# Lifestyles & Discussion > Freedom Living >  Home Brewing

## Todd

I've posted a little about this in a beer thread, but I was wondering who out there does this regularly.  I'm just getting into it and I really think it ties in to the DIY attitude and Liberty living.  

And Here's the thing.  It's EASY!    

I'd love to see others' pics, tricks, recipes, and tips to better brew.     

I just recently started a Belgian style Dubbel beer.  It is still in the fermenter awaiting transer to a secondary fermenter at the end of the week...(hopefully).  


What I learned from starting this hobby is you need to get a basic starter kit, so I've compiled a list for anyone who wants to start out at novice level.    Novice meaning Extract brewing.   

*Beginner Kit:*

5 gal Stainless steel Brew Pot
Large S/S Brew Spoon or Brew Paddle
Brewing Thermometer
Fermentation Bucket w/ liquid crystal thermometer 
Bottling Bucket w/ Spigot and tubing
bottle wand
Auto-Siphon w/ tubing
Glass Carboy w/ rubber stopper for Airlock
Bottles  (brown)
Bottle Caps
Bottle Capper
Bottle cleaning brush
Carboy cleaning brush
Star-San sanitizing solution  (absolute essential as any bad bacteria will destroy a batch of beer)
Airlock
Priming Sugar (Corn Sugar for bottling)

ingredients for the style you wish to make.


Not essential but helpful:

Hydrometer with hydrometer jar -  Calculates when your beer has completed fermentation and Alcohol content(for figuring your alcohol content)    

Propane burner w/ stand;   Gas heats large amounts of water more quickly than a conventional countertop stove.   

10 Gal Brewpot:   For making Big Batches.  You will need this size if you move to All Grain brewing


*Links to Homebrewing Resources:*

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/     Forums with recipes and all homebrew related issues;  I've had dozens of complications answered here.   Also has links for Soda and other drinks.

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html      How to Homebrew Directions - John Palmer (one of the pioneers of the hobby)

http://byo.com/resources     Homebrewing Resource guides:  Yeasts, Grains, Hops descriptions to help create your own recipes

http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm    Yeast strains and what Beers they are from

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style      Beer Advocate Beer styles and ratings of Craft beer. 

http://www.brewtarget.org/   -   FREE Homebrewing Software.   Great for making your own recipes and it's FREE!

http://beersmith.com/   -    Homebrewing software.  Great resource but it's not free.   

https://www.brewtoad.com/    -    Home brewing recipes,  tools and forums for homebrewing.  


*Equipment, kits, Ingredients:*   Northern Brewer and Midwest tend to have the Freshest ingredients.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/?gclid...FUdbfgodDSIAoQ

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/

http://www.homebrewing.org/

http://www.mrbeer.com/

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/

http://monsterbrew.com/

*Books:*

How to Brew - John Palmer  

The Complte Joy of Homebrewing - Charlie Papazian 

Homebrewing for Dummies - Marty Nachel 


*Videos:* 









http://www.youtube.com/user/CraigTube



*Brewing Hard Cider*:



*How to Harvest Yeast for Future Use*


Homebrewing Recipe Builder

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## calendula

Very cool, thanks for the list.  All I've "brewed" thus far is soda, but I've been thinking about getting into beer and wine, but haven't been sure where to start.  I have a wine-making book, but it seems complicated and a bit overwhelming to me at this point.  Your list is a good place to start!

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## brandon

How much would a starter kit cost, ballpark?

I've wanted to get into this for years but I worry I'm gonna spend way too much on equipment and then only do it a few times before I get bored with it and give up.

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## Todd

> How much would a starter kit cost, ballpark?
> 
> I've wanted to get into this for years but I worry I'm gonna spend way too much on equipment and then only do it a few times before I get bored with it and give up.



Buy a beginner kit.  It comes with basic stuff and ingredients to do one batch.  Once you make your first brew with it, you have about 80% of the things you need to go on to intermediate.  The only additional things you will probably need to brew it is a Stainless brew pot and big spoon.  

My wife got me this several years back and I'm still using most of the hardware.  It's about $130 to $150

http://www.monsterbrew.com/Prod_NewB...AutoSiphon.cfm

It's a basic Amber style.

I've heard that Mr. Beer has some really delicious kits, but their fermenting vessel doesn't hold a 5 Gal batch.

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## specsaregood

If you are gonna just use recycled bottles instead of buying bottles;  I always like the sierra nevadas best as they are short and fit in the dishwasher.  If buying bottles then I recommend the 24oz, saves some time. 

I did 1 batch/month up until my kid was 1+yr and walking.  now I just don't have the time or energy.   I do have a few bottles I brewed that have aged a few years now still in my beer cellar and they are still good and unskunked.

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## brandon

> Buy a beginner kit.  It comes with basic stuff and ingredients to do one batch.  Once you make your first brew with it, you have about 80% of the things you need to go on to intermediate.  The only additional things you will probably need to brew it is a Stainless brew pot and big spoon.  
> 
> My wife got me this several years back and I'm still using most of the hardware.  It's about $130 to $150
> 
> http://www.monsterbrew.com/Prod_NewB...AutoSiphon.cfm
> 
> It's a basic Amber style.
> 
> I've heard that Mr. Beer has some really delicious kits, but their fermenting vessel doesn't hold a 5 Gal batch.


Thanks for the link. I may end up ordering that in a couple weeks. Will post results.

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## Todd

> Very cool, thanks for the list.  All I've "brewed" thus far is soda, but I've been thinking about getting into beer and wine, but haven't been sure where to start.  I have a wine-making book, but it seems complicated and a bit overwhelming to me at this point.  Your list is a good place to start!


I've been told the basic wine kits are more simple than the beer ones, if that helps.  The price seems crazy until you realize that you are going to get about 30 bottles of wine out of the kit.   Which comes out to about $5 to $8 a bottle.

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## dannno

If you want to just try it out, I have made some excellent beer with Mr. Beer... It costs less than $50. You don't make very much, but you get a good idea of the process and what you can do.

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## presence

I'm doing my first batch of hard cider this year.  I'll let you know more as I get into it.  Apples are off the tree

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## Todd

My Belgian in a bath of cool water to keep the fermenting temps lower.

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## Root

I started home brewing about a year ago, when my brother got me a Mr. Beer kit for my birthday.  IMO, this is a very good way to become familiar with the process and workflow of making beer (or wine).  I haven't brewed as much as I've wanted to, but I will be brewing more 4 more batches in the Mr. Beer fermenter (called Little Brown Keg or LBK) over the next 15 weeks, and then investing in a 5 gallon system.

Here is the 5 gallon kit I will most likely buy: http://morebeer.com/products/persona...-deluxe-1.html
Note that it's not a complete kit, but has almost everything.

My Witbier is fermenting nicely.  Those Belgian yeast sure know how to party.


Here's what I'm planning
Blackberry ale
White IPA
Random Ale from left over Mr Beer ingredients.
Presence's Apple Jack

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## Todd

> IMy Witbier is fermenting nicely.  Those Belgian yeast sure know how to party.


Yes they do.....once they get going.  

Lesson learned from this go around is that I'd better aerate the wort better or make a good yeast starter before I put the yeast in the fermenter.   I started this on Wednesday Sep 18 and it didn't kick in until VERY early Sunday morning while I slept.   I was out of town and couldn't do anything about it but the wife sent me a picture of it going crazy.  I just hope it didn't become infected because of the 72 hr + slow start and that it ate all that candi sugar I put in.....or else I'm going to be drinking Kool aide beer.

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## brandon

What are ideal fermenting temperatures?

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## specsaregood

> What are ideal fermenting temperatures?


Cooler generally; but it depends on the type of yeast/bear.   eg: lagers are fermented at very cool/refrigerated temperatures.
I did most of my ales in the basement at around 70F  (which would be considered almost too high).    
Versus a saison, which was a beer brewed in france during the summer and likes hot temperatures.

If the temperature gets too warm, you'll get some funkiness where the yeast puts off unwanted tastes; often banana-y.

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## dannno

> What are ideal fermenting temperatures?


You can actually get different types of yeast that are better for different temps, but room temperature is optimal for most yeasts on the market afaik.

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## brandon

Interesting. So for example, in the summer I don't run the AC during the day and my temps can fluctuate from 90 midday to 68 overnight.  I guess that would be a bad environment for brewing?

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## specsaregood

> Interesting. So for example, in the summer I don't run the AC during the day and my temps can fluctuate from 90 midday to 68 overnight.  I guess that would be a bad environment for brewing?


Well it depends on the yeast.  Some yeasts/beer types do better in heat.  That might be the time to brew a saison.
But aside from that,  summer inside isn't necessarily ideal for beer brewing because you have to boil the stuff.   I wouldn't brew in my house during the summer simply because of that reason, it would make the house sweltering.

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## presence

> Presence's Apple Jack


Are you swatting me?







No where did I mean insinuate you *should* freeze your hard cider

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## presence

oooh....

Just got my free catalog in the mail from Northern Brewer: 800-681-BREW

MEGAPOT 1.2 is a masterpiece!

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## Root

> Are you swatting me?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> No where did I mean insinuate you *should* freeze your hard cider


No sir.  I think the idea brilliant and the Mr Beer keg fermenter is perfect for this application once I move up to 5 gallon batches.

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## keh10

*Here's* another thread about homebrewing that was started several years ago. 

I guess I've been brewing for 5 years now. My friend and I have been using this same setup for most of that time. These days we'll brew 120 gallons of beer or more a year.

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## Todd

Transferred the Dubbel to secondary tonight.  Got a reading of 1.014 for the Gravity.   That  means I probably have about a  7.5% Alcohol beer.   I know it's a picture of my John.. but that's the only place my wife will let me mess around with my brew.  LOL......   

[IMG][/IMG]

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## Todd

I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but I tried to harvest yeast tonight.  The yeast for the Dubbel was $7.  So it can get kind of expensive.  I had read and watched videos on harvesting your own if you intend to do other batches in a short period of time. 

You boil and sterilize water and the containers you will collect your yeast in.  It is very important that the water is sterile and cooled to around room temperature....or you could kill the yeast. 

Then you "wash" your yeast.  This bucket is a mixture of the beer, yeast and left over waste.   Your object is to separate out the crap.  To do this you mix all the left over yeast and junk in the bucket with the cooled sterile water.  Then you pour it into one or several other sterile containers.  I used mason jars.  After about 20 minutes you can see separation of layers in the jars.  Then you simply decant off the top portions (which should be just a small layer of beer and a healthy layer of yeast into other sterile containers and leave the bottom dark crappy layer behind.  (this is called the Trub)   You then put it in the Frig for several weeks.  Some say up to 3 months.  I dunno yet cause I've never done it.  If I decide to make this style again or another which calls for this particular yeast, I have about triple what I began with.  


[IMG][/IMG]

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## Root

Looks like a great beer you've got going there Todd!  How long to you anticipate you will ferment in the secondary?  I'm not motivated enough to harvest yeast. I'm interested to hear how it works out for you.

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## Todd

> Looks like a great beer you've got going there Todd!  How long to you anticipate you will ferment in the secondary?  I'm not motivated enough to harvest yeast. I'm interested to hear how it works out for you.


  I'm going to bottle this next Saturday/Sunday.  Some leave these styles in Secondary for up to a month.   I'm not really experienced enough yet to understand the ins and outs of long term secondary fermentation.  At this point, I'm just hoping to have made a decent tasting beer which at least resembles the style I was after.  I'll get the nuances later.

I think I harvested the yeast correctly.  This was the jar in the fridge this morning after it settled.  That thin bottom creamy layer is my Abbey yeast and everything above is a just water and beer.   

[IMG][/IMG]

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## Todd

Bottled the Dubbel Saturday.   It smelled really nice, so now just waiting 3 weeks for the carbonation and conditioning in the bottle.

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## Root

I made my first prototype labels last night.

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## pcosmar

> I made my first prototype labels last night.


Nice.

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## buenijo

I encourage people to try making mead (honey wine). I've done it off and on since about 2005 with reasonably good results. I make the best product when I keep it simple (experimentation is difficult with mead because you have to wait so long before you know how it worked out). One thing about mead: age is your friend. I've made several batches of mead that tasted like what you would imagine gasoline to taste like, but a year of bulk aging made a very good wine (I've since learned to ferment at lower temperatures which helps). While honey is pricey, it stores indefinitely (and good prices can be had for quality honey in bulk). Also, one of the best wines I made was fermented with both honey and peaches, so honey wines do very well with fruit (called "melomels"). Blackberries is another fruit that I like with honey wine. However, a good dry honey wine is hard to beat. It's easy to make, but it takes time. A couple of carboys, honey, water, perhaps some nutrient, a little acid blend helps sometimes, and a good wine yeast and time. You might be surprised how good it can be, and there is a great deal of variation possible.

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## green73

Here's a good youtuber

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## specsaregood

> I encourage people to try making mead (honey wine). I've done it off and on since about 2005 with reasonably good results. I make the best product when I keep it simple (experimentation is difficult with mead because you have to wait so long before you know how it worked out). One thing about mead: age is your friend. I've made several batches of mead that tasted like what you would imagine gasoline to taste like, but a year of bulk aging made a very good wine (I've since learned to ferment at lower temperatures which helps). While honey is pricey, it stores indefinitely (and good prices can be had for quality honey in bulk). Also, one of the best wines I made was fermented with both honey and peaches, so honey wines do very well with fruit (called "melomels"). Blackberries is another fruit that I like with honey wine. However, a good dry honey wine is hard to beat. It's easy to make, but it takes time. A couple of carboys, honey, water, perhaps some nutrient, a little acid blend helps sometimes, and a good wine yeast and time. You might be surprised how good it can be, and there is a great deal of variation possible.


And meads a helluva  lot easier and less handson time than beer.   Recently finished drinking a lemonade iced tea mead that aged for a 1.5half; it was my best one yet.

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## Root

Alright, I'm fermenting wort again!   This is a simple ale that should be about 7% abv. After 10 days in the fermenter I'm going to add 15 oz. of blackberry purée. At bottling, I will be adding 2oz. of blackberry extract. 


I think I am going to call this one "Blackberry Breakfast Beer.

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## Root

> Here's a good youtuber






Lolz between 8:00-9:00.  Great idea. I need to put this on my list of things to do before winter.

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## Root

dup

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## Prog Snob

Fascinating.  A friend of mine does this all of the time and he makes some pretty kick ass tasting beers.  I'm thinking about doing some homemade wine too.

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## Todd

After one week of bottling, patience wore thin and had to try.   I backed off on the 1 cup recommended priming sugar about a 1/4 of a cup so that I would not have exploding bottles.  This was what I got.  So the carbonation isn't terrible but it's a little weaker.  Decent head and foam, but nothing stellar.   First thing you smell is the raisins, plums and fruitiness.  It  is very strong.  So that is a plus.   I can taste the alcohol a bit more than most of this style, but hey it's my first Belgian.   I am very pleased with this and I'll probably let it bottle condition for another 2 weeks before I start really cracking them open.  Hopefully they smoothe out even more.   I give myself a B on this.   Much thanks goes to the Beer Sage who taught me and helped me put this recipe together.  

[IMG][/IMG]

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## Koz

Todd, 

That yeast looks good. I wash a ton of yeast. It will stay good for a long time in the fridge. Just do a yeast starter when you brew.

