/HBG/-Homebrew General

[Anonymous No.1988387]

the thread was dead
heres my shitty welch's wine racked in a rum bottle

[Anonymous No.1988712]

I just finished the sane thing. It smells like grape juice but it tastes like cheap ass wine...like md2020.

[Anonymous No.1988772]

>>1988387
If you want to drink shit just buy a handle of silver wolf, it is like $15 and will taste better.

[Anonymous No.1988774]

>>1988772
>implying people ITT are over 21

[Anonymous No.1988788]

>>1988774
Imagine having to be 21 to buy booze

[Anonymous No.1989083]

>>1988788
I've been using an old man latex halloween mask to buy booze. It's worked 9/10 times but alcohol is still expensive and I need a hobby. I'm 20 btw. Land of the free

[Anonymous No.1989116]

>>1989083
Lol I do it because the cheapest alcohol is 9,99€ for a 21 volt wine bottle

[Anonymous No.1989479]

So I'm getting kind of confused with how secondary fermentation/racking works.

>Clean and sanitize primary carbo
>add ingredients
>~8 days later airlock stops (CURRENTLY HERE)
>transport into another carboy
>add enough juice so liquid is about 1" from stopper
>Come back in ~6 months
>Add the sulfate
>Bottle
>Enjoy?

Also I'm seeing some places say hard cider is only good for a month or so once you bottle, but it takes like 6 months for it to clear up?

[Anonymous No.1989547]

Going to buy a couple chest freezers tomorrow. One for fermentation and one to convert to a large kegerator. I'm super pumped to be able to accommodate like 6 5g kegs at a time compared to the 2 I'm currently able to have.

[Anonymous No.1989671]

>>1989479
Cider ages really well. Use a beer yeast or saison yeast. After 1 month move from primary to secondary and add light oak. After 4-6 weeks on the oak go ahead and rack it again adding sulfites. Let it age and add sulfites every three months. When bottling do sulfites and sorbate. It should be good in the bottles for a few years.

[Anonymous No.1989701]

>>1989479
I don't use carboys for secondary ferm, I bottle condition them. You can easily keep beer/cider for a year or maybe longer depending?

[Anonymous No.1990600]

>>1989479
I would propably add the sulfate when you rack into secondary since that'll propably introduce some oxygen to your cider.

[Anonymous No.1990728]

Just made my first imperial stout and tried a glass of it before bottling, this shit turned out so great I think I'll start making another one immediately.
have any of you tried making an imp stout and know of a good recipe?

[Anonymous No.1990736]

>>1988387
I'm making a (hopefully) tropical dessert stout. If my measurements and math are accurate, it should be about 8%, sweet, and with any luck express the shrieking ghost of peaches or cherries before drowning their cries with dark caramel and chocolate.

[Anonymous No.1990738]

>>1989701
I find I need to secondary everything I do anyway - helps it get off the dead yeast, and helps speed up the acetaldehyde cleanup. Up to a week in primary, Up to two in secondary, and at least two weeks in the bottle.

[Anonymous No.1990751]

>>1989116
>21V
Umm... 3.743591661488 x 10-35 kilogram... 0.000000000004 yottalitres. That's a tiny bottle.

[Anonymous No.1991343]

>>1990738
Yeah I secondary everything I do too, but I let it do secondary in the bottle rather than in a carboy- better carbonation and lower risk of any oxidation. I use AY4 so I don't need to give it more than 48 hours for cleanup.

[Anonymous No.1993142]

>>1990736
That sounds fuckin delicious

[Anonymous No.1993175]

Retard here.

An old guy told me to heat my bottles in a simmering water bath after sterilisation to help them "push out" air inside. This is supposed to a) decrease oxygen in the bottle, stopping oxidation and b) make a vacuum so the bottle is less likely to burst with long storage.
However I can't see that it's gonna do shit. Do any anons have experience with something like this?

[Anonymous No.1993194]

>>1993175
That's a solid technique for canning but I've never heard of it being applied to beer. Personally, I wouldn't want to be reheating my beer which would pasteurise it and degrade the quality.

If you're worried about excessive oxygen in the bottles it's pretty cheap to buy caps with oxygen absorbers, you can get 1000 for less than $20.

As for decreasing risk of explosion, be careful with any sugar additions to the bottle and if you're still worried add some potassium sulphate which will stop any further fermentation taking place in the bottle.

[Anonymous No.1994397]

my brew just won't stop. it's been bubbling away for like 4 or 5 months.

[Anonymous No.1995152]

>>1994397
What are you brewing?

[Anonymous No.1995167]

>>1995152
apple wine

[Anonymous No.1995241]

>>1995167
Huh, have you checked the gravity recently?

[Anonymous No.1995461]

does dry active yeast just always taste/smell like shit? I've fermented apple juice, yeast(dry active) and some fruit and dead yeast and it smells like hot ass, it doesn't taste too bad just faintly fruity and only slightly dry, I've thrown in fresh apple juice and have bottled it. Will it make it or will it be trash?

[Anonymous No.1995464]

For beer, do y'all extract or all grain brew? And how long did it take for you to graduate to all grain? I'm still fairly new, only made about 6 beers. But all have been extract. I'm interested by all grain cause apparently you can make your brews more your own but not sure I'm ready for the additional equipment expense yet.

[Anonymous No.1995674]

Looking for some advice here, I made some elderberry and sloe wine using an old recipe I found. However after I had racked it I found out that elderberries need to be cooked before use to destroy the cyanide in them. Is there really any chance that my wine is poison or is the cyanide risk overblown?

For reference I used 300g of elderberries for 10L of wine

[Anonymous No.1995954]

>>1988387
fuggg, does anyone have any guides on making this simple cider from apple juice from the last thread?
i've got these huge 5l wine bottles from a gift, but i would need these funny rubber caps with these valvey things to put into them right? and something to sterilize the bottle and the yeast and i should be set

[Anonymous No.1996011]

>>1995464
I've always done all grain, I've never tried extract brewing personally. I know someone who still uses extract for their base malt but uses speciality malt when they're wanting to do something a bit different.

What's you're current setup like?

[Anonymous No.1996012]

>>1995674
Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiite.

[Anonymous No.1996014]

>>1995954
>funny rubber caps with these valvey things

An airlock with a rubber bung. Which you use either a little food-safe sanitiser or vodka to creat a barrier from oxygen, bacteria or other contaminants whilst letting gas out.

I would also recommend buying some potassium sulphate, it's not so expensive and it goes a long way. It will prevent any bottle explosions and allow you to backsweeten your cider if you want to do that.

>5l wine bottles

Carboy/Demijohn?

[Anonymous No.1996037]

>>1990736
just brewed my first imperial stout and it turned out beautifully at around 9,5%
to those of you who've added fruit or chilis, when is it best to add them to the fermentation and how much do I add to a 20l mash for a subtle flavor? for example I'm growing carolina reapers and ghost peppers, do I throw in one of each? half? ten?
really wanted to do something like a blueberry chili stout

[Anonymous No.1996051]

>>1995954
you don't really need an airlock, having something that somewhat seals the bottle so there's a slight overpressure is sufficient.

[Anonymous No.1996093]

>>1996014
>An airlock with a rubber bung.
yeah, that's the stuff and from what i've seen it goes for really cheap so will get a few of them
>a little food-safe sanitiser or vodka to creat a barrier from oxygen
so wait, i shouldn't sanitise the whole bottle before pouring in the juices?
>potassium sulphate
how would i go about using it?
>Carboy/Demijohn?
they're called "gąsior" in my cunt, a goose
>>1996051
yeah but these valves go for cheap, don't know how could i keep a slight overpressure with just a cap

[Anonymous No.1996109]

>>1996093
Do sanitise the whole bottle and any other equipment you're using. But you need to pour a little liquid into the actual airlock so that gases can get out but not in.

>Potassium Sulphate
There's more than one way to skin this cat but I'd add some at the end of primary fermentation.

>>1996051
I would definitely get an airlock, it helps you keep track of fermentation, keeps contamination risk low and, as anon pointed out, is so cheap I can't understand why you wouldn't get one.

[Anonymous No.1996115]

>>1995167
Are you sure its not vinegar at this point?

[Anonymous No.1996144]

>>1996011
Boil on the kitchen stove with a 4 gal kettle since my wort after boil with these extract recipe kits I get from my HBS is so small. Recently got a wort chiller which is awesome. Been investing in more fermentation containers and a large fridge so I can do lagers too. I feel like all grain is the next step I take, but larger kettle, outdoor burner, mash tun, hot liquor tank, etc got expensive when I priced it out.

[Anonymous No.1996160]

>>1996144
If you got a larger kettle you could use your old one as a hot liquor tank until you get a new one later on maybe?

I converted a cooler into a mash tun by sticking a ball valve tap with a bazooka screen on the side and using expanding foam to fully insulate it. Cost me just under $100 to end up with an 11 Gallon mash tun. The mash efficiency is good on it, it loses about 1° every two hours in a room that's ~66°. If you're into DIY it's a pretty fun project. I think the cheapest mash tun I could find at a similar size was about $175 with shipping.

[Anonymous No.1996172]

>>1996037
When you say subtle flavour is it the heat or the fruity flavour you're trying to extract?

[Anonymous No.1996177]

>>1996160
Yeah I was kind of surprised at the prices of mash tuns when it me it looks like a slightly modified Gatorade cooler. I'll look into DIY thanks. 1° every 2 hours sounds pretty damn efficient.

[Anonymous No.1996187]

>>1996037
>>1990736
helpful tip
acceptable stout flavors: coffee, chocolate, vanilla, toffee,

unacceptable flavors: passion fruit, mango, kale, cheddar, mapleberry boogaloo

[Anonymous No.1996254]

Hey /hbg/ checking in with my strawberry/banana/kiwi mess. Looks like she's about finished with primary!

Are there any homebrewing youtube channels you like to watch? Or any other sites/forums you frequent? I'd like to learn more in general.

[Anonymous No.1996558]

What would happen if I tried to ferment maple syrup?

[Anonymous No.1996573]

>added fermention stopper instead of yast
oopse haha

[Anonymous No.1996651]

>>1996558
You'd end up with some really expensive mead.

[Anonymous No.1997246]

>>1996558

I'd highly recommend splitting it at least 50:50 honey to maple syrup or even better 70:30 honey to maple syrup or the flavour will be so overpowering and as the other anon said, very expensive mead.

[Anonymous No.1997255]

I've fermented my beer 3 weeks now, would it matter if I let it ferment another 2 weeks? The final gravity is supposed to be 1.018 and it already hit 1.010, so it already has all the alcohol it needed and more

[Anonymous No.1997281]

>>1997255
Well it's probably gonna be unbalanced by this point so why not finish it?

[Anonymous No.1997389]

>>1996187
>gate keeping what is “acceptable” in beer

Fuck off. Good is good. Style guidelines are just that.

[Anonymous No.1997406]

Quick question. Tard here. Can you ferment meat in mead?
>what’s keeping fruit from rotting?
>can that keep meat from rotting?
Not a notion on taste. Just is it possible?

[Anonymous No.1997579]

>>1997406
Meat in beer would add a lot of fatty acids that are not desirable and would like lead to a lot of off flavours. The likelihood of being able to kill all the bacteria in a piece of meat is not great which would obviously lead to infection later so in theory, something like bacon rashers would be much easier than say a beef steak.

[Anonymous No.1997862]

>6 bushels of bananas
>4kg of brown sugar
>Raisins
>Black tea
>ec-1118
>Enough water to fill 5 gallons
Boil then add yeast once cooled. Enjoy.

[Anonymous No.1997866]

>>1993175
This is retard tier logic. The most autistic among us will purge bottles with pressurized CO2.
Oxidation is a meme and doesn't occur in a bottle setting but let the memetards overcomplicate their hobby.

