Homebrew / Moonshine - Sink vodka appreciation

Troonos said:
Raisins are okay for some mild tannic value, but you need several pounds of them in a gallon to provide any appreciable nutrition, which would be counterintuitive since many raisin brands contain sulfites which will slow yeast reproduction.
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Unless you're talking about making the end product nutritious, a quarter of a cup of raisins is sufficient for giving yeast the nutrients they need in 1 gallon brews that would otherwise lack it and is an alternative to store/Amazon bought nutrient packs.

I regularly brew sugar wine with Demerara sugar and a half a handful of standard store bought raisins chopped up almost always leads to fermenting to completion.

Captain Wetbeard said:
Right now I've got a couple gallon jars with strawberries and rhubarb chugging along nicely.
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Every Strawberry brew I've tried foamed out the wazzu. I know I'm filling my carboy's too high, but the first time I tried Strawberry Mead the foam pushed a strawberry chunk into the airlock and turned it into a rocket.

I wish I'd been there to see it when it happened.
 
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Catgirl Tyranid said:
Unless you're talking about making the end product nutritious, a quarter of a cup of raisins is sufficient for giving yeast the nutrients they need in 1 gallon brews that would otherwise lack it and is an alternative to store/Amazon bought nutrient packs.

I regularly brew sugar wine with Demerara sugar and a half a handful of standard store bought raisins chopped up almost always leads to fermenting to completion.
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Almost always? Just throw some Fermaid in there. Those batches would have the same rate of success whether you added the raisins or not. They don't supply the nutrients needed for healthy fermentation.

"My yeast usually manage to ferment sugars when I throw in some raisins!" Your anecdote means nothing. Raisins are folk brewing hocus pocus that you only learn from literal sunken head retards like City Steading Brews whose most famous brewing advice is that it's totally fine to just stir in the mold growing on top of your brew.
 
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Jelli said:
Has anyone tried the little air stills?

I see parrot heads and stuff for them on eBay all the time, there must be an active distilling scene for them.
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It's good for small batches. 4 litres of water, 1.5kg of sugar and a fifth of a pack of turbo yeast makes enough for one run. I started doing it in empty gallon water bottles with a small hole drilled in the cap and a bubble trap hot glued in place. The cooling fan on top of the still isn't enough to turn the alcohol vapour back in to liquid unless you're doing outside it in the snow. Most of my first batch came out as steam and was condensing on the walls before I realised. Add a silicon connector and a bit of glass tube to extend it into your collecting jar and it works fine. Is it the purest vodka? Probably not, but I leave it in jars with fresh fruit to make flavoured vodkas and liqueurs and you'd struggle to taste the supposed impurities over the fruit.

indomitable snowman said:
You can also use dead yeast for yeast nutrient.
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Australian You Tube cook Ann Reardon did some experiments to make Vegemite from dead yeast. You need a lot however to make it worthwhile.
 
I realized last night that I had more apples than I could eat so I thought I would try to make some apple wine. It was late so I have started very basic, no pectic enzyme or additional yeast. Just pureed apples, sugar and filtered water that I boiled and allowed to cool.
D39D9C04-4A40-4AC7-AAC7-976D3FF3224B.jpeg
This is somewhat of an experiment for me. The bottles are currently sitting in a dark cupboard, I have used coffee filters in lieu of muslin. If all goes well I will post some pictures of the final result in a couple of months, I’ll probably use it to cook pork.

If it all goes wrong we shall never speak of it again ;)
 
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Aiōn said:
I realized last night that I had more apples than I could eat so I thought I would try to make some apple wine. It was late so I have started very basic, no pectic enzyme or additional yeast. Just pureed apples, sugar and filtered water that I boiled and allowed to cool.
View attachment 6215654
This is somewhat of an experiment for me. The bottles are currently sitting in a dark cupboard, I have used coffee filters in lieu of muslin. If all goes well I will post some pictures of the final result in a couple of months, I’ll probably use it to cook pork.

If it all goes wrong we shall never speak of it again ;)
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Your final product will be 1/3 of that volume and highly oxidized.
 
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Aiōn said:
As in dark and vinegary? Is there anything that I could do to improve it?
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No, vinegar doesn't come from oxidation. It comes from acetobacter infection. Oxidation dulls the flavor, makes it taste like wet cardboard, and turns the color into a pale brown. Now if it is infected, oxygen will hasten the conversion to vinegar.

You could improve fermentation with thorough sanitation, some reading on proper technique, and spending the bare minimum on the absolute mandatory equipment: gallon carboy, bung, airlock ($8 total) and 8 oz bottle of StarSan ($10).
 
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Aiōn said:
I realized last night that I had more apples than I could eat so I thought I would try to make some apple wine. It was late so I have started very basic, no pectic enzyme or additional yeast. Just pureed apples, sugar and filtered water that I boiled and allowed to cool.
View attachment 6215654
This is somewhat of an experiment for me. The bottles are currently sitting in a dark cupboard, I have used coffee filters in lieu of muslin. If all goes well I will post some pictures of the final result in a couple of months, I’ll probably use it to cook pork.

