basically I'm making a version of Kilju, a Finnish homebrewed sugarwine.
Ahh, okay, so it's not just simple hooch. I see. In fact with the freeze-fractionation and filtering, which I know we were discussing earlier but I hadn't really connected the dots, it sounds like you're making something a little like homemade vodka. Ambitious! Just a thought - have you considered steeping flavoring ingredients in it after brewing and fractionating instead of before? That way you could still filter it, but then steep some, say, strawberries in it, and flavor it that way.
Anyway, you seem to be doing just fine with what you've got unless you want to scale up your production volume. In that case a standard homebrew beginner setup would probably work just fine for you, but most of the equipment in it would just be larger, purpose-made replacements. A bucket or glass carboy instead of a soda bottle, an airlock instead of a balloon, that sort of thing.
basically I'm making a version of Kilju, a Finnish homebrewed sugarwine.
Ahh, okay, so it's not just simple hooch. I see. In fact with the freeze-fractionation and filtering, which I know we were discussing earlier but I hadn't really connected the dots, it sounds like you're making something a little like homemade vodka. Ambitious! Just a thought - have you considered steeping flavoring ingredients in itafterbrewing and fractionating instead of before? That way you could still filter it, but then steep some, say, strawberries in it, and flavor it that way.
Anyway, you seem to be doing just fine with what you've got unless you want to scale up your production volume. In that case a standard homebrew beginner setup would probably work just fine for you, but most of the equipment in it would just be larger, purpose-made replacements. A bucket or glass carboy instead of a soda bottle, an airlock instead of a balloon, that sort of thing.
It actually is kind of like vodka. While I think I may have take my plain brew out too early the times I made it, my first batch of flavored brew was quite strong. I swear one sip I took I could taste pure alcohol in it, So I'm sure with enough practice I could get my basic brew into a pretty stong vodka-like drink given enough time and freeze-distillation.
I have considered putting in the flavoring later but I haven't yet. I'm probably going to get some fruit and infuse their flavor in some of the basic brew once I have my formula down.
I may buy some of that equipment in the future but right now I don't have the cash. The main thing I think I'd get is just a big glass container of some sort so I don't have to worry about plastic leeching into the drink.
The main thing I think I'd get is just a big glass container of some sort so I don't have to worry about plastic leeching into the drink.
Check the craigslist. People take up brewing then get bored and quit all the time, and the simple glass carboy is one of the standard pieces of equipment. If you keep an eye out you can probably score one or more for less than ten bucks, maybe even free.
The main thing I think I'd get is just a big glass container of some sort so I don't have to worry about plastic leeching into the drink.
Check the craigslist. People take up brewing then get bored and quit all the time, and the simple glass carboy is one of the standard pieces of equipment. If you keep an eye out you can probably score one or more for less than ten bucks, maybe even free.
The main thing I think I'd get is just a big glass container of some sort so I don't have to worry about plastic leeching into the drink.
Check the craigslist. People take up brewing then get bored and quit all the time, and the simple glass carboy is one of the standard pieces of equipment. If you keep an eye out you can probably score one or more for less than ten bucks, maybe even free.
The main thing I think I'd get is just a big glass container of some sort so I don't have to worry about plastic leeching into the drink.
Check the craigslist. People take up brewing then get bored and quit all the time, and the simple glass carboy is one of the standard pieces of equipment. If you keep an eye out you can probably score one or more for less than ten bucks, maybe even free.
Oh sweet, I'll keep that in mind.
Remember to sterilize with everclear!
Pfft who needs to even brush their teeth when they have everclear?
Well my my fruit punch and blue raspberry/lemon flavors are almost done. The smell pretty strong already. I think next I'm going to make a plain batch and then infuse it with fresh strawberries.
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
I've heard all the warnings, and been doing it for a while - my advice, get someone who knows what they're doing to teach you, otherwise you're on a path to wreck and ruin.
Pete. Just telling you right now. I am claiming a bottle of this.
Well, you should wait until I find out whether or not my contamination problem is gone. :P
Assuming it is, you are most certainly welcome to a bottle. It won't be bitter at all; I'm using Oktoberfest as the base style, so it'll be clean and malty, with a good body and smoothness from the pumpkin. Also, the pumpkin is spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice, and is also mixed with brown sugar.
I'm getting the cider for fermentation in a couple weeks. Still trying to come up with the name, but I'm bottling the resulting applejack in slim, tall bottles closed with red sealing wax. I'm debating stamping the family seal on the wax.
The general consensus is that the fresher the cider, the better the jack. Get a really opaque, fresh-crushed "true" cider, not a translucent apple juice (ala Mott's). The pulpiness will hook you up with a lot of extra sugars. It's preferable to get it from an orchard unpasteurized and then pasteurize it yourself as soon as you get it home.
Go to an orchard and get whatever cider they make there. UV-treated cider may be the best route to take, as it should have a very low starting population. I don't know if you'll need yeast nutrient or not when dealing with cider; it's a problem with meads because honey lacks certain essential yeast nutrients.
I've also seen people who ferment the cider and then pasteurize it once it's bottled. That's probably a good idea if you plan on keeping it around for a while.
I don't know if you'll need yeast nutrient or not when dealing with cider; it's a problem with meads because honey lacks certain essential yeast nutrients.