[Anonymous No.1998094]

How long should I wait before I rack my wine? I put this stuff in the carboy yesterday and there's already a significant layer of sediment. Is there a benefit to racking more/less frequently?

[Anonymous No.1998113]

>>1988387
I can't for the life of me figure out how to use this without pumping it 40 times and over oxygenating my beer. Am I just retarded?

[Anonymous No.1998122]

>>1996012
Poison then?

[Anonymous No.1998123]

>>1998113
The end still needs to be lower, one pump is all you need

[Anonymous No.1998432]

>>1998094
>yesterday
Be patient, let it work for 2-3 weeks. That is fruit sediment that has flavors you want. after fermentation has calmed down you can rack it off the yeast layer and let it mature.

[Anonymous No.1998461]

>>1998113

Stick it in, pull the plunger to the top sucking in the liquid, push down to force it into the pipe. Ensure the hose end on the outside is below the bottom of the bucket (to ensure that it's below the intake so it'll keep flowing out)

[Anonymous No.1998467]

>>1993175
Heating it up will decrease the solubility of gases present, and when it you seal it when it's still hot it will create an underpressure when it cools down again.
There's some truth to it yes.

[Anonymous No.1998513]

>>1996558
try it out anon, i wanna see what happens
t. wants to make mead next time there's honey season

[Anonymous No.1998514]

>>1998122
Doesn't sound great. Maybe heat pasteurise it? There will be a flavour trade off but it wont be poisonous

[Anonymous No.1998618]

Does this look good to you?
in the middle is my ginger bug I've been cultivating since monday, it showed signs of bubbling on day 2 but nothing else so far
there is a lot of sediments that I usually associate with fermentation but otherwise it looks extremely stale, smell is still gingery and sweet

the left bottle is a 1L orange juice that I wanted to ferment with the ginger bug (that's why its the gingerbug doesn't have a lot of ginger pieces), it also has some sediment at the bottom, I can see no sign of fermentation or carbonation, even though I constantly pop the top open afraid of pressure build up, but usually there is nothing

on the right is my pickled eggplant/onion/garlic mixture, which is the only one going well so far, but I used my yogurt whey to kick start it
speaking of which, I did juice fermentation with the whey before and it worked out fine, but they said for to try with a proper gingerbug, considering I have whey (lacto) and sourdough (yeast) starters, isn't there a way I can use both to kick start a gingerbug for homebrew?

[Anonymous No.1998630]

>>1998618
To be more clear, I'm wondering if I should be worried, if I should still wait and hope for the best,
or even if could salvage it using some of my yogurt whey to the main bottle

[Anonymous No.1998636]

>>1998618
I'm sure it can be done, but I've never in my whole life had a citrus based wine that's palatable, even in commercial wine. Fermentation breaks down sugars which are the bulk of the fruit flavour and you're just left behind with something incredibly acidic and full of various vomit-like aromatics.
For reference I made an orange wine, tried it at 6, 12, and 24 months and it was shit at every stage.
Good luck though.

[Anonymous No.1998645]

peel the apples before making cider?

[Anonymous No.1998653]

>>1998645
also, cranberry wine a good idea? very many cranberrys two months ago before snow and ice came
what /hbg/ related with cloudberry?

[Anonymous No.1998665]

>>1998636
that's the point of the gingerbug though,
proper ginger beer for example is an exact example of that, taking lemon juice with the gingery taste, if lightly fermented it turns out fruity/citric refreshing ale
what I'm worried about its because there has been no carbonation, maybe I should just give it a bit more time

[Anonymous No.1998708]

>>1998514
Okay, just before I try that is there a way to test for cyanide?

[Anonymous No.1998792]

>>1998618
Okay, I just took a sip from the big jar, it feels stale and incredibly sweet, its only the second day though, no sign of yeast activation yet
should I wait more or try to salvage it with lacto fermentation?

On the other hand, it looks like the gingerbug itself has sprung to life again, as it seemed to have had some pressure when I opened it, no visual activity though, I'm afraid of excess sweetness killing the bacteria and resulting in mold

again I'm wondering, what if I take a little bit of my bread yeast along with lacto from whey, put the two together and strain the solid?

[Anonymous No.1998802]

>>1998645
probably a good idea
apple skins have a lot of yeast and bacteria on them and also have most of the tannins of the apple

[Anonymous No.1999008]

>>1998802
isn't that good though,
I remember seeing once the peel being used to help get starter going

[Anonymous No.1999012]

>>1988387
>ctrl+F mushrooms
>no results
protip: try using chaga tea

>>1997866
bottle refermenting is the way to go if you want good fizz, nuanced flavor, and long shelf life.

[Anonymous No.1999390]

>>1998653
Cranberry will produce a red wine like fruity beverage. It makes you pee a lot too. Good to share with people but not good to drink a bottle by yourself because of the pee thing. Needs much less aging time than red wine.

[Anonymous No.1999449]

>>1999390
every wine makes you pee anon

[Anonymous No.1999460]

>>1988387
>>>/tg/

[Anonymous No.1999464]

>>1998802
>>1999008
ty, wont peeled them this time, too many for me to peel
>>1999390
ty, does it age well in otherwise?

[Anonymous No.1999467]

>>1990751

>40 trillion dollars a litre

thats some expensive hooch

[Anonymous No.1999524]

>make three 5L bottles of cider
>do everything same in three of them, almost equal parts of yeast and juice
>all start to make foam
>one stops and bubbles fall down, barely any left and it doesn't produce any CO2
what gives?

[Anonymous No.1999722]

>>1999524
>>all start to make foam
Do you mean CO2 in the airlock or krausen?

>> barely any left
Barely any what left?

Couple of questions here: how long ago did you begin primary fermentation? How vigorous is the bubbling of the other fermenters?

If you have access to a hydrometer I would recommend taking a sample of the cider and checking the gravity.

Based on the information so far it could be that it has simply finished fermenting first. Alternatively it could be a possible infection?

[Anonymous No.1999777]

>>1998618
Ok I cave in, put some whey to lacto ferment my juice, its finally showing life, looks good, I'm just a bit worried about over fermenting and over pressurization now

the gingerbug looks the same still, whats the fucking deal there? what got me confused was the overwhelming sedimentation showing up at the bottom, something that usually only occurs with some organic build up somehow, now what is this if its not fermenting?

I'm seriously wondering why not just scoop in some sourdough for yeast and whey for lacto bacteria and try to build a gingerbug culture from that?

[Anonymous No.1999824]

>>1999449
Cranberry wine especially though. It has that stuff in it that causes frequent (but healthy) urination.
>>1999464
If you're gonna age it for a long time it'll lose fruitier characteristics that you may have liked. For anything over a year I'd add oak chips or a spice that will steal the show a little and make it less plain.

[Anonymous No.2000164]

>>1996172
both I guess, I do love the flavor of an imperial stout and I'd love some hint of blueberry, but I was also thinking the peppers would give you some heat, but obviously not make people sweat and run for milk.
I made a sourbeer the other day and I added about two liters of puree (mango and raspberry) to the fermentation, that beer was extremely fruity (but still good). obviously a sourbeer is more of a blank canvas for fruit flavors than an imp stout, but I'm still thinking I need less fruit. maybe 1l or 0.5l of blueberries would suffice.

[Anonymous No.2000493]

>>2000164
So blueberries I can't help you with because I personally don't like them so I've never used them in beer.

On the other hand, with chilli's here's some advice: the fruit flavour comes from the flesh and almost all the heat comes from the pith so if you want more of one or the other just remove some of what you don't want.

If it was me, in 5 gallon batch I would probably cut two reapers in half and soak them in vodka for at least 1 hour. (Don't chuck this vodka after, add some lime juice for a tasty beveragee) Then I would remove all the seeds and pith from two halves. And add it all to the start of the secondary ferment.

[Anonymous No.2000495]

>>1999824
>Cranberry wine especially though. It has that stuff in it that causes frequent (but healthy) urination.
I highly doubt it would be anywhere close to the diuretic effects of alcohol.

[Anonymous No.2000596]

>>1996187

Tropical stouts are the in between stout style between milk stouts and imperial stouts.

They can have tropical flavours or dark stone fruit flavours which complement the stout flavour profile. No you shouldn't dump a bunch of peaches or cherries into your stout, these flavours come from the malt, hops, and yeast.

[Anonymous No.2000628]

>>1999722
>Do you mean CO2 in the airlock or krausen?
krausen, just found out what it is
appeared at the second day of fermentation, and dissapeared in the fourth except for that one bottle where it collapsed in just few hours
>Barely any what left?
of krausen, at this point there's none, just leftover bubbles on top of the liquid
started fermenting four days ago, quite vigorous thru one day, ecause the house got warm from cooking)
>If you have access to a hydrometer I would recommend taking a sample of the cider and checking the gravity.
think i will get one, i just wanted to do this blindly with no meters and just mixing the ingredients together
>Based on the information so far it could be that it has simply finished fermenting first. Alternatively it could be a possible infection?
that's my take, but still don't want the whole bottle to fail on me :(
and thanks for the reply my man

[Anonymous No.2000651]

>>2000493
interesting, I'll try that. thanks

[Anonymous No.2000673]

>>2000628
To be honest, it sounds like it could have just finished fermenting especially if it's <7% ABV. Maybe let it finish up for a day or two and then sample it?

Would definitely recommend getting the hydrometer, super helpful

[Anonymous No.2000729]

>>1998708
You can get test kits that will tell you it's present, but you already know that. Maybe take a sample and send it to one of those tap water testing places? Idk, some sources say one cup of the stuff can make you sick but you need a couple glasses for it to kill you...I'd just set it aside and try again. If you're interested in chemistry then maybe try extracting the cyanide just because? But that will probably make it undrinkable.

[Anonymous No.2000982]

>got one 20l batch of barleywine that'll end up 11%
>two 20l batches of moonshine washes that'll end up 21% each
>all bubbling like crazy
>I can literally feel a breeze coming out of them
made me wonder how many batches fermenting at the same time I need for my room to reach dangerous levels of CO2.
at least I don't sleep in this room, just use my computer and work out

[Anonymous No.2001289]

I just went full retard and bought this starter kit
https://twojbrowar.pl/en/brewing-equipment/equipment-kits/brewing-starter-kit-for-mashing
Problem is that this kit seems to be missing a lot of stuff like, a big pot and a sock. My biggest pot at the moment is a 3.5 liter so I probably need to order a new one. Also because I don't speak polish I have no idea what most of the things that came with are supposed to be. Can someone quickly check if there is something else I'm also missing.

[Anonymous No.2001329]

>>1996558
Apparently all the maple flavor ferments out. For beer if I recall it's best to use it for bottling but use a very dark grade to preserve some flavor.
Look up Acerum

[Anonymous No.2001386]

>>2000982
Batches of a few liters only pump out a couple of 100 liters of gas in total, which is comparable to what an average human does in a single day. Maybe if you put an industrial fermenter in your bedroom and made your room airtight you'd get into trouble.

[Anonymous No.2001391]

>>2001289
>a sock

[Anonymous No.2001582]

I just started brewing back in october I got a 1 gallon kit for my birthday and thought it was fun so i bought another extract kit. After that i figured that i would upgrade to a five gallon set. Ive done two extract kits with that and now want to do an all grain set up. What is /diy/ opinion on a good mash tun and other equipment to get started on that?

[Anonymous No.2001742]

So is there anyone around more versed in the matters of fermentation, that knows a bit more on the whole process yeast and bacteria that goes on?

pic related, my ginger bug finally begun to carbonate a bit, it was already 7 days, and I left one day without feeding it, I suspect that encouraged the yeast environment to finally create some carbonation, but the culture sendimentation as pic related has been present for several days already

so what is the dynamic between yeast + lacto fermentation?
part of this batch that I put on a orange juice got super sweet and smooth, but it wasn't until I added a bit of yogurt whey (lacto bacteria) that it got a lot of carbonation, at the same time the taste went very sharp

[Anonymous No.2001770]

>>2001742
>so what is the dynamic between yeast + lacto fermentation?

