I found a recipe on http://homedistiller.org for a cheap wine for distillation.
It costs about $10 and should produce the approximate equivalent of 2 gallons of vodka, or about a keg of beer. Should finish at 14% - 18%. The original recipe is for 25 liters, or about 6.6 gallons. That wouldn't fit in my bucket, so I'm doing a scaled down 5 gallon batch.
Actual recipe used :
Water to 5 gallons
Sugar 10 lb
can of wench's white grape juice concentrate (340ml)
1 pint extra pulp orange juice
2 5G packets of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast
3 tsp yeast nutrient
1.5 tsp yeast energizer
20g citric acid.
Followed original instructions:
QuoteMethod
Invert the sugar by bringing 2 1.5 L water to the boil in a large pan and adding the sugar
and malic acid. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring well. Turn off the heat, and add water to cool.
Pour into a clean fermenter. Add grape concentrate, orange juice and nutrient. Make up to
25 L 5 gallons with water. Stir well. Allow to cool to 25 – 30 degrees C. Reactivate the dried yeast by
pouring into 50mL of filtered tap water which has been boiled and cooled to 30 degrees C.
Stir well. After 15 minutes add the yeast suspension to the fermenter. Put a fermentation trap
in place. Insulate the fermenter by wrapping it with a towel, or, in cold weather, a sleepingbag.
Partial aeration — by gently blowing air through the ferment for a minute or so — once
daily for the first three days and at the end of fermentation, when the SG is about 0.990 and
the bubbles are becoming infrequent — is beneficial. Allow the wine to rest in a cool place.
Fine if necessary, and rack off the yeast when clear.
Right now it's sitting in my shower so it won't make a mess if it overflows. According to the writer, the brew is drinkable as is. I'm gonna try diluting it with 1-2 parts fruit juice and see how it tastes. If it's crap, meh, I'm out $10 and 2 hours of my time.
that's not wine.
that's fucking Pruno.
It's a specialized high grade hobo wine — high in alcohol, thin, lacking tannin, rather acid, but it actually tastes blandly
pleasant, and would probably mature in bottle quite well, and, by reason of its alcoholic
strength, might stay at its peak for a year.
Plan to distill anything out of it, or just making hobo wine?
Also: shower is wise. I once filtered 3 gallons of hard cider through my apartment floor when a bottle ruptured.
I'll try making a variety of punches with it first. If I decide it's not fit to drink without distillation, I will distill.
I should add that I used citric acid instead of malic acid, and am not using a blanket or towel to insulate. It seems to be bubbling along nicely.
I aerated it for the first time today when I added the first dose of nutrient. (I'm splitting it up into 3 doses every two days.) I used a laboratory wash bottle and an aquarium bubble stone to filter the air through a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water. The air bubbles through the water/H2O2 and goes through a few feet of sanitized tubing, into the must through a second bubble stone.
I just used my mouth to blow through it this time, but by the end my face was getting really, really tired. I've rigged up an air pump from a pneumatic motor that I can turn by hand, and it will pump air.
sounds like....
Prison wine...or prison hooch is made all the time by those that really want a taste of grandpa's old' cough medicine. It is commonly made in the cell toilet. The better choice, however, is to brew it in a trash bag.
Step #1: Make a strong bag by double or triple-bagging plastic trash bags.
Step #2: Pour warm water, your choice of fruit or fruit juice, raisons, tomatoes, yeast, and as much sugar as you can get. If sugar is not on hand, powdered drink mix will work also (kool-aid).
Note: (Many prisons make yeast illegal on the premises. In this case moldy bread does just fine. Slices should be moist and can be put in a sock to strain any stray elements.)
Step #3: Tie off the bag with a knot. Penetrate the bag with a straw, or some other type of tube to allow carbon dioxide to release.
Step #4: Hide the bag where your prison guard can't see it. Three days is enough, if you really can't wait. A week is a more reasonable time. Normal wine takes around a month to brew.
It is crucial that you hide the smell. Burning incense or spraying deodorant can help.
I didn't say I wouldn't drink it.
sounds delish.
Everybody knows Discordians make the best Pruno.
