Homebrewen

Id move it to a clean demijohn at tjis point and let it go through secondry fermentation. Long fermentation times are completely normal, so don't worry the longer it takes the better it will be in the end.

Also after its all bottled I recommendletting it mature for as long as you can stave off drinking it for, mead is fantastic matured.

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>>866539
I'm trying to brew my own mead too, cheap equipment as I'm keeping it real yo (It's my first try and wasn't sure what to buy)

Fourth day and I see almost nothing, not much bubbling, and just a disperse little bit of foam on the surface, how long does it take for the fermentation to be noticeable?

Honey and yeast?

>>866586
If you're doing just honey and yeast in that thing you're going to have a hard time without some yeast nutrient. Besides, all the yeast would fall to the bottom anyway and you'd have to somehow not shake it all up in such a small container.

You could try again if you want to do a bottle batch, only add more things. Dump out 1/4th of the water and fill it with lots of honey, 25 raisins, a single whole clove, a cinnamon stick, some nutmeg and all spice, and some Frenchman yeast. (or maybe even red*star.) Also consider having some kind of water barrier for your bubbler. You don't want bugs and too much air getting back in.

>>866609
OP here
"mixed" honey. my favourite kind, i don't like the ones made only from one kind of flower.
yeast is good for all kind of fruits.
a strong one according to the shop keeper guy and it does not need any nutrient.

>>866518
What temperature are you fermenting this mead at? If it gets too cold, yeast go dormant and that obviously halts fermentation. Regardless, you're probably fine unless you did a shitty job sanitizing. Either way there isn't much you can do about it at this point so just be patient.

>>866586
With a healthy pitch fermentation usually begins in under 24 hours. What kind of yeast did you use? Did you make a starter? If it looks like that after 4 days, you might need to re-pitch.

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>>866618
Thanks, will try some of that. I do have a filter though, the plastic tube has water at the bottom, so gases only go outwards, the balloons are there just to secure the tightness of the bottle-tube connection

>>866675
First pic was a day from the start, this is day fourth. Now I can clearly see more foam, so I'm leaving it over the weekend and re-start on monday with some raisins and fruits and more honey concentration if there's no evident progress.
I'm not in america, so brand names tell me nothing, I'm using some natural yeast from a hippie store, it says it's just beer yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

What do you mean by starter, like some initial food for the yeast?
Didn't do anything, should I have?

>>866818
If you're using brewers yeast from health store...in USA that's meant to be eaten, it contains no active yeast. Check yer package.

>>866954
Uuuh yes, I think it was meant to be eaten.
But It's still the same fungus right? I don't know why it shouldn't eat sugar and shit alcohol and co2. I guess the active yeast will be more efficient or whatever, do you think mine won't be capable of fermentation, given enough time... ?

>>866618

grocery store bread yeast tastes like crap in beer. not sure about mead... check w a homebrew site for the correct stuff.

>>866954
just like cats or dogs, there is all different varieties.

Mead seems to be fine with bread yeast, just need to let it ripe for at least 6 months from what I've read. Get some proper yeast of you want proper results though.

I don't know why so many first timers try baker's yeast. I get that it is readily available if you don't have a brew shop around. That being said, probably the best yeast for a honey only mead is Lalvin D47, which usually cost $1 per pack at most places I've been. No one has ever used brewer's yeast in the brewing of anything and been like "Wow, this is an exceptional beer/mead/spirit."
Also, honey is nutrient poor, unless its unfiltered. It does not have enough nitrogen sources for yeast to be happy. If you are trying to keep it on the cheap, literally 1/2 c of raisins or dried fruit per 5 gal will provide all the nutrient you will need (also, raisins provide a little bit of tannin to balance the sweetness).

>>867082
Eh, I'd get some proper yeast. The longer it stalls, the more chances some other bacteria will establish itself and screw things up.
If you can find a real brew shop, get your hands on Nottingham yeast. Its a bit pricey ($4-5) at some places, but that strain is a juggernaught and can whip most stalled brew's into line. Also, nab a $2 bottle of yeast nutrient while you are there. I understand trying to keep things of the cheap, but when it comes to brewing, skimping on the yeast/hops/nutrients is the worst call. The sugar you use is usually the biggest cost and you can always go cheap on sugars without impacting flavor (within reason).

>>867082
All yeast does eat sugar and shit EtOH and CO2, but different strains produce various secondary chemicals that impact flavor.
Things like higher alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, and esters are produced as well and depending on the strain and the temperature of the fermentation, you will get different ratios and species of these chemicals that impact flavor and how long it takes for the brew to mature to something drinkable.
If you want to make sure the yeast are viable and ready to kick ass in you must, make a starter. Basically, pitch the yeast in a small volume of the must prior to adding it to the full batch. Some people make a starter the day before, some pitch the yeast an hour before they add it. I usually do the latter, by adding the yeast to 2 cups of warm water with 3 Tbls of honey and a pinch of yeast nutrient (5 raisins will work too). In 15-20 min, the starter should look foamy and cloudy, provided the yeast were not too old.

>>867638
First timers don't want good beer, they want to create alcohol from where there was none.

The second batch rarely uses bakers yest once one is hooked, as far as I can tell from my friends.

>>867082
That will not work. Contains no yeast, just yeast off products. Lots on vitamin b. get real yeast... Even bakers would be better.

>>867768
exactly how it was for me

Get a hydrometer to let you know if it's still fermenting. If you keep getting the same reading its done. When I made mead or seemed to take quite a while to ferment.

>>867884
Can you just wait for the bubbles to stop too?

>>867930
It worked for me so far. General rule is that if it bubbles less than once every 2 minutes it's ready to be bottled. None of my bottles have exploded thus far.

So, I am gonna go to University in England in a couple of weeks. More like two. Anyway, I want to start my homebrewing there, I have lurked and read into it a lot, but.

Are there any tips you can give me? Where to store it, for example, because I will have a shared kitchen. (but not a shared bathroom or room)

>>868303
Wait til you're 18.

The only conceivable reason you'd be homebrewing in halls is because you're underage.

I am 18. I turned 18 last month. I am seriously not underage, I just want to get into this hobby rather than wanting to do something illegal.

>>868323
is a reply to >>868320

>>867768
Nailed it. I started brewing in Poland seltzer bottles, and moved up to glass vases, with pickle jar air locks, to a 6.5 gal glass carboy that I love. Plus 4 or 5 1 gal jugs for take always and experiments.

Op, you have started a wonderful quest.

>>868303
Start with a kit or a cider like in the other thread. Start simple nd cheap, you can buy the bits and pieces as you need them - no need to have the fanciest kit. Remember this used to be made in caveman times

Do not underestimate how clean your equipment has to be

Keep a brew journal so you can remember and learn

>>868451
Thank you, I was expecting to get flamed and not anything constructive.

Any tips on how to clean the equipment or is it the typical soap and water?

>>868453
You'll want to check youtube guides, but disinfectant will be necessary. Bleach or Milton or Lye

>>866674
I have some Meade brewing for a while now. Unless you live in Minnesota tier winter your house should be warm enough

Is there a way to figure out whether my brew is finished fermenting without a hydrometer? I did read up there^ that when the bubbling starts slowing down its nearing the bottling stage, but what if its not bubbling at all? the first 3 or so days it was bubbling and there was a head on it. but its kinda just stopped and im only my 5th day of fermentation, I feel like I fucked something up tremendously. This is my first brew so i dont have any handy tools yet, could it be a tempature problem? because its quite warm indoors. I'm brewing a pale ale from an extract kit.

>>866675
>>866586
I started brewing mead again now, with 1,5 kg honey, 1 liter natural apple juice and 2 1/2 liters of water. Then I just put some dry baking yeast in there (10 g I think, for 500 g wheat), and shit got real after 6 hours, one day later and bubbles are coming up the airlock just a few seconds apart.

>>869748
Sometimes fermentation can be extremely rapid and finish faster than you would expect, however with Mead it is always good to give it extra time, usually two weeks.
Without a hydrometer its hard to tell if it's finished, or a stuck fermentation. I'd leave it for a bit still and just keep an eye on it. If you are worried and able give it another 5 days, rack into a secondary jug and then give it a few more weeks before bottling.
Mead just gets better and better with age, so its fine to play the waiting game.

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I'm just gonna tack onto this thread as well.

