ingredients will make a difference

bread yeast cannot handle as much alcohol and will end up tasting of yeast

juice in glass jugs saves having to buy other containers and glass will be less likely to harbor bacteria to taint later batches

>>1183792
Damn, mind posting a link or something to that

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>>1184112
It's been a long time since I had to post this.

So who else here cums in their wort?

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>>1184153
It's basically a shitty version of Edwort's Apfelwein. One of these days I'll get around to making good* toilet wine posters. Probably the worst part is it's too much sugar. Cider tastes like ass over 8%abv.

I usually just tell people to get started by bleaching a 5gal bucket, put any kind of juice without bad preservatives in it, and cover with saran wrap. I need to find a better yeast to suggest because I've had a few get the rhino farts and it's a disappointment. I'd hate for someone to get discouraged by something that's an easy fix with a handful of raisins. For a first batch I need to find something that is less prone to developing it. I keep meaning to make a toilet wine with K1V-1116 to see if it's any better but haven't gotten off my drunk ass to do it yet.

I'd use old winebags to store instead of PET bottles, it's just easier to pour from. With a little muscle the tap pulls right out. A quick rinse and some starsan then it's ready for action. It'd be a shame to waste perfectly good pissjugs on cider.

>>1183792
I know a lot of people had asked it already, but will you mind create a mega or a torrent or share those threads somewhere else?

>>1184156
>Cider tastes like ass over 8%abv.

Nah. Some of the best I've had are in the 8-10% range. You just have to drink something made by somebody who knows what they're doing.

>>1183719
I used to use balloon airlocks for sugar wine, but I switched to aluminum foil hand-crimped over the top instead and it works just as well. You can't get a perfect seal by hand so the CO2 can escape. It's cheaper and easier. No batches lost to contamination yet.

How much water do you sparge with when the quantity isn't specified? I see a lot of recipes that specify the volume for the mashing, cooling, etc. but not for sparging; they just say "sparge".

>>1184353
Surely you could take the amount you're trying to make, and your known quantities, and do some subtraction.

hey anons im new here how to brew things

>>1184191
Gonna have to agree here. I made one recently that was approximately 9% with us05 that tasted fantastic.

>>1184156
>toilet wine with K1V-1116
I have a batch of sugar wine fermenting with K1V-1116, and unlike my normal EC-1118 it has a very noticeably smell. It's not bad enough that I'd call it "farts", but compared to the almost odorless EC-1118 it's annoying. I gave it the exact same nutrients and potassium supplement, and it's fermenting vigorously, so I don't think the yeast is stressed.

>>1184381
you're goona have to elaborate on what you want to make there son

>>1184428
>I made one recently that was approximately 9% with us05 that tasted fantastic.
go on...

>>1184369
Yeah, but given that some books have sparging quantities listed but others don't I'm wondering about it. I'm very sure that I didn't miss anything, so I'm confused and wondering if anyone had insight.

>>1184504
Was just a gallon of store bought juice, a cup of sugar and a half a pack of us05, kept at about 67 degrees give or take few. The ale esters that were there seemed to compliment the apple and it still had residual sweetness to it.

>>1184726
did you let it ferment out?

>>1184728
Gave about 2 weeks of primary, racked once and let it sit for another week. It's was still fairly hazy. I wish I would have just gave it more time to clarify, but it was done fermenting according to my hydrometer tests.

How do I improve the colour of my beer?

I've made two batches so far - both American-style IPAs, firstly using extract method and then using BIAB method. Both times the taste has been just fine (on par with my favourite store-bought IPAs), but the colour has been absolutely horrible. It looks like thick, muddy pond water. Is this a failure in my recipe somehow?

>>1184811
I've been reading on low oxygen brewing and apparently that's the trick to nailing authentic pilsners and such. From your description it doesn't sound like it's clearing. Have you tried cold crashing and gelatin? That always worked for me. Brulosophy did a trub vs no-trub test and the truby batch was clearer iirc. I guess having more shit floating around helped with flocculation. If you use fruit adjuncts you might consider pectinase, without it you'll always have some haze.

>>1184811
Irish moss.

>>1184156

You can use bleach to disinfect? I always heard that was a big no no.

>>1185164
mix it with water you dont need much let it dry after rinsing

How do you go about adding sweetness and taste to apple cider without using apple concentrate? I can't find that shit around here, and my cider tastes like shit when I fermented it, even using a proper wheat beer yeast,and a proper cider yeast. I'm thinking I need to add some sweetness and apple flavour back not sure. I also need to source a better place for preservative free apple juice that doesn't cost a trillion dollars a bottle. Becomes expensive experiments with the price most of the time.

>>1185208
>How do you go about adding sweetness and taste to apple cider without using apple concentrate?
1. Add more sugar and kill the yeast (preferably chemically) before your brew fully ferments
2. Ferment your cider all the way out, kill the yeast (again, preferably through chemical warfare) and then add whatever sweetening agent you want
3. Add non-fermentable sweetening agents to the juice and then ferment as usual

>>1185177
>>1185164
I use pure bleach, well, at high a concentration of bleach as you can get in your average store. That's about 8% now. It used to be 10% but everyone is cheaping out (don't get me started on vinegar being cheaped out).

After I rinse with bleach and let it stand for 20-30 seconds I rinse everything with water that has been boiled and cooled. That's for all my plastic stuff. For metal and glass I bake them at 350F for 2-3 hours then allow them to cool in the oven before opening it (so the glass doesn't shatter).

The only times I've had failures were when I did stupid things with poorly designed airlocks. Now I use long tubes for airlocks so that cold snaps, near the end of fermentation, doesn't suck everything out of the airlock and expose it to open air. Yet another reason to have as little air space in your brewing containers as possible.

>>1184115
>>1184143
>>1184188
>>1183792
Sorry for the late reply, I had to restart the download a few times the past week,

>Rar File size: 330.28 MB
https://www.mediafire.com/?bzid006dmc341ry

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Rate my brewery guys

You guys banned yet?

>>1185164
Bleach is fine as long as you wash it. If there are no microorganisms in your local water supply you can use that, but otherwise just pour in some filtered water, swish it around and then pour it out.

>>1185250
You don't need nearly that much. One or two capfuls in five gallons is plenty.

>>1185377
"No generals" only applies to cancer.

>>1185362
That's pretty sweet, got any more info about it? What's I currently producing etc. Commercial or still hobby levels?

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Can somebody tell me if my Kilju is fermenting properly? I started it off about eleven hours ago, not sure how it's supposed to look. Posting before and after.

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>>1185776

>>1184646

Typically you can tell how much you need to sparge with when you collect the runnings. If you collect 3 gallons after the mash, and the recipe calls for pre boil volume of 6.5 gallon, then sparge with 3.5 gallons. Since the grain is already wet you don't have to take into account water absorption.

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>>1184811
You could try Irish moss, or gelatin. Alternatively, you could just rack into secondary.

>pic related, secondary fermentation with no clarifying additives. It's almost too clear for a wheat beer.

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>>1185779
Update as of this morning
Does it look normal?

>>1185943
Looking good and bubbly. I'm trying to make my first kilju now and think it's nearing the limits. My plan was to go back and add vanilla, maybe some more acid once it's finished, sweeten with lactose if it goes dry. I'm hoping for 17%abv so pretty difficult with a shitty must nutrient wise. I usually shoot for 6-13% so it's different, taking a lot longer to finish.

>>1185989
Ok thanks anon, good luck with your kilju

>>1185377
>>1185688
Only /v/ has an anti-generals rule.

http://www.4chan.org/rules#v

>>1185989
>17%abv so pretty difficult
I've made approx 18% mead by gradually adding more honey and nutrients over a few weeks. EC-1118 yeast. Honey isn't much better for yeast than plain sugar so 17% kilju should be possible.

>>1186062
I've been out of the good nutrients for a while and used a big handful of mushed up raisins this batch. I guess I could try adding another dose of raisin. I'm giving double doses of Bentonite then Sparkolloid in hopes of stripping it off any taste so it makes for a somewhat neutral shit cream soda. I have plenty of DAP, do you think they'd like that or is that more for nitrogen and growth phase?

