Home Brewing

[Floating Chamber]

Right Colch! Next on the list.

 

I hereby recruit you to educate our brewers on the enzyme action on starch, which, I am sure most folk will not know is a long glucose molecule which seems far removed from the two glucose molecule they know as sucrose

 

After this, attenuation is a fascinating subject! (Key words: diastase, amylase, zymase et al)

 

FC (Too long in the tooth and tired after 45 years of Maths/Physics/Chemistry/Biology teaching!)

[Shuck.]

No problem at all Andy,

You're right I never thought of our ancestory line of Homebrewers, must've been a ****** for them, they probably would be better sticking to the 6 packs

 

Right, just took my hydro test, (sample tested in a big picnic jug, sterilized, of course ) left it for two minutes and the surface level (not volcano/mound) is 1002, am I correct in thinking it's ready to condition in the pressure keg or am I rushing things?

I'm aware temperature plays a role in the readings and the temperature is around the same as it has been for the last few days, so I'll wait for a reply - just don't want me keg exploding me cupboard :(

Cheeers!

Edited August 22, 2009 by Shuck.

[Floating Chamber]

Anything from 1004 down.

[Brisa]

I bought a Youngs starter kit a couple of weeks ago and finished bottleing it last night. The kit recommends 14 days and its ready after bottling but this seems quite a short time. I don't mind waiting if the end product will be better. Any recommendations for length of time in the bottle before enjoying one?

[Floating Chamber]

I bought a Youngs starter kit a couple of weeks ago and finished bottleing it last night. The kit recommends 14 days and its ready after bottling but this seems quite a short time. I don't mind waiting if the end product will be better. Any recommendations for length of time in the bottle before enjoying one?

 

When I was much younger, 45 years ago, 24 hours seemed a lifetime. It'd all be gone before the end of a week and we'd be out of toilet rolls.

[MC]

Right Markio,

 

When is your hooch going to be ready? I feel a tasting session coming on

[Markio]

Right Markio,

 

When is your hooch going to be ready? I feel a tasting session coming on

 

We've only got wine on the go at mo and that's 3 weeks away from being finished. Just got it into the demijohn this afternoon. Hopefully will get onto beer pretty soon.

[inshallah]

Just picked up on this thread. Interesting reading...

 

I mate of mine makes homebrew beer and he says that the 'secret' is getting brewers yeast. Proper brewers yeast. He got a sample from a brewery visit and kept the culture going. He brought a couple of bottles over last time I saw him and I couldn't believe it was homebrew. I'd have been pleased being served that at a beer festival.

 

On the subject of spirits - Theoretically, you could make a still out of a pressure cooker. Fix a threaded fitting on the lid to go into a 25mm (or bigger) copper tube about 2 foot long. Then solder a coil of 10mm pipe round the top of the copper tube to act as a condenser. Fill the 10mm pipe with salt or sand to bend it. Poor the sand out and solder it to the end of the tube. Then reduce it down to 10mm with a compression fitting at the condenser end.

 

Next you have to make a copper leibig coddenser. Get a bit of 10mm pipe about 1 foot long and and some 25mm pipe about 4 inches long. Put blanking off fittings on the 25mm pipe and fit them over the ends of the pipe. Drill 10mm holes in each end cap and pass the 10mm pipe through it so you have a 25 mm sleave around the 10mm pipe. Solder the inside pipe to the end caps. Then solder an inch long bit of 10mm pipe, one at each end of the sleave. Drill through the inside of these. You now have length of 10mm copper pipe with a 25mm copper sleave round it, like a water jacket, that you can pass water through.

 

Stuff the 2 foot long 25mm column with stainless steel pan scrubbers and screw it on to the top of the pressure cooker with the coil condenser at the top. Screw the leibig condenser on the top of the column, and you have a still.

 

Now rig up a method of putting water through both condensers so you can vary the flow of each independently. But your 'wash' (brew) in the pan, stick the lid on and heat it up. You want to get it to balance just so nothing is coming out by varying the heat and top condenser. Then gently increase the heat and and wait for you first drips. DON'T DRINK THEM. IT WILL BE METHANOL AND POISONOUS. Throw away a cupful to be safe. Then collect your spirit. Stop when it smells/tastes horrible.

 

This is all theory of course because it's illegal.

Theoretically it will come out at over 90% by volume

Theoretically, if you fermented brown sugar and black treacle you'd end up with a nice rum. (Try agricultural molasses?)

Theoretically, if you had a stopped fermentation, but decided to distill it anyway, the wash might theoretically caramelise in the still and make a lovely 90% toffee vodka.

Theoretically you could burn your house down, get in trouble and kill your liver.

 

I must try it sometime, it sounds like fun.

 

I bet babbyc1000 couldn't drink a litre in 1 night.

[inshallah]

Oh, following from my previous post -

 

A considerably easier way is as follows:

 

Get one of those saucepans with a glass lid.

Fill it half full with wine/stella

Float a small, say plastic, bowl on the booze.

put the lid on upside down with the lid handle sitting inside the plastic bowl.

Fill the lid with ice.

Heat gently.

