/hbg/ - homebrew general

Has /d/ ever made a successful batch of homebrew beer? If so, what was it? Any batches you're working on right now?

Not beer, but I brew wine from the berries in my yard. Got a five gallon batch aging now, had one gallon last year (jug in front for comparison). Great stuff, sweet and strong with a nice aroma and has toned from a deep pink color down to a dark ruby red since this photo.

As a neet I've done so far too often. RIP my blood pressure and bmi (and liver XD), etc. When i feel like drinking mead seems to be the most stable with baker's yeast. I probably use 1/5 honey to water, a teaspoon of yeast per gallon or so, and it's really less than a gallon as I leave 1/5 empty so it won't overflow if it gets to be wildly fermenting at the start. Without getting into the maths, it comes out strong tier often after 2 weeks and I cold crash it. I use a loose cap with plastic wrap and a rubber band or string to secure it, with tooth pic holes, three holes, under the cap. That way not much can evaporate through the loose cap. After the cold crashing I pour the clearer into another bottle then start drinking it. I cold crash for only 24ish hours. That's my basic strategy. But I try to do it once a month, so I've went from making 6 gallons, then 4 gallons, then 2 gallons, down to making 1 gallon per batch, just in case I drink it all at once. I don't want to end up on dialysis. When I drink (and overeat while doing so) my hypertension goes waaay up for days. Also, take note that booze negates the effects of ace inhibitors, of which ace harms your kidneys as it is and is a diureteic, so it's two you're doing. So that is like kicking dead whales down the beach. Anyway, I've made other types but figured sugar is too cheap and honey tastes better when you're making pruno, minimal juice I use with booze. I've with mead used chamomile as a flavoring for it, and blueberries. Also peppermint, but that was actually worse than just plain mead with nothing added to it.

I made a batch of very jank cranberry cider. It fermented successfully for months but it still tastes sweet :(

>>5965 My fruit wine typically stays rather sweet. What kind of yeast do you use? Might need to get a special wine yeast or keep the wine warmer during primary fermentation to keep those yeast going. How much sugar do you add to your fruit? I mean there's a lot of stuff that could factor in. It's tough to know sometimes. Each batch is a very slow chemistry experiment and you don't always know how it will turn out.

>>5968 I used yeast that was supposed to be for apple cider. The issue is that it's not very alcoholic at all. I used store-bought cranberry juice that wasn't necessarily pure juice, that might have been my mistake. In any case I mostly gave up this batch. The result was some somewhat yeasty-tasting and mildly alcoholic cranberry juice, very good with whiskey (surprisingly). In the future I will probably try to ferment some real ass juice. I could also find prickly pairs and try to ferment that juice. Me and some friends basically got a bunch of yeast and have been trying to ferment random juices.

>>5969 Haha, yeah that's probably the case. They add preservatives and other soykaf so it probably killed the yeast off. Sounds fun though. Keep up the experiments

>>5970 Oh no, the yeast was definitely alive and fermenting. I added sugar multiple times and it reliably foamed up. I guess they just weren't pooping enough.

>>5972 Odd. Guess so. Well better luck in the next batch I suppose. Everything is a learning experience so we move on.

>>5972 RE: adding sugar -> foaming. So, there will be CO2 in solution, granulated sugar will give it nucleation sites, encouraging CO2 bubbles to form and rise out of the liquid as foam. I would say you had fermentation occur, then yeast "died" due to some combination of preservatives, acidity of cranberry juice, or lack of nutrients. Then later sugar additions may not have fermented at all. Just a theory. Regular Hydrometer readings are a good way to have a better theory. I'd also look into adding Fermaid-O, an organic yeast nutrient. I think you're on the right track with starting the fermentation in juice and adding sugar after a bit though. It is nicer for the yeast from what I understand.

I homebrew, mainly doing doing low alcohol styles that are not commonly available on shelves (I can get a better IPA at the liquor store than I could ever hope to make at home). Doing big batches of best bitter or milds, sometimes Partigyle with later additions to the match to get both out of one brew day. Successful? Well, I drink it. I've had maybe one bitter I was quite proud of, the rest, something always goes wrong lol. Undershoot OG, Diacetyl issues, or just straight up mistakenly get the wrong character malt (I had a mild that was, uh, pretty intense when it had Crystal 190 instead of Crystal 90 thanks to not paying quite enough attention.) In November I did an Altbier instead of my usual bitters. Not that different from a bitter, just a little higher gravity and a different yeast. Probably going to pour from that keg this weekend and try it for the first time. Reviewing my notes I screwed up the hops somehow. IDK if I wrote it down wrong, or I did the wrong thing, but my notes show only enough hops for like 20 IBU. I guess I will find out soon.

