What ye be brewin'?
I've got some wine that should be ready in 1-2 weeks, and my mead/melomel with mango and orange is just out of primary.
>>7461129
wew lads its been a while since the last homebrew thread.
Lets see, my dark belgian ale has finished maturing and has been drunk. strong dark malt, chocolate, slight raisin and ginger from the yeast. will definitely do again.
Brewed a session IPA with pale malt, dark crystal and a couple ounces galaxy dry hop, 30 bitterness units, just to balance out the sweet crystal. came out almost red in colour.
I've got 19l of rauchbeir fermenting with an alt yeast right now and 4l of a soured ale made from the second runnings, thats an experinment. the sour ale is raw, no boil, no hops, soured with a L. Brevis dominant sauerkraut culture I use for all my pickles.
>>7461129
never made mead or, wine. most wines and meads, except braggots, taste way too sweet for me. How do yours normally turn out sweetness wise?
>>7461129
I've got 6 gallons of cider going, some of which will be bottled with mulberry juice, some plain. I'ts at 8% (OG 1.062 FG 1.001) I'm about to start another batch because FOOD STAMP BOOZE. I was going to be doing a Belgian beer, but lollostmyjob.
>>7461193
I always make my wine dry. It's my first time making mead, but it's going to be dry, but perhaps I'll backsweeten it later.
I'm thinking about trying my hand at ale or cider after these batches are finished.
>toopoortobuyyourownalcohol thread
>>7461253
I actually prefer my cider to most of what is available at grocery stores. It's drier, has better apple flavor, and I'm broke as fuck right now so my hobby is paying off.
>>7461253
don't know about mead and wine but brewing beer isn't a cheep hobby, about £150-200 to get started. after that its cheap as fuck though.
I heard mead tastes like shit unless it's aged a few months. Is that true? What are some things I can brew which are drinkable almost immediately after bottling?
>>7461268
Ginger beer
>>7461268
>>A few months
Try a few years.
>>drinkable almost immediately after bottling?
Most beers
>>7461129
I've got a belgian tripel still in primary, plan on brewing an IPA tomorrow, can't decide on Deschute's fresh squeezed clone or ruthless rye clone.
Have a stone ruination clone and a foreign extra stout on tap currently.
>>7461259
Wine can be cheap if you use generic fermenting containers instead of specific homebrew equipment.
>>7461268
I always find homemade red wine to be most forgiving but I cheat a little by adding a bottle of good bought wine to the batch to round off the harsher elements.
peach cider, 5% ABV, vanilla honey and cloves
gonna be real good
>>7461321
I do this as well, although in my case it's to give it more body and flavour. I notice my red wines are very drinkable but haven't developed much of a flavour outside the basic fruit/oak taste.
>>7461354
I wish I could be at this motherfucker's house
>>7461354
For the love of god man, post the recipe
>tfw my local supermarket sells pure apple juice in big glass jugs
LOOKS LIKE CIDER IS BACK ON THE MENU, BOYS
>>7461129
Some Amish dude I know has been making wine for the past while.
He gave me two fuck huge bottles for free.
I assumed it was going to be shit just from the plastic bottles he put them in, but I tasted it and it was better than most bottles I have had.
>how can a retard like him make such good wine?
1 kg sugar
1 lt beer
1 lt malt
1 lt alcohol
250 grs honey
Cinammon
Mix and let ir rest for 20 days. Enjoy (or suffer)
>>7462042
When you don't have shit like 4chan and internet porn you get much more time to get good at shit.
>>7462070
This. Don't understimate the knowledge of that kind of people
Anyone tried making birch sap wine? I have some in progress.
>>7462080
What is birch sap wine, and why does it sound so god damn delicious?
>making anything other than pure moonshine
>>7462080
Since I live in Scandinavia I was considering tapping some birch sap for making beer.
Today I bottled an amber ale I put together with leftover ingredients. It ended 7.5% and is probably the closest to malt liquor I've evee made.
>>7461479
Drinking an apfelwein I made over a year ago right now.
>>7461354
>cloves
One of the first homebrew fuckups I made were adding too many. I couldn't taste them when sampling during fermentation but my finished mead ended up being undrinkable
>>7462088
No more than 1/2 tsp for a 5 gallon batch for sure.
My first fuckup was overusing wood shavings for a RIS. Tasted like a tree nearly 2 years later.
>>7461257
Fresh apples or store bought juice?
>>7462103
Not him, but I get store-bought juice, but it's pure juice with no additives.
