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Thread: Homebrewing

  1. #1
    Bringing down the vulgaroisie Member King Henry V's Avatar
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    Default Homebrewing

    Has anyone tried making their own alcoholic beverages at home, such as wine or beer? I'm going to try my hand at making mead, so I've bought the basic essentials such as airlocks, fermenting bin and yeast.
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  2. #2

    Default Re: Homebrewing

    I'm about to buy a large number of beer-making supplies with my friends next week. I figure that with a decent recipe and a little care, it'll pay for itself after the first 50 gallon barrel matures.

    Sorry, no ancedotes to share right now.

  3. #3
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    I have made both beer and mead. My first batch (beer) was a disaster, but after that I have had pretty good success. Cleanliness is very important here. When I was a bachelor, brewing time was the only time the kitchen got cleaned.

    What kind of mead are you trying to make?
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    I tried making some spirits with my dad when I was in highschool, be careful that you extract all the wood alcohol away, since that can make you go blind. Do that simply by discarding the first 2-5% of the brewage. That's the only thing to be careful about, you might want to read up on it, other than that only thing that can go wrong is that it'll taste horribly, nevertheless it'll still make you drunk
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    My uncle tried to brew beer some years ago, it tasted awful and he didn't try again after that.

    You'll probably have experiment (with the recipe) for a while until you brewed something that meets your standards.
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    Robot Unicorn Member Kekvit Irae's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    I'm a wine-making fanatic... which is ironic because I've never attempted to make wine before. I've got lots of books on it, and the equipment, just never had the time or the drive (yes, I'm lazy) to do it.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Homebrewing

    My best advice is to get in touch with someone from either Sweden or Norway, they'll absolutely know the drill.
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    My Advanced Higher Chemistry Project is "Optimum Conditions for Fermentation", and for this I have purloined my teacher's book on winemaking, which he used when he was my age to make cheap wine...
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    Bringing down the vulgaroisie Member King Henry V's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    Quote Originally Posted by drone
    I have made both beer and mead. My first batch (beer) was a disaster, but after that I have had pretty good success. Cleanliness is very important here. When I was a bachelor, brewing time was the only time the kitchen got cleaned.

    What kind of mead are you trying to make?
    Any sort of mead which is easy to make and which tastes good (i.e not too dry).
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    "Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; the best of life is but intoxication" - Lord Byron
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  10. #10
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    My first try at mead was for a simple, high-test mead, no fruit or spices. It was pretty straightforward, (off the top of my head) 15 lbs of honey, water, yeast nutrients, some kind of clarifier (irish moss??), and a dry mead yeast. Add the honey into 2 gallons (US) of boiling water, boil for 10 minutes, add the clarifier, boil for another 5, then strain the mix into the fermenter. Add 3 gallons of cold water, cool the whole mix down to 70-75F, add the yeast and the nutrients. Wait 2 weeks, then move to a secondary fermenter. Let that sit for 3 months, bottle, and wait another 3 months. I think I got about 14-15% with that, and it got better with age.

    What kind of fermenter did you get? Plastic food-grade bucket, the glass carboys, or something even fancier? I usually use the bucket for the primary, since pouring hot wort into glass is risky, then move to a glass carboy for the secondary. If I ever got around to making a fast chiller, I would eliminate the bucket completely, but I don't make enough these days to justify it.

    Also, what is your bottling plan? I usually do standard 12oz bottles, but it a PITA, by far the worst step of the whole process.

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  11. #11
    Probably Drunk Member Reverend Joe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    I am not a brewer, but I do plan on making homemade absinthe using extract of Wormwood (poisons removed) and cheap tequila. It will probably taste horrific.

    I'll let you know how it goes. If I live.

  12. #12
    "'elp! I'm bein' repressed!" Senior Member Aenlic's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    Quote Originally Posted by King Henry V
    Has anyone tried making their own alcoholic beverages at home, such as wine or beer? I'm going to try my hand at making mead, so I've bought the basic essentials such as airlocks, fermenting bin and yeast.
    If you can find it, grab a copy a of The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian.

    Until I gave up drinking altogether, I used to brew my own beer and mead. Except for a few disastrous exceptions, it was a lot of fun and the end product was not too shabby. I screwed up my first batch and it got skunked because I wasn't careful enough about my cleaning procedures. Nearly everyone messes up at least once, usually the first time; because they don't pay proper heed to the admonition to keep it clean. The simplest non-yeast bacteria can sour your beer and mead.

    That's why I recommend Papazian's book. He started the American Homebrew Association and Zymurgy magazine. Although most of the book deals with homebrewing beer, there are several great recipes for mead and it's a great starter book that gives you the essentials, common for both beer and mead homebrewing. It's the ingredients which make the difference.

    The biggest problem is going to be finding a quality source of honey. Plain old store bought honey won't do. Find a good homebrew supplier. Use mesquite honey if you can find it. It's lighter, ferments better and gives you a cleaner end product. If you like higher alcohol contents, then you're going to need to use champagne yeast which stays alive longer than the regular beer brewing yeasts in the higher alcohol content.

    And once you've created your first crisp, dry high alcohol (10%+) metheglin (spiced mead), you might end up hooked on how fun it is to do. Brewing is almost, though not quite, as fun as drinking the result! Then you'll be into the wonderful world of pyments, cisers, metheglin and melomels and more. Good luck!
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    Enlightened Despot Member Vladimir's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    Quote Originally Posted by Aenlic
    If you can find it, grab a copy a of The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian.