Collect spirit from bowl and drink.

 

If you want it stronger, collect loads, put it back in the pan and redistill.

[Markio]

Question time...

 

The wine kit is on the boil. It's done the bucket fermentation and we have already transferred it to the demijohn as instructed, it said leave it at this point for another week (plus a few more days if it's still bubbling) before the next step. Well it's been 12 days and it's still shifting the water in the airlock, it's slow but it's it's moving. Not sure if this constitutes ready for the next stage or not. Does it have to completely stop before i *** the other little packets?

[colchesterhomebrew]

Hi Markio,

 

If i remember correctly, Sam says you chose one of the Beaverdale Red Wine kits (sorry i missed you but i have a feeling I had an early morning delivery to somewhere unpleasant and far away the day you came in).

 

The normal fermentation time for the reds is around 15-20 days depending on the ambient temperature.

 

Usually, the fermentation is finished when there are no bubbles coming through the airlock and the water levels in the "bubbles" on both sides of the central stem have evened themselves up. If you have a hydrometer, take a sample of the wine and check that the reading is around 990-994.

 

Only when you are sure that fermetnation ahs stopped should you add the stabiliser powder. Once you have done this, you will need to shake the demijohn 3 or 4 times a day for 3-4 days to remove ALL the dissolved carbon dioxide. when it no longer fizzes up when you shake it, it is safe to add the sachets marked Kieselsol and Chitosan, which are the finings that help it clear.

 

When it is completely clear (3-7 days depending on ambient temperature and how much CO2 you've managed to get out), syphon it into your bottles if you intend drinking it straight away or into another demijohn if you want to lay it down for a few months to mature

 

If you get stcuk on anything, just give me a ring, pm me or leave some feedback via the website and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

 

rgds

 

Andy

[Markio]

damn, i added all the packets as per the instructions yesterday.

[colchesterhomebrew]

Don't worry.

 

If you added the fermentation stopper and the finings yesterday, you'll probably see a marked improvement in the clarity today when you check it. If all the sediment is in a thick layer on the bottom, syphon off the clear wine into a demijohn. If it isn't leave it a bit longer until it clears (It can take longer to clear if it hasn't been de-gassed).

 

If, when you get to put it in the demijohn, it is still fizzy, shake it a few times a day for a couple of days to get the gas out before bottling.

 

If you had a California Connoissuer kit rather than a Beaverdale, these instructions may well be total balloons as they use a different procedure

 

Andy

[Markio]

It's the KenRidge Classic Shiraz.

 

To be honest it looked pretty clear before i added everything, and flat (no fizzing). And there is a small layer of sediment at the bottom.

[spider72]

I have a mate who is extremely good at the beer brewing, he does his own recipes and comes out with some outstanding bitters and IPA's comparable to commercial brands. I get to taste them cos we fish together and I help out with upgrading his brewing kit to stainless steel. Myself I stick (at the moment) to the flavoured Vodka and Gin, although I am currently trying an old recipe for marrow rum which looks like it's working! cant wait to try it in about 12 months!!

[colchesterhomebrew]

Hi Markio,

 

If you've got the Kenridge, I suspect you are at Stage 3 as per the instructions. If thats the case you should leave it alone in the demijohn for about a fortnight and then syphon it off the sediment and into the wine bag. When you come to put the tap n the wine bag, squeeze the bag VERY GENTLY to remove all the air (or as much as you can get out without tipping red wine all ovwer yourself) and then insert the tap.

 

Once you put the bag inside the box, you can drinking it straight away and it should last up to 3 months (though none of them ever do in our house!!!!)

 

Andy

[Markio]

Yep, stage 3. Do you think i've done it all ok then? I mean it wasn't exactly bubbling but there was some very slow/small movement in the airlock when i put the 3 sachets in. We left it extra time as it instructed just to be sure. Ah well, we'll find out in a fortnight! Cheers for your input.

[MC]

Never mind Mark,

 

The Co op has merlot on offer again, 3 bottles for a tenner.

 

Fill yer boots

[Shuck.]

A little update on my cider situation;

 

It's been a while since I kegged the cider and I took a sample from the tap a week ago and it was 'orrible like all the other times I've tested over the past few weeks, not even started to clear and tasted of vomit :yp: Sorry but it did.

 

Anyway just took a look at the tap as it's one of those plastic kegs as its somewhat translucent, there is a build-up of sediment all along the tap.

 

This is obviously pouring into every glass I sample which I presume is responsible for making it taste off and look cloudy.

How do I counter this, is it ruined or do I need to do the siphon business again?

 

 

Help it's been about a month from when I started fermentation and contemplating giving it all up

 

Edit: It can't be infected as I've been meticulous about sanitizing everything that goes into contact with it.

Edited September 12, 2009 by Shuck.

[colchesterhomebrew]

Hi Markio,

 

Yours should be fine and, as you say, it'll soon be time to find out

 

Shuck,

 

The stuff in the tap is, as you suspect, sediment and will be tainting the samples. Draw a couple of glasses out slowly to clear it from the tap chamber and then check the state of your cider. As long as you've kept it somewhere cool for the last couple of weeks, it should be clearing by now, BUT, as you don't say whether you brewed from a kit or from apples, its a bit hard to say. If it was a kit, then it depends whose it was and whether that one was designed to be a "scrumpy" style in which case it may well be cloudy. If it was directly from apples, it may well stay hazy.

