The Home Brewing Thread

[ScrewTheRules]

For Kiwis who brew their own alcohol or wish to learn.

I recently made my first attempt at wine making, despite the fact that I don't kike wine, and have been informed that it is indeed drinkable, and somewhat akin to the sort if cheap wines you can buy from a convenience store. I got my kit from Wilkinson, so it's not exactly high end, and after my upcoming attempt at elderflower wine (which I do drink) I would like to try something a bit higher end. Any suggestions or recipes?
I also got a set a while back for fermenting flavoured gin which I would like to have a proper crack at, so would appreciate any suggestions on good fruits to use or it might just be damsens :p

Anyone here brew at home?

 

[Pikonic]

Back in my university days I made bum wine using juice concentrate (1 can= 1 gallon) It tasted terrible but it did the job for 5 dollars.

It's never been a serious hobby and I still only brew in gallon batches. I do mead since it's pretty unique. It's great for Christmas on a budget.

Spoiler: boring how to

You're gonna want at least two months for this so I start about two weeks before Halloween.

Fill a gallon jug with 3 pounds of honey (1.36 kg in 3.8L for you European types), a packet of yeast, some raisins (like 6, they don't do anything for flavor, just a little sugar boost for the yeast) and whatever flavor you like (people like my apple cinnamon, just chop up an apple and add a cinnamon stick. This year I also did my pear, just chop up a pear. I'm trying cranberry as well, I just use the juice in place of more water. DO NOT DISSOLVE IN HOT WATER FOR EASE, THIS WILL KILL THE YEAST. If mixing up the honey is that hard, heat the water, add everything but the yeast, then let it cool.

Shake it up, this is important since you need to activate the yeast. Then cap it with a one way air valve. Using disposable water jugs is best since you can create the valve with a simple knife slit in the top. Balloons with a pinhole work too.

Let it sit in a cool dry place for a month and check for fermentation weekly (check for bubbles in the mixture, if you used the balloon it should inflate a little bit).

Filter all the yeast, fruit, anything you added out into a clean sealed container, let that sit for another two weeks. Bottle.

I bottle in 750mls, so I get about 4 bottles per gallon. All said and done, the cost of making 3 gallons, including bottling supplies and ingredients, was 60$. That's 12 gifts for 5 bucks each. I had to buy corks in bulk and a new corker so it'll be less next time.
My current batch is still in the fermentation stage, I'll post the final results when I get there.