/diy/ - Do It Yourself

I left this for like 6 weeks and the airlock dried out. Wtf is this? mold?

>>1347651
you're fucked

>>1347535
Just got a used ball lock keg setup from keg outlet.
I'm going to do a few sodas later on and some beer eventually but right now I just have seltzer going.
I noticed the CO2 draining quickly so I probably have a leak somewhere so I turn off the tank after dispensing what I want.
The "party" plastic faucet has been leaking to so I started disconnecting the entire thing from the keg.
Tips?
Tricks?
New to kegging.

About to do a test run of apple wines in the next few days. 3 two gallon batches of different types of apples, then will pick the best flavor to do my normal 10g run.

>>1347671
Crank the tank up to about 30psi to seal the top ring, check for leaks with soapy water. The leaky party tap could be a lot of things, try pulling it apart and cleaning everything.

Seems like my mead cleared up nicely

>>1347651
>>1347663
Not necessarily. Leave it for a while and then try it - if palatable, whatever that is might be benign. Also, even if soured, consider bottling and leaving for a year. I got a neat dry, sligthly sour wheat this way once.

Started off some mead yesterday. This is my first time doing any home brewing. It's bubbling away nicely though even after 24 hours.

>>1347671
Besides what other anon said, consider buying a replacement gasket kit for the keg. The little guys inside and outside of the ball lock spouts go bad sometimes. Spraying the outside with soapy water is a great way to find the leak though.

Also. To clarify one point that the other anon was making though, you do have to put enough pressure in there to force the lid closed from the inside. That's usually only 6 or 8 psi, but consider that some of the co2 is going to dissolve in to the water, so you would add pressure to start with, but then the pressure goes back down because some of the co2 dissolves in to the water. Just keep adding as much co2 as the seltzer will take, then add a little more for forcing the seltzer out of the keg. If you can push down on the lid to the keg *at all* then you need more pressure, but you probably don't need more than 10-20 psi to operate the keg correctly.

>>1347651
>I left this for like 6 weeks and the ai
rlock dried out. Wtf is this? mold?
I think that means it's infected with wild yeast. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's fucked. Belgian Lambie is a deliberately-infected beer.

There was an anon on here a month or so ago that had one on the go, that looked exactly like your picture.

>>1347982
I've had a similar looking thing twice, nearly gave me a heartattack. Both turned out fine.

How you can get methanol in your mead? There was thread about it but i trought methanol comes only from wood distilation. Is cider also dangerous in any way?

An apple pie wee heavy I did just before Christmas. Aging along great.

>>1347651
Looks like a brett infection. Try it, like other anons said, it's not going to hurt you. It's the most common used for sours.

>>1347737
>>1347963
I think the tap was leaking because I left the thing on 35psi. I don't know if that would make a difference but most of the videos say serving pressure is around 11psi. I will crank it down now that the water is carbonated and see if that makes a difference.

>>1348157
Thanks for the update. I think you're probably right that the faucet was leaking pressure at that psi. Don't be afraid to go up to 20 psi though. Although counterintuitive, sometimes you can actually reduce beer foam by turning the pressure up.

As a side note, I sometimes keg some homebrewed sparkling wine, and I typically set it at around 30-35 psi to serve. I'm using stainless steel faucets on top of a keggerator though, not a plastic picnic faucet.

Is it legal for me to make a wine kit for somebody? Or will I get the ATF on my ass if I advertise it? I have some carboys laying around and maybe wanted to see if my friends wanted any wine

Also how much should I charge hot counting materials cost? I was thinking 75 bucks

>>1348446
Look online at comparable kits. My first kit was for 2 gallons and cost about $100. The atf won't get on you for selling the hardware for someone to make wine.

>>1348465
I'm not talking about selling hardware. I'm talking about buying a wine kit, making it for somebody else, and then charging them for materials and labor.

>>1347535
Anyone have a good recipe for Belgian Tripel? Really want to get one done in time for summer

>>1348636
I've made this a few times and it's turned out great.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/belgian-trippel-2006-world-beer-cup-gold-medal-dragonmead-final-absolution-clone.137219/

>>1348695
I used to work literally next door to Dragonmead and have fond memories of driving home when I definitely shouldn't have after a hard day at work. 10/10 will definitely brew this.

>>1348479
Don't tell anyone else and especially not online. Hypothetically this could be illegal if you were a complete faggot about it.

>>1348711
Hmm I guess i won't do it then. I'll just stick to making it for myself and giving out the extra for free as gifts.

>>1347535
looking for plastic/rubber tubing tips. Obviously BPA free and all that

any trusted materials? I had a system that is no longer viable and want a new solution

So i have a gallon of mead brewing for about 3 weeks now. I was away for 2 weeks and when i came home there was green mold growin inside the airlock. There was water still in my airlock so it cpuldnt have gotten in and im pretty sure its coming out of the mead. I racked it to another carboy to test and used a new airlock and its grown a ring above the water on the inside of a three piece airlock. The mead itself has no actual sighns of infection that i can tell. Theres no green mold colonies growing on top and the yeast cake looks normal if only just a little more floculated then usual so im at a loss. Whats your take brewbros?

>>1350763
Interesting. My knee jerk reaction was that there is enough sugar mixing in to the co2 that it made it out of the air lock. In that case, you're fine because whatever would be eating the sugar is on the outside of the system and can't get in.

On the other hand, are you sure that it isn't a mineral or something in the water that you are using to fill the air lock?

In either case, you might want to try filling the air lock with vodka instead of water.

>>1350784
Its starsan solution that was in the original airlock and this one is the same spring water i usually use. Im almost certain that its an infection as after racking to secondary im physically watching it carbonating and over attenuating. And on further inspection i now have a yellow mold colony. Bummer my dudes....

I have a yeast cake with some left over hard cider in a carboy. Can i still use this to start another batch if it's been almost 2 weeks like that?
I'm guessing if the leftovers taste fine it should be ok. Not sure how much the oxygen present in the carboy fucks your shit up

>>1347651
You are now making a lambic.

>>1348157
Those bronco faucets don't like high pressure. 20psi or less.

I've never brewed in my life, but I'm considering making a batch of Mead. What's þe best way to get honey for Mead, and what ratio should I use for honey to water?

Ayyyyyyyyyy, we're back.
On my fifth batch now and I've just been fucking juked by my hydrometer.

Had a stout in for about a week starting grav was 1.042, seemed to be going along okay except very little bubbling. Took a reading two days ago, 1.022, alright. Turned heating on all the time, checked temp, took a reading 18 hrs later, still 1.02. Made up a new batch of yeast, added it in, heard a little bubbling earlier but died off again checked grav just after moving the fermenter to a completely different room. 1.021.
So I'm completely bamboozled, when I go to take the hydrometer out, catch my finger and it slips. A steady 1.009. Spin the fucker. 1.009.

So either two things are happening here, My hydrometer's broken or I've just learned a very important lesson about taking a reading immediately.
Will be doing another batch of stout after this one with some coffee and chocolate.

Been doing extract brews for a while now and want to try something a little more, possibly by adding to a kit.
Possibly with a 9L pot, thermometer and grain bag or anything else I should be looking out for?

I’ve got an amber ale brewing right now, the airlock is going nuts. This is the first time I’ve made a 5 gallon batch without using an ingredient kit and just collecting ingredients myself at the LHBS.

Question: I've bottled plenty of batches before, and I've kegged plenty of batches before. I've got a 4 tap keggerator going, and sometimes I just have a keg in there that's aging. So, what's the best way to transfer beer from a keg in to a bottle? Say I just want to fill three 12oz bottles from the tap to enter them in a competition. Do they make an extension for the faucet to reach down to the bottom of the bottle to prevent foaming? Should I worry about the co2 pressure? Any other tips?

>>1352351
My bro and I have up on bubbler and three stage locks. When fermenting at the correct temperature, it always blows off, so we started using a blow off hose into a jar of starsan or chlorine.

Have any of you ever Brewed w wet hops before? What hops and what kind of beer? Dry hop or boil? Contained in nylon bags? Haven't met too many people who have due to access and I'd love to try to myself

Absolutely bloody shattered today.
Had a bit of a backlog because of the winter weather so I'm getting caught up. Already bottled and kegged 24L today, cleaned and sterilised everything and my 2nd batch is made up, just waiting for me to pitch the yeast into it.

Worst part of this is moving the FB once it's full, wew.

Fuck. What do I do in this situation?

What do I even do in this situation? I think the guy from the store gave me the wrong size stopper.

>>1353297
Pull it out. If it falls in sanitize a coathanger and fish it out while exposing it to as little air as possible.

Anyone have any good links as to wear to start to get into brewing?

I have a few brewery shops around here that have equipment and stuff but not sure where to start. Also what is a good first time beer to start with and how do I get better at brewing once I have made my first brew?

>>1353297
Is it still sealed and working? Can you just leave it?

>>1353415
You'll want to pick up a starter kit, price will vary depending on what's in it and where you're getting it from obviously.
Basics that you'll need/want.
Fermenting bin & airlock.
Something to stir with.
Kettle/Hot water.
Measuring spoon/scales (for sugar etc).
Hydrometer (to measure fermentation).
Thermometer (desirable but not 100% required for standard ale/beer).
Sanitiser.
Siphon/Bottling wand.
Something to put your beer in (bottles/keg/pressure barrel).

That's really about it, you don't need a second fermentation bin/vessel. That's all up to you.

After that you just need some fermentables, If you're going the cheap/standard route then this is either tins of Malt Extract in a kit, mix this with 1KG Dextrose (brewing sugar) or Dried Malt Extract into hot water, fill up to the desired level, wait for temperature to get within range of your yeast and pop it in the bin and seal up. Take a measurement with the hydrometer and write it down, pop it somewhere warm but not too warm and leave it for around a week. Measure again until hydrometer reading is steady over 2 days/finished and dispense into bottles etc. Measure sugar for carbonation and leave it for a few weeks before drinking.

Improvements you'll pick up over time would be additions to kits, using your own grains as fermentables and trying different styles. This is the setup for someone who just wants to make a nice few pints at home without getting too into homebrewing yet.

>>1353484

very interesting, any recomendations for a starter kit? I see all kinds on the internet and I am not sure what to look for.

Also how much beer do the vessels make? I am wanting to start at a keg or half keg then possibly move up once I make a decent beer.

What are some cheap bottling solutions? I have a few brews sitting in primary and tertiary ferm simply because I don't know where to put them otherwise.
I don't really want to use plastic, but glass isn't terribly cheap. I suppose I could scrounge up used beer bottles, clean and sterilize them, and get a capping device, but I'd appreciate any suggestions. A bottle of cider in a 2L soda bottle elicits thoughts of pissbottles, not cider.
>>1348096
Methanol is a natural byproduct of yeast metabolism, same as ethanol. If your must, wash, or mash is high in pectin, you'll get higher methanol levels. I don't know the biology, but, mead should have negligible levels of methanol. Cider can be pretty high, but not high enough to really do anything nasty unless you go really overboad. This my own experience and not based on anything else, but I feel like high strength ciders will give you a nastier hangover than comparable beers or spirits.

>>1353494
Don't bother with a kit. Get a 6G carboy, or 1G if you don't want to make a big investment, an airlock, and the above mentioned components. Find a recipe that appeals, and buy the ingredients. More than likely that will sae you money in the end.

>>1353596

is it because the vessels or whatever they give you in the kit are cheap? I've had friends who have had problems with their kits because the seal or something wasnt good

>>1353595
>scrounge up used beer bottles, clean and sterilize them, and get a capping device

That. Mechanical cappers are cheap, especially 2nd hand, and bottles are easy to source from friends or even scrounging recycling drops.

