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    #1

    Home Brewin'

    HOME BREWING
    THE ART OF BREWING ALCOHOL, AT THE HOME.





    ​ So, I was wondering if there were any home brewing enthusiasts on this forum who wanted to share some knowledge, or current projects on this thread. I think I seen somewhere that Thalassa was a home brewer if my memory serves me. But that is the only one I know.

    So, a little about me in this area. There is nothing to tell. I'm just very interested in it because its a hobby that takes a lot of time and patience and it seems like its almost like raising plants, only you get to drink the plants after, so you cant beat that. I'm interested in brewing some honey meads, maybe spiced with apple. And possibly a classic Canadian beer. Oh, and I've noticed the biggest tip for all home brewers is to sanitize anything and everything involved.

    White and Red 'till I'm cold and dead.
    sigpic
    In Days of yore,
    From Britain's shore
    Wolfe the dauntless hero came
    And planted firm Britannia's flag
    On Canada's fair domain.
    Here may it wave,
    Our boast, our pride
    And joined in love together,
    The thistle, shamrock, rose entwined,
    The Maple Leaf Forever.
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Home Brewin'

    Meads, fruit and flower wines, here. And infused liquor.


    Mostly art.

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Home Brewin'

      I don't home brew myself, but my mum does. She makes alcoholic ginger beer every year, and experiments with things like vegetable and grain wines. I've been thinking for a few years about making my own mead, but never got off my butt to do it.

      One thing I have to say on the subject... don't attempt pea-and-rice wine. I swear that stuff was pure ethanol

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Home Brewin'

        non alcoholic ginger beer is a piece of cake to make, by the way.

        And I can't share notes or anything for another two weeks until I'm home, but I'm happy to share my mead notes with you.


        Mostly art.

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Home Brewin'

          Originally posted by volcaniclastic View Post
          non alcoholic ginger beer is a piece of cake to make, by the way.

          And I can't share notes or anything for another two weeks until I'm home, but I'm happy to share my mead notes with you.
          Ohh thank you I look forward to it! It'll be good to have the notes of somebody experienced so I don't screw up the first time after months of fermenting.
          White and Red 'till I'm cold and dead.
          sigpic
          In Days of yore,
          From Britain's shore
          Wolfe the dauntless hero came
          And planted firm Britannia's flag
          On Canada's fair domain.
          Here may it wave,
          Our boast, our pride
          And joined in love together,
          The thistle, shamrock, rose entwined,
          The Maple Leaf Forever.

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Home Brewin'

            Hubby brews beer, with a Coopers homebrew kit.
            ThorSon's milkshake brings all the PF girls to the yard - Volcaniclastic

            RIP

            I have never been across the way
            Seen the desert and the birds
            You cut your hair short
            Like a shush to an insult
            The world had been yelling
            Since the day you were born
            Revolting with anger
            While it smiled like it was cute
            That everything was shit.
            - J. Wylder

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Home Brewin'

              I'm thinking of finding some bottles of this shape and colour to bottle my mead in. It looks like the quintessential mead bottle.



              Minus the "Black-Briar" label and the other label. I'll replace it with a custom label.

              - - - Updated - - -

              Also I'm going to make a batch of classic mead with some apple slices thrown in plus some strong apple juice. The goal is to get a honey apple flavor for the winter coming up. I'll keep it cool once its done by burying it in the snow and having a spigot pop out of the snow. Nature be my cooler, Mead be my warmer.
              White and Red 'till I'm cold and dead.
              sigpic
              In Days of yore,
              From Britain's shore
              Wolfe the dauntless hero came
              And planted firm Britannia's flag
              On Canada's fair domain.
              Here may it wave,
              Our boast, our pride
              And joined in love together,
              The thistle, shamrock, rose entwined,
              The Maple Leaf Forever.

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Home Brewin'

                Originally posted by volcaniclastic View Post
                non alcoholic ginger beer is a piece of cake to make, by the way.

                And I can't share notes or anything for another two weeks until I'm home, but I'm happy to share my mead notes with you.
                Can you share some fruit wine notes too? I'd love to give it a try!

                I don't even know what equipment you need!

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Home Brewin'

                  Originally posted by DanieMarie View Post
                  Can you share some fruit wine notes too? I'd love to give it a try!

                  I don't even know what equipment you need!
                  For sure. I'm home on Monday, and I will write up a little homebrewing post then.


                  Mostly art.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: Home Brewin'

                    ^ huh, I totally forgot about that.

                    It's bottling day!!

                    (and I promise to add my notes to my to-do list....I'll get to it!)


                    Mostly art.

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: Home Brewin'

                      We brew really, really old fashion beers, wines and meads. I also have a stillroom that is used for brewing other things as well. I come from a long line of Jonny Hollow makers. That's a northern word for moonshine. We still have a few old broken stills down near the springs. Now those that make it usually do it a bit closer to home because the Feds are more worried about terrorists than hollow runners. Which is about the only good thing to come out of 9/11.

                      With beer we make it with the grains we raise. It was something we were raised on, home beer, and is an acquired taste. If you are use to factory beer, this recipe is probably not for you but I thought I would put it out there.

                      Start off with a measure of wheat and barley, the amount is up to your taste. I like wheat to be the dominant grain, most people like barley, and sometimes it boils down to which crop we have the most of. Rinse the grains and put them in a cotton sack. There was a time when we used burlap, but I have to admit, burlap imparted a flavor to the malt and I like my malt sweet. Put the sack o' grain somewhere warm and keep it moist to sprout (malt). When the tails of the grains are about the same size to slightly larger than the grains themselves, scrub the malt up and make sure to get rid of the tails. Dry and roast the grains in an over around 250 to 300 degrees F. For how long is up to you. I like my beer dark, I mean REALLY dark, so if I know the beer will be just for me, I roast mine to just short of burnt. If I'm sharing (which is usually the case) I just roast them until the are darkened. My brother like his beer blond so he doesn't roast it as long.