Screw bottling beer. I keg all of mine. It is way easier and I brew a lot more since I don't have to bottle.

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## Todd

> Todd, 
> 
> That yeast looks good. I wash a ton of yeast. It will stay good for a long time in the fridge. Just do a yeast starter when you brew.
> 
> Screw bottling beer. I keg all of mine. It is way easier and I brew a lot more since I don't have to bottle.


I don't know if I have the cash to get started in kegging yet.  Plus the wife would have a coronary if I told her I wanted to buy some gear to do it after all the money I've spent doing this over the last 4 months.   Can't CO2 and the gaskets and the kegs themselves get pretty expensive?  It's been much easier for me to have some buddies save bottles and pay a couple of bucks for caps.

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## Todd

> What are ideal fermenting temperatures?


In an effort to really make this thread more educational, I'll try to post resources for these questions.  Here is an excellent site for what temps to ferment at. Choose your style and then choose your yeast......... give it a whirl.

http://byo.com/resources/yeast


Two fantastic books to help you get started:

The Complte Joy of Homebrewing - Charlie Papazian     http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-H.../dp/0060531053

Homebrewing for Dummies  - Marty Nachel    http://www.amazon.com/Homebrewing-Fo...ef=pd_sim_b_13

I prefer the Homebrew for Dummies because it was way easy to read.  Papazian is considered the master though......

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## Root

Here is another great resource. 

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

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## Root

I decided to brew up a batch of hard cider today. I watched this video the other day and got inspired.




Here's all the ingredients.



I boiled up the raisins with a packed cup of brown sugar.



Sanitized my gear.



Strained the raisins, so only the sugar water and "raisin juice" was transferred to the fermenter.



Let the party begin.

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## libertygold

Thank you very much. I might try this.

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## presence

20 gallons of home sqeezed hard cider bubbling, 1st fermentation 1118 in corny kegs.  10 additional gallons of juice canned mason jars.  Probably equal still sitting in barrels of harvested but unprocessed apples.  I can't say how much is still on the ground.   Also 16 apple pie fillings frozen.   Busy like a bee.  30g of hard cider and 30g of juice is the goal.  Cold weather looming.   Takes about a 32g trash can of apples to make 10g of juice; which is one run through my press.

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## Root

> 20 gallons of home sqeezed hard cider bubbling, 1st fermentation 1118 in corny kegs.  10 additional gallons of juice canned mason jars.  Probably equal still sitting in barrels of harvested but unprocessed apples.  I can't say how much is still on the ground.   Also 16 apple pie fillings frozen.   Busy like a bee.  30g of hard cider and 30g of juice is the goal.  Cold weather looming.   Takes about a 32g trash can of apples to make 10g of juice; which is one run through my press.


Do you always ferment your hard cider with 1118?

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## Todd

That looks like it would be tasty.

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## presence

> Do you always ferment your hard cider with 1118?


I'm doing some w/ 1116.  This is actually my first go at cider.  I acquired the orchard 3 years ago... lots of pruning and thin yield 1st two years.   Lots of labor and we only put back a few score masons of apple sauce/butter and some frozen pie filling fiddling with tiny silver dollar apples.  This year however has a good chance at 100 gallon yield. I'll probably still leave 2X that to the wildlife.    I just got in from another harvest session.  We're sitting on 6-7 presses now worth of apple harvested in buckets/barrels/laundry baskets; about 60-70 gallons more juice.    We shook trees with hooked poles over multiple 15x12 canvases; transferred to plastic containers; quite efficient. 

I'm out to town tomorrow to pick up more yeast and raisins actually.  Any recommendations?  1118 was recommended as "die hard" not picky as to temperature.  I was told there are better "flavors" to be had w/ other yeast, I'm going to talk to the brew shop guy about it.  

For what its worth when you Amazon search: "cider yeast" first result is 1118.

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## Root

> I'm doing some w/ 1116.  This is actually my first go at cider.  I acquired the orchard 3 years ago... lots of pruning and thin yield 1st two years.   Lots of labor and we only put back a few score masons of apple sauce/butter and some frozen pie filling fiddling with tiny silver dollar apples.  This year however has a good chance at 100 gallon yield. I'll probably still leave 2X that to the wildlife.    I just got in from another harvest session.  We're sitting on 6-7 presses now worth of apple harvested in buckets/barrels/laundry baskets; about 60-70 gallons more juice.    We shook trees with hooked poles over multiple 15x12 canvases; transferred to plastic containers; quite efficient. 
> 
> I'm out to town tomorrow to pick up more yeast and raisins actually.  Any recommendations?  1118 was recommended as "die hard" not picky as to temperature.  I was told there are better "flavors" to be had w/ other yeast, I'm going to talk to the brew shop guy about it.  
> 
> For what its worth when you Amazon search: "cider yeast" first result is 1118.


I'd get actual yeast nutrient if you're planning to make anything stronger than 10% abv.

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## Root

Buy one get one free 5 or 6 gallon plastic carboys at Northernbrewer.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/free-b...-24-2013_Slide

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## grizzlymere

I have a friend who ferments wine. He does it with juice concentrate, yeast and balloons. I'm not totally sure how it works though...

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## cbc58

I am thinking about buying a still for various reasons.  Where would be a good place to buy ingredients to make whiskey, moonshine, etc?

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## presence

I'm going to check out a bunch of 1950's 28oz "ACL soda bottles" this week for bottling sparkling cider.  I understand that the labels may contain lead.  How much of a concern should this be?  Is it an issue with just the handling of the bottles or do the interiors get tainted as well?

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## Todd

> I am thinking about buying a still for various reasons.  Where would be a good place to buy ingredients to make whiskey, moonshine, etc?


Probably a Walmart.   




> A Quick Recipe for Making Moonshine 
> The basic ingredients: 
> 
> corn meal
> sugar
> water
> yeast
> malt
> 
> ...

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## presence

Ordered more yeast for my cider; looks like I'll easily clear 100 gallons of juice and hard cider this year.  Ordered a variety pack   Nottingham, S05, S04, Cotes de blanc, and a few others.  The sound and smell of bubbling corny kegs is exciting.  Everything bubbling to date is on Lavin 1118 or 1116.  The ale yeasts should produce a little lower alcohol percent, but retain more apple flavor.  They're 3x as expensive as Lavin 1118 though.  But for $3.25 for 4 gallons of hard cider who can complain

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## tangent4ronpaul

> Buy one get one free 5 or 6 gallon plastic carboys at Northernbrewer.
> 
> http://www.northernbrewer.com/free-b...-24-2013_Slide


  $24 each!!!  Places like Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, etc. sell these full of water for office "water coolers".  I'm pretty sure the deposit is still $5 each.




> I have a friend who ferments wine. He does it with juice concentrate, yeast and balloons. I'm not totally sure how it works though...


take a 1 gal or so jug, add water and juice concentrate and optionally sugar or honey, then add yeast.  stretch balloon nozzle over opening and place in cool, dark place.  The balloon will inflate and then deflate.  when it deflates, it's ready.  




> I am thinking about buying a still for various reasons.  Where would be a good place to buy ingredients to make whiskey, moonshine, etc?


I was going to put this in the other thread about storing alcohol for barter as this one has been about beer and wine so far, but someone came along and mentioned stills, so I'll put this here.




TTB Laws

Under Federal rules administered by TTB, it depends on how you use the still. You may not produce alcohol with these stills unless you qualify as a distilled spirits plant.  However, owning a small still and using it for other purposes is allowed. You should also check with your State and local authorities - their rules may differ.

A still is defined as apparatus capable of being used to separate ethyl alcohol from a mixture that contains alcohol. Small stills (with a cubic distilling capacity of a gallon or less) that are used for laboratory purposes or for distilling water or other non-alcoholic materials are exempt from our rules. If you buy a small still and use it to distill water or extract essential oils by steam or water extraction methods, you are not subject to TTB requirements. If you produce essential oils by a solvent method and you get alcohol as a by-product of your process, we consider that distilling. Even though you are using and recovering purchased alcohol, you are separating the alcohol from a mixture -distilling. *Under regulations in part 29 of title 27, Code of Federal Regulations, TTB has the right to require manufacturers of stills to give the name and address of each customer.* 

http://www.milehidistilling.com/econ...ne-distillers/

There are a number of things you can do with a still, among them are making hard alcohol, making ethanol (fuel) and SURPRISE antibiotics...

Possum living (see chapter 12)
http://www.deeplyrootedorganics.com/...ssumLiving.pdf

Expedient Antibiotic Production:
http://web.ornl.gov/info/reports/1988/3445602771613.pdf

On bottles, I've seen an imported beer that comes in a REALLY HEAVY bottle with a ceramic "cork" and gasket.  It has a built in metal latching mechanism to seal that cap.  These seem like ideal bottles for re-use.  Grolach or something close to that is the brand name.

Now a challenge question:  How do you make yourself self sufficient in your ability to make beer, wine and hard alcohol post SHTF?

-t

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## presence

> Now a challenge question:  How do you make yourself self sufficient in  your ability to make beer, wine and hard alcohol post SHTF?
> 
> -t


Freeze distillation 


oh... and its Grolsch by the way; and the white lids have been plastic for at least 5 years now.

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## presence

Ok... so I just racked my first two corny kegs of cider.  About 7 1/2 gallons total less 3/4 of sludge left me 

3 gallons of 1118
3 gallons of 1116

3/4 gallon of 1116 and 1118 blend

3/4 gallon of dead yeast

So now I have 6 3/4 clear and fermenting in gallon jugs.  

I might rerack the 3/4 blend and perhaps the dead yeast in the morning depending upon how it settles.

Gave it a taste... definitely not apple juice any more.  Will let sit 120 days  though for flavor improvement before bottling.  The ACL soda bottle thing fell through for me, it turns out they contain lead and I'm just not in to risk it.  So I might be going with wine bottles.  I have someone willing to give me 120 1.5L green wine bottles for $60 and I think I might jump on it.  I really wanted to carbonate... but wine bottles don't hold carbonation and beer bottles is just a bit to meticulous for the quantity I'm dealing with... something like 1000+ beer bottles if I took that route.

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## presence

18 gallons @ 7.8%, once racked and final perk in gallons jugs for 120 days.

Had a taste, bit yeasty but 







Apple shines through and this stuff is only 10-14 days old. 


Can't believe I've got another 100+ gallons of unpressed apple juice sitting in my garage, pretty sweet!

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## tangent4ronpaul

> Freeze distillation 
> 
> 
> oh... and its Grolsch by the way; and the white lids have been plastic for at least 5 years now.


Yeah, that's it!

Are you sure about the plastic part?  I just tapped the last one in my fridge, and it felt ceramic.  Sure about the 5yr time frame?  I seriously doubt that something that yummy would last 5 years in my fridge...  Though it does have some dark corners...

I've also thought that they would make some pretty decent IV bottles, but they are undersized for that...


-t

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## presence

> Yeah, that's it!
> 
> Are you sure about the plastic part?  I just tapped the last one in my fridge, and it felt ceramic.  Sure about the 5yr time frame?  I seriously doubt that something that yummy would last 5 years in my fridge...  Though it does have some dark corners...
> 
> I've also thought that they would make some pretty decent IV bottles, but they are undersized for that...
> 
> 
> -t



no idea how long the beer itself lasts... my comment was that, at least 5 years ago, maybe more (struggling for official source... but it seems around 1999 actually) grolsch switched from ceramic to hard glossy alcohol resistant plastic.  The ceramic ones are usually sold as "vintage ceramic capped grosch" on ebay.  Home brew supplies can usually get you replacement caps (plastic) w/ new rubbers.   Not sure of a source for the ceramic ones besides resale.


last year golsch reduced the weight of their spring closure too:
http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/...htweight-caps/

keyword: straplock

----------


## Root

Witbier has been bottle conditioning for several weeks now. I'm going to sample one tonight.

Boysenberry ale has been racked to a makeshift secondary and added on top of the fruit purée.


The first gallon of hard cider will be racked to a secondary this evening. I now have a second gallon of Apple cider going. For this one, I removed 2 cups of juice and added 1 container of Apple juice concentrate to boost the abv. I also added 1tsp of yeast nutrient. OG was 1.062. The airlock is bubbling like mad on the second one.


I've also picked up 2 5 gallon fermenters. I now have the capacity to have 17 gallons going at once.

----------


## presence

> I've also picked up 2 5 gallon fermenters. I now have the capacity to have 17 gallons going at once.



I pressed another 13 gallons of juice today, best yield yet from my press.  Plus I bagged another 10 packed freezer bags of pie filling.  


  I'm using corny kegs for primary fermenters; I have 10 I bought for 38 bucks each used w/ new seals on ebay many moons past.    So that's 50 gallon capacity; well really about 45 because I leave head space.   I've also got 60 gallon glass jugs, each w/ bung and airlock. I just collected the gallon glass over the years buying apple juice.     I'm going to be picking up 180 1.5l wine bottles for 50c each next weekend for bottling.  I've also got about 60 1.75 liquor handles w/ plastic screw caps.   Right now I've got 20 glass gallons full of wine and 3 corny's of fresh juice.  Not to mention the 15? gallons of pasturized in quarts.  Still have 9+  55g drums of apple to deal with.    With my current setup, at max I can process 1 drum a day; I've yet to do that though.  It would require I press half way, refill another cheese, and press again.   Long day, but I'd probably get 20 gallons out of it... there always seems to be something else besides pressing apples on the agenda.

----------


## tangent4ronpaul

Store-bought is not enough: My first hard cider homebrew
I enjoy beer and cider so much, I decided to start rolling my own. 
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/...ider-homebrew/

My relationship with beer has grown too comfortable. We share an easy routine: I buy it at the store—a different kind almost every time—take it home, and drink it. I'm not sure how the beer feels about this, but it seems happy. Still, things have gotten boring. So I'm taking the next step: making my own hard cider.

I chose cider for my first foray into home brewing for a couple of reasons. First, much as I would like to make beer, it involves a more extended process and more specialized ingredients. Wine is closer to cider in simplicity, but I envision cheaply made homebrewed wine tasting much worse than cheaply made cider. Furthermore, autumn comes but once a year; I can buy a wine or beer kit any time, but there’s only a couple of months during which I can get good soft cider.

Plenty of decent small-scale kits let you brew a small batch of beer/cider yourself. Here, I made a somewhat hacked-together solution—maybe a little more cumbersome than buying a kit, but it was cheaper. Most kits worth buying run $100-150 to make five gallons of whatever poison you choose. I want to have a go at this without potentially dumping five whole gallons of bad-tasting liquid, getting discouraged, and ultimately wasting my money on a kit I barely have room for and might not use again. With that in mind, I am starting small, with a gallon.

Our cast of characters

Two glass growlers, 2L size: $5 or free—To have two growlers at home, you only have to have decided on a whim at a bar that you really want to take a lot of one beer home twice, and the second time, you have to have forgotten your first growler at home. I actually have three growlers. They are starting to just appear here like stray cats, waiting to be fed with new and interesting beers. I am still too young to be the neighborhood growler lady. Having a third growler (or a second gallon glass jug) is not strictly necessary for this process but will vastly help with the amount of musical chairs you have to play with your cider later. I highly recommend you get one.

For growlers, you can substitute any glass jug of reasonable size, a fancy fermentation bucket, or anything in between. You can’t just use any old bucket because there is such a thing as food-grade plastic, so it’s safest to stick to glass unless you happen to have bought your materials from a homebrew store where people know what they’re talking about.