>>1353773
The plastic fermenters can be real bad quality yeah, I've had sealing issues with mine since I got it. Stainless is pricey but much better. If you have the option of borrowing someone's kit to do a run, give it a go.

>>1353906

Thanks I will look for a good Stainless stell cask for fermenting. I cant wait to make my first beer!

>>1347535
>Not sure why these threads disappeared
it's a /ck/ thread

>>1354111
If you balk at the cost difference, you can always cling wrap the top of the plastic fermenter to force a seal, so it's not a dead loss if you get a fermenter that won't seal.

>>1354225
>post in the /ck/ fermentation thread
>it's deader than this
>all people want to talk about is pickling
I guess the real thing is to tell the people sticking around on /diy/ what they need to do to get it active on /ck/ or where to check.

>>1353773
Some of them are decent, while cheap they're perfectly fine for beginners along with plastic/glass demijohns/carboys.
If you're not sure how much you enjoy brewing, I wouldn't go down the gearfag path just yet.

>>1348446
are you talking about selling to friends and family? or selling it to randoms. I would imagine selling to friends and family shouldnt be a problem as long as they're not fags... ATF would never know.

>>1348778
you can give it out for "free" and ask for "donations"?

>>1352364
I have Perlick 650 faucets. They have a flow control lever and I can pour the beer out really slow so it doesn't foam. It takes like 2 minutes to fill a bottle so I only do it when I'm taking some to my brothers or giving it to my fellow brewer friend. Carbonation is fine but we drink it the same day I bottled it so I don't know about long term but I cant imagine it being different than normal bottling.

If you dont have a faucet with flow control you can buy a $10 bottle/growler filler. It goes inside your faucet and has a tube to go to the bottom of your bottle. Just make sure it will fit your faucet.
https://www.amazon.com/Growler-Filler-Perlick-500-Faucets/dp/B00KABVE8Q

If you're gonna be doing this often and you have the extra cash you can get one of those bottle filling guns. Here's one from Northern Brewer but there's several from different manufacturers. They're around $100.
https://www.northernbrewer.com/the-last-straw-bottle-filler

>>1347535
Bottled a citra pale ale and brewed a German pils last Sunday.

What brand of kettles do you guys use and whats recommended? I brew 5 gallon batches and I don't plan on brewing anything bigger than that. I currently have a cheap thin kettle that feels like the bottom is going to fall off after a boil. I'm looking at getting a 5.5 gallon Ss BrewTech. The kettle with a 1/2"barb and hose for racking comes out to ~$145.

I also use glass carboys and would like to upgrade to a conical so I can harvest yeast, make it easier on myself to rack to keg or secondary for aging (if i need the conical for a new brew). Anyone have any experience with this brands stuff?

>>1354407

That is a nice looking set up!

>>1350917
I want to get a perlick. Will that handle the pressure without leaking?

>>1354407
Ss Brewtech is a great brand. Their stuff is quality. I've used both the kettle and the conical and very please with both.

I brewed an October Fest Style beer with my dad today.
After some research, we decided to replace 2/3 of the hops with marijuana he grew last season.
Not sure how it's going to turn out but we sealed it earlier.
I'll post and update win 2 weeks when we bottle

>>1355216
>we decided to replace 2/3 of the hops with marijuana he grew last season

>>1352364
I really recommend a counter pressure bottle filler. If you are going to bottle a lot of beer, get a beer gun. If you just want to be able to bottle one or two sometimes, build "Bee's ghetto blaster" for a couple of bucks. It works well enough if your beer is cold.

>>1352096
You should pour the sample back and forth between two cups 20 times to remove any carbonation.
Then when taking your gravity reading, spin the hydrometer so any bubbles sticking to it are removed.
This will give you accurate results, provided you have confirmed your hydrometer is accurate or you have its known deviation.

>>1353415
www.howtobrew.com

>>1355216
>we decided to replace 2/3 of the hops with marijuana he grew last season

God damn NEIPA was delicious after 1 week in bottles now it's getting brown af. Still tastes good though. These things are impossible to bottle as a homebrewer. I'm not trying again.

Got these imperial stouts / coffee stouts (added cold brew 1/3 of the way thru bottling) that should be ready tomorrow.

>>1355918
Sounds like oxidization, best thing I ever did was move to kegging. I brew 6.8gal batches into the FV, gives me a 5g keg that I fill to near the brim and 6 25oz bottles. The keg beer always tastes better than the bottles. I force carb the keg and the bottles carb with dextrose.
Plus now I only have to clean 6 bottles and a single keg for every brew, fuck I hate bottling now, I can't believe I did that shit for 3 years.

How can i get yeast taste off my cider?

>>1355216
>>1355731
Protip:
To make beer with weed, you should use a superhigh gravity yeast, and the beer should contain no less than 9% alcohol, to release the THC.
(non-water soluble)

Now that you father and you have already started the brew, i reccomend doing a second fermentation, belgium style, to get it up to 11%

I usually do 50grams for 23 liters, giving a pint a gram of weed, which is pretty potent.
(but then again, 11% beer is also pretty hardcore.)

I also reccomend at least 18 moths of storage, since beer that strong uses a lot of time to mature.

Incidentally, i use 100grams of polaris for bitter hops, boiled for 30 minutes, to get bitterness enough for beer that strong.
19% alpha acids.

(if you already have beer going, you can just boil the extra hops in a kettle and add to existing brew.)

Weed beer gets a great and unique aroma, and i love it, its totally different from brownies and smoking, and also gives a different mellow beautiful high

Considering making a warming box to ferment my wines in. Just foam board and a heating pad to keep a constant temperature because my house is uninsulated.

How to make a babby's first brew? Can I actually just throw a bunch of shit with some bakers yeast in a bottle and get something consumable? I don't care about the taste for now; I just want to jump into it face first.

>>1355992
Druggy degenerate.

Also, that beer sounds like it would taste like shit.

>quadruple IPA aged for 18 months

My ass.

>>1356163
I made a "son of fermentation chiller" with 2" rigid foam. It has an r rating of 13.1 and keeps my beer in the temperature range I want it. I live in southern California so my issue is cooling my wort not heating it, but the foam works really well. I haven't fermented in 'extreme' ambient temperature but with a few frozen water jugs it's supposed to be able to lower the temp up to 30 degrees.

>>1356269
I would advise getting a 1 gallon starter kit from Northern Brewer. It costs about $50 plus shipping and it comes with a free ingredient kit of your choosing. All you need that doesn't come with it is bottles.

>>1356269
>Can I actually just throw a bunch of shit with some bakers yeast in a bottle and get something consumable?
Yes actually, if you sterilise everything beforehand. A proper airlock also helps.

>>1356482
$50 sounds a bit much for someone to find how easy it is to brew your own shit for the sole purpose of getting hammered.
I'd recommend the guy to just ferment in the bottle of (apple) juice itself and go from there.
No equipment or sanitization needed

>>1356701
This.
All he will need is some yeast and a ballon then.
Pour half a glass of juice out first, add yeast and then put balloon with a pinhole in it over the opening.

>>1356404
Alcohol is a drug you nigger

>>1356767
It's amazing how many alcho normies are in denial about being junkies. Just because the gumbmint says its ok doesn't mean it isn't a drug.

>>1356752
Or if you want to get even cheaper, instead of the balloon just put the cap back on just hard enough that you have to squeeze kind of hard to get the gas to escape.

>>1356469
I'm in the bay area and it's gotten down into the 40s in my house so I need to keep it warm but insulation goes both ways. I'll hit home depot tomorrow and pick up a sheet of foam

>>1356914
The idea is to let the gas out without letting air in. That is unless he wants to carbonate it.

>>1355992
Why not just do an alcohol extraction with high strength ethanol on the weed then add some to the beer at the end? at least you would ensure you have extracted all of the thc + you could control dosage. did you decarboxylate beforehand also?

>>1357049
Easiest way I have seen to keep beer warm is to buy an aquarium heater and a storage box that will fit your fermenter inside then fill it with water. you can set the temp on the aquarium heater and it will heat up the water and maintain it.

>>1356483
>A proper airlock also helps.
does a balloon with a pinhole in it constitute halfway to a "proper airlock"?

>>1357567
>>1356752
oh, wait, let me make it even more obvious that I didn't read a single post before posting. at least I got it right, i guess...

>>1355992
are you the guy who make like 100L of vodka last fall from your potato harvest?

>>1357442

is that a good way to keep beer cool? minus the heater of course.

>>1358054
Depends on the temperature you are keeping it in. I've had okay results with a regular swamp cooler. Just wrap the carboys in a wet towel and only fill up the storage box with a bit of water. Put on a big fan on it. Easy evap cooling. I ended up just getting a big chest freezer with a temp controller to keep it cool instead of frozen.

>>1356404
I am glad you can correct me on my faults.

>Did taste good, how about you stuff something upp your ass?

>>1357437
did not, basically dryhopped that shit.
I am lazy, turned out fine.

>>1357620
no, this is all pilsner, one batch

>>1355992
This is wonderful to hear. Definitely under consideration for the next brew.

I think what we decided was that since we added the nuggets during the boil it would activate the THC to actually work.

I haven't evolved to secondary fermenting yet but the glass carboy is definitely the next todo

We did 1oz/6.5gal (28g/24L) but don't have the alc% yet.

>18 months
Shiiiiiiiiiiet
a. I dont got time for that
b. no carboy

On a personal note I fucking hate IPA's, I can't stand trying to drink a Pinecone, I don't understand why everyone wants a stiff as a board drink, or why they insist on putting as many hops as possible in a brew.

Update: Beer has been down a week and the airlock is eerily quiet. (Last brew was bubbling away by now but last brew was paint by numbers)
While transferring the brew to the bucket we strained it through some (sanitized) mesh bags used for making hash. We hoped it would reduce the debris in the end product.

tl;dr
Does anyone have experience with filtering your wort?

The brew is almost 2 weeks old. Gonna wait another week before bottling. I'm this >>1352351
guy. Gonna wait 2 weeks before drinking.

>>1359152
Just chill it down to 0°C and add gelatin finings, leave for 48hrs then bottle and or keg it. Unless you have the kegging gear and a filter to filter it properly without oxidizing your fermented wort.

I filter occasionally, but I use a fermentasaurus with a pressure kit, 0.5microm filter and a keg. Just pressurize the fermentasaurus and transfer to keg with the filter in the middle. Always ensure you have flushed the lines, filter and keg with C02 first so no oxidation can occur.

a helpful anon on /ck/ pointed me to this thread. I've been trying my hand at mead, and watching like youtube videos and shit. I made a half-gallon from a kit, and thinking it was a full gallon had ideas for some back sweetening and flavoring in four quart bottles I had. When I only filled two of them I decided to make a second batch to at least finish what I'd planned. my current batch isn't nearly as energetic as a lot of what i'm seeing on the ol' internet, i cracked a bottle of my first batch to make sure i wasn't completely retarded and it was in fact alcoholic. it ended up super carbonated despite the addition of potassium sorbate before I racked it and no back sweetening in that particular bottle. anyone know if that shit needs like 24 hours to work or if you need more for mead than regular wine? the container said 1/2 tsp per gallon which is what I used. I gave it some time to work, but only like a couple hours. if it takes a full day or more I'd rather not blow up my bottles.