If it all goes wrong we shall never speak of it again ;)
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For fruit I'd recommend boiling it, letting it sit for a while to cool and sort of steep. then strain it through a fine metal strainer to get the solids out.
You've already got most of what you want out of the solids after a couple hours if you heated them, so you can just add a bit of simple syrup and top up your brewing container with some more water for a bit more volume. I'd also caution against using wild yeasts since they're unpredictable.
If you want to go cheap, Red Star blanc is pretty decent for just about anything.

Then again half the fun of brewing is experimenting, so have fun either way. 8)
 
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Aiōn said:
I realized last night that I had more apples than I could eat so I thought I would try to make some apple wine. It was late so I have started very basic, no pectic enzyme or additional yeast. Just pureed apples, sugar and filtered water that I boiled and allowed to cool.
View attachment 6215654
This is somewhat of an experiment for me. The bottles are currently sitting in a dark cupboard, I have used coffee filters in lieu of muslin. If all goes well I will post some pictures of the final result in a couple of months, I’ll probably use it to cook pork.

If it all goes wrong we shall never speak of it again ;)
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@Troonos is 100% right about investing in a 1 gallon carboy w/ Airlock. You could sterilize everything with boiling water, but it's a massive pain compared to using Starsan.

If your goal is to collect wild yeast native to your area, I think you're supposed to put all that in a wide bowl covered with something permeable to keep debris out and leaving it out (I'd assume in shade) until it starts fizzing/bubbling.

At which point you'll want to harvest the yeast and add it to a fresh must before throwing it into prior described 1 gallon carboy w/ Airlock.
 
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Has anyone ever made dandelion wine? I see it referenced from time to time as this magical, delicious nectar, and I'm curious if it's feasible to make at home and if it's worth the effort.
FWIW, I do have access to a pretty big dandelion patch.
 
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Soyjack Pinhead said:
Has anyone ever made dandelion wine? I see it referenced from time to time as this magical, delicious nectar, and I'm curious if it's feasible to make at home and if it's worth the effort.
FWIW, I do have access to a pretty big dandelion patch.
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I made dandelion tea once and hated the tasted so I proceeded to cancel all plans to turn my yard into a dandelion patch.
 
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Soyjack Pinhead said:
Has anyone ever made dandelion wine? I see it referenced from time to time as this magical, delicious nectar, and I'm curious if it's feasible to make at home and if it's worth the effort.
FWIW, I do have access to a pretty big dandelion patch.
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It was the very 1st thing I ever brewed and I liked it fairly well, my wife has been pestering me to make another batch but I've been too busy this summer to gather the dandelions.
 
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I ran into some trouble with my experiment and thought I would post an update.

I overfilled the bottles because they leaked last night, most of the apple had floated to the top and with the presence of gasses I am guessing that means fermentation is taking place.. I had planned to sieve it at the week mark but I did it today instead, using a nylon mesh bag and then added an additional 2 tbsp of sugar. I am considering making my own makeshift airlock for the remaining duration.
239D6FD1-CFBB-4412-8C75-62B054A90B11.jpeg26959FB3-059D-4409-ABC4-283213751089.jpeg
 
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Aiōn said:
I ran into some trouble with my experiment and thought I would post an update.

I overfilled the bottles because they leaked last night, most of the apple had floated to the top and with the presence of gasses I am guessing that means fermentation is taking place.. I had planned to sieve it at the week mark but I did it today instead, using a nylon mesh bag and then added an additional 2 tbsp of sugar. I am considering making my own makeshift airlock for the remaining duration.
View attachment 6229524View attachment 6229525
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Out of curiosity, how does it smell?
 
Aiōn said:
I ran into some trouble with my experiment and thought I would post an update.

I overfilled the bottles because they leaked last night, most of the apple had floated to the top and with the presence of gasses I am guessing that means fermentation is taking place.. I had planned to sieve it at the week mark but I did it today instead, using a nylon mesh bag and then added an additional 2 tbsp of sugar. I am considering making my own makeshift airlock for the remaining duration.
View attachment 6229524View attachment 6229525
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Damn, that sucks ass. I've had that happen a few times, its part of why I stopped leaving the solids in for fermentation. It can be fine if you swirl the container periodically to keep it agitated, but thats kind of a pain in the ass. It definitely is a sign that it's fermenting though, so that's good.


In other news: does anyone know if an appeal to the injunction for the Hobby Brewers Association was filed before midnight? I know they hadn't filed it as of like 8pm EST, and if not the injunction went into effect preventing members from being charged federally until the case is appealed at least. If the injunction goes into effect I'm definitely becoming a member since home distilling is legal at the state level here.
 
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