A gallon of soft cider, preferably from a quaint local farm: $6-8—Technically you can accomplish cider with preservative-free apple juice if that's your thing (or you can't find the real stuff). But that's no fun at all. You need cider that is preservative-free (no sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate as one of the ingredients). If you have the option of pasteurized or unpasteurized cider, either works, and I’ll discuss the benefits of each later.

A can of apple juice concentrate: $2—This doesn’t have to be concentrate, but concentrate is sugarier, which sugar-hungry yeast likes, and is virtually guaranteed to be preservative-free. Mott’s apple juice also has no preservatives. You’ll use this to make a starter.

Dry wine yeast, Lalvin EC-1118: $6-7 for 10 packets—This is a common, cheap, easy-to-find yeast that works for cider. That few dollars gets you enough to make 10 batches of a recipe this size, so the actual cost of what you use is less than a dollar. Champagne yeast is similarly cheap. There are liquid yeasts made specifically for cider, but they are about ten times more expensive.

A cup of sugar: Free—I’m guessing you have some around. Honey or brown sugar also works. If you don't have sugar, you can try to borrow it from a neighbor, but there's a 60 percent chance they will think you're up to no good.

Two airlocks: $1 each—These are little plastic pieces that let the gas generated from fermentation flow out and prevent new air from flowing in. There are a couple of different designs, but this one is simple and cheap. It is also possible to just cover the mouths of your fermentation jugs with a balloon and let the air of it when necessary, if you happen to have a lot of balloons lying around because you are more fun than I am. But a packet of balloons costs about as much as the reusable, real-equipment versions, which are airlocks and…

Stoppers/bungs: $1 each—These are stoppers with holes in the middle of them to stick your airlocks in. Different jug mouths need different sizes, but you just need to measure the mouth and then look at this chart to see what size you need.

You will need later:
A length of food-grade tubing, $4-10—this is unfortunately one of the most expensive items on this list, but the price varies; here is a length for $4 shipped on Amazon. This is not strictly necessary, either, but it will make removing sediment from the cider equation much easier later.

Optional:
Beer bottles, free—you can save these from your own personal retail beer journeys. For the purposes of this highly experimental project, I will suggest this as not the primary way to go about bottling. Since I'm using growlers, I can "bottle" the cider in those without having to invest in...

Bottle caps (100-144ct), $4-5—far more material than you need, though they take up less space than you might think.

A bottle capper, $13—this is a nice Ars Technica orange, but the process of bottling edges cider-making into an even more expensive/cumbersome endeavor.

You can also bottle your cider in saved-up plastic soda bottles, if presentation doesn't matter. I will show both growler-bottling and bottle-bottling processes in later steps, but know there are ways around bottling in conventional bottles if you don't want to bother with caps, cappers, and sterilizing all those tiny vessels.

Total equipment cost: $11-19

Total materials cost: $14-17 at the outset, $9-11 per batch

One gallon of cider works out to almost 11 bottles of cider. This isn’t the cheapest way to get drunk, but hopefully the final product will be at least comparable to what you can get off the shelf (everyone shake your fist at the inescapable Original Sin and Angry Orchard ciders) and, with the homesteading tendencies of our nation’s youth, you get to feel like you made something. (When it comes time to bottle, if the final product is not-so-tasty, I’ll try a couple of modifications to see if I can’t improve the flavor with stuff I've got on hand.)
On sanitizing

Sanitizing everything that is going to touch your cider or any ingredient of your cider is necessary. At best, your cider will taste bad, at worst, it will make you sick.* The easiest way to sanitize is to make a bleach solution of 1 tablespoon of bleach in a gallon of water and soak everything in there for at least 20 minutes, or put that solution inside anything that can’t be soaked (your fermentation vessels). Keep some boiled water to rinse these things as you take them out to use.

There are more sanitizing materials you can buy, but I’m specifically suggesting bleach because I have it on hand, and you probably do, too. Sanitizers like Star San and Iodophor are quicker but also small investments you may want to wait to pick up down the line if you decide homebrewing is fun.

* Evidence I’ve turned up suggests it will not actually make you sick, but if there’s even a small risk, no Arsians are falling ill on my watch. Sanitize your stuff.
The beginning

The first step is to make a starter, which will allow you see that your yeast is alive and well. This step isn’t strictly necessary, but you don’t want to go through even the small number of brewing steps necessary here only to see your yeast just lying there motionless.

I add a packet of dry wine yeast to the juice (in a sanitized container) and shake it around a little to integrate them, leaving the top cracked so gas can escape if the yeast does turn out to be viable. After about two hours, the juice is bubbling on the surface—when it comes to action, it’s not exactly Fred Astaire, but it is alive. The starter can go in the fridge until tomorrow. 

The next day...

I take the starter out of the fridge and add a cup of sugar, shaking to integrate. The yeast, understandably, is loving this—adding sugar gives it more to feed on and will boost the alcohol content of the final product.

Now, if I were using cider that had not been pasteurized, this is the time when I’d cook it to kill off the natural yeasts hanging around inside it to bring this science experiment a little more under my control. Unpasteurized cider needs to be simmered—not boiled, or the pectins will start to set—for about 45 minutes prior to bottling. This also makes it slightly easier to dissolve your extra sugar.

Even if you do have unpasteurized cider, it’s not unheard of to start it without cooking—as a few guides I’ve read said, this “may or may not improve” the flavor. Hence, if you lack the equipment or time to cook a large vat of liquid for an hour, skipping the cook will, in the end, still produce alcohol. No one is promising flavor, only the entirely bearable lightness of being slightly or very inebriated, as suits you.

Now that my equipment is sanitized, I dump it out, rinse it (using boiled water), and split my starter between the two growlers I’m using. My pasteurized cider follows it in, filled to about where the neck starts. I stir the two jugs with a sanitized sharpening steel, because it is the longest and sturdiest thing I have lying around for stirring, but any decently long sanitized stick works (chopstick, cooking spoon handle, and so on) for integrating the rest of the sugar, the yeast, and the cider. I fill my airlocks about halfway with water, stick them in the bungs, stick the bungs in the growlers, and stick the growlers in a relatively cool place. Cider and yeast need an environment between 60-75ºF, or a coolish room temperature, to do their best work.

And my work is done for at least a week, maybe two. From here, I monitor and refill the water in the airlocks, if necessary, and wait patiently for booze to develop. In next week's installment, I'll cover maintaining and bottling the cider. The third and last installment will cover the final product triumphs and regrets. Follow along at home if you're so inclined.
Promoted Comments

    mad_ludvigSmack-Fu Master, in training
    jump to post
    Finally something I feel qualified to comment on! A couple of thoughts/tips.

    If you're at all serious about this, spend the 10 bucks and get some decent sanitizer. It'll last forever, and you won't have to worry about rinsing your bleach off and re-introducing bacteria, mold spores or wild yeast.

    Secondly, you're probably going to have to age this batch for around 6-9 months in order to have something drinkable that doesn't resemble rocket fuel. EC-1118 is a super dry champagne yeast and will chew up all of the apple flavor. If you want to have something done more quickly I would recommend a dry English ale yeast such as Lallemand's Nottingham or Safale's S-04. These won't ferment all of the complex sugars, and you'll have something drinkable in a couple of months.

    Finally, nutrient. Get some Fermaid-K and DAP and add about a teaspoon per gallon. This will help keep your yeast healthy and again, your cider will be drinkable quicker.

    Unless you live somewhere remote, you probably have a local homebrewing store where you can get all of this. There are also numerous online stores that are a bit more economical than Amazon for homebrewing stuff.

    Feel free to PM me if anyone has questions. Also, HomeBrewTalk and the homebrewing subreddit are great resources. 
===========

Homebrewing cider, part 2: We lose control
The trickiest part isn't getting cider into fermentation. It's getting it out again.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/...-lose-control/

My cider has been in its growlers for not half an hour, and already it’s misbehaving. Specifically, it’s trying to crawl out of one of the airlocks as the fermentation gas leaks out. I get that Chinese-water-torture feeling where you see exactly what is about to happen but are powerless to stop it.

In case you missed it, I set about my first ever homebrew experiment a few weeks ago. Things were going well then, and I thought the rest of the experiment would go smoothly. Exactly when I started to relax, the cider started to get up to tricks.

Disaster strikes

I suspect the cider was creeping out of the jug because it was too warm in my apartment—as I stated in part one, cider optimally ferments at 60-75 degrees, and warmer temperatures will put the yeast in overdrive. I conveniently picked the first week of 80-degree weather in a solid month of moderate-to-crisp autumn temperatures to start this project. Woe.

Typically, more experienced and better-equipped homebrewers solve this by installing a “blowoff valve” over the mouth of their fermentation jugs, which is basically a large version of an airlock that feeds fermentation gases and gunk into a cup of water via tubing. I still have yet to buy my tubing, so I take some random Internet forum advice suggesting that if I remove the valve and leave the stopper opening covered with tin-foil, it’s off-gassing enough that fresh air sneaking in isn’t so much of a concern. I leave the cider like this overnight.

By the next morning it appears to have stopped overreacting, so I re-sanitize and replace the valves. For a while, they’re bubbling along fine, but as the temperature rises, the cider starts to creep into the valves again. A couple of times I flush, re-sanitize, and replace them, while covering the stopper openings with tinfoil. The cider keeps creeping in, so I decide to just let them overflow for a while.

So much for this project being not much work; it’s like babysitting an endlessly gurgling infant. Let this be a warning: if you do have cooler parts to your house, like a basement or garage, having your cider somewhere relatively cool is not a trivial matter. Otherwise your yeast will do its terrible impression of a volcano all over whatever surface you’re storing the jugs on.

Furthermore, the need for repeated santizings is a vote for having some dedicated sanitizing solution on hand that doesn’t require this onerous soak-in-bleach, rinse-in-boiled-water workflow. But since blow-off gunk started collecting within the airlocks and in the bungs, they did kind of need a soak anyway. It’s also a vote for more easily disassembled airlocks, as the continuous tube ones are difficult to clean once they’ve been violated by cider-creep.

Eventually, the blow-off dies down, and my cider settles into a gentle bubbling. I actually find myself mesmerized by the gurgle when I sit down to check it. It's hypnotic.
More disaster strikes, but this is all my fault

After about a week, the airlocks have nearly ceased bubbling—at less than a bubble a minute, the yeast inside has more or less chewed all of the sugar it can into alcohol. There are many directions you can go from this point, including adding more sugar to increase the alcohol content, flavors, carbonation, and so forth, but I’m trying to keep this simple.

The next step is to transfer the cider to a secondary fermentation vessel. At this point, much of the yeast has settled out to the bottom of the growlers, and moving the cider to new growlers before bottling it will help separate it better. It’s not absolutely essential, but if you have the time and the extra vessel for it, it’s worth getting as much yeast out as you can.

But here is also where problems start with the lo-fi methods I’ve chosen. I’ve read that it is possible to strain cider, rather than trying to siphon it away from the dregs, but that recommendation was… unusual, to say the least. Hence, I’m using the tubing I mentioned in the last installment to siphon the cider into new growlers. Siphoning turns out to be both the niftiest and the simplest thing I’ve seen in terms of physics principles at work, and it's the thing most likely to turn on you before you even understand what’s going on.

Siphoning can be done with an auto-siphon, which, like much homebrew equipment, is kind of expensive for being a somewhat complex piece of plastic, but it gives you some control over the forces at work. I instead opt to risk spilling cider all over my floor.

Siphoning is a lot of physics. I could explain it, or I could just tell you to try to get a sense of it by playing around with some water first. Basically, you’re going to create an uneven pressure situation in your tubing using water, suck cider into the tube behind the water, dump the water, and then work the uneven pressure to your advantage to pull cider out of one growler and into another.

You “prime” the tubing by filling it with some water. If you stick one end in the growler full of cider and stick another end into a bowl at a slightly lower elevation, the cider will travel from the growler to the bowl. Practice first with some bottles or bowls and water to get a sense of how it works.

Because I have no auto-siphoning tool, I have to start and stop the flow by holding the low end of the tube up, stopping one end with my finger, or some combination thereof. It’s tricky, and unless you are many times more dextrous and coordinated than I, you’re going to spill some (or a lot) of cider.

So I prime my (sanitized) hose, stick one end in a growler full of cider, and point the other end into a large bowl to draw in the cider and let the priming water out. Once the cider is drawn through, I plug it, move it to the new (sanitized) growler, and let the cider flow.

Of course, gravity works against me, and there’s not enough of a pressure difference between the two ends to get the cider moving, so I pick the end-growler up and move it closer to the floor. This gets the flow going again. I try to pluck the end of the hose in the starting growler away when the level gets too close to the dregs, but I’m sure some made the transfer. I have to leave behind a painful amount of cider.

Originally I thought I was going to get about 10 bottles out of this equation, but with the quantity of cider I’m going to have to leave behind for filtration purposes (twice, now), it will be less. Naturally, I also spill some cider on the floor during this process, when it starts coming too fast into the priming water bowl, and I jerk the hose around in panic spasms. Like I said, practice. Since I only had three growlers, I had to play a bit of musical chairs, siphoning out of the first into the third, then washing and re-sanitizing the first to siphon the second’s cider into it.

After the brew sits for another week in its new vessels, yet more yeast has settled out of it, and it’s time to bottle. I’ve saved a bunch of cider and beer bottles, picked up some caps for $4, and bought one of those clunky, expensive bottle cappers.

Bottling, or more accurately, flooring

As I said in part one, you can technically “bottle” into a growler as long as you still have the cap for it. Since this is still cider we’re making, you wouldn’t even have to drink it all in one sitting, technically. So that process is easy—re-siphon again into new growlers, cap, and store.

Bottling with the old-fashioned siphon method proved to be extremely cumbersome, as I had to stop and start the flow between every 12 ounces of beer. If you watch the video above, you can see that I do the first two bottles perfectly. Things go downhill from there.

I have two main problems: Usually I can get the priming water out OK and start flow into a bottle. But if I don’t time ending the flow right, the bottle overflows, cider goes everywhere. Even if that doesn’t happen, I tend to lose the siphon balance in my hose and have to re-prime it with new water. Just go into this expecting to lose and to re-do several steps—there are no winners, except the cider that wanted to be on your floor. Or cheat and just get an auto-siphon tool.

By the end, there is cider on my floor, on my table, on my socks, surprisingly none on my person, but a good amount of it in the bottles. There are eight bottles in total, which I capped and put in the refrigerator.

There are few benefits to tiny-batch homebrewing—ask the hours I’ve spent ferrying cider between glass vessels to net eight measly bottles—but one is that you can stash it all in your fridge, where you know that any residual yeast will be too cold to rouse itself to action, so none of your bottles will burst. Yes, that is a danger, so you could bottle in plastic soda bottles, which will at least give you some warning by swelling into weird shapes before popping.

Here’s to doing things we might regret

The last thing I do is taste the cider, so I can find out whether to give up now and dump everything into the gutter. I pour off a little into a tiny glass and… hesitantly… sip.