>>1360051
Sounds like you skipped a step. Your wine should not be carbonated when you bottle it. When the ferment is largely clear, siphon out the liquid into another bottle, leaving the dead yeast at the bottom. At this stage, it really should not be very carbonated at all but you let it sit and some more dead yeast will precipitate to the bottom. This is when you bottle. It should be totally flat (no fizz) and it shouldn't be necessary to add any potassium sorbate as the yeast should be all dead at this point.

>>1361077
the wine wasn't carbonated when I bottled it, at least not as far as I could tell. I'm fairly certain it carbonated after I sealed the bottle because it was still fermenting. I've heard mixed things about secondary fermentation's necessity to the final product and the kit only suggested putting the mead into a clean pot before cleaning out the fermenting jug and putting the mead back in the jug as a final step. My understanding was that potassium sorbate or specifically a wine stabilizer which it's labeled as is a hard stop on fermentation, specifically for if you want to have more fine control over final ABV and/or want to oversweeten up front. I was hoping to skip secondary fermentation and just let the mead mellow for a few months in the bottle and maybe have some minor sediment which is why I was concerned with how the potassium sorbate is supposed to work.

>>1361344
One trick that I've used to stop fermentation before is to add a little gelitan fining. It works well enough to not only pull out protines and other things that make a beer cloudy, but it will also pull out yeast.

Just boil a cup or two of water, add 1/4 tsp unflavored gelitan, and let the mixture cool without stirring or adding too much oxygen. Then add the mixture to your mead and swirl it around some. Finally, wait a couple or several days for the gelitan to settle to the bottom. Carefully siphon out the mead, leaving all the trub at the bottom of the fermenter, then clean the fermenter and re-rack, or simply move the mead to bottles at this point.

The trick is to let the gelitan settle to the bottom and carefully move the beer or mead off the top. Gelitan will pull out protein, hop flavors, yeast, and just about anything else in there, and leave you with a crystal clear finished product.

>>1347651
The bad news is you have an infection. The good news is that it is a lambic infection, which will likely add a (pleasant) sour taste to your beer. There are people who intentionally infect their beer like this, it's known as lambic brewing or wild brewing and they make an art out infecting a beer as much as possible and drinking the results several months later. Beer infections are harmless, it's just that infections will affect the taste in a way that many people don't like.

So I'm trying to ferment 5gal of a mango-0eac melomel. It's been 3 weeks in primary but when I take my gravity readings it hasn't reached 1.010 like I originally wanted to.

I used an SNA schedule and everything with fermaid k and DAP. I treated the must with pectic enzyme for extra flavor. Aerated right and everything. I just have no idea what could have caused it or what do to so it will finish at the proper and. It's OG was 1.090 and now it's reading 1.025 at lowest.

>>1361604
What yeast strain did you use? You might want to raise the temp by one or two degrees to rouse the yeast or pitch in some champagne yeast.

Anyone have experience making hard root beer? Thinking of brewing a brown ale and then adding the root beer tea along with the priming sugar just before bottling.

>>1360051
Well now. Sounds like you took it off fermentation a bit too early. Mead is a slow process, I'd say two weeks on primary and a month on secondary. Not to mention half a year and more to mature (not as nessecary with melomel and metheglin). Most beers you don't need to move for secondary fermentation, but it's a good idea with mead. Another thing that might account for your problems is if the yeast wad old and took a long time to really start growing. A packet of champagne yeast after a week of primary can help with that. Good luck, hope your bottles don't explode. Just enjoy them as they are and try again with fresh honey.

My apple wine went through a rapid ferment. Surprised the hell out of me but we'll see what happens after aging.

has anyone used Wyeast WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast?

I normally brew 5 gallon batches, with WLP001 California Ale + 1 liter starter. I clogged the airlock the first two times before i realized that i would need to always use a blowoff tube and that's with 1.5 gallon headspace on my 6.5 gallon carboy.

I brewed a double IPA and the recipe called for a 6 gallon batch. I threw it into my 6.5 gallon carboy and with a name like "Super Yeast" expected the worst. The krausen did touch the bottom of the blow off tube but never went through it. I was surprised since there was only .5 gallon of headspace. It's been in there for 9 days and yeast activity has died down and krausen has recessed. Gonna take a gravity reading this weekend to see where it's at.

Anyway the point of this was to see if this is a normal experience for WLP090 or a coincidence. I know this yeast is more temperamental to temperature and i kept it as close to 68* as possible but it did go down to 63* on the first night. After that it stayed around 65-67*. I used the same 1 liter starter that i made 24 hours before pitching. Will probably use this yeast in the future as it is less messy.

Absolute newbie here

I just got curious about basic brewing, and after a little bit of research am about to try fermenting a single gallon batch of cider. Is pic related sufficient to make a successful batch? I know the yeast I'm using is shitty for this kind of thing, but it's all I could grab at the moment, since specialty stores are a little too far out and I didn't want to wait for proper yeast cultures to come in by mail.

>not in pic: sugar in my pantry. I've got white table sugar and coarse brown sugar, as well as honey

>>1362936
I think you're good to go
> I know the yeast I'm using is shitty for this kind of thing, but it's all I could grab at the moment
Contrary to popular belief you can get perfectly fine results with it. You'll probably get shat on by yeast autists but that's about it.

>>1362942
Thanks my dude

I'm about to sanatize my glass jug, airlock, and stopper in the bucket. Hopefully the yeast doesn't die horribly, since my house is a bit chilly atm. Worst case scenario I wrap the jug in a blanket and throw it in the basement.

>>1362950
I've started one recently in a room at 14°, it did just fine.

>I wrap the jug in a blanket and throw it in the basement.
The reaction is exotherm so this would help, i just have no clue whatsoever to what degree.

>>1362936
Looks good, but two other things you might want is a funnel (for easy pouring in yo the glass bottle) and a couple feet of vinyl tubing (for siphoning the cider back out of the bottle and in to sanitized beer bottles, if you plan on doing that).

>>1353595
What would happen if you freeze distilled a cider? Would you go blind?

>>1362978
The ambient temperature is probably above that point, so I should've been fine, but I still put a towel around and under the bottle (pic related)

>>1362985
I did find a funnel I had laying around and sanatized it along with the other things and used when putting things into the glass bottle, but I plan on using a funnel and cheesecloth instead of a tube. I'll probably be using those bottles with the hinged tops if you know which ones I'm talking about, I'll probably order them and have them come while this is sitting and fermenting

>>1362990
it would be extremely painful

>>1362990
I saw a video about making apple jack that pointed out that freeze distilling (all distilling really) is just concentrating the liquid. if you take a gallon of even very strong cider and freeze distill it down to say a quart, you still only have as much methanol as in the gallon of cider. you might get 4x as much in a glass, but it's not going to spontaneously spike. As that anon said, it'll probably give you a harsh hangover, but you're not going to poison yourself.

I dunno what the freezing temperature of methanol is, but you could conceivably try to take the head off of the results like you would with traditional distilling.

>>1362936
Looks like a good setup to me. The baking yeast may result in some off flavors that taste like fresh baked bread but that's not anything I'd worry too much about.

I know people who make wheat beers with baking yeast for the sole purpose of getting the extra bread flavor.

>>1363123
>I know people who make wheat beers with baking yeast for the sole purpose of getting the extra bread flavor.
what kind of ABV do they get, if you know? I thought bread yeast tended toward the low end.

>>1363158
Lol no, bread yeast goes all the way up to 15%.

Update of >>1363023

I think I may have put my airlock on wrong since a massive stream of bubbles was dribbling out the top of it before I cleaned it off, but at least I know the yeast is warm enough to react. There's a little leaking out from the cork hole and the airlock tube, but the cork itself seems to be holding. Plenty of carbonation(?) bubbles happen inside the jug itself. I don't think anything is compromised to the point of failure though, but I guess we'll just have to see.

I plan on waiting a whole month until I do a bottling transfer, found some nice 16oz flip top bottles on Amazon to use and let them sit for a few days in those, plus some cheesecloth to strain out the yeast when I funnel them in. Looking decent for a first batch so far?

>>1363627
>I think I may have put my airlock on wrong since a massive stream of bubbles was dribbling out the top
Nope, going by your pic it means you have a very active fermentation at the moment, which is normal. You should probably install a blow off tube.

>>1347957
My first batch is underway as well, did I use too much honey? Also why are all my raisins floating?

>>1363627
i considered warning you because you were lacking some headspace
ah well it happened once to me too and it turned out fine

>>1363627
That's normal. It should simmer down on day 3.

>>1347957
>>1363629
Also doing my first batch of mead here. It's a 3 gallon batch, and I used 9 lbs of honey, resulting in an O.G. of 1.090 at 72F.

That's higher gravity than I was expecting, so I was crossing my fingers that it wouldn't overwhelm the yeast. It started bubbling on the night that I made it, and four days later it's still bubbling regularly, about once every second or two.

I used a Red Star Cuvee yeast, some yeast nutrient (instead of rasins), 2 tsp of allspice, and about 1 oz of Saaz hops for around 30 minutes. So far, everything looks and smells good.

Fuck just pulled the grain bag out and noticed theres a hole in it. This batch may be a little crunchy.

The apple wines came out very different..

>>1363738
Racking should fix that.

>>1359152
Filtering the wort or the beer? I dont think i've ever heard of filtering wort since sparging and re-sparging the sweet run is essentially filtering.

Just from smelling my airlock I can tell my amber ale is going to be slightly hoppier than a typical amber ale. BeerSmith tells me it's going to have 38.6 IBUs which is a little high but not out of range for an amber.

>>1363754
I strained it through the non-holy parts of the bag on the way out of my chiller, there was a ton of fine debris in there. I usually dont do a secondary think it would help in this case?

>>1363782
Not the same guy but it should help clear it up. The grain will mostly drop to the bottom of your primary fermenter then you can rack it to secondary when you're ready. If you're able to cool it down to near freezing that should also help with pulling all the sediment down before racking. It's called "cold crashing" if you're not familiar with it.

I know secondary has a bad wrap with home brewers but I bought a starter kit that came with two glass carboys (6.5 and 5 gallons) and I always transfer to secondary to justify the extra cost I paid and I've ever had an issue. Just be sure to sanitize everything before you start.

>>1363158
>>1363433
yeah, i've had some make stuff that (by taste) was around 15% in three days, and using the same bread yeast, made sub-5% in a week. it's just really unpredictable, i think.

>>1363743

Is there any factor changes that could make one different from the other? Time, yeast used, difference in apple juices/ciders...

>>1363807
Different apples. The pinkish one is gala and Red Delicious, the other is granny smith, a terrible decision. Everything else was identical

>>1363805
>(by taste)

What does ethanol taste like?
What do fusel alcohols taste like?
What do you think bread yeast was making more of?

>>1363805
i've got up to 13% according to fairly precise calculations but that took about a month

>>1363821
>fusel alcohols
darn if i know , i just fucking make kilju to get hammered
the 15% stuff did that, the 5% did not

>>1363830
Well, just to throw this tid bit out for everyone here then,

Ethanol is the target alcohol when brewing anything. It has virtually no taste, color, or oder. It also gets you drunk as fuck.

Fusel alcohols will always occur, but the goal is to minimize them. They taste like a solvent like acetone, or they add that 'alcohol heat' that you get in poorly brewed alcohol. Moreover, they don't get you nearly as drunk as ethanol. On top of that, there are some indications that they cause, or at least add to, hangovers.

I know there's an appeal to just brewing something quick and dirty to get drunk as fuck; that was the impetus for all the brewers that came before us. Those same brewers have collectively had thousands of years to refine the whole getting drunk as fuck thing. Learn from their massive experience! Use a yeast that has been bread for the thing you are making! Ferment at the right temperature! If you do these two things, you will make something that will get you a lot more drunk than some basterdized fucking Mr. Wizards science experiment gone horribly wrong and hanging over.