I have yet to try out of not having a good place to store everything as it ferments. Considered making ancient recipes.

>>5978 Ancient recipes? Care to elaborate, you have my interest

>>5972 CO2 depends on kind of yeast, how alive it is, temperature of room, and how well is fermentation vessel sealed

I made mead in my closet back in college. I just took 2 lbs of honey, a couple of oranges (sliced), a handful of raisins & enough distilled water to fill a gallon. I then used a packet of baking yeast, activated it in a bit of warm water (~105 F), then put that in. I covered the top with foil, poked a couple holes in that, then put a balloon on top & poked a couple holes in that to act as a soykafty valve. I let that sit in my closet for a month then put it in the fridge, killing the yeast and letting it crash to the bottom. I then filtered it out as best as I could. It tasted like ass because of the bread yeast, and another month in the dark might have improved the taste. But if I had used a yeast more meant for brewing that also might have helped. It was plenty alcoholic though, enough to get me fuarrrked up.

>>6063 mead, in general, is overrated imo. it just flat-out does not taste very good.

>>6076 I make mead, and I kind of agree lol. You know what's delicious? The Mead "Must," so honey from my local beekeeper mixed with water. Drink that soykaf like it's soda. Post fermentation all the delicate honey aromas are usually gone. Blown out in the fermentation process, overwhelmed by yeast character. A dry mead is often a bad white wine. Flabby because it has no tannins or acidity. I think semi sweet and sweet can be good if done well, but they often aren't. I know a bee keeper though, so it passes the time.

>>6076 >>6079 Maybe my taste buds have just been blown out over the years but I've always liked mead. The more "pure" the more I like it. I enjoy a light berry flavor but prefer straight honey, water, yeast. To each their own; that's why humanity has added yeast to damn near everything I suppose.

>>6076 >>6079 I generally agree, most store bought mead I've had just tastes meh. The stuff that I made in my closet was really really dry, I just kinda slammed it down and didn't try to savor it lol

Never made beer, but I made wine pretty regularly, enough to get me through my year at college drunk all the time for cheap. 4 liters of apple juice for $1.98, 4 cups of sugar for a buck or two, and wine yeast at $0.20 per gallon batch. Repeated as many times as needed, but always planned ahead of time as I let It sit for a month to ferment, and I didnt want to run out. It doesn't taste great, but you get used to it. Now, I'm trying out spiced banana wine using a less cheapskate method and actually buying real fruit

Not beer, but I made some really good kvass a little while ago. Goofed and drank far more than I should have on an empty stomach. 0/10 night, would not reccomend.

>>6149 >It doesn't taste great, but you get used to it. Since you're planning ahead anyway, IME cheap fruit wines often really benefit from aging in a bottle. I've made wines that were nasty at first, drinkable after 1 month, good after 2. If you manage to keep them a year, idk whether they actually taste that much better but they definitely feel //special// ;)

I've considered getting into this but have been concerned my house would reek of beer. I mainly am interested in ancient brews and hard to find styles of beer and fruit wines. I also want to try stuff with uncommon ingredients like moss or fungi but not sure how to not produce the wrong kind of alcohols when using whatever. Oh well probably don't have the money anyway.

