Home Brew General /hbg/

[Anonymous No.1596780]

Starting new thread. Post brews you're working on.

[Anonymous No.1596817]

Anon, piss isn't supposed to go red.

[Anonymous No.1597024]

stopped brewing mead after my last four attempts resulted in acidic mead.
First try went pretty well without any experience nor help, then tried same recipe and variations after that, resulting in failures.
Care to give some tips for possible doings in the future?
Thanks

[Anonymous No.1597148]

>>1596780
I'm trying to turn waste fruit into fuel alcohol. What I'm wondering is if I have to ferment the mash before distillation or if the ambient heat of the distillery acts as a catalyst to the fermentation process (i.e. if I can add an unfermented mash to the distillation chamber and still get alcohol). I've heard that yeast die off at anywhere between 8 and 20% alcohol content, but since the ethanol is evaporating out of the mash, would the reaction continue until all the sugar is gone?

Willing to read any resources on the topic. Everything I've found so far has been more about the practical act of either fermentation or distillation (almost invariably for consumption) rather than the theory behind it.

[Anonymous No.1597195]

>>1597148
Yeast die at 60c. You need hotter than that to distill.

[Anonymous No.1597357]

>>1596780
I have 2 gallons of skeeter pee fermenting; should be ready in a few weeks.

>>1597148
Distillation and fermentation are different processes. Not sure what you're trying to get at here.

[Anonymous No.1597360]

>>1597148
>>1597357

Never mind, read your post with more attention. You need to ferment first, and then distill. Fermenting will allow yeast to convert the sugars of your fruits to alcohol. Distillation will remove that alcohol from the non-alcoholic liquid that surrounds it.

[Anonymous No.1597416]

>>1597360
Can you referment the remaining mash after distillation?

[Anonymous No.1597418]

>>1597024
Are you properly sanitizing your equipment? Are you using a cloth? Or a proper airlock?

[Anonymous No.1597429]

>>1597024
I would work on some single gallon batches, or do something easier like cider or wine with juice from a store to get some practice in. I fucked up a ton when I was starting and now I can make pretty consistently good booze. Sanitation is the #1 way of fucking up, oxygen exposure is #2.

[Anonymous No.1597473]

>>1597416
Just water down your brew so it will be at a lower percentage. Distilling will bring it back up, so it'll be fine. It'll just take a little longer.

[Anonymous No.1597505]

>>1597473
It takes longer the second time due to the lower sugar content, correct?

[Anonymous No.1597523]

>>1597505
I meant in the initial fermentation, not with the excess.

[Anonymous No.1597592]

Reposting since the last thread died and nobody saw it

Banana wine anon here. Set a small batch (around 5 liters) of banana-raisin wine to ferment. The raisins turned the juice all dark. Boiled them in water for around 30 minutes, poured it into the bucket, added sugar and added yeast when it was cool enough.

>~1,2 kg of bananas (peeled, sliced)
>0,5kg of raisins
>1kg of sugar
>half a teaspoon of pectolase enzyme
>some random yeast I had lying around

Gonna rack it and add some clarifying/fermentation stopping chemicals tomorrow. The chemical mix packet says its gonna take around 2 days to clarify and then I can rack and bottle it. Gonna be ready well in time for May Day.

https://homebrewanswers.com/banana-wine-recipe/

[Anonymous No.1597693]

>>1597592
looks like dirty bath water, anon. good luck.

[Anonymous No.1598013]

>>1597592
Have you made/tasted this before? Ive never heard of banana wine but consider my curiosity piqued.

[Anonymous No.1598197]

>>1597693
>>1598013
Haven't made it before, just thought it sounded interesting so I took a swing at it. This is a picture from today, I fucked up the racking so I removed the bag and I'm gonna re-try tomorrow. It has become a lot clearer. The mouthful I got when racking it with a mouth siphon tasted quite good, if a bit yeasty. Probably because the stuff in the bag retained the yeast.

[Anonymous No.1598203]

>>1597592
This looks absolutely disgusting. Maybe consider something that doesn't look like it came from a storm drain, like pineapple.

[Anonymous No.1598209]

>>1596780
pro brewer here.

in the tanks we have
3 x 30bbl hazy DIPA
1 x 30bbl blonde ale
1 x 30bbl west coast IPA
1 x 30bbl west coast DIPA
1 x 15bbl red ale
1 x 15bbl ipa with lactose

also have half a dozen bourbon barrels full of imperial stout, and saison + pastry stout fermenting in pilot system.

will answer questions if anyone cares, I've been in brewing professionally for about 5 years

[Anonymous No.1598211]

>>1598209
How'd you get into brewing professionally? If I wanted to start making my own beer, what do i need and why?

[Anonymous No.1598212]

>>1598211
I homebrewed in college and worked in hospitality after, eventually I decided that's the direction I wanted to go. I bartended at a craft beer bar and volunteered at the brewery initially, working my way up.

I'd buy a 5 gallon extract brewing kit (aluminum kettle, bucket fermenter, etc) online or through your local homebrew shop. brew half a dozen times or so to make sure you're really into it or it's a waste to spend more money on a nicer system.

[Anonymous No.1598214]

>>1598203
The raisins caused it to initially have a darker colour. In the second picture its much lighter. Might try pineapple after this though. Have you tried it before? Do you know if the meat eating proteins in it will cause trouble with the yeast?

[Anonymous No.1598223]

>>1598214
>Have you tried it before?
Nope
>Do you know if the meat eating proteins in it will cause trouble with the yeast?
No idea, though i know people do use pineapple juice to do a sourdough starter from air-captured organisms, because the acidity makes it harder for pathogens to grow. Also if you're really worried about it, wiki says 8 mins at 80C inactivates the enzyme.

[Anonymous No.1598243]

>>1596780
has anyone made a diy glycol chiller? I was thinking about copying the one in attached link with a 5000 BTU ac unit. I have a 7 gallon conical fermenter and am planning on getting a 2nd along with a 3.5 gallon for small experimental batches
https://backdeckbrewing.wordpress.com/2017/09/05/glycol-chiller-build/

[Anonymous No.1598542]

>>1597416
I guess you could, but I don't really see the point. You're better off just adding sugar to your fruit juice (and water as necessary) during your initial fermentation if you're after more volume and alcohol.

[Anonymous No.1598680]

>>1598209
>pro brewer
What's it like to be poor?

[Anonymous No.1598697]

Making bread kvass time to time

[Anonymous No.1598766]

>>1598680
I make 60k/year brewing and coach youth sports on the side so its closer to 65/70. My quality of life is pretty good when you consider work/life balance, fulfillment, etc.

[Anonymous No.1598826]

Racked my banana wine. Its not as clear as it could optimally be, but I'm thinking the starch from the bananas might cloud it up a bit. Added a the clearing agent and gonna bottle it tomorrow probably.

t: >>1598197 and >>1597592

[Anonymous No.1599144]

>>1598826
How does it taste? Would be willing to give this a try after a couple others I have to set up.

[Anonymous No.1599183]

>>1599144
It was room temperature and not fully clarified so it wasn't the best sample, but it was quite dry. The banana didn't come through that much

[Anonymous No.1599221]

>>1596780
any methods for decarbonation faster than letting it sit with the lid half off for a few hours?

[Anonymous No.1599287]

>>1598766
You should know the joke. You don't go into brewing to become rich. Do you at least get to skip the janitorial side of it?

[Anonymous No.1599331]

>>1599221
Stirring or whisking, or simmering if the heat won't affect your purposes

>>1598214
I did a pineapple wheat beer and S04 dry yeast had no problems (though I gave it a whole packet for a half batch) Some pineapple was in the boil and some raw in the fermenter.

[Anonymous No.1599354]

Here's the banana-raisin wine bottled. The clearing agent really helped. It tastes a bit tannic and dry. The banana comes through a bit, its not really that bad, just nothing too special. Was a fun experiment though


>inb4 ">using 2 liter bottles from Lidl ISHYGDDT"

[Anonymous No.1599406]

>>1599354
looks like one of my piss bottles

[Anonymous No.1599418]

>>1599406
Its made from bananas. I think it looks nice and yellow

[Anonymous No.1599581]

>>1599354
>using 2 liter bottles from Lidl ISHYGDDT

[Anonymous No.1599779]

total newbie here
i made a little half gallon mead batch just to try it last summer, flavored with blueberries and strawberries. went beautifully, tasted perfect and had a good bit of alcohol. obviously with only a half gallon me and my family polished it off in one night but still.
i went and got a 3-gal carboy and just converted all my ratios exactly, made sure to sanitize everything, and flavored it with the same brand of berries. somehow it ended up fucky. initially it was pretty good and we polished off a couple bottles despite having not used any clearing or anything, it was still breddy good. once they had sat around for a few months though, something weird happened. i don't really know how to explain it, but something about them just tasted "off". confirmed by several other people so i wasn't just being an autistic lightweight. ended up pouring out the last two bottles because we just couldn't drink them.
any ideas on what i may have done wrong?

[Anonymous No.1599792]

>>1599779
it may have just turned to vinegar, how were you storing it?

[Anonymous No.1599974]

>>1599792
just in used but thoroughly washed wine/vodka bottles. some had corks wrapped in plastic, some had just the metal screw-on caps they come with. most stayed sitting in my room at room temperature. some was kept in the fridge, most notably one in a mason jar. something also happened where it build up a lot of pressure, so much where it bowed out the jar lid by a ton. this happened in the normal bottles too but nothing bowed or broke.
i used potassium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate as stabilizers, again scaled up exactly from my smaller batch, a good week before i bottled the stuff. it's worth noting i added the stabilizers and the flavoring berries at the same time before putting it away again to flavor.

this next attempt i'm not going to fuck around with flavorings, just pure honey mead with only raisins added as yeast food.

[Anonymous No.1600214]

>>1599974
Well if there's pressure in the bottle, it means something was fermenting in there. I'd say in my personal opinion it's probably the bottles not being sterilized properly. Did you sterilize or just wash well?

[Anonymous No.1600319]

>>1600214
i don't remember, but bet your ass i'm going to sanitize all of them thoroughly just hours if not minutes before bottling next time. going to make sure _everything_ is sanitized and nothing extra goes in other than maybe spices or something after the stabilizers.

[Anonymous No.1600611]

I got an infection and a sour off-taste in my last batch, and some dude on another forum told me I need to throw away all my plastic kit that touched the batch. That's bullshit advice right? Surely I just take even more care to make sure everything is sanitised this time?

[Anonymous No.1600859]

Been trying to learn distillation/spirit making. Not a fan of the pure corn taste so today I tried a cereal mashing technique out of Ian Smiley's book.

Basically you're using unmalted cereal grains so you have to turn the starches into sugar by boiling the grains. Good write up on the process here
http://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Cereal_Mashing

I used sorghum, ground to a mealy powder. 30# of that and 5# of malted barley. First time cereal mashing and not really stoked to do it again, pain in the ass compared to using flaked corn. Gonna pitch this tomorrow and hopefully distill it on Thursday or Friday. Sorghum supposedly yields some of the smoothest whisky so I'm excited to compare it to pure corn shine

[Anonymous No.1600883]

I got a little kit and made few gallons of beer. I haven't tried like making yeast, and making wort yet.

[Anonymous No.1600902]

I only do single gallon beer recipes because I'm severely limited in space. Does anyone have any tips for reconfiguring 5 gallon recipes down to 1 gallon?

