Alcohol

[kingvitamin]

Been brewing wine for years now. recently i have a made a 10 fruit melody mix, its yet to mature but it is good I can tell. Right now i have 2L of hard cider, topped it off this morning with some frozen apple juice concentrate.

My main thing was buying turbo yeast and fermenting it to like 18% alcohol and then add some frozen juice concentrates. mixed it up and brought it to parties, i deemed it bum wine in spirit of fellow legit bum wines Thunderbird and Wild Irish Rose. if you tried them you can truly respect anyone who dares to venture that road. bum wine drunk is unlike any other kind of ineeberiation. The fellow party goers haved deemed me "king of bum wine" leading the bum wine revolution.

[hashashan]

Well guys , decided to revive this thread and to show you my setup for destilling my booze

 

I make it from grapes, sugar and grape yeast.

 

This is the still :

[aa92td]

look very nice hashashan =].

 

keep at the good joob and get drunk as fast as you can.

[Mumbles]

I just got a book on home brewing. Not neccesarily for the concepts or instructions, but mostly for the rather large recipe selection. I understand most of the concepts, and proceedures thus far, but have picked up a few useful tips. The thing I like the most about the recipe section is that there is usually an all extract, partial mash, and full grain recipe for most every variety of beer. It helps to get an idea of how to formulate my own batches(far down the road). I hope to get a batch or two half batches up and running by next week and have them ready for christmas.

 

I'm looking at an amber, and a wheat beer. Probably both fully done by extract.

[rev.redneck]

I have alot expierience with stills, I have had one using a beer keg

the steel tube in the keg is great! I started with a simple pot still on my gas stove. I have sinc moved to electric, but I recently found this Barnstead water still, I havent had time to removed the years of deposits stuck on it or the other random junk, but it has 4 heating elements (they work!) and I believe it would be possible to use a dimmer switch to control temp. It nedds alittle modification though.

[asilentbob]

I started a 4 gallon batch of hard cider a bit back with my mom... i think we used Lalvin K1V-1116... So that should be ready for xmas... we put in some cloves and cinnamon too... so its plenty spiced up. I can't remember if we have any pumpkin meat left or not... but we were considering trying to make a gallon of pumpkin mead or something... I tried 2 brands of pumpkin ale recently... one was just like meh... the other was alright. Can't recall the names now... i think we still have some left though.

 

Seems for xmas im getting lots of bottles

[Mumbles]

I went and gathered some supplies for making my first batch of beer. From looking around, my roomate and I decided to give a dunkel weissbier a try. There were a few substitutions, so we'll see how it turns out.

 

First, they were out of 60 Lovibold crystal malt. We substituted in 40 instead. My family enjoys notoriously light beer, so I figured I'd give them a break. There also is apparantly a world wide hop shortage. We substituted Mt. hood hops for hallertau, as they are used as a finishing hop in said recipe. The owner said it should be reasonably close. I wish we would have gotten the real hallertau, as it seems to used in most wheat beers I see. We'll see how it turns out though.

[Mumbles]

I am the pround father of a bubbling little caramel colored bundle of joy. It weighs in around 50 pounds, and smells like bread and hops. In 5-7 days I shall be sending it off to secondary to help knock the rest of the shit out of it, Then 5 days later I shall be giving it some sugar and spice and everything nice, and packing it off for conditioning. A month later I shall tear it's head off and drink it's insides.

 

On a side note, I found some pretty nice stock pots at the super market on sale. 20 quart for $8 isn't bad at all. I'm thinking about picking up another for cooking charcoal or something.

[FrankRizzo]

Wait to buy another stock pot until the turkey fryer kits go on clearance at Target and WalMart. I found a decent one with 30qt aluminum pot for $25 a few years ago. Boiling wort with propane is sooo much nicer.

[Mumbles]

I can't imagine the roomates will like me running up the gas bill either. The stove was on high for quite some time. I kinda want the thermometer anyway. I borrowed a turkey fryer actually initially before I saw the sale at the store on the stockpots, so I had the thermometer with it.

 

It has yet to be seen how nice propane is in the middle of winter, though the snow banks may be a good way to cool it off fast.

[asilentbob]

Yeah the issue of "brew" i just got in the mail had a section on new brewing grains, malts, hops, sugars, yeasts, etc and the global hop shortage was something they touched on:

 

"The problem this year is that there is a world shortage of hops. There is not enough acreage growing hops to keep up with the demand." -Hop Union owner Ralph Olson.