>>7462103
Right now, store bought. When I have more money I do fresh pressed. Mangrove Jack's M02 cider yeast leaves a nice apple finish.
Current 6 gallon batch which I'm just now tasting and is pretty damn good:
6 gallons treetop from Costco
2 lbs dark brown sugar
yeast nutrient
Mangrove Jack's M02 cider yeast (didn't make starter, just threw it in)
Pitched at 68 degrees.
OG 1.062
FG 1.002
It doesn't taste as green as 3 week old cider normally does, I'm sure it'll improve with age, but it's totally drinkable now. I'm gonna balance it before bottling with some malic acid and tannin. Most will be mulberry flavored, but 2 gallons or so will be plain.
Got a pacific summer ale and a black IPA cold crashing, ready to get kegged up tomorrow.
>>7462106
It's nice skipping the boil and using pasteurized juice instead
>>7462088
It's funny you should mention that. I made that fuckup and ended up loving the cloves scorching my mouth. I have a couple buds who loved it even more than I did, and now I have 20 gallons of super cloved up mead going.
>>7462146
This picture is astonishingly arousing. You have a nice set up for this; trying to plan my freezer space around my brew isn't fun in a big household like mine
>>7462165
I bought a chest freezer just so I can ferment in it, no food ever goes in the freezer.
It has an external thermostat that I fitted to it so I can control the temperature anywhere from ambient to as freezing cold as it will go.
I ferment ales at 18 degrees Celsius and at the end of fermentation I raise the temperature up to around 21 degrees to make sure the yeast has done its thing, normally dry hop around this time as well and then cold crash at 1 degree for about 2 days. Into the keg and then into my belly.
>>7461278
lol, secondary is a complete myth. it's fine immediately after fermentation maxes out.
Since there are a few ciderbros in here, do you recommend using any yeast nutrient or adding other ingredients when making cider?
>>7461229
sorry to hear that BRO
>>7462122
Thanks for the info I might try that soon.
got some jenkem stewing up real nice hidden away under a floorboard, tryna keep my mom from finding it
Dry hop charge added! Then cold crash on Tuesday.
Tfw no freezer to cold crash
>>7464110
I use my shed for lagering and conditioning. Stone walled to its stays pretty much the same temp day and night. It stays around ten degrees in summer and drops down to a fairly constant just above zero in winter. Try some thing like that, you'b be surprised how little temperature varies once you get underground or have a barrier between the out side weather.
>>7461129
Got my Ginger Beer plant stewing away in the airing cupboard.
Adding a bit more sugar and ginger each day.
Gonna wait a week before filling the bottles.
Might pick up some nice swing bottles and take it to a friend's house.
>>7464246
What bottles do you normally use? If you plan on bottling a lot of anything just buy a lever capper and a bag of caps and you can recycle old beer bottles. Looks better than plastic, keeps better and it means you can pour it out and leave behind the yeast cake.
>>7461129
Cherry wine in larger (50l) bottle. It came out way too sweet, though.
Small (5l) bottle of experimental rice wine (rice, lemons, nutmeg, raisin), recipe I got from client.
Medium (15l) bottle is already reserved for strawberry wine, I'll be making again this year.
My last bottle (5l) will likely go for another experiment - orange/dandelion wine.
>>7461253
>not making your own alcohol
you're missing out, bro
bet you don't mod your games too
I have a thread in /diy/ about my brew.
>>>/diy/959853
No pics because no cameras. Is poorfag.
I'm making applejack.
It's day 2 now. Smelling very alcoholic already.
2 gallons apple cider, 1 and 1/2 gallon 100% apple juice, six pounds sugar, and cider yeast.
R8 my recipe.
I wanted to use Champaign yeast :(
>>7464321
Should have used more juice/10
>I wanted to use Champagne yeast
Depends how dry tou like it. I prefer Montrachet or other champagne yeast for this reason.
>>7464408
Brit here, we don't have a tradition of birch sap ale here but I have a stand of mostly birch and spruce near me. Is it worth it? What sort of adjustments to the grist do you have to do? Is raw or boiled better?
>>7461129
pro brewer here, tanks are full with a variety of ales... DIPA, irish red, coffee brown, etc.
most excited about the new pilot system we got, just kegged a hoppy blonde and its carbonating in the walkin. also filled a firkin with our red and some bourbon oak chips/vanilla beans.
will answer any questions if anyone cares.
>>7464433
Which brewery?