Shockingly, it’s not revolting. The flavor is not terribly off, and it still does taste like apples. I’d read not to expect that. It’s pretty sour—makes sense, since the yeast would have eaten all the sugar—but it doesn’t taste funky, or like bleach, which I’d feared after many warnings about using bleach as a sanitizer. It’s not super-alcoholic, either; in fact it's pretty drinkable, on the whole. The last sip or two are pretty yeasty, which means there is probably yet more spent yeast I’ll have to avoid at the bottom of the bottles. But yes, I think I could stomach this knowing it will lead to inebriation. Small victories.

In part three, I’m going to taste the cider again, extensively (too extensively, probably) to see if the flavor improves at all. Supposedly, aging can help a lot. I’ll also cover flavor alteration methods, triumphs, regrets, and what advice you, the readers, have to offer to those of us who are new to homebrewing. Until then, here’s a toast to making things far more difficult than they need to be.

==============
Homebrewing cider, part 3: The final taste, regrets, and reader advice
Recapping the triumphs and failures of the brew, and reading some comments.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/...reader-advice/

A few weeks ago, I set about turning some fresh-pressed cider into alcohol. I tried to keep costs and equipment minimal, the process simple, and the product drinkable.

In part one, I collected materials, began the intensive sanitizing, and set up the cider to ferment. In part two I encountered a handful of disasters but managed to successfully transfer to cider to bottles.

While I made some compromises that weren’t worth the time or space saved (see: trying to bottle cider the old-fashioned way without a siphon clamp, sanitizing with bleach), and took some risks (covering the opening of overflowing fermentation jugs with tin foil), and made a mess (all over the floor), I did ultimately end up with something I could drink without following up with a spit-take.

I tried my cider again this past week, after letting it set in the refrigerator for a week after bottling it. The first bottle I opened had some very yeasty sips, and there was a lot of sediment on the bottom; looks like I was even sloppier about siphoning than all the cider I spilled would suggest. Some of my bottles will be worse than others for this, but I’ll be trying to decant the ones with the most sediment in hopes that some of the gross stuff will settle out.

Otherwise, the cider is sour and apple-y tasting. The yeasty sips are very unpleasant, so if you attempt this, take a lot more care than I did about keeping the yeast out of your final product. It will taste like bread smells, if the bread were half-baked and then left in a dark, dank place for days.

Another piece of the problem may be that I’m keeping these bottles in a drawer in my fridge that I interact with regularly. If I put the bottles in more static positions, the yeast would settle out better.
Next steps for better flavor

So my first cider is hardly an elixir of the gods; even in a taste test against Miller High Life, it seems watery. It’s not sweet, by any stretch. But if I were interested, there are a number of steps I could have taken to remedy this.

Home brewers can up the alcohol content in their cider by adding sugar when transferring the cider to its secondary fermentation vessel, if they transfer the settled yeast too. There is still yeast in there that wants to eat yet more sugar and produce yet more alcohol, so it’s possible to keep driving this process with more and more sugar until eventually, you have wine. You don’t want wine, this isn’t wine class, but that is the relationship at work. A cup of sugar a week at a time will nudge this process along; you can repeat this multiple times until the desired alcohol content is reached.

If you don’t like flat cider, you can also add brown sugar, more apple juice concentrate, or dextrose during the bottling stage in order to carbonate it. This is where we get into an iffy pressure situation—the carbonation stage will create pressure inside the glass bottles and can cause explosions, if improperly managed. Someday I may get so far as this, but for now I choose flat apple cider in my mouth over carbonated cider on the ceiling of my apartment.

These carbonation materials are added in small amounts for a gallon’s worth of cider: 1/8-1/4 cup of brown sugar (dissolved in half a cup of boiled water), 1/4 can of apple juice concentrate, or 1/8 cup of dextrose. You also don’t want to add this stuff until the cider has aged a month or so.

So then the question is, if you use sugar to booze up or carbonate your cider, how do you sweeten it? I’ve seen a number of products to this end but the best recommendation I’ve seen is xylitol. Xylitol sounds chemical-y and you probably recognize it as a flavoring in gum, but it is a naturally-occurring plant sugar that yeast cannot eat. Normally you would add this prior to the bottling stage, stirring a small amount in and then letting the yeast dregs settle out before bottling it. Three tablespoons per gallon gets you a light, sweet flavor, but you can add more or less and adjust to your tastes.

In defense of just getting started

I’m surprised how simple, if messy, homebrewing can actually be. Sanitization is the most tedious part, but beyond that, micro-batch cider-making was neither egregiously time-intensive, nor did it have a very steep learning curve. I turned out something drinkable on my first try without either a full-blown set of equipment or the most orthodox of methods. Anyone could do the same, provided they have a couple free hours of time on a few consecutive weekends.

The homebrewing community is fortunate to have so many people who can describe the process in a rigorous and detail-oriented way, as most of the guides I encountered do (though most were short on the why’s and how’s of the process decisions). But for what the bounty of resources on the Internet gives, it also takes away: the involvement and commitment that reads from some of the more intensive guides out there can be intimidating for first-timers. I wanted to cut through the expensive and complicated parts of homebrewing to what was absolutely necessary, begin at the beginning.

In a way, it’s comparable to programming: no one is going to learn to code if they start with Volume I of The Art of Computer Programming. But sit them down in front of Code Academy, and even if some things they learn aren’t immediately useful for a modern software engineering career, the curve is shallow enough that there’s a better chance they’ll have the patience to get there. That’s no judgment on The Art of Computer Programming; I’m sure it’s a great set of tomes that are inscrutable for most of humanity. But sometimes you need to shrink the distance between yourself and that first stepping stone.

I made some of what more experienced homebrewers would call outright mistakes. Certainly some of the choices I made did put the quality of the product at risk in the interest of saving money, space, and time, but the best defense of my methods is that the cider I am currently drinking, which again is no prize, is not bad for a first attempt.

I’m sure there’s an element of luck involved, but with preparation, I wouldn’t need it. A number of commenters experienced with homebrewing had some great advice for what I could do differently next time to not lean so hard on good fortune and ensure a better result and experience next time. It wouldn’t take much.
Mistakes, regrets, and things to do differently

Many of you were horrified that I used bleach to sanitize things, because of the potential for bleach-y flavor and contamination. By the end, I became horrified too, but more because of the time commitment that bleach sanitization is rather than simply buying StarSan. Some of you suggested sanitizing in a boiling pot of water or by cooking things in the stove; both are good cheap methods, but my kitchen is a little small for it. I declare an $8 bottle of StarSan and a $4 spritzer to put it in a worthy investment.

Some of you, like Pocky is God, also suggested using champagne yeast instead of the dry wine one I used. My impression is that champagne yeast somehow does a better job of making more alcohol, and it’s about the same price, so this will be interesting to try the next time I’m in the yeast market.

SoCalBoomer suggested, among several good points of guidance, that I put the overactive cider in a water bath to cool it down and stop the cider pressing out of the airlocks. I didn’t even think of this and would definitely try it next time, though I am also now equipped to set up a blow-off valve in the event of overactivity.

Many of you pointed out I never needed an auto-siphon, which runs $12-15, but I could have used a siphon clamp, which is $2-4, or a bottling wand, which is apparently $0.50. I regret not looking further into that. Pour some cider out for all the cider that was lost in the line of duty.

One of you (allanj37) suggested “sanitizing” my mouth with whiskey and priming the hose that way, rather than drawing the cider into the tube with priming water. Much as I like whiskey, I think I’ll keep my mouth germs out of the bottles and stick to the priming water.

A question came up in the comments about using mason jars to bottle cider. I thought about doing this myself, but as others pointed out, mason jars are not built for the pressure situation that bottling alcohol creates: their lids are meant to be sucked in, not pushed out. They’re also clear, which allows alcohol to spoil more easily in light and become skunked.

Helmingstay noted that 5-gallon brews are a much better investment of time and energy. I support this, and if you have the space for it, you should go for it—the output of a gallon brew is pitiful.

But I have a tiny apartment that can’t really accommodate a slate of 5-gallon-size brewing equipment, and as I stated at the outset, I intended to pursue this without spending a ton of money. Full-size brewing equipment kits are expensive. I wanted to see if I could get by without all of that expense, and I could, and you can too, even if you are not so solvent or aren’t rolling in vast acreages of space.

For all the difficulty, I could see this being fun and a fruitful endeavor once I get the hang of a few more aspects. My point is, you should try making some alcohol. You will need it by the time you’re done making yourself some alcohol.

-t

----------


## osan

> I am thinking about buying a still for various reasons.  Where would be a good place to buy ingredients to make whiskey, moonshine, etc?


Why on earth would you _buy_ a still?  There are two problems associated with this.  Firstly, they are illegal to possess without a manufacturing license.  It does not matter if the only reason you have it is to purify water.  Theye will put your ass in the hoosegow pronto.  Secondly, if you buy from someone there is a person who can testify agin' you or drop a dime.  That is an unacceptable exposure in my opinion.

Build your own.  Learn the principles of distillation, build a good still, and do whatever it is you intend.  They are not hard to make as they are very simple.  Stainless or copper or a combination of these will enable you to make a wailing good still.  The internet is rife with articles and videos on how to do this.  My opinion is that people need to learn to extricate themselves from excessive dependence upon others for the basic necessities of living.  Learn and gain skill.  There is no better capital on the planet - not gold, not political office.  OK, a pair of young naked nubiles might compete but that's probably the only example that comes to mind.

----------


## osan

> 18 gallons @ 7.8%, once racked and final perk in gallons jugs for 120 days.
> 
> Had a taste, bit yeasty but 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...


One of my uncles in Europe, RIP, used to make white lightning from apples.  You opened the jug and this essence of beautiful apples wafted up at you.  It was like heaven.

Pour a shot, put it to your lips, and down.  Pure fire.  Not a hint of apple flavor.  190 proof of hell.  Two shots and you were stoned.

----------


## tangent4ronpaul

> Why on earth would you _buy_ a still?  There are two problems associated with this.  Firstly, *they are illegal to possess without a manufacturing license.*  It does not matter if the only reason you have it is to purify water.  Theye will put your ass in the hoosegow pronto.  Secondly, if you buy from someone there is a person who can testify agin' you or drop a dime.  That is an unacceptable exposure in my opinion.


Not quite accurate.  From post 54:

TTB Laws

Under Federal rules administered by TTB, it depends on how you use the still. You may not produce alcohol with these stills unless you qualify as a distilled spirits plant. However, owning a small still and using it for other purposes is allowed. You should also check with your State and local authorities - their rules may differ.

A still is defined as apparatus capable of being used to separate ethyl alcohol from a mixture that contains alcohol. Small stills (with a cubic distilling capacity of a gallon or less) that are used for laboratory purposes or for distilling water or other non-alcoholic materials are exempt from our rules. If you buy a small still and use it to distill water or extract essential oils by steam or water extraction methods, you are not subject to TTB requirements. If you produce essential oils by a solvent method and you get alcohol as a by-product of your process, we consider that distilling. Even though you are using and recovering purchased alcohol, you are separating the alcohol from a mixture -distilling. Under regulations in part 29 of title 27, Code of Federal Regulations, *TTB has the right to require manufacturers of stills to give the name and address of each customer.* 




> Build your own.  Learn the principles of distillation, build a good still, and do whatever it is you intend.  They are not hard to make as they are very simple.  Stainless or copper or a combination of these will enable you to make a wailing good still.  The internet is rife with articles and videos on how to do this.  My opinion is that people need to learn to extricate themselves from excessive dependence upon others for the basic necessities of living.  Learn and gain skill.  There is no better capital on the planet - not gold, not political office.  OK, a pair of young naked nubiles might compete but that's probably the only example that comes to mind.


Agree

-t

----------


## presence

from that long post from ars technica...

Dude needs to get an auto siphon.  I have two.   One long one for 1st rack out of corny kegs... and a short one for racking out of glass gallons.  The key to racking is not to stir anything up while you rack; we make it a two man job around here.


Also, the bubbling is really only a problem with ale yeasts... shouldn't have that issue w/ 1118.  Regardless, I leave 1/2 gallon of head space in my corny kegs to deal with it until I rack to gallons...where I fill to the neck.   Ideally I'd like to run from 1.060 to 1.020 in my corny kegs... then rack and run 1.020 to ~1 in glass.  


His suggestion of xylitol to sweeten should be heeded with the warning; try some first... see how much you can handle without inducing diarrhoea.

and cider doesn't "skunk" in the sun... it gets "light struck".

----------


## Todd

Another great site for Homebrewing expetise is here:  http://www.homebrewtalk.com/

It's got a fabulous forum and hundreds of recipes for beginner and advanced homebrewers.   It also has hundreds of answers to the hundreds of questions we beginner's have had.   I cannot count the number of times I had a problem  that I had no idea how to fix that I did not find a good answer too here.

----------


## Todd

This was my first attempt at a Belgian.  Turned out really good.

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: WY530
Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.072
Final Gravity: 1.017
IBU: 17
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 37 SRM
ABV:  7.7

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 days
Tasting Notes: slightly dry with dark fruit and spice

6 lbs Muntons extra light Dry Malt Extract (DME)
1 lbs Dingemans Caramunich 45 
1 lbs Special B Dingemans
1oz German Tettnang hops 60m
1 oz German Hallertau 15 m
Belgian Candi Syrup D180 add at flameout
Abbey Ale Liquid Yeast WY530


Steeped the specialty grains for 30 minutes at 155 degrees.(Special B and Caramunich 45).
Brought to a boil and added all Muntons DME. Add 1oz Tettnang at start of boil and 1oz Hallertau at 15m before flameout. Add candy syrup 5 minutes before flameout.

Ferment 10 days at 68  75 or until it's finished
Secondary 1 week 68
Bottle condition for 3 weeks in a cool dark place. 


lessons learned: 
- Make a starter!!!. I pitched the yeast too cool (about 65 degrees) and it took over 72 hrs to get moving. I sweated over this for several days and then had to go out of town. Luckily a warm spell hit while gone and the wife called and told me it was bubbling away. No worries, cause it turned out fine. Next time I will leave it for probably 2 weeks in primary. 

- after the slow start, this beer fermented around 74-76 for most of the week. 

- It came out really dark. Much darker than most Dubbel's. Might try less specialty grains next time. But has really nice scent of dark fruits and light spice coming off.

----------


## tangent4ronpaul

> from that long post from ars technica...
> 
> Dude needs to get an auto siphon.  I have two.   One long one for 1st rack out of corny kegs... and a short one for racking out of glass gallons.  The key to racking is not to stir anything up while you rack; we make it a two man job around here.
> 
> 
> Also, the bubbling is really only a problem with ale yeasts... shouldn't have that issue w/ 1118.  Regardless, I leave 1/2 gallon of head space in my corny kegs to deal with it until I rack to gallons...where I fill to the neck.   Ideally I'd like to run from 1.060 to 1.020 in my corny kegs... then rack and run 1.020 to ~1 in glass.  
> 
> 
> His suggestion of xylitol to sweeten should be heeded with the warning; try some first... see how much you can handle without inducing diarrhoea.
> ...


Good tips, but just one thing...  the author is a dudett... 

The first time I made mead it was to give away (mostly) for Christmas gifts.  I was in HS at the time...  the timing wasn't exactly right as it hadn't quite finished fermenting at the time I wanted to distribute so I could get to ppl before christmas.  I bottled anyway and with each bottle, I advised the recipient to crack the cap as it needed 2-3 more days...  So this one teacher I'd given a bottle to (Yeah, yeah - I know - contributing to the delinquency of an adult...)  came back to me after the holidays and said: "You know that bottle of mead you gave me and told me to loosen the cap on? - well, I totally spaced and just put it in the liquor cabinet..."  Yeppers! - KABOOM!  I laughed!  So did he...

and if it happened this year, I'd be looking forward to spending the rest of my days in gitmo 

I want my country back!