As far as >>1363830 goes though, I think kilju is actually supposed to have some fusel flavors in it. Asians seem to like fusel flavors too.

Opinions on skeeter pee? Trying to get a batch going at the end of the month to have ready for summer.

Do I need a wine yeast cake for good skeeter pee, or will I get something decent from just pitching a wine yeast with nutrient into the juice?

>>1363851
>Use a yeast that has been bread
kek

>>1353297
Get the next size up. If it falls in, leave it til you're pouring out, then fish it out with a coat hanger.

>>1363803
Just looked at cold crashing and that seems like a piss easy way to clarify the beer a bit. I’ll try it out when this ones done fermenting.

>>1364175
>>1363803
speaking of cold crashing, can anyone give some advice on the methodology? I don't really have room in my fridge, but I do have an extra freezer. I was planning to stick my gallon fermenter in there for a couple hours so that it would chill but not freeze. would that be enough, or too much? any better suggestions?

>>1364493
If you have a freezer, that's enough, but you will have to chill it, then take it out so it doesn't freeze, then put it back in to keep it cool, then pull it out, etc. You can do it, but it takes some work.

The point of cold crashing is that stuff settles to the bottom. If you keep moving it in and out of the freezer, you should be careful not to disturb the sediment at the bottom. If it swirls around too much, what was the point of cold crashing?

The much easier thing to do is have a dedicated freezer with a temperature controller on it. A decent temp controller will run you about $50 USD, but will allow you to set the temperature to a cool 32F (or more, or less), and you can leave it there for days or weeks before pulling it out once to bottle it. Of course, if you already have a spare freezer and temperature controller sitting around, why not turn it on to a full fledged keggerator? That's what I did.

>>1364508
>Of course, if you already have a spare freezer and temperature controller sitting around, why not turn it on to a full fledged keggerator?
for me it's not so much spare as it is long term frozen food storage that i've never filled up 100%. I'd hate to turn the temp down to a point where the ice cream melts and meat thaws what it's supposed to be keeping cold.

I'm >>1360051 and was mostly interested in cold crashing as a way to stop fermenting before stabilization, and probably using a campden tablet to boot. clarity is more of a bonus than a goal, so I'll see what I get.

>>1364674
In actuality then, you may do better by leaving it in the fridge. A typical refrigerator idles at around 40F, which is warmer than a standard cold crash, but should be enough to drop a lot of stuff out.

Also, does cold crashing actually get rid of the yeast? As far as I know, there may very well still be plenty of yeast floating around after a cold crash. It's not the yeast in the trub at the bottom that is going to continue to ferment, it's the microscopic single yeast cells still floating around in solution that will start to double again and again that starts fermentation again. I know gelitan will pull out the floating yeast, but not sure about cold crashing.

>>1364757
by my understanding cold crashing makes the yeast dormant, and stops fermenting. (at least temporarily, this is why fermentation temperature is important). if the yeast goes dormant and then I add my sorbate, even if it perks back up, it's not going to have long to go before it dies and falls out naturally. moreso if I toss a campden tablet to boot. I just want to be really really sure it's done when I say it is.

My understanding is that part of the reason cold crashing works is the dormant yeast is less energetic and/or prone to clumping together in the cold which does make it tend to fall out of solution though.

Hey guys I have a batch of brown ale going. It was in primary for about 5 days and when i switched it to secondary it was already very close to finished gravity. Due to unforseen circumstances I havent been able to bottle it and it's been in secondary for 3+ weeks. Was this too long? Do I need to add more yeast or will it be fine?

>>1364780
It will be totally fine. You can even leave it in there for another few weeks if you want. As long as it's sealed and not letting oxygen in, you are fine for a long time.

>>1364785
Great thanks, i've done 5 or 6 batches but never left one in secondary that long

O Shit is this the jenkem thread

>>1364780
Even if you let it sit on they yeast cake for a month, you'd be fine and pick up no off flavors. I'd also skip the racking into another carboy step and just do secondary in the same fermenting vessel.

>>1364786
3 weeks doesn't seem like much. I normally do a 1-2 week primary and secondary for 2-6 weeks (depending on what the recipe calls for). I cant remember if it was sheer laziness or not having an empty keg available but I've left beer in secondary for like an extra month past what the recipe called for... The beer came out ok but it was the first time I made that recipe and not sure if me not liking it all that much was due to the extra time or the recipe itself. It was a citrus IPA and I still drank all 5 gallons but it was too "citrussy" for my liking.

I followed edworts guide for apfelwein for my first fermented beverage back in January, and it's still bubbling albeit slowly. Did I do something wrong? I never racked it to a secondary and it's completely clear so I figured it was fine, but he said you could bottle after 4 weeks and it's been 3 months now with the bobbles still going.

>>1365416
There'll be off-gassing for quite a while, until it's fermented to the point that every single yeast has died. take a sample out, either with a thief or just siphon a bit, two days in a row and take a gravity reading. if it doesn't change then it's fermented.

>>1365416
if it's cleared out you're good to go

>>1347535
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh25alZ5riY

>>1365459
It's quite clear, I can read the newspaper through the 5 gal carboy, I guess I'm good to bottle?

>>1347651

How does an airlock dry out? Are you on the equator and leaving this shit in the sun?

Most likely a bacterial infection so you are now making a sour, so you need to leave it for at least a year.

>>1362936
enjoy your prison hooch

>>1347535
Just did mead today and split it to do 4 yeast strains. It was so easy compared to brewing. Just washed a this old House episode an was pro.

>>1347957
Just did my first mead also. Will rerack it in 2-3 weeks dependent on how much sediment. Then I plan on adding fruit for more yeast nutrient.

>>1365690

>>1365668
nice meme

>>1356777
Jizzy christ what a bunch of idiots.
Alcohol is a drug regaurdless if the gooberment says it isnt because they tax it. Fuck you are all a bunch of losers

>>1365652
Pretty sure you are. How active was the airlock anyway?

>>1366054
Just timed it, 3min 10 sec between bubbles

>>1366059
That's relatively active i'd say, especially after three months. What's the volume of your brew?

>>1366067
5 gallons

>>1366083
I suppose you could bottle some of it and see what happens?

Can anyone give some advice for a kid trying to get into home brewing? Favorite online resources? Tips? Me and my friend used to make shitty brews in 2L soda bottles with bakers yeast, and I've made some in jail by saving my bread, fruits, juice and sugar packets. I'm going to be buying a starter kit next weekend. On amazon still spirits yeast seems to be the most popular. Is this pleb tier shit or is it a good simple start. Pic related is the kit I'm buying

>>1366252
>Kid
>In jail
Wut

>>1366275
I'm 19 which is legal age in Canada. I was in jail when I had just turned 18. I'm going to uni next fall, so I won't have time to work until the summers, so home brewing is a cheaper alternative in the long run as opposed to going to the Beer Store and LCBO, which is basically the alcohol monopoly here. Alcohol here is ridiculously expensive compared to the States

>>1363986
Not the only screw up you fish out with a hangar.

>>1366252
Start listening to Brew Strong.

>>1366252
>spirits yeast
Your yeast is the single most important ingredient in your beer. I'm not saying you have to buy liquid yeast and to make a starter. Just get some decent dry yeast suited for beer.

>>1366279
I see, if you are just trying to get drunk you can just do some sort of juice + sugar to boost the alcohol content. Also you can buy wine yeast on Amazon for pretty cheap, and the yeast will survive high alcohol content. More sugar means the fermentation will take longer though I believe

Any advice on successfully carbonating cider and/or short meads with sugar as priming sugar?

I've got two ciders that were roughly 3 months old when I bottled and used honey for the priming sugar. I used 3 generous table spoons of honey per gallon (read that 5 gallons called for 1 cup and did the math). I boiled the honey in 2 parts water.

One gallon was capped in 16 oz bottles and the other was bottled with swing top ez bottles.

After 2 months neither bottle had any carbonation.

They were in my cellar at 55-60 F. Both ciders fermented dry, around 5% abv, using EC1118.

When ever I look up the issue, it seems fool proof.. Any advice?

>>1366688
A lot of times, dextrose (powdered corn sugar) is used for priming, since it ferments fast and clean. For beer, I end up using around 1/2 to 1 cup dextrose for a 5 gallon batch, and that provides a moderate to high carbonation, assuming fermentation has already fully completed. I imagine it would be similar for mead, as it really depends on the yeast, not whatever the yeast was previously fermenting.

My magic recipe is to add 2/3 cup of dextrose to 1 or 2 cups of water, dissolve and boil. Let the solution cool naturally without stirring or disturbing it. Carefully add to the bottling bucket first, without letting it splash much. Siphon beer (or mead) to the bottling bucket without much splashing. Adding the beer (or mead) to the bucket will naturally mix the priming sugar in. Bottle from the bucket immediately, then let the bottles sit for at least two weeks.

Using honey as a priming sugar should work, on paper at least, but I would expect very large carbonation times, like on the order of months, because honey is a more complex sugar that will take the yeast a long time to digest. Some people prime with regular table sugar (sucrose) which is made of a roughly 50/50 combination of dextrose and fructose. As a result, carbonation takes a little longer than straight dextrose, but would still be much faster than honey.

If there is still yeast in your mead (which I strongly suspect there is) then you can always pop the cap off, add 1/4 tsp of table sugar, re-cap it, wait two weeks, and see what happens. Try it with a couple of bottles first, then do the rest if it works.

>>1366688
my only experience carbonating I added the sugar to the bottles. I was making cider from a kit which had carbonation drops, but I was curious about trying to flavor the cider after seeing a video about someone using jelly beans for the task. I weighed the drops and they're about 5g of sugar, which is a place to start per bottle. if you want to dump sugar into a bottling bucket what >>1366735 said about it depending on the yeast is key. I don't know what the fermentation temp of EC1118 is but 55-60 sounds low compared to what I've been fermenting at, for carbonation you should keep it around fermenting temp for a week or two before moving them somewhere cooler.

>>1366735
I've only got cane sugar (granulated table sugar?) on hand.. Is corn sugar more of a brewing supply? I can only seem to find it on hbs sites.

Either way, I've added a quarter teaspoon in a couple of bottles of cider and give them a couple of weeks.

>>1366752
I've moved the bottles up to a closet which is probably 62-68F.

Thanks for the insight. My mead should be ready to bottle in a couple of weeks, so if this works I'll have to try it on that as well.

I've got them wrapped in towels as I have an irrational fear of bottle bombs--never experienced and hope I never do.

>>1366035
>Those who imbibe in moderation are losers.
Sorry that you are a teenager who cannot fathom that real brewing of beer is a science. Granted a lot of posters here are underage/alcoholics, but there is quite a few here who are professionals and understand the processes intimately or are genuinely interested in making their own quality product.

Maybe you should read www.howtobrew.com

New to the whole brewing game but I'm planning on making beer from a kit I bought years ago. It makes 23 litres (6 US gallons) of beer but I have no idea how to store all of it. Do you guys seriously bottle 50-ish beers each batch or is there some other way to store it? I suppose I could always just make half of it.

>>1367929
I suspect it would be awkward to make just half of it. you could try to use larger bottles, put it in a growler or something if you don't mind drinking the higher volume in one go. I made 6 gallons of cider and did end up bottling near fifty bottles. It's time consuming but not a huge undertaking.

>>1367929
I bottled my home brew once and immediately built a homemade kegerator so I didn't have to do it again. It's more expensive but the upside is you only have to clean, sanitize, and fill one vessel. I made a keg/carboy washer that does the heavy lifting anyway.