I've had success just dividing everything by 5, but my latest recipe was all in liters and kilograms. I'm worried I fucked my grain bill up because I did quick math at the brew store and when I ran the numbers again it seems like I accidentally wound up with an extra pound of fermentables in there. Theoretically the ratios are still sound, so would it work to just thoroughly mix it all up and measure out exactly what I need? What would be the harm in overloading my grains? Higher gravity and a possible astringent flavor? It's a dark IPA so I would imagine the hop profile would cover up any astringency.

[Anonymous No.1601400]

>>1600902
I use beersmith to scale recipes up or down to suit my equipment.

[Anonymous No.1601778]

>>1600611
Just bleach it and let it air out then it should be good

[Anonymous No.1601797]

>>1600611
>>1601778
what he says, make sure you go over any taps etc real good with the bleach, could be worth checking if you have any deep scratches in the plastic where stuff could gather as well

[Anonymous No.1601848]

Has anyone distilled Turbo Yeast with sugar water?

I have a packet lying around but I've been told it tastes like nail polish. I think it's BS but I want opinions.

[Anonymous No.1601987]

>>1601848
Use regular sugar. Turbo 8 will convert 8 kg of sugar into 8-12 liters of 40% after distilling. I wouldn't drink it straight, but that's because I'm a big baby who doesn't like the alcohol burn. Other connoisseurs tell me it has a mild banana flavour. If you want the best results, use triple distilled/pure yeast and 6 kg of glucose. You won't get much out, but you'll have a real nice vodka at the end.

I don't have much knowledge of other brands though, but I'm sure they have equivalents.

[Anonymous No.1602123]

So i just started my first ever batch in home brewing, i went with a simple 1 gal mead recipe with 3lbs of honey. I used boiled bread yeast as yeast nutrient.

After the yeast +nutrient mixture was ready, i poured it into my must, forgetting it was still cooling. Taking its temp, I had pitched at 94 F. I quickly sealed the bucket and put it in a sink of cold water to cool it down quickly, then moved it into my basement once it was about 76 F. Its sitting at 68 F now and bubbling from time to time, so i know the yeast isnt dead, but i read some scary shit about fusel acohols and shit.

How fucked am I?

[Anonymous No.1602133]

>>1602123
>but i read some scary shit about fusel acohols and shit
most of "muh fusels" is pure bro science, dw you're fine, 35°-ish isn't that bad

[Anonymous No.1602141]

>>1602133
Thank god, looking forward to trying some in a couple weeks before bottling and aging, would hate to have my first batch be a wash.

[Anonymous No.1602242]

Blonde ale is coming along nicely. It’s much darker in the carboy than it will be in the glass.

[Anonymous No.1602571]

What do you guys think about beer kits? Previously I'd shied away from them because they seemed a bit uninventive, but I'm starting to re-consider now that I've seen some are cheaper than buying the ingredients separately. Thinking about getting the cheapest pale ale kit and then making it more interesting with some custom hops

[Anonymous No.1602721]

>>1601848
Tomato paste wash with bread yeast tastes better than turboshit. I use a T500 copper still on my sugar washes.

[Anonymous No.1602727]

>>1602123
RDWHAHB

[Anonymous No.1602872]

>>1602571
What type of kit?
Pre-hopped extract
Extract
Partial mash/mini mash
All Grain

But to your question, yes.

[Anonymous No.1602928]

>>1602872
Either extract or pre-hopped extract. I was a bit too ambitious with my last couple of batches and fucked them up, so I'm going to go back to basics with the next ones

[Anonymous No.1603260]

>>1602928
Fucked them up? How? You put too many hops in and it was too bitter?

[Anonymous No.1603270]

>>1596780
how stinky is a homebrew? I'm going to try brewing some in my barracks, don't want it to be too smelly for room inspections

[Anonymous No.1603277]

>>1603270
Depends on what you make. They all kind of smell, beer like bread for example, but what you make is important.

[Anonymous No.1603288]

>>1603270
Not particularly gross, but the yeast smell can get heavy during vigorous fermentation but fruity

>t. cider maker

[Anonymous No.1603326]

>>1603277
I'm making a mead and beer each about 5 gallons

I live in a barracks in the army and I don't want to roommate to complain honestly

[Anonymous No.1603374]

>>1597592
>banana raisin wine
It already looks like diarrhea anon, go ahead an pour it down the toilet where it belongs.

If you like the taste have at it, but some shittastic commercial winery near me made this crap and we're proud of it. It was the fastest I've ever poured out a tasting.

[Anonymous No.1603376]

>>1599779
What are you using to sanitize?

[Anonymous No.1603377]

>>1599974
You don't need the raisins. Get yeast nutrient and some citric acid from the brewing store. Check out the mead recipe by Carrie Gary.
Raisins can impart weird flavors and add a possible point of failure

[Anonymous No.1603379]

>>1601400
This.
Beersmith is a fantastic piece of software.

[Anonymous No.1603382]

>>1603326
Mead has next to no smell when fermenting. Sometimes you get a whiff of buttered toast with honey.

[Anonymous No.1603391]

>>1603326
You should be fine. Dunno about the army, but the smell is fine.

[Anonymous No.1603518]

Hmmm making a wheat beer, but the mouthfeel is lacking. Got it to an ABV of ~2.8% (intentionally), and the hops are good.

Any idea on how to remedy this?

[Anonymous No.1603543]

>>1603518
low abv beers are going to be thin. next time mash higher 156-158, and consider adding grains that are less fermentable... light munich, flaked oats, vienna malt, etc. what was your initial recipe?

[Anonymous No.1603545]

>>1603543

I am aware of that, but I don't want it *too* thin. Original was 50% Pilsner, 40% Flaked Wheat and 10% Flaked Oats. Hops with Cascade & Amarillo (added shortly before end of boil). Mash in for around 45 minutes.

Mash in temp was probably a bit too low, will try the 68C-70C as suggested next time.

[Anonymous No.1603564]

>>1603545
that's the highest percentage of flaked grains I've ever seen! how was the mash? did you need to use lots of rice hulls? could be a good experiment to blend malted white wheat and flaked wheat next time.

[Anonymous No.1603568]

>>1603564

The mash was good, got around 8 Plato. Rice hulls used, yes, but it was not that much.
Gotta try the white wheat and flaked wheat, if I can get access to both.

[Anonymous No.1603569]

>>1603374
Read the rest of my posts. It wasn't that bad

[Anonymous No.1603586]

>>1603568
where are you from and what yeast did you ferment with? been experimenting with different yeast blends on wheat-forward saison-y beers myself.

[Anonymous No.1603610]

>>1598209
Headed to the homebrew store to get my first kit. Aside from the typical instructions to follow, is there anything less obvious to know?

[Anonymous No.1603612]

>>1603610

A lot actually, but once you'll get into it you'll find out. Keep it sterile though. You always want to keep it sterile.

[Anonymous No.1603626]

>>1603610
I'm assuming you're brewing extract? big things are to sanitize anything that touches your wort post-boil. fermenter and transfer hoses mostly. boiling pasturizes so you don't need to sanitize anything until you're done boiling.

I would recommend buying double the yeast you need (2 packets/vials for 5 gallons, add a whole packet if you're doing 1-3 gallons).

fermentation temperatures are pretty important if you want to brew clean, american styles. if it's over 80F in your house, use belgian yeast. if its under 60F, use lager yeast.

any ideas what you're gonna make? should be fun - even if you have sanitation issues or something goes wrong, just drink the finished product quickly and it'll be great.

[Anonymous No.1603693]

Anyone know of a good recipe for a fruity milkshake ipa? Growing some strawberries right now and would love to incorporate them somehow.

[Anonymous No.1603698]

I'm wanting to do this recipe here
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/3508/all-grain-american-honey-wheat
When would I add the honey? Around the time I would've added extract?
Also can I use a reusable "brew in bag" bag instead of a muslin bag for small batches of grain that aren't brew-in-a-bag recipes?
Pic of my mead that's almost finished from my gf's gay ass "skyrim" cookbook, tastes pretty good actually

[Anonymous No.1603707]

>>1603693

1.065 target OG
60% pilsner malt
25% malted white wheat
15% flaked oats
2lb lactose per 5gal

small amount of hops in whirlpool (1-2oz per 5gal)
ferment with london III or gigayeast GY54 at 70F til it's done (a week maybe, pitch double what is recommended)
dry hop with 1/2lb per 5gal fruity hops: citra, strata, galaxy, mosaic, motueka, whatever you've got.
at the same time as dry hop add pureed strawberries 1lb/gal in a bag with 2 vanilla beans split per 5gal and marbles or sanitized stainless parts so that they sink to the bottom

siphon off the top, carb to 2.7, and drink. your yield is going to be terrible but that's the nature of these beers.

>>1603698
if you want to taste the honey you need to end it towards the end of fermentation. if you add it during the boil it'll just ferment out like any old sugar would. I'd say after 3 days of vigorous fermentation and try to warm it up a little so it dissolves.

yes on the bags, use them til they fall apart.

[Anonymous No.1603709]

>>1603707
Okay so I should use only the sugars from the grains as my main fermentable sugars?
So do you think adding the honey would be best after a week of fermentation in a primary fermenter before I switch it to a carboy for the second week?
Could I then use more honey as the priming sugar for when I bottle?
I'll definitely be getting a bag, I've been using a muslin bag for my last two batches of ipa

[Anonymous No.1603710]

>>1603707
Nice thanks man. Not really looking for anything too boozy just something juicy and refreshing.

[Anonymous No.1603714]

>>1603709
the yeast will ferment the honey too, no matter when you add it. i'd consider honey + grains both your "main fermentable sugars"

add the honey after two or three days of fermentation, that way you've got a better chance of the active yeast fermenting it out completely. if you wait too long, yeast begins to drop out of suspension so there's less yeast to get at it immediately = your overall fermentation time will probably take longer and you might end up with a stuck fermentation.

i wouldn't bother with a secondary fermentor, it risks oxygen exposure and contamination and doesn't really help much.

yes, I would prime with honey, then you'd get even more honey flavor.

[Anonymous No.1603717]

>>1603710
no worries, same recipe works for a hazy pale ale if you just scale down the grains to hit a 1.045-1.05 OG instead. I'd probably go that route

[Anonymous No.1603724]

>>1603714
Ah okay that sounds good to me, also less work not transferring to a secondary.
Thanks dude
If any one wants the mead recipes from that cookbook, I'll post them itt, they're pretty good imo.

[Anonymous No.1603764]

>>1603376
StarSan

>>1603377
i appreciate it, but no can do. i'm 19 and the guys at the store already don't like my grandpa going in to get basic stuff, because they know i'm the one who actually knows what he's doing and does the actual work. we both went in the first time to get supplies, not knowing i had to be 21 to even be inside let alone buy anything, so once i had picked out a ton of shit based on beforehand research and tried to buy it that whole thing came up. so i basically had to stand outside awkwardly while my grandpa bought the stuff. and when i've needed other stuff since then i basically just have to stand out there and he like, brings stuff to the window for me to check it out before he gets it.
you can imagine the guys just trying to run a legit brew store do not care for this at all. it's been a good few months but the idea of going back just makes my inner 'tism go nuclear.