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/Jerry_Frankster/BlackIronPrisonWinecopy.jpg)
:lulz:
Dude you have to tell us how this turns out.
i'm interested in hearing about it, but wouldnt try it myself.
i did however buy some of those muscadine grapes that only grow around here (south east) and i now see where that weird flavor/wang in florida wine comes from.
I've heard of those, but I'm not sure if I've ever eaten any.
It was looking a little flat earlier today when I aerated and added nutrients, but it's pretty fizzy right now.
I try not to peek in on it more than 2-3 times a day, but it's hard sometimes. :wink:
Quote from: Squiddy on August 25, 2008, 05:10:44 AM
Dude you have to tell us how this turns out.
i'm interested in hearing about it, but wouldnt try it myself.
i did however buy some of those muscadine grapes that only grow around here (south east) and i now see where that weird flavor/wang in florida wine comes from.
...Florida wine?
:vom:
Quote from: Squiddy on August 25, 2008, 05:10:44 AM
Dude you have to tell us how this turns out.
i'm interested in hearing about it, but wouldnt try it myself.
i did however buy some of those muscadine grapes that only grow around here (south east) and i now see where that weird flavor/wang in florida wine comes from.
They put wangs in their wine there? :?
San Sebastian winery makes good wine! http://www.sansebastianwinery.com/
Quote from: Cainad on August 25, 2008, 04:13:55 PM
Quote from: Squiddy on August 25, 2008, 05:10:44 AM
Dude you have to tell us how this turns out.
i'm interested in hearing about it, but wouldnt try it myself.
i did however buy some of those muscadine grapes that only grow around here (south east) and i now see where that weird flavor/wang in florida wine comes from.
They put wangs in their wine there? :?
Yes, but unfortunately the older wines have a weak finish.
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on August 25, 2008, 06:15:54 PM
Quote from: Cainad on August 25, 2008, 04:13:55 PM
Quote from: Squiddy on August 25, 2008, 05:10:44 AM
Dude you have to tell us how this turns out.
i'm interested in hearing about it, but wouldnt try it myself.
i did however buy some of those muscadine grapes that only grow around here (south east) and i now see where that weird flavor/wang in florida wine comes from.
They put wangs in their wine there? :?
Yes, but unfortunately the older wines have a weak finish.
Fine by me, man. As long as it's fractal and not that linear shit.
Amen.
*not rising to Cainad's bait itt* :p
Also, I just read that the Midwestern US is breaking into the wine-making market. Whoo-boy...
Quote from: Jenne on August 25, 2008, 07:50:40 PM
Amen.
*not rising to Cainad's bait itt* :p
Also, I just read that the Midwestern US is breaking into the wine-making market. Whoo-boy...
Ah yes, I detect a faint overtone of Walmart in this young, corn-fed wine.
Quote from: Rabid Badger of God on August 25, 2008, 09:24:14 PM
Quote from: Jenne on August 25, 2008, 07:50:40 PM
Amen.
*not rising to Cainad's bait itt* :p
Also, I just read that the Midwestern US is breaking into the wine-making market. Whoo-boy...
Ah yes, I detect a faint overtone of Walmart in this young, corn-fed wine.
:lulz: Exactly. They are importing their grapes.
Though, I should have realized it was all over when New York State started making wine.
actually, there are some very good ports from eastern Long Island.
and we carry a white varietal at the restaurant I work at that comes from the finger lakes region (we don't carry wines that aren't good).
Grape growing regions are shifting due to climate change. Ontario is emerging as a grape-growing region and most of the major french wineries are buying property in southern England and transplanting vines there as we speak.
Ah yes, the "global warming" reason...*shrug* It's as good as any, I suppose. I just see more and more glut to the market of so-so wine, especially now that the "better" wines are being priced out of the market by those who collect and have the yachts and trust funds to do so. Fuckers are making it near-impossible to buy let alone TASTE those 100 pt on the scale vintages. (And yes, there's a difference, to ME, of an 85 vs. a 98 pt wine.)
Candian wines are pretty damned good, don't get me wrong. But wine-making is just as much about culture as it is about farming and science. There's a reason why some of the more international markets that have been around for DECADES are JUST NOW breaking in to the mainstream.
umm...
I have no problem finding wines that rate between 88 and 92 for around $20 a bottle.
and usually no problem finding 95-98 for under $50.
