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The Dregs posted:If anyone wants some cheap fermenting vessels, I was at the local H-Mart (It's a Korean grocery) and they had big glass jars that were exactly the same thing as those $40 dollar Big Mouth Bubblers for about 10 bucks. They came in several different sizes, too. No need for an airlock on them, the threads are just loose enough to release excess co2. gently caress, I want giant cheap glass jars
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Oct 9, 2018 21:10
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Myron Baloney posted:Bone-dry cider owns, if someone wants it sweet I just add a bit of sprite to a glass. It's racked in a proper carboy now with an actual airlock. I'm letting it sit there till the end of the month then re-racking it. I'm probably going to try and carbonate a few bottles and see how it goes. I'll be using plastic bottles and I've heard mixed reviews with regards to carbonating in those. The brass fitting was single use, it was all I could find on short notice. It corroded somethin fierce.
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Oct 10, 2018 01:37
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SniperWoreConverse posted:gently caress, I want giant cheap glass jars 
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Oct 10, 2018 03:36
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autism ZX spectrum posted:It's racked in a proper carboy now with an actual airlock. I'm letting it sit there till the end of the month then re-racking it. I'm probably going to try and carbonate a few bottles and see how it goes. I'll be using plastic bottles and I've heard mixed reviews with regards to carbonating in those. I have lots of luck carbonating in plastic two liters, they can withstand an insane amount of pressure.
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Oct 10, 2018 03:37
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Applesnots posted:I can hook you up. them pups'll ferment up real nice
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Oct 10, 2018 04:20
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I went for the extra hobo factor by scavenging my fermentation vessels from a bin.    Blackberry and mango wines, made from a kilo of mashed up frozen fruit and another kilo of sugar. Added pectase to the mango one and its ended whole load clearer. Let them ferment on the fruit for a few weeks before siphoning the liquid off the mush/sediment. These two have been clearing for like three months at this point, just haven't had time to transfer them to bottles. I've got six of these carboys cause I ended up taking one or two every time I passed that skip. Three are empty at the moment so I might have to batch up a load of hobo wine this weekend
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Oct 10, 2018 07:49
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fuckin gotdamn you guys I might actually have to make some proper hobo wine after I free up my carboy, it would lower my alcohol expenditures significantly
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Oct 10, 2018 12:29
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Rozzbot posted:I went for the extra hobo factor by scavenging my fermentation vessels from a bin. those are some fine rear end glass jugs. whoever threw them out is a monster
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Oct 10, 2018 12:41
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I tried making a strong mead, about 18%, a while back with just honey, water, champagne yeast, and some nutrient. poo poo tasted loving terrible all through racking so I just let it sit in the back of my pantry for about 4 months. I thought I'd hosed something up but I tried it this weekend and its glorious. All the kerosene and butthole flavor is gone and it tastes clean and floral. I'm going to try to make more with proper nutrient addition and degassing.
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Oct 10, 2018 13:20
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The shame of fermenting is the good stuff is never around long enough to age
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Oct 10, 2018 13:48
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Can I do this in an old bucket? I want that authentic hobo taste.
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Oct 10, 2018 13:59
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clone on the phone posted:Can I do this in an old bucket? I want that authentic hobo taste. Sure. if it has a lid. Of not, you'll get that authentic dead fly taste.
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Oct 10, 2018 15:03
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Rutibex posted:those are some fine rear end glass jugs. whoever threw them out is a monster
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Oct 10, 2018 20:32
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Holy poo poo, I racked my berry mead into a two liter and some random jars and it came out basically perfect. It still needs a while to mellow out but goddamn. Slightly sweet, good berry and honey flavor, very strong. Put it somewhere cool to hang out, I'm thinking it'll be done within another month maybe. By far the most important parts were using Champaign yeast and making sure to keep it from sitting on the yeast after hard fermentation was done. Strongly considering finding some brewery job or going to school or something. I'm slightly drunk and had maybe a cup worth. Need to figure out a way to make it even better. I'd do this as a job for sure. I think the next batch I make might be maple. Maple and maybe some spice, I dunno.
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Oct 11, 2018 23:46
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I made some adequate mead based on that Tumblr post where one of the steps is to point a gun at it. I call that batch Bee Goon, because it's not worse than cask wine and for a half-hearted first attempt that my cat kept trying to sabotage I will call that a victory. Fuckin' needs to breathe for an hour before drinking, though. Now I'm looking up proper equipment and nutrients like someone capable of giving a poo poo about things, and wondering which honey would make the better brew. I'm split between my favourites of yellow box, which is song and sunshine captured in bee vomit, and red gum, a honey that would grow chest hair if it had a chest.