What specifically do you want to know? They co-exist because they feed on different things. The yeast produce alcohol and carbon dioxide and the lactobacillus produce lactic acid and carbon dioxide.

[Anonymous No.2001780]

>>2001386
When I used to clean the fermentors at the distillery you gad to evacuate the C02 with a fan after you pump the wash out or else you'd pass out when you jump in the tank

[Anonymous No.2001902]

>>2001770
I remember reading about how first the yeast eats on the sugars, but still makes it sweet(?), and then lacto eats on the remainder of the yeast or something
it really didn't go deep into the subject, hence why I'm asking
do both carbonate on equal proportions?

again I'm not sure where I read this but there was also something anaerobic bacteria that starts acting after most of the yeast acted
this was something from when I my first sourdough starter went wrong, the flour turned into mush and the fermentation went into something very similar to beer fermentation with floaters going up and down

[Anonymous No.2002199]

>>2001902
>I remember reading about how first the yeast eats on the sugars, but still makes it sweet(?)

When you are mashing grains you bread down non-fermentable starches into fermentable sugars such as glucose, maltose, fructose while also producing non-fermentable sugars such as dextrins. Fermentable sugars are food for your yeast, they will be converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Non-fermentable sugars such as dextrin will contribute to perceived sweetness and possibly mouthfeel. You can also add both of these types of sugars to your mash; fermentable sugars will increase the ABV without contributing too much flavour and non-fermentables will add body and possibly sweetness- like adding lactose to a stout.

As well as fuel, yeast need oxygen to survive. Once they have eaten most/all available sugars they will "flocculate", they will clump together and drop to the bottom of the beer. This layer at the bottom of your fermenter is called 'trub'.

, and then lacto eats on the remainder of the yeast or something

Lactobacillus is a anaerobic bacteria which converts sugars including non-fermentable sugars such as lactose into lactic acid. If they become stressed they can produce small amounts of ethanol and other compounds that produce off flavours. There are lots of strains of lactobacillus which mostly co-exist with yeast. However they will dominate other bacteria present and when stressed they will begin consuming yeast present. It's common practice to separate a small amount of wort to innoculate that with lacto and no yeast. This way the main portion which is innoculated with yeast can still ferment the right amount of sugars into alcohol and separately the lacto can establish a culture with no competition for food. Then the two can be mixed to allow you to get the desired sourness and dryness. There are other ways you can add the lacto but this is one of the most straightforward ways for a homebrew set-up.

1/2

[Anonymous No.2002203]

>>2001902
>do both carbonate on equal proportions?

I couldn't quote you exactly how much carbon dioxide they both produce as it's going to depend on the strain, attentuation, sugars available etc. But it's my understanding that yeast produces more carbon dioxide that lacto.

>this was something from when I my first sourdough starter went wrong, the flour turned into mush and the fermentation went into something very similar to beer fermentation with floaters going up and down

This sounds like a sourdough starter that went very wrong. You need to discard and feed regularly. If the organisms become stressed the yeast starts feeding on itself and produces alcohols and other compounds which you don't want. Refrigerate it when you're not using it to slow these reactions down and reduce how often it needs to be fed.

Hope all this helps, it's a lot of information so if there's anything I haven't explained well fire some more questions.

2/2

[Anonymous No.2002298]

>>2002199
>>2002203
that's great stuff anon exactly what I was looking for
so let me see if I got this right, I put lots of brown sugar in the first days of creating the gingerbug, about 10g a day along with new ginger pieces, the trub layer was formed but there was no noticeable carbonation going on, so I was worrying if there is a healthy population of yeast or not, also to note I constantly shaking and opening the bottle,
that would also explain what happened what happened with my orange juice ferment, on the fifth day I got a portion of this same ginger bug and put on a brew what was going to come out, a few days later it was very sweet and smooth, but I didn't know if that was all un-fermented from the orange and surplus sugar I put in originally, but given what you said you could as well be yeast and non-fermentable sugars around, noting that there was also a decent trub layer, but again, nearly no pressure of gas creation
after I added whey from yogurt, it turned very quickly into a sharp taste, probably the lactic acid and only the citric elements remaining, also a lot of carbonation to the point it almost rushed out when I opened it

so what exactly is going on there? is my logic correct?

I'm still trying to figure out why the yeast itself is not giving a reasonable amount of carbonation, but maybe its too little sugar, after all juices like that are very light ales with 1~2% ABV at most
also worth noting, I just got my fermentation tools in mail, so my next try I can use a proper airlock and not worry too much about the bottle blowing up, I also just found a sugar cane juice provider very close to me, so using that as a sweetener instead should prove interesting, its seems that if leave the sugar juice alone it will even ferment by its own accord

[Anonymous No.2002306]

>>2002203
>This sounds like a sourdough starter that went very wrong. You need to discard and feed regularly. If the organisms become stressed the yeast starts feeding on itself and produces alcohols and other compounds which you don't want. Refrigerate it when you're not using it to slow these reactions down and reduce how often it needs to be fed.
yes this was my first attempt and I had to trash it, I didn't discard everyday and the culture became too big for the feedings which must've stressed it, pic related is from may last year
but it makes me wonder if the same thing couldn't happen with the gingerbug too little feedings and over cultivation
my current starter is doing great though, its been going for several months and I don't ever have to discard since I make bread regularly

[Anonymous No.2002313]

>>2002298
>so what exactly is going on there? Is my logic correct

Okay so, in the presence of oxygen the yeast will reproduce. During this time you won't see any activity as it won't be producing alcohol or carbon dioxide. Once it has used up it's oxygen source that is when it starts to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol.

So it's actually a lot more straightforward, once you start the culture, leave it alone. It will need up to a week or possibly longer to do it's thing.

Adding whey has just added a bunch of bacteria which as you said make it sour. However there's now less food around for the yeast so they won't be able to produce as much alcohol or carbon dioxide.

[Anonymous No.2002337]

>>2002313
>During this time you won't see any activity as it won't be producing alcohol or carbon dioxide. Once it has used up it's oxygen source that is when it starts to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol.
OHHHH, so that's what was going on, because I kept frequently shaking the bottle to give more air mixture to the yeast, so even yeast will only produce alcohol and gas when stressed?

[Anonymous No.2002372]

>>2002337
It's not that the yeast are stressed, they just react differently in the absence of oxygen.

[Anonymous No.2003179]

>>2001780
The first time I made wine I was so excited when it was time to bottle, so I shoved my whole face into the bucket immediately after opening to smell it.
It smelled real spicy (like chlorine gas spicy) and then blacked out for a second and my vision came back when I was on my back. Luckily I was already sitting on the ground.

[Anonymous No.2003276]

>>2001742
two different enzymes with similar by-products, namely CO2 and your end product.

alcohol fermentation = anaerobic glycolysis via the enzyme family alcohol dehydrogenase. in S. cerevisiae the Adh enzyme yields ethanol (duh) and CO2, but in the presence of oxygen a different metabolic pathway will activate and produce acetic acid (vinegar) instead of ethanol.

lactic acid fermentation = same process but catalyzed by lactate dehydrogenase.

in both cases the cell metabolism breaks down simple sugars into ATP and waste products in oxidation-reduction reactions, the waste being the alcohol/yoghurt/whatever.

the dynamic between the two shouldn't matter much if you're using two discreet organisms with enough food to support them, and none of the ingredients are toxic to the fermentation organisms.

in the case of kombucha, you're really growing a SCOBY which is a type of biofilm / super-organism where many different yeast+bacteria operate symbiotically as one organism.

[Anonymous No.2003278]

>>2002203
also, if you grow yeast in a nutrient-deprived environment, it will grow as a filamentous fungus instead of budding into unicellular copies. not really relevant, just a fun fact.

[Anonymous No.2003620]

Guys how do you get mead to be bubbly like Champagne? Do you have to add sugar before bottling like with beer or can I just use champagne yeast?

[Anonymous No.2003645]

>>2003620
Same way as beer. Cheating mode is just putting it in soda bottles with an eyeballed amount of sugar. Soda bottles can handle much more pressure than glass ones.

[Anonymous No.2003778]

>>2003620
Like beer, use about 2.5g of brewing sugar and you'll get carbonation but I'm not sure it will be the same as that champagne action you're looking for

[Anonymous No.2003883]

>>2003620
you're going to have to use some sugar, yeast by itself is not going to produce CO2. you could of course force carbonate it in a keg, but that's a pretty expensive route to go.
I use this calculator to decide how much sugar I use. I'd personally aim for something like 3-4 vol of CO2. Champagne should have 6 volumes of CO2 but a regular glass bottle is probably not going to handle that
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/..
dissolve the sugar in water before adding it to the mead and then bottle it

[Anonymous No.2003997]

>>2003883
>dissolve the sugar in water before adding it to the mead and then bottle it
Why not just add the sugar to the bottles?

[Anonymous No.2004043]

>>2003997
If you're moving it from a fermenting bucket to the bottles, I remember seeing a guy use a funnel, and then let the sugar slowly mix in as your pour the brew into the bottle, all of this before priming
it could also be done by dropping sugar directly into the bottle, if the is already there, but that's less than optimal and would required a good shake for the sugar to mix, which is something you don't want to do if your goals is to retain more gas pressure
having it planned before hand, where you leave a bit more of space inside the bottle and then use a prepared syrup mixed sugar could do the trick very well, but I would say this is the more troublesome of all methods

[Anonymous No.2004125]

>>2004043
Yeah I mean I've been doing it by adding sugar to the bottles for years and there's no issue with carbonation and you definitely don't need to shake it

[Anonymous No.2004234]

>>2004125
well it can be a bit awkward depending on how you do it, so how you do it?
refined sugar? using a funnel or large bottle mouth?
I guess isn't a problem the sugar falling to the bottom because most of the organic sediment is at the bottom already
by the way, I meant to ask, I using a airlock for the first time, doesn't it naturally keep a higher pressure on the liquid?

[Anonymous No.2004580]

>>1996011
pretty simple to upgrade to a BIAB(boil in a bag). Just made the jump to all grain today. Wasn't much different on the brew side, but my grains were much cheaper than buying extract. Hit an OG of 1.050 which was only off by a point or two from brew father's calcs. Try it out. The bags are cheap and reusable

[Anonymous No.2004690]

>>2003620
Prime with sugar and allow to ferment in bottle. Use bottles rated for pressure or you will have a small to medium mess on your hands. Since it's mead and probably already dry, you don't need to worry so much about contamination by diastaticus or something but try to keep the DO low
>>2003645
local store used to sell brown plastic bottles and plastic oxy caps that screwed onto them. All the boomers in my area apparently wouldn't buy them and I keg now so I don't have any reason to request them. But they're out there

[Anonymous No.2004857]

>>1988387
I swear, every time this thread comes back it slides even further from Jesus. I helped write the last coherent thread FAQ, but I guess it's partly my fault no one thought to save it to pastebin.

DESU, 99% of the questions here can be answered by reading reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/index or .reddit.com/r/prisonhooch/comments/4r0m47/a_hooch_primer_for_n00bs/

[Anonymous No.2004858]

>>1993175
That technique is primarily to pasteurize. You really only need to do that if the brew didn't stop fermenting fully. With proper brewing practices, this is completely unnecessary.

[Anonymous No.2004860]

>>2004857
The problem is that no one can be assed to properly keep the threads rolling so it just expires, someone makes a random thread because there isn't a general which gets some discussion for a little bit before dying and then someone finally makes another /hbg/.