You can also buy the larger bottles 16 or 24oz and clean/sanitize/fill less vessels. The downside (if it can be called that) is that you have to drink more beer in one sitting.

You an also half the ingredients to make a half batch but if you have a 6.5 gallon fermenter there will be a lot of headspace which is more likely to lead to a bacterial infection. Shouldn't be an issue if you take the time to properly sanitize but is more likely to happen than a full batch in the fermenter. If I were you i would just suck it up and make the full batch. The time to ferment the beer is going to be the same and at the end you will get all ~50 bottles of beer.

I had a bad airlock on one of my carboys for around a day before noticing it during the first day of my primary fermentation of my mead before replacing it. Is the batch completely fucked because it was exposed to oxygen that long?

>>1367929
>Do you guys seriously bottle 50-ish beers each batch
I bottled it with 2L and 1L bottles

>>1367950
>>1367953
>>1368026
Thanks, I guess I'll use a few larger bottles for some of it.

>>1366438
While I do plan on making beer at some point, I'm not trying to right now. I'm just trying to get the most alcohol for my buck. That's why I was looking at turbo yeasts. I have no clue how the final product will taste however

>>1368546
i've not brewed beer specifically myself, but by my understanding a beer wort doesn't have as high a concentration of sugars as wine or mead must due to having to break down the starches into your sugars. even using extracts, which it looks like your kit has a big jug of, they're more complex and will tire out the yeast to chew through. the long and short is that there is an upper limit to alcohol you can get out of a kit. it might be higher than I'm giving it credit for but if you just want to get drunk and fuck the flavor you'd probably be better off making some kind of wine with a good bit of sugar dumped in. you could use the same kit, just instead of using the ingredients get a few gallons of fruit juice with no preservatives and a couple pounds of table sugar. put spirit yeast in that and it might end up tasting like jet fuel, but you can be relatively sure it's fermentable to that point.

>>1368556
Oh I should have updated, I'm actually getting a different kit that doesn't include the beer recipe kit. It will have everything else plus hydrometer and other testing equipment which the one in the pic lacks. I'll be using DADY yeast with yeast nutrient since I've been told it's just as effective as turbo yeast, cheaper, and I haven't heard taste complaints. Although some people said that the reason turbo yeast washes taste bad is that they barely have enough nutrition in the little packets. I found a recipe for a neutral tasting wash (pic related). I'm not sure how necessary the other ingredients are but I always find people adding citric acid at least. Can any people with experience provide their thoughts on it? I figure I'll just use more sugar to raise the SG and get more alc out of it. My plan is to then use flavor extracts for some fun. The thing I'm on the fence about now is if I should still use turbo clear or not. If I just leave it for a few days will it clear up well enough on it's own?

>>1368009
I use airlocks during primary, but have read that some brewers just cover their bucket/carboy with cheese cloth or other type of cloth during the first few days of primary to allow oxygen in.

Once fermentation starts, it should be producing enough c02 to be displacing any oxygen if it were an issue.

I do aerate the batch until I get to the 1/3rd sugar break, so that's introducing oxygen 2 times a day for the first few days of fermentation.

Some yeast are considered to be aggressive and can overtake and kill off other types of yeast/bacteria. So even if something harmful did get into the fermenter during the first few days of primary, the yeast you pitched should be able to kill it off and stop it from reproducing.

tl;dr, it shouldn't be an issue.

>>1347535
A thread this long and no kvass?

>>1368654
Sugar wash by itself will not taste good. it's meant for distilling. you may be able to mix in some powdered flavourings or something to make it palatable but it's not going to be great.

The citric acid is required to maintain a stable ph. as the yeast ferment the sugars the ph will start to rise, the citric acid or you can also use lemon juice, will keep it from rising too high.

The DAP supplies yeast with nitrogen and phosphate, some home distillers use a little plant fertiliser for this purpose.

The gypsum and Epsom salts aren't necessary.

I would also add 2 crushed up multi-vitamin tablets dissolved in boiling water. this will provide the yeast with plenty of b-vitamins and trace minerals. You can also boil some of your yeast to kill them and add this to the wash, it will provide yeast skeletons for the living yeast to cannibalise and get nutrients from.

This will only work up to 14% and you need to keep your temps stable somewhere between 25c and 30c. to avoid stressing the yeast. Lower alcohol the better, 10% is the best, then the yeast aren't swimming around in too much of their own filth so they are more comfortable and less likely to produce undesirable compounds which will contribute to undesirable flavours.


Birdwatchers tomato paste wash is better IMO. but you would have to clear it up really well to get out the tomato paste solids. tomato paste is beneficial because it provides some nutrients, but it also provides some solid matter for the yeast to cling to and ride around on so they can circulate the fermenter better, it keeps them in suspension rather than having a lot of the yeast settle out at the bottom of the fermenter.

http://shuggo.com/birdwatchers/calculator.htm

>>1369650
Ya I wasn't trying to make something that tasted good, just something that doesn't taste bad either, since I'm going for most alcohol for my money. I've heard that vitamin B is important as well. I'm not sure why epsom salts where there but apparently the gypsum was for the calcium, but I suppose a multi-vite should cover that as well. I found bird watchers on the same forum and the tomato paste seemed strange at first but I feel that clearing it would be a bitch, and I was going to buy 1lb packs for all the ingredients in Wineo's, so price isn't really a problem, which is supposed to be one of the selling points of birdwatchers. I've looked into distilling now since that is what these washes are meant for ultimately. Air stills looked attractive but then I saw how simple a homemade still is to make. There's also these pot stills on kijiji. Has anyone used two or three of these variations in distillation that can compare their experiences?

>>1369650
I should also ask, keeping it at 10% seems a bit low for me. If I went up to 14% would the off-tastes really be THAT bad? Keep in mind that I don't have a very refined palate. I've only recently started to enjoy the taste of beer and I can just barely tell which ones I sort of prefer. >>1370000
trading quads for advice

>>1370000

Air stills are crap, produce very little product and are made of plastic. the picture you posted of the pot looks the best, but still will only be big enough to make a litre of so of finished product at a time, so if you are ok with that then it will be a good option, both the air still and the pot still in your pic have the same problem in that they will not produce high quality neutral spirits like vodka which is what sugar washes are used for, you need a reflux still for that, reason being pot stills generally only make somewhere between 50 - 60% alcohol on a good day, so you get a lot of flavours crossing over from the wash into the finished product, whereas with a reflux still that's producing up to 95% ethanol, you get no flavours crossing over, it's a lot more refined thus much better at producing a neutral spirit, there are things you can do to clean up neutral spirits produced on a pot still, like running it through the still multiple times and then filtering through carbon, but it's a lot of work. pot stills are mainly used to make things like whisky, brandy, rum, as you want the desirable flavours to be in the final product you don't want them to be stripped out. . pic related is my 50L reflux which can do 1.7L of 93% with 25L of 14% wash which equates to around 3.5L of 40% when diluted or double those numbers if it's full 50L batch, I never run it full though.


>>1370002

I guess you could just add more flavour to cover it up. there won't be that much difference, it depends if you can notice it / tolerate it or not.

>>1370122
Here is also one of the first stills I made, just a little pot still out of a stock pot like the one you are looking to buy.

If you have any more questions about building one or whatever then I will try and answer.

>>1370124
different anon, but how do you connect your piping? I don't know shit about plumbing but I know you don't want lead solder for anything involving food or drink and heat, so what'd you use? I have an old pressure cooker I was considering making a small still out of just because it was air tight and had an opening on top already, but I'd hate to ruin a decent pot just to poison myself.

>>1370128
Lead free plumbing solder.

>>1370131
>lead free solder
well when you put it that way I just sound like an idiot.

>>1370134
yup, just make sure to clean your pipe really good afterwards before you start to distil anything through it to get out all of the flux residue.

For the outside I just use 1 cup of vinegar (any vinegar will do, the cheapest), 1 tablespoon of salt and some flour to thicken it up into a wet paste, then slather it all on the outside of your pipe, leave it for an hour, then get some steel wool and give it a good scrub it will get rid of all of the oxidation make it look nice and shiny, rinse off with water.

for the inside, I just cap one end of the pipe and make up some citric acid dissolved in hot water (1/2cup per gallon of water), pour it into the open end until the pipe is full, leave it for an hour and rinse, this will remove all of the flux residue and oxidation from the inside.

You can just submerge the whole pipe in citric acid solution to clean it inside and out but I think you get a better clean on the outside with the vinegar + salt.

Does anyone here have a source on a 2-2.5 gal vessel for secondary fermentation/mellowing of mead? I want to make a big batch in my six gal barrel and then split it down to smaller batches to flavor in secondary but I don't have six 1 gallon vessels, and after having split two 1 gallon batches and lost a lot of volume in the process i'd like to keep to relatively large volumes until bottling. I can't find anything between 1 and 3 gallons, and I feel like 2 gallons of liquid in a 3 gal carboy would be an unreasonable amount of headspace.

>>1370122
hmm perhaps I should slow down. I guess I'm looking too far ahead. I guess I should focus more on learning about fermentation before thinking about distillation, I'm probably going to buy my kit this week so I'll start simple and work my way up

>>1370550
yeah probably. homedistiller forum is a good resource though when you are ready to learn. just read through all of the threads, that's what I did.

>>1370413
Go to the store and buy these. they are 1 gallon each and cheap

Are Campden tablets absolutely necessary for brewing? I have a well so no chlorine in the water.

>>1370691
they're most useful for sterilizing your must or wort of any wild microbes present in your fruits, grains, honey or what have you, which are very hard to clean with your no-rinse sanitizer or bleach or whatever you're using on your fermenter and pot and things. boiling your water would probably be plenty enough for cleanliness. short answer is that as long as you're very sanitary with your hardware and keep things airtight at the start of fermentation you'll get booze and probably won't kill yourself.

>>1370691
wine/beer has been made for thousands of years before things like campden tablets existed, campden tablets just ensure you have no chance of getting an infection from things like wild yeast or bacteria that might have already made their way into your wort / must. but it's certainly not necessary, you'll just be taking a small risk though is all and some people don't want to take any risk when they are waiting weeks on end for it to finish fermenting and the cost of the ingredients to begin with, they don't want to risk having to flush it all down the drain, it's up to you, there are other things you can do if you don't want to use campden tablets like boiling your wort / must, this will have the same sterilising effect, just takes more work, if you are doing 25L batch you may need to boil 2 x 15L in a big stock pot.

I would suggest your read some books about ancient civilisations like the Egyptians and how they made wine, or books on the history of beer, they are really interesting reads and you can gain a lot of insight on different ways to do things with minimal chemicals / technology as they didn't have things like that back then. sometimes the old ways are the best ways, the modern ways are mostly based around convenience it seems.

Making some mead

>>1371238
Two days in.

>>1371241
Four days in...

>>1355216
Two things about marijuana beer.
You get a shit tasting beer and a ruined stash.

>>1370122
What’s that on the bottom? Is it a heating element directly inside the keg? Nice build by the way.

>>1371542
yeah. there are 2 x 2200watt elements, one on either side. I use both to get it up to temp quick then turn one off for the remainder of the run and thanks. It was fun to build, took me a little while, made mistakes, had to find the best elements to use, figure out how to attach them etc,

Why do small batches of all grain always seem to be darker in SRM than predicted by software?

A few years ago I attempted to make some mead using the older "viking" way and it didn't turn out well because I'm pretty sure I didn't use enough honey. Pretty disappointed but I'm probably going to try again soon. Should be fun.