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Oct 12, 2018 08:30
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no way man don't breath it, let it set in the bottle for a while. It'll self-regulate that turbobooze smell and taste. This is the longest phase of mead because it feels like a century. I am not a professional but that's what I do. You could let it sit open and that bullshit will go away, but it also degrades other desirable flavors imo. My evidence of this is I did a few batches and would filter them into bottles. The first bottles were always the best, the last bottles that were most exposed to air were the worst. All of it was alright except the time I put in bananas, it would just have less flavor the longer it was open. I get the cheapest honey and doctor it up with bullshit so I can't really help. I feel like anything that's not wildflower or maybe clover you want to emphasize or play off of it's flavors in an interesting way. Today i'm going to burn the honey first. Throw it in a pot and caramelize. Once it turns black i'll mix it with half the water, then do maple syrup. I'm thinking 2/3 honey 1/3 maple. This poo poo is coming out of the finished bottle fuckin black. Some real Halloween poo poo. I'll limit it to a gallon and if it turns out good i'll start doing some actual production. If this blackberry turns out like I think it will, and the orange one is also like that, i'm just gonna start cranking out gallons and selling them outta a van. Next one after the halloween one I might try to find actual honey not out of a dumpster. I'm interested in trying to make a matcha, just matcha and honey. I was earlier thinking of doing a perique + some herbs, but after consideration I'm not convinced that mead is suited to herbs.
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Oct 12, 2018 08:52
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I went ahead and made some actual hobo wine, got a bunch of the cheapest grape concentrate I could find. I'm pretty sure the cheapest stuff doesn't have preservatives. There's nothing listed on the ingredients and it started fermenting almost immediately.  Added water and sugar until the hydrometer read about 14% potential alcohol, threw it in some jugs and added yeast. It's been under an hour and it's already bubbling. Made sure the mix was pretty warm before adding the yeast so it must have helped. I'm thinking I'm gonna try carbonating this in bottles once it's done.  While everything was clean I re-racked my apple wine to get it off the yeast. It's maturing quite nicely actually, way less gross than when I tried it after the primary ferment. I think I'll give it another 4 months in the carboy then bottle it and let it age in bottles for another 4-6. 
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Oct 13, 2018 17:56
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Oct 13, 2018 18:22
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How do you overcome the preservatives in the juice that are there specifically to avoid fermentation? Is that what the sugar does?
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Oct 13, 2018 18:27
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Get a juice that has few/no preservatives. It seems as though concentrates might have less, if any, to begin with because they're kept frozen. I went for the super cheap ones because there won't be any real fruit in them so that means there shouldn't be any preservatives. There was no mention of anything in the ingredients or on the box. Stay away from name brands, stuff made with "real fruit" and anything fancy, I guess. Someone in the thread has had Fruitopia ferment for them. Maybe we should create a list of concentrates you can ferment?
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Oct 13, 2018 18:36
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SniperWoreConverse posted:I saw this and I was like "Holy gently caress! this thing is a great idea! gently caress buckets!" I got lucky, the local homebrew store thought they ordered 100 and actually ordered 1000 and got a huge discount so they were doing a 3 for 150 sale.
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Oct 13, 2018 18:54
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HugeGrossBurrito posted:I got lucky, the local homebrew store thought they ordered 100 and actually ordered 1000 and got a huge discount so they were doing a 3 for 150 sale. Doesn't all the yeast settle right above the funnel and muck up attempting to bottle stuff or do you just pour it off first before getting into it?
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Oct 13, 2018 20:40
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jobson groeth posted:Doesn't all the yeast settle right above the funnel and muck up attempting to bottle stuff or do you just pour it off first before getting into it? you can pop open the valve and dump the yeast cake out of the bottom into a little separate container whenever you want.
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Oct 13, 2018 20:58
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jobson groeth posted:Doesn't all the yeast settle right above the funnel and muck up attempting to bottle stuff or do you just pour it off first before getting into it? No they work just like the big ones I used professionally. The trub falls to the bottom but you can shut the valve and dump the trub. Moving to secondary fermentation is that easy. The active yeast is floating around anyway. Trub has never filled the collector at the bottom which is not pictured since I’m bottling in this photo. It’s just a bulb shaped thing that attaches at the bottom.
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Oct 13, 2018 21:08
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My orange wine turned to vinegar before we could finish it. My fault. The second fridge broke, and the one I had was too crowded to put this big assed jug in, so I let it sit out way too long. This one was disappearing a lot slower too, because it turns out orange wine isn't that tasty. It isn't bad really, just not something you crave. Back to grape/berry/apple. I am gonna pick up some smaller bottles to keep the finished wined corked or capped in the future.
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Oct 13, 2018 21:12
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jobson groeth posted:Doesn't all the yeast settle right above the funnel and muck up attempting to bottle stuff or do you just pour it off first before getting into it?  This goes on the bottom during fermentation where the tube is coming out in the other picture.
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Oct 13, 2018 21:13
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Isaac posted:My most common recipe was called Birdwatchers TPW (if you wanna look up the exact process). It was sugar, tomato paste and bakers yeast. Since i was distilling it to neutral the flavour of the wash wasnt that important vs cost. All up it was like $12 and made about 10 bottles of spirits Same! I built a still with a stupid name, and use the same recipe. loving brilliant when it comes out as 96% ethanol and you can water and flavour it to taste. Homedistillers.org if I remember right. I get a taxi to work every day and a taxi home, would normally be about £40, but it ends up cheaper than driving (UK petrol prices) when you have the taxi guy's mobile number and he takes alcohol as payment! Plus I can drink at work because the cleanest stuff hardly even smells - just don't stagger all over the place.
