Home Brewing/Distilling Thread

[Raggles]

Just want to start a thread for people who brew or distill their own liquor to share the experiences they have had. (What have you made? How you have made it? etc...Maybe even post some pics of your operation )

I have brewed homemade apple beer/wine/hard cider and I think I am going to make a legit distillery in my back yard or garage (which is illegal in US) and make moonshine or attempt to make gin.

I don't know why but I have always had a fascination about making alcohol.

[esfandyar]

I have many many many mates who brew their own beers. I wish I made my own. This thread is the bees knees. Educate!

[Raggles]

Same here...My friends and I realized how much drinks cost every week and decided to make our own to ease up on the wallet.

If you want to try something simple and easy try this. Not much equipment required...made right in the same container you buy the juice in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La38oQjdyPw

[slothrop]

Home brewing is good, but home distilling is pretty perilous, isn't it?

That said, infusing stuff to turn average gin or vodka into nice sloe gin or chilli vodka or whatever is good.

[test_recordings]

My grandad made his own wines, I want to get in to it

[topmo3]

i've made 'kilju' a couple of times in my youth. it's really simple. there are several varieties and recepies for kilju but here's one if ya'll wanna make some

10 liters (17,6 pints) of water
same amount of OJ
6 kilograms (13,2) lbs of sugar
and of course a fermenting barrel.

put the orange juice in the freezer. warm the water up to 30 degrees celsius or 86 fahrenheit. add sugar and the frozen orange juice. wait for about two weeks, the fermenting barrel's air lock will bubble with 15 sec intervals, that's when it's ready to drink! it's about 12 % so be careful

[test_recordings]

it's about 12 % so be careful

Haha why be careful? Wine's that much! I take it that it's very more-ish?

[topmo3]

it's about 12 % so be careful

Haha why be careful? Wine's that much! I take it that it's very more-ish?

yeah but the taste is quite mild so it goes down like the casual lager there are some techniques to make it clearer and more alcoholic but i haven't ever tried.

[mks]

I would like to make a barley wine sometime, but perhaps it is better to practice with another type of beer.

How much does it cost to get all of the right equipment?

[bjackman]

i made hugh fearnley-whittingstall's elderflower wine once.
it was fuckin lush but not very strong. then i left it for a bit longer and it got pretty strong but not so lush..

anyway its fuckin easy you just chuck a load of elderflowers into a bucket with water, a spoonful of vinegar, some lemons and their zest and a fuckton of sugar. then leave it to start fermenting, then when its underway bottle it up tight so it gets fizzy. mix with gin if it isnt' strong enough.
i actually put in champagne yeast coz i killed the natural yeast by not properly cooling down the water after i sterilised it, but it works without.

ps: don't yall be hating on the fearnley wearnley he's the number 1 tv personality

[wolf89]

I'm about to do a kit beer of ale then move on to doing my own shit properly.

We got a society at uni for brewers in fact.

[honey-d]

so frustrating that this popped up right after the growers thread got closed

[dudebrux]

Me and a mate did some home brewing when we were at secondary school (why did his parents let us do this?) It all ended after we sessioned a little bit too much one lunchtime, didnt turn up back at school and his mum found us trying to fill her car petrol tank up with piss.

The beer was terrible.

[nowaysj]

so frustrating that this popped up right after the growers thread got closed

Was just coming over to say LOCK THIS BITCH UP!

[soulshynchyld]

damn.... I'm so glad I live in a country where it is legal to brew any type of alcohol at home!!
but... not so glad that we can't grow weed legally!

lagers aren't very hard, add heaps of sugar/dextrose & make ya brew strong as fuck.

Guna put a cider down within the week.

will update the progress of that...

!!chea

[wub]

Tip - if you're unsure as to how strong/safe your homebrew is, give a taste sample to a homeless person. Wait around for 30mins after they've finished it to check they don't go blind.

[slothrop]

Where's it illegal to homebrew? Are my beardy rambling real-ale buddies actually getting a bit gangsta on the QT?

[test_recordings]

Oh yeah I know how to make pro-biotic alcoholic beverages! I got some of these crystal organisms that ferment sugar, fructose and glucose. I've been using raisins, cranberries and golden syrup and it makes a fucking wicked aperitif with a meal.

Here's the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibicos. I bought some off ebay but if anyone else you know how some you might be able to scrounge some off them since they multiply pretty fast. Loads of guides about with info on how to make really nice drinks too

[soulshynchyld]

sloth... I was talking about spirits & liquors!

beer & wines are sweet in most of the world ah.

!!chea

[lloydnoise]

so frustrating that this popped up right after the growers thread got closed

this
it's lame

on topic, my Dad makes his own wine, from a kit but is actually really nice, he does it properly, massive demijohns in the back hall bubbling away, gets around 30 or so bottles each time.. if we ever asked for booze money for a party or something when I was younger he'd always just give me and my brother a bottle each to take, got pretty boring after a while though and put me off red wine for a good couple of years