Well, goodie for YOU. I have no problem FINDING them...can ya AFFORD a shitload of them though? No. A case of $50 wine (and I bet the 100s will never be found in that price category) is NOT in my price range all that often, if at all...
you need to get yourself a wholesale connection. Wine generally carries a much higher markup at the retail level than either beer or liquor.
I guess I'm just blessed with a taste for vinegary wines.
Bring us some fresh wine! The freshest you've got - this year! No more of this old stuff.
\
(http://www.wineintro.com/movies/jerk/jerk1.jpg)
you're one of those people who looks forward to Nouveau Beaujolais, aren't you?
I would love to, ECH...but unless I get back into the "bidness," I'm sort of at a loss...luckily, I live in California. So, it's not like I am without resources...boutique wineries are my garden, so I'm actually NOT at sea here at all.
But stuff from France, Spain and Italy that's worth drinking is pretty much shit for prices at this point. So fuck 'em...I'll stick to South African, New Zealand, Australian and Argentinians for now.
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on August 26, 2008, 02:03:48 AM
you're one of those people who looks forward to Nouveau Beaujolais, aren't you?
:lol:
That wine so sucks. Talk about flabby. :lol:
Quote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 02:04:32 AM
I would love to, ECH...but unless I get back into the "bidness," I'm sort of at a loss...luckily, I live in California. So, it's not like I am without resources...boutique wineries are my garden, so I'm actually NOT at sea here at all.
But stuff from France, Spain and Italy that's worth drinking is pretty much shit for prices at this point. So fuck 'em...I'll stick to South African, New Zealand, Australian and Argentinians for now.
most of what I've been drinking lately has been from New Zealand or Chile. Some decent South Australian stuff too, although the prices are creeping up on that stuff. It's a shame that Italy got so overpriced so quick. I remember a few years ago when I could get cases of good italian wine for under $10 a bottle.
You heard about the scandal, right? Italy's having "issues" with its appellations... ;)
Chileans are fuckin' awesome right now, too, forgot those. I'm still a fan of cheap Spanish riojas...don't get me wrong. And there are some really well-priced French blushes out there still, too, because they're drier and America's punch-loving wine-drinking public still hasn't learned to appreciate their finer points. Be that as it may, I do miss the better bordeaux, though the red is not my favorite at all, but rather the white.
German wines now, those are still mid-priced...I still dig those from time to time as well.
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on August 26, 2008, 02:03:48 AM
you're one of those people who looks forward to Nouveau Beaujolais, aren't you?
I have to admit that I am not a wine drinker, or even much of a drinker at all, at least not lately. I am completely ignorant as to what makes a wine "good" or "bad". I do know the worst wine I've ever had was some kind of Jewish sacrament wine.
The best wine I've ever had was some homemade stuff made by mashing up some grapes in a bucket with table sugar and water. This stuff almost always winds up sweet from unfermented sugar, slightly vinegary, and of moderate alcohol content.
Except for the excess sugar, it's probably pretty healthy.
Meneschevitz? *spits* blech. Poor Jerry_F!
It's ok, it was a long time ago. I'm better now.
The sad part of the story is that it was my first taste of wine. :x
Ugh. What an education. Well, luckily for you, it only gets better from here on out...
Unfortunately, I have a similar taste for wine as Fozzie "You know if you put enough sugar in this stuff, it tastes like ginger ale." Bear.
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on August 25, 2008, 02:54:17 PM
Quote from: Squiddy on August 25, 2008, 05:10:44 AM
Dude you have to tell us how this turns out.
i'm interested in hearing about it, but wouldnt try it myself.
i did however buy some of those muscadine grapes that only grow around here (south east) and i now see where that weird flavor/wang in florida wine comes from.
...Florida wine?
:vom:
:lulz: I never said it was good.
but the grapes are good, albeit weird tasting.
This reminds me: I gotta get shoppin for your wine this week! :D
I'm still lookin for someone who sells boxes of moonpies.
all i can find are single serving.
and who the hell wants that.
i'm gonna try the wholesale place this weekend.
Do you have RC cola to go with those moonpies?
