Homebrew / Moonshine - Sink vodka appreciation

[Zashaiba]

Please do. I recommend 71B or QA23 for stone fruit like peaches.

Thank you friend. I’ll go look for those

 

[Zashaiba]

I’m making a new mead. It’s a stewed pears mead. Put some chopped up pears in honey water and baked until they went transparent and strained it into a jug. It’s darker than my other meads, can’t wait to try.

 

[VeteranOfTheRetardWars]

For the first time in almost a decade I'm trying to brew again, so I made like five gallons of apple cider that I'll be fermenting.
Now that I don't have to hide it from my parents I can be a bit more thorough lol.
If it turns out good I might get more into brewing. We have a good amount of apple trees, an Asian pear tree, and a big ass cherry tree. Where I live we also have prickly pears and juniper berries fucking everywhere, and even in the stores you find prickly pear cider that's pretty solid. It seems like a fun thing to experiment with, and I know I like ciders and meads.

I took a measurement after a week of fermentation and it’s going well. It’s at 8.6%abv, it tastes like (very young and unfinished) cider, so I’m going to let that batch ferment dry and see what happens. It’s an experiment and I put a lot of spices in it as we drank some from the same batch normally.
Now I’m cooking up another five gallons with just water, apples, sugar, and a jar of pineapple preserves I made a bit ago. Much less sugar this time because I want a lighter beverage. This time I’ll put in spices after it ferments, I hear thats the better way to do it.
Hopefully by Christmas time we will be merry on some homemade apple wine and apple cider.
But seriously, we had so many fucking apples from the trees we gotta figure something out and who doesn’t like booze.

UPDATE:
I’m impatient, so I took a little sample.

Tastes like apples, is harsh and definitely needs to age, but it tested at 10%. The plan now is to siphon off into gallon glass carboys and let age for a bit. Graduated from “cider” to “apple wine” in my view.
My new batch has a starting gravity of 1.06, the yeast has been pitched, the only additional things aside from apples, water, and sugar is pineapple preserves I wasn’t going to use and cherry syrup I made. Very light and mild, I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
This brewing stuff is fun, you feel like an alchemist.

 

[Zashaiba]

Almost threw an autistic rage fit because grandpa threw away the new yeast but I found some expired stuff and I bloomed it and it turned out fine so we cool

 

[Joshua Connor Tomar]

I grew too many hops, should I just dehydrate them? I hate ipas

 

[Troonos]

I grew too many hops, should I just dehydrate them? I hate ipas

Yeah, dehydrate them. You don't have to make an IPA with them. You can dry hop in the secondary and you'll just get aromatics and a mild flavor. Hopping during the boil is what produces bitterness.

 

[Troonos]

Brewing updates:

The bochet kinda sucks. It didn't ferment dry for some reason despite using evidence-based best practice as always, so it stopped at 10%. It doesn't have the rich, dark caramel flavor I expected.

Also not too impressed with the amburana wood batch. I could see the wood being good as an adjunct in an established recipe with other elements, but it's tough to make a plain traditional with nothing but some wood. I'll let it sit a few months and see if it mellows into something good.

My big acerglyn is getting great, though. Some improvements over my first acerglyn like less acid and longer oaking, and it's a blend of dark and amber maple. I'll rack it off the oak tomorrow night after two months.

Currently fermenting is a blueberry muffin wine. It's got 1.5 liters of blueberry juice with Kiawe Wildflower honey, and once I rack it, I'll backsweeten with more honey, maple syrup, and brown sugar, then I'll let it sit on a cinnamon stick, vanilla beans, and blueberries, then finish it off with a bit of (not joking) McCormick Cake Batter Extract. Should finish around 12.5%.

I'm now wondering why I bothered making half-gallon taster batches with each new honey varietal, because they've been sitting for a year and a half with nothing done to them and no plan. I might just add a little acid and then blend and keg them since they're occupying half of a shelf.