Most hard ciders came from just letting normal cider go bad. You should be fine without yeast nutrient, but it wouldn't necessarily hurt your cider, either.
Depends on where you live. Illinois has Oberweiss Dairy, which ships fresh pasteurized cider out in half-gallon glass milk bottles; add a pinholed balloon, a bit of champaign yeast and nutrient, and you have a pretty jank but workable fermentation setup for about $5 a bottle. If you want to get things going, find the optimum fermentation temp for your yeast, go to a Petco and grab a Heat Pad (they use them in snake tanks to keep the substrate nice and warm for the critters), wrap a bottle, and dial your heat as needed.
Well Right now I'm in Marquette, Michigan for college which is about 4 hours away from where my house is and there we could get cider in a gallon jug but I don't know how fresh or anything it is. I was planning on getting some like that and pouring a little sugar in with the yeast. Do you think after a little filtration and Freeze distillation it will come out very good? How long does it usually take you guys to make?
I dunno. My first attempt is going to be this winter working on a three month jack. Look up orchards in the area; Michigan isn't too far removed from Illinois and Wisconsin in that it gets hella cold but we all love apples.
Well we have an apple tree in my yard at home that gets a shit ton of apples on the years we have them. We haven't had any in 2 or 3 years but the last time we did we had so many that a branch or 2 broke. I should get my dad to build a small cider press because those apples would be perfect for it.
Instructables has a good tutorial on cider pressing and brewing. It's not hard, and even gross-ish apples can get pressed because you're going to pasteurize the mess later anyway.
Also worth knowing: every homebrew supply store I've ever been to - and there are a lot of them these days so there's probably one near you - has rented cider presses. You don't need to buy one or try to kludge together your own unless you really want to.
Also worth knowing: every homebrew supply store I've ever been to - and there are a lot of them these days so there's probably one near you - has rented cider presses. You don't need to buy one or try to kludge together your own unless you really want to.
Well my dad is a woodworker so it wouldn't be that big of a deal hopefully. And I don't just want it for hard cider, Just for cider in general. Plus I'm 19 so I don't know how well I could get anything from a homebrew store anyway.
You don't have to be 21 to buy brew gear. A lot of fermentation stuff has purposes other than liquor: Sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, etc. Especially something like a cider press.
Oh good, I just thought it would seem shady having an underage college kid going into a homebrew store. I think I'll probably just get my dad to make a cider press next summer in case we have another good haul of apples. I don't really have cash to rent or buy one now so I can wait.
Ok so as I've said, the base recipe for my brew is just sugar and water fermented, filtered and then freeze fractionated. Now would it be possible to make a more vodka-like drink if after I filtered it I added some more sugar and fresh yeast? Or would the alcohol content possibly just kill the yeast? The finished product is already really sweet so I know there is still plenty of sugar to ferment.
Or would the alcohol content possibly just kill the yeast?
Yeah, the yeast would probably die. Sam Adams uses two proprietary heavily genetically modified strains of yeast to get Utopia up to 27% without freeze distillation. It also takes like a decade to ferment.
Anything more than that requires true distillation or multiple freeze distillation steps. I would honestly just do multiple freeze fractions to get it as concentrated as you want.
I would honestly just do multiple freeze fractions to get it as concentrated as you want.
Thats what I have been doing and I think I'm getting a lot better at it but you lose a lot of the volume when you do that so I guess I'll just have to start making more at a time.
you lose a lot of the volume when you do that so I guess I'll just have to start making more at a time.
I like the way you think.
Of course, freeze distillation still carries the risks of regular distillation, i.e. the concentrating of fusel alcohols and other toxins. I would proceed very carefully.
So I just saw the discussion about equipment and feasibility. I'll take pictures of what I started with and what I have now at some point. Basically, you can brew quite readily in an apartment, particularly if you want to make beer using extract and steeped grain. I do 10 gallon all-grain full-boil batches, using a converted keg and an outdoor propane burner. That takes up a bit more room.
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Anyway, you seem to be doing just fine with what you've got unless you want to scale up your production volume. In that case a standard homebrew beginner setup would probably work just fine for you, but most of the equipment in it would just be larger, purpose-made replacements. A bucket or glass carboy instead of a soda bottle, an airlock instead of a balloon, that sort of thing.
I have considered putting in the flavoring later but I haven't yet. I'm probably going to get some fruit and infuse their flavor in some of the basic brew once I have my formula down.
I may buy some of that equipment in the future but right now I don't have the cash. The main thing I think I'd get is just a big glass container of some sort so I don't have to worry about plastic leeching into the drink.
Assuming it is, you are most certainly welcome to a bottle. It won't be bitter at all; I'm using Oktoberfest as the base style, so it'll be clean and malty, with a good body and smoothness from the pumpkin. Also, the pumpkin is spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice, and is also mixed with brown sugar.
So, if all goes well, it should rock your face.
I've also seen people who ferment the cider and then pasteurize it once it's bottled. That's probably a good idea if you plan on keeping it around for a while.
Anything more than that requires true distillation or multiple freeze distillation steps. I would honestly just do multiple freeze fractions to get it as concentrated as you want.
Of course, freeze distillation still carries the risks of regular distillation, i.e. the concentrating of fusel alcohols and other toxins. I would proceed very carefully.