I think there may be one place left that sells RC
- mix 1 packet of bread yeast with half a spoon of sugar with a cup of lukewarm water (not above body temp! this kills the yeasties)
- put it in a longdrink glass cause it can foam quite high. cover the glass to prevent other organisms from falling in.
- mix 3L (100oz) Apple Juice + 1L (33oz) water + 1Kg (2.2lbs) sugar, heat in a pan till it boils and the sugar dissolves.
- let it cool (with the lid on!! place it in a bath of cold water to speed up the cooling)
- stir in the (now) active yeast. if the yeast's not foaming and smelling like bread and alcohol by now, throw it away, it's dead, use a new package as bread yeast is cheap anyway.
put the stuff in some bottles with a water-lock or whatever contraption you can come up with. anything that allows the CO2 to come out (pressure will get HIGH otherwise and exploding bottles is no fun) but no bacteria and stuff to get in. balloons work (but turn them inside-out! there's talcum powder on the inside of balloons!), but i heard from a friend that using big plastic soda bottles, and screwing open the lid just a tiny bit that you can hear "pssssh" the air slowly escaping creates a perfectly fine pressure lock as well (super easy solution, that).
if you wanna get semi-fancy, fabricate something like this: http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=1615.msg438540#msg438540
(you put a dash of water in the bottom loop, so you can see the bubbles escaping, and no bacteria can come in, plus it gives you a good indication of how active it still is).
Quote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 12:18:59 AM
Ah yes, the "global warming" reason...*shrug* It's as good as any, I suppose. I just see more and more glut to the market of so-so wine, especially now that the "better" wines are being priced out of the market by those who collect and have the yachts and trust funds to do so. Fuckers are making it near-impossible to buy let alone TASTE those 100 pt on the scale vintages. (And yes, there's a difference, to ME, of an 85 vs. a 98 pt wine.)
Candian wines are pretty damned good, don't get me wrong. But wine-making is just as much about culture as it is about farming and science. There's a reason why some of the more international markets that have been around for DECADES are JUST NOW breaking in to the mainstream.
Actually, it's simple numbers. Let's say there are 100 spaces for a bottle of wine in a store. The Distributors, for this argument's sake, has 3 standards of wine quality: A (Gallo), B (Meridian) C (Justin)
If the vinyards offer an equal amount of A, B, and C wines to the distributor, then the store will generally follow suit. But if the distibutor suddenly encounters a massive amount of B-level wineries who want to do business, they will obviously supply the wine store with more B. It has nothing to do with wine snobs pricing out, and everything to do with the Wine Market pushing big for mid-level wines.
I would strongly suggest finding a smaller wine store and befriending the owner, or the main buyer. They will gladly order top-shelf wines, if they know for sure there's an immediate demand for them.
Quote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 12:18:59 AMFuckers are making it near-impossible to buy let alone TASTE those 100 pt on the scale vintages. (And yes, there's a difference, to ME, of an 85 vs. a 98 pt wine.)
what's this point system?
you can rate quality of wine on a linear scale? how's that work? :)
http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-scores.lml
Quote from: triple zero on August 26, 2008, 02:25:39 PM
Quote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 12:18:59 AMFuckers are making it near-impossible to buy let alone TASTE those 100 pt on the scale vintages. (And yes, there's a difference, to ME, of an 85 vs. a 98 pt wine.)
what's this point system?
you can rate quality of wine on a linear scale? how's that work? :)
:hammer:
Quote from: LMNO on August 26, 2008, 01:57:13 PM
Quote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 12:18:59 AM
Ah yes, the "global warming" reason...*shrug* It's as good as any, I suppose. I just see more and more glut to the market of so-so wine, especially now that the "better" wines are being priced out of the market by those who collect and have the yachts and trust funds to do so. Fuckers are making it near-impossible to buy let alone TASTE those 100 pt on the scale vintages. (And yes, there's a difference, to ME, of an 85 vs. a 98 pt wine.)
Candian wines are pretty damned good, don't get me wrong. But wine-making is just as much about culture as it is about farming and science. There's a reason why some of the more international markets that have been around for DECADES are JUST NOW breaking in to the mainstream.