[Anonymous No.2004861]

>>1990738
Are you doing mead? Most cider and beer don't need secondaries.

[Anonymous No.2004865]

>>2004861
>Most cider and beer don't need secondaries.
Beer doesn't need matured. Ok bro thanks for the misinformation.

[Anonymous No.2004867]

>>2004865
Just do a longer primary mate. Beer definitely needs maturation time, but you don't need to transfer off of lees in a homebrew context. Autolysis risk is basically nil on the scale that most of us are brewing on. If you don't believe me, Denny Conn is a award-winning brewer and writer.
https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/88/if-when-to-move-to-secondary-fermentation

[Anonymous No.2004869]

>>2004867
I'll just post the quote:
"
Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering. With the right pitching rate, using fresh healthy yeast, and proper aeration of the wort prior to pitching, the fermentation of the beer will be complete within 3-8 days (bigger = longer). This time period includes the secondary or conditioning phase of fermentation when the yeast clean up acetaldehyde and diacetyl. The real purpose of lagering a beer is to use the colder temperatures to encourage the yeast to flocculate and promote the precipitation and sedimentation of microparticles and haze.

So, the new rule of thumb: don’t rack a beer to a secondary, ever, unless you are going to conduct a secondary fermentation.
"

[Anonymous No.2004921]

>>2004867
Yeah i always wonder why people here recommend racking after like 10 days when it's completely useless.

[Anonymous No.2004929]

>>2004867
Yeah I'm not maturing it out of autolysis fear. I'm bottle conditioning beer, it's usually something like a stout/porter so I'm adding brewing sugar so that it is well carbonated and letting the flavours round out. Generally if I make a lager or an IPA I'll keg condition it so it's a bit different. Or if it's something like a saison then I will do secondary in a fermenting bucket but only because I'm probably using fruit/oak chips or something else than needs a bigger vessel.

There's clearly more than one school of thought on secondary and clearly knowledgeable people on each side. Personally I think if it's being bottle-conditioner you have to add sugar or your beer will taste dead.

>just do a longer primary
This just doesn't address any of the reasons why maturation is useful.

[Anonymous No.2004931]

>>2004869
Every cask ale commercially made is secondary fermented.

Lager is a completely different kettle of fish and I wouldn't waste my time doing secondary on lager. But I probably only brewing lagers 2/3 times a year because they're shite.

[Anonymous No.2004985]

>>2004921
Way back when you had a very good chance of your active dry yeast losing out to atmospheric bacteria, a secondary fermentation was recommended because boomer reasons. After active dry yeast became much much more advanced, the boomers couldn't let go if their old habits and haunt the hobby to this day.

[Anonymous No.2004987]

>>2004860
I will consider baking the next one properly with good info. I'll post a recipe and we can all do a brew along maybe.
I'd like for there to be more traffic in here so I'll shill brewing and hbg on other boards.

[Anonymous No.2005067]

>>2004987
thanks a lot anon, i'd love to see all the links
t. newbie making cider out of apple juice from a shop

[Anonymous No.2005376]

MAMA MIA
I'm making it reddit!

this is super satisfying
its been two days quiet on the counter, this is the third, good sign right?
now I asked this before, do you still have a slight higher level of carbonation still with the airlock?
if not tomorrow I'm gonna put the top on, wait another day and then put it on the fridge for consumption,
I don't think there is even enough sugar in the mixture for that, and either way I would like a more light fruity beverage
fyi this is a lemon cider, cultured with ginger bug

[Anonymous No.2005452]

>>2004931
In North America, we just call that bottle/keg conditioning and that is considered non-controversial. I'm guessing you're European? It's just a difference of language. I bottle condition so technically I'm doing a secondary fermentation, I just bottle straight from my fermenter though.

[Anonymous No.2005456]

>>2005376
Why do people use that kind of airlock? Is it any better than pic related?

[Anonymous No.2005458]

>>2004921
I agree. If it's beer, it's likely done after 10 days so it's straight to packaging (keg or bottle). If it needs more time at that point... just wait ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Anonymous No.2005460]

>>2005376
You overfilled your lock. It's not a big deal, but if there's suckback (from a pressure/temperature change), then more airlock liquid is going into your brew. Pro-tip: the marked lines on bubbly parts are the fill lines.

[Anonymous No.2005475]

>>2005460
well, I literally filled to just a bit over that line

>>2005456
I don't think there is that much of a difference, maybe a more reliable mechanism
but overall they accomplish the same thing, I just bought what they had

[Anonymous No.2005476]

>>2005376
now, could you answer my actual question?

[Anonymous No.2005513]

>>2005456
Worse imo. S airlocks are more annoying to clean if krausen gunk gets in there. You need a flexible brush to do it properly. The 3 piece airlocks you can just open and clean after soaking in sanitizer

[Anonymous No.2005654]

>one week of cider made from store bought apple juice
>this pre-cider tastes like cider, a little bit fuzzy but not alcoholic yet pleasant
>plan to bottle 5l in a week, another 5l in two weeks and the last 5l in three weeks
feeling good, lads
but what amount of sugar would you add to the 5l bottles before bottling to get a bigger fizz going?

[Anonymous No.2005671]

>>2005460
>It's not a big deal, but if there's suckback (from a pressure/temperature change), then more airlock liquid is going into your brew
That never happens, or at least not with these S-type locks. If there is an underpressure in the carboy for whatever reason it just starts bubbling in the other direction.

[Anonymous No.2005724]

>>2005671
nah I can see what he meant, its because its overfilled
wasn't a problem for me though

[Anonymous No.2005739]

>>2005724
Even if you overfill it the extra liquid will just get pushed out by the C02, so even if there's an underpressure after the fermentation finished you won't get liquid from the lock into the fermenter.

[Anonymous No.2006055]

so I started my first ever JAOM on Christmas Eve, it's been less than a month and it's already clear
should I still give it the full 2 months?
I thought clearing indicates that it's ready for bottling, although I'm still waiting on a corker, and I guess I need some kind of filter from what I understand, since the sediment is so easily disturbed

[Anonymous No.2006322]

Hello brewers, any ideas for cheap walmart hooch? The goal here being to make the best homebrew from relatively cheap, quality must. My favorite recipes are martinelli's cider with dc-111, have it come out flat then backsweeten. Makes hard cider thats hard to beat. Or the classic grape juice wine, personal i add some lemon or tangerine peels for a little complexity. Yeast nutrient is always a plus. From now on, im going to use the handle "sailboat" many of you know who i am, and id like to keep up conversations. Is this a good idea or no?

[Anon No.2006480]

Buddy and I are having a brew-off with a novelty beer style. We've both got to brew a gallon of White Stout, rules are: we both have to use the same yeast Fermoale AY4 and do all grain brewing. Our beers must be pale, must have typical stout flavours, chocolate, coffee, caramel flavours and should be above 7%. Then we're going to bottle them up and send a few to friends so they can decide who has brewed the best White Stout.

Anyone else brewed this gimmick before?

[Anonymous No.2006760]

>>1996558
my trees get tapped every year, so I had quite a bit on hand. I was obsessed with making this work for a few years, heres what I learned:
>everyone will tell you it's a bad idea
>it ferments very well
>it has an incredible mouth feel and carbonation


>it tastes like shit. Every. Time.

Two dozen yeasts, cold crashed at 10 different gravitys, tried all of my wine and mead tricks. Best I got was something you might call "carrot-y". Most of the time I got something I'd akin to "drinking steel reserve in the Denny's dumpster"

Seriously, I wouldn't use it over about 10%, and only then in a dark ale or something used to kill weeds. Usually I stick to a "dont throw it out for 5 years" rule that's really saved some meads, but this stuff haunts me and taunts me from my basement.

[Anonymous No.2006761]

Am I in danger of having my shit turn to vinegar?
After almost exactly one month the gravity has gone from 83 to 23 and I decided to rack it but a lot was lost as there was a lot of sediment, will the extra air on the top make my shit into vinegar or am I safe for a week to check that fermentation is over so I can bottle?

[Anonymous No.2006768]

>>1995674
You'd probably be fine. It doesnt bioaccumulate, and a lethal dose is pretty large.
https://youtu.be/vLSfVnhqQ7w

[Anonymous No.2006902]

Anyone use 54 litre demijohns? What kind of surface do you have to support its weight?

[Anonymous No.2006909]

>>2006322
Look for 100% juice concentrate (anything non citrus), calculate the weight of the sugar in each can using the nutrition label, determine how many cans you need to achieve a desired abv based off of the calculator below, and ferment it.
https://brewhaus.com/calculate-potential-alcohol-percentage-from-fermentation-based-on-amount-of-sugar-used/

[Anonymous No.2006944]

>>2006480
I've done one of that, though I lost the recipe with my old HDD. Lean heavy into your oats and lactose, with dextrine malt for mouthfeel. If you want significant chocolate flavor you might want to consider a tiny amount of chocolate flavor extract, because it's hard to use patent malt or chocolate roast malts in a way to get a lot of flavor without getting much color imo.
>>2006761
h e a d r o o m
did you purge with co2 before you put it in there? the DO from when you transferred in is probably as much of a concern, if it's still outgassing you might be fine on the headroom air. If there's not any airlock activity then you are probably good to bottle

[Anonymous No.2007099]

>>2006944
>Lean heavy into your oats and lactose, with dextrine malt for mouthfeel. If you want significant chocolate flavor you might want to consider a tiny amount of chocolate flavor extract

Yeah my base malt is a pale wheat so I've added oats, pumped it full of lactose and added cacao nibs, vanilla bean and tonka. Hoping that the lactose balances out any bitterness from the other adjuncts

[Anonymous No.2007142]

Anyone used leftover trub/yeast cake to make bread? I just transferred a heff to secondary and put as much trub as I could get in a mason jar. Thinking of trying a sourdough recipe and sub the bread yeast for 2x of yeasty trub. Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.2007200]

>>2006760
yeah, it makes sense to use as a sweetener agent like honey, not only for mead, but for other ciders
wouldn't make sense also to let it ferment fully, but leave some of the sugar midway (or adding it midway), so it preserves more of the maple flavor?

[Anonymous No.2007279]

>>2007142
This is how non soured bread was made before active dry yeast. I can't tell you how it'll taste though as I've never done it but it will work.

[Anonymous No.2007336]

>>2006944
>did you purge with co2
No, how would you do that?
>the DO from when you transferred in
What’s a DO?
>if it’s still outgassing you might be fine
The airlock is bubbling albeit at an extremely slow pace, I just noticed now after a couple hours some whispy shit has formed, hopefully it’s just sediment

[Anonymous No.2007360]

>>2007336
>purge with co2
if you have a co2 tank for a keg you can use this. Otherwise you can rig up a shit way to do it with little co2 canisters for bb guns
>what's DO
dissolved oxygen, ie what makes stuff spoil and taste bad and allows the growth of acetobacter that forms vinegar. Everything past the pitching you want to avoid getting oxygen or bubbles in the brew because you will suffer major quality loss if you pickup a lot of oxygen. Having it sit in the headspace is bad, turbulent transfers are worse
>airlock bubbling
try smelling it to see if there's anything off, but you're probably good to bottle

[Anonymous No.2007361]

>>2005475
ah a really vigorous fermentation then.

[Anonymous No.2007422]

>>2007142
I haven't tried using trub but every time I take a gravity sample towards the end it goes straight into some sourdough. Anything with loads of hops make great bread for a ham and cheese sandwich and anything with dark malts make a good pb+j

[Anonymous No.2007470]

>>1988387
4 chan give me the best yeast for hard cider

[Anonymous No.2007607]

Is there any recommendations to make citric cider smoother?
I'm talking about light orange/lemon or similar ales

[Anonymous No.2007716]

How long do I need to keep a bottle before I know it won’t explode?