Anyone at the Harrisburg beer fest?

does anyone have any experience with freeze distilling? I made a gallon of cider I planned to make applejack out of. I cold crashed it before racking, but didn't do anything more before siphoning it out of primary into some plastic bottles to freeze. Now my applejack has a small bit of cloudy sediment at the bottom. would it be enough to run it through like a coffee filter or something? I expect all of the yeast is dead by now, but I didn't expect much of it to make it out of the ice.

>>1372011
Possibly caramelization due to a more vigorous boil if you use the same element for your larger batches?

>>1372011
boiling for longer will caramelize your beer making it darker

it's also possible that your local supply tends to over kiln your barley. my local dudes are usually on point, but their smoked barley and carafoam are weirdly dark in comparison to my old supplier.

>>1373831
>>1373860

I checked the bottom of the pot that I use, and there's no signs of caramellisation. I'm using an electric stove top for 1 gallon BIAB batches.

I'm guessing it would be the local supply of barley or my choices made at the store were a little too high in lovibond.

Any suggestions or recommendations on this?

I'm just cleaning out my freezer and want to get rid of some hops in there.

>>1347535
Anytime I've ever brewed my own booze I've been afraid to actually drink it.

I'm a poor NEET though so I have to start.

>have 8 lbs of sugar
>six packets of Fleischman's yeast
>two gallons of purified drinking water
>six little boxes of raisins
>two 64 ounce pure apple juice
>two punch kool aid packets
>a deep freezer
>no balloons
>have varying cloths, plastic wrap, napkins, straws, scotch and duct tape, and rubber bands and string, to make a bubbler possibly, or just poke holes in plastic rap and tie plastic rap with holes over containers, or just cloth to vent air but keep booze from evaporating
>a truck's toolbox to keep the light away and to keep it from being discovered by mentally ill christian family members (twenty-nine btw)
>temperature in between 73 and 77 degrees

Wat do to make booze in one week rather than six, it's not worth it if it takes six, and all I can buy must be bought at a local super store in the US with nigger food card. Perhaps I should pick up molasses? Is the raisins enough? Do I make a yeast patty with mashed up raisins, then throw it into the sugar water? I know the yeast amount doesn't matter as much, too much sugar bad, but what to help the yeast stay alive, and if thick cloth wil work for venting the gas, I just never can decide.

For a similar reason as to why I've never worked, I take forever to get anything done, even watching shows, reading books, playing video games, I just never get things done. Why I turned to alcohol is it doesn't affect me negatively, and I don't want to live forever anyway. The punch part of what I bought, and deep freezer, is because I like four loko punch, but it's too expensive, and I want to applejack the stuff in the freezer to make sure it stays a high abv, but add then kool ade flavor to make it punch flavored. I've read it can get up to 8 abv easily, but also can up to fourteen abv, this yeast. But do I have the proper equipment and ingredients? Bleach I've too. And warm water.

>>1373952
apple juice from concentrate*

The goal is to make many gallons of booze by mixing it all together, in one week, hopefully thus reaching fourteen ABV in the week it takes. I calculate four and a half lbs is needed approx to make three gallons of fourteen ABV bread flavored punch spiked apple/water/(raisin) booze?

Can this even work? I have other containers to make room for the fizz at the top also.

>>1373952
>>1373956
Oh, plan on adding the kool ade packets last, after possibly applejacking it to make it stronger, after it's already done becoming booze. If it's not strong around fourteen abv, I must applejack it. Why I have more sugar than I need anyway, I can just make more as I have nearly twice as much as I'd need anyway, so losing some booze with freezer distillation won't bother me much I don't think. As long as it's punch flavored and strong.

>used to gagging down cooking yet care what it tastes like

Really the punch stuff is silly, but I have high hopes to carbonate it after all's said and done, then make it punch flavored. I would have bought punch juice, but they all had preservatives I wasn't sure about, so I bought the apple.

>>1373952
>>1373956
>>1373958

Erin?

>>1363048
UU
UU

>>1373983
My name is not Erin.

Thanks for the response I guess.

>>1373952
You're overthinking it senpai, here's a video explaining on how to make booze without any skill, effort and investment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmuH8xWOJv4

>Wat do to make booze in one week
I'm by no means an expert but i think this is borderline impossible, especially with the yeast you're using.
Besides, the time it takes has no effect on the amount of wine you can make a day/week, it only has an effect of the volume needed to reach a certain output.
And if you ferment in the juice bottles themselves there really isn't an upper limit on how many you can ferment at once.

>>1374029
>at one minute and a half
He makes red wine from purple grape juice?

Isn't that merlot though?

I'm not sure I trust this.

>>1374044
That's how you make red wine.

>I'm not sure I trust this.
>800k views
>90%+ like/dislike ratio
Pretty sure it's legit, and even more so because i've tried this myself but with apple juice.

>>1374029
What would happen if one were to try this with orange juice?

>>1373956
Yes. fermented apple juice is called Apfelwein.

I have done this a lot of times. Get 23L of apple juice concentrate, make sure it has no preservatives, look at the nutritional info on the back and calculate how much sugar is contained per L and then work out how much sugar is present in the full 23L. Now if you want to make something that is around 14% you will need 5.5kg of sugar. So you subtract the amount of sugar present in the juice from 5.5kg and that is how much table sugar you need to dissolve in the apple juice. Then pitch a champagne yeast such as lalvin ec-1118, this will ferment it dry and result in complete sugar to alcohol conversion. it will take around 2 weeks depending on temperature you are able to reach and maintain it could be sooner, but at around 18c it will take 2 weeks to finish. then clear it. It tastes pretty good and mellows with age.

>>1374061
pruno

>>1374061
orange juice is a no-no apparently

>>1373952
You need to sort yourself out lad

>>1374055
>it's been viewed and like by most
Don't be a sheep.

Also that's misleading. Who'd think black equals red grape wine.

>>1374062
I decided to say fuck it and throw the ingredients together. It seems to be alive. I will wait one week then check on it, agitation of stirring I am now contemplating.

>>1374075
Lad I'd rather wort myself out.

>>1374082
You're bringing sugar and yeast together to do what has been done for millennia. just make sure everything is sterile and it will be fine. it's hard to fuck up, as long as yeast have sugar and some form of nutrients via fruit or supplements they will work just fine. the only way you learn is by trying, making errors, learning and fixing them next time. so it's good that you've actually started. now just wait see whats happens, observe, learn, improve and repeat.

>>1374082
Read the fucking comments, jesus. You should get diagnosed for paranoia, maybe you can get some neetbucks out of it.

>>1374088
Read what comment?

And about bux, it takes no less than twenty-one months to even schedule a court date to refute them rejecting you getting on that, famicom.

>>1374087
I've read up on it and am just indecisive. I decided to break the rules and, though I added the precise amount of sugar, calculated, I decided to dilute the apple juice to make it go farther. I see no reason as to why it won't work. They say it can easily get up to 8 percent, then with my adding apple juice to it, then maybe it will go farther than that.

If not I'm going to applejack it and have really sugary alcohol candy.

Oh, and I had to use thick cloth and plastic with holes as my makeshift venting device, to let the gas out and keep the vapor in. I have an ant problem anyway, the ants would crawl in the bubbler i'd bet. Still wish I had balloons though

>>1374066
>pruno
Heh

>>1374070
I have heard this but I'm not sure why. I guess it's simply too acidic and ends up tasting awful? A shame, I love citrus in general and drinks like limoncello are among my favourites.

>>1374108
It tastes bad people say, though I've seen in liquor stores a big orange on some booze, makes me wonder if it's an acquired taste thing, and English speakers hate it.

>>1374087
IT'S GOING BERSERK I HOPE THE GHETTO FILTER I'M USING WORKS THIS IS GREAT WITH THE ACOUSTICS OF THE BOX IT'S HIDING IN YOU CAN HEAR THE STUFF GOING WHEN YOU OPEN IT

BUBBLES YAY

>>1374114
perhaps it's alcohol mixed with orange juice, not fermented juice itself

>>1374029
Its possible to ferment out fully after a few days, but that shit is gonna be full of fusels and taste like solvent.

>>1374223
not really

Do you guys actually create own recipes for beer or do you just use ones you find online?

>>1374161
Probably. I read stuff about ph levels being important when brewing. Orange juice has so much ascorbic acid, and other acids I guess, maybe that's why it's a bad thing.

>>1374251
I do a little mix and match. I find something that sounds good or a recipe that I've previously made and change out a hop addition here and different yeast strain there. It's not a recipe from scratch just making it my own. Have had maybe 2-3 batches that weren't that good but I still drank them.

Are you thinking about making your own recipes?

>>1374277
Just add some toothpaste to the boil along with the OJ.

>>1374223
Didn't anon say he was using bread yeast? It's gonna be full of fusels anyway.

>>1374308
I haven't even started yet, but I might soon and didn't know if I should start from scratch.
I guess I'll try some existing ones out first and then make changes to them until I get how it goes. Even though I assume you might figure that out without trying too, I mean most hops have a description or something on the aroma right?

>>1374374
Yeah, they should have a description on the package or you can find out online before you buy. I go to Norther Brewer and read reviews of their recipe kits. If it sounds good I hit up my local home brew store for the ingredients/tweaks. I recommend going to NB if for nothing else to look at their recipes and instructions to get an idea of what to get if you want to start from scratch. There are hops that you only want to add late in the boil (last 10 minutes or so) so your beer doesnt come out too bitter. You'll get a hang of it after a few batches.

>>1374251

search google and froums

brew dog have a decent pdf with a bunch of recipes and basic instruction on how to get started and stuff.

https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/diydog

>>1374343
Not sure if serious, but why? Baking soda thing?

>>1374114
Update to this, my room smells like booze and it still is audible.

Just tried a brew I made and it was cloyingly sweet so I dry hopped it with 200grams of Citra in the keg.
Will this help negate the sweetness of it?

>>1375086
Could it be incomplete fermentation?

>>1375086
Probably not, it might even make it taste like candy. You need to boil hops in order to make them bitter.

>>1375107
I hit target FG, I used up a heap of various types of leftover speciality malt and might have overdone it. Was about 18% of the grist and mashed at 66°C.

>>1375138
I have done exclusively whirlpool hopping before and still got adequate bitterness, just had to use a heap more hops.
I was hoping the heap of dryhop my add some perceived bitterness to the brew. I'll find out soon though, just put the keg in the fridge so I can have a beer after work.

>>1375370
You still get some hop utilization during whirlpool.

>>1375374
Depending on the temperature. I like to do whirlpool additions under 80°C as to keep as much oil and aroma as possible.

>>1374969
It's still going strong and can be audibly heard when you get close!

My closing my air vent to keep it in the upper 70s has it so hyper!

I've made two Wine Expert kids that have both come out pretty good. I've done their Chardonnay and Selection Series Montepulciano.

I haven't touched wine making a couple months because I've amassed so many bottles but I want to start again.

Any recommended kits? I was probably just going to get another Wine Expert kit since I can't get any grapes right now.

>>1376015
>I've made two Wine Expert kids that have both come out pretty good.
congratulations, I'm sure their mother had more to do with it than you.

>>1376019
Why are people on 4chan so autistic? Kys.

>>1375138
I can infact confirm that the 200g Citra dryhop did add bitterness to balance out the sweetness.
I also just found this article by Stan Hieronymus that explains it.
http://appellationbeer.com/blog/why-dry-hopping-may-lower-iso-alpha-acids-but-boost-bitterness/

>>1376048
Go make some more Wine expert kids. I have my little slaves clean my carboys and mash in the grain. One day they'll be able to brew and I will sit back and get drunk without doing any work.