Actually, it's simple numbers. Let's say there are 100 spaces for a bottle of wine in a store. The Distributors, for this argument's sake, has 3 standards of wine quality: A (Gallo), B (Meridian) C (Justin)
If the vinyards offer an equal amount of A, B, and C wines to the distributor, then the store will generally follow suit. But if the distibutor suddenly encounters a massive amount of B-level wineries who want to do business, they will obviously supply the wine store with more B. It has nothing to do with wine snobs pricing out, and everything to do with the Wine Market pushing big for mid-level wines.
I would strongly suggest finding a smaller wine store and befriending the owner, or the main buyer. They will gladly order top-shelf wines, if they know for sure there's an immediate demand for them.
It's the pricing so far out of range, LMNO, not the scarcity of them. I can find any AMOUNT of any KIND of wine here in So Cal...I'm not limited by CHOICE, mind you, I'm limited by BUDGET. Not to say that all $100 bottles are WORTH $100 anyway, but you get my meaning, right?
What I'm bitching about is the scales being tipped such that it's getting near-impossible to afford those 100-pt wines, and yes, they don't sell in bulk, I know that, but it's hard to even get a tasting of them they are becoming so exclusive. When I was selling for Geerlings and Wade, I was able to at least see them on the menus at the 5-star restos and whatnot...now they are not even making it to THOSE places anymore, too far out of reach.
And truthfully, I do prefer boutique winery wines...hence the amount of them that I consume (I'd love to say, hence the amount of them in my wine rack, but I tend to drink more than I keep back, alas and alack).
Quote from: Cainad on August 26, 2008, 03:02:28 PM
Quote from: triple zero on August 26, 2008, 02:25:39 PM
Quote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 12:18:59 AMFuckers are making it near-impossible to buy let alone TASTE those 100 pt on the scale vintages. (And yes, there's a difference, to ME, of an 85 vs. a 98 pt wine.)
what's this point system?
you can rate quality of wine on a linear scale? how's that work? :)
:hammer:
NOT doing it. :p
:(
Quote from: Jenne on August 25, 2008, 07:50:40 PM
Amen.
*not rising to Cainad's bait itt* :p
Also, I just read that the Midwestern US is breaking into the wine-making market. Whoo-boy...
Couple of days behind but... Oliver Winery in Bloomington, IN has a good/cheap soft red. They don't have any vintage wines though.
Quote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 08:46:59 PMQuote from: Cainad on August 26, 2008, 03:02:28 PM
Quote from: triple zero on August 26, 2008, 02:25:39 PMQuote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 12:18:59 AMFuckers are making it near-impossible to buy let alone TASTE those 100 pt on the scale vintages. (And yes, there's a difference, to ME, of an 85 vs. a 98 pt wine.)
what's this point system?
you can rate quality of wine on a linear scale? how's that work? :)
:hammer:
NOT doing it. :p
i personally prefer a fractal scale, that is,
if
C represents a Complex Wine,
and
Z is initialized at 0 + 0
i,
i rate them based on the number of iterations
Z :=
Z2 +
C needed before |
Z| escapes the radius-two circle, and flies off to infinity.
best wines are found only on the "inside".
Quote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 08:46:40 PM
It's the pricing so far out of range, LMNO, not the scarcity of them. I can find any AMOUNT of any KIND of wine here in So Cal...I'm not limited by CHOICE, mind you, I'm limited by BUDGET. Not to say that all $100 bottles are WORTH $100 anyway, but you get my meaning, right?
What I'm bitching about is the scales being tipped such that it's getting near-impossible to afford those 100-pt wines, and yes, they don't sell in bulk, I know that, but it's hard to even get a tasting of them they are becoming so exclusive. When I was selling for Geerlings and Wade, I was able to at least see them on the menus at the 5-star restos and whatnot...now they are not even making it to THOSE places anymore, too far out of reach.
And truthfully, I do prefer boutique winery wines...hence the amount of them that I consume (I'd love to say, hence the amount of them in my wine rack, but I tend to drink more than I keep back, alas and alack).
You know, this might be an East Coast/West Coast problem. I can find quite a few 95-100 point wines for $30-$50 in Boston. You might be a victim of the fact that San Diego is filled with pretentious douchebags (as opposed to Boston, which is filled with more garden-variety douchebags); There might be less demand for top-notch wines, so the prices are lower.
