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Home Brew Questions

airlocks are for demijohns to keep the fruit flies out, they have no place in a beer brewing world ;)
 
We syphoned a pint off and stuck it in a half demi john with a bit more sugar and a new air lock and it's started bubbling again... in hindsight we should've just tried it without adding sugar first :rolleyes:
It tasted ok.
My mate now says that after re-reading the instructions it says to use 1kg - 1.5kg of sugar for 30-40 pints. He used 1kg to 34 pints. So considering the hydrometer says it's only about 2.5% I think we're going to add another load of sugar and see what happens (and have a look at the seal)

I've just bottled another dozen bottles of plum wine which I should've done months ago, but it's tasting pretty good. I've got 3 gallon of apple wine waiting to be bottled over the weekend too. My cellar is gradually growing :cool:
 
my toffee apple cider has slowed right down after it's explosion over the weekend. Going to give it a hydrometer dip over the weekend and see if it's ready for second FV.

Quick question, I already have a gallon of toffee apple cider in second FV put in a week ago, can I add this to it or does it need to be in another FV?
 
Dovydaitis said:
Quick question, I already have a gallon of toffee apple cider in second FV put in a week ago, can I add this to it or does it need to be in another FV?
Click to expand...

I'd be going for a separate fv so you could compare the brews alongside eachother but i suppose if needs must then it's probably not going to kill it. The trouble you're going to be delaying the drinking time of one that's in already and your gonna disturb it's clearing. Can't you bottle the one that's already in there?
 
OK cider's fine but what if I want to brew something stronger that still tastes good?

I'm finding it necessary to backsweeten finished 1st ferment cider that's about 7.5% by about 20% (250g sugar on 4.5l of juice at the start). Is there something clever I can do with the right combination of juice and yeast? How to wine brewers get up towards 12%?
 
teahead said:
OK cider's fine but what if I want to brew something stronger that still tastes good?

I'm finding it necessary to backsweeten finished 1st ferment cider that's about 7.5% by about 20% (250g sugar on 4.5l of juice at the start). Is there something clever I can do with the right combination of juice and yeast? How to wine brewers get up towards 12%?
Click to expand...
More available sugar in the wort and a yeast that can handle high alc content.
What about trying a kit like a barley wine or one of the fruit wines.

I noticed Morrisons are now selling their own home brew stock.
 
friedaweed said:
I'd be going for a separate fv so you could compare the brews alongside eachother but i suppose if needs must then it's probably not going to kill it. The trouble you're going to be delaying the drinking time of one that's in already and your gonna disturb it's clearing. Can't you bottle the one that's already in there?
Click to expand...
it wont be drunk for a few mobths yet, was trying to save space. it's ok i have an fv empty
 
friedaweed said:
More available sugar in the wort and a yeast that can handle high alc content.
What about trying a kit like a barley wine or one of the fruit wines.

I noticed Morrisons are now selling their own home brew stock.
Click to expand...
I'm new to this brewing biz and was sort of delighting in turning raw juice into booze, no chems etc. Is a 'kit' going to be the only way forward?
 
teahead said:
I'm new to this brewing biz and was sort of delighting in turning raw juice into booze, no chems etc. Is a 'kit' going to be the only way forward?
Click to expand...

It may be a bit late (if you intend to go and forage your fruit), but you can make lots of decent, strong 'country' wines without a kit. Damson has been my best so far, but plum, apple, ederberry/blackberry are all good too.
 
mr steev said:
It may be a bit late (if you intend to go and forage your fruit), but you can make lots of decent, strong 'country' wines without a kit. Damson has been my best so far, but plum, apple, ederberry/blackberry are all good too.
Click to expand...
That's more what I was thinking about. But do you just load the sugar at the start? Do these take on alchohol content better than apples? What's the difference between apple cider/wine?

