This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

Real Homebrew

edited September 2010 in Everything Else
Has anyone on here tried making their own wine or other alcoholic beverage? Lately I've been making my own hooch, which I must say is pretty damn good. Its basically a modified version of kilju with different flavorings, more filtration, and I do some freeze distillation to make it stronger. I'm not much of a drinker but for some reason I just really like doing this
«1345

Comments

  • edited September 2010
    Pete is our resident brewer. I'm working on some applejack this winter and will likely start beers soon.

    My dream? Code an alcohol-resistant sterile yeast to make a 120 proof beer.
    Post edited by WindUpBird on
  • I might start brewing. Of course, this is contingent on whether or not I like my first beer this October.
  • Now that I've moved into a home of my own with a yard and a garage and stuff, I'm going to look into brewing some non-beers once I've got money to spend on equipments. I'd like to use local ingredients if possible, but Florida lends itself to liqueurs (which I don't really like), rum (which is fine by me), vodka (meh), and moonshine. Any suggestions on beverages made from local foodstuffs? (Second link may bleed your eyes.)
  • edited September 2010
    I might start brewing. Of course, this is contingent on whether or not I like my first beer this October.
    Become a beer tasting geek before you become a beer brewing geek. Trust me on this one. It'll help you to figure out what it is that you appreciate about beer, and you'll need that to be any good at homebrewing.

    A lot of people start brewing their own to get cheap booze. This is a valid but kind of cheesy reason to brew beer, and you miss out on all the geeky fun.

    To date, I've made 4 brews, 2 of which have ultimately failed. They started off quite good, but there was a low-level contamination issue that evinced itself a few weeks after bottling. My current goal is to fix my sanitation process by going a little overboard, bleaching the shit out of everything, and using liberal amounts of Starsan during the actual brewing process.

    I'm shooting to brew a pumpkin ale on Saturday. Courtesy of Frank, it'll be called "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Drinker." I hope to make it amazing.

    Planned brews include a hard mulled cider, a saison, a rye IPA of some sort (possibly smoked or wood-aged), and upgraded all-grain versions of my first two brews: Peter's Bitter Black Existence (a Russian Imperial stout with coffee and chocolate) and Dire Beer (an old ale with honey, which I may adapt into a version of a Norwegian juniper-infused beer recipe that I found). I'm also going to go back to This is a Beer and 44 North and make them not full of fail.

    Since I've become involved in the SCA, I've developed a mission to prove something about medieval brewing; specifically, I hypothesize that the vast majority of beer produced before ~1500 AD was comprised primarily of crystallized grains, much akin to modern day crystal malts. This is because malted grains were dried over wood fires; this effectively "stews" the grains and then kilns them, which is precisely what we do to make crystal malt today.

    In order to do this, I must get raw barley grains, malt them, construct or get my hands on a period oven (I'm shooting for something from ~1300 AD that would have been common on a northern European farmstead), dry the wet malt, and then brew a period recipe using my period grains and some slight modifications to make it drinkable.

    Planz. I haz dem.

    EDIT: Also, as a scientist, I do not recommend home distillation. Shit's dangerous and can kill you. But if you've been doing it for a while already, you've probably already heard all the warnings. :P
    Post edited by TheWhaleShark on
  • EDIT: Also, as a scientist, I do not recommend home distillation. Shit's dangerous and can kill you. But if you've been doing it for a while already, you've probably already heard all the warnings. :P
    Delicious fusel oils...
  • So if you guys weren't aware, there's a pretty active homebrewing community out there. When I decided that I wanted to do homebrewing, I researched it for nearly a year before I bought anything. Homebrewtalk was one of my best sources of information.

    I also recommend reading John Palmer's How to Brew. The whole thing is available for free online, and it's quite comprehensive.

    If you have aspirations of going pro one day, you should read up on Pro Brewer.
  • EDIT: Also, as a scientist, I do not recommend home distillation. Shit's dangerous and can kill you. But if you've been doing it for a while already, you've probably already heard all the warnings. :P
    What I've been doing is Fractional Freezing. Basically you just freeze your brew and the liquid left is much stronger. If you get more complicated you let it freeze and thaw a certain way. That's what they do to make Applejack and Ice beer. It won't get a lot of the impurities out but it will make it much stronger.
  • What I've been doing isFractional Freezing. Basically you just freeze your brew and the liquid left is much stronger. If you get more complicated you let it freeze and thaw a certain way. That's what they do to make Applejack and Ice beer. It won't get a lot of the impurities out but it will make it much stronger.
    Ah, when you said "hooch," I took that to imply a certain level of home distillation.