For 5 gallons I used EC1118 and built a starter with one gallon apple juice and cold crashed to siphon off cake. Fermentables are 16lbs sucrose inverted with tartrate to make syrup, I didn't take a gravity reading here. Must was SG1.12 and total volume 4gal on 4/7. Remaining syrup added once it dropped to SG1.6 and bringing volume up to 5gal and it's been in primary since then. I lost my notes on when I added the second addition of syrup. I'm really just fucking around with this one to see how high I can push the alcohol, expectations are low. I do hope it's drinkable once kegged and cream soda'd though.

>>1186062
I used plain sugar with a blended banana as nutrient. My kilju was 19%ABV. I cleared it, filtered it, and used it for mixed drinks because kilju as kilju is nasty.

>>1186111
What does it taste like?

>>1186106
>>1186111
I use sugar + tronozymol brand yeast nutrient + low sodium salt (KCl/NaCl blend) for the potassium, and it tastes a lot like a light white wine, perfectly drinkable without mixers. I aim for about 10% ABV so there's less stress on the yeast and cleaner flavor. I already have lots of calcium in my water otherwise I'd add some calcium salts too.

I don't think finings make much difference to flavor, and I don't use them because EC-1118 settles out on its own if you wait long enough. You can supposedly remove flavor with activated carbon but I've never bothered.

DAP is good nitrogen source, raisins might be enough for the other nutrients. Maybe some magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) would help too.

I don't think a banana alone is optimal especially at 19% ABV.

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>>1186217
Kilju by default tastes like shit. If you clear it and age it, it is no longer "kilju" and no longer tastes like shit, if everything is done correctly. Adding nutrient to it also makes it not "kilju". Since banana was used as the nutrient it will taste like a cleared, aged, sugar wine with a slight fruity flavor (white wine basically). Using for mixed drinks will just make it taste like whatever you are making.

If you want to make a very fruity wine, you just use more bananas and some raisins for mouthfeel.

>>1186376
For kilju I use bread yeast, like what you are supposed to use to make it. Which means a longer aging time because of the higher %ABV. EC-1118 is as close to Fleischmann's active dry bread yeast as you can get, fyi. Both in flavor and ability to reach a higher %ABV.

>I don't think a banana alone is optimal especially at 19% ABV.

The yeast goes nuts over bananas and will foam all to hell and back. I've never seen a better reaction. I use bananas in all my brews now as the nutrient. It is pretty neat seeing it roiling and moving raisins around like there's a fire under it.

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Alright, last time I pester you guys
I thought it was finished, but when I moved it it started crackling slightly and bubbling, does that mean it's not ready yet? How do I tell when it's ready?

>>1186556
It is actually ready when the balloon falls over, but only if you've put like 3-4 pin pricks in the balloon. If you put a ton of pin pricks or large holes in the balloon then you need to do it by temperature and length of time it has been fermenting.

At anything close to room temps you can ferment kilju for about 3-4 days max depending on recipe and yeast type. If it is cold then it will take longer. It it is pretty warm it will take less time.

If you were to use a normal airlock using water/vodka then it'd be done when there's only 2 bubbles per minute.

Yours has been going for about 44 hours? It looks like there's no foam now and the balloon is extremely flat (usually indicating suckback because of lack of fermentation.) I'd rack it now and continue with whatever you have planned. The extra oxygen that gets into the brew during racking can kick up some fermentation. Just put it in the fridge for a day to help crash it if you want to clear it. Then rack again in 3 days.

>>1184112
Sanitize the bottle first, use a balloon with a pinhole in it instead or other airlock that allows air out but not in, and rack the wine (siphon it out with a sanitized tube) into bottles instead of pouring (the bottom of the jug will be loaded with sediment) and you're good to go.

Also mark sure the juice is free of preservatives. Otherwise the yeast can't feast.

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>>1186673
>use a balloon with a pinhole in it
I started with this. I notice no difference using aluminum foil instead.

>>1186675
Yeah. That's fine. Anything that achieves the same result. Balloons are just common advice because they're easy not to fuck up making an air tight seal

>>1186677
It isn't an air tight seal that is the problem, it is allowing the brew to go too long until it is no longer outgassing. Then outside air will start to enter as temps fluctuate.

Some of my best wines have been done with plastic wrap under the stock pot lid and with balloons.

Where do you guys get your equipment? I've been trying to find bottles and I end up getting some through buying drinks and keeping the bottle. Can't seem to find anything else for cheaper.

>>1186725
freecycle and midwestsupplies

>>1186725
recycled beer bottles, a capping machine and cheap blank beer caps work for me.
If you want to lay a bottle down for a while to see how it matures you really want a proper glass bottle and seal. Plastic is micro-porous, letting in oxygen and contains BPA which gives gay frogs titty cancer.

>>1186757
>Plastic is micro-porous
It's not unless it's deliberately made that way.
>letting in oxygen
Oxygen will diffuse through plastics, but PET is highly resistant to this. Unless you're aging for many years, PET is good enough. It has good chemical resistance too and alcohol won't harm it.

>contains BPA
BPA is only in polycarbonate, which is rarely
used for bottles.

>>1186757
>>1186725

PET and HDPE are harmless. I do prefer glass for bottling anything I'm not going to be drinking immediately, like a bottle conditioned Tripel I made last year, which is fantastic BTW.

I scoured craigslist for a few years to pick up gear, and I got to know the bartenders at a bottle shop so I could get a lot of their flip top bottles they were going to recycle.

Worth getting into cider? I normally distill, not brew, so I know how to ferment but I don't know much about the nuance. I like to drink cider but it's a whole nother world, so I'm a little overwhelmed. I have a temp controlled fridge (because I had an old fridge and wanted a project so I could brew in the winter), so I can control the temp, I'm just unsure about everything else.

Juice without preservatives is around $4 per 3l here, so if I wanted a 10l batch I would need to fork out $12 plus additives. Expensive to experiment with when compared to distilling. In that, if you fuck up your whiskey then you just throw it through the column and get some fairly clean vodka out and everythings good. I suppose I could do that with the cider too, but it becomes more expensive for the vodka.

Maybe I'm just overthinking it.

>>1186892
The difficult part about cider is getting the correct apple juice. You need special cider apples for good cider. Normal apple juice will taste bland.

You can add things like grape tannin to try to fake it, but it never tastes the same as real cider apples.

>>1186897
Hm, there are ciderys around my area, but no idea about where would sell me apples or juice to make good tasting stuff. So does using added tannins come anywhere close to commerical stuff? I'm not looking for something overly sweet, but also time I tried to experiment with it, it tasted dry and sour. Not sure where to start with fixing that. I didn't back sweeten, so that's probably half the issue.

>>1186905
Mainstream commercial cider is shit, you can easily do better than that. Get the best tasting apple juice you can find and ferment with K1V-1116, optionally stabilize and sweeten. Most commercial cider is basically apple-flavored sugar wine, with only a little apple juice used.

>>1186920
What sort of temps do you use for something like that? I'm used to whiskey temps of 23 celcius. Is this one quite cold in fermenting?

>>1186945
K1V-1116 isn't fussy about temperature. 23C will be fine.

>>1186946
Cool, I ordered some, so I'll give it a go.

Anyone here ever capped screw tops with a bench capper? I've got a bunch lying around, so I am thinking of using it for something that's not carbed. Will it hold seal if there's no pressure build up?

>>1187535
They are fine for short periods, like a month. But no good for longer storage

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>>1185818
That's extremely clear for a wheat.

Pic related is my belgian. No secondary. 4 weeks in primary fermenter, with 3 weeks at ferment temps and the final week cold crashed to -1c. Then lagered in bottles for 4 weeks. Still a fair bit young, but actually tastes pretty good considering it age.

>>1185998
And it isnt enforced. NV general 24/7

When brewing with grain, is "tap water minerals" just a meme? Would reverse osmosis filtered water without added minerals produce a better tasting beer that ferments just the same? I suggested to my brother that he try testing this belief, but he was like "NO THAT'S WRONG UR WRONG SHUT UP LALALA"

My captcha is "Free A N A L" lololol

>>1187585
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=158521

>>1183755
>fat tire clone

dry hop 1 oz cascade hops into 2 gallons of fat tire.
Only downside is how hammered you will become due to it being so drinkable and tasty.