And, say, parsnip wine.... Would you need a press to turn shop-bought into a brew? What else goes into 10 percent plus brews besides sugar anand yeast?
 
teahead said:
I'm new to this brewing biz and was sort of delighting in turning raw juice into booze, no chems etc. Is a 'kit' going to be the only way forward?
Click to expand...
What addy said above.I left it a bit late for foraging this year but I wont be making that mistake next year :)

You can make wine from store juice as well in the same way you've been making turbo cider you'll just need a wine yeast and bump the sugar content up to ensure that the starting gravity will give you the right amount of sugar to get a high alc content. You'll need to stabalise it to kill the yeast and then possibly add some fining to help it clear before you bottle it. It's not totally necessary but it makes it a bit easier.

The reason I mentioned a kit is it has all those things in it along with a juice concentrate which by the time you've bought the juice and the yeast etc you will probably end up spending the same.

My daughter's just made one of the cheap wilco's kits as a birthday present for her mum and it was so easy I've got her making a 30 bottle batch of red wine for me now :) We've added grape juice and grape concentrate to that and made it 3 liters shorter than recommended and I tasted it last night. For just under a £1 a bottle i've ended up with a very quaffable red to glug on those nights i don't fancy a beer :cool:
 
Generally you mash up the fruit a bit usually with boiling water and maybe a campden tablet to kill off any 'wild' yeasts*(a press isn't necessary, I just squish them with a potato masher. irrc with stuff like parsnips you'd cook them for a bit first). Then add sugar, water, yeast, yeast nutrient and maybe a pectic enzyme (to help clear it), leave it for a week or so, rack it into demijons, fit an airlock and wait until it stops bubbling then bottle it and leave it ideally for at least a year, longer preferably.

*You can make a brew by just allowing the fruit to do it's own thing, without adding yeast but it's a bit more hit a miss.
 
Cider is essentially wine anyway isn't it?
I think probably the second fermentation and priming it makes it different
 
teahead said:
And, say, parsnip wine.... Would you need a press to turn shop-bought into a brew? What else goes into 10 percent plus brews besides sugar anand yeast?
Click to expand...

I have never put sugar (granulated white) into any beer or wine that I have made. I use it to make the wash which I distill for spirits, but no way would I drink that, it fucking stinks.

Sugar comes in many forms, if you are making beer it comes from malt (wheat barley etc..) if you are making wine then it's the fruit or whatever. They all provide flavour, texture, mouthfeel, etc etc
Yeast eats the sugars and shits out 2 products. CO2 and ethanol, you get bubbling from the co2 released and you get drunk from the ethanol.

If you add yeast to sugar and water you probably won't get much, you need something with a bit of acidity to feed the yeast.
Even then, it would probably be fucking rank.

I made apple wine once from fresh apples, it was about 15 years ago and I can't remember what I did exactly but I didn't have a press. I think it I just chopped them up and put them in a fermenter with some water and yeast. But tbh I can't remember the process but I do remember that it tasted bad.

But to say what goes into 10%+ brews besides sugar and yeast. The list is endless. I make a 14% brew from sugar, lemon juice and tomato paste which is foul, I distill it to get the alcohol and put the rest down the drain.

If you want to make a simple wine from fruit or veg I would do something like,
2 kg of fruit/veg - nuked in a blender
1 kg of dextrose
1 lemon (juice of)
Top it up with water to about 15l
Add wine yeast and nutrient

but you need to do your homework first. It's easy to make alcohol, making it nice is a different matter.

Sorry if this makes no sense, tonight I have been a consumer rather than a brewer.
 
My best wine so far is damson (around 13/14%). The recipe for 3 gallons is

  • 11.5 lb damson
  • 11.5 lb sugar
  • 23 pts boiling water
  • 3 tsp pectalose
  • 3 tsp Yeast Nutrient
  • red wine yeast
I've made it 3 times now and it has been consistently very good. Very drinkable after a year, superb after 2. I've currently managed to save a couple of bottles to taste after 3 years, which is pretty poor going seems though we made 55 bottles in that batch :D
Sadly we missed going out picking this year (even if there were any as the weather was so shit), but I have a few pound of elderberries in the freezer to make up for it
 
badseed said:
I have never put sugar (granulated white) into any beer or wine that I have made. I use it to make the wash which I distill for spirits, but no way would I drink that, it fucking stinks.
Click to expand...