[Anonymous No.1603914]

>>1603626
looking to start with pale ales for now. I'd like to understand how to brew a well balanced beer before anything else

[Anonymous No.1603942]

>>1597592
Looks like the toilet backed up m8

[Anonymous No.1604355]

>>1603326
>>1603270
like the other anon said on brew day beer smells kinda bready. I'm indifferent to the smell but my wife loves it, i definitely dont think it smells bad.
Fermentation imo smells pretty good and it lasts a few days. If you have somewhere to put it thats enclosed (like a closet, cupboard, etc) you probably wont smell it unless you open the door to check on it.

[Anonymous No.1604389]

>>1603764
You could check your local laws but theres actually a ton of exceptions to drinking age laws

. A Federal regulation that interprets the Act excludes from the definition of "public possession," possession "for an established religious purpose; when accompanied by a parent.

So you cant buy alcohol, but your dad can, and of he gives it to you, and stays with you, it's fine

Your friends cant have any though unless their parents give it to them and accompany them.

[Anonymous No.1604674]

>>1599779
>>1599792
>>1599974
>>1600214
>>1600319
>>1603376
>>1603377
>>1603764
i'll be honest, i really just winged the recipe based on what i heard the ratio the vikings used was.
i'm ready to try again today, so that a batch will be ready for midsummer hijinks. what's a good recipe i can use? preferably nothing flavored, that's what i did the last couple times and i want to just try the basics.
if it's important, here's my setup:
>a 3-gal carboy and a 1-gal jug
i have two 3-gals but i don't want to start six fuckin gallons of hooch, plus i think you need one for racking, right?
>potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate for stabilizers
>Munton's general brewing yeast
>for oxygenating i use a drill with a long stainless steel TIG rod bent into a good shape
>for the gas release i just use a large balloon with holes poked through it

help me to not fuck this up /diy/

[Anonymous No.1604773]

>>1603764
>land of the free
Handing out cars and guns to children like candy but a full grown adult buying alcohol is the end of the world.
Why do americans do this?

[Anonymous No.1604804]

>>1604773
Because half of the country is run by bible thumping, crotchety old people who feel the need to be in everyone's business.

The rest of them are just so insecure about their "manhood" that it has made it into the policy books.

Instead of
>"Wait... I can sense it... Someone is wrong on the internet somewhere. I need to tell them so I can feel superior"

It's
>"Sweet jesus, someone, somewhere, is having fun, I can feel it. We have to stop this so I can feel like a real man and continue being paranoid about things I know aren't a threat but get a hard-on complaining about"

[Anonymous No.1604849]

>>1604674
so because /hbg/ and /diy/ in general are fucking slow, i ended up just going with a modified version of Joe's Ancient Orange Mead, without the oranges and all the spices and shit. i just want to go basic with the least amount of room for fuckup.
in the 3-gal i'm just doing the JAOM but scaled up from 1-gal. in my 1-gal i'm just experimenting with my own idea again, a 1-gal-1lb ratio i got from some video.

[Anonymous No.1604851]

>>1604849
Wait so you're doing 1 lb of honey per 1 gallon of water right?
I usually do about 3 lbs per gallon, I think your mead is gonna taste pretty dry

[Anonymous No.1604864]

>>1604773
Pistols cant be owned under 21.
Rifles are 18+. Under 18, whatever with parent supervision, but they are never owning it.

[Anonymous No.1604888]

>>1604851
yeah, the JAOM is 3:1. i'm just running the 1:1 in my smaller carboy for experimenting purposes.

[Anonymous No.1604894]

>>1604888
ah okay, yeah I'd say if you feel like the 3:1 isn't sweet enough for your liking, bumping it up to 4 or 4.5 lbs might be perfect
what type of yeast?

[Anonymous No.1604898]

>>1604894
Flieschmann's Active Dry, meant for bread actually. don't crucify me, that's literally what the recipe calls for and tons of people claim to have success with it.

[Anonymous No.1604912]

>>1604894
also, turns out i'm retarded and can't into figuring out that the honey displaces the water, so in a 3 gallon carboy i now have more like a 5:1 ratio of proper honey:water. batch is still 3 gallons but only 2 and change of that is water vs just under 10 pounds of honey.
so basically this is going to be some hella sweet mead. can i add just slightly more yeast, or leave it to do its thing longer or something?

[Anonymous No.1604914]

>>1604898
should turn out alright, i've used active yeast before and it adds a bready smell and flavor to the drink

[Anonymous No.1604923]

>>1604912
adding more yeast won't ferment more sugar since the yeast will stop fermenting at a certain alcohol % it will just ferment slightly faster
different yeast strains ferment to a higher alcohol %

[Anonymous No.1604928]

>>1604912
>>1604923
the active yeast you're using also won't ferment past around 8% so it won't produce a super alcoholic mead, but you can add more water to the mix to get more of the honey to ferment if you have a bigger container

[Anonymous No.1604944]

>>1604928
>the active yeast you're using also won't ferment past around 8%
trust me it will unless it's some really onions brand

[Anonymous No.1605001]

>>1604898
Considering the money you spent on the honey, why didn't you spend a dollar on buying a decent wine yeast?

[Anonymous No.1605005]

>>1605001
see >>1603764
also i only spent like $24 US on the honey. bulk jugs.

[Anonymous No.1605014]

>>1605005
just curious, why don't you order off of places like amazon?
you can get anything you need there without needing an id

[Anonymous No.1605290]

Thinking of brewing like a strong ginger ale sorta drink. Any ideas on how to improve the recipe? Aiming for around 5-6% ABV
>10 liters of water
>1 kilogram of sugar
>1000g of ginger
>2 lemons (peels and the pulp without the white parts)
>wine yeast
I'm not sure of how much ginger I should put. The ABV should be around 6% for this amount of sugar

[Anonymous No.1605329]

>>1605290
>1 kilogram of sugar
>1000g of ginger

motherfucker

[Anonymous No.1605347]

>>1605329
I feel like 200-500 grams of ginger would be better

[Anonymous No.1605364]

>>1605347
Oh I don't care about the amount of ginger you use, the mixing of units was horrible.

[Anonymous No.1605406]

>>1605347
The cheap way to up the zing on your ginger beer is to add chilli's. 1 per bottle, and only add what you can handle. Don't add the super hot ones if you can't handle them.

Ginger doesn't ferment well in comparison to the amount of flavour given, so add more glucose to the brew for alcohol percents.

[Anonymous No.1605873]

>>1605406
>Ginger doesn't ferment well in comparison to the amount of flavour given, so add more glucose to the brew for alcohol percents
Ginger has barely any sugar, so thats a given. I don't really need more ABV, I was just wondering how much ginger should I put in for the gingery taste.

[Anonymous No.1605970]

>>1596780
Just started a 5gal mead batch.
15lbs of honey, 4 gallons of water, around a lb of black cherries I'll be racking out on the 14th.
Then I'll be waiting for around 4-6 weeks for it to finish up.

[Anonymous No.1606021]

>>1604944
This. I use it in my cheap and nasty sugar wash. Get 12% after a week generally

[Anonymous No.1606188]

>tfw burnt my bag during the steeping process but the grains didn't fall out
Any good mesh bags to buy on amazon?
I only have a 5 gallon brew pot

[Anonymous No.1606213]

>>1606188
I bought a few from wilser brew bags. You send him your kettle dimensions and he custom makes one for you.
If you want something more economical some people use paint straining bags and these have several reviews from other home brewers. Description says it has an elastic opening and fits a 5 gallon paint bucket. To give you an idea if it will fit your kettle, I happen to have a 5gal paint bucket from Home Depot and the diameter is ~12 inches.
https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Elastic-Opening-Strainer-Pieces/dp/B00C2A9L0Q

[Anonymous No.1606251]

>>1605873
500 -700 grams? I reckon?

[Anonymous No.1606797]

First try at fermentation here
How can you tell if yeast needs more sugar or if theres too much and you need to add more yeast? I started brewing 2 bottles of cranapple and one is bubbling quickly and the other is doing it a lot slower.

[Anonymous No.1606801]

>>1606797
Usually fermentation can take 0-3 days to start, just give it a day and if its stuck add some more yeast
If it continues to be stuck add more sugar.

[Anonymous No.1606851]

>>1606797
Also, should I filter everything through a coffee filter when it's done?

[Anonymous No.1607102]

>>1605364
he didn't mix anything though

[Anonymous No.1607274]

I've been curious about trying pic related since I saw it many many years ago. It's really generalized, so I know there's a lot that this guide isn't saying. Would any home brew veterans please offer some advice for a beginner?

[Anonymous No.1607328]

>>1607274
Don't use white sugar, it has a badnasty aftertaste. Use something else like raw or brown. Also you would want an actual airlock. That and a bung to seal it will set you back a little bit, but it's worth it to ensure no bad things happen to the brew.

[Anonymous No.1607597]

>>1607274
Works as long as the jug is clean. If you get a new one and ditch all the water then proceed with pic related you should be good.
I'd recommend screwing the cap back on slightly so it acts as a relief valve though instead of the napkins. Or nig rig a proper airlock.

[Anonymous No.1607615]

>>1606851
Coffee filters won't help for yeast. Get a siphon and siphon out everything but the liquid at the very bottom part of the container. The yeast sinks to the bottom, so you'll end up with clear stuff. Pour out the yeasty crap at the bottom, rinse your fermentation vessel and pour the wine back in again. Then wait for 8-12 hours (minimum) for the yeast to sink to the bottom again and repeat. Fining/clearing agents are usually good too since they make it easier.

[Anonymous No.1607616]

Here's the hard ginger ale. Set it to ferment just now. Hoping it will start fermenting during the night. It looks like one of the jizz bottles from that guy who posts his jizz collection on /b/ every boxing day.


>>1606851
Coffee filters won't help for yeast. Get a siphon and siphon out everything but the liquid at the very bottom part of the container. The yeast sinks to the bottom, so you'll end up with clear stuff. Pour out the yeasty crap at the bottom, rinse your fermentation vessel and pour the wine back in again. Then wait for 8-12 hours (minimum) for the yeast to sink to the bottom again and repeat. Fining/clearing agents are usually good too since they make it easier.

[Anonymous No.1608054]

How can I get a drier IPA? I want to make a Pliny the Elder clone for summer. I made one last year and although it was good, when i tried it side by side with PtE it was considerably more malty.

Last year's batch specs:
>Extract kit with 6lbs LME, 4lbs DME, and .75lb of corn sugar
>6 gallon batch
>OG 1.070
>FG 1.015
>Can't remember which yeast I used I think it was White Labs and either WLP001 or WLP090
>~325B Cells for a pitch rate of .85M cells/mL
>In the fermenter for 5-6 weeks

I have upgraded to an all-grain setup and my new batch will use all-grain + .75lb of corn sugar. Was the maltiness because of extract? Is there anything I can do to get the OG down to 1.010-1.008ish?

[Anonymous No.1608119]

>>1597024
Acid-making bacteria reproduce faster than the yeast, so you need a higher ratio of initial yeast to initial bacteria to beat the bacteria. You can reduce the amount of initial bacteria by sanitizing as >>1597418 has stated.

Another way is to use a yeast breeder that bubbles oxygen into a sugar solution. This will encourage aerobic reproduction instead of anaerobic fermentation. Then put the yeast-enriched solution into your batch.

>>1597148
>Willing to read any resources on the topic.
Have you read Alcohol Can Be a Gas! by David Blume? It goes into the economics of alcohol fuel, different useful feedstocks, how to make your own alcohol fuel from sugar, starch, and cellulose, and how to run various engines and much more.