[Anonymous No.2007732]

>>2007716
you can't just experiment :)

[Anonymous No.2007782]

Has anyone ever tried squeezing wine out of sediment? I have almost 2 gallons of sediment in my 5 gallon carboy

[in all fields No.2007791]

>>1988772
This many replies and not one person has said:
Buy? This is /diy/

[Anonymous No.2007821]

>>2007470
People will say white wine or champagne, but IMO ale yeast works really well. Saison is nice for a "plain" cider because it adds some baking spice notes. Adding a little bit of nutrient (fermaid or DAP if you're cheap) will go a long way in a quicker and cleaner fermentation.

[Anonymous No.2008176]

Found a jank method to distill liquor using only items you're almost guaranteed to have in your kitchen. I was getting delicious brandy that tasted like 40-50% abv. I'll be posting a picture guide here tomorrow or the next day hopefully.

[Anonymous No.2008210]

>>2007821
how I can enhance the flavor?

[Anonymous No.2008275]

>>2008176
Staying tuned for more

[Anonymous No.2008307]

have any of you tried Kveik yeast? just tried it with an imp stout. original gravity was 1.107 and I swear the fermentation has finished only two days after the brew day. if this beer actually tastes good this yeast is too good to be true

[Anonymous No.2008339]

>>2008307
Yeah it is really aggressive, finishes fast and flocculates nicely. It probably wants an extra day just to do any cleanup. The only other recommendation I'd make, is if you're bottling it with any sugar for carbonation you might need to pinch a microdose of yeast because there's likely none left, it flocculates like crazy.

I've tried it on pale ales and IPA's but not on stouts so update us on how it turns out

[Anonymous No.2008404]

>>2008339
how do you pitch the yeast, do you need to let the yeast sit there for some time or do you just stir it in with the sugar right before bottling?

[Anonymous No.2008627]

>>2008307
Used it to make a batch of pseudo-lager when I had to toss the fridge I normally use for controlling fermentation temps. Kveik is expensive to pitch but you can get something very close to lager cleanness fermenting at 80F, which makes it worthwhile. It will churn through a full fermentation in about two days for basically anything
>>2008339
Probably unnecessary, though it would speed it up a lot I imagine. The trub is mostly proteins and hop gunk but there should still be viable yeast cells in suspension unless it's super high alcohol content. Otherwise you could just agitate the bottom a tiny bit 5 or 10 minutes before you bottle with your siphon and you'd probably get enough back to have a normal bottle carb speed

[Anonymous No.2008685]

>>2008627
>Probably unnecessary, though it would speed it up a lot I imagine. The trub is mostly proteins and hop gunk but there should still be viable yeast cells in suspension unless it's super high alcohol content

Nah it flocculates like feck as I already said

[Anonymous No.2008707]

>>2008176
Here is what you need to start:
Shitty wine that's gone stale or some wash
1 stock pot with a curved lid
1 stainless steel colander
1 stainless steel bowl
Lots of ice
Salt

Begin by pouring your stale wine into a stockpot

[Anonymous No.2008709]

>>2008707
Flip your colander upside down and turn the heat to low

[Anonymous No.2008712]

>>2008709
Put a bowl on the colander and put the lid on UPSIDE DOWN. This will catch the alcohol drippings.

[Anonymous No.2008713]

>>2008712
Fill the lid with ice and salt keep heat fairly low

[Anonymous No.2008715]

>>2008713
As soon as you see alcohol condensing on the inside of the lid turn the heat as low as it can go. Alcohol will start to run down the lid and collect in a bowl.

[Anonymous No.2008717]

>>2008715
I got this from running it for 15 minutes before I ran out of ice. Could have gone much longer if I had more ice, but the wine was going down the drain anyways because it went stale in a half drank bottle.

[Anonymous No.2008724]

>>2008717
On methanol and why it's a meme:
https://www.reddit.com/r/firewater/comments/cv4bu8/methanol_some_information/
Tl;Dr methanol is only a concern in huge (1000 litre plus) bulk distillation setups. When you distill alcohol, even though methanol mostly comes out first, a lot of the methanol will stay behind with the alcohol and make it into your final distillate.
Basically, if you can drink all the methanol ALREADY in a bottle of wine, distilling a bottle of wine won't create more and make you blind.

[Anonymous No.2008835]

>>2008717
I have some shitty wine I might have to try this

[Anonymous No.2008977]

>>2008724
soon your eyes will be meme :^)

[Anonymous No.2008989]

>>2008977
Explain why drinking an entire bottle of wine won't make you go blind but drinking an entire bottle of distilled wine will

[Anonymous No.2008991]

>>2008989
simple in the wine we don't have a lot of methanol
but during heat distillation the concentration can become really dangerous

[Anonymous No.2008993]

>>2008724
methanol isn't an issue but you should still discard the first and last runnings because they contain nasty volatile alcohols and fusel alcohols and you will get a better product without them
>>2008991
the contents are the same; there is not enough methanol in a bottle of wine to hurt you. If you were to drink more than a few bottles of wine, you might run into an issue, that is if the ethanol doesn't do you in first

[Anonymous No.2009003]

>>2008210
https://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/diy-hard-cider/Content?oid=11213895

scroll down to "finessing your cider"

[Anonymous No.2009007]

>>2009003
ty bro

[Anonymous No.2009034]

>want to bottle my cider
>the yeast is still working
>don't have any good bottles that would contain carbonation
what do? warm it up to kill the yeast or can i somehow make it so that the glass bottles won't explode?
t. city store bought apple juice brewer

[Anonymous No.2009050]

>>2009034
Pasteurize by heating or usepotassium sorbate to knock out the yeast. FYI it might actually be done fermenting, fermented product will continue off-gassing CO2 after fermentation is done. Unless it's fermenting under bad conditions (too high starting gravity, outside of adequate temperature range) it should be done fermenting within a month. Mead famously takes long to ferment because honey by itself lacks nutrients and the yeast will stall out, but cider will chug along.

[Anonymous No.2009053]

>>2009050
oh snap, i've already just bottled them it but will take your advice
how long would you reckon it'd take to pasteurize already bottled cider?

[Anonymous No.2009085]

>>2008717
>>2008724
I can see this being useful to harvest some alcohol for cleaning/sanitation purposes, is it good to use like that?

[Anonymous No.2009200]

>>2009085
Not really. You're better off buying denatured alcohol. Ethanol is for drinking, you won't get enough ethanol from this method to do anything worthwhile.

[Anonymous No.2009203]

>>2008991
>but during heat distillation the concentration can become really dangerous
Boomers need to leave my board. Distillation cannot break the laws of thermodynamics full stop.

[Anonymous No.2009301]

>drink friends homebrew
>get drunk
>start violently throwing up afterwards

[Anonymous No.2009308]

>>2009301
Either its the alcohol or live yeast. I get the shits from anything that hasn't had at least 2 weeks aging.

[Anonymous No.2009310]

>>2007142
Thanks for the confidence other anons. I made my heff bread last night. I need to mess with my bake temps cause it took like 2 hours, but came out great. Pretty dense but very wheaty and a little bitter near the center. Was great this morning with some butter and heated in the cast iron. Went well with the eggs/bacon.

[Anonymous No.2009355]

>>2009203
how is that breaking any laws of physics? distillation is literally increasing concentration

[Anonymous No.2009357]

>>2009310
looks like shit, but its something, I've been baking for months now if you want any tips
how are you cooking it? to properly bake bread you need at less +200°C

[Anonymous No.2009365]

>>2009357
Yeah it tastes better than it looks. My expectations were rock bottom so I was just happy it didn't make me gag.
I followed some recipe online that said to bake 220 for 40 minutes and then 180 for 10. But they did theirs in a dutch oven and mine was just on the pan. After about an hour and a half I cranked it to ~400 just so it would brown. I have a roast tin that I can use as a pseudo dutch oven? Would definitely appreciate some tips.

[Anonymous No.2009370]

>>2009365
My temps are F. So looks like I really need to crank the oven up

[Anonymous No.2009529]

>>2009365
>I followed some recipe online that said to bake 220 for 40 minutes and then 180 for 10
>>2009370
>My temps are F. So looks like I really need to crank the oven up
lmao, yeah, another loss for imperial cucks, that explains it then
if it was a 1:30h to 200°C it would've burned to a chalk
so first and foremost, you need to test your oven, is it a electric? first you need to heat it up, that's why they said 40min, specially with a dutch oven, but that's because they need to heat it up, but its best to let the oven heat by itself, and the when its already pretty hot so it spruces up, baking time should be around 20~30min but since you don't to open up your dutch oven, it could be way shorter, so keep an eye until browns enough

but by far the most important thing is mixing in your dough, kneading and folding, which inevitably only experience can teach you, properly shaping the dough while keeping gluten strength is key to letting it grown in that plump way good bread looks like, then its a question of giving it enough time to grow without getting it overproofed, which also will rely on personal experience, since it involves a huge number of factors like yeast strength, temperature, even flour

[Anonymous No.2009550]

>>2009310

Sourdough shouldn't take more than an hour in an oven over 200°C. I usually bake mine at 230 with the lid on for the first 20 minutes and then at 210 with the lid off for the next 35-45 mins depending on the loaf size

[Anonymous No.2009629]

>>2009529
Yeah I'm fucking stupid used F without thinking. I still have a decent amount of yeast left so I'll try again over the weekend. Gas stove so I'll preheat and let sit for a few. And mine didn't rise too much when I left it overnight. I probably did not knead enough though.
>>2009550
I think I'll try baking in a tin. Not ready to invest in the dutch oven quite yet.

[Anonymous No.2009650]

>>2009629
Put a little dish with little bit of water in the oven at the same time then

[Anonymous No.2009703]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WirxYyNi68g&t=572s
I followed this recipe to make hard apple cider, it reads 1.0 on the hydrometer, has no bubbles, and seems very clear to me, the recipe says to wait at least a month but I'm only about 2 weeks in, Would this be for any other reason than to clear it? I also tasted some when I took my hydrometer reading and it was extremely dry, but tasted good. I just have to backsweeten and bottle carbonate from this point. Just wondering if i should stick out the rest of the month.

[Anonymous No.2009910]

>>2009310
Congratulations, it's a brick. Don't feel bad, we've all been there.

[Anonymous No.2009911]

>>2009053
I would avoid pasteurizing and just let it be. Unless you were autistically careful about your transfers you probably picked up enough oxygen that heating it would make it gross. So long as you're using actual beer bottles and caps you should be fine even if it puts on a little pressure, and you should actually probably hope it does
>>2009355
distillation cannot add more methanol than there was in the original product into the final product. if you can drink a bottle of wine safely, drinking the same post-distillation would be fine

[Anonymous No.2009930]

>>2009703
The longer you leave it the better it will taste, you can start drinking early but you'll find the bottles you get to later will be more smooth

[Anonymous No.2010021]

>>2009930
doesn't it have a risk of killing off yeast leaving it too long? and if so, also being unable to carbonate after bottling?

>>2009911
>distillation cannot add more methanol than there was in the original product into the final product
CONCENTRATION nigger, if you have the same amount of methanol in input and output, but the output has half the volume of input, then you end up with double the concentration

[Anonymous No.2010023]

>>2010021
>and if so, also being unable to carbonate after bottling?
I'm no cider man but you can always pitch fresh yeast if you need to

[Anonymous No.2010024]

Alright fags,

>100g mature gingerbug
>400g orange juice
>500g sugar cane juice

initial density was 1.060
I expect it either to be super sweet or for it ferment way too fast into strong alcohol
any partakes on how it will turn out? on how long should let it go?

I want to bottle it while still having some potential carbonation left, and hoping it will still be sweet enough

[Anonymous No.2010059]

>>2010021
...and the methanol your body has to metabolise will be exactly the same.