    The biggest problem is going to be finding a quality source of honey. Plain old store bought honey won't do. Find a good homebrew supplier. Use mesquite honey if you can find it. It's lighter, ferments better and gives you a cleaner end product. If you like higher alcohol contents, then you're going to need to use champagne yeast which stays alive longer than the regular beer brewing yeasts in the higher alcohol content.

    And once you've created your first crisp, dry high alcohol (10%+) metheglin (spiced mead), you might end up hooked on how fun it is to do. Brewing is almost, though not quite, as fun as drinking the result! Then you'll be into the wonderful world of pyments, cisers, metheglin and melomels and more. Good luck!
    That sounds sooo goood. :HomerDrool:


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  14. #14
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    Quote Originally Posted by Aenlic
    If you can find it, grab a copy a of The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian.
    I second this recommendation. I don't know how available this book is in Europe, but this is the book you want if stranded on a deserted island and have a craving for beer. I messed up my first batch, then got this book. Having had a bad batch since. The book goes into pretty good detail about the science behind brewing. It has basic beer recipes using malt extracts, to more advanced techniques using straight grains. There is a decent mead chapter in it with several recipes, as well as a discussion about the problems you have to overcome with honey brewing. There is even a history chapter that will explain why most modern American beer sucks.
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  15. #15
    Senior Member Senior Member English assassin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    I used to make mead at Uni.

    Yer basic mead is as per drone (I can't remember the quantities but 3 pounds honey per gallon demijohn sounds right). The only thing I will add, which I think you would find as a basic tip in any home brew book, is if you just ferment honey and water you get something with very little body. A small amount of fruit added to the boiling stage (a handful of raisins or a banana per gallon work well) make a big difference.

    Once word of your mead related activities gets out don't be surprised if you start getting invitations to join the Tolkien re-enactment society either...
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    Lesbian Rebel Member Mikeus Caesar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    Me and my friends are too young to be sold fermentation equipment and ingredients, so we've found a different way of homebrewing - smoothies. Buy one from the shop and leave it to ferment for a week or two, but leave it to go on to long and you end up with a bottle of poison instead of jesus-juice.

    We used to do this quite a lot, but now we have our contacts who can buy us whatever we want.
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  17. #17
    Enlightened Despot Member Vladimir's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    Quote Originally Posted by currywurry
    Me and my friends are too young to be sold fermentation equipment and ingredients, so we've found a different way of homebrewing - smoothies. Buy one from the shop and leave it to ferment for a week or two, but leave it to go on to long and you end up with a bottle of poison instead of jesus-juice.

    We used to do this quite a lot, but now we have our contacts who can buy us whatever we want.
    1. Grow up in farm country.
    2. Make your own, benign looking "grape juice."
    3. Hide it in the hay in the barn.

    Then later:


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  18. #18
    Bringing down the vulgaroisie Member King Henry V's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    Quote Originally Posted by drone
    My first try at mead was for a simple, high-test mead, no fruit or spices. It was pretty straightforward, (off the top of my head) 15 lbs of honey, water, yeast nutrients, some kind of clarifier (irish moss??), and a dry mead yeast. Add the honey into 2 gallons (US) of boiling water, boil for 10 minutes, add the clarifier, boil for another 5, then strain the mix into the fermenter. Add 3 gallons of cold water, cool the whole mix down to 70-75F, add the yeast and the nutrients. Wait 2 weeks, then move to a secondary fermenter. Let that sit for 3 months, bottle, and wait another 3 months. I think I got about 14-15% with that, and it got better with age.

    What kind of fermenter did you get? Plastic food-grade bucket, the glass carboys, or something even fancier? I usually use the bucket for the primary, since pouring hot wort into glass is risky, then move to a glass carboy for the secondary. If I ever got around to making a fast chiller, I would eliminate the bucket completely, but I don't make enough these days to justify it.

    Also, what is your bottling plan? I usually do standard 12oz bottles, but it a PITA, by far the worst step of the whole process.

    I've got two fermentation bins and some glass bottles.

    Quote Originally Posted by Aenlic
    The biggest problem is going to be finding a quality source of honey. Plain old store bought honey won't do. Find a good homebrew supplier. Use mesquite honey if you can find it. It's lighter, ferments better and gives you a cleaner end product. If you like higher alcohol contents, then you're going to need to use champagne yeast which stays alive longer than the regular beer brewing yeasts in the higher alcohol content.
    Two problems: firstly, I live in Switzerland, where a party consists of three people and a bottle of beer, so no one would ever dream of opening something as shocking as a homebrewing store (I'm not even sure it's legal), after all, this is the city of Calvin. Secondly, honey is extremely expensive, with a pound jar of regular creamy honey selling at 2 pounds at the local shop. Fortunately for my limited budget, I have found some clear honey at only half that price.
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  19. #19

    Default Re: Homebrewing

    Woo, I bought a 50-gallon oaken barrel, some bottles and some assorted gear today. More updates as things break down.

  20. #20
    Oni Member Samurai Waki's Avatar
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    Default Re: Homebrewing

    My grandpa used to make a very fine Lager that he would sell for 20$ per 16 oz. Bottle. Yes, surprisingly that was the going rate for it. My Dad also knew it, but only made it once or twice in my life. Unfortunately the secret died with him.

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