-t

----------


## Root

> lessons learned: 
> - Make a starter!!!. I pitched the yeast too cool (about 65 degrees) and it took over 72 hrs to get moving. I sweated over this for several days and then had to go out of town. Luckily a warm spell hit while gone and the wife called and told me it was bubbling away. No worries, cause it turned out fine. Next time I will leave it for probably 2 weeks in primary.


When you say "make a starter"; do you mean just mix the yeast with cooled boiled water or do you add some sugar/wort to give the yeast something to get started on?

----------


## Todd

> When you say "make a starter"; do you mean just mix the yeast with cooled boiled water or do you add some sugar/wort to give the yeast something to get started on?


Cooled boiled water with a bit of sugar  (DME). 

Here's two variations on how to do it.

----------


## Root

I made some more hard apple cider on Monday. This time I removed 3 cups of apple juice and added 12oz. of frozen (thawed) apple juice concentrate and 1 very firmly packed cup of brown sugar. OG was about 1.074 so I decided to add 2 tsp of yeast nutrient. I don't know how well this Mr Beer yeast will tolerate high alcohol, but we're gonna find out. 

Woke up this morning to find cider bubbling up into the airlock. Happy yeast and good problems. I've never seen any of my brews bubble so much. Looking into the carboy, it looks like I poured a carbonated beverage in there. This one has freeze concentration potential.

----------


## Todd

^

Root....

Ok I have question about that Hydrometer.  I have the exact same one.  Directions are horrible and a search on the net is not going well.     I get what the numbers are.  But explain to me the color coding and what it means regarding homebrewing beer.   Is my OG supposed to start in the Green and end up in the Green?  What is the Orange for?  What's the blue for?

----------


## Root

> ^
> 
> Root....
> 
> Ok I have question about that Hydrometer.  I have the exact same one.  Directions are horrible and a search on the net is not going well.     I get what the numbers are.  But explain to me the color coding and what it means regarding homebrewing beer.   Is my OG supposed to start in the Green and end up in the Green?  What is the Orange for?  What's the blue for?


Sorry, Todd, I have no idea.  I just got got this Hydrometer and I've only used it a few times. I'll be bottleing some cider tomorrow and I'll see if I can't understand it.

----------


## presence

did some racking tonight...



2 kegs from primary to secondary

and six gallons from secondary to tertiary; and a 1/2 gallon for the head to the fridge!

----------


## presence

> ^
> 
> Root....
> 
> Ok I have question about that Hydrometer.  I have the exact same one.  Directions are horrible and a search on the net is not going well.     I get what the numbers are.  But explain to me the color coding and what it means regarding homebrewing beer.   Is my OG supposed to start in the Green and end up in the Green?  What is the Orange for?  What's the blue for?



You start beer in the orange  1.030-1.060 and end beer in the upper green  1.000-1.020

You start table wine in the lower green  1.060-1.090 and end in the upper green

You start dessert wine in the lower blue 1.100-1.130 and end in the upper blue 1.000-.990


For cider with wine yeast, I'm starting at the line between beer and wine starting range; 1.060.

I'm ending in the wine range; upper blue.   1.000 - .990; with the goal a dry wine.



For cider with ale or lager yeast, I still start at 1.060 and end in the middle of the beer range 1.010




ending too late leaves you dry, ending too early leaves you sweet.

too much simple sugar at first waters down your flavor.

too little sugar restricts final alcohol potential

----------


## presence

So I had a 10 gallon brew fail...

At first I was pressing through bedsheets... those ripped... I stitched...ripped... then we were pressing through canvas... ripped... stitched... ripped again...

So the last batch we ran through burlap, our local source was Walmart.

*
ACTUNG!
*
DO NOT BUY *100% NATURAL JUTE BURLAP* FABRIC FROM WALMART TO PRESS APPLES


So anyway, $20 worth of cleaning agents and two days of soaking and rinsing and soaking and rinsing and agitating and washing... I thought the 3 flat bottom bags I spent a whole day triple stitching to custom fit my press would finally be clean of that "new burlap smell".

I spent another day chopping and pressing apples...

My 10+ gallons smells like yuk.  

I set a quart jar of fresh squeezed on the counter.  I poured it down the drain at the end of the day when no one touched it.

I can't decide between wasting two packets of yeast on the 10g on it or pouring it in the woods.



So anyway, I ordered "HYDROCARBON FREE jute burlap" from an online distributor.  Now to spend another day triple stitching custom burlap bags... again.





For what its worth, the hydrocarbon free burlap smells like nothing.  

http://www.onlinefabricstore.net/bur...al-burlap-.htm




> *Material:* 100% Jute
> *Width:* 40"
> *Weight:* 10 Ounces
> Hydrocarbon Free
> 
> $1.90/yd
> Free shipping over $50







Who knew?

It turns out most burlap is soaked in kerosene / oil / water mix for some ungodly reason.  Maybe it doesn't rot as fast when used for root balls on trees?  Don't know.     I threw everything I had at it... dawn, citrus hand cleaner, ecover dish soap, vinegar, borax, washing soda, baking soda, rubbing alcohol... be careful mixing the last two... apparently, di ethyl ether gas; that was learning experience #2... 

seems you want to avoid huffing the di ethyl ether.

----------


## presence

Yes... oxyclean too and laundry soap too.

----------


## Root

Cool update presence.  Could you press through a mesh screen?

I've been doing a gallon of cider a week for about month now.  2 gallons bottle conditioning, and 2 gallons fermenting.  Today I'm going to rack a gallon into a secondary for a few days and depending on the final gravity, I might just attempt to freeze concentrate it.  

I've got 2 gallons of a White IPA that's going to move to a secondary today or tomorrow.

I'm also hoping to get my first 5 gallon brew going this weekend.  I'm still toying with the recipe.

----------


## presence

lager yeast in corny keg #10 smells very very nice;

brewferm lager yeast


I've thought about stainless mesh screen... but I'm pretty sure this hydrocarbon free burlap is going to be the ticket for the remainder of my pressing season.  I am going to wash it though... probably just acid base a few times with baking soda solution and vinegar solution.  Stainless screen would work great on the sides... I'm just not sure how to completely "wrap a cheese" to keep it from squirting out the top.  

I had been avoiding burlap the whole time because all I knew of it was that "new burlap smell" and I thought it would be gross... which it was.  Traditionally, burlap cheeses were where it was at though; all the tubes I've watched of old presses tend to involve burlap.  The pressing process actually went really well with the schwag burlap vs canvas; I'd say it cut the press time in half.

Today is sewing day.  Tomorrow back to pressing.


On those 10 gallons of "fail"; rather than wasting a yeast packet on them... I just added the dregs from two other kegs after racking.  It worked and they're bubbling this morning.  So no more added cost to that batch.  I'm going to keep it going, even though the juice still tasted off. We'll see where we are after ferm.... I'll let it go super dry.  I really laundered the $#@! out of that burlap and it burns me that the taste/smell carried anyway.  Meh... some of that fancy wine is fermented with tobacco and old leather.






Anyone have a good source for red silicone 70a (or softer) size -417 o-rings for corny keg lids?

----------


## presence

> Another great site for Homebrewing expetise is here:  http://www.homebrewtalk.com/


2nd that

----------


## presence

samplings of batch #1 drink like mineral water; apple overtones...

I'll have to be careful



7.8%  ?!?

----------


## Frank Lee Seaux

> I've posted a little about this in a beer thread, but I was wondering who out there does this regularly.  I'm just getting into it and I really think it ties in to the DIY attitude and Liberty living.  
> 
>  I'd love to see others' pics, tricks, recipes, and tips to better brew.     
> 
> I just recently started a Belgian style Dubbel beer.  It is still in the fermenter awaiting transer to a secondary fermenter at the end of the week...(hopefully).  
> 
> 
> What I learned from starting this hobby is you need to get a basic starter kit, so I've compiled a list for anyone who wants to start out at novice level.  
> 
> ...


One of the things I've learned is that hop leaves in sack cloth is a really good thing to add at the end of the brewing process, just before the moss tablet. The moss tablet aids in settling for a clearer brew. The hops leaves help to give the beer more bite (feel it in your cheeks) while hops pellets added at or near the beginning of the brew will aid in flavor. The resultant brew should be something like a granny smith apple flavor. Which produces a beer which is drinkable cold or even at room temperature, unlike store bought beers. 

Also, you have nobles and workadays. The nobles should be added at the end of the process with the workadays at the beginning of the brew. Of course, for a slightly different effect, you could reverse that 9adding the workadays at the end and the nobles at the beginning.

----------


## Root

Sorry presence, I don't keg.

I transferred my White IPA to a secondary tonight.  The good news is it calculated out at 8.1% abv (OG 1.066 FG 1.004). The bad news is it doesn't taste like a White IPA, but it's a pretty good ale. I decided to dry hop an ounce of Citra Hops (12.5% AA) and let it sit a while longer.

----------


## Todd

> Sorry presence, I don't keg.
> 
> I transferred my White IPA to a secondary tonight.  The good news is it calculated out at 8.1% abv (OG 1.066 FG 1.004). The bad news is it doesn't taste like a White IPA, but it's a pretty good ale. I decided to dry hop an ounce of Citra Hops (12.5% AA) and let it sit a while longer.


That happens from time to time.  What you went for isn't what you get.    My Hefe that I bottled a month back doesn't taste like a German Hefe.  It tastes like beer, but it's closer to a Michelob than to a good craft wheat beer.   The two conclusions I reached were that my glass stove top is not conducive to home brewing because you cannot get a steady rolling boil quickly.   And I'm sure the fermentation temperature played a heavy role in the off flavors this Hefe has.  



on a side note:   
I think I am staying away from kits from now on and stick with recipes and I ordered one of these for the day after Thanksgiving brew day (hopefully).



Bayou Classic 55,000 BTU propane burner.

----------


## tangent4ronpaul

Why tapping the top of a beer bottle produces a geyser of foam
Thank compression waves for this "heady" effect.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/...eyser-of-foam/



After a short delay, a bit of physics produces the mushroom cloud of foam seen at right.
Javier Rodriguez-Rodriguez / Carlos III University of Madrid, SPAIN Almudena Casado-Chacon / Carlos III University of Madrid, SPAIN Daniel Fuster / CNRS (UMR 7190), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Institut Jean le Rond d'Alembert, FRANCE
Having been out of school for many years, some beer-related phenomena have slipped into the recesses of my memory, but I was reminded this week of one in particular: strike the top of a beer bottle, typically with the bottom of another bottle, and the first bottle will lose all its dissolved gasses in a matter of seconds, producing a sudden outpouring of foam. The effect is remarkably specific in that nothing happens to the bottle doing the striking and the tap has to take place on the top of the neck—tapping a bottle's sides just won't do. But why?

Researchers at Spain's Carlos III University and France's Université Pierre et Marie Curie have figured out what's going on. In a presentation at the meeting of the American Physical Society, they described how the initial tap sets off a compression wave that gets transmitted to the bottom of the bottle. Once there, the force is transferred to the beer, and a series of compression and expansion waves bounce between the top and bottom of the bottle. This process accounts for the delay between the tap and the foam explosion.

The waves fragment the bubbles already present in the beer, resulting in many smaller bubbles. The increased surface area of these smaller bubbles allows them to rapidly grow by drawing in more of the gas dissolved in the beer. The net result is a rapidly growing foam that forms a plume "whose shape resembles very much the mushrooms seen after powerful explosions," said Javier Rodriguez-Rodriguez, lead researcher on the project. The plume's buoyancy ensures that it shoots quickly to the surface of the beer and expands out rapidly once it reaches the air.

So there you have it—physics. This bit of enlightenment was brought to you by the Spanish Ministries of Science and of Economy and Competitiveness, which funded the research team.




-t

----------


## Todd

> I transferred my White IPA to a secondary tonight.


Can you post the recipe.  This is the next style I intend to make.   When I get a break this week I'm going to post pics of the Belgian Quad I made over the holiday.

----------


## Root

> Can you post the recipe.  This is the next style I intend to make.   When I get a break this week I'm going to post pics of the Belgian Quad I made over the holiday.


Sorry, I didn't see this until now.  It was a Mr. Beer HME kit.  http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/p...co_IPA_Recipe1

Based on some negative reviews of this kit, I used Danstar Belle Saison yeast and dry-hopped 1 oz of Citra hops in secondary for two weeks.

I want to make a better White IPA for spring.  I've been looking for a recipe to use.

----------


## Todd

> Sorry, I didn't see this until now.  It was a Mr. Beer HME kit.  http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/p...co_IPA_Recipe1
> 
> Based on some negative reviews of this kit, I used Danstar Belle Saison yeast and dry-hopped 1 oz of Citra hops in secondary for two weeks.
> 
> I want to make a better White IPA for spring.  I've been looking for a recipe to use.


Thanks.  I've had bad experiences with kits too.   I tend to get recipes from others and then put together my own ingredients.

----------


## Todd

The Belgian Strong Dark Ale (Quad) I started over Thanksgiving weekend is still in the primary fermenter.  It hasn't converted the sugars to alcohol as fast as I'd liked so I am being patient and going to check it again this weekend before I transfer it into the secondary.  Here's some pics of the process.   


The ingredients.  6 lbs Dried Malt Extract, 1 oz. Northern Brewer Hops,  .5 oz. Haullertauer Hops, Belgian Dark Candied Sugar syrup, Turbinado brown sugar

[IMG][/IMG]

A mix of Belgian specialty malted grains:  1 lb Caramunich,  .5 lb Biscuit, .5 lb Aromatic, .25 lb Special B


[IMG][/IMG]


The 60 minute Boiling of the beer.
[IMG][/IMG]

Added the Wort Chiller with about 15 minutes left.    
[IMG][/IMG]


My Original Gravity was around 1.103 and Tuesday it was at 1.025.   I really want this to finish at about 1.015 if possible to make it more dry and get that really high Alcohol percentage, So I'm giving it another few days to work.    

 This beer should be between 10.5 and 12% alcohol.

----------


## Todd

Full Recipe and Directions:   I have no idea how this will turn out yet.   I really intended to use a liquid yeast called WLP530 which would bring out the dark fruit flavors, but I had to go with a dry one.   

Extract Recipe

9 lb Belgian Light Dry Malt Extract
1 lb Caramunich 
.5 lb Biscuit
.5 lb Aromatic
.25 lb Special B

Candi Sugar:
1 lb Turbinado:  Added with 15 mins left in the boil
1 bottle of the Dark Candi Syrup:  Added at Flameout

Hops:
1 oz. Northern Brewer (60 min)
.5 oz. Hallertauer (15 min)

Yeast: Safebrew T58 

Extract:   
Heat 2 1/2 gallon of water to 150°F.  Keep the heat steady between 150 an 155 degrees and steep the specialty grains for 45 minutes.  Be careful not to ever go above 170 degrees or you risk getting too many tannins out of the grain.  It's yucky.