Granulated sugar is perfectly fine to use in making country wines :confused:
 
teahead said:
I'm new to this brewing biz and was sort of delighting in turning raw juice into booze, no chems etc. Is a 'kit' going to be the only way forward?
Click to expand...

If you want a sweeter and stronger brew then I reccomend a Vimto wine.

750ml of Vimto Cordial ( not the white label bottle)
Gently simmer the vimto for 15-20 minutes to kill off the sulphites (the sulphites will stop the yeast working)
add 3/4 of a bag of sugar (750gram)
once cooled add to demijohn along with a pinch of wine tannin (or a very strong mug of black tea), top up with cold water and add an all purpose wine yeast.

This will give you an approximately 12% sweet,fruity alcopop style wine. (sweetness comes from the artifical sweetners in the vimto that do not ferment)

You can also replace the water for apple juice and you will get 15% Vimder
 
I'm getting it now :)
'Turbo' = added sugar when you're talking about apple juice mixes.

Thanks for all this - fruity food for thought.
For a start I think I'm going to need a bigger bin :hmm: The 4.5l. Is fine for a quick play but if I'm going to start using anything besides shop bought juice...
And some kind of storage. Maybe that damn foolish shed fuLl of old packets, 1 mover and various sticks...
 
mr steev said:
Granulated sugar is perfectly fine to use in making country wines :confused:
Click to expand...
I think Bad's referring to drinking his 'wash' when he says its disgusting :) I tasted some the other day and it was gippin. 25% gipping mind :D

I'm sure with wine it's different. I'm only just getting on to that but for beer I think granulated is fine for priming etc but for brewing it's preferable to use dry malt extract or brewing sugar. Making candy sugar from granulated is a blast though and that gives a wonderful flavour to the brew.

It's about the effort that the yeast has to put in to break down cane sugar and that affects the taste of the brew in other ways. Converting it by candying it apparently enables the yeast to consume it more easily. Something to do with fructose and all that stuff. Addy will give a better explanation I'm sure but in essence more favorable tastes can be had from other sugars than with the old Tate and Lyle ;)

All that said, if it gets the job done it gets the job done innit :)
 
Thanks Addy. I'm wrong on the turbo though eh... No added sugar of one kind or another is going to produce mainly fruit droop.
Maybe a decent kit is the next step. One thing I'm bothered about though is temperature fluctuation on storage. I'm guessing all you peeps have no more than a couple of cellers between you, right?
 
teahead said:
Thanks Addy. I'm wrong on the turbo though eh... No added sugar of one kind or another is going to produce mainly fruit droop.
Maybe a decent kit is the next step. One thing I'm bothered about though is temperature fluctuation on storage. I'm guessing all you peeps have no more than a couple of cellers between you, right?
Click to expand...
I've got a utility room which is grand now but it's gonna be a bitch in the summer. I'll start digging around Feb :D
 
I have the garage extension (utility room) that I use for brewing in, but my brew cupboard is temperature controlled with a digital thermostat connected to a 60w tube heater, so I can maintain a steady 20c for most of my brewing.

Cold storage is in the form of a shed, and a cupboard adjoining the front porch which is always cold.
The utility bar has a fridge with 2 x corny kegs in it, and there is generally a keg of room temperature stout knocking about.
 
Shit I'm clearly not rich or well connected enough to get proper homebrewing :(

Guess I'd better stick to charging the Asdajuice when I can't be arsed to haul the Westons home.

Bloody whitetrash urban downton types :rolleyes:

:hmm: meanwhile I guess I'll forget all that crap about complex sugers and just focus on brewing feelthy mouthfuls. Worse than fucking potheads, you lot :p
 
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