Homebrew Alcamahol

[SafeSearchOff]

So this weekend i intend to make about a gallon of my own homebrew alcahol. I think ive got the basics down from my chem and bio courses, but wanted to see if you guus had anyhelpful tips, and i have a few questions.

Okay, so say im using potatoes. I mash up the potatoes and add water and some sugar. Now, ive heard heating this mixute will provide more glucose for the glycolysis (alcoholic fermentation) to take place. Should i bother heating it, or go syraight to fermentation?
for fermentation i have heard that you must leave the fermenting container semi open at first, then sealed later, but some places say not to. Also, for makin wine i know it must be kept at like 75 degrees during the fermentation process. Does this apply to vodka too?
how much yeast should i add, and how long do i ferment it for? For sake, do u use cookedor uncooked rice?

Thanks for teh helpzz

Ps i know this should be in the how to forum but it gets more exposure here>.<

[Skitalets]

My only advice would be -- be very careful. Having lived in Russia, I know (thankfully not first-hand) what improperly distilled liquor can do to you. Make sure your homebrew setup is safe and hygienic.

[kitefanatic]

Not to mention that home distillation of high proof alcohol has led to many an explosion. Be careful.

[Duffer]

Slice up your potatoes. Boil them until soft. Mash them up right in that water, add more water and boil some more. The cooking will break down the complex sugars (carbohydrates) into simple sugars.

Add water to volume, your sugar (lots) and some brown sugar for flavor.

Cover the solution until it cools. Add some wine yeast (not just bread yeast).

If you can get the solution into a small-neck bottle, you can fit a balloon over the top, or just buy a stopper and an air lock. You have to have some sort of air lock or the natural bacteria/yeasts will attack your solution and make vinegar!

If you can keep things reasonably sterile & room temp, you'll end up with a "wine" with about 15% alcohol and tastes kinda like Jack Daniels!

Don't bother with the distillation. Besides being kinda dangerous and definitely illegal, it concentrates the Fusal Oils, which are poisonous. That's where "moonshine blindness" comes from!

Do a little web search. There's some great recipes out there!

[SafeSearchOff]

wow, great help. Uhh two things. One... For when I let the solution cool, I dont understand he stopper or balloon concept. Air tight, or allowing the air to leave but not get back in?
also, didn't the moonshine blindness come from the copper tubs they used? And if I use a hot plate to distill, there be no essplosions.

Also to the mods... I could have sworn homebrewing alcahol was legal seeing as how Sam Adams has the whole make us beer competition... If not, please notify me, ban me, invis the thread, whatever.

[rowland]

Just like this fourm is the place to hangout and ask questions about hookah, there are a ton of sites for distilling.

Not putting you off, i am only saying the brewing is something left to those with the knowhow. As i know a number of brewers i can tell you that it is not something you just want to guess at.

You have a bad experience with a hookah, you try again tomorrow. You mess up in your brewing and you may not get a second chance.

[Duffer]

I'm not lookin' to get you sent on 'vacation' ! In most states, brewing alcohol is legal (for personal use), but distilling (read concentrating) alcohol is not legal, because it has to be taxed! Falls under the ATFs blanket. Moonshine is illegal!

To your questions, the cooling solution just needs to be covered, not sealed. Do a Yahoo search for what an air lock looks like. Like a simple balloon, it lets the brew outgass without any outside air get in. If you seal it, it will explode. If you leave it wide open, it'll turn to vinegar.

You're right about the copper & lead poising that occurs from backwoods distilleries, but fermentation creates small amounts of methanol, formaldehyde and other toxic alcohols. Distilling will concentrate them. A little means hang-over. A lot means toxic poison. Charcoal filtering/aging helps remove them, btw.

Brewing is a lot of fun, but understand what you are contemplating and the risks involved. No one wants you to get hurt!

[olooko]

as for the yeast, there are different kinds. Some work best at cooler temps and others at higher temps. Do some research, there are tons of places that sell stuff for microbrews. I suggest you try to make beer first from one of those kits, just to get a feel for it. They have been designed to work, and you will have less trouble getting it right.

[SafeSearchOff]

i've heard wine yeast should be kept at around 72%.


new problems i've read about.

word is methanol collects on the top like 5% of the mixture after fermentation and distillation, and cant be removed by filtration. do i just like drain it from the top to get rid of this?

also, in terms of the other acids that cause "moonshine blindness" i read that charcoal filters remedy this... would by brita pitcher filter work?


woot!

[olooko]

get you self some active carbon. they sell that stuff at petco and stuff.

[TheScotsman]

So this weekend i intend to make about a gallon of my own homebrew alcahol. I think ive got the basics down from my chem and bio courses, but wanted to see if you guus had anyhelpful tips, and i have a few questions.

Okay, so say im using potatoes. I mash up the potatoes and add water and some sugar. Now, ive heard heating this mixute will provide more glucose for the glycolysis (alcoholic fermentation) to take place. Should i bother heating it, or go syraight to fermentation?
for fermentation i have heard that you must leave the fermenting container semi open at first, then sealed later, but some places say not to. Also, for makin wine i know it must be kept at like 75 degrees during the fermentation process. Does this apply to vodka too?
how much yeast should i add, and how long do i ferment it for? For sake, do u use cookedor uncooked rice?