>>1187644
sadly that clone is on its way to the bottles. at least it would be IF SOME FUCK DIDN'T STEAL MY NEW AUTO SIPHON.

I've stuck to smaller 1-3 gallon batches prior to this, and had to order a normal length auto siphon as a result. Legitimately the only package I have ever had stolen in my life. Could not be more pissed off.

>>1187647
I hope their brews become contaminated and oxidized.

>>1187652
I hope the fucking choke on the 10$ of plastic they took off my fucking porch.

I just finished a batch of cheap prosecco-like, with grape and apple juice, it was fermeting in an airtight bucket with an airlock, and somehow it came out really fizzy
Is this normal ? How dit it happen ? I thought the fizz was supposed to come only after bottling

>>1188117
It's always mildly fizzy even before bottling unless you degass it. What temperature did you ferment at? Lower temperatures let more CO2 dissolve.

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I'm worried.

I made some hard cider. Threw in some Lavlin E-1118, buncha sugar, seemed to come out fine. So I put it in secondary to sit for a while.

It was absolutely still for a few weeks. No movement on the airlock. But today, I noticed the ticking sound of the lock inner-piece moving around again. I'm afraid to open it up again to see what's going on inside. Why would it start outgassing again after week of stillness?

Am I going to crack this open and find it's a hell of bacterial forest growth caked onto the top of my brew?

>>1188360
Smell the airlock gas. You should know pretty quick if it is off.

>>1188383
It just smells faintly of apples. That's good, right?

Would it be risky to pull the bung out to take a peek inside? I'm worried about contaminating it by cracking it early.

>>1188360
Might be a change in temperature. either the heat is helping the yeast clean up the acetalaldehyde and esters produced during primary or just CO2 coming out of solution due to higher heat.

>>1188386
Should be fine. Prepare to finish it off. You don't want cool temps pulling pressure inside. Depending on the type of airlock you are using, that can pull the contents of the airlock into your brew. There's no need to open it unless you are doing your next step, racking/bottling/whatever.

>>1188200
it's getting hot here, around 20-22°C during the afternoon, not that cold
but that's normal then, thanks

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I have a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread that was given to me as a gift yesterday. How do I go about turning this into alcoholic beverage?

>>1188798
Adjunct in all grain beer.

>>1188801
Can you explain the process? Ideally I would want to spend the minimum on equipment and ingredients.

>>1188809
Something like this:
http://www.toastale.com/toast-ale-recipe/

But I think the cinnamon and raisins would suit a darker and less hoppy beer. Equipment cost for this recipe will be high if you don't have any already, but you could scale it down a lot and mash in a slow cooker (manually turn it on and off for temperature control) or even on a stove top if you stir well. Ingredient cost can be greatly reduced by using only one hop variety.

>>1188812
And mash in a fine mesh bag so the sparging stage is just picking up the bag and letting the wort drain out.

>>1188812
Not who you were replying to, but thanks for the link. This looks interesting.

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>>1188812
Is all this really necessary? Surely I don't need all those fancy ingredients and equipment. Why can't I just put the bread in a plastic bag with some water and make beer the same way I would make toilet wine?

>>1188895
You need to convert the starch to sugar first ("mashing") or the yeast can't ferment it. Whole grain malt (but not extract) has enzymes that can do it if you hold it at the right temperature.

Anyone ever used a stc-1000 or eqv for mashing using a converted stock pot with an element or something?

I have wired one to convert a fridge to a fermentation chamber using a heat pad and the fridge itself, but I'm not sure if the stc-1000 would keep up with something that is heating and cooling so quickly.

>>1188963
Yes. I used a STC1000 with custom firmware on my grainfather when I first got it. Works a treat in OVBSC mode. I bought the new grainfather controller and now the stc1000 is on my fermenator and works great for programming automatic temp control steps.

https://github.com/matsstaff/stc1000p

>>1188895
You need to be 18+ to access this site.

>>1188895
>Why can't I just put the bread in a plastic bag with some water and make beer the same way I would make toilet wine?

Because the recipe isn't for Pruno. If you want to make Pruno, I suggest you google up recipes for it.

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>>1189170
>my underaged ass

uh-oh

>>1189170
You dont need an advanced chemistry degree. Water + sugar + yeast = beer.

Need some help/advice. Pretty sure I fucked up my latest batch and I'm just hoping to salvage what I've got left.

>Decide to try my hand at an American wheat (link to follow shortly)
>Go through mashing
>Worried because color is much lighter than expected
>Go through boiling and siphoning
>Taste test
>Awful, hops overpowering
>O.G.is only 1.030

My guess is that I made my mistake by not stirring enough prior to mashing and had clumps, but I have no clue. Regardless, I did not extract nearly as much malt as I was hoping to.

So I guess the questions I have now are:

1) Can I add malt extract directly to the carboy to salvage it, or do I need to start over?
2) If I add malt extract, what kind should I buy and should I use DME or LME?

Here's the recipe in question;
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/05/homebrewing-beer-american-wheat-ale-for-intermediate-homebrewers-summer-ale-recipe.html

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Can anyone recommend a cheap conical fermenter or at least a stainless one? I'm tired of throwing away plastic buckets.

>>1189602
How do you go through so many plastic buckets? I have had a couple for 4+ years and they still work great.

>>1189519
Yes you can add malt extract. I'm not experienced with wheat malt but I remember it requiring a different mashing temp than barley. That might be the reason for low og. I also mash longer than 60 mins when necessary. It really helps with gravity.

>>1189602
What the hell are you doing to your buckets? I have the same ones I started with years ago.

>>1183719
Trying to do something on the wild side. I want to do something like Malibu, minus the distilling. I want to take molasses and coconut and pineapple juice and ferment with turboyeast 48. Is turboyeast a meme, is it pathetically awful. Also, anyone do a tropical ferment like this?

>>1189665
man that flavor combo sounds so good right now

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>>1183719
Holy shit, that's my pic right there. That's my black berry sweet mead that took me 3 months to ferment. Really awesome seeing that here. It wasn't toilet wine though.

>>1189665
Turboyeast is gross and too hard to control. To this day, whenever I go to a party and someone say "oh yeah such and such does Homebrew spirits" and they bring out something, dollars to fucking donuts they are using turbo yeast in this area, and I can pick it every time, no matter what flavouring they put over the top.

Don't waste the ingredients, get a good yeast. Baker's yeast is better tasting than turbo in pretty much every situation. If you must use it, use like 30-50% of a packet for a 25l batch. It helps, but not much. That's what I would do when I was new and got sold a bunch and had to use it up.

>>1189713
I dont distill. But is it just because it gets fermented at ambient with no temp control or does that yeast just throw heaps of phenolics?

>>1189731
No idea, I didn't have the setup for temp control when I was using it, but the Wort was gross as well. It has this strange taste in the back, that comes through even in neutral spirits, so I'm inclined to think it's terrible all around.

Give it a go if you want, but if the ingredients are expensive I would try and make something cheaper with it that you know works, so you have a comparison.

>>1189618
>>1189649
I started off with a few that did last me 4+ years, but the last few have been shit. The plastic faucets leak and there are stains and scratches galore.

I had an infected batch for the first time ever last year and that means war.

>>1189759
I have been using a single coopers fermenter for the last 3 years and had no issues. With plastic you just have to be extra careful ti not scratch it.

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>>1189761
Yea, I've got a decade of plastic fermenters under my belt and I guess I'm just tired of babying them.

I'd be happier using something like a corny keg or drilling a hole in a 7 gallon pot.

What's a good site/YouTube channel/book that can help me get started in home brewing? I know literally nothing about fermentation or bottling or any of that stuff. Like I'm talking "home brewing for dummy's" level of knowledge. I might try the toilet wine recipe in the OP just for fun even though I know it'll taste like shit.

Any leads, brothers?

>>1189814
>site
howtobrew dot that com i am not span fuck off
though the sections i'm recommending are for all intents and purposes a book
>youtibe
Look up at your own pace for specific topics, compare to other media including other videos
>book
Brew Better Beer: Learn (and Break) the Rules for Making IPAs, Sours, Pilsners, Stouts, and More

That's all the intro stuff I read for beer. If you want some hobo wine just buy wine yeast (it doesn't matter) and some juice (get creative, strawberry kiwi is great), mix, shake, add sugar if you care. Let it build pressure twisting the cap to let gas when you wake up and when you go to sleep. After a week or so you'll be able to get drunk.