>>1597416
Yes, diluting with water and refrigerating a portion of your mash can help reuse the yeast. Note that you are also reusing the acid-making bacteria, so a mash can only be reused so many times.

[Anonymous No.1608124]

>>1608054
up the amount of dextrose and reduce your malt extract. why are you using both dried and liquid? I'd simplify and just pick one.

if you mash at 140-145 it will dry out more, you can also add amylo 300 which you can get from your local homebrew shop to drop it even further. that's how they do brut ipas

[Anonymous No.1608126]

>>1608054
Ferment at a lower temperature. 15C is what I do, with a lager yeast. Even drier is a low carb enzyme. Pick up one of them to dry it out more.

[Anonymous No.1608150]

>>1608124
>>1608126
thanks for the suggestions I'll try fermenting both at a lower temp and with the enzyme.

I had purchased a kit that came with both liquid and dry. I'm gonna try the recipe in link below for my next attempt in about 2 weeks. It uses 2-row (87%), carapils (3.8%), crystal 40 (4.2%), and dextrose (5%)
http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2015/10/pliny-elder-40.html

[Anonymous No.1608152]

Any of y’all ever had Texian Curley foxtrot? At one point they labeled it an imperial Berliner Weiss but not anymore. Basically it’s a moderately strong (7.5%. Iirc) Marley tart-sour beer. I really want to make something similar but I don’t know shit about beer, only ever really brewed mead and some country wines.

Also at the moment I’ve made a ginger bug with whatever natural yeast was on the ginger and this weekend I’m going to try my hand at making ginger beer. Probably just a one falling batch to see how the natural yeasts work, might also do a gallon with champagne yeast cause fuck it. Also because I’ll need the slurry leftover to start some skeeter pee ( never made it before but sounds like a nice refreshing summer booze).

So how to get a really good ginger bite? Just stuff as much ginger in as possible?

[Anonymous No.1608197]

>>1608152
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/alferman-imperial-berliner-weisse.255777/
This might be a good recipe if you're looking for a sour beer
basically brewing beer is just steeping grain for a bit, then boiling hops at different times for bitterness/flavour/aroma and then letting it cool enough to put in the yeast
I've never had a sour beer but might try one now

[Anonymous No.1608213]

Hey guys, new to this shit. I was wondering whether or not if these bottles would blow up given the amount of yeast I used.

[Anonymous No.1608216]

>>1608213
It doesn't matter how much yeast is in the bottle, it matters how much sugar is in the closed system for the bottles to convert to alcohol and co2
If you feel like they might explode, or are fermenting too quickly, "burp" them by releasing the co2 at regular intervals to get a feel of how much is being produced

[Anonymous No.1608247]

>>1608197
Hmm that recipe sounds pretty good and nice and simple too. Probably gonna give it a shot as soon as I can get to the brew store. Should make a nice every day beer.

[Anonymous No.1608253]

>>1608247
yeah the only thing that they might not have specifically is the yeast, but that can be ordered online

[Anonymous No.1608362]

New to homebrewing, when a recipe calls for adding hops via a hopback, can I just pour the wort through a colander that has the hops in it? It seems like the same thing really, water flowing through the hops. Is there a difference?

Also going to set my first IPA batch to brew today, what are some common mistakes one could make (aside from the recipe being awful and neglecting sanitization)?


>>1608213
Do you have proper corks on the bottles or is it just the cellophane? I'd say the cellophane would give up before the bottles would blow, but I'd also say get an airlock. They're like $3 a piece.

[Anonymous No.1608447]

>>1608362
Here's the wort. It tastes quite good already, sorta like a non-alcoholic IPA I could buy at the grocery store. Gonna set it to brew once it cools down

t: samefag

[Anonymous No.1608494]

>>1608362
I'm a little late but, you're probably going to have to run it over the colander multiple times to get the same effect as the hops may take a few passes to become saturated with the wort.
Also hopbacks are usually enclosed to ensure proper flavor and aroma.

[Anonymous No.1608535]

>>1608494
The recipe I'm using doesn't have any hopbacking involved, I just wondered since I saw some recipes that required it.

[Anonymous No.1608540]

>>1608535
ah okay nvm then

[Anonymous No.1608606]

>>1597024
What variations? The addition of acidic fruits or fruit juices perhaps?

Acidic fruit makes pretty shit melomel imho, unless overly sweetened on the ass.

[Anonymous No.1608607]

>>1599183
As with banana bread/muffins you might want to let them brown up a bit before using.

We're they fresh or ripe? My mam literally let them go full brown, froze them for a week or so, and then used the thawed brown mush in the best goddamn banana bread you've ever tasted.

[Anonymous No.1608633]

>>1608607
They were browning a bit. The amount of sugar in them doesn't really matter if the juice you set to ferment is under ~330g per liter sugar content because it will become dry if you just let it ferment.

[Anonymous No.1608671]

>>1608633
Wouldn’t letting the bananas go full black be best though for maximal conversion of starch to sugar? It’s not so much about getting more sugar but rather less starch I’d think.

[Anonymous No.1608735]

I'm a frugal alcoholic who's wondering what the cheapest way is to get fucked up every night.
I was thinking of just buying large bags of sugar and some bakers yeast but I'd like to convert as much sugar to alcohol as possible because I don't want o get fat. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Anonymous No.1608744]

>>1608735
just go buy some everclear or cheap vodka
you won't be getting any better bang for your buck if you just want to get drunk

[Anonymous No.1608777]

>>1608735
freeze distilling kilju

[Anonymous No.1608827]

>>1608777
This.
>>1608735
Also don't use baker's yeast, it will not ferment to high enough alcohol content. What you want is a plain champagne yeast. It's one of the most tasteless yeasts and goes to almost 20%

[Anonymous No.1608853]

>>1608735
Bakers yeast and sugar will get you a decent sugar wine. Fining agents are fairly cheap, $2-3 for 20 liters and you can mix the sugar wine with sugar free kool-aid or whatever if you wanna avoid the calories. Alcohol will always have some calories (7 calories per gram of alcohol) though because its made from sugar. Honestly brewing cheap apple cider from apple juice, sugar and wine yeast will be cheap as fuck too, but I don't know how broke you are.

Recipe for decent apple kilju
>10 liters of apple juice (not concentrate, no preservatives)
>2 kilograms of sugar
>1 packet of wine yeast
>1 packet of fining agents
>5 liters of water
Dissolve the sugar into 5 liters of water, mix up the sugar water and 10 liters of apple juice, wait until the liquid is whatever temperature the wine yeast packet says is good for the yeast, mix up the yeast with the liquid according to the instructions and put into the fermenting bucket. Wait for around a week, shake the fermenting bucket at around a day or two before you intend to add the clearing/fining agents. Lift the bucket up on a chair for racking and mix in the fining agents. Then wait for however long the packet says on the fining agents (a day or up to a week, whatever). Then use a siphon or a steady hand and a ladle to bottle your cheap apple kilju. I've made this before and the its pretty drinkable. You can drink it straight up and my coworkers actually like it.

>>1608777
>>1608744
If he lives in a country with retardedly high alcohol taxes (like Finland) he might be better off with sugar wine. Also sugar wine is punk as fuck, so he might wanna do it just for the kicks. Alcoholism ain't cheap but its affordable if you are a smart guy.

[Anonymous No.1609169]

Hey guys, does anyone know a good guide to the permits/licences you need to bottle and sell alcohol in california? I kind of want to sell my ciders at the local farmer's market, but know that selling alcohol can be a big issue.

[Anonymous No.1609243]

Just wondering, does anyone know the fermentation alcohol output? I'm assuming the yeast puts out exponentially less as the days go by.
I was also wondering if I can cut the fermentation short and transfer it to a different container while it is still bubbling, would it still be good to drink? I started fermentation last week and was planning on drinking it this tuesday but it might not be finished by then.

[Anonymous No.1609417]

>>1609169
Idk about california, but liquor licenses are pretty expensive in my state ranging from 45$ to 9000$ for distillers license
would you be making decent money from the ciders?
>>1609243
assuming you didnt measure the specific gravity originally, you can measure your current density and make up a quick batch with the original concentration and measure the density of that liquid
then convert those to specific gravity based on what units you use
then you can use that in the formula
Alcohol % = ((1.05x(Original gravity - Final gravity))/ final gravity)/.79
this is assuming you can make the original concentration the same as what you did before

[Anonymous No.1609603]

Here's the hard ginger ale. Added some sugar and bottled it. Gonna let them rest overnight for some secondary fermentation (hoping for carbonation) and then gonna put them into the fridge to halt the process.

[Anonymous No.1609607]

I brew Mead in 1 gallon water jugs. 3 pounds of honey will make about 13% alcohol (with right yeast)

I don't brew with any equipment or airlocks, I just screw the cap off until it releases has (the "tssssst" sound) and just let it sit like that for a few weeks.

Brew until it's clear, then decant the clear Mead from the yeast on the bottom. Or let it sit longer to age.

My next batch in gonna throw some fruit in the Mead as well

[Anonymous No.1609611]

>>1609603
looks nice dude, what % is it?

[Anonymous No.1609614]

>>1609607
Fining/clearing agents are a cheap investment. They make ones that do their magic in 24 hours. They make the yeast and other sediments fall down much quicker

>>1609611
Should be 5-10%. I got a slight buzz from drinking around a pint of it. It will probably get 1-2% more ABV from the sugar I added. Its very lemony and the ginger doesn't come through enough, but its still a nice change of pace from the 15-17% ABV wines I usually make. The 24 hour finer/clearing agent packages I use are a god send. They have silicic acid and chitosan. Makes it super easy to rack the wine and cost like 2-3€ for what could be used on 25 liters of wine.

[Anonymous No.1609655]

Am I a fag for just doing kits? Is the jump away from them a very difficult one?

[Anonymous No.1610012]

>>1609655
I used to do a batch of all grain three times a week, but now I just stick to extract because of work. I'm working on an automated electric brewhouse that should hopefully change that.

[Anonymous No.1610130]

>>1609655
i'm assuming you're talking about extract kits, correct?
moving to all-grain isn't that bad you can start with BIAB and make a small batch with your current kettle to see if you want to make the investment to brew all grain. From there you can upgrade just your kettle and continue to do larger batches with BIAB or get some coolers for a mash/later tun if you want to go that route.

If you're talking about about moving from kits to creating your own recipes that's even easier. Start by finding a recipe you like and tweak it a bit.

[Anonymous No.1610832]

>>1596780
Mead I made last year. About 16% alcohol. Not too sweet, with small notes of orange,clove and cinamon

[Anonymous No.1610899]

>>1597592
Do bananas and raisins have an absurd amount of fermentables? I feel like your wine is going to be like, 2% abv at the most considering how little banana and raisin you used.

[Anonymous No.1610901]

>>1605290
ginger comes through quite strongly in brewing. I would reduce it to less than 500g and increase the sugar.

[Anonymous No.1611195]

>>1610899
I put in sugar too and it was quite strong. Banana has tons of sugar in it.

[Anonymous No.1612709]

I currently fermenting some cranberry wine and its starting to smell weird. Initially when it started fermenting yesterday it smelled exactly like I thought it would, cranberry juice with a hint of alcohol, but now it smells off. I made a batch last week that I think went acidic but I wasn't using the proper yeast. The batch im making now doesn't smell like that but it doesn't smell good either. Should I add more sugar/yeast or wait and see how it turns out?