Not sure if I said it here yet, but I picked up the largest steel wire shelf Home Depot sells. Six shelves on it, and each can support about 800 lbs (so half of Hamberlynn). Managed to fit my entire brewing hobby on it, and my wife doesn't even care that it's taking up an entire corner of the living room.

I brought my carbonated cherry vanilla beer-strength mead to a cookout, and it was a hit. I also kegged my 7% Moscow Mule batch, and it literally tastes exactly like the cocktail. My Irish Ale traditional is my first big batch go to in the kegerator, and while I can't taste much due to COVID-induced bronchitis, my wife said it tastes like a real lager or pilsner.

Now I just need some friends so people can come and drink all this.

That's it. I'm open to interesting recipes from creative Kiwis.

 

[Joshua Connor Tomar]

I got a wheat beer fermenting, and I'm thinking about taking the grains I've removed from the wort dehydrating them and milling them but that also sounds like a big pain in the ass. I've got all the equipment and it would be kinda Cool but I haven't had a clean kitchen in a month.

I've also read amaranth is a grain I could grow without the intestenity of threshing. Would be cool to have something entirely home grown.

 

[Troonos]

I got a wheat beer fermenting, and I'm thinking about taking the grains I've removed from the wort dehydrating them and milling them but that also sounds like a big pain in the ass. I've got all the equipment and it would be kinda Cool but I haven't had a clean kitchen in a month.

I've also read amaranth is a grain I could grow without the intestenity of threshing. Would be cool to have something entirely home grown.

Recovered brewing grains make great dog treats.

 

[Attempted Alcoholism]

I need some advice with a weird compulsive thought on having; I'm making mead for the first time his year (TWU) with my blackberries, and I used to make wine in high school but this is my first time using actual wine yeast instead of Fleischmann's bread yeast.

Do I need to give it a boil when I'm done? I figure I probably just need to siphon and strain it before I bottle it, but I still feel compelled to throw it in a pot and bring it to a boil for whatever reason. I guess I'm just nervous about it continuing to ferment in the bottle and farting off the cap/cork

 

[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]

Do I need to give it a boil when I'm done? I figure I probably just need to siphon and strain it before I bottle it, but I still feel compelled to throw it in a pot and bring it to a boil for whatever reason. I guess I'm just nervous about it continuing to ferment in the bottle and farting off the cap/cork

I wouldn't boil after fermentation, but you can pasteurize at a lower temperature. You can also use chemicals to stabilize your mead if you want. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you're back sweetening - if you've left the mead fermenting for long enough, the yeast should have consumed about as much sugar as it's going to.

That said, I am a big fan of pressure-rated flip top bottles because a little extra pressure isn't an issue with those.

 

[Captain Wetbeard]

I need some advice with a weird compulsive thought on having; I'm making mead for the first time his year (TWU) with my blackberries, and I used to make wine in high school but this is my first time using actual wine yeast instead of Fleischmann's bread yeast.

Do I need to give it a boil when I'm done? I figure I probably just need to siphon and strain it before I bottle it, but I still feel compelled to throw it in a pot and bring it to a boil for whatever reason. I guess I'm just nervous about it continuing to ferment in the bottle and farting off the cap/cork

Boiling will burn all the alcohol off, because that boils before water.

 

[Troonos]

I need some advice with a weird compulsive thought on having; I'm making mead for the first time his year (TWU) with my blackberries, and I used to make wine in high school but this is my first time using actual wine yeast instead of Fleischmann's bread yeast.

Do I need to give it a boil when I'm done? I figure I probably just need to siphon and strain it before I bottle it, but I still feel compelled to throw it in a pot and bring it to a boil for whatever reason. I guess I'm just nervous about it continuing to ferment in the bottle and farting off the cap/cork

No, there's no reason to ever boil mead.

And you don't strain it either. This is going to introduce massive amounts of oxygen and encourage oxidation to ruin the flavor.