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>>1189831
Thanks, have a meme.

>>1189834
I once bottled a spider at work (in a clean room) and let it out into the parking lot once I went on break, so I fail to see the joke here. Spiders are pretty great. Other insects not so much. Which again is why spiders are pretty great.

>>1189836
It's a joke about Europe mate. The spiders = Syrian refugees

But I feel you, I had a spider bro for like 4 months. He stayed in his corner and every week I would see more and more husks of pesky bugs that he killed for me. Pretty cool dude, sad he's gone.

>>1189838
That pretty much describes my last apartment to a t. Bouncy toilet spider was my favorite, but there is no denying the work that the newsbox spiders put in. So many dead wasps and moths. So fucking many.

>>1189836
Not so great when it burrows into your mouth/ear when you're sleeping lol

>>1189839
>dead wasps

Sounds HEAVENLY. However, to stay on topic I'm also interested in making mead. Any good tips for that too?

>>1189840
Ehh I had an understanding with the apartment spiders. As I do now with my current spiders. Don't touch me, and you're my bro. Touch me and you die. For the most part it's worked out.
>>1189841
I just bottled my first mead, actually. Working on another as we speak (on saturday it will be ready to be racked). The most basic recipe for mead I can give you is:
Mix some honey (2-3 pounds per gallon depending on how sweet you want your mead to end up)
With some water (enough to bring the total volume to what you want)
Shake the fuck out of it
Add some white wine or mead yeast
Shake the fuck out of it
Add some strawberries or something
Shake the fuck out of it
Add some yeast nutrient/energizer (wine stuff) if you don't want to wait forever
Wait a week anyway
Don't forget to shake the fuck out of it a few more times
After a week add some more of that wine stuff if you care (it comes with its own instructions)
Shake the fuck out of it.
Then let it sit until it hits a final gravity you want (or just wait until it starts to clear, 2 or 3 months tops, don't want those dead yeasts to ruin the flavor)
Bottle it, or put it into another carboy, I'm doing this with the strawberry melomel after 2 weeks (I'm making purely because those berries will get rank sooner rather than later)
Age
Bottle if you didn't before
Drink

I'm no expert on mead, but I did just drink a glass of green mead to see how it's going (probably good fuck if I know, this was just the last bit I couldn't put into a bottle).

>>1189842
Would I just mix all that good stuff in a special container? Or would a bucket suffice like I've been seeing in the thread?

>>1189861
Bucket with a hole drilled in it. Slap a stopper/cork with a hole in that hole, put an airlock filled with whatever (sanitizer or vodka, or water, it doesn't matter). That's if you want to get fancy.

Get a lot of plastic wrap (layer that shit), and tie it down with a rubber band or something. That's if you want something that involves less stuff you probably have to buy.

The bucket should be food grade. If you want a middle ground, a nice 1 gallon container to start off with. Get a jug of carlo or some other shitty jug wine (of the 4L/gallon variety). Chug that, or cook with it, or pour it into your neighbor's window if they leave it open. Get a stopper (i think it's type 6, look it up you'll find it quicker than my far too drunk ass. Then get an airlock, they're cheap as fuck, or do the whole plastic wrap thing, burt with less. Sanitize it, with starsan (lasts a while, if you get into the hobby a bottle of this will last a good deal, if you're still iffy just wash with water and put in our oven for a bit, low temp like 300F or so, then let it cool slowly. For the plasic deal you'll want sanitizer, no scrubbing there, you scrub you ruin. Get some no fragrance oxyclean or just the base chemical that's made of. Let the dirty soak. Then rinse the shit out of it once it's been resting for a few hours.

>>1184112
Realistically if you use the bread yeast you'll most likely get some bread like flavors, and max your alcohol at around 9-10% try using champagne yeast instead.

>>1185164
Well it's a temporary solution if you're completely out of sanitizer and need something for a quick fix. However you need to make sure you rinse extremely well.

Anyone who makes sugar washes and grain mashes, I recommend using the lees left by your grain mash for fermenting the sugar wash. I had my sugar washes finish under 1 week with this method.

>>1186897
You can do it with juice from eating apples; it just ends up more sweet, mostly.

Cider is a farmers drink, made from whatever apples they had on the farm. There's no need to overthink it.

>>1184811
apart from what others have said I do the following to improve clarity in my beer. I do mainly West Coast USA IPAs from extract kits
1. add a 0.5 to 1 whirfloc tablet in last 10 minutes of boil
2. Try to prevent as much sludge from getting into your fermenter (i use a sanitized strainer)
3. rack to secondary fermenter
4. cold crash (get temp as close to freezing without actually freezing) for at least a day or two before bottling/kegging.

More explanation on above steps if you don't understand the purpose or for anyone else that may have questions. I've only been doing this since last August with 6 brews so far, so If i'm wrong feel free to correct me.

1. I have never used irish moss but as far as I understand it works similar to whirfloc tablets in that it has a + charge and attracts all the - charged particles. Making them combine and increase in weight and sink to the bottom so less ends up in your fermenter/end product.

2. Pretty clear. Less stuff in your fermenter = less stuff to cloud your beer

3. Racking (transferring) your brew to a secondary fermenter will further clarify your beer by separating a large portion of the yeast and other brew ingredients which should have gathered at the bottom by this time. Also ages your beer.

4. Cold crashing will make all the sediment and floaties sink to the bottom so it doesn't end up in your end product. I made a keezer and I use it for cold crashing my beer.

another step that i myself have only tried once is creating a whirlpool in your boil kettle (after the wort has cooled). This is supposed to make all the particles bunch up together in the middle of the kettle so you can pour your wort with less particles into your fermenter. When I tried this I failed miserably and I had to strain it out later anyway.

>>1189670
What was your recipe?
I saw your posts and tried something similar, and it turned out great, best brew I've ever made by far, going to make another batch soon, but it turned out much redder than yours, yours is really brown

I just threw like 6kg of blackberries and 3,5kg of honey in to a bucket with 20l of water, then let it go for a week and a half, then sifted it in to a glass carboy and added another kg of honey, then let it go for 2 more months before I racked it

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>>1189814
Brew Strong.

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>>1189957
Awesome, well I'm American so I used 12 lb of honey and about 4 1/2 lb of black berries. It took 2 months to ferment. Honestly my best batch was a pineapple and cranberry mix. Women love it and it's my highest ABV so far, I made a 6 gallon batch and it was at 16%. I love making mead.

>>1189957
I'm really happy it worked out for you.

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>>1190160
Lunch Meet

>>1190160
>im not saying it was aliens

>>1190181
I need more episodes. That was the one decent podcast from the brewing network.

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Just transferred my cheap-as-fuck cider from primary to secondary. Not adding anything, just hoping the slight yeasty taste will dissapear after a week or two.

Q: I cleaned my primary like ten times and theres no visible traces of yeast. still smells yeasty. Also cleaned with star san. Can I re use this for future brews?

Q: Are these containers air safe when I remove the airlock and screw the black top on?

What should i make next? I liked the cider i made

>>1190164
>pineapple and cranberry mix
with honey?

>>1190238
>Are these containers air safe
Looks like HDPE. Mediocre oxygen barrier, good for a few months but not years.

>>1190257
Cheers. Are they reusable?

>>1190265
>>1190257
>>1190238
They are fine for a one time use. I really don't recommend using them again due to wear. There's nothing like coming home to the smell of several gallons of alcohol on your floor, leaking to the floors below. That happened in my house with 6 gallons of banana wine. The HDPE container had an ever so slight crease forming on the bottom at a rounded corner and it eventually split and started leaking super slowly. Those containers look a bit sturdier at least.

Once you get some glass carboys, you'll wonder why you never got them sooner.

>>1190268
>Once you get some glass carboys, you'll wonder why you never got them sooner.
Glass is like a heavy and fragile version of PET.

>>1190249
All grain beer

>>1190270
Plastic is shit. Glass is superior for homebrewing scale. Stop being a limp-wristed faggot with butterfingers.

>>1190345
I don't brew anything that needs decades of aging so plastic works perfectly.