 

Right about now I'm thinking, "STUPID! How could you forget to order hop rhizomes in spring?! Stupid ASB!"

 

Anyways... I thought id recommend a couple mailing lists i came across: The mead list and the cider digest... searching these should provide you with plenty of info on how to subscribe, rules, etc... A current interesting topic on the mead list is the use of IIRC olive oil for oxygenating wort... sounds counter productive... its very interesting though...

 

There are also some newsgroups that are good... haven't been spending hardly any time there lately though...

 

Probably my most frequently visited site dealing with brewing other than jack kellers wine oriented site:

http://hbd.org/brewery/index.html

I love looking through the databases for ideas on recipes...

[Mumbles]

There are a few usefull places I've came across or was given for recipies and explanations and such.

 

http://www.bodensatz.com/

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

 

Both have some good info about technique and such. Even going into the shops and talking with the people will be really helpful. I think the guy knew it was our first batch, but he was really helpful and offering suggestingtions for styles and proceedures and stuff. I have somethings in mind. Due to the fact that my entire house is bordering on lagering temperatures, I think I know what is next.

 

I told Frank it was my basement, but definatly my wjhole house. My bedroom, on the second floor of the house is a crisp 58F right now according to the brew thermometer I have on top of the fermenter, and isn't getting any warmer. I think I am going to go stick it in a closet or something that isn't so affected by the drafty windows, and go toward the longer end of the recomended fermentation range. It's slowing, but I don't know if thats because it's cold, or if it's closing in on the end of fermentation. It was recomended to go for 5-7 days in the primary, and this is day 4.

[weknowpyro]

I’m pleased, my lager has finished its second fermentation and is starting to clear; should be ready by Christmas.

Also, my carrot wine seems to be finishing fermentation (has been going for over 3 - 4 months) so I should be able to bottle that soon and store it until next summer.

[tentacles]

I picked up some stuff to get into the spirit of things; bucket, paddle, hydrometer, "instant" beer kit. I picked up a 5 gallon pyrex flask earlier today for FrankRizzo, and thought I should maybe test it out for him

 

I think homebrewing may be the only way for me to afford drinking beer here in Canada, as a 12 pack of cheapest crap is like $15!

 

Also picked up a lb of Na metabisulfite for my perc cell (and sterilizing).

[asilentbob]

You mean a 5L flask? I have been eyeing those... would work well for hydrazine sulfate... but ill forget about them for now... I don't REALLY need one... would just be nice.

[tentacles]

No, I mean 5 gallons... although I suppose technically it's a carboy. Genuine (Corning) Pyrex, though. It appears to be borosilicate glass.

 

http://www.apcforum.net/files/DSCN5582.JPG

 

link: http://www.apcforum.net/files/DSCN5582.JPG

[asilentbob]

Ah. Very nice!

 

I have been wanting to get a 6.5 gallon glass carboy for a while now to give alot of room for possible foaming and for wine making, but keep doing other things...

 

Too many projects

[Mumbles]

I get to try my beer for the first time wednesday evening, I am quite excited. I can almost tastes. Well, maybe I've been licking the residue off the side of the bottles, get off my case.

[tentacles]

Well, mumbles, was it so bad you can't talk about it? HOW WAS YOUR BEER?

[Mumbles]

It wasn't fully carbonated. I grabbed a bottle that wasn't filled as high as it should have been, so that may have been part of the problem. It tasted alright, but not quite up to par. I do have to wonder if it was all fully chilled to the same temperature, as it seemed to get thicker later in the glass indicating that there was a possible temperature gradient. There was still some residual bottling sugar so still rather sweet. I also have to work on my home brew pour, as my glass was filled with little yeasties.

 

It has only been bottled for a week, so it is nowhere near the stated 3-4 week conditioning time. After christmas should be a better judge of quality. It definatly has potential though. Nice dark amber color with a slightly off white head. The head was lacking due to the carbonation level though. Probably would help if the house was over 60 degrees.l

 

Any suggestions for the next batch? I've been thinking lager due to the obvious temperature conditions within my house. Basement is probably right around 40-45 degrees.

[tentacles]

I do so love the lager!

 

I picked up a cornelius keg yesterday to put my beer in. It probably cost a bit more than bottles, but there's only one container to clean, and I already have the CO2 equipment. I can run my syrup pump on my soda machine at 10-12psi, and just dial it to the beer. I can skip the sugar carbonation and force carbonate the beer.