Bring the water to a boil, remove from the heat and add the Malt Extract and first bittering hop (Northern Brewer 1oz).  Boil for 45 minutes then add the Turbinado and flavor hops (.5 Hallertauer) and the Wort chiller to sanitize.  Boil the last 15 minutes then remove from heat and add Candied Sugar and cool.  Strain the cooled wort into the primary fermenter and add water to obtain 5⅛ gallons. When the wort temperature is below 80°F, pitch the yeast. Ferment in the primary fermenter for 7 to 10 days or until fermentation is complete, then siphon into the secondary fermenter.   I usually leave it in the Secondary 1 week maybe even 2.   Bottle when fermentation is complete, target gravity is reached and beer has cleared with priming sugar that has been boiled for 10 minutes in 2 cups of water. Let prime at 70°F for approximately 6 weeks until carbonated, then store at cellar temperature.    This beer is one you can age.  From brew day to drinking I would suggest at least 4 months before trying one.  

Be advised that most beers can be drank in about 4 weeks from brew day to bottling.  So don't be discouraged from doing this, because this recipe was a really complex and big beer.

----------


## brooks009

I have not read this whole thread but I'm excited to read it. I have been wanted to get into home brewing for the past year.

----------


## Todd

> My Original Gravity was around 1.103 and Tuesday it was at 1.025.   I really want this to finish at about 1.015 if possible to make it more dry and get that really high Alcohol percentage, So I'm giving it another few days to work.    
> 
>  This beer should be between 10.5 and 12% alcohol.


This weekend, after much research and talking to some homebrew expertise, I decided to go ahead and siphon it over from the primary fermenter into a secondary vessel to let it settle and clear and to get it off the yeast cake.   It fermented in primary for 14 days which is fine.  Most everyone I talked to said it wasn't going to convert any lower than 1.025.  (Has something to do with using extracts over All Grain brewing which I can't do for time right now).   So it's going to be about a 10.5% alcohol beer.  This is still a very large beer.  I will bottle this Saturday and it will hopefully bottle condition for about a month before I actually crack one open.  I can age this beer for several months and it should get better over time.  It may even be a completely different and better beer next Christmas.   

This is something you "Hop heads" can't touch, because all your beers are meant to drink fresh or they taste like crud after 6 months.

----------


## buenijo

For those who like wine, check out wine making kits. I have made honey wine for years, but I will soon try a high end wine making kit. By many accounts the quality of these kits can be very high. When properly prepared and aged I've heard from several sources that one can expect the quality of a high end kit wine to rival a wine that retails for $25-$30 a bottle. This is excellent considering that a high end kit will make wine at around $5 per bottle. There are also less expensive kits available that provide wine at $2-$3 per bottle. All ingredients are included, one need only purchase the required equipment which is not expensive. If one drinks a lot of wine, then this seems preferable to buying and storing expensive wine for personal consumption.

----------


## Root

Homebrew breakfast.  My first 5 gallon brew, bottled 12/28/13.  A simple wheat ale, 7.5% abv and it was really good.  Just a little bit of hoppiness up front which is quickly replaced by the crispness of the wheat, nicely balanced.  


I think I'm going to call this one "10:30AM".

----------


## Root

I did indeed name this beer "10:30".  It's delicious, and my friends and I drank almost all of it in 3 weeks.  

I'm going to have to make this one again.

----------


## green73

I got a kit for Christmas. Haven't used it yet. I'm so lazy.

----------


## presence

nice head root!


I'm sitting on 75 @ 750ml apple wine bottles under cork... probably another 100 still bubbling.


green73... get off your butt!  kits are easy!



I picked them apples... washed... dry stored... sorted... chopped... ground... pressed...

----------


## Root

Thanks presence!

I really only had one successful batch of my apple brew experiments.  I'm drinking it as apple wine.  It's 12.1% abv and still has a lot of residual sweetness to it.  OG was over 1.1.

----------


## Todd

Root....beautiful beer.  My first wheat ale did not fair too well.   

On the other hand....my Dubbel's are fantastic.  

I brewed another one on Saturday.  This morning I had this going on.   
[IMG][/IMG]


This yeast is a real beast.  It needed a blowoff tube and has been doing this for going on over 36 hours.

----------


## Root

Thanks Todd. I can't believe how fast I've gone through 4.5 gallons of it. Everyone loved it. The rest is for me (and my date Friday night).

Looks like a a good problem you've got there. What yeast are you using?

----------


## presence

> Thanks presence!
> 
> I really only had one successful batch of my apple brew experiments.  I'm drinking it as apple wine.  It's 12.1% abv and still has a lot of residual sweetness to it.  OG was over 1.1.
> 
> I can't believe how fast I've gone through 4.5 gallons of it.




sugared to 1.060 w/ 1118 yeast I'm getting a dry hard ciderwein @ about 7.8%, very nice sippin'

35 @ 750ml consumed XD since halloween 

75 corked bottles 1116 and 1118
100 brewing

the safale, knottingham, lager are all taking much longer to bubble; 

I also have a cote blance champagne batch and 10 gallons wild bubbling

gonna try some 1122 as well...

get the experimentation out of my system.

----------


## Root

> sugared to 1.060 w/ 1118 yeast I'm getting a dry hard ciderwein @ about 7.8%, very nice sippin'
> 
> 35 @ 750ml consumed XD since halloween 
> 
> 75 corked bottles 1116 and 1118
> 100 brewing
> 
> the safale, knottingham, lager are all taking much longer to bubble; 
> 
> ...


A lot of my apple expirments didn't come out. I've got 2.5 gallons of a semi-sweet apfelwein thats's just delicious however.  I saved the recipe off so I can do it again. 1.1 OG with cuvée yeast. 12.1%

----------


## Todd

So I have made my last of the Belgian Dubbel for at least 6 months and have nearly 5 cases to enjoy.  They have turned out great.  Had the wife blind taste one of mine against the Ommegang Abbey ale and she preferred mine.   

Now I'm on to trying to make a clone out of one of the best IPAs.  Bells Two Hearted Ale.   I have a decent recipe and even if it's not close it will probably be an excellent beer. 

 Here's the thing about this beer.  The sneaky secret is that they have their own proprietary yeast strain, so you cannot completely replicate their beers "character" witout getting their strain.  The good news is they don't filter their beer so it is still in their bottles.  So what do you do?  You culture the yeast yourself.   This akin to making a starter.    

So you take 2 oz of DME (Dried malt extract) and boil it in 2 cups of water for 10 minuts.  Cool it to 75 degrees and pour it in a glass container like a wine bottle or a brewers flask.  Shake the liquid well to oxygenate it.  Yeast like lots of oxygen

[IMG][/IMG]

Then you pour yourself a bottle or two (more is better for more yeast) of Bells Two Hearted into a glass carefully so that you save the last little bit in the bottom of the bottle....about 2oz.  Pour the 2oz of beer into the cooled liquid DME and shake to mix the yeast into the solution.   Now cover the top/lid with sanitized aluminum foil or a loose cap and leave in a warm area for 24 hours.  Pick the bottle up and give it a swirl every time you see it over the next day or so to keep the yeast in susenpension so they will mulitply. 

The below picture is wrong.  I put an airlock on it when I should have used the foil so that oxygen could get in.  I have learned from that since this pic. 
[IMG][/IMG]

Here is what it looked like after 24 hours.The little white line on the bottom is yeast.  

[IMG][/IMG]

and after 2 days the yeast really start to flocculate and eat the sugar.  

[IMG][/IMG]

After a few days if you don't have enough yeast for your brew day, then keep repeating this process.  Just boil more DME, cool, and add it to the container or a larger one and more yeast will get busy.   I do not have enough yeast in this pic, so I'm going to do it two more times before Saturday.   

The night before I brew I will put it in the refrigerator to settle all the yeast out of the solution.  Then I will decant most of the darker beer liquid off the top of the yeast...leave a little to swirl the yeast into and then pour it in my beer batch.  

Hopefully in several weeks I will have created something like this.

----------


## Todd

> Thanks Todd. I can't believe how fast I've gone through 4.5 gallons of it. Everyone loved it. The rest is for me (and my date Friday night).
> 
> Looks like a a good problem you've got there. What yeast are you using?


WLP530. Abbey ale.  It's my favorite Belgian yeast.  great character and really dries out the beer.    
I plan on making a Tripel with it over the Summer.

----------


## Todd

This is the basic recipe I'm going off of for this IPA.  It's Extract.  There is an All grain version of it, but I'm not there yet.  You would simple add pale malt grains in place of the DME.

Bells Two Hearted Ale clone          

Original Gravity: 1.055;    Final Gravity: 1.014;     Boiling Time (Minutes): 60;   IBUS:  Around 50;   Yeast:  WLP051/ WLP-001/Safale US-05 or Bells THA dregs;    Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): at least 4 weeks at 65 F


7lb DME (light or extra light)
1/2 lb. - Caramel/Crystal Malt (15L) (Steeped)
1/2 lb. - CaraPils  (Steeped)

Hop Schedule (47 IBU)  (5 oz total)
1.00 oz Centennial [9.60 %] (60 min) 
1.50 oz Centennial [9.60 %] (15 min) 
1.50 oz Centennial [9.60 %] (5 min) 
1.00 oz Centennial [9.60 %] (1 min) 
1.00 oz Centennial [9.60 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) 


* To make an authentic clone of Bells THA you must harvest yeast from a bottle.   This beer is not filtered and uses a proprietary yeast strain.  I also have a packet of Safale -05 on hand just in case the yeast from the Bells I harvested are weak.   Might change the flavor some, but it will still make a great beer.

Steep Caramel and carapils in 2.5 gallons water for 30 minutes.  Fill up the brewpot to 4 gallons and boil for 60 minutes.  Follow the hop schedule above.  When boil is complete, cool to 75 degrees and top off to 5 Gallons. Pitch your yeast, add the airlock and Ferment for at least 3 weeks or until you reach a final gravity of 1.014. (could be lower)  transfer to a secondary fermenter and dry hop 1oz of hops for 7 days.

----------


## keh10

Hey Todd, good job and great thinking with the Bell yeast! Let's hope they aren't owned by Monsanto or you'll be in big trouble 

I have just finished a big project I have been working on. I have renovated/upgraded my brew table and I'm so excited I can't help but share. Here's a list of what I did.

Attachment 2152


1)  I fabricated a new stand to incorporate gravity to compliment our pump for a 3 tier system.

2)  I sanded the rust and flakey galvanization off and repainted the entire table with BBQ paint.

3)  Remounted the pump for smoother operation and added the clever sections of garden hose to keep the lines from kinking.

4)  Replaced a burner that had a broken orifice.

5)  Cleaned EVERYTHING!



We are brewing a Grapefruit Saison, Black Ale, Double Oatmeal Stout, and a Pale Ale. We'll brew two 15 gallon batches this weekend and the other two next weekend. Happy brewing everyone!

----------


## Todd

> Hey Todd, good job and great thinking with the Bell yeast! Let's hope they aren't owned by Monsanto or you'll be in big trouble 
> 
> I have just finished a big project I have been working on. I have renovated/upgraded my brew table and I'm so excited I can't help but share. Here's a list of what I did.
> 
> Attachment 2152
> 
> 
> 1)  I fabricated a new stand to incorporate gravity to compliment our pump for a 3 tier system.
> 
> ...


I wish I could get my hands on some of those refurbished Kegs.  I would love to have a set up like that.

----------


## keh10

> I wish I could get my hands on some of those refurbished Kegs.  I would love to have a set up like that.


My only advice is to keep your eyes on craigslist/garage sales/flea markets. I used to know a guy who would sell used kegs for $35 a piece. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a few more kegs myself. You never know when they may come in handy.

----------


## Peter4Paul2016

I got a beer "kit" for christmas years ago and never used it!  Thanks for this.  Definitely something I would like to learn and get into.

----------


## Todd

> I got a beer "kit" for christmas years ago and never used it!  Thanks for this.  Definitely something I would like to learn and get into.


I'm not sure what was included in your kit, but If it's a year old I would recommend checking all the ingredients for freshness.  If yeast was included, then throw it out and get a fresh packet.  Also, make sure your hops are still fresh and that your DME hasn't picked up moisture and turned into a big rock.   If you kept the kit in a cool dry place then most of the ingredients may be ok.  But definitely get fresh yeast.  Fresh ingredients mean the world to brewing something that tastes great and something that may turn you off to the hobby.   

This was what happened to my first kit when I didn't jump on brewing it for about 6 months. The Beer sucked.

----------


## specsaregood

As I was cleaning out the garage; I found a case of homebrew I had forgotten that was down there.  yay me!  And I was considering giving away all my homebrew equipment (just haven't found the time for it since the kid start walking) but I'm not ready for that, I'll try to fit it in the attic.

However, I do have about 10lbs of various specialty grains that are all sealed and been in a dark cool environment for almost 2 years.    I'm not going to use them anytime soon but if any of you want them -- and would use them, I'll mail em out to you.  no charge.    first come first served.

----------


## oyarde

I drank a $#@!load of hard cider last weekend while grilling out flat iron steak and pork rib tips  in my heavy flannel and Carhart . Man that was good .

----------


## osan

> I wish I could get my hands on some of those refurbished Kegs.  I would love to have a set up like that.



Just go get a keg, drink the beer and keep it.

Salvage yards sometimes have them, too.  There was one in PHX down on Van Buren that had literally thousands of them in a huge heap.  I kept meaning to get a couple to build gas forges but never got around to it.  But yeah, you should be able to find them.

----------


## Todd

So I tasted my first ever made IPA recently and it is very close to Bell's Two Hearted.   Mine is a bit more clean and bitter with the hops coming through more so than Bell's.  But it is fantastic.   

[IMG][/IMG]

----------


## RJB

I'm kegging a very malty Scottish Ale today that's done fermenting.  I've been drinking homemade mead and an occasional store bought beer since January.  I am so stoked!!!!

Here's a good beer song.

----------


## RJB

> I'm kegging a very malty Scottish Ale today that's done fermenting.  I've been drinking homemade mead and an occasional store bought beer since January.  I am so stoked!!!!


Oh it's good!  I used east kent goldings hops and then to the fermenter added an ounce of yarrow to further the bitterness, and added a chuck of mashed fresh ginger root for extra kick.  I'll lay off posting tonight.

On a side note.  This nice thing about kegging is the wife can't give you a hard time based on the number of empty bottles  

BTW I told her and she thought it was funny.

----------


## Todd

This is a better picture of my IPA.   It's softened a bit since April.   

[IMG][/IMG]

This was my Saison.  

[IMG][/IMG]


 I don't mind it but I give it a C.   WAY too much ginger flavor noticeable and the color came out too dark for my liking.  It's got a nice Belgian yeast aroma and spicy, but the ginger taste isn't subtle.  Is there such thing as a "ginger beer"?  Because that's what I think I made.  I'll remember to filter out the orange peel and ginger root after I boil next time.

----------


## Root

Todd,  the IPA looks great.  How long did you condition the saison ginger beer?

 I recently had a ginger beer and it was delicious. 
http://lefthandbrewing.com/beers/good-juju/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/418/1876/

My last beer was an American Hefeweizen and came out way better than I expected. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it, and won't until July 2nd.  Tomorrow, I'm brewing up my first Tripel.  I'm excited

----------


## presence

OMG!

Just cracked open my first bottle of "natural yeast"  This is just apples from the land... NOTHING added besides the residue of potassium metabisulfite used to sanitize bottles.   Bubbled on its own yeast and turned about 20% by volume to trub before bottling.  It was harvested in November.    