>>1375580
Update to this. the yeast has slowed it's fizzing so much I can hardly year it, but can see the bubbles slowly sliding up the side of one of the bottles that has a slant to it, and none are clear looking yet.

I throw one in the fridge soon early to make the yeast fall, then poor it into another container to finally see how bad this will taste.

Also, I picked up balloons, and better juice, a fruit punch juice with no preservatives, all natural, that I will not add water to, as I want this one to actually not be god awful. I will soon start the fruit punch, possibly today.

I'm getting inpatient though, I really ought to just put them on the water heater, and try to get it to only 8 abv, and maybe it can happen much faster that way, then applejack it. Taking so long when I have already went near three weeks without booze as it is. More than two last I checked, anyway.

>>1376692
might throw one in*

Indecisive as I am I might also just leave it and be too scared to drink it, for many days.

Update of
>>1362936
>>1363023
>>1363627
>>1363628

Been just under a month and the cider tastes pretty good, although it has a bit of that bready yeast smell that some people were talking about. I don't have equipment to measure specific gravity or ABV, but I think it's somewhere between 4-7%, which isn't very high. Carbonation is still happening a little, although it's probably on the order of minutes.

I'll pump it all into my swing top bottles when they get here next week, and let them sit in the bottles for another week or two.

Thanks for all the help!

Forgot pic

>>1376762
>>1376765
Looks relatively clear to me. How much sugar did you use? 150g/liter should get you up to 13-15%.

>>1376772
1.5 cups of sugar for the whole gallon. I don't exactly remember the sugar content of the juice I used, though.

>>1376693
The foam went through the airlock I made.

ree

Punch is possibly kill.

And it was acting like it was never going to start too. Psyched me out.

>>1376772
>Looks relatively clear to me. How much sugar did you use? 150g/liter should get you up to 13-15%.
That's assuming the sugar already in the apple juice, or total?

>>1376894
Should have used a blow off tube.

>>1377012
I don't get how those could be made in my position. I had no hose to use. Oh well, it's only two liters of the 3 approx gallons I made that are nearly done.

>>1376894
Update to this, I took a gallon out of the three to put in the fridge to clear the thing, taste tested it, and could feel the burn in my mouth, these were the least active of the gallons, they had no audible bubbles, and I figure it got over 8 percent from my experience. It felt about as powerful as maybe mouthwash, of which has around fifteen ABV for it to burn your mouth.

Either that or I'm about to have alot of fun with fusel alcohols I guess.

Also, since they stopped faster than the others, it tastes sweet. It's probably more like ten ABV in the approx six days it took to make, and yes I should have tried to make a hydrometer, but I don't have anything to conveniently make that anymore than a tube for the blowoff.

I need to make one using a straw or something with one side melted, in a vial or something I can find. Or make a washer shape to keep the floating pillar straight, but that seems hard, and it'd be impossible to keep clean so what's the point?

But yes, I think in a day or two I'll be getting drunk, I'm just waiting for the stuff in the fridge to chill the yeast, then I'll actually swallow it.

>>1374343
Yeah but I'm using fleischmann's yeast and it used to be the same yeast made for making wine anyway. Brewers yeast and fleischmann's yeast are both saccharomyces cerevisae. Yes?

>>1377000
the additional amount of sugar added

>>1377242
Same species, different strain. Also, different prep and expected purity. Doesn't Fleischmann's have expected Lactobacillus content?

>>1377097
You can just weight the whole thing before and after and calculate the ABV that way.
No messing around with hydrometers, potential contaminations and it's more precise.

>>1377245
I am not sure, but figured that they add different nutrients to different batches, along with the different strains. Brewer's yeast gets vitamin b, as an example, and baker's gets nothing, unless super active, then it has ascorbic acid in it, to nullify the effects of the basic they put in tap water to make baker's yeast rise faster. I figure it's mostly to do with the nourishment, dead yeast husks, and potassium and all of other stuff yeast can use when brewing, rather than it just being a slightly different strain.

But, I do not really know. People claim they are the same, virtually. Others claim baker's is to produce more gas, but, isn't that just the fact it's being heated up in a stove that would make it so actively poofing up what your baking, the heat?

>>1377281
you're*

>>1377251
I don't know remotely how I would go about doing that. The hydrometer makes more sense than maths behind calculating gravity, even if I did have a scale for things that weigh approx 8 lbs.

>>1371238
>>1371241
>>1371244
Is it bad to move your mead around like this guy is doing? I'm thinking of making some but temperature control could be a bit tricky in my house and could involve moving it up/downstairs

>>1363851
>Moreover, they don't get you nearly as drunk as ethanol.
This is wrong. There are many alcohols that might result from fermentation and some are active at far lower doses than ethanol. In the end ethanol will always be the one getting you drunk, but the others do contribute.

>>1377097
Update to this. I've racked the gallon I put in the frige, and now I put it in the freezer. It doesn't look terribly wrong, nor smells wrong. I'm still afraid to drink it though. This week of suspense has given me a stomach ache from stress, if I was drinking I'd ironically not have gotten stressed out. Either that or it's gas. If I didn't live with the idiot parents, I'd make a still and not be worried at all, and only make low ABV then turn it high. I'm afraid of bacteria more than fusel alcohols. If I jack it, then I suppose no bacteria is going to be a happy camper inside it, so that's why I'm seeing how long it takes to freeze.

>>1377713
racked at ten am* There is no room for the rest, my parents are gluttons and will literally fill the fridge, and deep freezer, soon. I will have to let the rest, possibly clear on their own, or only do one gallon at a time. Not that the first gallon is very clear, though it stopped first, and maybe it's just the sugar making it not crystal.

These should be ready in another month or two. I rate these St Peter's kits! First time for this one though.

Got some St Peter's cream stout in the barrel. This is my third or fourth of this kit. I want to let this batch age for a few months as it really comes on over time but it's so tasty its hard to resist! Sleeping bag is for thermal stability.

>>1352096
I never bother with readings any more - just keep it warm enough and leave it in the barrel for a couple of weeks is my rule of thumb.

>>1367929
I started with barrels and have switched to bottles. I found barrels a pain in terms of injecting co2 and chilling the beer. Bottles really aren't that much hassle - I just sanitise them all together in the bath and then fill. It's actually quite therapeutic for an oldfag like me - spending the whole week in front of a screen makes doing something manual a nice change.

>>1367929
BTW you might want to ditch your kit for a new one - they do go stale in time.

>>1377716
Update to this, one is half frozen, like a slushy, yet the other is not at all.

Hmmmm one is higher ABV most likely hmmmmm.

Unless it's the position in the freezer or the thickness of the bottle, as they are different thickness and in different parts of the deep freezer. I tilted it upside down and smiled at how easily the higher ABV liquid flows through the ice.

The suspense is going to kil me before the booze, honestly.

I made an American ale that my parents bought me for Christmas. It has a very sour taste to it, every bottle. I've read that it could be contaminated, but I just don't see how that could have happened. I cleaned all my equipment the with the same cleaner I always do and have never had a problem before. Is it possible I got a bad yeast batch or it's supposed to taste that way?

>>1377761
Update, one third of booze is jacked to liquor tier.

Far better and cheaper than cooking wine.

>>1377288
ethanol mass=(initial total mass) - (final total mass)
it's not difficult

>>1377288
you don't have bathroom scales?

>>1378311
That sounds the opposite of what would make sense to me. Why would the booze initial mass be ethanol mass when the ethanol comes later?

My only ESE class was math famicom. Just ignore me.

>>1378315
I don't have a normal one. A digital one, that only registers if it is a human weight, and not an infant's weight, like 50 plus lbs. My booze is only 8 lbs as a gallon, twenty-four if I put all three on it. It wouldn't register.

>>1378078
As an update, my booze is shit but obviously has a lot of booze in it, so I guess I succeeded. I didn't get drunk, but drank sixteen ounces of it while eating and drinking other liquids. If I drink it, I need to mix it with something to make it taste better. It's not very palatable and it makes me cautious to drink it. Though it is a kilju tier cider applejacked freak make in the upper 70s, so I guess that's normal. And it's still cloudy, new, so it should be pretty disgusting. And is still better than cooking wine but not by far.

>far better and cheaper than cooking wine
Nigga you were drunk.

>>1378386
>And it's still cloudy
you could try gelatin finings, just get some unflavored gelatin at the store.

>>1378386
>kilju tier cider applejacked freak make in the upper 70s
That's top shelf prison hooch, don't be hard on yourself.

>>1378630
tastes better if you make it in a toilet

Mead can be so damn annoying sometimes. No idea how those vinters from the middle ages didn't lose their minds without access to isolated yeast nutrients. Working with honey is almost not worth the effort.

>>1378918
you can just toss in some raisins.

>>1378918
Isn't mead quite expensive to make? It would be the same price as commercial wine where i live.

>>1378927
it's just honey, water and yeast, with some raisins or yeast nutrient usually necessary to get it going. if 3 pounds of honey costs more than a gallon of commercial wine where you are then yeah.

>>1378927
If you have to buy all the honey to make it, yeah it would be pretty expensive. If you're making a pure mead out of just honey and water though, yeast isn't actually strong enough to break down complex sugars so you have to get or make your own nutrient mix and keep feeding it every few days or it stalls.

>>1378922
Not sure why but pure carrot juice makes yeast go into a frenzy. You don't even need a lot of it, just maybe 1/3c per gallon and 1/2tsp of DAP and things start resembling a low boil for ~2 days. Then the bulk of the yeast's work is done at that point.

>>1347535
Hey guys I've made beer and wine from kits but I'm stepping up to making fully my own. This run I'm making Mead and I was wondering if you guy thought the whole primary then secondary process is necessary or if all in the primary fermenter is good enough?

>>1379030
I made mead from a kit and racked it from primary into bottles but I don't think it had finished fermenting and I nearly had a bottle bomb. It made me really paranoid about degassing, but I think that's the only real need for a secondary aside from maybe flavoring your mead.

>>1378943
>yeast isn't actually strong enough to break down complex sugars

It's a good job honey contains no complex sugars then.

>>1378927
are you making it just to get drunk? or are you making it because you want to drink mead? if it's the former then yes there are cheaper ways to make alcohol, if it's the latter then it shouldn't matter the cost.

>>1379042
If you had taken gravity readings you would have known or you could have added a fermentation stopper if you were unsure.

>>1379093
I could have, but it was my first brew and I just followed the directions. it said to rack it after ten days and I was dutiful. I've used stabilizers in all subsequent meads and have had no troubles.

>>1379097
actually, scatch that. I used stabilizer in even the first brew, but I've taken to adding a campden tablet too.

>>1379097
>. it said to rack it after ten days

I would never follow those directions to the letter. fermentation isn't accurate across the board, it can be if you know how to keep everything consistent but things like temperature variants are going to cause quicker / slower ferments, especially with kits directed at new homebrewers. I don't know why they don't explain this.

>>1379102
some kits do it better than others. I had a cider kit that recommended taking a gravity reading at 6 and 7 days, and not racking until the gravity reading is consistent twice in a row.

>>1379088
I don't know what kind of school produced you but I'm thankful I don't live in that region.

>>1379169
Not that guy but care to give more information than "you're retarded"?