I wanna get into homebrewing cider and there was a cheap coopers homebrew kit available at Aldi so I picked it up. I'm a little confused though as it doesnt have the little glass "s" shaped airlock I'm familiar with from viewing homebrew threads on /diy/

Is this fermentation tank going to be suitable for what I want to do?

Wheres a good place to start brewing cider?

Pic related is my kit. (I'm currently brewing the Amber Ale can it came with just to get a feel for the process)

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>>870550

Pic related is my current brew.

Is it normal for the bubbles to be so thin? They were thick and yeasty a day ago.

I'm worried I've budged it and let some air in or something

>>870550
I don't remember as my brother was the one who did a coopers kit, but I think the lid seals well enough that it stays on, but not so well that it'll pop.

Don't worry about the head in my experience, with the kits just follow the instructions and get the basics down. Make sure to keep a diary and let us all know how it tastes!

>>867837
>>867640
>>867644

I didn't want to go shopping, so I added a fuckton of raisins and fermentation begun properly, so I'm still going with my shit tier yeast and my shit tier nutrients. Will see in about a month...

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Just got done doing mine today

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Brewed a sour last night based on a low hopped, low alpha acid Belgian kit from my LHBS, supplemented with white labs sour mix (Brettanomyces, Saccharomyces, and the bacterial strains Lactobacillus and Pediococcus).

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>>871475
We also pitched dreg from a bottle of Gueuze Fond Tradition and a bottle of Geuze Mariage Parfait.

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>>871476

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>>871478

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>>871479
OG was spot on, 1.050

>>871476
Everybody look out, the pros are in the house

>>871621
Hardly, it's just an extract kit

>>871241
Is that an aluminum pressure cooker? I recall being told to avoid those for home distillation...

>>870952
That's probably fine, but you're not using shit-tier yeast (that would be bread yeast,) you used no yeast.

The brewers / nutritional yeast you used is a dietary supplement for humans... it has as much yeast value as adding sand to your brew. I'd recommend giving it to a vegan friend, or adding it to tomato juice for added B vitamins.

>>871621
Pro compared to
>>866586

Just go to throw this in there for everyone, but don't underestimate the effects of temperature. I used to brew at room temp (75-80F) for most ales (naturally), ciders and meads. Most yeasts, with the exception of lager yeast, prefer 65-72F.
Just by switching to a lower ferment temp to hit this range, I saw a drastic improvement in my brews. They lost a lot of that "homebrew" off flavor and were much cleaner and crisp. Going above 75F tends to cause a bunch of unwanted products and higher alcohols that give off that funky flavor (most people don't mind, but if you want to up your game, try keeping the temp on the low end).

Rack the mead and get it off the lees.

That should stir it up a little and get it going again. It won't be anything like the first few days though but it will keep going like that for awhile.

Yeast is hardy. You know that thing how chemicals only kill 99.99% of bacteria? Same with yeast, within the same strain there can be yeast cells that die at low alcohol content but also some cells that can survive very very high content.

>>870550
Hah, I was going to buy that when I saw it in the catalogue. Im a first time brewer also but I thought it would be better to go aquire my own equipment than pay 60 dollars for their kit. I'm making a amber ale as well and I've only spent 20 bucks all up. Just bought the extract from the local grocers.

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>>866518
>mfw my thread is still up and the mead is still bubbling

How does /diy/ bottle their beer? I was on my first brew and ran out of bottles so I was forced to go down the street and buy regular PET soft drink bottles. Has anyone used any other mediums than glass beer bottles or plastic coke bottles to store their beer/brew?

>>872769

I TOLD YOU

>>871661

Just keep it off the lees if they start accumulating. Rack the first month, then every three months the first year, then every six months the next year or two, etc etc.

You'd be surprised how strong a drink yeast can make.

Give it a spoonful of sugar melted in with a little of your mead after a year to help it out.

>>872256

Yeah it did occur to me to be cheaper that way but I'm not at all confident with it yet and I didn't want to mess it up and discouraged from the whole thing.

At least this was I can follow the instructions really specifically for my first brew and start varying from there.

That was my logic anyway.

I bottled today and had a taste. I'm not a huge beer drinker but I really liked how it tasted so I'm feeling like I'll be a bit more confident next week and try to make a cider.

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Anyone ever made rice wine? I found some recipe but they seemed so conflicting. Some called for water to be added after 2-3 days of fermenting. Some didn't. Some called for more than 3 weeks of fermentation, some only a few days. Halp?

Pic related, my setup.

>>872769
She got killed in a vampire attack, hilarious.

>>868453
Homebrewer here, if you plan on doing this regularly, look up a product called Star-San, most homebrew and restaurant supply stores sell it. It's a food grade safe weak acid cleaner that is perfect for brewing equipment, carboys, etc...

Is it bad if I can smell the brew without opening the lid? Should I have done a better job sealing everything?

I have to get right next to it to smell though.

Anyone has a good cider recipe? I'll get a load of fresh apple juice soon

>>873065
Well first off you know how much capacity is in your setup, so you buy that many grolsch beers and drink that many grolsch beers, thus having enough beer space

Or you drink what's left over

>>874045
I'm doing 16l apple juice, 1 kg of brown sugar dissolved and 1 packet safbrew yeast. Gonna switch to e1118 next time for higher alcohol

This seems like a knowledgable group! Question from another noob- I'm using an extract kit from coopers, a stout. I can't remember when or how much dextrose to add. I seem to recall using about 100g of sugar as soon as i started fermentation, just after cooling the wort, and another 200g to prime it just before bottling. sound about right? thanks

>>871475
>>871476
Hah! Just bought ingredients for a sour myself! Same yeast, and I also picked up two of the same beers for dregs! Was planning on adding maltodextrin for some complex sugars for the yeast to chew on over the long fermentation (6 months - 1 year). Are you doing something simmilar? How long are you planning on fermenting? Secondary or just let it sit?

>>873065
I go to my local grocery store and buy cases of recycled bottles for the recycle value (~10c). Have to be thorough with the washing but very cheap, and I don't like putting my beer in plastic.

>>874525
No extra sugar and no secondary

>>874527
I'm a Grolsch man so don't have that problem

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Hey /diy/, is there any reason that this yeast says not to use an airlock?

Also could i potentially use a brita to get the yeasty pastey stuff (trub?) from the bottom of my bottle?

>>874698
>24 hour turbo yeast

Yeah, the Amazon reviews are saying that this stuff produce some really foul alcohol.

>>874698
I'm guessing it's because it's a very active yeast and its gonna clog up the airlock and blow the lid of your bucket.

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>>874786
Anyways use a blow off valve rather than an airlock when a beer has a lot of activity or krausen

>>868542
Never bleach. Never lye. Never milton. Go to a damn store, buy a damn book, and get some metabisulfite.

Or get poisoned by your own stupidity.

>>874943
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-3.html

With all due respect, what the fuck are you talking about

I use H2O2 and 90% alcohol for disinfection? Is it enough?

I'm starting my first batch of saké. It smells like yeast farts. Seams to be fermenting well though.

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Me and my father know about this field of wild hops that grow near our house, and he uses them to make homebrew beer.

I'm not much of a homebrewer, but I figured that you guys might be interested in some pics of the hops.

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>>875263
Another pic

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That shit looks like jenkem

>>875138
Does your beer suffer from infection?

If you're going to spend the money on honey, at least get a decent yeast. Mead is also the most forgiving about sanitation since honey is a natural antibacterial.

Depending on the flavor/abv; I like Montrachet, Lalvin EC-1118, and k1-v1116. You can get these from amazon if you don't have a local brew supply store.

Can anyone here give me some advice on how to clarifiy without fancy things??? Everyone says Irish moss this, Irish moss that.... I remember reading somewhere that non flavorised gelatin or even egg whites could be used to clarify home brewed beer, but i simply can't find clear instructions....

Do you guys have any tips on siphoning? I've read the process and it sounds like the easiest thing but when I try it I just ruin everything. I fill the hose with sanitized water and cover the end with my thumb, but it runs out the other side anyways. When I do get it going it runs up the racking cane then drops back down. I don't get a sustained flow. The only way I've gotten it to work is by using my mouth, which you aren't supposed to do. It's really stressful when you have all this beer and you're trying not to fuck it up and everything is going wrong on something that's supposed to be easy.

>>875445
I would definitely Not drink that yuck.

>>875834
You can get an auto-siphon and just be done with it. I just take a shot and then use my mouth, eh.