Not very strong... maybe  4-5%, fruity, better tasting than the original apple juice.  Chuggable, refreshing.  Almost reminds me of sangria or a spiked punch with a hint of orange.  

20 @ 750ml bottles on hand 

stoked!

----------


## Root

I brewed up a Tripel yesterday.  Wow, such a delicious wort. 11 pounds of fermentables. OG 1.083, IBU 28. Potential 8.6 abv.











Woke up this morning to find a blowout.  Happy yeasties are having quite the party in there.

----------


## Todd

> Todd,  the IPA looks great.  How long did you condition the saison ginger beer?
> 
>  I recently had a ginger beer and it was delicious. 
> http://lefthandbrewing.com/beers/good-juju/
> http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/418/1876/
> 
> My last beer was an American Hefeweizen and came out way better than I expected. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it, and won't until July 2nd.  Tomorrow, I'm brewing up my first Tripel.  I'm excited


The Saison was bottled around the end of April.  So it's been conditioning for a month or more.  I was going to enter it in a contest but by chance, life got in the way, and I didn't get to attend the function.  It is not my best beer.  I mean I think it's great.  It's VERY spicy!   I think it would have gotten hammered for the ginger.  I love ginger and don't mind strong spiciness, but I know it would shock some pallets.   

I have a Hefe too.  It has been bottled almost two weeks.  Trying one June 21.  

Glad yours turned out good.  

A Tripel or Strong Belgian Pale ale is definitely on my radar.  Might even be my first all grain batch.

----------


## buenijo

I started a batch of mango wine recently. I decided to give it a try after I found a very good mango juice product at some local Asian food markets. The juice is based in mango puree and cane sugar with no weird preservatives. I'm inordinately curious about how it will turn out - unfortunately, I won't know for some time. Anyway, I think fermenting quality fruit juices that are readily available is a good idea. I've never tried mango wine, but damn I love mangoes! It seems like it would make a good wine - we'll see. Generally, I've found that people who don't care for wine (grape based wines that is) often like wines from other fruit sources, or from honey (i.e. called "mead"). These wines are generally more mild. 

Anyway, I encourage people to start a brew project with wines since it's so much easier. Mead is about the easiest thing out there, but a fruit wine can be nearly as easy when sourcing from a suitable commercial juice product. For example, I only added the mango juice, sugar, nutrient, and pectic enzyme to a carboy. I sulfated, waited 24 hours, then pitched a dried yeast. It's fermenting very strongly. After this it's a matter of periodic racking to remove sediment and to clarify, then bottle and age. I know of few things so simple that yield such a desirable product.

----------


## NoOneButPaul

I've always wondered how much better liquor could be if we let moonshiners loose into the market... I'd love the same revolutions we've seen in beer over the last 30 years to happen in liquor. Problem is it's a lot more dangerous...

----------


## Root

> I started a batch of mango wine recently. I decided to give it a try after I found a very good mango juice product at some local Asian food markets. The juice is based in mango puree and cane sugar with no weird preservatives. I'm inordinately curious about how it will turn out - unfortunately, I won't know for some time. Anyway, I think fermenting quality fruit juices that are readily available is a good idea. I've never tried mango wine, but damn I love mangoes! It seems like it would make a good wine - we'll see. Generally, I've found that people who don't care for wine (grape based wines that is) often like wines from other fruit sources, or from honey (i.e. called "mead"). These wines are generally more mild. 
> 
> Anyway, I encourage people to start a brew project with wines since it's so much easier. Mead is about the easiest thing out there, but a fruit wine can be nearly as easy when sourcing from a suitable commercial juice product. For example, I only added the mango juice, sugar, and pectic enzyme to a carboy. I sulfated, waited 24 hours, then pitched a dried yeast. It's fermenting very strongly. After this it's a matter of periodic racking to remove sediment and to clarify, then bottle and age. I know of few things so simple that yield such a desirable product.


Mango juice sounds like a great idea! +rep

I made some cherry wine out of Black Cherry juice, apple juice concentrate and brown sugar.  It's ok in small batches but after few sips, it stops tasting good.  I think it just needs to age a few months as it was over 12%.

----------


## Root

Here's a pic of my wheat ale.  Bottling up my Tripel today.  So good.  So wheaty, lol

----------


## tod evans

> Mango juice sounds like a great idea! +rep
> 
> I made some cherry wine out of Black Cherry juice, apple juice concentrate and brown sugar.  It's ok in small batches but after few sips, it stops tasting good.  I think it just needs to age a few months as it was over 12%.


I've got probably 150-200 gallons of wild cherries I've been wondering what to do with...

Did you try distilling any of the wine?

----------


## Root

> I've got probably 150-200 gallons of wild cherries I've been wondering what to do with...
> 
> Did you try distilling any of the wine?


No, but that's my next option if the taste doesn't improve by September.  I've got a bottle of some terrible homebrew white wine that I'm gonna practice distilling with before I mess with mine.

----------


## Todd

I made my first all grain Dubbel right after July 4.  Took most of the day but I learned alot.   

I learned I do not have the proper temperature gauges.  The lab thermometer was 13 points higher than the digital thermometer.   Started to freak out because a couple of degrees is a big deal in All Grain.  So I went with the digital and I'm glad I did.  Also learned that you keep sparging and don't stop until you get the amount of water you want.  Almost let the grain bed go dry and got stuck.

Starting gravity was 10 points lower than what I predicted, aound 1.062, but higher Alcohol content doesn't really bother me.   The beer finished around 1.006, so I think the digitial is more accurate and I will still get around 7.3 ABV.   I bottled this beer yesterday.   The sample was good and I didn't detect any issues.   First of August I will open one up for a taste.

I am aweful at taking pictures of me making my beer.  I get so into the process and hyper focused that I forget to take any photos. I usually brew by myself, so no one around to take pics.

----------


## presence

The headspace between your cork and your wine is called ullage.

Lesson Learned:

NEVER 

ferment with your wine touching your rubber stopper.


Just poured good wine down the drain; tasted like 


rubber band ball

----------


## presence

Super stoked!  I gave one of my neighbors a quart of 8% homebrew applewein last week.  Yesterday, while I was away, his son dropped off a pint of 80 proof strawberry juice

----------


## Todd

So Root...how did that triple come out.

----------


## presence

*ULLAGE
*



> The headspace between your cork and your wine is called ullage.l



A bit more on that...   

When I primary I put 4.5 gallons in a 5 gallon air locked vessel

When I secondary in gallon glass, I leave 1/2" below the rubber stopper.

If I have extra secondary that doesn't fit in gallons I have a variety of sizes from pint to quart, to half gall, 1/3 gallon, 3/4 gallon etc.  that all have the same sizes as my gallons (6's and 8's) Anyway no matter what size secondary vessel keep 1/2" of ullage.  Too much = stale.  Too little = rubbery.   

When I bottle I keep 1/4" ullage using a sanitary shot glass to perfect how full my bottles are after final racking.  The first 48 hours I keep my bottles up right to seal the corks... then I keep them on their sides.

----------


## presence

*CIDER YEAST*

These are the yeasts I've tried so far with cider; most batches @ 8% 1.060 to .999

Favorite:
"Eleven Eighteen" Lavin 1118   -  Cheap, Quick, Excellent, Clean, Dry; very wine like

Very Good:
"Bottom Lager" Brewferm Lager - Fruity - Best Taste, effervescent
"Notty" Nottingham Ale - Fruity - Very flavorful, effervescent

Good:
"Cote" Red Star Cote des Blanc - Strong, Extra Dry, Smooth
"Oh Five" Safale 05 - Nice Refreshing, very "beer like", effervescent
"Wild" All Natural - Sweet, Flavorful, not as strong ABV as others.  

Fail:
Safale 04 fair/meh
Lavin 1116 blah



About 20% of my juice sat out overnight to press and has a bit of a smokey taste from the low lying wood smoke, which imparts an interesting flavour.


atm... 

I'm sitting on 

115 @ 750ml under cork
9 gallons in secondary
4.5 gallons in primary


bloop bloop bloop

This is a good hobby 


Cheers!

----------


## presence

When I primary, I use a piece of food grade clear tubing into a plastic gallon jug;  I fill the plastic gallon 1/3 full with sodium meta.   I have a long tubing brush that I wash with between uses.  I fill primary containers only 4.5 / 5 gallons.

----------


## presence

oh $#@!... almost broke federal law 

A little over 100 gallons last year @ 8%.  Lucky I don't live alone!




> § 25.205         Production.                                   (a)              Any adult may produce beer, without  payment of tax, for personal or family use and not for sale. An adult is  any individual who is 18 years of age or older. If the locality in  which the household is located requires a greater minimum age for the  sale of beer to individuals, the adult shall be that age before  commencing the production of beer. This exemption does not authorize the  production of beer for use contrary to State or local law.         
>                                    (b)              The production of beer per household, without payment of tax, for personal or family use may not exceed:         
>                                    (1)              200 gallons per calendar year if there are two or more adults residing in the household, or         
> *(2)              100 gallons per calendar year if there is only one adult residing in the household.        * 
>                                    (c)              Partnerships except as provided in § 25.207, corporations or associations may not produce beer, without payment of tax, for personal or family use.         
>          (Sec. 201, Pub. L. 85-859, 72 Stat. 1334, as amended (26 U.S.C. 5053))
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/27/25.205



That law is $#@!ed up.  I think I'd get sick if I didn't have at least a gallon a week.

----------


## Suzanimal

> oh $#@!... almost broke federal law 
> 
> A little over 100 gallons last year @ 8%.  Lucky I don't live alone!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That law is $#@!ed up.  I think I'd get sick if I didn't have at least a gallon a week.





> An adult is any individual who is 18 years of age or older.


So you can make beer at 18 but you can't drink it.

----------


## presence

Most excellent store juice batch!

Store bought organic apple juice (plastic half gallons @ $2.59 / half gallon), 
1 cup organic thompson raisins per 5 gallon, 
5 cups organic evaporated cane juice (sugar) (1.060 SG)
1 TBSP molasses
1 @ 1118 Lavin per 5 gallon, 
*4oz organic lime juice per 1 gallon. 
*
no added sulphites beyond "sweeting" bottles before bottling. 



15 gallons bottling this week 

Half of it we're hopping w/ Warrior pellets for 4-5 days before bottle.




drinkin' on the rocks 'cause it ain't cold yet!

----------


## Todd

> oh $#@!... almost broke federal law 
> 
> A little over 100 gallons last year @ 8%.  Lucky I don't live alone
> 
> !That law is $#@!ed up.  I think I'd get sick if I didn't have at least a gallon a week.


Who gives a Shat.  I just told a police officer friend of mine that I home brew.  She asked me if I would sell some to her.  

Most local authorities don't even know it's illegal to sell it...much less how much you can make.   No worries.

----------


## Todd

So my Belgian Tripel turned out good.  Not Excellent, I'm still working out my bugs and I'm my worst critic.  Root kind of inspired me to give it a try.  

It's really spicy, with citrus.  Alcohol is a little too present though. I like it a bit more subdued so that it sneaks up on you.  That probably came from me fermenting way too warm.  I'm cabable of making some decent high octane brew that has little noticeable alcohol.   

Head retention is not up to par and I'm having a bit of issue trying to lock down why with my All grain recipes.  It's the second one I've done and neither have retained a good Belgian creamy head and I had a good amount of wheat and oats in this recipe which should encourage that.  It's still conditioning, so maybe letting it carbonate more over the next few months will make a difference.  It's based off a recipe for tripel karmeliet brouwerij bosteels I found on a homebrewing site.  It's a bit darker than what I was going after.  I haven't had a Karmeleit and am trying to get my hands on one to compare, so I have no idea if I was close.  

[IMG][/IMG]

Here's the recipe if anyone's interested.  I'm going to be changing a few things for next go around.  Probably dropping back the Pilsner and increasing the wheat malt and adding some flaked wheat.  I'll probably try another yeast too.  

All Grain 
5 gal;  OG:  1.072   FG:  1.012;   IBU: 20.5;  Color:  4.7:  Yeast WLP 530    90 minute boil

12 lbs Dingemans Belgian Pilsner
2 lbs German Wheat malt
.5 lbs Flaked Oats
1 lbs Blonde belgian candy sugar or Sucrose (table sugar) added at end of boil when you turn off burner.

.5 oz Styrian Goldings 90min
.5 oz Styrian Goldings 45min
1 oz Saaz 15min
1 oz Saaz 5min
1 oz Saaz Dry Hop
1 oz Sweet Orange Peel 5min
2 Star Anise 5min
1 oz Coriander crushed 5min

Yeast:  WLP 530
Mash at 152 for 90 minutes.  
Ferment for 2 weeks in primary at 74 degrees. Secondary for 1 month at around 56 degrees.  Bottle and condition for at least 2 months.

----------


## specsaregood

./

----------


## Todd

> [IMG][/IMG]


So I tried a beer several weeks back called Avery Salvation (Belgian Golden Ale)  This Beligan Tripel that I brewed above, that was supposed to taste similar to Karmeleit now tastes very much like the Avery.  So if you like that beer, this clone might actually be kind of close.

----------


## Origanalist

> Transferred the Dubbel to secondary tonight.  Got a reading of 1.014 for the Gravity.   That  means I probably have about a  7.5% Alcohol beer.   I know it's a picture of my John.. but that's the only place my wife will let me mess around with my brew.  LOL......   
> 
> [IMG][/IMG]


It's all going to end up there anyway.

----------


## Origanalist

I officially have the bug now. Started my second batch last night and I think I botched it.   The kit came with no instructions and I ended up using the instructions for something I thought was similar but I eventually found them on the website and ooops, not so much...

Oh well, I'm going to let it go and see how it turns out anyway. My first batch was a hefeweisen and it's been bottled, I thought it was pretty decent for my first try. I'm already scouring craigslist to upgrade my equipment. The woman is alarmed.. heh heh.

My last batch....Attachment 5269

I'm just doing one gallon batches for now, getting my feet wet so to speak.

----------


## pcosmar

> So you can make beer at 18 but you can't drink it.


you are correct.

----------


## Feelgood

You are totally boned now, if you have been bitten by this bug. I started doing an occasional brew for $#@!s and giggles to see how it would turn out. Beer was so good, I dont even drink store bought any more. Have turned into a bit of a beer snob. Currently have about 10 cases of beer conditioning. Am about to brew a Baltic Porter. I am now looking at and considering opening a micro brewery in my area. My brews are exceptional and friends ask me for them all the time. 

While glass carboys are the norm for most, I would recommend the SS Brewbucket. Much easier to clean and use than a carboy. This is what I use whenever I do 6 gallon batches. 

http://www.ssbrewtech.com/products/brewbucket

Need advice, let me know.   My favs thus far is called Voodoo that You Do. It is classified as a barleywine, clocks in at 8.7% ABV. One and your good, two and youre done. Have a delicious batch of a Bavarian Weissbeir for Octoberfest. Also have a Pumpkin Lager which should be ready just in time for Halloween.  

Currently soaking some oak chips in bourbon to recreate a Lock Stock n Barrel Imperial Aged Stout. Will take a minimum 6 months to age before ready to drink. 

Have an Angry Bovine Chocolate Milk Stout conditioning. Ready in 30 more days.