You need to use a hydrometer to measure and record the Specific Gravity before fermenting, then ferment it in the primary container. When most of the yeast drops to the bottom of the vessel, measure the SG again and record it. Then let it sit another couple of weeks so as much can drop out as possible.

After that, use a siphon to rack (above the level of the floculated yeast so you don't suck it up) it into a secondary vessel onto stabilizers (potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate measured correctly). THESE chemicals are what will prevent refermentation when you add more honey to backsweeten, and you'll likely want to backsweeten as at your beginner level, you probably won't be balancing acids or tannins to make a dry mead palatable (though you should try).

 

[Aiōn]

A quick update on my wild yeast cider experiment, it’s clearer than before but it’s still a bit cloudy. I was hoping to bake some monkey bread but it tastes a bit too watered down. I will instead use it to make a slow roasted hot pot with pork shoulder (pork butt) and possibly caramelize onions for burgers with the remainder.

When I bought my carboy, I bought it in a 2 pack and I found some honey on sale so I’m trying to make mead for Halloween, again just with wild yeast. I've used 1qt. blossom honey and a gallon of water aiming for medium sweetness and added in some raisins. In Kingcobra’s latest batch of mead he has opted to flavor it using Reese’s peanut butter cups and bananas, I’ve kept it simple with some cloves and orange peel.

 

[Troonos]

A quick update on my wild yeast cider experiment, it’s clearer than before but it’s still a bit cloudy. I was hoping to bake some monkey bread but it tastes a bit too watered down. I will instead use it to make a slow roasted hot pot with pork shoulder (pork butt) and possibly caramelize onions for burgers with the remainder.
View attachment 6416131View attachment 6416132
When I bought my carboy, I bought it in a 2 pack and I found some honey on sale so I’m trying to make mead for Halloween, again just with wild yeast. I've used 1qt. blossom honey and a gallon of water aiming for medium sweetness and added in some raisins. In Kingcobra’s latest batch of mead he has opted to flavor it using Reese’s peanut butter cups and bananas, I’ve kept it simple with some cloves and orange peel.

Sweetness is attained by backsweetening (or doing the math to provide too much sugar for the yeast to ferment dry). You don't even know what yeasts are in there, so you don't know alcohol tolerance or attenuation or anything else, so you aren't really "aiming" for anything.

Why did you add raisins?

Be careful with cloves. Experienced brewers say the best way to add clove flavor to your brew is to place a single clove on a shelf several feet from the carboy. "Some cloves" is excessive for even a five-gallon batch, and you'll taste nothing else in a one-gallon batch with that many.

 

[Aiōn]

Sweetness is attained by backsweetening (or doing the math to provide too much sugar for the yeast to ferment dry). You don't even know what yeasts are in there, so you don't know alcohol tolerance or attenuation or anything else, so you aren't really "aiming" for anything.

Why did you add raisins?

Be careful with cloves. Experienced brewers say the best way to add clove flavor to your brew is to place a single clove on a shelf several feet from the carboy. "Some cloves" is excessive for even a five-gallon batch, and you'll taste nothing else in a one-gallon batch with that many.

I read that using different honey quantities would make the final product sweeter or drier and so I picked a middle ground.

I added raisins because I have baked bread before using fruit yeast water and I was under the impression that they have quite a lot of yeast on them.

That's good to know about the cloves, I poured more than I meant to but I will remove some now, thank you for telling me!

 

[Troonos]

I read that using different honey quantities would make the final product sweeter or drier and so I picked a middle ground.

I added raisins because I have baked bread before using fruit yeast water and I was under the impression that they have quite a lot of yeast on them.

That's good to know about the cloves, I poured more than I meant to but I will remove some now, thank you for telling me!