 

But on the downside, I will have to learn how to properly force carbonate, etc.

[Mumbles]

I had another tonight, muuuuuuch better. I think it was just the low fill level. It had a bit of a weak head, but that was more than likely from shit on the glass. Turns out my roomates are incompetant at just about every sort of life skill including proper functioning of a dishwasher.

 

The carbonation was better, and it wasn't as sweet, and had a good taste. I even got a little bit of lacing around the glass. For a first batch, I'd say it turned out pretty well. I didn't even get too much of caramel taste people often mention when using extract.

[FrankRizzo]

I do so love the lager!

 

I picked up a cornelius keg yesterday to put my beer in. It probably cost a bit more than bottles, but there's only one container to clean, and I already have the CO2 equipment. I can run my syrup pump on my soda machine at 10-12psi, and just dial it to the beer. I can skip the sugar carbonation and force carbonate the beer.

 

But on the downside, I will have to learn how to properly force carbonate, etc.

Force carbing is definitely an art form, but it's not that difficult and beer is fairly forgiving. For ales, I usually aim for ~2.5-2.7vol of CO2. I pre-cool the beer to 40F, then attach my gas line (pressurized @ 40PSI) to the liquid post and rock the keg back and forth for ~5 mins letting the CO2 bubble up through the beer. Then, I disconnect the gas and rock the keg across my knees for an additional 2 mins. Pop it back in the fridge, set the regulator to 13-14PSI, and attach the gas to the correct post. It should be ready to drink within a day, but I usually give it 3 before I start drinking from it heavily. If you start drinking it just after force carbing, there's an acidic bite that's not present if you leave it sit for a bit.

 

The biggest caveat is forgetting to completely purge the headspace in the keg before applying pressure...if you don't, the nitrogen will impede CO2 absorption and oxidize the beer.

 

Carbonation Chart

[Mumbles]

So, it seems that Maibock is on the list very soon. I was hoping for some feedback on it.

 

9.9 lbs Light liquid extract (or 8.8 dry)

Cara-Pils Malt 0.50 lbs

Munich Malt 0.25 lbs

Crystal 8L Malt 0.25 lbs

Aromatic Malt 0.13 lbs

 

Halltauer hops 1.75oz at 60 min

.5oz at 15 min

 

A bock yeast of some sort

 

The recipe calls for Munich(.25) and Aromatic(.13lbs) Malts, however I'm finding conflicting reports of these two being able to be steeped or not. Some say yes, some say no. Who knows, I might get ballsy and try a minimash. I'd of course lose some of the extract and use a pilsner malt to make sure I got enough enzymes.

 

This is the other I was looking at

 

8lbs Light malt extract(liquid)

3 lbs Vienna Malt - European 2-row

1 lb Munich Malt - European 2-row

 

0.5 oz Northern Brewer - boiled 40 minutes

0.5 oz Northern Brewer - boiled 25 minutes

1.0 oz Tettnanger - boiled 20 minutes

1.0 oz Tettnanger - boiled 10 minutes

 

Wyeast Bohemian Lager Yeast

 

 

 

 

 

Any comments or suggestions? Perhaps a clear answer on if they are steepable?

[FrankRizzo]

I'll have to do a bit of calculator work, but I believe that first recipe might be a bit stout. Munich malt *does* need to be mashed unless you want to add starch to your beer. It does have enough enzymatic activity (diastatic power) to be used by itself as well.

 

Mashing on the stove is fairly easy, especially with small amounts of grain. Preheat the oven on low or ~200F. Using a 1.25qt/lb ratio, you'll need to bring a bit over 5.5cups of water to 165F, then add your grain bag. The temperature should drop to 150-152F. If it's any higher or lower, stir or add boiling water to make up the difference try not to let it reach over 155F. Then place the pot in the oven to maintain temperature for 45mins. During the wait, bring 1.5qt of water to 170F. After 45mins, remove the pot from the oven, remove the grain bag and place in a colander above the pot, then pour the 1.5qts of 170F water over the grain bag to extract the remaining sugars. Do not squeeze the bag or you'll extract tannins. Add the extracted sugars to the boiling pot.

 

I use a coffee carafe (thermos) instead of doing the pot and oven routine. It's much easier to maintain a constant temperature, but you have to add a bit more heat to the water initially to make-up for the thermal mass of the thermos bottle's inner liner.

 

Edit: Nevermind about the first recipe being a bit stout. You're right-on with ~1.070.