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>>1190255

For it to be a mead you have to use honey so yeah. I just used cranberry juice instead of water so it adds to the sugar which gives you more ethanol. The pineapple was more for acidity at first but then I just found the flavor to be awesome so I kept it. It was my favorite batch.

>>1190346
More like anything over a month. Enjoy your oxidation.

Was reading the big code thread at r/Homebrew and they reckon to get more sweetness on your cider, you add more juice and fruit in secondary, but then leave it in secondary for another 1-2 months. Can I ask why the yeast left in the secondary don't just metabolize all the new sugar and then leave you with something just as dry as you ended with in primary?

I'm not a huge homebrewery, so trying to expand my knowledge of basic concepts so I know where to experiment.

>>1190475
*Cider thread

>>1190475
Depends on what yeast strain you are using. By that point your yeast aren't as healthy and it's harder due to all the stress the alcohol and CO2 put on their cell membrane. You'd have to pitch the right amount of yeast using a starter, have the right amount of oxygen to aerate the wort, and increase the temp during secondary.

>>1190486
At 1-2 months secondary you'd be better off adding cask conditioning yeast for a dry profile.

>>1190386
PET is much better at blocking oxygen than HDPE or PP. I know what oxidation tastes like (from leaving bottles half finished and drinking the rest later). It doesn't happen with airlocked/sealed PET bottles.

Bought some cider that had a tiny bit of sediment in the bottom, that overcarbed the bottles and some of them are starting to pop. They have all become super dry. This isn't normally a problem for this brewery, and the cider is normally a bit sweeter. I'm thinking that maybe it was a yeast infection due to a step being missed or rushed in production. Any way I could save some of the sediment and grow a yeast starter out of it?

>>1190581
Yes. But it could be a differnt yeast than what they used to ferment with.

>>1190585
Hmm I hadn't thought of that, that it was just contamination. I had thought more along the lines of improper preservative treatment or filtering.

Any way of telling if they pump co2 into the bottles to carb or if the carb using yeast? That would give me an idea of whether it's anywhere near close to their fermenting yeast colonies.

>>1190589
>Any way of telling if they pump co2 into the bottles to carb or if the carb using yeast?
I've never seen a bottle conditioned drink that wasn't labeled in some way.

>>1190597
This. Plus some brewerys use a different strain of yeast for bottle conditioning as noted anon said here >>1190585.

>>1190581
Maybe you should contact the brewery and ask some questions. No brewery eants to put out bad product.
Maybe

Cheap as fuck cider guy here. First time brewing so no hydrometer or any fancy equipment.

I left the cider for two weeks in the carboy, switched to secondary fermenter and I plan on letting it sit for about a week. It's pretty clear but has a slight yeast taste that I would like to get rid of.

Now for the question of carbonation. When its done in the second fermenter, can I just add a couple teaspoons of sugar, remove airlock, seal it and it will carbonate nicely?

I'm not gonna bottle, I will just keep it in the 10l carboy and bring to some hillbilly party.

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>>1190383
>I just used cranberry juice instead of water
I would have never thought of that
sounds like the flavor would be too intense with no water but if women like it I guess not
I have a pineapple wine that turned out okay (a little mild) where I just put in pineapples and water, it's a very good fruit to work with because of how sweet it is and because of how insanely cheap it is in a can
cranberry juice in stead of water might be really good and may give it the flavor I lacked, definitely want to work with pineapple again, think I'll do it with cranberries next time

>>1190865
>but has a slight yeast taste that I would like to get rid of.
campden tablets

>>1190865
>it will carbonate nicely
until it explodes because the container was not meant to hold pressure?

do not carbonate in just anything

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>driving by antique store
>see they got a new shipment of junk
>stop when I spy nearly a dozen gallon-size, glass jugs
>$10 for all of them
>wooo

Now I need to get another bottle brush.

>>1190865
>seal it and it will carbonate nicely?
>I'm not gonna bottle, I will just keep it in the 10l carboy

No! Those containers are not meant to hold pressure like a bottle does.

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should yeast still alice after the beer is ready to drink, I thought a goo litmus test was to see if the alcohol itself killed off the years, but i managed to catch these 4 guys still kind of clinging on.

>>1190918
It's called living beer for a reason. How else did you think bottle conditioning/aging worked?

>>1190669
I informed them, they sending me some free shit as a sorry and I gave them batch numbers for their QA guys.

>>1190926
>How else did you think bottle conditioning/aging worked?
no idea, just thought alcohol would kill everything save for things like protein encapsulated viruses.
I mean I read letting egg nog sit for several weeks after assing borubon or whiskey pasteurized it.

>>1190888
give me those jugs

Is an all rye beer possible?

>>1190972
Yes. But you will need heaps of rice hulls and have to do step mashing as it would be very "gelly"

>>1185279
Thanks a load anon

>>1183792
Thank you so much for this<3

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>>1190866
It definitely has a stronger flavor than the other meads i've made but everyone seems to like it. And Pineapple wines are amazing, the acidity makes it a great ingredient to work with.

Good luck on your next batch man, and have fun experimenting because that's half the fun.

>>1190866
>>I just used cranberry juice instead of water
>I would have never thought of that
Not him, but I use apple juice instead of water all the time.
My current batch is a bochet (boil the honey) with apple juice.
Technically, I used 3 gallons of Deep Park water with 12 "cans" of frozen concentrate.
I just took a sample last night with a wine thief, and it's pretty good so far.
Tonight I'll rack it and check the gravity.

When your doing oaking, and making your own oak chips or blocks, how do you judge toast level. Every recipe says shit like "medium toast" which doesn't help. I tried toasting some wood (manuka), that should work fine and annecdotally is good, but it still tastes really Woody. I'm pretty sure I didn't toast it enough, but not sure how to judge what's too much and what's not enough. Also is there ways to do small batch tests? I'm worried I won't get the right flavours for a test if I just use small amounts of liquid.

why are wooden barrels so expensive

>>1191675
Hardwood is expensive. Barrels are difficult to make correctly to perform well for that specific task.

>>1191675

when's the last time you met a cooper

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It's not the best, but it's mine.

>>1191791
Why did Ryan fill that bottle with piss and jizz?

>>1191791
how do you make labels Ryan?

>>1191904
libre office label format
or is that rhetorical ?

>>1191820
no jizz, just piss

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I just made my first hobo wine. I'm drinking it tonight. I sure hope it's good because I've got over a gallon more of it

>>1191791
Don't down your product.

>>1183719
I left some apple juice out for 2 months. About a third gallon in a one gallon jug. I burped it once a day. I didn't purposefully set out to make anything, I just left it out by accident for too long and decided to go on with it after it started building pressure. It's stopped bubbling and making pressure and I sealed it up and stuck it in the fridge about 2 months ago for a friend thsts into this sorta thing. Will I die if I drink any or is it good to go?

>tfw haven't bottled up a brew as the thought of washing all the bottles is disheartening

Its been cold crashed and ready to go for 2 weeks so far.

>>1192035
smell it

it might have gone to vinegar

>>1192094
KEGS!

>>1192094
Take bottle after you drink from it and rinse with water, then leave it in a cabinet until needed. Dunk what you need in a bucket of sanitizer and let sit for a bit. Pour out and quick rinse with remainder of bucket solution.

What's hard about that?

I have two glass gallon carboys and airlocks for each. I bought some brewer's yeast. I cleaned the old glass with bleach, and then with two separate washes with dishsoap. What I want to do next is make a batch of mead and plum wine/brandy.

Is my glass adequately clean, and how do I begin this first batch fermentation? I want to make sure I get this reasonably right. How much honey/plums should I use?

>>1192109
>dishsoap
you dun goofed son

never use soap as it can leave residue; about 1TBL of bleach/gal of water, and minimum 3 rinses with water is sufficient

>>1192109
>I cleaned the old glass with bleach, and then with two separate washes with dishsoap
You should use the soap first. Bleach doesn't clean, it only sanitizes. It won't kill germs that are hiding inside dirt, so you need to remove the dirt first. And bleach rinses easily without soap.

>>1192112
>never use soap as it can leave residue
I use dish washing detergent all the time. Rinse it thoroughly and the residue is gone. It doesn't harm the flavor at all.

>>1192108
I always rinse after emptying the bottles but still wash every one with a sodium percarbonate solution, then sanitize before reuse.

