It's a bit like cooking, I suppose, so I think /nom/ fits it best: Do you home-brew?
I've recently starting doing so with some surprisingly nice results (picture related, that was the first batch I ever did) and, at less than 50p/pint it's working out quite cheap as well. After the first batch I got a bit adventurous and started making batches of random things I could find using 5l still-water bottles as brewing vessels, using the kits as a safe fall-back. What I tried so far is: Camomile tea (lost all flavour in the process), nettles (nice!), nettles and blackberry leaves (even nicer!), value apple juice for cider (sour scrumpy, but nice) and mango juice using raw cane sugar (rough).
The kit ale and a 5l cider batch (using half value, half 'spensive stuff) have become a main-stay, providing fitting companions for any non-fancy meal. Perhaps I'm lucky because there's a brew shop not 2 minutes away from where I live, but somehow I can't imagine going back to my non-brewing days.
Has /nom/ ever brewed a beverage before? What was your experience of trying someone elses? Do you have recipe ideas, favourite yeasts, nutrients, ingredients?
>>3222 What stuff? The apple juice? As long as you get juice and not drink you should be fine. I use Gervain yeast and a generic nutrient. Turns out drinkable every time.
Sorry, I meant I saw it in Wilkinsons. The Ale that comes in a tin like the one in that picture and that you brew yourself. It seemed like a novel concept.
>>3224 It's somewhat novel in the sense that tax-free home brewing has been legal for less than 50 years, but other than that...
You'll need:
* a disinfectant. I use baby bottle steriliser, but plain bleach will do the trick just fine if you want to do it the ghetto way.
* a fermentation vessel . Anything reasonably airtight which can let gas out is fine — the 5l things with their cap just placed on top work out great, for example. I use a 5gallon specialised bucket for the large ale batches, though, since that is what the tins are aimed at.
* a thermometer. The yeast is quite picky about what temperatures it likes and being able to pinpoint when to hydrate it and when to add it helps minimize the risk of "infection" by other creepies.
* a maturation vessel. I have a pressure barrel for the ale so it can carbonate somewhat, but use just another 5l canisters for the cider. The idea is to strip out the dead yeas once fermentation is complete.
That's pretty much it. I invested in a hydrometer to get a more accurate idea of the final ABV and a food-safe syphon pipe to move stuff between vessels, but those are "luxuries".
I could provide some web-cam pictures, but it's really not that exciting. The tins are just tins, the fermentation bucket is literally just a bucket, the 5l canisters you can view in any supermarket which sells 5l still water things, the barrel is a really just another bucket (plastic shaped like a barrel).
>>3227 First off: This won't make Strongbow. If that's what you're after, bad luck; you'll get a crisp scrumpy. Also: disinfect everything that won't be boiled, i.e. your container, thermometer, funnels etc.
Step 1: Go to your local supermarket and buy two 5l canisters of water, some baby bottle sterilizer, 4l of value apple juice and a 1kg of plain sugar.
Step 2: Go to your local brew shop and get either an all purpose yeast or a special cider yeast. If there's no suitable shop near you, make this step 0 and order it online. Don't worry, it'll be much less than £2 and one sachet is enough for 3-5 batches. Don't bother with baking yeast, it'll taste rank.
Step 3: Fill one canister with disinfectant solution (read the instructions on whichever brand you get) and let it sit for a while. Remember to disinfect the lid as well. Also disinfect a small glass. Remember to rinse well with cold water before use.
Step 4: Put the juice in a large pot and boil it. Add the sugar... more sugar means more alcohol, but I wouldn't recommend more than 1.5kgs (I use 1kg). Make sure you have a lid on the pot (fruit flies love this stuff and can infect your batch) and let it cool to around room temperature.
Step 5 (optional): Boil some water and let it cool to about 35C, take your disinfected glass, fill it with the water and add about 1/4 teaspoon of sugar. Once that's dissolved add about 1/4 of the yeast sachet. Don't bother stirring it. Cover it with something (really doesn't matter what... I use which ever random take away leaflet is handy) and let it sit for around 30 minutes.