Depending on the douchebag, I've heard absolutely offensive Cabernet lauded for it's "kick". It's more fun to sample for what I find I like anyways :)
Conversely, I've had some Nappa Valley chardonnay which makes most other white wine seem like trash in comparison.
Fermentation had slowed considerably despite the fact that there was still plenty of sugar left. I gave it CPR this morning with the bubble stone and air pump, and turned off the A/C before leaving for class. Fermentation has since picked back up.
i just made booze.
1L of apple juice + 2 cups of sugar + activated yeast, in a 1.5L plastic coke bottle with the cap screwed on slightly loose. (everything properly desinfected and rinsed, of course)
hope it'll turn out allright
Quote from: LMNO on August 27, 2008, 01:36:03 PM
Quote from: Jenne on August 26, 2008, 08:46:40 PM
It's the pricing so far out of range, LMNO, not the scarcity of them. I can find any AMOUNT of any KIND of wine here in So Cal...I'm not limited by CHOICE, mind you, I'm limited by BUDGET. Not to say that all $100 bottles are WORTH $100 anyway, but you get my meaning, right?
What I'm bitching about is the scales being tipped such that it's getting near-impossible to afford those 100-pt wines, and yes, they don't sell in bulk, I know that, but it's hard to even get a tasting of them they are becoming so exclusive. When I was selling for Geerlings and Wade, I was able to at least see them on the menus at the 5-star restos and whatnot...now they are not even making it to THOSE places anymore, too far out of reach.
And truthfully, I do prefer boutique winery wines...hence the amount of them that I consume (I'd love to say, hence the amount of them in my wine rack, but I tend to drink more than I keep back, alas and alack).
You know, this might be an East Coast/West Coast problem. I can find quite a few 95-100 point wines for $30-$50 in Boston. You might be a victim of the fact that San Diego is filled with pretentious douchebags (as opposed to Boston, which is filled with more garden-variety douchebags); There might be less demand for top-notch wines, so the prices are lower.
THAT might be a contributing factor here on the Left coast...true.
Quote from: triple zero on August 28, 2008, 01:25:27 AM
i just made booze.
1L of apple juice + 2 cups of sugar + activated yeast, in a 1.5L plastic coke bottle with the cap screwed on slightly loose. (everything properly desinfected and rinsed, of course)
hope it'll turn out allright
Was this bread yeast? It should work, I think rum is made with bread yeast.
If the yeast starts getting lazy, you might want to try shaking it to aerate. Squeeze the CO
2 out first and replace it with fresh air.
Jerry_Frankster, tired of saying "aerate".
yes, yes and yes :) i've done this before ;-) [but not exactly in this particular super easy way]
Last night I siphoned the wine off of the yeast and into 1 gallon milk jugs. I'm a little worried that fermentation seems to be dragging along slowly while there is still sugar left unfermented.
Sounds like you be gettin the sweeter wine, then.
Quote from: Jerry_Frankster on September 05, 2008, 09:41:51 PMLast night I siphoned the wine off of the yeast and into 1 gallon milk jugs. I'm a little worried that fermentation seems to be dragging along slowly while there is still sugar left unfermented.
if you refridgerate it to about 5 C (41 F) (or even lower, but not freezing), the yeast will go dormant, and sink to the bottom so you can siphon it off (called "racking") even easier. doing it 2 or 3 times should yield a very clear wine, and helps stopping the fermentation.
another thing you can try, is closing off the containers real tight (though if the milk jugs are made of soft plastic this might not be a good idea--neither is glass btw), that way the CO2 cannot get out, which means it'll dissolve in the liquid, giving a sparkling or fizzing wine. the nice thing about that is that it tends to mask any "off" flavours that may be present :-)
a problem with making sparkly wine is that you need to take care of not generating too much pressure (exploding bottles do not only give a mess but are also quite dangerous) and if there's yeast sediment on the bottom of the container, opening up the bottle with start the fizzing, and the sediment will twirl up in thin ribbons and end up clouding the wine again, so be careful when racking.
just some of my empirical advice ;-)
good luck!
I'll definitely be doing the refrigerator trick soon. It's still going, though, so I'm going to wait a little longer.