[Anonymous No.2010064]

>>2010024
>orange juice
interesting, please keep us updated

[Anonymous No.2010065]

>>2009703
If hydrometer reading is stable 3 days in a row you can go straight to bottling. Cider can go as low a 0.995 because alcohol is less dense than water. You'll need to add some sugar if you want the bottles to be carbonated (google how to bottle carbonate/pitching calculator). Cider once fully fermented can age further in the bottle because of the live yeast and minimal oxygen (assuming you fill the bottle properly to the neck).

[Anonymous No.2010101]

>>2010059
Actually less, because no still is perfect and will leave some in the pot.
The trick to safety is recognizing that if you turn 1 gallon of wine into 1 cup of brandy, don't drink the whole cup if you wouldn't drink the whole gallon

[Anonymous No.2010812]

>>2010101
what kind of pussy can't handle a gallon of wine lmao

[Anonymous No.2010821]

>Make a bunch of batches of mead
>Always *only* use honey
>Fermentation goes smoothly
>Attempt a braggot, use 10 lbs honey, 2 lbs malts and 2 oz hops
>Fermentation goes swimmingly for a couple of days, seemingly peters out today
>Lose my fucking mind thinking fermentation has stalled
>Mfw it turns out it just has a krausen

Man malts are fucking wild

[Anonymous No.2011020]

>>2010064
>>2010024
alright quicky update, took some bits from the bottle, measured density and took a tasting sip
still only two days, there seems a lot of fermenting but no offgas, even though when I poured it you could see tiny bubbles
density at 1.050 but I don't have anything to compare on the progress
tasting is already quite sour, very citric, I think the most flavorful sugars of the orange are the ones that get converted the fattest, still its not bad per se, it tastes a bit like Gatorade,

[Anonymous No.2011029]

>>2010821
>Mfw it turns out it just has a krausen
wut?

[Anonymous No.2011092]

>>2011029
This

[Anonymous No.2011151]

>>2001329
I've heard this too, maple flavors drop off quickly even in beer if it's aged too long.

[Anonymous No.2011705]

how long do you usually condition your high ABV beers (if you even do)? do I really need to purge the headspace with CO2?
doing a 12% imp stout and got about 21l of it

[Anonymous No.2011782]

>>2011705
I'm a big advocate of bottle conditioning for the carbonation.

[Anonymous No.2011978]

>>2010021
>CONCENTRATION nigger
Why do you think that matters?

[Anonymous No.2012208]

>>1989479
I've never used sulfates and never had a problem. Just clean with starsan really well, in my opinion.

[Anonymous No.2012209]

>>2004858
Yes, this is how I know that too. It can be used to stop fermentation if you want specific sweetness or added a little sugar after fermentation to make it bubbly.

[Anonymous No.2012211]

>>2009703
That's very clear for 2 weeks.

[Anonymous No.2012253]

>>2011705
Like a month to 6 weeks in primary and then bottle. It'll be drinkable after another month in bottle, but amazing after 6 months. IMO if you treat your yeast well (big pitch or starter and good temp control). IMO it's drinkable as soon as it's carbonated in bottle, but that's heresy in oldschool beer circles.

[Anonymous No.2012257]

>>2011705
I wait 3 to 6 weeks in primary and then bottle. It'll be drinkable after amonth in bottle, but amazing after 6 months. IMO if you treat your yeast well (big pitch or starter and good temp control), it's drinkable as soon as it's carbonated in bottle, but that's heresy in oldschool beer circles.

[Anonymous No.2012397]

>>2012211
I put pectic enzyme in it for the apple haze

[Anonymous No.2012844]

>>2010024
>>2011020
second update
now 4 days in, still gassing as it been for the past two days, density at 1050 still (last time it was slightly higher than that)
taste is pretty much the same as before, except that it went full citric, very sour, likely beyond the point most people would enjoy
I put the top on hoping to retain some carbonation to make it at least fizzy, maybe I should prime with some more sugar as well
the question remains which sweetening agent could I use to help balance off that strong citric remains, overall it still looks like a very light ale, it makes me wonder how much concentrate sugar was in that sugar cane juice to begin with

[Anonymous No.2013099]

For anyone who's grown garlic as a perennial before, was disease a significant issue?

[Anonymous No.2013725]

>>2012257
wont it get a bad taste from the trub at the bottom if it's 6 weeks in the primary fermentation?
in my experience imp stout trub is especially foul tasting (I always taste it)
but yeah, in this fermentation I used kveik yeast and fermented at 40°C. this roughly 1.107 OG beer bubbled so violently I had to refill my airlock like 5 times, and it had all but stopped in just over 24 hours. after about a week of primary, I siphoned it into this glass jug and I plan to leave it there for maybe a month before I add sugar and fresh yeast and bottle it.
honestly might bottle it in two weeks, I'm so impatient. this beer honestly tasted great when I was transfering it to the glass jug.

[Anonymous No.2013767]

>>1988387
Anybody use one of these all in one systems? Been thinking about it since I have to do everything in my apartment so the space saving seems nice. Can't tell if it's just a meme though

[Anonymous No.2013802]

>>2013767
I've got a Brewzilla 35l, which is probably the cheapest beer making system you can get. I really can't imagine doing it any other way, it's fantastic.
but to be fair, I haven't tried any other brewing method. my friend who's been brewing for a long time just told me to skip the brew in a bag shit and go straight for an all in one system.

[Anonymous No.2013847]

>>2013767
I have an anvil foundry and love it

[Anonymous No.2013860]

>>2013767
The one thing I'd recommend looking throroughly into before you decide is how easily you can take it apart to clean it. You don't want anything that has, for example, heating or cooling elements that you can't remove because it makes cleanup a nightmare.

[Anonymous No.2014954]

>>2006902
Jesus christ, where id you get such big demijohns?

[Anonymous No.2015221]

>>2014954
My dad bought them for $150 in the 80's, which was apparently a good deal back then, and never used them. I broke one of them cleaning it so I bought another on Kijiji.
Check your local classifieds. Maybe there's just a lot of Italian people in my area but they're on there for like $40-60 each right now.

[Anonymous No.2015415]

>>2013847
do you make beer in the anvil?

>>2013802
can you go bit by bit on the process of how this thing works?
isn't it inefficient or crazy hard to clean afterwards?

[Anonymous No.2015524]

>>2015415
Yes I make beer. I have the 10.5 gallon version for 5 gallon batches.

It's convenient, easy to clean and has a few minor issues. Do not get the recirculation kit (+100 bucks) and just buy the components separate with a different pump since mine broke after 3 batches.

[Anonymous No.2015607]

>>1993175
cap on foam or purge with co2. problem solved

[Anonymous No.2015608]

>>1995461
fruit fermentations like cider sometimes give off a huge sulphur/rotten egg smell. Fear not...it will go away

[Anonymous No.2015616]

>>1998113
prime it in a pot of starsan. Hold your sanitized finger over the end while you move it to the fermentation bucket. Insert and keep your hand lower than the bucket. Let flow into another bucket until beer comes out. Stop flow with same finger then move hose to keg (or bottling bucket) and let that beer flow

[Anonymous No.2015622]

>>2013767
I've got a Grainfather and it's great after a few small mods

[Anonymous No.2015644]

>>2015608
Apple gives off a sulphur smell because pure apple juice lacks the nutrients required to sustain a yeast colony. To avoid this entirely either have to add nutrients or keep the pulp in for some time.

[Anonymous No.2015750]

>>2009003
That is a disgustingly reprehensible source.

[Anonymous No.2015775]

>>2015415
1. pour in 20l of water and set it to 67°C. also put in the inner bucket (it's got a civ at the bottom so I can remove the corn later)
2. when the water reaches temperature I pour the grain into the inner bucket and stir so it's well mixed
3. close it up and put the tube in there and turn on the pump for circulation and even temperature, keep it on for an hour at 67°C usually
4. set the temp to 76°C (usually) for a 15 min mash out step
5. turn pump off, lift the bucket and twist it so holds in place over the wort below
6. sparge (pour already heated water) over the bucket to wash the sugar out of it and top the wort below to around 23-24 litres.
7. remove the inner bucket and dispose of the spent grain (this is most of the "cleanup", literally like 5 minutes of dumping and washing the bucket)
7. max the elements and boil the whole thing for an hour (throw in my hops etc.)
8. put in the cooling spiral that came with it, run cold water through it and cool it down to fermentation temp
9. pump it into my fermentation bucket (and then clean the brewzilla, another 5 minutes or less of cleaning)
whole thing takes maybe 3-4 hours

pic related is right at the start of mashing a 12% imperial stout, this had 10 kgs of grain which is too much for a single mash, so I had to do a double mash. basically just put half the grain at step 2. went though steps 3, 5, 6 and 7. then go back to 2. and finish the rest (adds just over an hour to the brew day)

[Anonymous No.2015810]

>>2015608
This is true, it's amino acids metabolising and producing hydrogen sulfide but it's a volatile chemical so carbon dioxide scrubs it out pretty quickly

[Anonymous No.2015814]

>>2015524
wow, that must be quite a anvil and foundry you have there

[Anonymous No.2015815]

>>2015608
can you help me? >>2012844
does this same happen for citric fruits?
I'm getting some good fermentation but it always giving a very harsh dry taste, even a few days in, do you mean to let it sit idle some more days even after gassing?

[Anonymous No.2015817]

>>2015775
does the thing also actually mash the grain, how does it do it?

[Anonymous No.2015831]

>>2015817
not sure if I understand the question, I'm not a very knowledgeable brewer. mashing is just steeping the grain in water of a certain temperature, no?
I just set my brewzilla at a temperature (67°C for example) and it will keep the water at a fairly constant 66-67°C until I change the temp. I then turn on my pump that pumps water from the bottom and over the top of my grain basket (I called it the inner bucket in my original post, since the actual name escaped me while writing it). the circulation keeps the temperature even.
pic related is me brewing my first imp stout, it's got the screen over my corn to make sure it doesn't enter the overflow tube in the middle and enter my pump. I took that picture because I realized I fucked up and put too much grain (I hadn't found out about double mashing at the time)
for useful guides on how to use an all in one system like this see David Heath Homebrew on YouTube, he's got high quality videos. he actually uses a Grainfather, but Brewzilla (aka Robobrew) is basically just a cheaper replica of that system

[Anonymous No.2015850]

>>2015831
oh yeah, I think (probably) the only downside to these all in one systems that I can think of is that sometimes the civ on my grain basket gets clogged (probably because the grind is too fine) and the sparging can take up to or even over an hour, it doesn't seem to hurt the original gravity though (if anything I feel like it raises it higher). it's especially bad on my high gravity, "shitton on grain" brews
it seems to help not to pour the last bottom dust from my grain bag, but I'm still learning.

[Anonymous No.2016203]

>>2015750
People get their titties twisted when I send them to reddit so I figured that article was junky enough that they could get started. My first brew was a JAOM from a 4chan picture recipe with a balloon for an airlock. 'Relax don't worry have a homebrew' works well for the most part.

[Anonymous No.2016222]

>making moonshine illegal in my country
>try to find solution that gets passed custom
>find 4L air still that looks like coffee server
>will pass customs with ease
anyone have experience with this one?
i see a lot of companies are selling rebranded versions of this one

[Anonymous No.2016244]

>>1988387
how did this hobby die so quick?
my dad was super into beer making but I haven't gotten my biweekly 6pack in 6 months.

[Anonymous No.2016247]

>>2016222
only tip I have is that since it just uses air to condense the vapor, don't try to operate it in a very warm room unless you want to lose a part of your shine into the atmosphere. I don't know if it produces enough alcohol vapor to create and explosion hazard but you might not want to find out
>>2016244
surely the whole homebrewing scene died when your dad stopped brewing

[Anonymous No.2016251]

>>2016247
>r dad stopped brewing
is Zymurgy still a thing?
I have heard nothing from the cratf in more than a year.
Is there no were else to go?