So I can just rinse after emptying, recap (I use swing tops) and just sanitize them before reuse again? Wouldn't there be some residue that could possibly cause an infection?

>>1192112
What's the point in sanitizing with bleach if you then rinse with water? Back to square one with an unsanitized container.

>>1192134
unless you're in a 3rd world country, there is nothing wrong with tap water

>>1192132
I'll use percarbonate too if I can't get to cleaning the bottles immediately after drinking. If you want to be super safe by all means don't stop.

You take a risk sure, I suppose. All I can say is that I've yet to have an issue, and worse case any issues will be bottle local.

>>1192135
Then there is no need for bleach

>>1192141
water does not kill bacteria

>>1192143
Rinsing with water after sanitizing is ineffective and leads to infections.

>>1192156
complete bs

>>1192156
I've made probably about 50 batches in my lifetime and lost exactly 0 to infection. Every one was rinsed with unboiled/unpasteurized tap water, and most of them topped up with the same tap water too. I've also used unboiled/unpasteurized fruit and honey. You're not sterilizing, you're only sanitizing. So long as you kill most of the bacteria the yeast will out-compete the rest.

>>1192160
The only bs is sanitizing, only to rinse it with unsantized liquid. Dumbest thing ever, I'd bet those are shit after a year of aging.

Starsan and idophor is cheap and no rinse safe.

>>1192169
>>1192156
>>1192135
>>1192141
You rinse with BOILED water after sanitation.

>>1192169
for home consumption within a few months is probably fine with bleach. but I'd certainly use starsan for competitions and long aging

>>1192177
This reminds me. Has anyone here ever competed before? What were your experiences? What would you recommend to someone who would one day like to compete?

>>1192181
I only entered competitions so I could get feedback on my beers and what to change to make them better.
Plenty of utter shit gets entered, so just have a go m8.

Use new bottles, no-rinse sanitize and cap on foam.

So I've just learned that whitelabs packs contain the actual yeast in a second internal bag encased in a small amount of fluid.

What did I just pour into my beer?

>>1192246
My ass j00ce bruh! LMBOOOOO!!!!!

>>1192169
where do you live that the water is not treated?

>>1192406
Domestic water is going to vary a lot. What works fine in you're area may not in others. Those who's water is from rivers may seen swings in mineral content, chlorination etc. throughout the year. All domestic water is clean and safe to drink, but maybe not be safe enough to ferment with.

>>1185279
thx anon

>>1192427
unless it tastes bad and or is high in chlorine, there is no reason it would be in any way unsafe to use

>>1192437
cryptosporidium

>>1192453
paranoia

I bet you plebs dont even 3 stage filter your water.

What do you guys think of the idea of using sand to abrade clean the inside of vessels?

My father told me of this trick they used to use in the boyscouts when they had burnt on gunk stuck on the inside of big pots and whatnot. They'd throw some sand in it, just enough water to get it wet and moving, and then just agitate the fuck out of it. Apparently, the movement of the sand against itself and against the walls of the vessel would scour it clean. Might this be a more thorough way to scour the inside of large glass vessels than a bottle brush?

>>1192478
Just soak with sodium percarbonate and TSP90. Or if you have the money, use PBW.

>>1192478
that is likely a terrible idea

doing that would create tiny scratches inside that could harbor bacteria

Anyone have any good websites with guides for making stills?

>>1192484
Do bottle-brushes not do the same?

>>1191576
No one has any thoughts? Interested to see if anyone else found sources for working out toast level.

>>1192514
not saying that isn't a possibility, but something like sand would be a heck of a lot more abrasive

soak with a cleaner meant for brewing and then go at it with a brush

>clean my little brown keg that I havn't used in a while.
>Put yeast, and apple juice in it for a simple cider.
>it starts pissing.
>It's seam got fucked.
>after 3 batches.
Mr beer is sending me a new one, thank goodness and a free refill.

>>1192478
don't fucking put sand in there
>>1192484
this guy is right

for big pots made out of steel or iron it might be fine but that would be hell on glass
bottle brushes are made of rubber or plastic or something, either way it's a lot softer than glass, sand is literally tiny little rocks

if you have residue in your glasses just poor some undiluted bleach or chlorine in there and leave it in for an hour or so, I got a bunch of old bottles from an old house that had been reclaimed by nature, the bottles had this thick brown stuff right under the curve that I couldn't get off with a brush and pure chlorine solved that shit right out

>>1192468
I 2 stage filter. Carbon then 2micron mechanical. Crypto isnt a worry so no 0.5 micron needed.

You guys ever hear of Pursue disinfectant?

My buddy swears by the stuff, says it'd be better than StarSan. I get real leery of big claims like that, though. Any of you know if it's on the level and is actually decent to use for sanitizing stuff?

>>1192575
http://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/95-PURSUEDisinfectantCleaner

Sounds like something I don't want in my beer.

>>1192577
Eurgh. That doesn't sound inviting.

Shit, now I gotta break it to him that his favorite cleaner's toxic.

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Anyone like my still i set up to run corn mash through?

>>1183783
Good stuff, little guys making me a lot of yogurt after having just got sum about a week ago, and their already growing fat, might have to start giving them away to friends who want them or eat them. Have not been disappointed and doubt I will.

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>>1192590

>>1192484
Use table salt in saturated brine instead. It's softer than sand and won't harm the glass.

Anyone else find EC-1118 removes color from cider? I have a batch almost done and it's noticeably paler than with K1V-1116, and the yeast is darker. It looks like whatever causes the apple color stuck to the yeast.

So what's the best recipe for some mullberries I found in the alley out back wine?

>>1193320
Yeast variety real can affect color. I found this paper:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10694032_Adsorption_of_Anthocyanins_by_Yeast_Cell_Walls_during_the_Fermentation_of_Red_Wines

I assume the pigments in apple juice are similar.

Anyone had any experience pastuerizing Skeeter pee to make a sweet Carbonated version? Gonna give it a try, because the worst thing that happens is that I waste a bunch of caps and have to rack out if the bottles, chemical it up and then refill. Would love a fizzy sweet Skeeter pee in a bottle. Just coming into winter here so can get another batch or two done before summer.

Also anyone know how well it ages? Is it a drink within a month or 6 months or a year type thing?

>>1193643
I tried making a batch and didn't like it after pulling from secondary, it still had that young bite/hint of yeast to it. It's been in a keg the last couple of months, I might pull a sample this weekend and check it out. Kegs are cheap so why not just hit it with your usual preservative and force carb? you can make a ghetto bottle filler with a little teflon tape, #2 drilled stopper, and picnic tap. That's what I originally intended to do at least. If you pasteurize it you can't bottle condition anyway, unless you inoculate again, and I presume that is why you pasteurized anyway, to kill yeast. You can pick up 10, 25, or 100g of sucralose on ebay and try sweetening with that. That way you can treat it like beer. Ferment dry, sweeten, prime, bottle.

Following the recipe it is drinkable young but improvements are definitely noticed. I think it's because there is so much acid and sweet in it. Once you start straying that's when you need time for mellowing. It shouldn't need but 2 or 3 months at most though.

>>1192137
I have a old 35L fermenter that I am going to fill up with sodium perc solutuon and just throw my rinsed empties into, then when bottling day comes around all I will need to do is rinse them off with hot water and sanitize with starsan.

I don't know why I didn't think of that before.

>>1193650
For sweet carbonation I was gonna do the fill your bottles and one plastic, wait till the plastic is hard, pastuerize the rest of them.

Problem with kegs is that I thought you had to keep them cold and shit. I normally distill so not used to all the nuance of standard fermented shit and I'm not really a beer guy, so would have to enjoy it before I both buying into kegging.

my cider smells yeasty af after 2 weeks in primary and 1 week in secondary

why tho

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Would it be a bad idea to just store my finished brew in the (now thoroughly sterilized) plastic bottles which the original juice I used for it came in? Would they be less likely to remain shelf-stable in a screw-top plastic bottle?

I'll start out by saying I have zero experience.

Red raspberries will be coming in season soon where i live and I want to see if I could make some wine out of them. I've done some research and understand the basics, but I want some help to make sure I don't royally fuck this up.