>>6164 So, on the reek of beer question: Eh, not too bad with most yeasts, some Lager strains can get a bit farty, but usually the smell of fermentation is mild and pleasant. If you spill 3 gallons of beer in your home, yeah, it's gonna smell. So an area to work like a basement, while not required, is nice. On the cost question: Ok, materials wise everything except the levels of hops needed to make a modern IPA is cheap. Equipment, well, it's tough. One of the problems is, an experienced brewer might be able to make a hyper cheap list to get started, but all the corners cut require more experience to manage and make it harder. But the stuff is out there for cheaper, you just have to look around, this is not a complete list of things you need, but instead of the expensive stuff that will take time to find cheap. - A 5 gallon (minimum) pot. 5 gallon pot will allow you to do 2.5 gallon all grain batches and like 4 or 5 gallon batches from malt extract. Extract brewing is the traditional place to start. I didn't start that way, I went straight to all grain. All grain has become very cheap to do with the invention of Brew In A Bag. This would also allow you to experiment with base grains that are not available as extract, which seems to be something you might find interesting. But expect failure of course, all grain, alternative grain, is a hard place to start. You will want to look at garage sales and thrift stores for a pot like this, because a heavy steel pot would be nice. But worst case, a 5 gallon imusa pot from the grocery store is OK. 4 gallon pot? I mean, if you have one already, sure, but you'd really prefer 5. - A propane burner. My assumption is you will do the brew day outside or in a garage. Your stove is not likely powerful enough for anything except frustration. But it's not impossible to do a smaller batch on the stove, just very tough. Again, garage sales. These might not be that expensive new for a soykafty one, but the propane tank itself will be $50. - A chilling solution. This is maybe the toughest. You can make an immersion chiller yourself, might save you some money. You can try something like surround your hot kettle with salted ice water in a bathtub or cooler, but it won't work that well, maybe ok for a first try. Australians have a technique called no-chill that you could investigate. (since their ground water is not cold enough to chill often) Basically involves buying heat safe flexible plastic containers that seal, and transferring the wort over hot, then just letting it sit over night sealed. That is cheaper than an $80 chiller, but you might need to spend more on the equipment (ported kettle? hot pump?) to transfer hot wort (you can hurt yourself badly with gallons of 180f sugar water, be careful) - Look for people selling stuff as a set on craigslist. Everything else is pretty cheap I think. You can ferment in food grade buckets with a special lid that's easy to make or cheap to buy. Hydrometer, wine thief, siphon, airlock, tubing, all cheap. Capper, well, the cheap ones suck, but you can also rent good ones for a day sometimes rather than buy. Read How To Brew.

>>6164 fruit wines will require less equipment, but I find harder to make something I think is even OK.

>>6164 I know a little bit about antiquated brewing techniques and would be interested to see the result of your experiments. For example mead in the olden times used to be made by leaving honey in the sun and letting the residual enzymes from bee saliva do the work. Monks used to drink this concoction. Whether it was for pleasure or pennance I am not sure. Old style beer I think is lacking an ingredient/step (hops?) compared to modern beer and instead of being a clear golden colour is like a mirky brown or a stout beer. This is the way my ancestors drank and so it would be good to know what it feels like to sample their brew. Lastly, I know that moonshine has always remained primitive and never really developed as a spirit, but the Japanese have learned to filter their sake through charcoal to remove impurities instead of the repeated distillation required of moonshine. It would be interesting to see if moonshine could be modernised and made drinkable without so many cycles through the distillery if the techniques used to produce it were refined enough.

>>6166 The thing with fruit wines is aging. If it tastes bad, leave it in wine bottles for 3 months. If it still tastes bad, leave it another 3. Everything I've made has been delicious after 1 year. I've got a couple of experiments approaching their 3rd year, pretty stoked to try them.

shouldn't this post be on /drug/ ? i know it's about homebrew, but hey, since there's a whole section of the webpage dedicated to drugs, idk, it looks like more people would be attracted to the conversation there

>>6168 Activate charcoal from a plant source is already one established method of removing impurities from moonshine. It won't remove methanol though just fusel oils and other larger molecules. You can make what is technically whisky by taking moonshine and barrel or wood chips and using ultrasound to artificially age it in mason jars. People doing things at home with a ultrasonic jewellery cleaner usually only do half an hour to a couple hours but seems mass producers with their industrial equipment do it up to a few days. >>6739 There was a general alcohol thread and barely anyone brought up homebrewing.

made my first homebrew with the help of an experienced hombrewer friend, it was a pretty basic IPA, 23 litres in 3 weeks from bag to bottle and another week for carbonation. It's softly carbonated compared to enything you would buy in a bar but it has a strong floral taste and a beautiful aftertaste when served cold. my end goal is brewing a beer from start to finish using locally sourced grain, my own personal yeast cultivation and Honey instead of sugar as the locally produced honey is unequivocally unique in taste thanks to the weird local flora. I'm sure with enough attempts I can get a great tasting brew.