Can rice malt syrup be used to make a dry crisp beer like Asahi? Or do I just have to go out and buy their $60 kit for the malt extract to clone it.

>>875834
It's been a while since I've done it that way, but I think if you have a racking cane and hose, the water should basically just fill the hose part and not the cane part. If the beer doesn't get pulled all the way through then the hose is probably too short, or you didn't manage to fill it up enough with water. And obviously your fermentor needs to be placed higher than your bottling bucket.

Anyway, it's not really easy, it's kind of a pain in the ass, which is why everyone gets an autosiphon.

>>876216
If you want to make a drier beer from extract then you could substitute some % of malt extract for a more highly fermentable... fermentable. Like honey or corn sugar or rice extract/rice syrup or whatever. Also Asahi is a lager, so ideally you would get lager yeast and do a cold fermentation & lagering. That's the tricky part of making a beer like that, since you need some means to keep the fermentation at a constant cool temperature.

$60 (USD? for 5 gal?) sounds like way too much for any kind of ingredient kit, especially for something with as few ingredients as an Asahi clone would have.

>>876234
Thanks that was really helpful, Yeah I dunno I just happen to come across it on ebay for $60, I mean Ive heard of an asahi clone recipe floating around somewhere but it wasnt an extract recipe and im a totaly noob so that was out of question. I want to try something like this soon. If im going to brew something it might as well be something I enjoy.

>>875264
A lot of those hops are dead, when they turn brown they become useless.

>>876721
They tasted fine last year, aren't they supposed to turn brown when they dry?

>>876722
You'll lose a lot of taste if they turn too brown, so you'd have to use double to get the same flavours and aromas

>>876724
What's the best stage to harvest them, then? The hops are growing in several different stages, and we harvested the ones that were just starting to turn brown on the tips.

>>876726
Always difficult I would go just before they turn brown, as long as you rub them and you release the oils that give the smell it should be perfect

>>876730
They literally all had a fuckton of oil. Some so much so it looked like they were wet.

>>876733
Alwyas hard to tell without actually being able to touch and smell them.

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So I'm homebrewing some random shit in my dorm room, and I get the feeling all of you are vastly more experienced than me, especially because I'm not experienced.

I've just bought some concentrated grape juice, some granulated white cane sugar, and some fleischmann activedry yeast, all from a grocery store, and tossed it all in the same empty coke bottle, shook it up, and let it be for a week or so. I just uncap the bottle when it gets too inflated, and then re-cap it. Or I'll have a balloon on top.

I can get pretty drunk off it, but what could I be doing better and why, and what risks am I running right now? Could I get sick off this setup? Tips?

Trying to make mead now, basically with the same method: toss it all in the bottle and see what the fuck happens. It's worked for me so far I guess.

>>877123
oh, and recommendations for future homebrews? I want to experiment.

I've just made a bottle of coconut milk ferment sludge, wondering how that's gonna turn out.

I want to try mashing raspberries and doing the same, and maybe bananas too. Not sure how that will work though, maybe I'll just boil them and add lots of cane sugar to the off-flow of that.

I was also going to make a huge batch of daffodil tea, and do the same: add sugar and yeast, and see what happens. Trying to get some interesting flavors here.

>>877123
You won't get sick off it, but you could improve the basics of what you're doing for a better and more consistent brew.

Sanitization - you didn't mention doing anything to sanitize your coke-bottle fermentor. Like I said, it's extremely unlikely that you'd get SICK, but bacteria that will make your brew taste bad can easily hang around on surfaces and grow in a fermenting liquid. There are some no-rinse sanitization products that make this easy, or if you're on a budget then you can just use a bleach solution: http://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/5837/homebrew-sanitisation-in-a-pinch

Yeast - you should get ahold of some dry brewer's yeast. A lot of it is basically just as cheap as baking yeast, but it's designed for brewing. There's beer yeast and wine yeast, and a lot of different strains of each, all with different properties... but generally they affect the flavor of the brew less than bread yeast does, and they flocculate (sink) better. So when you try to separate the brew from the shitty dead yeast and gunk at the bottom, it's easier to do so when you use brewing yeast, and the final product is clearer.

Time - A week is too short - your brew might still be fermenting a little bit at that point. Ideally you would use a hydrometer and would know it's finished fermenting when the gravity is stable, but practically you can just give it like 3 weeks, I usually give my beers about a month. Fermentation is usually done within a week or two, but it's good to give it some time for all the yeast and crap to fall to the bottom, which will result in a clearer product. Past that, if you bottle it, it will taste better after given more time in the bottle. Brews change in flavor a lot in the first few months of aging.

The balloon thing is fine (airlocks are better and are like $1), but sealing and unscrewing the bottle could make a messy disaster if you forget to do it for too long.

>>874138
>Well first off you know how much capacity is in your setup, so you buy that many grolsch beers and drink that many grolsch beers, thus having enough beer space

This; Grolsch is a breddy gud beer that also isn't very expensive and if you're a crafty type it's almost worth buying just for the excellent bottles if you're into brewing/canning/etc.

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Home brewed two times now
First was an IPA that actually turned out pretty good
Second was a porter that I accidentally mashed at a too high of temp soo it basically turned out non alcoholic.
Thinking of making a cider from concentrated apple juice, do you guys think I should use whitelabs ale yeast or would something else be better?

>>874698
Yeah that is really active yeast, it will blow the airlock off.i just put bowl on top. Don't know brew with that, I only use it for making mash for distillation.

>>866518
answer: yes, probably. If the airlock hasn't moved in entire WEEKS, then something is wrong. I tried making mead once, it didn't really work. Making your own drugs has a certain appeal, but once you fuck up it kinda looses its charm. It's just not practical. The amount of time and effort and the delicacy of the whole process is really just pointless in the end. If you are really insistent on this, I would just start off first with an actual kit. If you don't want to do that, at least ask the people at your local brew supply for instructions.

QUESTION

If I wanted to make hard cider, could I leave the skins in the mash or should I peel it off?


What effect would the apple skin have on the brew?

>>877886
I suppose it depends on how sweet you want the cider to turn out. If you wanted a little sweeter cider then you could use an ale yeast with lower attenuation like Safale S-04 (or WLP002 i guess), or if you want a totally dry cider then you could use a wine yeast like Red Star Montrachet, or Lalvin 71B. Though if you want a REALLY sweet cider like most American brands then you'd have to stabilize and backsweeten or stop fermentation early, in which case I guess the attenuation won't matter that much in the end.

I don't suggest using liquid yeast unless there's something specific you want that isn't available in dry yeast. White Labs is great when you need like a cool Belgian yeast strain or Brettanomyces or something. But if you just want, say, generic clean ale yeast then save money and time and just get US-05 or whatever.

>>878243
I am planning on using liquid ale yeast that I harvested from my last batch. I would just buy the powder years from my HBS but its pretty far away so I try to find ways to not have to go there.

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>>866518
Has anyone found any good plans for an arduino powered temperature regulator?
I have seen some ones people have made, but alot of them don't look that nice. I also could program a computer interface if someone could give me more info on it

>>878140
can't hurt, may give it some extra flavor. just an extra obstacle when you're pouring it out.

>>878547
Start simple buddy, get going with a tap through a hosepipe

>>879557
Oh sorry, I didn't clarify what I was regulating. I was looking to make a temperature controller for mashing. Or would using a mash tun be better?

Whats the basic elements in achieving high percentage of alcohol within beer? is it really as simple as just adding more sugar?

>>879583
Either adding more extract if you are doing an extract batch, or including more grain if you are doing an all grain batch.
Adding sugar does add more alcohol, but it doesn't add additional flavor, so it is only advised to use small amounts of sugar, or none at all

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>>871638
>>871643

n00b reporting in. Second mead batch fermented and is now a proper alcoholic drink (obviously I don't have an hydrometer but I'll say it's around 5-10%vol) that tastes like sour feet.
Now that I know the very basics I'll like it not to taste like sour feet, any tips or links on how different variables affect the result of the process, like room temperature, fermentation and aging time, extra ingredients, etc.?

>>880171
>tastes like sour feet
Bumping this for self-interest, somehing skmilar happened to me and it didn't tasted as sweet as expected, i had to add a little more of diluted honey to it to make it sweeter

>>880171
>>881060
Is that an orange wine? Because oranges do not ferment the same as most fruits and turn out with quite a vile taste when fermented

>>866518
guy who knows nothing about brewing here

Is it possible to make vodka from mushrooms?