    Freeze fractioning is good stuff. Interesting note: In the US, it's illegal to remove more than 10% of the volume of beer as ice via freeze fractioning. More than that technically constitutes distillation, and you need a separate license for that.
  • Ah, when you said "hooch," I took that to imply a certain level of home distillation.
    No I just called it hooch because I'm doing it in a prison-hooch like way.
    Freeze fractioning is good stuff. Interesting note: In the US, it's illegal to remove more than 10% of the volume of beer as ice via freeze fractioning. More than that technically constitutes distillation, and you need a separate license for that.
    Yeah but plenty of people pirate music and jaywalk too.
  • I just kegged up a batch of fall amber for my girlfriend's birthday not ten minutes ago. It's loosely based on a Fat Tire clone recipe with more than a bit of improvisation on my part to make it more interesting.

    This is my first time using a keg instead of bottling. I'm pretty stoked about that.

    Brewing is hells of fun - but it's a hobby for folks who like to cook or maybe do science. It's not a good way to obtain beer. It's a lot of work; the more you do it and the more you invest in equipment, the less work it is per beer, but even so you're probably never going to approach the ease of just buying a six-pack. I love it, myself. I've been brewing for five years or so, and I keep a lab notebook with all my recipes and brewing processes in it.
    I also recommend reading John Palmer'sHow to Brew.The whole thing is available for free online, and it's quite comprehensive.
    Yeah, people talk a lot about Papazian and Michael Jackson, but How to Brew has always been my go-to resource when I needed to look up something or other during a brew.
  • Papazian and Jackson are very good resources too, but Palmer is a good technique reference.

    I use ProMash for recipe generation, storage, and formulation. It's really handy. If you're going to get brewing software, though, I'd get Beersmith, as ProMash is no longer supported.
  • @Pete - My girlfriend bought me a copy of Palmer's book a couple years back as I was starting to take an interest in homebrew. I've read the book but as yet haven't really dipped my toes in the waters of Lake Brewyerown. I get the theory behind it and I know what types of beers I historically like. My palate may not be very refined and I can't necessarily pick out all the nuances of any given beer, but I'm slowly learning and trying new things in the process. Can you suggest any resources for improving my beer tasting geek abilities?
  • Can you suggest any resources for improving my beer tasting geek abilities?
    The BJCP style guidelines. Read them and try to taste what they're talking about.

    Local homebrew clubs can also help out. Up in the Capital Region, we've got the Saratoga Thoroughbrews, who sometimes have tasting classes and other lectures with the brewer from the CH Evans Brewing Company, George de Piro (aka Professor Beer).

    What I can tell you is that becoming an excellent taster is very hard. I plan to become a BJCP certified judge at some point, and you have to taste a hell of a lot of beer before you can even think about it.

    In short, drink more.
  • In short, drink more.
    Hell, now that I can do. The other (local homebrew clubs), not so much. One of the hazards of living in BFE is that there isn't squat for resources in this area. The local liquor store owners are more than happy to special-order in anything their distributors carry if you ask, but if their distributor doesn't have it you'd just as well be asking St. Arnold of Soissons to come down and hand you the hops himself, because it ain't happening. The closest city that might have an active homebrew community would be Champaign, and it's about a two hour drive north of where I live. I'll have to ask around the next time I'm up there, because my girlfriend and I do make it up there every few months or so for a shopping trip and I always try to stop in to Friar Tuck's whenever we go so I can pick up some import brews.
  • Is there any particular hardware you guys would recommend? I don't have much cash for anything much right now, but I may buy some this summer since I think I need something better than 2 liter bottles for my brew.
  • Is there any particular hardware you guys would recommend? I don't have much cash for anything much right now, but I may buy some this summer since I think I need something better than 2 liter bottles for my brew.
    Meh. I've been using liter flip-top bottles for several years. I'm only trying a keg now because I got the keg, regulator, and CO2 tank for free from a guy in the soda industry. I mean, I've always wanted to keg but never wanted to spend the money on it.

    Frankly if I were going to dish out for some hardware, I'd look into going all-grain before I worried about bottling tech. Doing all-grain and buying the barley in bulk would really lower my production costs substantially, to the point where it might actually cost less to make my own than buy good micros. You don't need a whole lot more to do it, either, if you're willing to put in a little work to turn a 5-gallon gatorade cooler into a mash tun.

    I'd love a bigger brew kettle with a brass tap, and a big steel conical fermenter, but damn, equipment is orders of magnitude more expensive above the basic bucket-and-carboy level. Love a kegerator, too, but again, don't wanna pay for it.
  • Frankly if I were going to dish out for some hardware, I'd look into going all-grain before I worried about bottling tech.
    Right now I've just been using plain crystalline table sugar for my "wine" but I just started about a month or so ago so I still need to figure out different recipes and whatnot before anything else.
  • How bad is the smell during the brewing process? As I live in an apartment complex, am I going to get neighbors knocking on my door everyday?
  • How bad is the smell during the brewing process? As I live in an apartment complex, am I going to get neighbors knocking on my door everyday?
    Well for me there isn't much smell other than when I am filtering it but even then it stays in the room.
  • How bad is the smell during the brewing process? As I live in an apartment complex, am I going to get neighbors knocking on my door everyday?
    When I'm boiling the wort - a one-hour process - there's a mild, pleasant smell of grain sugar in my apartment. During fermentation, there's no smell at all. I have to crack the fermenter and waft it toward my nose if I want to smell in order to get an idea of how it's going.