I'm afraid it may have already done that "autolysis" thing mentioned in the directions as a bad thing. It has a fairly strong fermented smell, but it's still drinkable.
I had about 20 oz of it the other day after racking, and thought I might have felt a light flush from it, but no noticeable effects of drunkenness. If it were anywhere near 15%, I'm sure I would have felt more. That would be like 6 shots of vodka or more.
I think next time I'll get better grape juice concentrate, better nutrients, and keep it warmer.
I need to find some Fermaid. My local store just sells some generic nutrients and yeast energizer.
You can order stuff online, too, Jerry.
Yeah, I know. I'm sure I'll find some, I just haven't looked.
what's autolysis?
Apparently, it's when the yeast cells start performing harri karri by digesting themselves with their own enzymes. If the cells are weak and malnourished, they can't handle the higher alcohol content and, I guess, kill themselves off to provide more nutrition for the healthier cells.
and i suppsoe that produces off-flavours, no?
mine's in the fridge now, the yeast is sinking slowly. will rack it in a day or two.
Yes. I think part of the complication is that the recipe is meant for distillation. That's the only reason you would want that high an alcohol content, which requires more stringent conditions than a lower alcohol brew.
Since I don't plan on distilling, 8-10% is plenty.
just racked the wine, it's in a 1L glass bottle now, separate from the bottom inch in the plastic bottle which is an opaque caramel-brown layer of yeast cemetary :)
the wine itself is still a bit cloudy, but i figure it'll sink and clear further now that it's separated from most of the yeast. i also put one of those vacu-vin rubber caps on the bottle and sucked out all of the air, if it decides to produce more CO2, that's fine with me, but oxygen's bad mhkay? :)
i smelled it a bit, didn't really like the smell, but there's nothing wrong with that, i just tend not to like the smell at this stage because of bad memories from my first attempt at brewing, which turned rotten and of which the slightest wetting of the lips from just a tea-spoon truly made me gag and wanna wash my mouth (it was, and most probably will continue to be, the very worst thing i ever tasted).
but this time, it didnt smell rotten and that's good enough for me to know things are going okay :)
Final update for this experiment. I did the refrigerator trick to see if taking out all the yeast would improve the flavor. It did, but not enough. It has a strong yeasty flavor, and surprisingly little alcohol. I got nothing from drinking a pint, and after drinking that, really didn't want any more.
So, I'm pouring the whole thing down the drain. I'll be starting a new batch with higher quality ingredients soon.
little alcohol? that's odd. how sweet was its taste?
mine is sort of kind of done. after a few days of sediment sinking, i poured myself a small glass. i didn't like the taste at first, but it wasn't rotten or anything. so i gave my flatmate a taste as well, warning him that i wasn't sure if it turned out allright but it wasn't rotten. he tasted it and remarked "tastes like dry white wine to me, didn't know you used grapes?" (i didn't, it was just apple juice). when i tasted it again myself, i noticed, hey yeah, it's actually just like dry white wine.
possible explanation: before i poured it, the wine was vacuum sealed with the vacu-vin rubber cap, and i heard once that wine needs a little while to "breathe" to get its proper flavour. in addition, my phobia for any sort of off flavour in homebrewn stuff. which is why i gave it to my flatmate, cause he's a bit more objective judge.
i'll probably rack it one more time and then store it away somewhere. cause it also needs to age before it's compeltely proper.
my experiment was a (reasonable) success, with the cheapest ingredients of ever. why wasn't yours? ;-)
It was really sweet. Sickly sweet even.
Next time I really need to take an original gravity so I can measure the alcohol content.
Quotemy experiment was a (reasonable) success, with the cheapest ingredients of ever. why wasn't yours? :wink:
Probably because you used pure juice, and I used a tiny amount of juice, a bunch of water, and cheap fertilizer.
hey yeah *reading back* i didnt even add water this time :) that's why keeping lab notes has been so super-useful in my wine experimenting. i always forget exactly *how* i made it, after a few weeks. especially how much juice/water/sugar/honey i used is stuff i tend to forget (the amount of yeast doesnt matter cause it grows anyway).