>>879571
I made a mash tun out of a 10-gallon water cooler and it doesn't lose a single degree of heat over an hour-long mash. I don't really see the point in making a temperature regulator for the mash. Even if you were using something that loses more heat, like a pot, you can just pay attention for an hour. A temperature controller for FERMENTATION, on the other hand, would be extremely useful, and is practically necessary to make lagers, so if you want to make some Arduino gadget I'd suggest going for that.

>>879583
More fermentables and use a yeast with a high attenuation (and also high alcohol tolerance if you're making an extremely high ABV beer). You also need to start with more live yeast cells when making a high-ABV beer (use the mr. malty calculator online to find out how much), and yeast health is more important so make sure you aerate really good, may want to use nutrient, etc.

>>880171
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=49106

>>881133
Vodka is strictly potatoes, so no.

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>>881062
It is mead from a 1l water 0.5kg honey mixture, I did add like a quarter of an orange along with a fuckton of grapes, as I am using natural beer yeast (see >>866818, just the fungus, nothing more, keeping it real) that is in need of extra mineral sources.
My current batch only has water, honey, grapes and yeast, so we'll see if it was the orange, which is most likely.

>>881176
Thanks, not what I was looking for, but that forum seems like a place I should have checked before.
I was planning on doing simultaneous batches with slight differences of sugar, yeast and raisins concentration to see the influence of each, but after some searches the main factor appears to be the leftover sugar, limited either by alcohol poisoning of the yeast or by the minerals provided by the raisins:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=545051


I am trying to follow this recipe, which is cool as fucketh so I can be edgy and sell it to vegan-hipsters for quite some euros:
http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/articles/making-mead-from-digby-recipe.htm

>>881133
>>881194

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka#Production
>Vodka may be distilled from any starch- or sugar-rich plant matter; most vodka today is produced from grains such as sorghum, corn, rye or wheat.

I'll say no, but maybe depends on the variety...

>>881062
Misne was just honey. Water and yeast

500 grams of honey. 1.5 litres of water and like 3 grams of yeast. I had to add another 500 grams of honey when i tasted it to give it a more sweet flavor

>>881133
mushrooms are like 98% water. you'd need a lot of mushrooms. the starch content is only about 0.5g per 100g. you'd need to also add the enzyme amylase to break the starch down into sugar. so in order to get the equivalent of a 1kg bag of sugar, you'd need 200kg of mushrooms. since mushrooms wholesale like that would be about 5$/kg for agaricus bisporus, you're looking at 1000$ worth of mushrooms for the equivalent of a 1$ bag of sugar. can you do it? yes.

>>877886
I used Red Star Champagne yeast for my last batch of cider and it turned out pretty well. Not sweet, but bitter, almost like a dry grape wine, and a little sour like vinegar.

I'm going to do the same again this year, but I'm going to freeze my juice first to extract the water. There are a ton of apple trees around my house, so i just use them.

>>878140
Apple skins would taste nice in the brew, but they can throw up a protein haze, either add pectic enzyme to get rid of it or just drink cloudy cider.

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>>872769

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>>866518
DUDE! I have made mead/mjod a couble of times before and I know one who produces it professional.

When you ferment mjod you dont wanna let the fermentation "max" out. At some point the yeast and alcohol will begin to decrease the honey notes, which you dont want! You want it to taste as much as honey as possible.

For the love of honey, please stop the fermentation now! Kill the yeast and bottle it as soon as possible

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>>866586
To the type of fermentation/product you are making, you normally wanna add fruit like raisins and apple, as the nutrient.
If you dont have some like this (which it seems like you dont) it is gonna take a looooong time fermenting.

But it is a cool projekt you are doing. I also started brewing that way. The product/mjod/mead is actually quite amazing compared to the little effort!

>pic related. My first brew.

>>882077
nice

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>>882077
THE RETURN OF JENKEM!

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>>882077
This is the result of my "redneck" mjod/Mead. It has a pretty strong taste.
The only problem about it is that I let i ferment for too long. The honey isnt as strong as I could have hoped. But that was my first batch. Since I have brewed 1 good Mead, with "real" equipment and yeast! The reason it is only 1, is because of the insane price of honey.
That is why i primarily brew fruit wine!

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>>882162
This is a glass (i know it is not a wine glass, fuck off) of my black/red currant wine I made this late summer and autumn. It smells like classic port wine, with sweet currant taste. I love it!

It is made by 4.5 kg of blackcurrant and 2.5 kg of redcurrant all from my garden.

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>>881576
Ended up using a yeast I had collected from my last porter I brewed. So much krausen its scary. Ended up adding cinnamon, cloves, and brown sugar. Getting excited already, its going to be the perfect cosy winter beverage.

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>>882165
Also the alcohol vol is ~14.5% (calculated with a hydrometer).

< Pic is of the fermentation container. It was located in my bedroom, becuase in here there are a Pretty consistent temperature of 22°C, which is perfect with the used yeast.

Will apple cider ferment naturally if I leave the cap off and put it in my pantry? I did that to my mead and it happened, which was pretty neat.

So I started my first wine today.
I wanted a sweet wine so I added a cup of sugar to plain Welch's grape juice (3 quarts). I then started a yeast starter with the juice, and it was foaming so I pitched it.

Now there's no activity at all, and it turns out too much sugar can inhibit yeast growth and stall a fermentation all together.

Did I just fuck myself over?

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>>882204
pic is the wine in question
I think the bubbles are from when I aerated the carboy, but that was 30-40 minutes ago

>>882212
I have never ever heard that too much sugar is bad for the yeast. It should kick start it, not "kill" it.

But why did you pitch it? Foam isnt bad

>>882219
sorry, I should've clarified.

I had a starter in a smaller jar which began to foam, so I knew the yeast was active. I pitched it into the carboy, not threw it away

sorry

>>882221
>double sorry
that's a typo but a little extra kindness doesn't hurt

>>882221
Ohhh in that way! Cool!

One thing that most often is the problem the with the method you used is that the yeast is "shocked" by being placed in a new environment with a different temperature. It is very important that the temperature is the same.
I dont know if you did that, but that is what most often is the problem, when there is a problem.

Dammit my english sucks, I think. Danefag here

>>882237
Don't worry, I understand just fine.

The starter and the carboy were in the same room and about the same temperature. The carboy might have been a bit warmer though. I don't think that would've shocked the yeast though.

The foam still hasn't gone away and I can see little yeast colonies on the side of the carboy, so I think the yeast is working.

I probably over reacted since my (first) mead was much more vigorous and started bubbling like soda within 2 hours when I added it's starter.

I'll wait a few more hours and see what happens

>>882241
Ohh yea of course! The yeast normally first "kick-in" / is visible 24 hours later. Not always, but often.

>>882241
>>882243
Which mean that there are no need to worry (maybe).

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looks like I had nothing to worry about

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>>866518
You need fruit.

>>882540
cool!

>>882427
Awesome! I hope it will turn out great!
What temperature does you keep it in?
How you added some sort of fruit like raisins?

>>882077
Thanks mate, current batch is now in process with some raisins, I tried some orange in the last one, but the result wasn't very good, will try with some apple next time.
>>882162
That looks very good, specially being your first.

I'm having some trouble finding the fermentation equilibrium, last time I left it for too long and almost all sweetness was gone, but I don't want it to have a very low alcoholic percentage.
For how long would you recommend fermenting?
I' thinking on greatly increasing honey concentration and leaving my yeast die from alcohol poisoning, thus achieving a high alcohol percentage with some honey flavor remaining, Would that work or am I totally wrong?

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>>871475
>>871476
>>871478
>>871479
>>871480
just took a peek at my sour after a few weeks of sitting. Smells very acidic and delicious, and there's some bacterial bubbles beginning to form a nice pellicle on the surface.

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>>882820

>>880171
dude, filter that shit.
it's cloudy as fuck, probably still has yeast floating around and shit. Same happened to me when I ghetto brewed mead.
Just run it through a britta filter a few times

>>882847
or implement gelatin or irish moss to increase clarity (this works for beer, not sure about the mead brewing process). Also a nice cold crash before bottling can help.

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>>882857

>>882820
Nice, the pellicle should probably take off pretty soon. I don't think I had much of one for a month or so, but then suddenly it started looking deliciously gross as hell.