    In short, there's no smell most of the time and when there is, it's mild and smells nice. If anything ever starts to stink, something has gone horribly awry.
    Right now I've just been using plain crystalline table sugar for my "wine" but I just started about a month or so ago so I still need to figure out different recipes and whatnot before anything else.
    Ewwww. Prison hooch, huh? Maybe you should graduate to fruit juice next? I didn't know your brewing was so... basic. You asked about hardware and I assumed you had a beginner homebrew setup. Is that true? What are you using now?

    In fact, what are any/all of you using? Describe and/or photograph!

  • When I'm boiling the wort - a one-hour process - there's a mild, pleasant smell of grain sugar in my apartment. During fermentation, there's no smell at all. I have to crack the fermenter and waft it toward my nose if I want to smell in order to get an idea of how it's going.

    In short, there's no smell most of the time and when there is, it's mild and smells nice. If anything ever starts to stink, something has gone horribly awry.
    How difficult is it to brew in your apartment as opposed to a larger place (i.e. house)?
  • How difficult is it to brew in your apartment as opposed to a larger place (i.e. house)?
    The only difficulty I've ever encountered is that electric ranges sometimes don't get hot enough to boil a big ol' kettle of wort, but there are houses with electric and apartments with gas, so that's not really an apartment issue; but if you have an electric range that doesn't get hot enough, you might need to purchase a small freestanding propane burner for your brew kettle (not that expensive), and since it's not really safe to set those up indoors, it can be a little harder to find a place to do the boil in an apartment without a balcony or porch.

    If you're worried about space, though, don't be. The footprint of all my brewing gear is maybe eight square feet. Fits handily in the bottom of my closet. And as far as neighbors go, I think the only reason any of my neighbors have ever even known I brew is because I've offered them beer.
  • The only difficulty I've ever encountered is that electric ranges sometimes don't get hot enough to boil a big ol' kettle of wort
    The electric ranges I had were way hotter than the gas ones I have now. The problem was that they were incredibly inconsistent and uneven in their heating, so they would scorch or undercook things very easily. The gas I have now is so even that I can set the level of bubbles in boiling water by the millimeter.
  • Gas > Electric any day of the week. I grew up learning how to cook on a gas range and transitioning over to an electric was a whole different ballgame. Gas gives you so much more control over your heat it's not even funny and it's a lot more forgiving. I long ago swore to myself that when I do build a house it's going to have a gas range in it.
  • Gas > Electric any day of the week. I grew up learning how to cook on a gas range and transitioning over to an electric was a whole different ballgame. Gas gives you so much more control over your heat it's not even funny and it's a lot more forgiving. I long ago swore to myself that when I do build a house it's going to have a gas range in it.
    Rym tried to argue against this for so long. His original position was that electric was that the flat top electric rangers were superior in every way. He'll probably do the usual thing which is to have some scaled back claim that it is only superior in a few ways, and claim that was his original position all along.
  • Gas > Electric. God anytime I've ever tried to cool on electric it turned out completely horrible.
  • edited September 2010
    I leased my apartment primarily because of its gas range; most other student apartments have shitty electric ranges. The rest of the apartment is really nice, too, so it was a good call.

    The only way to go "electric" is with a range that is all induction burners. Everything else is shit.
    Post edited by WindUpBird on
  • That which was but a pipe-dream has now entered the realm of feasibility.
  • Gas > Electric, buuuut electric really isn't that bad. I've gotten used to it.
  • Ewwww. Prison hooch, huh? Maybe you should graduate to fruit juice next? I didn't know your brewing was so... basic. You asked about hardware and I assumed you had a beginner homebrew setup. Is that true? What are you using now?
    Haha I said it was hooch. I've been making several kinds but basically I'm making a version of Kilju, a Finnish homebrewed sugarwine. I take a 2 liter bottle and fill it with filtered water, about a cup and a half of sugar and half a tablespoon of regular yeast. I put some paper towel on the top so it gets oxygen for the first 24 hours and then I put a balloon on the top after to let the gases escape into. Every few days I check to see if there is sediment in the bottom, and if there is I siphon out the liquid, wash out the bottle and return the liquid to the bottle. In about a week or week and a half its about ready. Then I Pour the contents through coffee filters and then A brita filter to get it as pure as I can. After this I put it into several bottles and go through a few steps of fractional freezing to get it stronger. The result is a slighty tangy, alcoholic sugar water. Its much better than prison hooch. I've also been experimenting with adding flavor packets beforehand. My first batch like this Had a couple different people saying it tasted just like wine (though I doubt they drink very good wine). Though when I've added packets I didn't put it through the brita filter because it would take out the flavoring and probably mess up the filter. In the near future I'm going to try more juice-based beverages; maybe something like applejack.
Sign In or Register to comment.