Step 6: Add the yeast sludge from step 5 to the juice and pour the lot into your disinfected and rinsed container. Place the lid on it, but do not screw it on or else it will explode. Leave it in a spot which will be around 20C ("room temperature" generally works). After a few hours you should notice some bubbles rising. You may get a foam covering your brew after a day or so. Both are good signs.
Step 7: Once bubbles stop rising (5-8 days) disinfect your second canister and, very carefully, decant your brew into it. There'll be a fair amount of yeast slime on the bottom of it; try and avoid getting any of that into your new container. Ideally, you'll want a syphon. For a couple of quid you can get a "brewing" one which has a cap on the end to avoid grabbing the yeast. Again, place the lid on it but don't screw it shut.
Step 8: Leave it for a bit. It'll be drinkable already and most of the alcohol has formed, but letting it rest for a week or three makes it nicer.
That's the long version. Short version:
Get some juice, add a lot of sugar, put it in a bottle with some yeast and let it rot for a week.
>>3228 Addendum: The result of that recipe has ~10-12% ABV, based on how it usually affects me. (Sage for not adding anything too valuable to the thread).
>>3228 Calling that cider is heresy. Proper cider uses pressed apples and the natural yeast floating around on it. What you're describing there is fermented apple juice. Apple wine, if you want to be charitable.
>>3298 In the spirit of sharing: I just bottled my current two batches of strong apple cider. Both used the same kind of juice (3l pressed apple juice not from concentrate, 1l value apple juice from concentrate) and the same amount of sugar (1kg white caster sugar), but the stuff on the right had a bit more yeast nutrient in it.
The picture is seriously crap quality, unfortunately. The two bottles on the left are significantly darker than the ones on the right (the right most bottle is roughly the same colour as the second from the right), but hey.
They'll get re-homed again in about 2 weeks time and should be nice and drinkable in around 4-5 weeks.
Generic brewing recipe:
1. Collect fruit. Quality and rottenness are irrelevant. Weigh them. Then stew them.
2. Drain off the juice through a tea towel. For every pound of fruit you used, add a pound of sugar to the juice.
3. Boil it and mix it, then leave it to sit in a sterile, sealed container for a few days.
4. Transfer to a sterile demijohn with some brewing yeast, leave in a warm, dark place until the valve stops bubbling, at which point you can bottle it or, indeed, not.
Same applies with just about any fruit. If your local brewing shop doesn't do the right yeast for the fruit, just go with yeast for something whose juice is a similar colour.
>>3478 > 3. Boil it and mix it, then leave it to sit in a sterile, sealed container for a few days.
Why leave it? To cool down?
> If your local brewing shop doesn't do the right yeast for the fruit, just go with yeast for something whose juice is a similar colour.
Or get a box of yeast nutrient. It's only a few quid and lasts a while. Worst case, chat to the staff. Most dedicated homebrew stores are run by enthusiast who are happy to give advice.
>>3484 Hmm. Perhaps something I've missed so far. I'm OP and never came across those. Non-sterile source material should be boiled to sterilize it (*) and you can get a dedicated "chiller" to cool it down faster (the sooner the yeast is added, the less risk of infection, so this helps a bit; I make do without). Not heard of a pre-primary fermentation container other than that, but then I'm far from an expert.
> It might, upon reflection, go a pound of sugar to a pint of juices.
Sounds way over the top. More than a 5pounds per/gallon is already fairly strong, twice that and you need a seriously high-performance yeast and you'd end up with about 20% ABV.
(*) unless you're hoping natural yeast is already present and will start fermenting soon enough.
>>3485 No, that doesn't sound right re:sugar. I'd generally assume 13-17% going by the flavour of what I produce, so I will try to get back to you.
Also, I was referring to containers such as this, although mine is rather more plain.