How did you get into brewing professionally?
>>7462382
this is objectively wrong
>>7464384
It's 100% apple cider, so it should have apple juice.
>>7461129
Fuckin' Mead!
Is there a more fedora drink?
>Wanna come back to my house for a goblet of mead?
>Its like wine but made with fruits and honey
>>7464438
not trying to disclose my workplace on 4chan for obvious reasons
I homebrewed for ~5 years while I went to college... eventually I moved out of the area and had an opportunity to live rent-free so I just went for it. volunteered at a local brewery for a couple of months, working events and the bottling line mostly. eventually my boss had a kid so they needed help brewing... now I've been brewing full time for over a year.
>>7464447
I meant more liquid, cider or juice, in general. 3.5 gallons with 6lbs of sugar is either going to taste like rocket fuel or overly sweet
>>7464433
Post pics ty. I'll start with something.
Size of the brewery your working at?
>>7464457
we have a 15 bbl brewhouse with 2 15 bbl fermentors and 7 30 bbl fermentors. We brewed around 3000 bbls last year...
pretty sizeable, but still only locally distributed for now.
>>7464455
Brewpub or something regionally popular? Is the pay decent?
>>7464455
If I hadn't go into engineering I would have gone into brewing
>>7464463
just a brewery with a tap room, not a brewpub. I make $3000 USD a month before taxes, but live in one of the most expensive areas in the country, so I'm not really saving much money. the plan is to work for another year or two and either open my own spot, or work for a larger brewery.
>>7464470
in my experience engineers and chemists make the best brewers.
>>7464461
We have a bit larger kettle (20bbl) but arent producing that much beer. We only make 2 batches per week. Which sets ust at 1000bbl per year.
>>7464474
Weird. I'm currently finished up a physics degree, but after I'm going to help my dad (a chemist) open up a brewery.
>>7464474
Probably because we're all on the autistic spectrum.
>>7464456
I'm going to freeze concentrate it when I'm done, too.
I'm actually trying to make a hard liquor here.
I added in some extra water, probably around a liter... just because I'm going to take that water out later and I wanted it to ferment easier.
>>7464444
It's always tasted fine to me. Tell me what's supposed to be happening in secondary: what processes are causing what chemical changes that are causing what changes in flavor or texture? I don't buy it.
>>7464522
Feementation is done by the time you get to secondary you dunce. If you want to dry hop or add things to the flavor/aroma like cherries, chocolate, coffee, etc. secondary is the time to do it.
>>7464522
>Feementation is done by the time you get to secondary you dunce.
That's what I'm saying: homebrew is fine (or at least as good as it's going to get) basically as soon as primary fermentation is done.
>>7464449
my American friend, over there that may be hipster's drink, but here in Europe it's as well known as schnapps and absinthe
>>7464449
>wine isn't made from fruit.
Nice one, shitcunt.
Never reproduce.
>>7464638
He's American. Their wine is probably made from some synthetic chemical.
Just like their cheese.
What's the most basic-bitch easy drink to make for the starting homebrewer? I was thinking of making either Mead or a Gruit because historical cooking and food gets me hard.
>>7464659
Cider mead and wine are all about the same difficulty, being made of one primary ingredient and requiring no more steps than, mix, oxygenate, pitch yeast.
Making any sort of beer is pretty hard and requires knowledge of mashing techniques, beer styles, bitterness calculations and a lot of maths all round if you want a consitant brew. Nevermind that an everage brew day will last you about 4 hours start to finish.
>>7464638
r u dum or sumin?
no 1 said wine not made wiith fruit u dummy
>>7464712
Oh the irony in this post...
>>7464444
You are objectively wrong. Secondaries are useless for most beers. Autolysis on the homebrew scale is literally a myth unless you are having a sour beer condition in there for a year+. And even then, Autolysis is great for bretts. Transferring your beer equals more risk for no reward.
>>7464659
Cider or wine is the most entry-level. Mead takes a lot of patience. Beer has a lot of technical stuff to it.
>>7464745
>what are barrels
>>7464745
Autolysis isn't an issue, but if you didn't whirlpool your wort (or just did a sloppy job) before adding it to your fermenter, sitting on the trub for extended periods can impart some undesirable flavors.
>>7462382
I'm doing it if I want to harvest the yeast or want to add dry hops. It should also slightly improve clarity.
>>7464718
Is the irony that mead being made with fruit and honey doesnt translate to wine not being made from fruit?