 

Draw some out until the sediment in the tap chamber has gone and then decide. If it still tastes like pants, it might just be that that is how its designed to taste (you'ld be surprised at the flavour and style variations available). If it really refuses to clear, you may need to release the pressure, remove the lid and drop in a pack of finings, though i would only recommend doing that if you bought a barrel with a gas injection system, otherwise you will be drinking dead cider in which case, you will probably need to transfer it pretty quickly into empty pop bottles so that it doesn't oxidise, which it will do if you try taking it out of an unpressurised barrel as each pint drawn will suck atmoshperic air back into the barrel and risk contaminating it.

 

Floating Chamber: - I agree NELSONS REVENGE !!!! - what a beer.... might just take the rest of them off the shelf and make them ALL up

 

Andy

Edited September 13, 2009 by colchesterhomebrew

[LeeinVA]

I must tell you that this whole home brew thread reads like a Minnie series, or better yet, the Truman show.. I have not read ever single response, but make sure you post your end result as i am a Beer fan

[Markio]

I'll update accordingly. We have three potential outcomes:

 

1 - We get wine

2 - We get grape juice

3 - We get clorine flavoured grap juice

[Floating Chamber]

Always, Always, ALWAYS! Use a Super Enzyme when making cider or wine from fruit.

 

As Andy says, too, blast the tap to rid that area of yeast and lees before tasting or testing.

 

If things taste off like bad eggs, a dose of Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) may put things right.

 

Wow, Yes! NELSON'S REVENGE'! A beer to wrestle with!

 

FC (Waiting for his consignment of Scicilian grapes!)

[Shuck.]

Thanks for the reply.

 

Andy, I do have a pressurized barrel and I tried to slowly let out a cup through the tap whilst watching the sediment, the sediment didn't seem to even move.

I tried turning the tap, releasing the cider faster but still nothing.

 

It is a pack I bought with a big tin of juice and yeast, I think it is a scrumpy too.

 

It sounds like it's been compromised as the only way I can think of removing the sediment is by depressurizing the barrel, which I believed you say will open up the risk of contamination.

I want to know why theres that much sediment there in the first place.. I did siphon it out of the bucket properly and I used the thing with the foot on the end to make sure I didn't get any left overs..

 

Any other ideas to how I can recover all that cider?

- A thirsty Shuck.

[colchesterhomebrew]

Hi Shuck.

 

Even though there would have been a thick layer of sediment left behind in the bottom of the original fermentation vessel when you siphoned your brew into your barrel, there would have been a huge amount of dead yeast cells held in suspension that would have made the cider cloudy. When you add the priming sugar, the yeast cells that are still alive create a second fermentation to produce the serving pressure. As they die, the fall to the bottom of your barrel together with the cells that were already held in suspension and form a second, fairly thick layer of sediment in the bottom of the barrel.

 

Assuming that you've left it the required 2-3 weeks to clear and condition, it looks like you'll have to pull off a few pints and drink cloudy cider to fully clear the tap chamber. After three or four cloudy brews, you should end up with clear cider, unless it is a cloudy, scrumpy type cider of course. If you don't then the cider itself is still cloudy and you can either leave it for another couple of weeks, testing it at weekly intervals, or you can use intervention techniques as detailed further down.

 

If you are in a hurry to try and get the sediment out, another, slightly more exciting way of doing it is, assuming you've got one of the quickserve taps (one that looks like a stop cock lever rather than an actual "tap" shaped tap), to simply hit the tap gently from underneath with a small hammer to release it from its vertical chamber and let the sediment flow out with the onrushing cider.

 

A couple of words of caution though if you choose to use this method...

 

Make sure you have a jug under the tap chamber to catch the outflowing cider rather than spill it over the floor

Make sure you use your free hand to keep tight hold of the tap once you have hit it, otherwise the flow may well blow it completely out of the chamber.

VERY quickly push the tap back into its vertical chamber to reseal it once you have cleared the sediment blockage.

 

I've only ever tried it once (just to see what would happen - I like to live dangerously from time to time ) and then only with a half empty barrel so that the pressure was lower than it would be with a full barrel.... It was exciting to say the least !!!!

 

A slightly more sensible method if you don't want to get shouted at by the other half for flooding the kitchen/living room, is to draw off a pint or so into a jug. Immediately draw off another pint. If the second one isn't clear you can either transfer the whole brew into bottles and leave those to clear or release the pressure in the barrel, mix a sachet of finings into the cider in the jug and then add both pints back into the top of the barrel and leave it for the full amount of time specified on your finings packet before topping up the barrel with CO2 and drinking. If you transfer the whole into bottles it should clear within a week or two, but you will be drinking more or less flat cider and you will have to pour it carefully so as to avoid disturbing the sediment that will drop out of suspension.

 

Andy