List of shit I would like help with:

1. Best way to prepare the fruit.

2. Proper amount of ingredients for making a single gallon (starting small)

3. Explanation of second fermentation and what to expect if I try to do it.

4. When to rack and best ways to do so.

5. What yeast you would recommend. (I've read about different types and what they're best used for, but I want to know what you prefer to use.)

Try to explain it to me like I'm five. Like I said, I have no experience.

Thanks in advance for any help.

>>1194354
>1. Best way to prepare the fruit.

blend it in a blender and strain it through a fine sieve or if using a food grade bucket, blend or leave whole and put it into a bag made with cheese cloth, this way the wine is less cloudy

>2. Proper amount of ingredients for making a single gallon (starting small)

about a cup of sugar (maybe more but that's a good start), 1/5 of a packet of yeast (1pkt = 5 gallons, use about 1/2 TSP), add water till it is 2-3 inches from the top

>3. Explanation of second fermentation and what to expect if I try to do it.

you won't need to do anything else for wine

>4. When to rack and best ways to do so.

the easiest way is just to let it go till the bubbles stop, depends on taste, if you want it sweeter then stop earlier....alcohol content will also be lower

this is why it is good to have a hydrometer

>5. What yeast you would recommend. (I've read about different types and what they're best used for, but I want to know what you prefer to use.)

wine yeast, probably not champagne

get whatever you can for a reasonable price, experiment more later

>>1194373
Thanks. I'll have to blend the fruit since I don't have a food grade bucket. Also, is it a good idea to rack multiple times, or will just one and done be ok?

>>1194386
once should probably be fine, but you can always do it again if there is a lot of sediment

>>1194387
I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again for the help.

>>1192002
gonna wanna mix it with something, my man. Pretend you're a college girl drinking for the first time because it aint fucking pleasant.

>>1194354
>List of shit I would like help with:
>1. Best way to prepare the fruit.
just fucking mash that shit up my dude, doesn't matter how you get it done
I do it in a blender along with whichever liquid I'm throwing in there
>2. Proper amount of ingredients for making a single gallon (starting small)
I'd say for one gallon use about 4 pounds of berries
maybe half a kilogram of sugar
the more sugar you add the higher the percentage it will be, and obviously the sweeter it will be, which is generally preferable in my opinion
>3. Explanation of second fermentation and what to expect if I try to do it.
what? you mean like aging the wine? just put it in the bottle and let it sit for 6 months is what I do
if you mean sifting the wine off the fruit you should do that after about a week after
>4. When to rack and best ways to do so.
after you've sifted the fruit from the wine you should let it go for about 2 months before you rack it, more doesn't hurt, but I don't really like to let it "finish" fermenting because that makes it bitter, there should be some sugar that's uneaten
racking is best done with one of those tubes that you suck on to make it flow, don't know what it's called in english
>5. What yeast you would recommend. (I've read about different types and what they're best used for, but I want to know what you prefer to use.)
again I don't know what it's called in english - in my language it's just called hot wine yeast, which becomes fortified wine yeast in google translate but I don't think that's right

so my first mead attempt the airlock wouldn't bubble, read that apparently adding raisins seems to fix this within 48 hours,
it started bubbling within the hour i added the raisins,
was it suppose to work this fast?

>>1194837
oxygen from opening the container probably activated the yeast

>>1194863
also how you use the raisins is by putting them in a sealed bottle along with some yeast and sugar to start a culture a couple of days before you set your batch, so that you can just pour that shit in there and have an already active yeast in your batch from minute one

I don't think throwing raisins directly in to a fermenting batch would do much at all

How do you guys oxygenate your brews?

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Is it possible to pour out of a 6-gallon fermenter without spilling everywhere, or would it be in my best interest to actually go through the rigamarole of cleaning and sterilizing my siphoning stuff for the job?

>>1194921

I used to have to fill 8oz containers from a 5gal bucket because my boss was too cheap to buy a funnel, if you keep your hands steady you get good at it

>>1194921
if you're racking then siphoning is better because that way you don't disturb any of the sediment in the bottom
if you're just sifting it or changing containers then by all means pour it, shouldn't be that hard if you're of normal male strenght

>>1194921
are you just dumping or drinking it? If you plan on drinking it, you will probably oxidize you brew.

>>1194921
Oxygenation is bad. If it's leaving the fermenter, you should be trying to avoid oxygenating it as much as possible.

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>>1194921
Why not use fermenters with a tap at the bottom?

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>>1194966

>>1194954
Oxygenation before pitching yeast is good.

>>1194968
>>1194967
>>1194966
>>1194954
>>1194943
>>1194938
>>1194926
Oh, jeez. It's like everybody replied the moment I decided to stop waiting for replies and go do it. I ended up breaking out the siphon for it- I figured I shouldn't trust my strength to lift it and hold it steady because I'm essentially a spooky skeleton man. I was transferring from secondary to the sterilized secondhand bottles I'd repaired. Thank you all for your advice, though!

That said; I seem to have completed my first brew. It tastes wickedly strong and burns all the way down, like... I don't know, weaker whiskey made from apples. I think it's around 16-18%. Now to decide whether I should do anything extra, like backsweeten it with something--it -is- rather flat--and/or freeze it into applejack.

>>1194976
Er, prepared, rather. Not repaired. I probably should have eaten something before trying some of it. Boy that was stronger that I thought it'd be. Shit.

>>1194982
>not even 30%
>strong

and I don't even drink that much alcohol

Have a batch of cider that's done fermenting soon and I wanna change it up, what flavours can I add while it's aging?
I have six 1 gallon jars, think I'm gonna try one with vanilla, one with cinnamon, one with peach etc.

>>1195026
sounds interesting, make sure to report the outcome here

>>1194982
What, are you used to two percent low carb beer or some shit? There is no way, 16% tastes anything like whiskey. There is zero alcohol "burn" at 16%.

>>1195041
Huh. Now I'm worried. I wonder if there could be some other reason it burns...? It can't be stronger than 18%, since that's the ceiling on Lavlin EC-1118, right?

It's not that I'm used to light beer or something, so much as the fact that due to various medical reasons I have a vastly reduced tolerance. I'm a two-beer date, pretty much. What might be a little bit of a dodgy night for some might actually put me in the hospital. Means this batch is going to go a loooooooong way, on the bright side.

>>1195041
Yes, there can be alcohol burn from low % brews due to esters and fusel alcohol produced from fermenting at high temps.

>>1195065
What temp did you ferment at? 18c is the sweet spot for that yeast.

>>1195068
More like 24-26, desu. I live in the tropics, so...

>>1195070
Most prob hot fusel alchol from high ferment temp. Time will help, just let it age a while.

>>1195072
Okay, thanks! I don't mind leaving it laying about to age in the bottles for a while. How long d'you think would do it?

>>1195073
Months

Currently freezing some cider I made, hoping to applejack it. Wish my luck, anons.

>>1195080
Is that sort of "hot fusel alcohol" dangerous to imbibe?

>>1195098
What is the ABV of applejack? Would it be considered a spirit?

>>1195041
>>1195018

>lol look at me I'm such an alchie!
>BRAAAAP

you literally don't have a leg to stand on if you're actually trying to admit that you can't taste or recognize low amounts of alcohol

>>1195197
Some people just don't possess a palette and can't train it no matter how hard they try. That's why so few people are beer/winefags, they just can't perceive what we are talking about. They might get some vague sweet or bitter, but any talk of acid or alcohol and they become confused. This is also why artwork is so important, when you sell something tasty to people who can't taste you are selling the art of image behind the product.

>>1195197
>>1195197
knowing that something in the 15% range is not very "strong" doesn't mean people cannot taste the alcohol

What's the easiest homebrew?

>>1195282
read the goddamn thread

>>1195261
It means they don't know anything about style. What the fuck kind of cider is 15% considered normal? Some styles of beer are too alcoholic at 6%.

>>1195282
SMASH, single malt and single hop. It's a good way for getting an idea how each ingredient contributes to the brew so there is value beyond money and ease. Just pick your two ingredients, plug into calculator, and have at it. It shouldn't come out bad, and if you love it you have a base on which to start developing a recipe.

>>1195282
ur mum

>>1195158
No. Just unpleasant.

>>1195177
No idea, don't got a hyrometer.

