Brew It Yourself

[Doobie_D]

Just here to help... the world make as much booze as possible

 

[soapybum]

If you get yourself some metal coils (some brew stores sell them) and a pressure cooker, you can distill some stronger spirits/liqours. Takes a bit more time and effort than brewing, but its well worth it!

 

[Doobie_D]

If you dont got the copper coil you could go the Wok still method:

http://world-food-and-wine.com/spirits-how-to-make-a-still

Works pretty good. Ive made small amounts of liquor for shits and giggles with this method. Its even more productive if you take your wine,wash,hooch, whatever and freeze distill it first and then run it through your wok still.

 

[billyriot]

Just tested my first batch and I'm pretty stoked about it! It's got a pretty strong taste, and I was buzzed after one glass, haha. All in all, I think this is the most fun I've had with an at home project.

 

[Doobie_D]

Be careful. That shits addicting. I started out with a gallon of homemade cider and now im up to a 57 gallon capacity of various carboys, 10 gallon mash/lauter tun, 5 gallon brew pot, wort chiller, temperature controlled fermenting chamber, kegging set up, soon to be keezer, yeast reclaimation set up and various odds and ends of equipment for the racking, cleaning, etc etc etc of booze making.

This shit will steal every penny you come by. Im slightly ashamed to say.. yes... i have flown a sign in the past for malt extract. Ive come dangerously close to sucking dick for 10lbs of 2 row and a couple ounces of Amarillo hops. Luckily its that time of year when alot of free fruit is out and about for some real nice country wines.

After making homemade booze the right way i find it hard to drink the crap i used to like: Milwaukee's Best, Busch, Chillable Red, etc...

Soooooo... yeah... shits awesome

 

[Kim Chee]

Ive come dangerously close to sucking dick for 10lbs of 2 row and a couple ounces of Amarillo hops.

so, can I get like a hanny for a big sack of cascade hops I harvested growing near the trax in Salem? They're fresh.

 

[billyriot]

Sounds like you've got your hands, and liver, pretty full; haha.
Once I've gotten the hang of this, I'll probably eventually move on to better techniques for making quality brew.

One thing though, I started moving my wine to bottles, but there is a brown residue that lingers at the bottom of each bottle? Looks sorta like a cloudy syrup. Should I be concerned? Or is it that I didn't let it ferment completely?

 

[bardamu]

Sounds like you've got your hands, and liver, pretty full; haha.
Once I've gotten the hang of this, I'll probably eventually move on to better techniques for making quality brew.

One thing though, I started moving my wine to bottles, but there is a brown residue that lingers at the bottom of each bottle? Looks sorta like a cloudy syrup. Should I be concerned? Or is it that I didn't let it ferment completely?

After brewing there will definitely be sediment. You can get rid of it by bottling with a siphon.

 

[billyriot]

Thanks!
I will definitely have to try that out.
I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary, but it was still a concern since I had made sure not to include any of the original sediment when bottling.

 

[Doobie_D]

you should be siphoning anyways but yeah that shits just dead yeast, some settled live yeast and what wine makers call trub. If you let your shit go thru primary for a week or two then rack over (siphon) to another jug and let it sit a month or 2 then rack into bottles you'll have crystal clear, sediment free booze. Buuuuut the live and dead yeast is also good for you and waiting sux.

You'll find that after drinking a good amount of "early" homebooze you'll have alot of farting power and super smooth bowel moves. That is the yeasty goodness cleansing them bowels.

@7M's: No deals... unless you got a rare strain of high alcohol tolerant yeast on yer swangin meat

 

[billyriot]

After doing a couple weeks worth of brewing, I left my siphon pump out while I ran out to the store, and my roommate got a hold of it to use to clean his drain (don't ask me why he thought it was a good idea, but the kid's a fucking idiot) and I came back to find it sitting in a bottle of Drain-O. I'm pretty certain it's tainted, but is there anyway to sterilize it or test to see if it's safe without doing any damage? Or should I just say fuck it and get a new pump?