I've got a sour going now too. It's about 5 months in, still in primary (since I heard that lambics are typically aged on the yeast). Used WLP665 Flemish Ale Blend & the dregs of a bottle of Oude Geuze Boon.

I had intended for it to be something like a straight lambic, but this tastes nothing like what I expected! It's very funky and a bit bitter, kind of like an Orval, but it's not really very lactic-sour at all. I guess maybe the brett went crazy but not so much the lactic bacteria? Or maybe that's just how this yeast blend is supposed to turn out, i dunno. I'd prefer if it were a little more sour and sweet, but not sure if I should mess around with it and add lactobacillus or if I should just bottle it, or if I should just leave it alone and wait some more.

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>>884254

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>>884254
>>884258
Did a Pumpkin spiced Brown Ale last night also. It's actually roasted butternut squash with brown sugar, a little cinnamon and nutmeg mashed with the grains, +30mins after. Then the standard brown ale recipe got some spices in the last 5 mins of the boil, along with 1 strip of a small charred oak whiskey barrel that was boiled for 15 mins to get rid of most of the harsh tannens. I think less is more when it comes to the crazy flavors here.

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>>884340

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>>884342

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>>884344
I blended up the squash after roasting it.

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>>884346

Can someone recommend a fairly cheap 30gal + boiler? The only certified food grade solution I've found is a stainless steel drum, but those run $500 or more.
Wondering if it would be safe to use a normal steel drum or even go full hobo and use a burned out steel trash can.

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broke open my 1st attempt OJ fermentation at day 7 (probably early I know, but a sample was good enough that I wanted to drink the rest)
I've got a homemade tea mixture and a bottle of grape sparkling something or other (forgive me, oj went really well) still going

I'm talking as barebones as it gets, sanitize an older OJ bottle and dump most of a new one in it with some bread yeast and 1/2 cup of brown sugar (based on an online recommendation) plus 1/2 cup of white sugar, with a loose lid + some plastic wrap + a rubber band for co2 buildup release. And boy is it bitter (somewhere between sour patch kids and warheads) but I actually kind of like it and it's definitely earned me a decent buzz. Planning on refining well beyond the basic setup I'm working with now after this initial test, just wanted to stop by and say cheers and thanks for the advice guys.

>>884580
>fucking OJ
>fucking bread yeast
just...stop

I'm one week into this homebrewing stuff. To start off with something easy I'm making cider. It's just one gallon of store bought apple juice, about one cup of brown sugar, and an ale yeast I saw recommended.

I've heard about stuff like secondary fermentation and fining. What does secondary fermentation do? Should I attempt it?

>>884610
Basically you rack your product into another fermenter after the fermentation dies down but doesn't stop completely then let it sir for another week or so. It's not required but brew snobs insist it greatly improves the final product.

>>884610
"Secondary fermentation" usually doesn't have anything to do with fermentation at all, it's a confusing name. Once your brew is finished fermenting in the primary container, you can transfer it to a second container so that you leave behind most of the dead yeast and stuff at the bottom of the primary. The purpose is to help the brew look more clear, and to avoid some off-flavors that come as a result of leaving a brew on the yeast cake for many months. However, it also opens up a bit more risk of oxidation or infection. I think it's only worth doing if you want to add any fruits/hops/fining chemicals post-fermentation, or if you're doing some long-term bulk aging.

I don't think you should bother with a secondary or any fining chemicals for your first brews, anyway. You should be able to get it decently clear by just leaving it in primary for a few weeks to a month, and then stick it in the fridge for a couple days prior to bottling to 'cold crash' it. Just be careful not to jostle it around too much, and siphon it carefully.

(Less common, but I've also heard people refer to bottle carbonation/bottle conditioning as "secondary fermentation", in which case, well, do that if you want it carbonated!)

>>884615
Secondary fermentation has nothing to do with carbonation. What you're thinking of is bottle conditioning which you do regardless of whether or not you do a secondary unless you force carbonate. Secondary is done under an airlock just like primary and is all about clarifying and tuning the flavor.
Personally I prefer force carbonation to bottle conditioning. You don't ends up worth dregs at the bottom of your product.

So I bought a coopers lager extract and some rice malt syrup, subtracted some of the extract and substituted it with the rice malt extract. I'm not sure what to expect. Seems to be fermenting ok, will I be able to taste the Japanese?

I have recently set up carboy of melon wine. I preboiled the melons a bit to kill all prexisting wildlife, it kept all the flavours so that was a good decision i think. Then i blended all the melon and added water and sugar and bayanus yeast. Everything went great for a few days. I ferment it in a lowered temperature to preserve melon scent and taste. After few days a layer of jello started to form from the must floating on top of the tank. Checked it organoleptically, doesnt seem to be any contamination or unwanted fermentation. But now after two weeks plus i have whole tank of alcoholic carbonated jello and i have no idea what i should do with it. Yesterday i came to a conclusion, that probably problem comes from pectins or other agents that may promote coagulation like that. Any toughts? Can I still save the wine somehow.

>>885095
I'm pretty new at this but shouldn't you have separated the solid mash of melon from the liquid?

>>885095
> i have whole tank of alcoholic carbonated jello and i have no idea what i should do with it
Market it to college students and get rich??

My guess would be just to see if you can get the solids to drop out by breaking it up as much as possible and then using some kind of fining agent. Or it might drop out on its own, given enough time, though I'd be worried about the fruit pulp rotting. I've never heard of pectin causing anything like that, but you could also use pectic enzyme to break it down, if that's what you think the issue is. If it's pourable, you could risk the oxidation and try to pour it into a bucket lined with a paint strainer bag and then just strain out all the solids, but it sounds like it's kinda stuck in your carboy.

>>884580
>OJ
>bread yeast
that is some ghetto shit and you'll probably vomit

Is there any way to stop a fermentation without campden tabs or sulfates?

I just finished primary fermentation of my wine (>>882427 >>882204) and it's very, very sour and dry. I want to add a simple syrup, but I know it'll just kick fermentation off again. I'll buy the chemicals if I really need to, but I wanna know if there are alternatives first

>>885424
bump

When they say that fermentation is done when it bubbles only once per minute, is that bubbles through the airlock or bubbles that you can see in the fermenter?

I've got a feeling it's through the airlock but I just want to be sure. This (>>884610) is me to clarify.

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This thread is relevant to my interests. I'm currently in my second batch of pale ale, with the first one being already bottled and waiting to be ready.
I think I'll do another batch in an extra fermenter in a week or so. Maybe a brown ale or an IPA.

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>>886347
pics of bottling

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>>886348
One thing's that's always a challenge is getting the wort down to a reasonable temperature before pitching the yeast (despite my fairly tiny batch sizes of about 9-10L). How does /diy/ go about with this? I've considered making my own immersion chiller, but I'm not sure if there's any faucet where I could attach it in my rental flat. Any cheap/non-destructive adapters I could use?

>>884580
Sounds like prison liquor to me

My homebrew makes me incredibly sleepy. Does anyone else have this problem? I've tested it out on my friends and family as well, and they've made similar observations. It tastes good, but it makes you want to fall asleep in a way that commercial beer never has. I don't think it's the alcohol content, as I've had a wide variety of strong beers that have never affected me this way before.

>>887261

Call it the "Cosby"

I started with premade wort in large boxes(lol just add water). I've been doing cans of hopped extract which is hardly different, add DME, presto, beer.

I want to take things a step further, get the malt in bulk, mill it, etc. Is there a guide for going the next step anywhere including building a simple mill to crack open the malt, etc?

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>>886349
something like this?

Has anyone tried using non-sugar sweeteners in mead or wine? I made a batch of mead earlier this year. I got a very complete ferment, which I was happy with (I like alcohol and don't like hangovers), but some of the people who were drinking it with me were saying they would have preferred something sweeter. Anyone tried this?

>>887650
No, but I want to do this, recently made a cider and it is ridiculously dry, and slightly watery. I think some sweetness is needed.

anybody try brewing a small batch, maybe 2 or 2.5 gallons, of milk stout and willing to give some tips? there are so many different recipes and they're all different, some wildly different, and all for larger batches.

Just boiled one bunch of bananas, poured the must into a handle, and added a cup and a half of brown sugar. It's pretty ghetto because I'm using a balloon and fleischmann's yeast shit, but I have high hopes for its taste.

So I bottled my brew today which I had made by adding a small portion of rice malt extract, I hope it turns out okay, at the very least it looks like it fermented "something" not sure what to expect. I'm really dying for a dry beer.