i didn't use any fertilizer btw. oh and next time if you want to go "organic" on the fertilizer, mash up some raisins. like 5-10 of them or so (cut them to bits or something). ... at least, i read this, and i tried it myself. but i just realized that cheap brands of raisins contain sulphur, right? maybe not a good idea (might explain why i got rotten smell a couple of times).
or maybe just some apple peelings in it (give the chunks to your kid), but then it'd have to be organic apples, the others have wax and insect-poison on the peelings. organic ones just have wild yeast on them. which will fight with your packaged yeast.. to the DEATH. which is AWESOME.
so, for fertilizer you can just use any kind of organic matter that you'd think would fit.
just, if you have made it from fruit pulp (which has loads of nutrients in it, because of nature--it works, bitches), or have anything floating in the liquid, you really want to coursely filter (or press) the chunky bits out about halfway through the yeasting, because non-yeast thingies might also start growing on it. don't worry about the yeast itself, the alive ones are small enough to get through nearly any filter. the dead yeast gunk you want to get rid of anyway.
but eh, if yours was sickly sweet, you shouldnt have tried to stop the fermentation by putting it in the fridge. sorry that i suggested it, i thought it might have been done by then (since mine was), but not all yeasts and must/wort/gunk they grow in are created equal.
i really suggest you try again, stick with the cheap ingredients (fruit juice from concentrated fruit juice, just stay away from any conservatives cause they kill the yeast too), until you get something reasonably satisfactory. once you get the hang of it, you can try more fancy stuff.
but but for starts, i found simple=better, look at my recipe. and write down what you do (say, in this thread) and improve!
Quote from: triple zero on August 28, 2008, 01:25:27 AM
i just made booze.
1L of apple juice + 2 cups of sugar + activated yeast, in a 1.5L plastic coke bottle with the cap screwed on slightly loose. (everything properly desinfected and rinsed, of course)
hope it'll turn out allright
I just started a batch of apple cider. I added 1 cup of sugar to 3 quarts of apple juice which brought the gravity up to 10% potential alcohol. I have 5 batches going, four using Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast and one using bakers yeast. They've been going since Sunday and seem to be doing well.
I just looked at your recipe and was shocked at how much sugar you used. 2 cups to a liter. That's almost six times what I used.
One cup brought the %PA up from 7% to 10%. Yours should have been close to 25% except that no yeast can ferment that high, especially not baker's yeast. Yet you said it tasted like dry white wine which I'm guessing would mean that all the sugar was fermented.
The only explanation I can think of is that baker's yeast converts more of the sugar to CO2 rather than alcohol.
Was it pretty strong stuff?
i really didn't like it at all and never finished more than half a glass. half the bottle is still sitting in a shelf, i'll give it another taste every now and then, perhaps one day it'll ripen to something taste (or perhaps not).
i have made quite strong stuff using a very similar recipe, but this one wasn't. i'm not sure what went wrong.
ehm but, you say your current batch has a gravity (that's weight per volume, right) indicating a sugar content that would result in 10% alcohol if all the sugar ferments? did i get that right? cause that does indeed sound like very little.
how do you calculate the %PA? i never did that, i just tried out different ratios and found that about 1kg of sugar on 4 liter of liquid results in "pretty strong stuff" that is also still a bit sweet, but not too much.
I didn't calculate it, I used my True-Brewtm triple scale hydrometer and measured it. It was 7% to begin with (as were all four different brands) I added a half cup at first, re-measured it, added a second half cup, and re-re-measured it, and that put it at 10%.
That was last Sunday. I measured one again just now and it was at 3%, so if I understand correctly, that means it's 7% alcohol now, and should be done fermenting in a couple of days. I'm tempted to add another cup and take it to 13% in at least one batch.
Quote from: What's-His-Name? on August 25, 2008, 06:15:54 PM
Quote from: Cainad on August 25, 2008, 04:13:55 PM
Quote from: Squiddy on August 25, 2008, 05:10:44 AM
Dude you have to tell us how this turns out.
i'm interested in hearing about it, but wouldnt try it myself.
i did however buy some of those muscadine grapes that only grow around here (south east) and i now see where that weird flavor/wang in florida wine comes from.
They put wangs in their wine there? :?
Yes, but unfortunately the older wines have a weak finish.
This was a fucking boss turn of word play that went unrecognized.
Tragedy!