>>1379183
>Honey has simple sugars as well as complex sugars and everything in between. This is true with all fruits as well, but typically not to the degree as with honey. Simple sugars are easily metabolized by the yeast into alcohol, but complex sugars are not so easily fermented. A complex sugar is a chain of simple sugars that are bound together on a molecular level. These long chains must first be broken apart before they can be metabolized into alcohol by the wine yeast.
>Enzymes are produced by the yeast during a fermentation that will help to break down the complex sugars, but often in the case of honey, it is not enough enzyme to keep the fermentation going in a timely manner.
>Honey has all different lengths (complexities) of sugar chains. So what happens as the fermentation begins, the wine yeast start off by consuming the simplest sugars first — the lowest hanging fruit — so to speak. As the simple sugars are depleted the yeast move on to the next easiest sugars and so on until there is nothing left but the most complex, longest chains of sugars.

>>1347651
Looks pretry similar to my lambic. Fix a blowoff tube to it and let it ride for another 10 months or so.

>>1363974
Get a yeast starter going at least. Make sure you have plenty of yeast nutrient on hand. Made one last year, it was pretty damn good.. gonna have to do another soon

>>1348152
You got a recipe for that? Looks pretty good.

>>1379189
Honey is majority comprised of fructose, glucose and sucrose in that order. all of which are simple sugars. there maybe minor amounts of complex sugars but non in any amount that would inhibit yeast.

>>1379319
p.s. pic related

as you can see, majority is fructose, glucose and water.

>>1379320
p.p.s

you're probably not keeping temperatures high and consistent enough so you're getting sporadic fermentation that you're attributing to nutrient / enzyme deficiencies. The vikings didn't have access to a pot of enzymes / nutrients they could buy from their local homebrew store, they allowed yeast to do the job it's very capable of naturally.

>>1379319
>>1379320
Different strains of honey vary too greatly to be able to rely on any one pie chart for their saccharide profile. Some can have a negligible amount of complex sugars and others get pretty close to being 40% complex. Obviously including disaccharides as a complex sugar because the yeast treats them as complex as well. It needs to use an enzyme to break them down into a simple sugar before it can proceed with metabolizing them.

>>1379372
where did vikings get their enzymes from? amazon?

>>1379372
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey#Sugar_profile


provide some evidence that shows different honeys have different sugar profiles which include 40% complex sugars.

>>1379377
It creates them internally after taking in the right nutrients, all of which come from decaying plant matter. TLDR: must.

>>1379380
It actually says something alluding to it in the link you just posted.

>A 2013 NMR spectroscopy study of 20 different honeys from Germany found that their sugar contents comprised:
>Fructose: 28% to 41%
>Glucose: 22% to 35%
>[...] with remaining sugars including maltose, sucrose, and other complex carbohydrates.[4] Its glycemic index ranges from 31 to 78, depending on the variety.[89]

The type of honey produced depends on the type of bee and also the type of nectar they use to make the honey. But anyway:

http://meadscience.blogspot.com/2014/01/honey-composition-sugars.html
>Composed of two monosaccharides linked together, these require breaking by different enzymes produced by yeast in order to form monosaccharides that yeast can metabolize.
>Sucrose [...] 1%-8%
>Maltose [...] Honey has an average of 7% with some having as low as 3%, and others having up to 16%.
>Turanose (+ other sugary biproducts) [total less than a percent]

already up to a max of 24% complex, now you throw in the oligosaccharides which can bring the total to well over 30% complex sugars. These though you don't really expect to ferment as they're too complex for yeast to break down. It's part of why mead is able to maintain its flavor when a good honey is used.

>>1379451
>It creates them internally after taking in the right nutrients, all of which come from decaying plant matter. TLDR: must.

Vikings made mead with nothing but honey and water.

>It actually says something alluding to it in the link you just posted.

No it doesn't.


>http://meadscience.blogspot.com/2014/01/honey-composition-sugars.html


that website contains the chart in pic related, it clearly shows the highest the complex sugars get in any variety is no more than 4%, the rest seems to average 1 - 2%.

monosaccharides are simple sugars. Glucose and Fructose are monosaccharides and Sucrose and Maltose are disaccharides. The yeast can easily break down all 4 of these without needing any help other than their basic nutrtional requirments which isn't much, you certainly don't have to keep adding more and more nutrients day after day. "Yeast nutrient" you buy at homebrew stores isn''t even vitamins and minerals most of the time, usually it's just diammonium phosphate to increase nitrogen levels.

>>1379461

Sucrose and maltose are not "complex" sugars. they are just double sugars which the yeast can break down easily. Sucrose is just table sugar. you can add 6kg of table sugar to 25L of water, add 1 multivitamin and it will take care of turning it into 14% alcohol just fine. you don't have to keep feeding it nutrients like you say.

>>1379238
Belgium was a mistake.

>>1379461
>Vikings made mead with nothing but honey and water.
That's not true. It's also not possible. There's actually old writings and recipes left behind regarding how they made their mead and it was always necessary to add mashed up berries.

>>1379569
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead

" is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, or hops."

"sometimes"

>>1379598
also

"Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius of this water with a [Roman] pound of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring water."

>>1379599
Wonder what the point of using several year old rain water was?

This is the result of my first attempt. Please do not bully me

>>1379748
not sure. maybe they thought it was cleaner.

found this:

http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/water/paper/drinkingwater/rainwater/introduction.html

gives a bit more info on roman rainwater harvesting. storing rainwater for years may have had a purpose or maybe it didn't. maybe keeping it in the underground cisterns kept it free from pollution? maybe the constant evaporation for years helped purify it? I have no idea.

>>1379795
Fancy pants anon with your glass wine bottles for your piss and shit jugs. Are you too good for plastic piss and shit jugs?

>>1379922
It would have reduced mineral content.

>>1379975
Rain water collected for years would also have a shitton of wild yeast.

>>1379975
>>1379976

But the alternative to the rainwater was boiled spring water, which would have been both high in minerals and sterile, so devoid of all wild yeasts.

>>1379795
Looks good, although I notice around some of the necks there looks like some co2 bubbles forming, which would indicate incomplete degassing or fermentation, did you use a fermentation stopper? or how did you gauge the fermentation was over? let's hope it's just a degassing issue.

>>1379984
it would have a bunch of dead organic matter in it after boiling though. Maybe that's the secondary option for that reason.

Does someone know the differences between cider/apple wine made from wine or beer yeast?

>>1380194
mostly ABV, wine yeasts tend to attenuate at higher ABV levels than beer or cider yeast. And of course taste to the extent that different yeasts will almost always affect that.

>>1380196
>mostly ABV, wine yeasts tend to attenuate at higher ABV levels than beer or cider yeast
Are you sure? There's a lot of bollocks out there considering yeast strains and ABV's. Bread yeast for example goes to about the same ABV as wine yeast while i keep reading bread yeast can't handle much alcohol.

>>1380212
beer, wine, cider and other fermenting yeast strains have been selected and bred for their ability to ferment with predictable outcomes. bread yeast is selected and bred for its ability to make CO2 in dough, and to do so with minimal care on the part of a home baker. when used to ferment it shows far more variance than most fermenting yeasts. so while some bread yeasts may die off at relatively low ABV, others may attenuate very high, and more likely, one strain of bread yeast will do both depending on the specific cell behaviors.

>>1380212
you can get bread yeast to 12-14% if you keep the temps high.

>>1380460
my room is cold as fuck and that abv range is no issue for bread yeast

>>1380506
How long does it take you to finish fermenting? if your temps are high it can be complete in 3-4 days. especially since bread yeast is so cheap you can pitch a decent amount too. this is how I make sugar washes

>>1380512
From my very limited experience i've noticed nutrients and initial oxygen levels are more important than temperature and the initial amount of yeast in terms of fermentation speed.
I've had one completely cleared out after three weeks while others were still slowly bubbling at that stage. I'd say the bulk of the fermentation is usually finished within 10-14 days.
3-4 days sounds extremely quick to me, but i suppose it doesn't really matter if it's still fermenting if you're making sugar wash.

>especially since bread yeast is so cheap
I've started a batch with yeast from a beer leftover, literally zero cost and effort to obtain lel.

>>1380539
I normally save more expensive yeasts, like EC-1118... well, it's not really expensive, but for only 1 x 5g sachet it is, but by the time a ferment is over, you have a bunch more yeast at the bottom of the fermenter, I just wash it and store it in the fridge, when I want to use it take it out, get it to room temp, feed it some sugar to get it going and use it to bomb my next batch.

The amount of yeast pitched definitely increases fermentation times, this is why turbo yeasts ferment so quickly in 24-48hours, it's just a shit tonne of yeast and nutrients. along with temps, nutrients are also important too. 1 or 2 standard human multivitamins, crushed and added to a basic sugar wash is normally more than ample enough for a 25L batch, yeast need b-vitamins more than anything else, most multivitamins contain 100% of the RDA for humans, so adding 2 of those is overkill, the yeast have plenty to use up.

I'v done turbos at 18c - 20c and they took 4 days to complete. i'v done turbos at 25c and they took 1 - 2 days. I'v done regular washes with bread yeast at 18c and they took a week +, i'v done regular washes at 25c and they take 3 - 4 days. Amount of yeast, temp and nutrients are all important, but adequate nutrients and amount of yeast are easy to achieve, temperature is normally overlooked, while most yeast will work at lower temps, they work a lot slower.

3-4 days it would be done fermenting. it still has to be cleared to get the yeast cells to drop out of suspension otherwise they pop open during distilling and cause weird flavours to transfer to the spirit, at least with whiskey and rum and such, with vodka it matter a bit less.

Underway to do my second mead batch, wanna do 1kg of honey to 3-4L of water.

One thing my first batch failed me in was the yeast. It didn't bubble at all and it got fucked.

Could it be the temperature? It is around 70F here usually, but colder in the night. Reading some manuals and forums, I found several posts advising 28C for fermentation, but that's fucking hot and I don't know how to keep it.

Could I get some advice for a first-time brewer?

>>1380958
buy an aquarium heater and a plastic box. put your fermenter inside, fill the box with water, put heater in water, set the aquarium heater to desired temp between 25 - 32. this is the easiest / cheapest method I think.

>>1380998
That's fucking genius, man!

>>1380958
What kind of yeast did you use? You can speed up fermentation by raising the temp, but with the tradeoff that you will likely make more 'hot' alcohols, and less ethanol.

Most yeast is pretty happy around the 60-70F kind of range, so I would say your temp is probably good where it's at, just try a different yeast, unless you are specifically trying to go fast and don't care about making something with a slight acetone flavor in it. Also, what are you sanitizing your equipment with? Did you accidentally kill your yeast last time because there was a little un-rinsed bleach in the container? Did you kill the yeast by pitching it too soon, when the liquid was still too hot?

I'm about 5 or six weeks in to my first mead (been homebrewing for over a decade though) and it went exactly as expected. I used 2 dry packets of Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast and a small amount of yeast nutrient for a 3 gallon batch. It's turning out great. Fermentation lasted about 3 weeks or so, now everything is dropped out of solution and it's nice and clear. I'll probably move it to a secondary this week and let it go for 3 or 4 months before bottling. I'm expecting it to be finished late this year, like around October or so.

so I'm trying to make a bochet, it's the first time doing so, though I've made a few meads and ciders before. The yeast I used didn't seem to do anything for a day, but has been bubbling along all week until I came to look at it today and my airlock was still, with no buildup of bubbles, which it's had for the last several days. I figured it was done and threw in some wine stabilizer, and only afterward checked against it's OG and realized it was only at about 2% ABV. I'd like to pitch a second batch of yeast and see if I can kickstart it but I'm wondering if anyone has advice on fermenting a bochet, is there anything I should be doing that's different from regular mead? also does anyone have an idea how long before wine stabilizers run their course? I was gonna give it 24 hours before pitching again, is that enough?