The Official MWGL Homebrew Thread....

FenderPusher

FenderPusher

Beardcore Apologist
I figured since there was interest in my thread about cider I'd start an official thread for all things home brewing. Post questions, experiences, recipes and advice.

I just picked up the essentials this past weekend and now have five gallons of hard cider starting to ferment in my basement. Anybody already brewing or interested in starting? I still have tons of questions, mostly just been bugging Jaxn Slim, reading forums and watching YouTube videos up to this point.

stirthepotchears:beer:
 
:thu: I've been wanting to get into brewing my own beer for decades... One of these days... Hard cider sounds great, too...
 
FenderPusher said:
Yep, a few big bubbles here and there this morning. I'm just hoping I don't come home to an exploded bucket. :embarrassed:

Also, I sent a PM, don't know if you read it yet or not.
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You should be ok. Cider is a pretty slow fermentation. How much headroom do you have in the bucket?
 
My Octoberfest should be ready soon. Hope it turns out better this year.
 
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jaxn slim said:
You should be ok. Cider is a pretty slow fermentation. How much headroom do you have in the bucket?
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It's about 5 gallons, maybe just a tad less. It's a 6.5 gallon bucket so hopefully I'm ok. OG was 1.066 which sounded about right from what you said, how long should I let it go before taking another measurement?
 
My father-in-law just finished an excellent batch of cider.
I'm gearing up to do a stout, maybe next weekend.
 
FenderPusher said:
It's about 5 gallons, maybe just a tad less. It's a 6.5 gallon bucket so hopefully I'm ok. OG was 1.066 which sounded about right from what you said, how long should I let it go before taking another measurement?
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At least a week. Maybe two or three if you are busy. It usually takes a month to finish.
 
jaxn slim said:
At least a week. Maybe two or three if you are busy. It usually takes a month to finish.
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And what are your thoughts on the Grolsch-style flip top bottles? Seems more convenient than having to cap, but I guess you still have to sterilize the tops after washing the bottles.
 
JBJ's Saudibrau sparkling wine.

This was something I came up with using the basic recipe I came up with for wine in Saudi Arabia and is a fun way for anyone who wants to try out a bit of homebrewing at home without spunking a load on specialist gear. The sparkling from what I can work out is dependent on what juice you use, red wine juice won't fizz after it's fermented but other juices will and it makes quite a nice little cocktail type drink for the long winter nights.

NB you can do this with pretty much any juice going (though it tends to work better with juices that are "linked" to alcohol eg. apple, grapes and berries but I've had some great results with more exotic brews like mixed cocktail juice and it's cheap enough that you can experiment in small batches to see what works and what doesn't.

Get 16 litres of dark berry juice (last year I think I used cranberry and blueberry mix) but you can really do it with any kind of dark juice.

Get a large bucket / demijohn / 20l water cooler bottle and wash with boiling water. I know there's specific stuff to sterilise the gear but this never failed me.

Pour in the juice.

Add sugar - I find 1 tablespoon per litre works good but if you like it sweeter add more.

Add a pinch of yeast for each litre you put in. Probably works out at about 1/2 a teaspoonful but I just add a pinch at a time.

If you don't want to spring for fancy brewing gear and you're using a water bottle all you have to do is attach a balloon or condom to the open top of the bottle and pierce a tiny hole in it with a pin. That'll let air escape and as the condom / balloon blows up, it'll let you know how quickly it's fermenting.

Leave it somewhere at room temperature and allow to ferment. You'll know it's fermented when the balloon / condom stops inflating though you may need to take the balloon / condom off a few times if it is over inflating before the fermentation is done.

It'll be drinkable within about 10 / 11 days but starts getting really good after the 3 week mark and th elonger you leave it, the more "wine" like it will get.

You can siphon it into a second container once it's fermented if you want to leave it lying for a while but without any sediment in it but I've never found this to make much of a difference.

Bottle, drink, repeat.
 
FenderPusher said:
And what are your thoughts on the Grolsch-style flip top bottles? Seems more convenient than having to cap, but I guess you still have to sterilize the tops after washing the bottles.
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Grolsch bottles are great but usually more expensive. If you can get away with bottling your whole 5 gallons with just those bottles, then do it. Mrs. Slim got me a bunch of 1-liter bottles with Grolsch-style tops for my birthday one year. They are great.

Yes, you would have to sanitize the tops, too.

jbj - Red wine will fizz just as any other fermented fruit juice. It just depends on the temperature of the liquid when it is served. They will only hold carbonation if they are cold. It just carbonates when it absorbs CO2. You can force this by applying CO2 directly or by creating a secondary fermentation in the bottle after it is sealed.
 
jaxn slim said:
Grolsch bottles are great but usually more expensive. If you can get away with bottling your whole 5 gallons with just those bottles, then do it. Mrs. Slim got me a bunch of 1-liter bottles with Grolsch-style tops for my birthday one year. They are great.

Yes, you would have to sanitize the tops, too.

jbj - Red wine will fizz just as any other fermented fruit juice. It just depends on the temperature of the liquid when it is served. They will only hold carbonation if they are cold. It just carbonates when it absorbs CO2. You can force this by applying CO2 directly or by creating a secondary fermentation in the bottle after it is sealed.
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I was told on another forum that I'd have to backsweeten the cider so it doesn't come out tasting like cheap white wine Did you have that problem with your batch, too dry?
 
No. I didn't have that problem. It is more likely to be an issue if you use wine yeast and/or your final gravity gets below 1.010. You can taste it as you take out samples for measuring the gravity. Then decide for yourself.
 
I just ordered a 5 gallon brew pot, stainless steel spoon and that propane range you suggested. When the cider is bottled I'm going to try an extract kit or two before getting into the grain stuff.
 
FenderPusher said:
I just ordered a 5 gallon brew pot, stainless steel spoon and that propane range you suggested. When the cider is bottled I'm going to try an extract kit or two before getting into the grain stuff.
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5 is too small for full boil batches, you want 7 or so that way you have headspace to accomidate the boil and break
 
FenderPusher said:
Well FUCK I already ordered it. Guess I'll have to contact Amazon and see if I can change my order.
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When you are doing all grain, you'll ideally start the boil with 5.5-6 gallons and boil your way down to 5-5.5.

For extract, you can get away with starting the boil at 3 or so gallons and then adding more cold water when you put it in the fermenter.

If they can't change your order, I wouldn't sweat it. You could take the opportunity to use your extract batches to get to know different yeasts and hops. Maybe even different ways of bottling or kegging. Then once you've got that down, that would probably be a good time to go all grain. Depending on how often you do batches and how long you want to do that, it could take months or years before you need a bigger pot.
 
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