[Anonymous No.1612756]

>>1598214
Use raisins from green grapes then retard

[Anonymous No.1613007]

>>1596780
IS there any reason not to ferment in one of those 5 gallon plastic jugs used for office water coolers?

[Anonymous No.1613196]

Anyone take a look at this for me? Trying to get above just making cheap piss.

19/05
4.5ltr + ingredients
350 gram malt (Can opened 15/03, stored in jar in fridge.)
200 gram dextrose
4.5ltr Water
Process: Sanitised everything except for the boiling pots.
Used tap water.
3 ltr of tap water in the 5 ltr carboy (untreated).
1.5 ltr of tap water + malt + dextrose, boiled for a few minutes then left to cool.
Put in tub of icewater to cool then added yeast after ice is well and truly gone.
Wrapped in towel so the temp is more standard and light doesn't skunk it.

[Anonymous No.1613198]

>>1613196
Fuck I just realized I put 250 grams of dextrose in it.

[Anonymous No.1613202]

Thinking of brewing like a 5-6% ABV mild summer alcopop/"cider" type drink from strawberries. Any ideas about this recipe I came up with?
>3,5kg of strawberries
>2 kg of sugar
>3 lemons (only the peels and the "fruit meat", not the white parts)
Boil the strawberries and lemons into a juice and brew, add extra sugar in bottling phase for carbonation/drinkability


>>1612756
The nigger raisins are cheaper and it came out all clear. Read the thread before posting, nigger. See >>1599354

[Anonymous No.1613261]

>>1613198
Malt and dextrose won't give it the bitterness. That's what hops are there for. It'll probably be more like malt Mead. If you pick up some hops, turn on your kettle and pour out a cup of boiling water with the hops in and let it cool to room temperature with a cloth on top, then toss it in. Should be enough to lightly bitter it.

[Anonymous No.1613339]

>>1602123
>>1602123
I just /firstbrewmead/ too; started with 4lb honey in a gallon, smackpack champagne yeast, wyeast beer nutrient blend. I fucked up the other way (pitched yeast in fridge then added cold pitch to room temperature must) and ended up with a drinkable, albeit sweet, alcoholic beverage. Next brew I'll get a thief and hydrometer.

[Anonymous No.1613371]

>>1613007
If you sanitize it well first and use a good airlock, no problem at all other than cleaning it after.

[Anonymous No.1613372]

howdy senpai. After working for several years for the largest fermentation company on the planet (industry leader in biofuels production), I've finally started to try my hand at home brewing.

First 1 gal IPA turned out great, despite underdosing the priming sugar

second batch got greedy and went for a 5 gallon batch, fucked it up and got it infected. Had to toss the whole thing.

Third batch tried 5 gallons again, going for a lager and I think I finally nailed it. pitched on 5/5 and fermentation is juuuuustttt about complete. managed to find a costmetically banged up fridge for 50 bucks - can't wait to keg this baby.

4th batch I went for a plain jane mead - tried my hand at making a yeast prop, totally fucked that up so I just pitched some dry cider yeast lol. Took them a loooong time to get munching but they finally took off and that ferm is on its' way - tasted it the other day to make sure it wasn't infected (as I'm super worried about that after the bad 5 gal batch now) but seems great.


I do have a question though - has any one here tried their hand at malting their own barley?

[Anonymous No.1613374]

Just finished bottling a watermelon wine last weekend, first time using a kit and I dont know how old it was but it turned out brown. The taste and alcohol content were fine and its perfectly drinkable but the color looks like cheap whiskey

[Anonymous No.1613439]

What are some nice beginner brews to try? Ideally something easy or something that doesn’t need a long time until it’s ready to drink since I want to try and get my roommate into it. I know mead is just honey, water, and yeast which is what I think would be good to start with.

[Anonymous No.1613453]

>>1613439
Any fruit/berry wine is pretty easy to make and it should introduce the basic concepts to you.

[Anonymous No.1613464]

>>1613439
My first was a strawberry wine. Took less than a month and had a nice high alcohol content

[Anonymous No.1613923]

>>1613439
Mead can take a very long time to make at higher alcohol content.
If you do go with mead and want it done quick, you're going to have to keep your lb honey/water ratio low and use a faster finishing yeast.

[Anonymous No.1614148]

brewing an IPA this weekend that calls for a total of 10.63oz of hops from 6 different varieties
>boil/whirlpool: 5.83oz
>dry hop #1: 2.33oz
>dry hop #2: 2.47oz
Because my HBS only sells hops by the oz it means I have to buy a total of 13oz of hops. Would the end result be drastically changed if I added the extra 2.37oz of hops during dry hop schedule? ie. I combine all the scraps and divide it up between the two different dry hops times to get ~3.5oz/DH#1 and 3.65oz/DH#2

Or should I just throw the extra in my freezer?

[Anonymous No.1614149]

>>1614148
Can you just increase the barley dose, hit a slightly higher O.G. / add extra water, or just start with a higher wort volume so adding all the hops hits your recipe closer? tl;dr just make more beer to use up the hops?

[Anonymous No.1614153]

>>1614148
I'd just throw the rest in the freezer, you could always use the hops for a different recipe later on since they last awhile frozen

[Anonymous No.1615158]

So I'm currently mad at my government for how fucking expensive even the cheapest piss-lager is. Thinking of brewing american bud lite style crap for maximum cheap beer by brewing an 8% ABV lager, then dilluting it to 4% (water is free), dry hopping and priming it. Any good ideas on why/why not this would be a good idea.

Thanks

[Anonymous No.1615285]

>>1615158
Brewing beer unfortunately is very subject to economies of scale. The more beer you brew, the cheaper you can do it. A general rule of thumb is the 0.6 power. If you wanted to double your production capacity, it would only take 2^0.6 ~ 1.5x as much capital. If that was a million dollars, then it would cost you 1MM to brew X beers per year, but it would only cost 1.5 MM to brew 2x beers per year (you can see how this affects the price of the beer). U.S. refiners that use 6-row malt combined with higher starch sources like rice have an insanely low marginal cost. There are offbrand malt liquors that can come in with a marginal cost of less than $0.50 USD / beer (12oz or 355 mL) before taxes.


If this will be for your own drinking, then you're going to be better off to make something you'll enjoy than try to go the ultra cheap route, because you wont benefit from the cheap ingredients cost wise like an industrial process will. However, if you're talking about bootlegging...... well that could be another story.

[Anonymous No.1615354]

>>1615285
the cheapest piss lager in Finland costs around 1,88€ per liter (rougly $2,10). It will be super cheap to undercut the price. Just bought a can of doppelbock (8,5% ABV) that I watered down. Apart from lacking in carbonation, its not too bad for something I would use to get shitfaced or drink in the sauna. By my calculations I can get as low at 0,29€ per liter for the dilluted "Light" stuff

[Anonymous No.1615366]

>>1615354
mind me asking how you're doing your calcs?

You could *probably* cut out the distilled or RO water for tap water, buy cheaper yeast, not put hops in, not use water salts... but that would get you down to like $1.0 / liter lol

and this is before equipment costs

[Anonymous No.1615385]

>>1615366
alternatively you could do like a 50/50 blend of rice and 6 row malt.... But still not going to make it that much cheaper

[Anonymous No.1615394]

>>1615366
>distilled water
>water salts
Fucking americans I swear to god. Your country's tap water is so fucked it probably gives you cancer. In first world countries we can brew with whatever comes out of the tap.

[Anonymous No.1615398]

>>1615394
You can brew with whatever comes out of the tap here too. It's called quality control, though. better control over the ion profile of the water leads to more reproducible fermentation, and better control over beer taste. While I agree that american tap water quality is shit (I specialize in water treatment) what i'm saying is true overseas too.

[Anonymous No.1615399]

>>1615398
We're talking about cheap stuff here. I'm only brewing this because I'm pissed at the government.

[Anonymous No.1615527]

Redpill me on glass carboys, lads. I read somewhere that you can't pasteurize them but I haven't had any problems pasteurizing el cheapo wine bottles and can't see why it would be an issue.

[Anonymous No.1615562]

>>1615527
Only thermal shock could be an issue, cracked a carboy that way once.

[Anonymous No.1615572]

>>1615527
whoever said you can't pasturize them is wrong. what do you want to know? people use them because they're cheap, and glass doesn't really harbor bacteria. problems are that they are heavy and hard to move when full, can break/crack fairly easily, and with such a small opening can be hard to clean

[Anonymous No.1615573]

>>1615399
hey I'm american, I hate my government just as much as the next guy - I'm just talking about numbers.

If you used:
>6 row malt barley
>replaced 5 lbs of barley with 5 lbs of cooked rice (cheaper)
>cheap dry yeast instead of smack pack
>shitty tap water (free)
>no hops
>no water conditioners
>minimum amount of starsan possible

you're still at $0.85 USD / Liter in ingredients before purchasing equipment, no?

Not sure which i guess the cutoff is $2.10 per liter, so yeah there's some economic incentive there for sure.

[Anonymous No.1615575]

>>1614148
the difference would be negligible, and if anything more dry hop would make your IPA taste better.

consider changing your ratios, whirlpool hops contribute much less flavor than dry hop. I'd do 2oz whirlpool, 10oz dry hop #1. overcomplicated recipes are a sure sign of amateur brewers/recipes.

[Anonymous No.1615856]

>>1600883
hey it turned out ok. the best was a cup i let sit out all night. so maybe if it tastes weak, just let it breath a few hours.

[Anonymous No.1616610]

Currently waiting for my strawberry-lemon hard lemonade to cool down enough so I can put the yeast in. Not sure how it will turn out, but whatever. The original gravity was around 1,052 which should result in around 4,8% ABV. a good summer drink in my opinion. Gonna add priming sugar to taste

Recipe. Batch size 15 liters
>1500 grams of sugar
>3000 grams of strawberries
>3 lemons (only the peels and the meat, throw about the white stuff)

>cut out the white stuff between the peels and the fruit meat out, keep the peels and the fruit meat from the lemons
>put three liters of water in a 10 liter cooking pot, put the strawberries and the lemon stuff in
>boil for 30 minutes while stirring occasionally and mashing the strawberries against the side
>mix in the sugar
>add 7 liters of water, put into your carboy/fermentation bucket (or add all the water at once, my largest pot was 10 liters)
>add 5 liters of water so that there's 15 liters in the carboy
>wait for the temperature to cool down for adding the yeast
>add yeast according to the instructions on your packet
>wait for it to finish brewing
>add priming sugar for your own taste, I suggest around 5-10 grams per liter
>bottle the way you want to bottle it
Its won't take long to brew so I'll probably return with an update the next week around wednesday.

[Anonymous No.1616923]

>>1616610
Regular sugar tends to give me real bitter nasty flavours. I'd rather use either dextrose or brown sugar.

[Anonymous No.1616966]

>>1603698
Just as an aside about the Skyrim/Elder Scrolls cookbook, there are actually some super good recipes in it in general and for fun, simple boozes. I like the "Skooma" recipe a lot.

[Anonymous No.1616991]

>>1596780
Some of my bottles, so called "King Browns". Australian government ran breweries and distribution in the early part of the 20th century as a vital part of the economy, keeping shepherds drunk enough so they wouldn't quit. The wear pattern evident on front bottle is from a wood and wire crate. Bottles were recycled, travelling thousands of rough kilometers back and forth to remote pubs. They are made very tough. Semi-banned in the eighties because abos used them as weapons. If you ever use these keep in mind a standard filler wand won't work the neck is too thin. 10$ brew kit lager in them.