>>882219
>I have never ever heard that too much sugar is bad for the yeast

Sugar can kill yeast but you will need ridicules concentrations, 30% sugar should not be a problem.
One thing to keep in mind is that the yeast may produce sideproducts to stay alive in an environment with a very high sugar concentration. This can influence the final taste.

>>885095
you are fucked my friend, pectins ferment into methanol, you should have removed the pectins before fermentation.

The only way to salvage it is if you were to distill it (and throw out the methanol, keep the distilled ethanol) but this should not be attempted if you are new to distilling.

>>887377
Holy shit. Yes.

>>887261
What ingredients did you used for it? And what method did you used to obtain it?

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What easily obtainable materials should I use as fining agents

Milk? Egg whites?

>>881133
playing too much metro i see

>>889803
Pretty much every brew supply store should sell Irish moss.

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Please critique my setup /diy/

>>889891
Last week I only knew yeast + sugar = alcohol. I bought a gallon carboy, Bing and airlock, an ale yeast and a gallon of cider. I had some honey on hand so I added it to the brew and threw in some cheap cinnamon sticks. So far it has been over active, so it's on my porch to bring the temp down.

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>>889893
It was so easy to put together that I went back to the brew store and bought a three gallon carboy, some nutrient and a wine yeast.
I bought three gallons of cider, some more honey and I had clove, nutmeg and colinammon on hand, so I threw that in as well. It's less than 24 hours old and is only starting to get going. I think I'll need to learn more about creating a starter for next time

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>>889897
Forgot to add that I put some maple syrup in first batch. (Real maple syrup obviously)
After that I still wanted to experiment a bit so I set up some tiny batches in mason jars, I think this will be good enough to let co2 escape and keep most of the outside air out, oh well if not. I also had some old raspberries and pineapple juice from a jar of peaches, so, with absolutely nothing to lose, and no fear of shame for the ghetto looks of the setup, I put yeast in it all.
I'm sure there is a lot to learn, I'll be following some of the advice on clearing up this cloudy brew when it comes time to bottle.

>>889891
how do you slow down an overactive brew?

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>>886349
Make a wort chiller using 3/8" soft copper, a 5/8" to 3/8" brass compression fitting (or solder it if you like) to a kitchen faucet to 5/8" garden hose adapter. Add hose with hose clamps to the output of the wort chiller to direct flow.

Adjust sizes as needed, but it's all found at your hardware store for less than $30.

>>889891
Protect it from the light, use sanitizing agent in air lock if you don't have any already.

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>>890556
Colder temperatures, or if you want to stop it completely then use potassium sorbate.

>>885424
See >>890620

I'm making hard cider for the first time. Got one question. When I rack the cider into a secondary fermenter, do I deliberately include the sediment at the bottom of my carboy? Or discard that?

Making 3 gallons, I'm planning on bottling half of it after the primary fermentation, and continuing to ferment the other half with an airlock in a smaller container. Maybe drink the bottled stuff around thanksgiving and the twice-fermented stuff near christmas.

If this sounds odd, I'm just following this short guide I found which says that you can bottle it after the first fermentation is done, or you can ferment it again for a clearer, less bubbly cider. Since it's my first go, I'm trying both methods out and seeing if it's worth waiting the extra couple of weeks for a second fermentation.

Advice is welcome. I'd post a picture but I just have an opaque bucket.

How do I use egg whites as a fining agent?

Do I just toss em in the bottle and swish it around, leave it for a day? That won't backfire on me will it? Or am I better off just filtering the brew through a tshirt into a bottle?

I'm running a minimalist (see: redneck) rig and I'm just trying to get rid of the yeast clouding in my gotrut. Don't wanna go buy irish moss or any real kind of fining agent.

>>891150
I'm only on my second batch of brewing anything (cider both times), but I'm pretty sure you don't rack the yeast cake into the secondary.

fellas is there a guide to this stuff?

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I nothing intelligent to say
Just wanted to show of.
The ones in the front are filtered, the ones in the back are pre-filtered and un-carbonated.

I think I am using way to much time and energy on this.
(especially since i had 3 beers last week...)

>>891764
looks like you're well on your way to making the jump to microbrewery. Better rev up that liquor license.

>>891150
You should definitely discard it.
Honestly, many people do not think that using a secondary is necessary. Some may argue that it will make it more clear, which is true. But it will taste the same. The secondary will also have 0 effet on how bubbly it turns out because carbonation is only created when it is sealed in a bottle (except for small amounts of residual co2 from fermentation).

>>885424
Heat( or lack of) should probably kill the yeast

Currently making some hard cider which I'll be freeze distilling to turn into apple jack. I found brewers yeast at whole foods and after seeing no effects, I assumed it was dead yeast and hipsters just called it brewers yeast for a lack of a better name, so I just put some bakers yeast in, day 2 its bubbling constantly and it had a distinct bread smell, I checked again two days later and it had a distinct beer smell. Did the brewers yeast kick in or did enough alcohol become produced to overpower the yeast/bread smell. This is my first batch and I just used all natural apple cider that already had some apple shit at the bottom of the jug.

>>891282
Use a mesh, a coffee filter and a funnel and then use a egg white mix to wash it after that, but it isn't just egg whites. Heres a link on how its done with fancy wines and what not

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarification_and_stabilization_of_wine

>>892371
sounds like you should have started the brewers yeast before hand, or else waited a few days.

>>891476
>>891815
thanks! just about ready to bottle now.

>>875138
I disinfect with everclear. Or any other 90%+ ethanol. I just spray it in and drip till it's dry. Never had a batch go bad from this method

>>875138
>>892650
Why not just use Star-San? That has to be cheaper than getting H2O2 and 90% food grade alcohol.

>>892675
Actually, extremely high proof liquors are about the same price as other liquors. They're just harder to find because the market is much smaller.

>>892681
Still a bottle of Star-San is about $20 and you dilute that 1:400, meaning it will last you a long long time. With alcohol you will need pretty large amounts. Even with $8 a bottle you will spend a good quarter of that to sanitize your fermenter.

Welp, my perspective may also come from me currently living in Norway where everything alcohol is taxed through the ass. Not to mention that you're not allowed to sell or own anything over 60% (and even that would cost you a good $40+)

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Is bottling/carbonating cider in growler jugs with a polyseal lid a bad idea? I've read a bunch of forum posts saying it's a bad idea, but they're talking about beer, not cider. The glass seems thick to me, is there really a risk of exploding or flat taste?

I'm just being cheap and avoiding having to spend even more money on a proper bottle capper even if they are affordable, I already have the growler jugs around.

>>892691

Bleach is even cheaper. It's what I used when I experimented with brewing.

A capful of bleach in a cup of water is enough to clean everything.

You just swirl it around your jug, pour it out into a cup, and clean everything else with it. Then rinse everything well with clean water.

Boom. Sterile.

A strange question but where is a good place to find the reaction kinetics for different yeasts? I looked at a couple of sellers' websites but came up empty-handed.

I'm gonna start brewing in my dorm. If I understand it correctly, the cheapest setup is a plastic bottle, a balloon, and the ingredients I mix in. Is there anything else, preferably cheap, that would dramatically enhance my brew, or should I leave it as is until I get a job. Also, how bad would it be if I was caught brewing and selling alcohol to my classmates?

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>>893244
Dont use a balloon you shit, not unless you want your booze to taste like rubber, you can easily make a water airlock. Make sure where the tubing enters the cap is airtight so you brew is never exposed to outside air. If you don't have plastic tubing you can use plastic straws but use some tape to keep it airtight

>>893244
nothing cheap is gonna make your dormbrew all that much better, especially not with that setup. As for getting caught, it depends on a ton of things. What country do you live in? Are you underage? Are you selling to people who are underage? If your school's policies on alcohol consumption are strict like they usually are in US schools (I'm sure you can find these online) you could end up in some deep shit. If it's not in your student handbook/manual or whatever, and you're not breaking any laws like selling to minors, then you'd be fine.

>>893244
if you're in the US, you can't sell unless you've got a liquor license. If you get caught doing it you'll get fined a few thousand dollars and jail time.

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>>893267

just plop this on the top of it

>>893244
Most people will be able to pay their cousin's friend Jeff to get them some booze cheaper and much better than your closet sludge.

You're not just bending or breaking the law (and any campus policies that someone who loves kicking out idiots uses to get rid of your kind) but you are planning on doing it in a shitty lower-than-homeless-tier way.