>>7464449
I think there was a definite peak of mead interest with Skyrim
>mead
>consumed for thousands of years in many cultures
>meme/fedora drink
>>7466458
No.
Gonna lay down a few hundred liters of sugar wash tomorrow.
>>7464659
Id say that if you want to brew beer go ahead. Its probably better to brew beer first, then wine n friends. Just go on northern brewer and get a gallon kit for like 50 bucks with a bottle brush and little fermenting thermometer. Make a swamp cooler to keep it at nice temperature. Read How to Brew by Palmer while youre at it to start learning how to actually come up with your own recipes and move on to all grain. If you can make pasta you can brew beer its pretty easy. And if youre ever worried about if its contaminated like a lot of newbies get, look up pictures and find the ones that look all strange like pic related. Most likely yours wont look like that. Also it should smell like ass. Oh yeah and use a blow off for the first couple days.
>>7462080
Good luck anon, too early in Northern Canada to tap yet. Please keep us updated senpai
How many of you have vague dreams about running your own micro brewery and selling craft beers to the hipster bars in town?
Hey guys, first time mead maker trying to make a bochet with the following recipe
>The official recipe from 2008 Nov/Dec Zymurgy page 46. Article starts on page 45 - "Mead: Party Like its 1949"
>18.5 lb light honey
>4.0 g yeast extract or yeast nutrient
>0.1 g zinc fortified yeast as nutrient
>3 Tablespoon yeast (40g) dried champagne or mead yeast (Prise de Mousse recommended)
>Target original gravity 1.130 - 1.138
>Approx Final Gravity 1.028-1.038
>Alcohol 14 to 15% by volume
>Add honey to pot. Do not add water. Gently boil the honey until dark and tastes caramelized.
>Add 1 gallon of water, zinc fortified yeast and blend into the "scorched honey" Stir until dissolved well.
>Blend hot honey and water mixture to 2 gallons of cold water and add to your primary.
>Top up to 5 gallons total volume. Aerate extremely well and add dissolved yeast nutrient (yeast extract)
>When temp is below 80 F add re hydrated yeast. Ferment between 70-75 F
>It may take 3 weeks to 3 months to finish primary.
>Rack and transfer to secondary. Store at cooler temperatures Rack off sediment after six months to a year. Bottle when clear and all fermentation ceased. Cork in wine bottles for long term aging.
I adapted the recipe just to make 1 gallon as a test batch to see if I liked it but I've run into some issues. Initially I put in 5 grams of champagne yeast because it was all I had available, but after a few days and no bubbles in my airlock I realised the screw on my carboy had a hairline crack that was letting all the gas out so I couldn't tell if anything started. I resealed an added 5 grams of EC1118 and now a week later I'm still not getting anything. So I have a stuck batch.
>>7468469
I'm not sure what to do. Am I prepping my yeast incorrectly before adding it to the must (starting it in a bowl with kettle boiled hot water, adding yeast and when it bubbles slightly I pitched it.) Do I need to add all the yeast at the same time as in putting two seperate sets of 5 in is pointless because it needs the full amount at once to 'take hold'? Or did the hairline crack somehow let something in which has killed my batch and rendered it unyeastable? stupid I know.
The specific gravity hasn't changed if that helps?
I'm going to try a third attempt at pitching yeast this time using the full 8gram, and when I start it let it sit a bit longer before pitching to make sure it's really going. But is this the right course of action or should I just start over entirely? At this point when I rack there's gonna be 10 grams of dead yeast cells in there already (not counting the 8g I'm going to add.)
Can't find ANY decent info on making bochets or what I'm doing wrong, and the cracked top just adds more variables as to what is fucking me over here. (besides my own incompetence.)
>>7468482
when you say kettle boiled hot water, do you mean water that was boiled to sterilise it and then let to cool, or are you adding yeast to hot water. anything above 37C will instantly kill most yeast.
>>7468624
the water was boiled to 100F/32C and then was poured into a glass bowl with yeast in it. The mixture was left for 15 minutes covered, then zinc yeast nutrient was added. Then left for 30 minutes. The mixture began to bubble and was quickly pitched.
>>7468469
I highly recommend not boiling your honey. Just use sterile water and keep things clean and you should be fine. You loose a lot of the honey's character when you heat it and its just not necessary
>>7468673
nm. Forgot you were shooting for bochet.
If you need to unstuck a batch, toss some Knottingham yeast in, let it get roiling, then add some more champagne yeast in a weeks time.