[Anonymous No.1617014]

Last couple of batches didn't go so well so I'm going really back to basics with a pale ale extract kit, which I'll add 1kg of brewing sugar to to make up the 40 pints. Only thing I'll be doing which is slightly interesting is adding my own hops, but I only have 65g (50g Comet, 15g Rakau).

Is that enough to make up a decently-hopped pale ale? I'm most interested in aroma/flavour, so can I just save all of the hops for the last 15 minutes of the boil and for dry-hopping? Think I'll get a decent beer out of it?

[Anonymous No.1617026]

>>1616923
Its your choice. I usually just do experimental recipes with whatever I have in stock and then make bigger batches of them with specific and better ingredients if they turn out good

[Anonymous No.1617186]

Gunna keg my shwarzbier this weekend lads. Pretty excited.

10 lbs 2 row rahr malt base
1 lb caramel pils malt
Wyeast lager smack pack, fermented at 45 F until last week i bought it up to 65 F
1 oz cascade hops in boil
0.2 oz cascade hops dry hopped

1.066 OG - haven't measured FG yet but probably around 1.005 ish.

it's got a VERY fucking surprisingly good blend of malty & hop. the hops are extremely subtle and they match very, very well with the malt flavor surprisingly. Excited about this since my last 5 gallon batch got infected (yuge bummer)

Also pictured: my first try at mead. I bought a case of blackberries I plan on adding into secondary. The issue I'm running into... is will the blackberries infect it if I just add them after primary? I mean their adding sugar and there's surely bacteria on them... but the OG was almost 1.1 and it's close to finished, so it's probably almost 12%... Are lactobacilli etc really going to take off in this shit if I don't soak the blackberries in bisulfite first? I don't care if the yeast take off again - Just don't want any sour flavors coming off from this as the blackberries will already be adding that. Any one have any experience with this?

[Anonymous No.1617223]

I want to make my first sour beer (or fruit, depending on a lot of things) , but I only have experience with malt extract brewing and haven't done any brews with bacteria.

Anyone have any idiot-proof recipes or advice I can follow if it's my first time using bacteria and/or fruit in a brew?

[Anonymous No.1617224]

>>1617014
I've made an extract pale ale several times because it's a nice light summer beer. For that recipe I only use 2oz of simcoe hops (1/2oz 60min boil, 1/2oz last 15min of boil, and 1oz in dry hop).

If you're not going to add any bittering hops you can get away with boiling for only 15 minutes and adding the hops at the start.

[Anonymous No.1617252]

Had a minor blowout and had to nig-rig a blowout from an old siphon I had lying around. Got a feeling its still gonna fucking clog. Need a wider hose

[Anonymous No.1617345]

Get a darker bottle. Clear bottles will spoil left in the light.

[Anonymous No.1617358]

Umm guys w-w-what's happening? Brewed today, approx 8 hours ago

[Anonymous No.1617359]

>>1617358
Your yeast has a lot of nutrition so it brews very fast. Install a blowout tube just in case your yeast wants to push all that foam out

[Anonymous No.1617361]

>>1617359
What's a blowout tube? I have an airlock attached to the lid, is that the same thing?

[Anonymous No.1617362]

>>1617361
>What's a blowout tube? I have an airlock attached to the lid, is that the same thing?
No its not the same thing.
Its just a tube that fits in place instead of the airlock that you run to a buck, bowl or cup full of sanitizer .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THxSS0BKAlI

Quick google search you mong

[Anonymous No.1617363]

>>1617361
Basically it is a tube that goes into a larger vessel with water in it. It works like an airlock, but it has more space for the crap coming out in case of a blow out. See >>1617252 for a quick nig-rig.

[Anonymous No.1617367]

>>1617362
>>1617363
Too tired to google desu, it's been a long day. Thanks for the explanation, however I don't have a blow-out tube - is there anything I can use as an alternative?

[Anonymous No.1617368]

>>1617367
Any kind of tubing + any kind of vessel (2 liter soda bottle) works. Surely you own a siphon, right? It has a tube

[Anonymous No.1617556]

>>1596780
this picture reminds me of the one time a piss bottle pf mine turned red after a couple weeks

[Anonymous No.1617594]

>>1617556
But how did it taste?

[Anonymous No.1618143]

New to /diy/
Last month I took a gallon of apple juice, added a half pack of basic yeast and a half cup of sugar.
After two weeks, I siphoned it all into several small jars and seasoned with some cinnamon and apple pie seasoning then left it sit for another two weeks. The resulting drink was potent but bitter, and had to be backsweetened with a tablespoon or two of sugar to make it palatable. This was my first attempt and it worked enough to give me a fun buzz, but I'd like to do better if I can.
Open to suggestions, everything I did was half-assed but still pretty much worked.

[Anonymous No.1618160]

>>1618143
Cinnamon and cloves can get a little weird in cider. I'd recommend either going plain or maybe adding pomegranate juice. As for sweetness levels, the yeast will eat any sugar you put in there without stabilization. If you want a stable sweetened cider I'd say just use sucralose for sweetening and sugar for carbonation.

[Anonymous No.1618255]

First mead. I'm a noob at this and have only tried mead once.
Mine was done with cinnamon and orange peels on primary, a bit after fermentation was done I bottled the mofo. It tastes kind of like white wine, and a bit bitter (most likely from the orange, might backsweeten). Any Ideas what to call this, or what kind of mead this is? I don't have a clue about mead types.

[Anonymous No.1618265]

>>1618255
It's a Metheglin. They're typically better if you go heavier on the honey to end up with a still sweet show mead.

[Anonymous No.1618297]

>>1618265
Thanks. Supposedly it will get better if I let it sit in the bottle for a while right? Even though It's good to drink as it is?

[Anonymous No.1618301]

>>1596817
if you get beat up real bad it is

[Anonymous No.1618507]

>>1617252
>>1616610
It went from 1,052 to around 1,000 to 1,010. Just put in the fining agents and aired it out a bit to let the extra carbon dioxide out. Gonna add sugar before bottling to sweeten it and to get some carbonation going. Didn't anticipate having to bottle it so soon and forgot to get bottles so I'll have to hustle hard to acquire them this quick.

[Anonymous No.1619637]

>>1618255

There's an image on google that shows all the mead types out there. Yours is a combination of metheglin and melomel. It might be best to just say it is a metheglin (spiced mead) though.

I think you will be better letting the mead just age out and seeing what happens as flavours will dissipate over time and become rounder. The fact that your mead reminds you of white wine means you have made something that is 'good' in terms of what commercial producers try to make.

[Anonymous No.1620065]

Anyone else use these to make props and slants?

[Anonymous No.1620214]

Here's some of the stawberry-lemon hard lemonade in a glass before sweetening. It came out allright in color and it has a good strawberry taste

[Anonymous No.1620425]

>>1615366
fuck why are barley hops and yeast so expensive in the states? 25-35% of the cost here

[Anonymous No.1620544]

What's a good thing to brew with very low alcohol content? Like 2% tops? I have basically no idea about homebrewing so excuse me if this is a retarded question.

[Anonymous No.1620567]

>>1620544
That depends on what you like to drink, and what type of stuff you have lying around
you can make
2% can be made easily using just shitty baking yeast and sugar lying around but it won't taste good
easiest thing from my experience is brewing mead which is just mixing honey and water together with whatever else you want then putting the yeast in at the right temp
kvass or kombucha have very low alcohol take very little effort

[Anonymous No.1620660]

>>1596817
let it sit a while.

[Anonymous No.1620735]

Will starsan still disinfect at lower concentrations if left for a long time?

[Anonymous No.1620795]

[Anonymous No.1620905]

>>1620567
Thanks anon, I'll probably try mead first. Heard about Kvass but never had the oportunity to try it, maybe getting a taste to know how it should taste like before homebrewing would be good.

[Anonymous No.1620958]

>>1620905
Kvass tastes like ass.

But for real. Dunk a thick wedge of dark rye bread in warm water, let it all soak in for a while. That's what it tastes like. Dark bread, malty, dank, but fizzy and often sweetened.

[Anonymous No.1621032]

>>1620795
Is that water kefir in the second jar?

[Anonymous No.1621536]

>>1620735
Meaning below the 1oz per 5 gallon standard dilution?

[Anonymous No.1622391]

Is my shit gonna end up Infected? Pitched yeast 12 hrs ago. First time I have ever had such a large krausen.

[Anonymous No.1622409]

>>1622391
Your shit is as infected as a two dollar whore.

[Anonymous No.1622414]

>>1622391
Enjoy your lambic.

[Anonymous No.1622544]

Any pointers on making wine/mead/hard lemonade out of oranges? How do I make sure the ph levels are good?

[Anonymous No.1622772]

>>1622409
>>1622414
It's still out gassing, nothing could have gotten in I hope. so I cleaned up the lid and airlock then sanitized them.

[Anonymous No.1622799]

>>1622772
It's happened to me twice. Both times I replaced the airlock with a sanitized blowoff tube as soon as I noticed and both beers came out fine.

[Anonymous No.1622844]

>>1622799
I'd have to bore out a bigger hole as the hole for the air lock is only about 12mm. Wouldn't a thin blow off tube get blocked easy?
Checked it again this morning and it isn't pushing krausen out the air lock anymore. So I'll just leave the airlock in place.

[Anonymous No.1622903]

i LOVE beer that's been aged in bourbon barrels. whats the best way to do this? is it a good idea to buy a barrel and make bourbon just for this?

[Anonymous No.1622975]

>>1596817
my cum always does. maybe it's a mixture.

[Anonymous No.1622986]

>>1596780
so, I once used about a third-cup of the bottom of a bottle of store-bought kombucha (all the scoby bits left at the bottom) and a thinned out mixture of tapwater and apple juice, then let it sit in my room and ferment. Purely just to see if it would work at all.
I enjoyed the end result.

I tried again, new partial bottle of kombucha (this time a flavor with photosynthetic protists, figured I'd test that too), this time using sweet tea, as is proper for kombucha. The result was alright, but more bitter than I'd like, but the same is true of any time I brew unfermented tea as well. I'm just bad at tea, no amount of brown sugar's gonna fix that aftertaste.

So I try the apple juice thing again, but this time just reusing the scoby from the previous batch because I was clever this time and didn't drink it, but straight apple juice, no water. End results downright tasty. Pleasantly fruitsour, but still a hint of sweetness, effervescent but alchohol taste not too strong, would buy regularly.

Figured hey, this is basically a very light hard cider right? I've got grape juice in the fridge lets try ancient greece strength wine.

Rinse and repeat, reuse scoby, do add tapwater because straight grape juice is pretty strong. ferment. Results completely undrinkable, reflexively spat out first sip and couldn't bring myself to take a second, and I am remarkably omnivorous due to a pretty rough upbringing. Poured rest down the drain unable to think of a way to salvage the scoby without tainting the next batch with some of the flavor of that no redeeming qualities shit.

None of them formed that big veganleather surface wad like you normally see in how-tos.

So, you who are not total amateurs like I am, what went right, what went wrong, and why?

[Anonymous No.1622997]

>>1599183
>>1599144
>>1598826
Bananas are a starch, as is more evident with their near cousins plantains. You might want to think about it less like a wine and more like a vodka

[Anonymous No.1623028]

>>1607274
well, I know bakers yeast won't hardly go above 8%ABV even in immaculate conditions. So that bits probably wrong.