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## Todd

> I officially have the bug now. Started my second batch last night and I think I botched it.   The kit came with no instructions and I ended up using the instructions for something I thought was similar but I eventually found them on the website and ooops, not so much...
> 
> Oh well, I'm going to let it go and see how it turns out anyway. My first batch was a hefeweisen and it's been bottled, I thought it was pretty decent for my first try. I'm already scouring craigslist to upgrade my equipment. The woman is alarmed.. heh heh.
> 
> My last batch
> I'm just doing one gallon batches for now, getting my feet wet so to speak.



I have a really good and simple Hefeweizen recipe if you'd like it.  It was one of the best beers I ever made.  PM me if you'd like it.  

My experience is the kits are OK, but if you put your own recipe together it tends to turn out better.   

I haven't been brewing much this year, because of busy schedules, kids and just plain gaining too much weight from beer

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## Origanalist

> I have a really good and simple Hefeweizen recipe if you'd like it.  It was one of the best beers I ever made.  PM me if you'd like it.  
> 
> My experience is the kits are OK, but if you put your own recipe together it tends to turn out better.   
> 
> I haven't been brewing much this year, because of busy schedules, kids and just plain gaining too much weight from beer


Yes, I will. I need to get some more stuff of my own and become more self reliant. The kits are a good first step though.

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## presence

Goal is 10 gallons of apple juice pressed for a lalvin 71B-1122 fermentation today.

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## presence

> I officially have the bug now.


YES!

wait till you're sippin' on untaxed $#@!-yeah

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## Origanalist

> Goal is 10 gallons of apple juice pressed for a lalvin 71B-1122 fermentation today.


Nice. Are the trees yours or do you pick from an orchard?

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## Origanalist

This set up is offered for $100.00 on craigslist here. I may go get it today. Or not. I do want a burner and a brew pot for sure though.

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## presence

I have about 100 mature trees that were left wild for about 20 years before I bought the place.   I have 6 years into pruning and nurturing what was close to becoming maple/wild cherry/ash forest.   We have some harsh spring weather that's tough on the buds... this year about 15 trees are holding solid amounts of apple.   Even at 15 trees though.... IF I could manage to harvest it all and store it and get it to press that would be well over 200 gallons of juice; goal for the season is 100 gallons.

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## Origanalist

> You are totally boned now, if you have been bitten by this bug. I started doing an occasional brew for $#@!s and giggles to see how it would turn out. Beer was so good, I dont even drink store bought any more. Have turned into a bit of a beer snob. Currently have about 10 cases of beer conditioning. Am about to brew a Baltic Porter. I am now looking at and considering opening a micro brewery in my area. My brews are exceptional and friends ask me for them all the time. 
> 
> While glass carboys are the norm for most, I would recommend the SS Brewbucket. Much easier to clean and use than a carboy. This is what I use whenever I do 6 gallon batches. 
> 
> http://www.ssbrewtech.com/products/brewbucket
> 
> Need advice, let me know.   My favs thus far is called Voodoo that You Do. It is classified as a barleywine, clocks in at 8.7% ABV. One and your good, two and youre done. Have a delicious batch of a Bavarian Weissbeir for Octoberfest. Also have a Pumpkin Lager which should be ready just in time for Halloween.  
> 
> Currently soaking some oak chips in bourbon to recreate a Lock Stock n Barrel Imperial Aged Stout. Will take a minimum 6 months to age before ready to drink. 
> ...


Thanks for the offer, I will undoubtedly have many questions in the near future. 

That brewbucket looks like a real nice piece of equipment.

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## Origanalist

> I have about 100 mature trees that were left wild for about 20 years before I bought the place.   I have 6 years into pruning and nurturing what was close to becoming maple/wild cherry/ash forest.   We have some harsh spring weather that's tough on the buds... this year about 15 trees are holding solid amounts of apple.


Very cool. We have an abundance of abandoned apple trees around here too.

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## presence

2 new five gallon corny kegs a bubblin'

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## Origanalist

Any thoughts on using these for fermenting?
I'm wondering if they will stand up to fermenting without degrading.




https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/zip/5816139142.html

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## Feelgood

> This set up is offered for $100.00 on craigslist here. I may go get it today. Or not. I do want a burner and a brew pot for sure though.


Plastic containers are bad for brewing. too easily scratched and those little scratches can allow bacteria to get into a brew and cause off flavors. I avoid plastic at all costs. 

That bottle capper is your basic begginers type of capper. Clumsy and a bit of a wrist breaker. Youll use it once or twice and be like $#@! this! Its ok for a 1 or 2 gallon brew, but if youre bottling 50+ bottles, youll quickly be hating life. 

Burner looks ok, almost looks like a turkey fryer. This is the burner I use and it is a beast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewin...tar-burner-2-0

The bottles are no good. They work for a few brews and then start to leak. My guess is this guy has used them a few times and they are at that point of starting to leak and need replaced. 

I picked up a nice 6 gallon (24 quart) pot to brew in from a local Ross store for $15. 

Looking at the setup he is selling, I would guess he is upgrading his system, probably going to all grain type setup, and looking to unload his starter kit. Only thing in that pick of value might be the burner and pot. Offer $25 for that and leave the rest.

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## Feelgood

> Any thoughts on using these for fermenting?
> I'm wondering if they will stand up to fermenting without degrading.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/zip/5816139142.html


Ummm no, just no. 

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewin...o-2-6-5-gallon

I think they have these is like a 2 or 3 gallon size as well. Better than a typical carboy because it is glass as well, but a LARGE mouth opening which makes cleaning a breeze.

When it comes to bottling you are better off just collecting your pop off top bottles yourself. There are a lot of great ways to do this. Buy cases of empty bottles from online (my least favorite way to do this). Drink beers you buy from the store and save the bottles. Cant be screw off like Budweisers etc. Need to be a pop off like Sam Adams etc. My friends beer of choice is the Beck's Sapphire. 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32/88206/

Which brings me to the next option, ask your beer drinking friends to save their empties for you. He saves these for me, and they are GREAT! Dark black bottles which are great because they keep that horrible beer killing light put of the beer.

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## Origanalist

> Ummm no, just no. 
> 
> http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewin...o-2-6-5-gallon
> 
> I think they have these is like a 2 or 3 gallon size as well. Better than a typical carboy because it is glass as well, but a LARGE mouth opening which makes cleaning a breeze.


Ugh, what was I thinking? Cleaning would be a nightmare, all I was worried about was the material breaking down. Thanks.

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## presence

> 2 new five gallon corny kegs a bubblin'


those were both 71B-1122; one didn't take (it was 18 months old)... so I restarted it with 1118 which is pretty die hard

10 more gallons bubbling for total of 20 (4 corny kegs); the two new ones are safale 4 and safale 5  

bloop..... bloop .....bloop bloop

bloop bloop ..bloop ...bloop

bloop ................bloop bloop.. bloop

We've been boiling off the press tailings into syrup/jelly at 235F or about SG 1.33 or so.   Thats some pucker on yer pancakes!

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## Feelgood

Exactly. Trying to help you from experience. Youll have a pile of trub at the bottom to clean and remove and then the layer of foaming from the fermentation process will coat the upper 15% of your fermenter with a nice coating of sludge to remove as well. 

PBW is the best for cleaning. Oxyclean is the best for soaking to remove old labels from used beer bottles. I use star-san for the sanitizing, but it does foam. As it is a no rinse sanitizer, the saying is "dont fear the foam" it wont harm your brew.

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## Origanalist

> Ummm no, just no. 
> 
> http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewin...o-2-6-5-gallon
> 
> I think they have these is like a 2 or 3 gallon size as well. Better than a typical carboy because it is glass as well, but a LARGE mouth opening which makes cleaning a breeze.
> 
> When it comes to bottling you are better off just collecting your pop off top bottles yourself. There are a lot of great ways to do this. Buy cases of empty bottles from online (my least favorite way to do this). Drink beers you buy from the store and save the bottles. Cant be screw off like Budweisers etc. Need to be a pop off like Sam Adams etc. My friends beer of choice is the Beck's Sapphire. 
> 
> https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32/88206/
> ...


I've been buying Grolsch and drinking them but I don't much care for the beer. It's "ok". That's what my first batch went into. I think I will just get a capper and caps, I have a neighbor that owns a local tavern and I'm sure I can get all the cappable (is that a word?) bottles I need.

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## presence

I use oxyclean on wine bottles before bottling my applewein, I find 24-72 hours is ideal soak; any longer and the oxyclean can re crystalize on inside of your bottles and you have to get it off with vinegar; oxyclean unlike star-san will harm your brew. 

For sanitizer, I tend towards bulk potasium metabisulphite. 

I use cornelius kegs for primary:

here's 4 for $200
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SET-OF-FOUR-...AAAOSw4shX6e82

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=cornelius+keg

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## Origanalist

> I use oxyclean on wine bottles before bottling my applewein, I find 24-72 hours is ideal soak; any longer and the oxyclean can re crystalize on inside of your bottles and you have to get it off with vinegar; oxyclean unlike star-san will harm your brew. 
> 
> For sanitizer, I tend towards bulk potasium metabisulphite. 
> 
> I use cornelius kegs for primary:
> 
> here's 4 for $200
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/SET-OF-FOUR-...AAAOSw4shX6e82
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=cornelius+keg


It's going to take a little while and money to get all the equipment I need. I'm going to have to set up the burner on the back porch for lack of a better spot for now.

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## presence

> It's going to take a little while and money to get all the equipment I need.


For wine bottles I put out a craigslist ad for 750's and 1.5l's.  I ended up w/ 200 750's that I paid 0.25 each for from a single party.

For gallons I've been collecting over the years from anyone with a bottle laying around or in the recycle bin.   Before I bought this property w/ apple trees I had collected about 50 gallons by buying a glass gallon of apple juice twice a month at the grocery. 

I have a bunch of tubing, brushes, and airlocks that I bought online.   
I bought a 3 legged corker locally at the brew shop.   $70ish

For wine that's about all you need; there's nothing to cook.  That said... this year I'm looking at picking up a 30qt "all american" canner so we can can 14qts of juice at once for non-alcoholic.

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## presence

I've also got about 100 750ml liquor bottles that I've been collecting  from friends and family for the past two decades.  I don't use them  yet... but... I've got a 500g stainless tank that will one day be filled  with corn mash given the appropriate abundance.  A friend of mine runs a  15.5g home made beer keg still; while I don't own one yet, I'm  inspired; I've caught the bug and can handle the plumbing.   He's a few  hours out but next time I'm there he's promised to cook me a 1/2 gal  growler of shine at 180proof   I might end up passing the 500g tank  along because he's more remote than me.   Cool thing about corn mash  though... its really fast.  14 days of bubble and you're on the other  side. 

*Beer Keg Kit 2" inch Copper Pipe Moonshine Still Pot Still Distillation Column* http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beer-Keg-Kit...QAAOSwHnFV1VCi

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## Todd

Admittedly haven't brewed a beer in almost 3 years since my family and work dynamics have drastically changed and things have been CRAZY.  Going to try to find some time over Christmas and brew up a Belgian Dubbel recipe that I posted.  It's a go to for consistency and it's delicious.

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## Cloutio

I've tried to brew but that was waste of time, for me. I know absolutely nothing about it

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## Todd

> I've tried to brew but that was waste of time, for me. I know absolutely nothing about it


It takes a while because of the prep.  Someone once described the hobby as you being a Glorified Dish Washer.   

15% brewing.  75% Cleaning and sanitizing everything

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## buenijo

I got back into brewing almost two years ago and got decent equipment. I made some batches of beer that turned out very good. However, beer is too much trouble. It also puts serious weight on me. So, I took up my old meadmaking practice and mastered it. By carefully controlling fermentation conditions and sourcing excellent raw honeys, I now make fantastic meads that are crystal clear and ready to bottle inside of two months - and at 16-17% abv and dry, yet no alcohol heat. This stuff is amazing. My favorite is made from a wildflower honey I source in bulk from Central America.

I also make a few different products from various botanicals including cactus fruit brandy and a spirit made from the body of the cactus that is amazing. These have a tequila like nose and may be substituted for tequila in mixed drinks with good results, but retain a unique flavor. I have had more than one person claim to prefer my oak aged cactus fruit brandy over high end tequilas including Don Julio 1942.

My experience is one can make their own beverages at a fraction of the cost of purchasing directly, and make a far superior product. Beer is a pain in the ass. Working with fruit is messy, so I don't bother with fruit wines (but brandy is easy). Mead is surprisingly easy and makes a divine product ONLY when done properly. Stilling is the easiest of all because control of primary fermentation is not so critical and aging and clearing is not a factor (unless one is looking to barrel age). Fruit brandies (eau de vie) are easy and excellent - and low cost if you get the fruit at low cost.

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## ATruepatriot

> It takes a while because of the prep.  Someone once described the hobby as you being a Glorified Dish Washer.   
> 
> 15% brewing.  75% Cleaning and sanitizing everything


But if you don't you will get your own unique local yeast started with no need to add any. Just like sourdough.  They made brew for thousands of years before they knew about sanitizing. My next batch is going to be a sweet potato/yam ferment, Heard about it from ancient South America and want to try it.

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## Anti Globalist

I've never brewed beer before.  Then again why would I when I don't drink alcohol?

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## XNavyNuke

The best part of taking honey supers off the hive this time of year is that it gives a good excuse to start a batch of mead. I set the scrapped wax cappings off in a separate 5-gallon bucket. I then fill the bucket half full with water and wash the honey off the wax. Skim the floating wax off and drop a hydrometer in the wash water. Add a little more honey to get to a specific gravity of 1.125, add some yeast and nutrients, then off she goes!

XNN

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## Voluntarist

Per registered decision, member has been banned for violating community standards as interpreted by TheTexan (respect his authoritah) as authorized by Brian4Liberty Ruling

May God have mercy on his atheist, police-hating, non-voting, anarchist soul.

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## XNavyNuke

Preparing a batch of Stone Fence. I have two cider apples trees in the orchard - Calville Blanc D'Hiver and Kingston Black. I have a six gallon batch of cider going right now. I added some of my honey to bring the potential alcohol content up to 16%, which technically makes it a cyser. I will probably mate it with Eagle Rare, which is a straight bourbon whiskey.

What is Stone Fence you ask?
http://allintocider.com/recipes/amer...irst-cocktail/




> Most colonial towns had few if any civic buildings, making taverns de facto sites for every sort of meeting. In this case, meeting at a tavern undoubtably had its benefits, for although Arnold had an official commission and orders to lead the mission most of the assembled company was unwilling to follow anyone but Allen. As the story goes, all sat down for cups of the local tipple  cider mixed with rum, that other New England staple  a compromise was reached, and the fort was easily captured the next day. The confiscated canons were used six months later to drive the British troops from Boston effectively ending major military activity in New England.
> 
> At what point the mix of rum and cider became known as a Stone Fence isnt clear. Over time, though, taverns across the land would serve cider mixed with whatever spirit was made locally  rum in New England, rye in Pennsylvania, bourbon in Kentucky, or applejack in New Jersey. By the time anyone got around to writing the first bar manual, the Stone Fence had been enfeebled by exchanging cider for sweet apple juice. This version of the Stone Fence isnt awful, but it lacks a certain thrill. A better approach is to follow the lead of Ethan and his Boys. Take a bottle of your favorite local cider and mix it 1:1 with something from your favorite local distillery, preferably something barrel-aged.


XNN

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