                      Toss the malt into a large kettle cover with about 1/2 again as much water (so cover the malt and then add about 1/2 again as much water as you have malt). Bring to a boil, reduce and let simmer until the grains are soft and the mash is brown. About 1/2 an hour before you're done, drop in your preserver to boil. Most people use hops. I save my hops for medicinals and use yarrow instead. I like the flavor of yarrow better and I am probably the last protester against the laws forcing people to use hops to drug the masses. The preserver should be about 1/6 to 1/8 the amount of your malt. Boil for another 1/2 an hour. Cool enough to put into a carboy and strain into the carboy.

                      Now here is where I will really differ from many people. I like the flavor of many wild yeasts better than domestic ones. The problem is that domestic yeast are made in a sterile environment so they have the same flavor batch after batch. While not 100%, you pretty much know what you're getting with domestic yeast. Some of the wild yeasts have a better flavor, but some have a much worse flavor and because they're wild you don't always know what you're getting (is this the good one or the yucky one?). So if you are going to do all the work, you probably want to use a domestic yeast. Sprinkle it on top of your brew in the carboy, I never mix it in but others do.

                      If you want to gamble grab a couple handfuls of wild grapes turned raisins or some dried apple peels you saved for their yeast, or just let it go sour dough on you. Don't cry to me if it taste bad, but you might win the role of the dice and get the best tasting beer you've ever drank.

                      Put an airlock on the carboy (or use a balloon) and let it bubble for the first ferment. This is when you can actually hear the hissing of the ferment. Depending on your yeast, how much sugar your malt had, and how warm it is in the fermenting room, this can take two day or ten. Just watch it until the fermenting slows down. Rack the mash into bottles, cork, let set for another 10 days or so and drink as you like.

                      If it's good, enjoy with friends are drink in the dark or whatever you like. If it's not great, make a note of it so you don't repeat the same mistake, put it into a cone still and make brandy out of it. You can always use it for tinctures (the cone still is illegal in many places so check with your local laws or you'll be an outlaw).

                      Mead is just honey and water boiled together, let cool and either let it go sour dough (my favorite mead, never had it fail) or put it in a carboy, use a champagne yeast, put an airlock on it and let it bubble. When the first vigorous bubbling is over rack it into another carboy leaving the lees (the slimey stuff on the bottom of the carboy). Wait for a coupe month and either rack again into another carboy (if it's still cloudy) or rack into bottles, cork and let set for 9 months. From the work standpoint mead is the easiest alcoholic beverage there is to make. The problem is that it takes the longest to ferment. We start mead after the fall honey harvest (in August) so we can drink it 2 autumn equinoxes away. Plan on 9 months to a year until it's ready. It also may need to be racked a couple extra times to get rid of the lees. If you keep getting the cloud even though you've racked it, drop a couple clean eggshells (cracked with no egg on them) with the membranes still on them into the final carboy for a week or so. This usually gathers the cloud up. There are commercial clearing agents for wines too.

                      Wine in general is get a gallon of berries, boil them in a gallon of water, mashing them during the boil, add 4 to 5 lbs of sugar or honey or 5 to 6 lbs of sorghum or 6 to 7 lbs of maple syrup to the boil. Put into a sterilized food grade bucket, let cool to body temp. Sprinkle yeast over this and cover with a cloth. Let bubble until first ferment (vigorous bubbling) is done. Rack into a carboy of some sort (this can be a very well cleaned out milk gallon jug). Put on an air lock (or balloon). Watch the airlock for a couple months on and off and when you finally don't see anymore bubbles coming out or the balloon totally deflates, wait another 72 hours, check again. If there are no bubbles, rack into bottles, cork and let set for 5 to 6 months. Chill and serve.

                      As you can see, I take the redneck approach to making things. I don't use exact measurements nor do I worry overly about many of the things I am told to worry about. Bad wine and mead is actually very hard to do. Beer is another story, I've made some very bad beer...then it goes into the cone still to become brandy. Still my brand name of beer is 'Naughty Elf' and I have plenty a person who stops out to raise a glass of it with me so I don't worry too much about the bad stuff. I've got a batch going right now because Saturday is opening day of deer season and if there wasn't some Naughty Elf in the cellar everyone would have bad luck in the hunt.

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: Home Brewin'

                        My hubby makes homemade wine, from purchased juice often as we can't have fruit all the time and don't have much land, but once a year, he uses the grapes we grow along with the wild grapes that grow up our house like ivy to make a few bottles. Since I'm sensitive to sulfides (they give me the worst headache) its really the only wine I can drink these days.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Re: Home Brewin'

                          Home Brewing is like Home Winemaking.

                          I say: Better leave it to the professionals!

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Re: Home Brewin'

                            Originally posted by Larix View Post
                            Home Brewing is like Home Winemaking.

                            I say: Better leave it to the professionals!
                            That sort of defeats the purpose.

                            And homemade wine is the only kind I can drink, so, yeah.

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Re: Home Brewin'

                              Non professionals can make fine alcohol.
                              White and Red 'till I'm cold and dead.
                              sigpic
                              In Days of yore,
                              From Britain's shore
                              Wolfe the dauntless hero came
                              And planted firm Britannia's flag
                              On Canada's fair domain.
                              Here may it wave,
                              Our boast, our pride
                              And joined in love together,
                              The thistle, shamrock, rose entwined,
                              The Maple Leaf Forever.

                              Comment

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