>>1607328
>>1607597
affixing a bung to that would be no small feat.

here's a cheapo airlock though.
https://youtu.be/aQqfALLwPak

Now, other than swapping to brown sugar, is there anything you'd suggest adding to improve quality that wouldn't significantly increase cost, considering you're spending a measly $15 dollars for 48 pints of hard cider? At that kind of cost efficiency, we can afford to splurge a tiny bit for quality sake.

[Anonymous No.1623246]

Making dandelion wine for the first time. I've imbedded this water with dandelions for 2 days, is this the colour it's supposed to have?

[Anonymous No.1623299]

>>1623028
>here's a cheapo airlock though.
or wrap a balloon over the top and poke holes in it with a needle. Rubber contracts to fill the gap. Internal pressure forces the tiny hole open, but external pressure would have to greatly overcome internal pressure in order to backflow.

[Anonymous No.1623306]

>>1623246
Your home looks comfy

[Anonymous No.1623321]

>>1608777
doesn't freeze distillation make it have a lot of methanol? Not looking to go blind here.

I know for sure not to make applejack, since apple juice has super high pectin. There's a reason the bottled stuff is apple brandy mixed with neutral spirits instead of actual freeze-distilled hard cider.

>>1607328
amount of sugar controls alchohol content, right? So if I put in no added sugar just the juice the alchohol content would be very low, and if I add a ton, then it'll go as high as the yeast's abv tolerance?

[Anonymous No.1623356]

>>1623321
>amount of sugar controls alchohol content, right?
Essentially yes. I'm sure there's other factors like yeast nutrition and stuff.

[Anonymous No.1623361]

>>1622903
check your local homebrew shop or online for bourbon barrel chips. They're chunks of charred barrel that you add to your fermenter. You can even look for some from your favorite bourbon i think Maker's Mark chips are pretty common.

[Anonymous No.1623380]

>>1623028
I've used baker's yeast before and it goes +13% easily, maybe it depends on the brand idk.
As for the airlock just twist a tube in a loop, fill it with water and block out the end (not airtight) so flies and shit can't get in and there you have it.

>>1623321
>doesn't freeze distillation make it have a lot of methanol? Not looking to go blind here.
Freeze distilling concentrates both ethanol and methanol, and ethanol gets metabolised first so higher concentrations of methanol aren't a real danger (or so i've heard).
I think the only way to go blind is to drink out the very first bits that come out of a still.

>I know for sure not to make applejack, since apple juice has super high pectin.
Depends, sometimes they add pectinase to breaks down the pectin and other shit for the juice to clear out. And if apple-jack really was high risk then why did it ever became a thing?

[Anonymous No.1623832]

>>1621536
Yes

[Anonymous No.1624235]

>>1623380
>And if apple-jack really was high risk then why did it ever became a thing?
same reason people drank wood alchohol for years.

[Anonymous No.1624250]

>>1623356
hmmm. so if you didn't want it too strong, could you modify >>1607274 by just dumping bakers yeast in a bottle of apple juice straight from the store, already sterile due to pasturization, replacing the cap with an airlock, and bada bing?

seems easier than pouring it into a 5gallon then pouring it back out into individual bottles.

[Anonymous No.1624251]

>>1623380
Absolutely DO NOT use pectinase during fermentation
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251668153_Influence_of_pectinase_treatment_on_fruit_spirits_from_apple_mash_juice_and_pomace
Put it in BEFORE you ferment, then evaporate the methanol it makes off.

Or do it all at once. Pectin also breaks down to heat. You can just boil the shit out of it for an hour and a half. it'll convert to methanol from the heat, then the methanol will evaporate due to alchohol's low boiling point.

Either way, THEN start your fermentation, and there's no pectin to convert to convert.

But really, just don't distill things made of corn/fruit. Or if you do, be willing to chuck the first and last 10% of each batch.

[Anonymous No.1624438]

>>1622986
Sometimes yeast just mutates and gives bad flavours. Sometimes you didn't clean the bottle good. Sometimes it didn't seal correctly. There's a lot of reasons why it might taste bad.

[Anonymous No.1624509]

>>1624438
so... basically I was getting lucky that nothing went wrong the other times, and the problem was general lack of effort. More cleaning, actual sealing, only open slightly and only to vent.

Aight.

how do I know when it's done then?

[Anonymous No.1624518]

>>1624509
I'd recommend getting a proper airlock, so you'll know it's done when it stops bubbling. That and some decent steriliser to kill any germs before brewing. Other than that, should be fine.

[Anonymous No.1624521]

>>1624518
Any reason I can't just boil the bottle ye olde fashioned way instead of buying cleaning chemicals I don't know how to use and am afraid to use near food because of it? I've had enough damage from that Kayquat II stuff at work.

[Anonymous No.1624593]

>>1624521
Not that guy but i've cleaned carboys with nothing but dishwasher soap and boiling water, didn't have any issues really.
Just make sure they don't crack.

[Anonymous No.1624623]

Just set 27 liters of Pear flavoured kilju to ferment
>20 liters of cheap pear juice (sold as "pear drink")
>6 kilograms of sugar
>wine yeast
>4 liters of water I added because the gravity was too fucking high
Saw a youtube video of a Finnish alcoholic making some and wanted to try it just for shits and giggles. Also its handy to just be able bring 5 liters of "pear wine" to a party at a moment's notice. Hoping it will brew, the package said it didn't have any preservatives or other agents that could stop it from brewing. Also the wine yeast I use is quite resilient in my opinion.


>>1624250
You'd barely have any alcohol from just the juice alone.

[Anonymous No.1624773]

>>1624623
>sold as "pear drink"
maybe it's different where you are but here in the states, labelled like that most of that ain't juice. what you're fermenting is like 85%-98% offbrand koolaid.
hope High Fructose Corn Syrup ferments for you.

[Anonymous No.1624796]

>>1622986
Let me give you a few hints.

Never use tap water the chlorine decimates the bacteria and messes up the SCOBy culture ratio. Even boiling the tap water doesn't remove the chloramine.

For one gallon stick to 40g tea and 220g sugar. Weight measurements are important

Always start off with a tea and sugar base and then add fruits or whatever flavorings you want in a separate container. This way the colony cultures remain stable and healthy.

Ph is important and if the Ph is too high you risk mold infection. Distilled white vinegar is good when scaling up or starting a new base batch.

[Anonymous No.1624818]

>>1624521
Like the other guy said, use hot water with some detergent. Make sure you clean it super good though. If you want a product, sodium percarbonate breaks down after like an hour so you don't have to worry about rinsing.

[Anonymous No.1624848]

>>1624623
>have delicious pear juice
>add too much sugar
>dilute with water
>perry lacks flavor

Bad idea.

[Anonymous No.1624970]

>>1624773
It has actual sugar because in europe we dont really use HFCS. Its been done before.

>>1624848
I tasted it before brewing and it still had a strong pear flavor. Besides if I wanted strong flavour I'd have bought actual pears. Mostly just making this because Its nice to have something brewing at all times

[Anonymous No.1625086]

>>1624773
We don't mix corn syrop in every single product here, we actually have food standards.

[Anonymous No.1625102]

>>1625086
and have much lower obesity and diabetes. crazy how those correlate.

How did America end up so damn dystopic? Where did it all go wrong vs every other country.

[Anonymous No.1625129]

>>1625086
...because you don't grow corn like the states do. You'd have to import it to use it, which would make it more expensive than it is in the states, to the point that is just like, why bother? Don't act like health is the driving force, Pierre, it's just economics.

[Anonymous No.1625131]

>>1625129
France is 9th highest producer of maize in the world.

We just know it's meant for animal consumption, not humans. Or rather, we don't treat our citizens like animals.

[Anonymous No.1625132]

>>1625129 #
France is 9th highest producer, and 3rd largest exporter, of maize in the world.

We just know it's meant for animal consumption, not humans. Or rather, we don't treat our citizens like animals

[Anonymous No.1625152]

>>1625129
We don't because our domestic corn production isn't an over subsidized shitshow resulting in force feeding it to our people.
>You'd have to import it to use it
Lmao, classic delusional mutt.

[Anonymous No.1625159]

>>1625132
That's why in France you grow good animals, and in the states they grow good people.

>>1625152
The entire European Union grows less than a quarter of what the states grows. I didn't say you don't grow any, I said you don't grow it like they do in the states.

And I've yet to say I'm from the states.

[Anonymous No.1625181]

>That's why in France you grow good animals, and in the states they grow good people.
has to be bait

[Anonymous No.1625183]

>>1625152
>in the states they grow good people.
MDR

You're a 2ndworld country with a few real cities on either coast keeping you from going completely China but token christian, and spend 54% of your budget, more than the next 11 countries combined, to overcompensate.

If you'd ever won even a single non-defensive war, you'd have gone world conquest totalitarian a long time ago.

[Anonymous No.1625186]

>>1596780
I've been collecting Honeysuckle from parks all over my city. I have about 2 pounds so far. Anyone have experience with brewing honeysuckle wine?

[Anonymous No.1625335]

>>1625186
Nigger lmao

[Anonymous No.1625368]

>>1625335
Is that some obscure stereotype I'm not aware of? I mean we all picked honeysuckles as a kid to get that little drop of nectar, I figured I'd get a couple pounds and brew with a little honey to make it stronger, should have a good flavor.

[Anonymous No.1625508]

What are some books, or resources that I can read into to get a better idea of how to go about setting up my own homebrew? Not just for the tools and how-to's, but also for gaining an understanding of the fermenting process, distillation, and recommended ingredients to produce specific effects?

[Anonymous No.1625526]

>>1625183
Are you seriously saying the US is a has-been country, but France is a current major player on the world scene? Serious question.

[Anonymous No.1625546]

>>1625508
I have this one right here and it helps a pretty good bit, the legality in different states section is kind of outdated, but the methods and general stuff helps a ton for beer related stuff
has a list of different hops and grains with characteristics of each

[Anonymous No.1625870]

>>1623306
>Your home looks comfy
I'll tell my mom you think so.

[Anonymous No.1625908]

>>1624970
HFCS is the devil, but it is "actual sugar".

>>1625102
In America, everything is a business, and you cannot infringe on anyone's right to sell shit, no matter how terrible it is.

[Anonymous No.1625914]

>>1625908
>In America, everything is a business, and you cannot infringe on anyone's right to sell shit, no matter how terrible it is.

sure but that's always been the case.

and it culminated in the big monopolies. and then they got busted and things were chill.

when did it start to unchill?

[Anonymous No.1625959]

>>1625914
With the monopoly issue, Bill Clinton. But Reagan paved the way. Basically Neocon/Neoliberal shit. The commie bloc collapsed and capitalism was kicked into 6th gear.

[Anonymous No.1626067]

>>1625102
The best part of two generations died in ww1 and 2. The ones that survived were traumatized in ways no one born since can imagine. These broken men raised the next generation, and gained political office.

And did whatever th

[Anonymous No.1626073]

>>1597148
>(i.e. if I can add an unfermented mash to the distillation chamber and still get alcohol
are you retarded?

[Anonymous No.1626077]

>>1598209
why do you tards keep making gross ass hopped to hell beer that no one drinks? is it so hipsters can nurse a beer or two all night and think they're cool?