I keep telling myself to start my damn cyser already when I have days off but I always forget, if I start it now do you think it'll be decent by October? I'm going for an autumn spice flavor.
>>7468699
Should be good to go by then. The malic acid in the apples help balance it out quicker than most meads. Use a decent yeast like D47 and it should be good to go by fall, provided you don't add cinnamon or clove to it
>>7468719
Why no cinnamon or cloves?
>>7468643
100F will kill most yeast. you can look up specs for champagne yeast but I'd guess most ferment in the mid-upper 60sF
this sounds like a case of not pitching enough yeast to me, and in your case you probably just pitched dead yeast.
interested anon here
how much do the ingredients typically cost to make X amount of beer? is it a good investment in the end to brew your own beer based on quality and price compared to what you buy in the store as in
is it cheaper than buying crap beer?
or is it cheaper than buying similar quality beer?
>>7469217
I'd estimate that once you have all the equipment, the ingredients for each batch lands between $40-60, which makes a 5 gallon batch.
if you just look at ingredient cost, it is cheaper than buying crap beer, and even cheaper than buying pretty good beer.
the thing is, if you include all of the equipment (minimum $150-200 to get into all grain), and your time spent, it might not seem to be as good of a deal.
brewers brew because they enjoy designing, creating, and sharing something that is their own.
if you're really concerned about price, you can start with extract brewing, which costs a little more per batch but saves you a lot on equipment.
>>7469226
I have no problem on the time and equipment because I think its something I can really fall in love with. the idea of waiting weeks for something to mature and finally trying it is so enticing to me. I was just curious if there was any cost benefit which definitely seems like there is. it's like, you could potentially never buy beer again (I still would)
thanks for the response too. very much appreciated
>>7469226
I wouldn't say it's cheaper than cheap light beer considering if you spend 60 dollars on ingredients it costs about $1.12 per 12oz of beer.
>>7462087
hessenfag?
>>7469217
>>7469226
>>7469260
>>7469273
>>7470097
The only real barrier to brewing beer is the initial investment. not only of money but reading books and learning the technical skills involved. After this initial effort I can brew beer nearly as good as the best classic European brews. Mybe prices for beer are different in america, but here in England I can get price for a 23L batch down to 50p a pint, thats 1/3 the price in shops and 1/4 to 1/6 the price it'd cost me in pubs and bars. So for me brewing beer is worth it not only on a sentimental and satisfaction level, but economically as well.
>>7470097
how does 5 gallons yield 66 bottles?
1 gallon = 128oz
5 gallons = 640oz
1 bottle = 12oz
640/12 = 53 1/3
>>7471033
I have my esé help with bottling.
>>7471107
Fucking pirate
>how asians drink
ingredients
>chinese yeast balls
>rice
>steam the rice, overcook
>crush and add the yeast balls
>about 1 yeast ball to 1 cup of uncooked rice
>mix into container like 5 gallon bucket or large glass jar
>loosely cover or use a carbuoy
>put in warm dark place
>after a few days liquid will seep out of rice
>stir every few days, making sure no mold grows
>however you want white fungus to grow
>after 2-3 weeks strain out rice
>cheesecloth works great, makes great birdfeed
>drinkable wine at this stage but unfinished
>put strained wine in fridge
>solids will settle at bottom
>siphon out into bottles
>at this point can be flavored with juices
>store in fridge to prevent rice wine vinegar
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=361095
anyone got any infographics for newbies? just moved into my own apartment for the first time and would like to start brewin
>>7462776
this guy
I've finished John Palmer's book on homebrewing
Putting together the parts list for an all grain brewing setup
What are your thoughts on fermentation vessels?
I've got the cash, should I go full conical?
Should I make my own from a stockpot, some sealing rubber, clamps, spigot, thermwell, build in an airlock?
Should I just get a Spiedel?
>>7471033
>>7470097
It doesn't, after you leave the trub after the fermentations, you get more like 45 bottles
>>7469273
How many fucking hops are you using? A freaking pound?
>>7472564
was basing it off his high end for ingredients pricing. personally I don't spend that much
Just started a few months ago.
Got two 1 gallon jugs of mead going that I need to rack pretty soon, and 1 gallon of hard cider that I just did a few days ago. Thinking about getting a fermentation bucket and a bigger carboy for wine and melomels.
>>7472558
Everyone was PISSED when Elysian got bought out. The brewer opened up a new place that has some great brews though.