Thanks for teh helpzz

Ps i know this should be in the how to forum but it gets more exposure here>.<

Temp depends allot on yeast strain. If you are using run of the mill bread yeast it's about right. There are 2 trains of thought, fast, warm fermentation, and cooler longer fermentation. I never tried spuds, but I have tried rye, malt, and corn. (Hell, I even tried corn flakes trying to make some dorm-gin many years ago. Damn, that was nasty stuff.) The starch in spuds will be high, but the yeast will need something to get it moving, a bit (2 tbps/gal minimum) of molasses... the stuff in a jar from the IGA, not your hookah. (ideally a yeast booster, like food-grade urea is best, but hard to get some places) The more yeast you inoculate with the better, it reduced the chances of a wild strain making it's home in your fermenter. Have sufficient headroom in the fermenter, but NOT uncovered. Any homebew stores close by? a champagne yeast will live in a higher alc environment than any bread yeast.

There are legal questions to distillation.

Sake is a completely different creature. I never really got anything fit for much more than washing windows. The starch is converted with a mold (koji) to a fermentable. In milling the rice you can vary the desired style. I like Junmai-Daiginjo, and all I ever got was batch after batch of sweet dingo-piss like substance. Man, that crap was hideous, worse than grandma's beet & broccoli wine.

[MriswitH]

Not to be the bad guy, but I would be careful talking about distilling on an open forum; it is illegal in all states I believe.

I brew my own beer and the forums I frequent usually ban people or delete the post because of the above.

That being said, i've heard that if you run a cheap vodka through a brita / charcoal filter it will help make it better. If you get my drift.  As far as beer is concerned (and the same for yeast) you should try and keep your optimal fermentation in the mid to high 60's mark to avoid weird off flavors.

When adding your yeast, you also should let your solution cool to about the same as above or in most cases it can kill your yeast or produce weird flavors during fermentation. Edited November 7, 2007 by MriswitH

[Johnny_D]

I doubt this thread is going to blow any of the mod's skirts up.

JD

[TheScotsman]

Not to be the bad guy, but I would be careful talking about distilling on an open forum; it is illegal in all states I believe.

I brew my own beer and the forums I frequent usually ban people or delete the post because of the above.

That being said, i've heard that if you run a cheap vodka through a brita / charcoal filter it will help make it better. If you get my drift. As far as beer is concerned (and the same for yeast) you should try and keep your optimal fermentation in the mid to high 60's mark to avoid weird off flavors.

When adding your yeast, you also should let your solution cool to about the same as above or in most cases it can kill your yeast or produce weird flavors during fermentation.

It's only against the law if he decides to use it as a recreational beverage. Distillation for scientific purposes, educational, and for use as a motor fuel is completely legal.

That said, the issues with blindness stemmed from the prohibition era. The "bath tub gin" was usually methanol flavored up so it was a bit less horrible. Methanol will cause blindness... among other bad things. One of the other toxic substances in that old rot-gut was lead. The pot, and plumbing was commonly soldered with a tin-lead alloy, even worse was their condenser, which was usually an automotive radiator, soldered with LOTS of lead. Hard to believe people managed to live through that stuff at all.


As far as temps, it depends allot on the yeast! I like White Labs P208 Edinburgh Ale, pitched at 75-78, and fermented at 75. Top fermenting yeasts (ales) like warm fermenters. 65-68 is a bottom end for me. When they work too long there is a greater chance of contamination. Higher temps, and the right yeast strain seems to be critical in getting that "perfect" malty taste. Lagers (bottom fermenters) like the cooler temps. I'm not really a lager-sort.

[BrotherBuford]

I make beer (I have made 115 gallons in the past year; mostly porters, English pale ales, and Bavarian hefeweizens), but I don't make hooch. If you have a beer related question I might can answer it, but if it falls outside of grain-and-hops beverages I probably can't help you.

[SafeSearchOff]

i originally wanted to make beer, but during hte brewing process it either has to be like refridgerated greatly or heated right? also, i have no clue hwere to get grain or hops...

[HookahReviews]

If you guys are looking for some great beer recipies I would highly reccomend checking out some of the open-source brewing websites out there. These collaborative brewing projects essentially take everything that is great from open-source software (free, non proprietary recipie, collaboration = betterfication) and turns it to brewing.

http://freebeer.org/blog/recipe/
http://www.opensourcebeerproject.com/

[smarthobo]

To clarify the legality of distillation: (taken from the BATF's website)

You cannot produce spirits for beverage purposes without paying taxes and without prior approval of paperwork to operate a distilled spirits plant. [See 26 U.S.C. 5601 & 5602 for some of the criminal penalties.] There are numerous requirements that must be met that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal or beverage use. Some of these requirements are paying special tax, filing an extensive application, filing a bond, providing adequate equipment to measure spirits, providing suitable tanks and pipelines, providing a separate building (other than a dwelling) and maintaining detailed records, and filing reports. All of these requirements are listed in 27 CFR Part 19.

[BrotherBuford]

There is a hop shortage going on right now which really sucks for homebrewers. Homebrewers are pretty much the bottom of the distribution chain, so some varieties are getting hard or impossible to find. Luckily I have around 6 lbs of various hops on order that should last me through next year considering the rate I brew.

[TheScotsman]

There is a hop shortage going on right now which really sucks for homebrewers. Homebrewers are pretty much the bottom of the distribution chain, so some varieties are getting hard or impossible to find. Luckily I have around 6 lbs of various hops on order that should last me through next year considering the rate I brew.

Could get stuck falling back on some nasty liquid hop extract. That would be bad, rather use some old socks for aroma, and some toe jam for bitterness, it would be bound to taste better.

[BrotherBuford]

I don't think I personally will have that problem. Here's a pic of my current hops inventory:


I should have a little more than 2 lbs delivered Monday as well.