[Anonymous No.1626082]

>>1600611
get some sanstar. you could also use just diluted bleach or one of my favs oxy clean clear followed by either bleach or sanstar to sanitize. don't listen to reddit tier goybeans people who say throw everything out

[Anonymous No.1626105]

>>1626077
Get with the times old man, super hoppy beers are in vogue right now. They're so popular that hops are creeping into other products more and more.

[Anonymous No.1626256]

>>1624509
Get a hydrometer. Going the route >>1624518 suggests, you won't know if it's truly done fermenting or if it's just stuck. Also with a hydrometer you'll know what your final alcohol content is. Regarding sanitization, use Star San. It's a no rinse, acid-based sanitizer. Sanitize everything. Use Everclear or vodka in your airlock to prevent contamination of the batch in the event of reverse pressure.

[Anonymous No.1626575]

>>1626256
I was just recommending generic advice because brand name stuff can be expensive. That said, a hydrometer is a good idea, but the bubbling airlock is a useful tool to get a rough estimate if they can't afford one (always assume everyone lives in a ghetto). Instead of starsan, I recommend sodium percarbonate. You use, like, a teaspoon to sterilise your stuff, and it breaks down into water and CO2 after an hour so you don't have to worry about rinsing. It's super cheap from my local brew shop. Dunno if your shop has it tho.

[Anonymous No.1626588]

Brewed about 9 days ago, a dark Saison. OG of 1.054 and when I checked it a few days ago it was already down to 1.01. Hope it keeps going down, last time I used Belle Saison I got all the way down to 1.004. Love the bone-dry finish this yeast gives. Anyway the recipe was:
All extract
10 oz Caramel
5 oz Carapils
7-8 oz Rye
-steeped for 23 minutes then-
3.15 lbs dark liquid malt extract
3 lbs dry wheat male extract
-hop boil- 60 minutes
1 oz Tettnang
+30 minutes/ 1 0z Pride of Ringwood
+50 minutes/ Coriander and a bit of yeast nutrient.
1 packet Belle Saison dry yeast

Might throw a few wild berries in the secondary before bottling since my yard is overflowing with them right now.

[Anonymous No.1626627]

ok what's the FUCKIN scoop on sours? I have acidulated malt, and nothing else other than the usual shit, basically. All these sour teks take like 3 days of maintaining 100F (even the 'quick sours') - is this the case? If so, I guess I'll start building those tempature controlled fermenation chambers I've been meaning to get around to doing..

anway, please help, the following were the resources I understood best:
>http://anarchylane.com/blog/?p=1442
>http://sourbeerblog.com/lactobacillus-2-0-advanced-techniques-for-fast-souring-beer/
>https://www.fivebladesbrewing.com/intro-to-sour-mashing/

I would like a breakdown of the different teks if possible, i.e
>lacto only method - just add lacto and hate your life!
with pros and cons, etc

[Anonymous No.1626700]

>>1596780
Anyone have resources for a homemade pot still. Looking to make some moonshine/brandy with a pot still and I don't want to shell out the money for a real one. Is it even worth it to make one at home or should I just suck it up and buy a professional one? I'd only be making small batches for myself, probably only 1-2 gallons at a time.

[Anonymous No.1626738]

>>1626588
That's not a Saison on any level.

[Anonymous No.1626739]

>>1626627
If you want a real sour with lacto, pedio, and Brett it's gonna take a few months.

[Anonymous No.1626774]

>>1626700
I normally don't recommend it, but I'd get an air still, if you want to buy. It's the cheapest one I know of and it's only as good as a pot still. They only do about a gallon at a time and you don't get a ton out, but it's better than building your own if you don't know how to.

[Anonymous No.1626832]

>>1626774
I sort of know how. I know the theory behind how they work and could probably make a functional one, I just don't want to end up poisoned or with shit alcohol. I was really looking for something like a guide to follow to make sure. But thanks anyway I'll be sure to check out air stills.

[Anonymous No.1627070]

>>1608777
I once tried to make kilju. I was underage at the time, it was 2012 I was 16. I had been reading /diy/.

I really wanted it to work, I went to the local brewing store and purchased two carboys/ airlocks/ wine yeast/ clarifier.

I started brewing in my closet behind my clothes.

A couple days later the fermentation really kicked off! Oh shi- my room smells like yeast farts!

So I out trash bags over the airlock and used elastic bands to hold them in place. This didn't quite cover up the oder l.. so I took some advice from 420 chan and covered the bags in baking soda and sprayed the room with nil oder. It worked.

Just before I was ready to call it done, my mother decides to do my laundry....

"NN-N-No mom, I got it!",

"I'm just putting it away", she says as she strides over and opens my closet. She starts rifling through the coat hangers, she misses it and hangs up a pair of pants....

"Maybe she won't see it" I prayed.

She went to the shirts..

" Why does it smell like old wine in here? "

She parts the shirts to hang them up..
"What the fuck is this?"

She dumped it all out.

[Anonymous No.1627086]

>>1627070
I got kicked out of the house when I was 18 for trying the same thing again.
An adult, In spring.
It was very cold that night and I was too embarrassed to go to one of my two friends.

Very chilly on that baseball park bench.


7AM that morning, I went to my job, Wendys and quit. I knew Wendys wasn't going to cut it.
I am homeless, only had 180$ to my name and no job. I went to employment Canada, I saw a job available as a tree planter. I researched it at the public Library. By 10am I called the Silvaculture company and asked if they'd hire me.
"Do you have the tools? Shovel/ bags/ inserts?".
"Of course" I lied
I was told to call back at noon, and if a senior person hadn't asked for the position, it was mine.
I called back at noon and got the job.
I hitch-hiked 100km away, riding with drunkards and high quebecors.

I purchased my tools and got a ride back with an elementary school teacher.
" You look like a serial killer with the shovel and bags, no one was going to pick you up."

The job started in two days.


I showed up a day early to the motel, I was just going to check it out and see if any of my new co-workers were there.

[Anonymous No.1627092]

>>1627086
The boss knew I was the boy he talked to on the phone. "You're a day early, I'll put you up in the motel, it's 20$ a night, no laundry, or toilet paper is provided". I took it. It beat sleeping in a park.

That summer I was the slowest planter. Planting an average of 800 trees a day. It was hard work. The veterans all bet on me being the rookie to quit. (Except one, we became kinda friends)

There was this fat woman who could plant faster than me. She couldn't hack it and quit.

I made friends and learned a lot.

I love tree planting. I hate planting trees.

I got an apartment back in my home town. I get a job at a local telecommunications company as a cleaner. I start doing repairs of the electronics. They see my potential and train me up. I work with them a couple years. I get a girl.

I have a few orgies ( before I met the girl)(strip twister and alcohol works great)

She wants to have a family, I want to afford a house so the kids can play on the lawn. I join the army.

She gets pregnant, it's not mine. I do very well in the army... Because I have such an autism for communications, I get transferred to a place were I mostly enjoy my job. Getting up at 6 am and running is good for me, but I don't like it. My actual work is kinda fun.

I now have time and space to work on my honey mead and nobody bugs me too much

[Anonymous No.1627102]

>>1627086
Besides doing radio, I keep all my /diy/ secret even from my friends. Even the ones with similar interests. I respect them... But I don't respect myself... It still feels like it's a sin or a gaffe to brew... Like a guilty person I flee when none are looking for me.

Polite sage.

[Anonymous No.1627327]

>>1596780
Apple cyser mead. It's already been filtered and I'm just letting it set for a while before I filter it one last time so I can bottle it.

I'm calling it "The King's Bastard." Weird part is that it's still fermenting a bit so I dont want to stop it. It's been bubbling for three months now.

[Anonymous No.1627329]

>>1627327
I didn't mean for it to be sideways like that.

[Anonymous No.1627363]

>>1627102
>>1627092
>>1627086
>>1627070
Based. Not sure what this has to do with homebrewing, but still nice. The lesson is; Don't get get caught brewing kilju if your parents are strict people.

[Anonymous No.1627391]

THERE'S MOLD IN MY KEEZER FUCK

[Anonymous No.1627421]

I'm about to do my first mead and had a couple of questions. What is your preferred method of mixing the honey with the water? Do you heat the water/honey up to a certain temperature to help it mix? Also do I need any other extra ingredients besides yeast nutrient (aside from the obvious water, honey and yeast)? I want to keep the recipe as simple as possible.
Also would like some yeast recommendations, I'm aiming for a semi-sweet mead at about 8.5%. Thanks

[Anonymous No.1627679]

>>1627421
I heat the water and honey separately after using some campden tablets in the water
that way when i add the honey it dissolves easier rather than dropping straight to the bottom and burning, just heat some extra water and let the honey warm up soaked in it
i used s-04 yeast for mine and it turned out pretty good
if you wanna use some thing else other than yeast nutrient, raisins worked pretty well

[Anonymous No.1627753]

>>1627391
it's happened to me before. Mold was in the bottom corner with half a dozen circles each ~.25-.5" in diameter. Just clean it up and add one of these $15 renewable dehumidifiers. I've had mine for a year and havent had an issue since. I'm not even particularly good about renewing it.

https://www.amazon.com/Improved-Eva-dry-333-Renewable-Dehumidifier/dp/B000H0XFCS/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=small+dehumidifier&qid=1560274055&s=gateway&sr=8-16

[Anonymous No.1628003]

>>1627753
i got one of those, i just don't take it out and recharge it enough because it only lasts a few days

[Anonymous No.1628352]

>>1622391
could be from protien. if it has a funky smell you probably got VA

[Anonymous No.1628378]

>>1628003
maybe i'm just lucky because I've only recharged it once in the past year

[Anonymous No.1628524]

>>1627327
What filter do you own? How much did it cost?

[Anonymous No.1628627]

>>1625508
Howtobrew.com

[Anonymous No.1628630]

>>1626739
>>1626739
I don't care about it being "real", other than "real" tasty. I understand adding straight up lacto can be a bit one dimensional in flavor, but in this specific case I'm adding a lot of adjuncts like cucumber, coreander and lemon, so the sourness/funk doesn't need to be complex (I imagine, I've never done it). With this in mind, you think I can get away with just doing an acidulated malt secondary mash (basically the same thing as adding lacto)?

Right now, for this brew, I'm not really interested in anything that takes over 2 weeks.

[Anonymous No.1628634]

>>1627421
You never want to heat the honey above 90F.Just mix the honey and water in a fermenter with a whisk and add the appropriate amount of campden tablets. Wait a day before pitching your yeast.

You're also going to have to add oxygen to your must the first three days by whipping it with a sanitized whisk. Go slow though since it can easily foam over due to all the CO2 escaping.

>s-04 yeast

Always use a wine yeast and never an ale yeast strain since ale strains have been bred for a completely different environment. They do best at fermenting more complex sugars like maltose and require more free amino nitrogen than you would ever find in honey.

[Anonymous No.1628635]

>>1617223
add lactic acid directly (to taste) and see if it's good enough for you, increase complexity from there

[4chanisforfaggots No.1628799]

>>1596817
based

[Anonymous No.1629172]

>>1627102
bro this is such a perfect scenario to talk to a therapist and work on yourself. It's a smallish hurdle to get over, and it's exactly what therapists are taught to help fix. It takes real effort to get past, but it's worth it

[Anonymous No.1629450]

We need a new thread soon. We are autosaging

[Anonymous No.1629467]

New Thread
>>1629466
>>1629466
>>1629466
New Thread
>>1629466
>>1629466
>>1629466