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Oct 13, 2018 22:42
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Ohyesitsme posted:Plus I can drink at work because the cleanest stuff hardly even smells - just don't stagger all over the place. That's what the boss told me... official rules are that if you are drunk enough to be a danger to yourself or others, then you get sent home. Otherwise, drink away - some industries in the UK have a very big "How many pints can you drink over lunch hour" culture. Those people make our cars. Yay!
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Oct 13, 2018 23:15
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Glad to see old labour traditions still exist somewhere! I have a question that you guys might be able to answer. How do you keep yeast alive? Like, if I wanted to not have to buy yeast again and just keep a culture in the fridge (probably) for when I need some. I know sourdough starters can be kept alive, can I do the same with champagne yeast?
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Oct 13, 2018 23:21
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I use bread yeast, and it's dirt cheap. This is the recipe I and Isaac use - https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5018 All 60 or so pages if you want any questions answered, or just use the first post - I did, and it turned out perfect on pretty much my first attempt. I built a "Bokabob" still, stuffed with those really heavy duty stainless scouring scrubbers (without soap!), and have hardly spent a penny on drink since I started. And I am rarely sober. Loadsa reading to do there well if you don't want to keep messing up until you finally read enough to find out what you were doing wrong.
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Oct 13, 2018 23:42
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autism ZX spectrum posted:Glad to see old labour traditions still exist somewhere! yeah the way i heard it basically you take all the dregs off the previous batch and either immediately start a new batch or you can fridge them in an old pop bottle or whatever. It'll be harder to wake the yeast back up vs new yeast, and over time their qualities will evolve as they adapt to how you run things. You're probably gonna wanna to keep them in rotation. I don't know if there's a way to redry them for longer storage or whatever. I dunno about really doing this tho, because I throw a ton of crazy poo poo in my batches so the bottom yeast layer gets mixed in with like exhausted spice dust and orange peels and poo poo, and I just use a new pouch of yeast so that poo poo doesn't get in to the next batch.
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Oct 14, 2018 01:10
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I'm gonna try it. I haven't read this article in ages, but apparently with the proper care & storage a culture can last a long time.
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Oct 14, 2018 01:19
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Don't use bread yeast! Wine yeast is super cheap and gives you a stronger, cleaner tasting result. It's like .75 on Amazon.
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Oct 14, 2018 01:52
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The Dregs posted:Don't use bread yeast! Wine yeast is super cheap and gives you a stronger, cleaner tasting result. It's like .75 on Amazon.
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Oct 14, 2018 01:55
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One of my exes was Georgia mountain folk and made cranberry wine all the time and it was good as gently caress (and also really boozy). I think he used champagne yeast.
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Oct 14, 2018 03:41
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Would this work if I wanted to experiment with some apple hobo wine? Home Brew Ohio Glass Wine Fermenter Includes Rubber Stopper and Airlock, 1 gallon Capacity https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KQN9OSK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_8cSWBb8QX6Q8H What else would I need?
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Oct 14, 2018 05:13
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gently caress that ferment it in those lovely plastic jugs the juice comes in if you're using actual apples buy u a gallon spring water, dump the water in somewhere clean, throw your crushed apples or whatever in there, throw in your yeast, top the water back up Leave a shoulder's head space and throw a pricked balloon over the mouth, or drill a hole in the cap for a tube into a cup of water once it stops bubbling or the balloon falls over use a tube to siphon the booze off the yeast that fell to the bottom of the jug. Let it sit in this second jug till you drink it or the rest of the yeast falls down to the bottom of that one, or whatever
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Oct 14, 2018 05:27
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One thing about the hobo jug technique is you don't have to wash the jug it's pre washed from the bottler. Depending how you do things you can get away without sanitizing anything because the ingredients are coming straight out of a sanitary container into a sanitary container.
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Oct 14, 2018 05:30
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Sniper's method is pretty good. If you're going to be fermenting actual apples in there make sure to get a spare stopper or two and a length of hose that's at LEAST 1/2" inner diameter. Drill out one of the stoppers and run the hose through it and into a jar of water, like Sniper said. A regular airlock won't stand up to the gasses created by real fruit fermenting. I had to learn the hard way one time.  If you wanted to go the more traditional route you'd probably need to invest in some sanitizer. Make sure you own another container of some kind that has the same or slightly larger capacity as the fermenter, you'll need it when racking. I used a sanitized home depot bucket.
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Oct 14, 2018 13:52
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Zev posted:Would this work if I wanted to experiment with some apple hobo wine? But yeah, it would work. Honestly though, you could go to the supermarket and get the same jug filled with cheap wine for the same price or cheaper. Then you could just buy an airlock or cover it in a balloon with a tiny hole pricked in it, or even just some foil.
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Oct 14, 2018 13:58
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