What about Methanol?

Doesn't some of the brew make Methanol?
If so how can you seperate it ?

>>893539
Yeah, there can be varying amounts of methanol, depending on starting materials. It doesn't matter.

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>>893541
I d-don't want to go blind
How do I avoid this? What starting materials?

>>894053
Methanol really becomes a problem when you are distilling it, that is, concentrating it. Methanol vaporizes at a very slightly lower temp than ethyl alcohol, meaning that the first portion of collected spirits (the 'head') contains a higher percentage of this troubling chemical.
It becomes a big problem when bootleggers, hungry for every profitable ounce or simply inexperienced, keep the 'head' and the 'tails' along with the rest of the liquor. It becomes a huge problem when the high-concentration 'head' is bottled and sold by itself. (the old backwoods image of the farmer's still dripping into the earthenware clay moonshine jug is an example)

>>894442
Oh okay see I'm not crazy enough to run a full-on still. I should be safe then

>>894053
The metabolism of ethanol reduces the metabolism of methanol, but the methanol can still be excreted from the body. Ethanol is also preferred by your body.

This means in very low concentrations, eg what occurs naturally from fermentation, it has no effect on you.

You only have to worry when distilling >>894442

>>894442
More like it becomes a big problem when people intentionally add methanol to moonshine. This is the typical story when illegal alcohol kills or blinds people.

>>894053
It comes from pectin in fruits etc. You can increase the methanol production by using enzymes to break pectin down or by stressing the yeast. Some fruits are worse in this respect and apples are well-known to produce methanol. Even apple juice contains it.
Like the others said, small amounts of methanol is not a problem. Actually even your own body produces tiny amounts of methanol.

>>866518
Sorry if this is mentioned in the thread already. I sifted through it but didn't see any suggestions.

Where's the best place to pick up supplies online? I live in the southeast US and there is no homebrew shop near me.

I'm only just starting out, so I don't have any supplies whatsoever aside from a kegerator. I was planning on brewing a 5 gallon keg at a time so I need a kettle that holds probably 6 or more gallons and supplies to match it.

Any suggested websites?

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First time brewing anything. How long does it normally take to before its ready to bottle? I started this batch at the end of July and I'm hoping it will be ready by either Thanksgiving or X-mas.

Also, I'm still trying to think of a name for the batch.
Current idea's are: Litterbox mead, Lusty mead, Queen Bee's Lust, Summer inna Bottle, and Southern Sweet.

Maybe next I'll try using Maple Syrup.

>>894707
>no homebrew shop near me.

you might be surprised.
The little old-timey general store on the nearby border of hickville TX surprised me by having an aisle of homebrew materials, from cheap single-box beer kits to more more complex supplies. Look around.

As for online.. for basic things like big pots, cheap plastic airlocks, bottlecaps, buckets with spigots on the side and the like, amazon?

>>894752
I've already looked around. There aren't any in my area.

I'm not going to buy stuff off of amazon. Amazon tends to be a bit overpriced. I was hoping to find a better suggestion.

>>894753
check nearby areas / cities to see if they have brewshops that ship. I know I have at least one near me [I could just walk up to it if I wanted to, so buying and having it shipped doesn't really make sense], so you shouldn't be surprised if you find one or two near you

>>894754
I'd rather see if I could get a suggestion rather than arbitrarily picking the nearest.

How do you even brew beer at home would like to know the diaphragm

Is there a website or at least some. Schematics?

>>894809
See >>875049

>>894809
>buy beans
>boil beans like tea
>pop pep cherry Oh's!
>dump more water over top, make sure it's hot to rinse those beans clean
>throw mr. klean beans in the trash
>add hippyhops
>boil, and MURDER those nasties lurking in the bottom of u r mum's pasta kettle
>yest
>wait like 6 weeks
>if your bottle didn't EXPLODE drink
>throw out, you forgot to finish the brew in a second container and now tastes like bred

>>894809
1) Make barley oatmeal. (155°, 60 min)
2) Make hops soup. (simmer, 60 min)
3) Give it a bath or just ignore it for an hour.
4) Make yeast kool-ade. (once it's 65°)
5) Cover it, hide it. (dark, don't let air in, 65°)
6) Fuck off for two weeks.
7) Put it in bottles.
8) Put sugar in bottles.
9) Fuck off for a week.
10) Find out what acetobacter tastes like.

Why would they add methanol? >>894751
, that's a surefire way to have shit shine and piss off the wrong people and attract attention

My last one was Me In Cider

>>894853
>, that's a surefire way to have shit shine and piss off the wrong people and attract attention
I'm not following you anon.

>>892963
I think the worry is it doesn't seal well enough. Enough to keep a growler-fill carbonated for a few days, but not enough for the time it will take to condition.

If you can get a good grip and tighten it well, might as well give it a shot if its your only option. I wouldn't trust it as much as a standard cap, though.

>>894857
If you were to add methanol, you would do nothing but make people sick. If you make people sick , the police and ATF get mad and come and find you. The sick people would gladly give you up.

Ergo, why would you add methanol? Makes no sense (unless you like prison)

>>894857
Oh shit just noticed the jibberish! Multiple posts got screwed up and added together oops

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>>894861
Why there was melamine in pet foods? Why there was waste oil and animal feed in cooking oil?
Yeah, because using waste oil and melamine was cheaper than using real stuff. Same here. Industrial ethanol (denatured with methanol) is really cheap. Methanol itself is even cheaper. The criminals aren't often that interested in the well-being of their customers.

May I have a standard recipie for Mead? I'm planning to make a batch next week. An image instructable would be fine.

>>894871
They are when you only buy moonshine from your friends. Buying it from a bootleggers is a terrible idea from the off

>>894819
seems legit

>>896409
read the damn thread, there's tons of easy redneck rigs posted with pics and everything
>muh infograph
shake my head to be frank

>>896546
Sure, but some people do so and sometimes people get poisoned.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methanol_poisoning_incidents

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I'm making some hard cider for my sister for Xmas.

Used
>Brown sugar
>wine yeast
>4 gallons of Apple cider from a local orchard. How long to ferment and should I add cinnamon sticks after its don't fermenting or now

>>897082
>how long to ferment
as long as possible, at least till it clarifies
>cinnamon sticks
I suggest after

>>892371

You have to buy live brewing yeast, I think they sell dead brewers yeast as some sort of health food, you won't be able to brew with it.

Baking yeast works but it will taste rank. I made my first lot of cider with it, 20 litres worth and it was an effort to drink it.

>>882077
Danish or Norwegian?

>>897906
Danish
t. Norwegian

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>>866518

Did you start this batch using a Wort Aeration System? It cuts the time for fermentation down to 6-8 months by feeding the yeast oxygen.

You're gonna have to keep tasting this batch until it's sweetness levels are where you want it, then you can either add campden tablets to kill the yeast or syphen it into plastic jugs and freeze it to kill the yeast.

My homebrew store sells a 5 gallon bucket for fermenting, for $12. It says "100% food grade materials."

My hardware store sells a 5 gallon bucket for doing yardwork and whatnot, for $3.

Am I being bamboozled, or is 'food grade' really an important thing to pay attention to?

>>898311
Food grade is important but I just go take them from behind grocery stores. Especially european ones since they get a lot of stuff in buckets and repackage for the store.

>>898311
Non-food grade is recycled plastic used from God knows where, it could be safe but it probably isn't.

>>898311
it all depends on what the hardware ones are made of use anything thats either 2 HDPE, 4 LDPE, 5 PP


ref: http://fivegallonideas.com/plastic-types-old/

>>898344
>>898326
>>898330
excellent, thank you. I just need something to hold my cider in for a minute while I remove the lees, can't be assed to buy another pricy bucket.

If I were to rack a small brew into bottles and I know they will all get drunk in the next couple days is there any reason to pasteurize or is that just a waste of time if I'm not going to let them bottle condition.

>>894751
30 days of fermenting is plenty. Actually as soon as it stops bubbling, you're done. Transfer it to a new (and sanitary) container.

If that's your brew pictured, then it is plenty done. It looks flat.

Don't call it "litterbox". Think class, or vikings or something.

>>898434
Do as he says and don't leave it in there, or you'll get a nasty aftertaste of dead yeast

>>870952
You didn't use no yeast as
>>871638
Said. You used the yeasts on the raisins. I've started quite a few brews using only the tiny bastards living on raisins. It's a bit of a crapshoot, you might get a fine brew, or your might get vinegar, but most of time it's worked out for me .