>tfw smashed off of a snigle giant glass of applejack
I love you, /diy/

>>1195197
Is this wine or grape juice , who knows. Can't taste anything under 30%

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Does someone know how do make maltbeer ? or children beer ?

Is this legit? http://www.makemead.net/easy-bread-yeast-mead-recipe.aspx
How can I sanitize my equiptment?

>>1195587
I've never really looked into it before but I guess you could do like the home soda guys. Brew a low gravity cream ale or generic lager, ferment a day or two to carb, then bring temps down as low as possible to halt fermentation. If you wanted to get fancy you could filter, stabilize, and force carb.

Kvass might be fun to try and a little easier.

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Anon from a couple threads ago with the plastic e-brew kettle build. Things have been slow with school, work, and changing jobs but I finally fixed all the leaks and wired an element up. It is currently heating to see how it holds a boil.

I used a 14gallon HDPE drum, 0.5" locknut and gasket, nipple, washer, 90* elbow, and ball valve installed on bottom. Above where valve stick out is thermometer with two gaskets and locknut. 1500w element and 1"NPS locknut on back, opposite side of thermometer, gaskets on each side. The 5500w element I installed on the seam figuring it is strongest, however it only fit one gasket on the outside and was a real bitch to get tightened. I wired the cables straight on the plug, 1500w ends in 5-15p, 5500w ends in dryer plug. I made an adapter between dryer receptacle and 5-15p where I simply swapped hot leg 2 for neutral.

Looking back I'd have changed a few things, bottom valve really needs two gaskets, I had hoped a washer would be enough as I somehow forgot to order the second with it. big element should not have been on the seam. Strain relief on cable is still a concern but I plan to fix it to the support stand and that should work well enough to prevent any accidents. Pictures to come once it's finished, currently looks kind of redneck darwin awardy. All that is left is wiring the 1500w, wrapping in Reflectix, and somehow fixing a stand to it that allows me to operate the valve handle and cord strain relief. BIAB NEIPA planned for next weekend.

>>1195600
B L E A C H
or if you can get it
S T A R S A N

>>1195699
You worried about boiling in HDPE? I'd be worried about the whole thing either getting soft and slumping over, or leaching shit into the liquid.

>>1195852
I found out that's how a lot of bongs and aussies are doing it so I looked into the matter more. After my reading I couldn't find much reason for concern if the previous contents were food safe. We ferment in HDPE afterall. Slumping is a problem on the thinner buckets but not this. After bringing to a boil I didn't notice any, but I only lifted a little to check. I'm not going to OHP a redneck'd drum of boiling water. It's very thick so softening shouldn't be a problem either. Maybe it could fail if continuously held at high temps but it should handle a 60 minute boil just fine.

It's mostly a prototype, once I'm settled in I want to try and get my hands on polypropylene. That will be even more robust. At the least it's been a learning experience. It was easier than I expected. Should I decide on steel later on it will be no problem using triclamp fittings. At this point it's a because I can type deal. Plastic is futuristic space man shit. Nothing against the stainless fetishists, it's just a different aesthetic. I want to say I'm just poor but the savings aren't much if any once you consider labor and everything.

>>1195871
Best bet is to buy the pot and burner when Turkey season hits, they are cheap then.

>>1195871
Fair enough. When I look at this hobby though, all the labour gets paid for in "fun", so the diy aspect I dont feel like it's costing me. I might take a look at this, because money saved on that is more money put elsewhere.

>>1195981
I like to search craigslist a couple times per week looking for steals. Freezers, bottles, kegs, and pots. My best haul was getting 9+ cases of 12oz beer bottles >for free. I really like those Brew Hardware(or is it brewers hardware?) 20 gallon pots if I can get a virgin one. I want to put my own holes in her then solder my own fittings. I don't like their placements. Propane is cool but kind of a pain in the ass.

>>1195982
I have lots of ideas on how I'd improve but I'll need to experiment more.I haven't yet brewed but boil test went great. Getting all the little parts I needed meant multiple orders, I'd love to put together kits and sell but it's such a niche thing I can't imagine demand is enough that I could supply parts for cheap and still make a profit. If the customer is anything like me they autistically choose parts exactingly so it would mean a generic kit with drop down selection boxes and then option to add additional things.

It was a lot fun as it's my first 'big' diy. If you're considering I'd look locally for drums first. I see 55 and 30 gallon drums on craigslist under $20 all the time. I wound up with the barrel shaped 14 gallon open head drum, but a 15 or 20 gallon closed head drum could work too, as would a 15 gallon angle side open head drum. Make sure to find out what was inside it before buying used. General rule with HDPE is red and yellow could have nasty pigments, blue and natural tend to be safer. I now wish I'd have used some kind of enclosure; gang box, rx bottle, something with better strain relief and water proofing. Even though it's not much of a conductor there is a lot of radiant heat loss, and especially at the top. Some kind of insulation is needed.

>>1195981
ok so if I was looking to update my in apartment set up to an on porch one, I should buy a turkey pot and burner (biab)? I've been wondering how to judge burners.

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Blueberry and cherry juice are on sale at the grocery store, could I do pic related with those juices instead of apple?

>>1196203
Check the preservatives. Ascorbic acid is fine. Benzoate, sorbate, or sulfite is going to give problems. I don't like adding too much sugar as I prefer mine around 9%abv and slightly dry. You can math out grams sugar/L to estimate abv if you don't have hydrometer. Sometimes my Blueberry goes without a hitch, others it wants to stall. I suspect pH but I don't have testing equipment yet. Is this straight juice or a blend? For cider I use ale yeast but I'd think wine yeast better for blueberry or cherry,though I havent experimented enough to give a suggestion. Ec1118 has been a good performer for me and it's cheap/easy to source.

Damn, in all my years of being on 4chan I never thought to check /diy/ for homebrew threads, I always relied on the /ck/ threads that died rather quickly.

I started brewing 2 months ago and I've already made 3 5.25 gallon batches, I'm addicted. I've even planted 3 different hops plants out in my yard. Looking forward to making some cider for the first time this autumn as well, with apples from my own trees.

>>1196415

>>1183792
>>1185279

>>1196415
What is your setup? BIAB, 2V, 3V?

I don't suppose anyone has a copy of just the recipes inside of "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation" do they?

I have various poisonous flowers and want to know if they'd make "good" beer additives.

>>1196636
I doubt they'd make good beer, they might make good poison though.
If you look at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruit
All the plants listed are non-toxic traditional medicinal plants.

>>1195282
It's wine. Wine has a high percentage of alcohol, so if you're a bit sloppy with your cleaning it doesn't affect the result as much as it would if you were sloppy with cleaning when doing beer.

>>1197090
Not if the yeast cannot out breed the infections.

I just hydrometer'd the bottom gunk after I sifted my wine and it said it was at around 11% which seems kind of high considering how slowly it's been bubbling and how much sugar is still in it (I can smell the sugar it is still wayyyy too sweet I'm going to have to let it go for nother month at least)
is the sediments at the bottom generally higher than the rest of the wine because there is no way it is 11%

>>1197155
Hydrometers measure gravity, which is how many particles are suspended in solution. Your sediment will be a really high gravity, because it's a sludge. I don't know how you are measuring 11% using a hydrometers in sludge. Abv is calculated when you take the original specific gravity (because it has fermentable sugars suspended in in), and the final gravity (which should have very few fermentable sugars in it). So you want something under 1 for a dry wine, normally around 0.995. I'm assuming your sludge would be even higher than your starting gravity, which tells you you are measuring it wrong.

>>1196582
I only just started, I've done 2 extracts and 1 BIAB. Brew in a bag is probably as sophisticated as I'll get, even the cheapest extracts taste better than most beer I can buy where I live.

>>1197096
there are literally billions of yeast in that competition.

>>1197090
Not really. You dont start with alcohol, so that point is moot.

>>1197090
Cleaning is more important with wine. You don't boil must like you do with wort, so your starting solution isn't even sterile like it is with beer. Also because you typically leave wine to age for longer than beer there is more time for the slowly metabolising spoilage bacteria to develop and it is harder for the yeast to establish a total colonisation in the first place.

> killed yeast too soon on first brew and beer became non alcoholic
> killed yeast and turned apple cider into apple wine on second brew
> made a delicious saison with no faults on third brew
things are looking up
think I'll make a shandy or Skeeter Pee this time