[Anonymous No.2016254]

>>2016247
thanks for the warning bro.
i'm going to order one on chink express and see how well it works.

[Anonymous No.2016274]

>>2016244
Most people that get into a hobby give up on it quickly

[Anonymous No.2016281]

>>2016274
hobbies are only fun while you're learning and getting better. once you stagnate it becomes a chore.

[Anonymous No.2016335]

>>2016222
These do work. I think it takes hours to distill a couple litres of wash though.

[Anonymous No.2017162]

I am currently brewing 5 gallons of mead for the first time. I wasn't too methodical with it other than than the sanitizing. I plan on racking it and adding the potassium sorbate after two weeks. After that I am a little fuzzy on best practices, do I let it sit until it's clear, rack it again, and add a stabilizer all at the same time?

[Anonymous No.2017216]

>>2017162
I've never put any kind of stabilizer or magic yeast killer in anything. People have been bottling their alcohol for thousands of years without putting a crushed up meme pill in it. If it's low abv I guess it could be worthwhile.

[Anonymous No.2017352]

>>2016222
Why buy when you can build anon
Stainless milk can, copper fittings, trip flow fittings, copper refrigeration line, plastic bucket and turkey cooker. Hardest part would be getting a hole in the milk can lid and attaching the triflow fitting. I used a MIG welder with plain mild wire to do my stainless and it rusts a little between scrubbing but it's fine otherwise

[Jack No.2017519]

Hi, going to start posting on here. Been doing home brewing for 2.5 years now. Made ciders and wines that people seem to enjoy and am slowly learning.

I am planning on making applejack, which I've done a gallon of before. Now however, I'm going to do it traditionally except for using a store bought yeast instead of wild. This includes using a barrel. My lady got me this bourbon barrel for my birthday recently. I need to get some tools for it, though.

(Cont.)

[Jack No.2017528]

(Cont.)

Currently I'm doing 25 gallons. In total, I estimate I would need 125 gallons to have a full barrel of applejack on tap. This is from the estimation that removing ice would remove around 60% of the volume and that some would be lost between transferring vessels.

Recipe:

2 gallons apple cider
4.5 gallons apple juice
3.5 pounds brown sugar
2 pounds turbinado sugar
1 packet Lavlin EC-1118 yeast
1 tsp pectic enzyme

To be continued.

[Anonymous No.2017757]

>>2017528
You may want to look carefully at your yeast pitching. You probably will want to pitch multiple packets or do a starter, as well as read up on nutrients. For the yeast to chew through that much straight sugar it probably will need some form of added nutrient or you might stress the yeast out and produce fusels or other off flavors.
Also be careful with temperature controls; it'd be tricky to ferment all of that in one fridge, so you may want to only brew the amount you can keep at the proper temperature during their lag and growth phases at any given time, then let it age outside of temperature controls.

[Anonymous No.2018419]

>>2017757

I typically do two packets for six gallons, but I'm attempting to reduce the yeast flavor which is prevalent in my previous brews.

I have heard that moving the brew into a secondary vessel help with this effort as I have previously let each sit for around four months in primary before bottling. I realize now this isn't optimal and I'm currently experimenting.

Should I use a secondary, use more yeast, what type of nutrients? Any input helps.

[Anonymous No.2018454]

>>2017757
>>2018419
EC-1118 can be brought to its alcohol tolerance of 17-18% without step feeding pretty reliably. It's essentially unstoppable.

[Anonymous No.2018518]

>>2018419
Yeast flavor is probably not a result of overpitching. Yeasty off flavors are basically always a result of the beer being too young or remaining on the lees for too long. Your issue is probably the latter; I wouldn't let any beer sit on the lees for more than a month, and no wines more than like two months. You will 100% get lysis flavors if it's on the yeastcake for that long. Pitching 2 packets is the correct amount if you're aiming for higher alcohol contents, and want to avoid some off flavors and get the main phase of fermentation over quickly
>>2018454
Lallemand's own spec sheet recommends yeast nutrient. With just apple juice it's probably fine without added nutrients, but with the added sugar the yeast might need extra to do a full fermentation

[Jack No.2018702]

>>2018454

The only yeast I've ever used.

>>2018518

I added the yeast around 48 hours ago? Is it too late to add more? Also, what nutrients do you suggest?

[Anonymous No.2018734]

>>2018702
It's probably fine, but for future batches consider adding like a tsp of Fermaid O or Fermaid K or something similar when you pitch. It's mostly to make sure that the lag phase and initial reproduction goes smoothly if you don't have a ton of nutrients like from pulp or wort. You probably shouldn't add more yeast now, that's just exposing the fermentation to potential contaminants and the new pitch won't have oxygen. Odds are good it'll turn out fine even without extra yeast or nutrients, it might just take longer to ferment

[Anonymous No.2019352]

>>2016222
I have the Still Spirits version of this. The distillate quality is rather low. There's a reason they want you to use a filter system besides selling you more stuff. Running 4L of wash takes approximately 4 hours from plugging it in to unplugging it, and this should get you enough to make ~1L of ~40% swill.

The fan/condenser unit is not screwed or latched on to the base -- it just rests on a gasket, so I can't see there being any higher risk of explosion than a normal pot still. It may boil over and "chuff" if overfilled or if there is too much residual sugar in the wash. In the latter case, add conditioner or a small amount of cooking oil.

Where this thing really shines is sheer convenience. Cleaning and setup takes practically no effort, and the short run time means you can smack out a bottle almost whenever you want.

I would second >>2017352 if you are just getting into distilling and care the slightest about taste. You'll learn a bit, and end up with a better product. You can start small with a crock pot, some copper line, and a bucket. If you can't weld, you can get away with PTFE tape or rye paste. If you just want to get loaded on the cheap with the lowest amount of effort possible, the air still will be your buddy.

[Anonymous No.2019424]

>>2019352
*stock pot

[Anonymous No.2019664]

What's a good starter mead recipe and where should I look for it? There are so many different ones that in all honesty I am quite lost. I do not want something super simple either since I'd rather put in some more effort for a better product. I got around 10 pounds of honey coming on friday so it should be an OK sized batch I suppose.

[Anonymous No.2019670]

>>1997406
think thats called a stout, man

[Anonymous No.2019726]

Good to see there are some fellow distillers on here. I've got a td500 been going strong for about ten years now. I mostly use the turbo yeasts but tried a few birdwatchers batches over Xmas, not overly impressed lower yield and had a lingering tomato smell from the paste so had to run through a second time. Anyone got a recipe for EC-118?

[Anonymous No.2020285]

>>2019664
Keep it simple even though you don't want to. Add fruit to start a secondary fermentation if you want something nice.

[Anonymous No.2020837]

How do i carbonate my brew after using clarifier

[Anonymous No.2020841]

>>2019424
I get 130 proof all night long from pic related, I just do basic sugar washes with turbo yeast (5gal bucket/16lb sugar and one packet) and it goes down WAY too easy

[Anonymous No.2020877]

>>2020285
>Add fruit to start a secondary fermentation if you want something nice
that seems good, whats the ideal ratio honey to water for some light mead?
is there any custom procedure or just letting it boil for a moment to let the honey dissolve?

[Anonymous No.2021089]

>>2020837
If you're bottling, ideally transfer to a bottling bucket to get it off the yeast. Figure out what volume of co2 you want, then follow whatever online calculator to add sugar to water and bring the sugarwater to a brief boil to sterilize it. Add the sugarwater to the beer in the bottling bucket, then put it in the bottles and cap. Wait like a week for bottle conditioning, sometimes two

If you don't hate yourself, buy a keg/have a keg. Transfer beer into keg, put under whatever pressure in your fridge and wait
>>2020877
Each pound of honey adds 35 points of gravity to a gallon of water, which comes out to around 4.5% alcohol. So 5# of honey in 5 gal would give you ~4.5%, 10# in 5 gal would be ~9%, and so on, depending on yeast strain. There are online calculators that will get you more precise ratios. You can boil the must before you ferment it if you want, but a lot of people don't

[Anonymous No.2021356]

I'm making a peanut butter and jelly wine I even used bread yeasts it taste like a true pb&jsandwich. I'm debating on adding grape jelly to backsweeten

[Anonymous No.2021369]

>>2021356
It's way easier just to use an artificial grape flavorings. Fermentation can strip a lot of the aroma and flavor, even if it's backsweetening

[Anonymous No.2021384]

>>2021356
toe

[Anonymous No.2021614]

>>2019726
you can use any yeast but https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=56998

[Anonymous No.2021977]

>>1988387
I want to make a virgin beet kavass. Any tips brahs?

[Anonymous No.2022024]

have any of you tried putting peppers in your beers during fermentaion?
I'm planning on making an imperial stout soon and want to try some chili flavors. I like spicy food but I obviously don't want the heat to be overpowering.
since I'm growing reapers and ghost peppers I was thinking of throwing one of each into the 20l mash. you think that might be too much? too little even?

[Anonymous No.2022205]

>>2022024
Spice and watery things don't go well together desu. People do it but it's basically reddit tier micro-memery. A reaper or ghost pepper does sound like too much. I would dose with either pure messured capsaicin or a sauce that clearly has capsaicin amount labeled so that you can control how much spice is in one bottle.

[Anonymous No.2022249]

t. never brewed before

I met this guy at a party a while back that brewed his own beer and it tasted incredibly weird like banana but I really liked it because I hate tasteless beer which is what most cheap beer is like.

What is the easiest and cheapest way to make loads of weird but strong tasting beer at home? Is there a infographic floating around? I don't wanna spend 100 bucks on a gay ass homebrew kit; I just want cheap strong tasting beer.

[Anonymous No.2022268]

Homedistiller forum is great but at the same time it can be some really dumb advice that sounds good.

It really comes down to nailing the fermentations. Why spend $100 on ingredients then screw it with bread yeast. Keep record of Fermentation temps. If my batch was overheating it would be awful I am talking otherworldly levels of awful. Watch out when distilling for stuff sticking to the bottom and burning. Yeast lees are really bad for that too. If you toss them in they will really jack with the flavor. Cutting gets better with time and scale. Cutting in a 250 gallon batch you can often go off taste and temp. You should always boost the batch by adding in last runs recycle. However, if you have a really bad batch don't even bother adding it. The extra boost in alcohol is not worth the bad flavor.

A yeast I swear by is safspirit-fd-3 if you wanna do fruity stuff. safspirit-hg-1 was my workhorse for whiskey.

Get good enzymes! Alpha and Beta. Check the Damn nerd writing so you can get the most out of them by matching PH and Temp. Insulate the stuff so it has longer time to work at its activation temps.

[Anonymous No.2022297]

>>2003278
Is that what creates the structure of kombucha "mothers"?