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Just noticed this at my local grocery store recently, apple cider/juice with no preservatives. I can use this to make actual cider/hard cider, right? Should I remove one third of the container and drop in some yeast, attach an airlock, and it will work?

>>899470
that's how I started

>>868453
best bet is to use glass, steam and boil everything, the brewing bottle, the ingredients(minus yeast), and mash/mix everything while hot. Once it cools, activate and add yeast, sugar, raisins, and orange. Using steamed/boiled spoons/mixers/spouts for everything.

Only source of contamination will be the yeast and whatever may be in/on that balloon/gasket.

>>875725
if you want to be lazy, do above otherwise just let it settle/age, rebottle, repeat til satisfied. The initial filtering/cleaning of your mead wasn't done well enough more than likely.

>>894753
large aluminum pots to sanitize things, glass bottles(or get cheap Carlo Rassi wine jug/recycle), look around for jarring stuff, can double usage for brewing.

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Made this mead with orange and cinnamon in a 1 gal demijohn. Couldn't be fucked adding pectolase until recently so it's only starting to clear now. Still need to back sweeten

hey /diy/ can you tell me how's a nice start for homebrewing, I mean, should I follow some internet recipe, or should I buy some books? and which books will be for a complete rookie, thanks in advance

>>900503
go to your local homebrew shop and ask about your favorite variety of beer. I quite literally did just that and they set me up with a 1 gallon stout recipe we made up on the spot that I currently have fermenting.

outside of that you can do all the reading you need on the internet, like what IBU is and how it affects the taste of your beer, when to add hops for a recipe, how much hops to add per brew size, cleaning techniques, grains, grain roasts, and fruits/honeys for other brews.

>>900508
Does the size of my fermentation tank matter in relation to how much brew is in it? I see most of the jugs being posted are about 3/4 full. Im looking to get started and I have a half gallon growler laying around but I only plan to fill about half of it for my first time. Sort of a proof of concept brew in case something goes wrong. I dont see why it wouldnt work. Can somebody educate my ass

>>882540
Getting all those large pieces out of the carboy would be a freaking nightmare!

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>>866518
Ciderfag here, should I rack my cider now that primary fermentation is over? Cider is:
3/4 gallon cider
1-2 cups spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, etc)
1 lb. light brown sugar
1 pkg. active dry yeast

This is my first batch ever, so I don't know whats good or bad yet. Should I leave it on the dormant yeast cake, or rack it? Side note: if I decide to rack it, is a siphon a necessity, or can I just slowly pour it? Does oxygen exposure affect cider flavor like it affects beer?

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Guys I fucked up, I accidentally added my priming sugars when I was making the wort. How fucked am I with my beer is done fermenting?

so I was thinking of brewing a pair of one gallon brews this winter. I wanted one witbier and the other to be your generic seasonal stout.

the question I had was for one: a bare bones simple recipe for the witbier [everybody and their brother wants to saddle you up with a 50 grain complex brew where the flavors get muddy or lost completely], and two: how do I get a nice high abv, around or above 8%, and three: I was thinking of adding vanilla bean. The goal of that one was an attempt at personifying a bracing frigid cold cloudless day. oh, and hops, I wanted to play up the wheat taste over the hops.

I don't really have any questions about the stout because that's what? some 2row, chocolate malt, caramel malt, and either lactose for a milkstout, or oats and ginger for ye olde seasonal stout.

>>900537
rack it and use a syphon

>>900537
get it off the dead yeast, unless you like bitter.

>>900762
dude, just get another thing of priming sugar. it'll be fine.

>>887261
I know what you're talking about. No clue how to account for it, though.

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Just racked my 4 gallons of cider into a secondary and discarded the lees.

Now, I'm at my target ABV, even though it's quite sweet and not done fermenting. If I want to begin to bottle condition it now, can I do so without a) exploding bottles, or b) increasing the alcohol content much further? Should I wait until bubbling slows to a standstill? Should I add something to halt the fermentation?

My first batch (not this one) fermented for longer and was very strong, bitter, and dry, with a high ABV- basically apple wine. But I didn't discard the lees. I hope to improve the taste of this one. What would you do?

>>901913
Discarding the lees doesn't make something ferment less. The yeast that is doing the work is still suspended in your brew and happily eating sugar. If you still see an airlock bubbling then it will definitely make bottle bombs if you bottle it now. (technically the real way to check if something isn't fermenting anymore is to use a hydrometer a couple days apart and see if the SG is constant.)

The yeast will keep going either until it reaches it's attenuation (the % of sugar the yeast strain can convert to alcohol), or until it reaches it's ABV limit (also dependent on the yeast strain). Once it stops, you can bottle it, prime it, and carbonate it in the bottle.

If you want to halt fermentation to keep it sweet, you can do that, but then you can't carbonate in the bottle, you'd have to force-carbonate it (like in a keg). The only way I know of to make sweet cider that is bottle-carbonated is to fully ferment a small batch of cider and add a non-fermentable sugar like lactose or xylitol. Never tried to do that so i'm no expert, though, there might be some other tricks...

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>>899791
It's me here again. Here's my mead after another 8 days of pectolase workin it's magic. Still need to back sweeten but it's starting to look real nice

Does anyone have a good beginner's recipe? I plan on making just a small batch, since I will probably fuck it up on my first try. I feel like this should have a "brewing general guide" or something like that since there seem to be a lot of frequently asked questions.

>>903846
100% apple juice
Sugar
Nutrient
Yeast


No one can fuck it up.

yea you seriously can fuck it up but you have to able drink strong drinks homebrew hard cider and mead arent for pussy's. the only thing to look for when buying your apple juice is it cant have any artificial colours and flavorings

So I wasn't paying attention to the SG of a batch and tried a sip after about a month and it's sweet as all hell. To make matters worse I was drunk and filled up a bunch of 2l's with dextrose and just didn't follow steps.

Is there a way to fix this? Would adding some yeast to the pop bottles solve this at all?

>>904493
>it cant have any artificial colours and flavorings
Colors and flavorings don't matter. It's preservatives you have to watch out for.

>>870550
I did this cider recipe that is easy and cheap.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=33986

It turns out very good. I recommend you give it a try.

What's the /diy thread limit?

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>>882821
got an updated pic, did a taste test today after bottling the brown ale.

>>900762
This:
>>900903

Some beer styles like pale ales and bitters actually traditionally add some glucose to the wort. Have you measured original gravity after addition? I don't think that priming sugar would affect it too much anyway.

>>900762
how much is some? the whole pack? You're not fucked, it's just going to be more alcoholic lol. The yeast have more to eat. Priming sugar only works because the living yeast still in suspension that have finished eating everything in the wort now feast on the priming sugar while the beer is sealed in a bottle, producing carbonation. You'll be fine.

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It is done. Bottled my mead yesterday. Gonna serve it to my family for xmas and Thanksgiving. Still thinking of a name though.

I have one last question. Does Mead need to be chilled?

>>905640
Nah, doesn't need to be stored chilled. It does benefit from long aging, though, so maybe save some bottles in a closet for next xmas, if you can stand to.

>>904793
I believe 350, but it'll be awhile since threads take a few days to die anyway

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Hey homebrew, I'm raising you from the dead because my sister brought be 22 demijohns for my 22nd birthday. Yeah weird I know.

What the fuck can I make with these? Assuming I had £100 for ingredients, what should I make? Can I ferment beer in a demijohn?

>>884587
Dude... JAO mead is bread yeast driven.
Don't be a bitch. Let him get his drink on.

I started in a similar way. I was 19 and had nothing going on at all, so I would plan for holidays and get fucking trashed.

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Hey guys. Just want to say thanks for the tips. My second batch of cider was better than my first.

cheers /diy/.

>>866618
>not sprinkles so the yeast can consume the resulting sugar

>>900512
I've always stuck with fermentation buckets when I'm using fruit. At first racking, you just leave all the fruit behind.

Can anyone tell me if this will kill me? I made it and it's been 75 days since cell making

>>908852
4 gallons of apple juice
10 cups of sugar
1 packet of yeast
recipe said mix in 5 gallon jug, cover with paper towel and let sit for 60 days, producing cider 14% alc

>>908854
It'll be safe but it might taste like ass. It will get you drunk for sure.