No, the initial sugar you add only provides food for yeast. If that yeast can tolerate a high ABV, it will simply consume every bit of sugar you throw at it (sometimes far beyond its ABV tolerance if you use some advanced techniques). Stabilizing the brew (semi-permanently preventing the yeast from reproducing) and then adding more honey/sugar makes it sweeter. Adding less/none makes it drier. Now there are some more intermediate techniques to disadvantage your yeast to reduce the likelihood of it fermenting dry and being able to mathematically plan for fermentation to die naturally before all the sugar is consumed, but that's not always reliable.

Raisins are sparsely colonized by trace yeast and other microbes, but people who have tried using them for that purpose often end up having to supplement them with packaged brewing yeast. Your starting gravity is so high (1.086) that the tiny number of yeast that may be present will be fighting uphill to establish any significant population. Worse, most brands of raisins are preserved by adding a sulfite, which is one of the chemical families you add to stabilize, so they aren't conducive to fermentation starting.

Honestly, a wild yeast brew is usually something a more intermediate or advanced brewer would get into, and you're going to be working so hard just to get a successful fermentation that you'll miss out on the more fun parts of the process.

I would watch a few YouTube videos (NOT City Steading Brews) and do a little Mead Reddit Wiki reading to familiarize yourself with best practice, then start a standard, controllable batch with brewing yeast and see if you can get that fermented and clear and drinkable before you try to do a wild ferment. I would be totally happy to guide you through the process and answer questions if you message me any time. I'll even make you a shopping list to get the absolute minimum affordable level of necessary equipment and chemicals to do it right.

Good luck either way.

 

[Concentrate Juice]

Now there are some more intermediate techniques to disadvantage your yeast to reduce the likelihood of it fermenting dry and being able to mathematically plan for fermentation to die naturally before all the sugar is consumed

Here I am thinking I fucked my brew up, but I am actually using intermediate techniques. I Couldn't get the BRIX any lower so I moved it to a cool room. Last week I added k-metabisulfite and k-sorbate, have monitored it since and have observed no secondary fermentation. It smells and tastes pretty good and it is about as sweet as I wanted it to be, just not as alcoholic at ~13.5% with remaining sugar, when I wanted ~16-18% dry + backsweetened.

Because my must was entirely made from citrus fruit (mostly lemon and around a fifth orange, generously donated by my neighbours) and I didn't want to buy a ph meter, I picked a yeast that was apparently hardy against acidity. I think this was a good idea because the recipe I adapted for the higher abv target had their brew stop fermenting only hours in and they ended up autistically balancing their ph for their entire brew, which I didn't want to do.

I am still not sure why my fermentation slowed down to a crawl after doing so well and for so long too, but my 6 gallon yield is strong enough and tasty enough to have me wanting to make some more with different ingredients and yeasts. Maybe I'll even do a true and honest grape wine.

NOT City Steading Brews

Why not? At a glance, the only thing wrong is that the dude's wife is kinda annoying and they have this strange stance against stuff like fining agents.

 

[Troonos]

Why not? At a glance, the only thing wrong is that the dude's wife is kinda annoying and they have this strange stance against stuff like fining agents.

They're both annoying and put off a vibe that makes them seem like the types who participate in pony play, but that's the least of their issues.

Let me be as nice about this as I can:

CSB is about making brewing appear easy and accessible, not really about making quality brews or understanding how the mechanisms involved in brewing actually work. They give brewing advice that is both unsafe and likely to result in poor quality, including telling people that a large quantity of mold is perfectly fine and should just be stirred in. And they censor people who question their practices. A large number of people coming into the Reddit and Discord communities having difficulty with brewing can trace their troubles back to following CSB's advice. 90% of the time the couple are just making things up and presenting it as fact.

 

[Aiōn]

Just checked in on my mead and it appears to be bubbling away. I think that for my next batch I will buy a sachet of champagne yeast but for this I’ve decided to keep on the wild yeast route because I'm interested in seeing what will happen. I’m not sure how this compares to what you get when you use cultivated yeast but here it is, I figured I’d share in case anyone is curious.