[Anonymous No.2022307]

>>2022249
get a large aluminum tamale pot (5+ gal)
add malt extract til the gravity is 1.06-1.08
2oz of hops
boil for 30 min
move the pot into your sink, with ice all around it, until your temperature is under 85F
pitch 2 packets of belgian yeast, and throw some tin foil over the top to keep bugs and shit out
after 3-4 days (when the foam on the top of the beer is gone) transfer to bottles, or a couple big 2L or something.
keep at room temp (65F+) for 2 more days
put in your fridge, and drink when its cold

[Anonymous No.2022320]

>>2022205
good thinking, for now I think I'll put a portion of my brew in a 5l carboy with some peppers and see if they add anything of value to the beer and ferment the rest regularly.
guess I'll post the results here in a month or so when I try the beer

[Anonymous No.2022366]

>>2022307
*malt extract and water

also I just googled it and some people say not to ferment in aluminum. once it cools down i'd just dump it in something food grade (glass/stainless/food grade plastic) and then pitch yeast and proceed

[Anonymous No.2023766]

look at these badboys
both a ginger ale, but left is orange instead of lime, also made with sugar cane juice and brewed on the fire for some minutes

I thought these plastic bottles would be perfect for my lightly fermented juices experiment, since you can squeeze the air out and it has less of a risk of blowing glass everywhere
however this surprised me, the orange one in just one day puffed out, these bottles are exactly the same, but the pressure on left one was so much that the bottom puffed out higher like that
also this is a custom PET bottle, so I don't think there is so much of a issue of it blowing up, I am however worried a bit, so I opened the cap to vent and let it sit for another day, then put on the fridge
the lime one also puffed out a day later,, also on the fridge now, I'm gonna record it opening up soon

on the matter of density, the lime one was less than 1.020 where the orange was 1.050, and these were fairly juicy limes, and both had about the same amount of sugar cane within, so I'm wondering if we can guess the amount of sugar contained in the mixture by its density, I wonder why it had so much of a difference like that

[Anonymous No.2023847]

>>2023766
Acidity. Even then no two vessels will turn out the same. It's the way of the road my friend.
Bump limit boys, it'll be a while before we're off the final page but once we are ill bake the next thread.

[Anonymous No.2024015]

>>2023766
and here it is me opening, sadly, it a much less fantastic decompression than when I first had to vent it out
now I'm doubting that these plastic bottles are good for this, maybe keeping only one spare bottle as a sort of control

>>2023847
>Acidity
what is that a explanation for?

[Anonymous No.2024019]

also notice my massive fuckup trying to push the butt back in,
lmao ended up creating a gas bomb and giving up making more of a mess
my guess is that once deformed this kind of bottle isn't good for re-use

[Anonymous No.2024099]

>>2024015
The yeast will behave differently due to the difference in acidity in both vessels.

[Anonymous No.2024152]

>>2024099
even then I think it looks like a very big difference in sugar content, due to density reading

[Anonymous No.2024447]

anyone here got mead experience? thinking of putting a tea+honey mix to ferment instead of the traditional water+honey; specifically considering chai or dried elderflowers. tried anything similar, and if so how'd it turn out?

[Anonymous No.2024502]

going to try make a simple hard seltzer when I do my next beer brew. buy 5l bottle of water so I can use spring water for the beer and then shitty water and the empty bottles to make the selzer

[Anonymous No.2024524]

>>2017352
If you wanted to be lazy, just buy/import a still head and fit it onto a milk can. You can probably find one online in your country as an "oil distiller" on ebay, if not just import it, I doubt customs would seize it.

[Anonymous No.2024893]

>>2022024
Generally that's not a good idea. If you want peppery flavors add them about 15 minutes left of the boil. If you add them during fermentation it will get progressively hotter until you pull it out. At least during the boil you know how hot it's going to be and if you want hotter put it earlier in the boil.

[Anonymous No.2024921]

>>1988387
I'm an alcoholic, but no quitter.
Former State Fair ribbon winning homebrewer.
Haven't been able to brew in a few years due to life stuff.
Found myself drinking more light beer than I should - only came to that conclusion when I compared the abv and quantity to the equivalence in wine or spirits
>every 10 beers is 1.3 bottles of wine
On the other hand, there's something to be said about less absorbsion due to dilution.
Still plan on tapering back for health, finances, and general degeneracy, but curious if anyone else had thoughts on the matter.

[Anonymous No.2024962]

>>2016244
Like any hobbie it can get boring. So your father decide to take a break.

[Anonymous No.2025156]

>>2024921
Just slowly but surely taper off thats pretty much what you can do. You'll fell better in no time.

[Anonymous No.2025221]

before the thread dies i want to ask whether it'll be ok to drink this light kind of beer thing i was going to make
i guess you could say its maybe fruit kvass or the sort, only meant to ferment for 2-3 days and i forgot about it in my closet
i forgot when i started fermenting it but it was either the 16th or 23rd of january
i mostly used grapes, prunes, and lime/lemon juice and a shit ton of sugar and the batch is only half a gallon
if i drink it, will it fuck me up? should i continue to ferment it for a full month to see what happens?
i'm using bakers yeast, could it get up to 8%?

[Anonymous No.2025338]

>>2025221
Bro you sound like a junkie trying to get drunk in just a couple days. Anything that hasn't been going for a month at least WILL give you diarrhea and possibly other digestive issues. Unless you're literally in prison why would you even try to drink something in 3 days?

[Anonymous No.2025341]

>>2025221
>>2025338
Sorry dude I've been drinking my brew I didn't read that properly lol. Yeah it should be fine if it passes the sniff test and there's no fungus.

[Anonymous No.2025353]

>>2025221
without knowing any measurements aside from 1 gal, it could potentially reach ~8% yes. There's not a ton of nutrients in there so it will probably taste like dick and might not hit 8%, not sure how aggressively bakers yeast strips away fruit smell/taste.

[Anonymous No.2025430]

>>2024921
>I drink a lot of beer, i'm such an alcoholic xD
Lmao. If you're not drinking your daily bottle of vodka just to suppress the withdrawals you're a larper.

[Anonymous No.2025506]

>>2025430
>there are no levels to alcoholism, you're only REAL and cool alcoholic like me if you have to drink a bottle of vodka a day just to not die from withdrawal B-)

[Anonymous No.2025577]

>>2025506
Physical dependence is where i would draw the line to real alcoholism, yes.
If you drink a lot of beer and consider yourself to be an "alcoholic" you've been browsing too much facebook and reddit tbqh.
I also never said i'm a real and cool alcoholic who drinks a a bottle of vodka a day, i've just scrolled through some al/ck/ threads when they were still a thing, those threads had some legit niggas.
pic related

[Anonymous No.2025620]

>>2025577
physical dependencies on alcohol can range from not being able to stop drinking once you start, to literally dropping dead if you stop drinking.
not all alcoholics are as far gone, drawing some arbitrary line on one vodka bottle a day is juvinile at best. why not draw the line where you literally drop dead when you stop drinking? are people who only get the shakes even real alcoholics?

[Anonymous No.2025886]

>>2025338
but fruit ferments and ales are literally only a few days

[Anonymous No.2025970]

>>2025620
The reference to a bottle was clearly not an arbitrary line, given that it was immediately followed by the actual point of the sentence: "to suppress the withdrawals." Withdrawals is a spectrum already. The guy you're throwing a shitfit at doesn't even disagree with you. You've descended into argumentum ad absurdum over nothing. Chill out, you moron.

[Anonymous No.2026029]

>>2025970
pretending to be somebody else in the middle of an argument to make people think someone agrees with you is weak you nitwit moron. put down the bottle

[Anonymous No.2026049]

>>2026029
>muh samefag
Whatever, moron. I see people being idiots in a logical capacity, I call them on it. If you you want to screech instead of processing what I've told you, you are beyond help.

[Anonymous No.2026051]

>>2026049
you're the one who sperged out because somebody called himself an alcoholic. good day to you fag, hope you'll achieve the status of dying when you put down the glass like all the other true and cool alcoholics

[Anonymous No.2026053]

>>2026051
I don't care enough to take a screenshot of the (you)s because a narcissist like yourself will never accept that they can be wrong. You acted like a fuckwit and a passerby in a quiet thread called you as such. Deal with it.

[Anonymous No.2026056]

>>2026053
you're right about a screenshot not convincing me.
I'm going to bed, see you tomorrow faggot

[Anonymous No.2026059]

There are 46 IPs in this thread that has been up for over a week. People come and go constantly you blithering idiot.

It's honestly remarkable that /diy/ is often worse for shitposters than other boards. Instead of random garbage and spamming forced memes you get the people who are legitimately dense argumentative jackasses just constantly spewing virtriol. At least it will never be as bad as webforum culture but sweet fuck.

[Anonymous No.2026060]

>>2026059
>mmm yes how can i make myself look like a total fuckhead today?
>what could i say that would get my ass beat in real life?

[Anonymous No.2026065]

>>2026059
and now I'm 100% sure you were samefagging. literally kys you faggot

[Anonymous No.2026066]

>>2026065
I thought you were going to bed?

[Anonymous No.2026068]

>>2026065
>>2026066
>(122)
He did and is now on his phone because he is seething.

[Anonymous No.2026080]

Uh oh jannies looks like we've got a big stinky!!

>>2025886
Yeast will still be in suspension and making your stomach very upset.

[Anonymous No.2026155]

>>2025338
>Anything that hasn't been going for a month at least
>>2026080
>Yeast will still be in suspension and making your stomach very upset.
how come everytime i drink kvass it's fine and its known to have some medicinal properties even though it only ferments in 3 days
>>2025353
>There's not a ton of nutrients
i know it was a kvass recipe but i put way more sugar in it than i should've if i remember

[Anonymous No.2026311]

>>2025620
>drawing some arbitrary line on one vodka bottle a day is juvinile at best
Things i never said.

>>2026029
And maybe it's hard for you to believe but it's actually possible for more than one person to reply to you.
Other anon is right, you're an idiot.

[Anonymous No.2026326]

>>2026311
>Lmao. If you're not drinking your daily bottle of vodka just to suppress the withdrawals you're a larper.

[Anonymous No.2026338]

>>2026326
And from that you conclude i was "drawing some arbitrary line on one vodka bottle a day"?
Are your reading skills honestly that bad or are you on the spectrum?

[Anonymous No.2026356]

>>2026338
in response to somebody claiming they were an alcoholic you said "If you're not drinking your daily bottle of vodka just to suppress the withdrawals you're a larper."
it is quite easy to assume (or conclude) from that post that you think any less than than bottle of vodka (and definitely not beer) and you're not an alcoholic but only "larping" as one.

[Anonymous No.2026367]

>>2026356
It seems you are unaware that people on 4chan like to speak in exaggerated, hyperbolic, boldly emphatic fashion. Most users are like-minded and able to infer the intent of the poster. Not you, though. You take it literally and then, paradoxically, go exaggerated, hyperbolic, boldly emphatic in relentless shitposting, utterly ignoring any semblance of discussion so that you can just continue spewing shit.

The time to stop has passed. Don't reply to me. I'm about to be too busy jacking it for hours (I typed all this with one hand) to bother with your nonsense.

[Anonymous No.2026370]

>>2026367
>I never said x
>ok I did say x but I was being hyperbolic
ok so where is the line?
it clearly isn't any amount of beer drinking, so how much vodka? how severe must your withdrawals be?

[Anonymous No.2026460]

>>2026155
Kvass has an array of microbes and yeast actually aren't super significant in that makeup. Your beverage is probably almost all yeast microbes.

[Anonymous No.2026461]

>>2026460
i'm not quite making kvass as i'm not using bread
i say kvass but thats kind of butchering what it's suppost to be, but what i see it called most of the time is along the lines of fruit kvass, it being kvass only comes from it's low alcohol level from a 3 day ferment

[Anonymous No.2026579]

>>2026080
>Yeast will still be in suspension and making your stomach very upset.
I'm not that anon btw, I'm doing fruity ferments, using a mature ginger bug culture and natural sugar elements
I doubt that its just simple yeast
but on the topic, it does give a noticeable effect, but only some very fruity farts for me,
probably will give a bigger burst for someone who isn't used in consuming pro-biotics

[Anonymous No.2026798]

>>1996558
Would it be better to tap a tree and just ferment the sap?

Since maple syrup is just boiled down tree water anyway, and mead is honey water, why not keep the water from the tree and then add some mead yeast?

[Anonymous No.2026920]

>>2026798
in one of those replies the anon will supposedly do just that indeed

[Anonymous No.2027350]

>>2016244
lol your dad quitting doesn't mean anything for the hobby as a whole.

[Anonymous No.2027352]

>>2021356
Ask me how I know you had an ingrown nail removed :(