Or: everything can ferment!
Of my many hobbies one of the most fascinating is brewing. While I am slowly closing in on a good process for small batch beer brewing, that is not my main area of research. I am primarily researching the exotic field of non-grape winemaking. Right now everything is working simply, and aging gently.
I have one gallon of date wine, one gallon of mango wine, and one gallon of banana wine. Today I will add one gallon of coconut wine to the cellars. These are all fermented from fresh fruit blended and filtered by me. The big exception is the coconut water, which I purchased at Costco and thus making it the most expensive wine base at 12 dollars a gallon.
The process of fermenting feels like alchemy, but the next step is the real magic. The next step is blending. Mango banana wine. Banana coconut wine. You know, like that. My highest hopes are for the banana wine and various iterations: a mulled banana wine brewed with cinnamon and vanilla (that's next on deck), and the banana wine blends. I will share some of my best recipes with you boozehounds because you can't find these sorts of wines at the local liquor store.
Much like blending is the esoteric arts of whiskey distilling, wine blending is an art and one that I hope to master. After all, who else is making grocery store fruit wine? And who knows, perhaps this skill will port over into beer making. Beer blends? Why not?
Showing posts with label homebrewing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homebrewing. Show all posts
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Monday, September 19, 2011
Double bubble toil and trouble
Today I declare my independence from breweries. I have taken a stand against the craft beer movement. I reject the over-priced, over-hopped, uncreative beers. I refuse to pay 9 dollars for a six pack. I refuse to choke down another bitter, sour, generic beer with a showy label. I refuse to be a part of it any longer. Today I make my own beer.
That's right, I am now brewing beer. Malting hulled barley didn't work so well, so I bought some malted barley from a brew store. It was cheap, about a buck a pound. So roughly the same price as hulled barley from Whole Foods. I have a lead on some whole barley from a feed store, but that is a project for another time.
The process is really basic (so easy an ancient Sumerian could do it). Just cook the sugars out of the malted barley. You may want to cook the barley a few times to get all the sugars out. Can you believe they came up with a stupid name for cooking the barley a second time? They call it sparging. My wife calls it spooging. You can tell if there is a lot of sugars left in the barley by eating a few grains. After cooking it a second time most of the sweetness was gone, and it was enough to get the specific gravity to 1.040 (though I will add some brown sugar for that gingerbread sweetness) but more importantly enough to get a gallon of juice.
Then the barley juice is boiled and here it is like wine making. With wine it is called must, with beer it is called wort, but it is the same thing. Boil it and add ingredients to taste. I added the smallest amount of hops possible and it altered the taste considerably. I also added the quadrafecta of pumpkin pie spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. It is going to be a harvest beer in time for pumpkin pies and spiced apple cider.
Cooking beer or wine is a lot like cooking any food dish. Taste it, taste it, taste it. I am surprised when I read the home brewing forums how few people taste the stuff before they start fermenting. They seem like a bunch of engineers measuring the yields and conversions and whatnot and less like artisan chefs cooking something delicious. Like fine dining, brewing is a little of both. You know how the flavors will change; the yeast will impart a yeasty flavor and reduce the sweetness. So just keep that in mind as you add spices like hops and cinnamon. One caveat: some spices will become more pronounced as it ferments, especially cloves. Go easy on the cloves because they will taste stronger in a month.
Pro tip: fill up your jug with the hot barley juice and put the jug in a bucket of cold water to drop the temperature down quickly. If you have enough ice, put ice in the water. I find ice most effective at dropping the temperature once it has already gone below 100.
So I am down on the craft beer movement for a couple of reasons. One, it is damn expensive. Let me tell you, grains are cheap. Historically, grains have always been cheap. Grains are still cheap today. I figure that most of the cost of beer is advertising and distribution costs. In theory a beer that does little to no advertising and is shipping less than 100 miles should be cheaper than the big beer competition shipped a few states away and running Superbowl ads, right?
Two, after a while, these craft beers all start to look the same. The lineups are identical: a super hop charged ale, a super hop charged pilsner, a wheat beer, a stout, and an IPA. Beer genres. Bah.
And, thanks to Sam Adams, all beer must now have a ridiculous amount of hops.
After this commercial aired we saw Miller start with triple hops beer and the micros come out with a huge assortment of super charged hops beers.
No hops are not the soul of beer. Barley is the heart and soul of beer. Hops were not used in beer production 1,000 years ago. Hops are slightly toxic and therefore a natural preservative, but does not kill the yeast, which is why they were widely adopted. You know, before refrigeration. They impart a bitter citrus flavor, which can be nice sometimes but does it always have to taste that way? I reject the idea that all beer must be a bitter mouthful of super charged hops. I even question the necessity of a homebrewer using hops at all. They tell me it will be too sweet. Really? Sweeter than Pepsi? Surely not.
My ingredients cost 8 dollars and will make a bit less than 4 liters of beer. However, the most expensive ingredient was the yeast, which I will be able to reuse. So the cost of the beer was really more like 4 dollars for maybe 3 liters. A bottle of beer has 12 ounces. A 6 pack is therefore 72 ounces. 72 ounces is a little more than 2 liters. So I should get maybe 9 bottles of beer for around 4 bucks, or around 40 cents a beer. That is cheap.
My beer doesn't fall into any genre. This time the malt was a mix of 2 pounds of pale malt, 1/2 pound of crystal malt, and 1/4 pound of rolled oats. In the future I will probably cook 3 or 4 different types of malt separately and mix them together into the wort one bit at a time so that I can gain total control over the flavor profile. This batch I am shooting for a flavor profile like gingerbread or cinnamon oatmeal cookies or some other baked autumnal treat. The key thing is getting the right mix of malted barley and spices. Stay warm
That's right, I am now brewing beer. Malting hulled barley didn't work so well, so I bought some malted barley from a brew store. It was cheap, about a buck a pound. So roughly the same price as hulled barley from Whole Foods. I have a lead on some whole barley from a feed store, but that is a project for another time.
The process is really basic (so easy an ancient Sumerian could do it). Just cook the sugars out of the malted barley. You may want to cook the barley a few times to get all the sugars out. Can you believe they came up with a stupid name for cooking the barley a second time? They call it sparging. My wife calls it spooging. You can tell if there is a lot of sugars left in the barley by eating a few grains. After cooking it a second time most of the sweetness was gone, and it was enough to get the specific gravity to 1.040 (though I will add some brown sugar for that gingerbread sweetness) but more importantly enough to get a gallon of juice.
Then the barley juice is boiled and here it is like wine making. With wine it is called must, with beer it is called wort, but it is the same thing. Boil it and add ingredients to taste. I added the smallest amount of hops possible and it altered the taste considerably. I also added the quadrafecta of pumpkin pie spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. It is going to be a harvest beer in time for pumpkin pies and spiced apple cider.
Cooking beer or wine is a lot like cooking any food dish. Taste it, taste it, taste it. I am surprised when I read the home brewing forums how few people taste the stuff before they start fermenting. They seem like a bunch of engineers measuring the yields and conversions and whatnot and less like artisan chefs cooking something delicious. Like fine dining, brewing is a little of both. You know how the flavors will change; the yeast will impart a yeasty flavor and reduce the sweetness. So just keep that in mind as you add spices like hops and cinnamon. One caveat: some spices will become more pronounced as it ferments, especially cloves. Go easy on the cloves because they will taste stronger in a month.
Pro tip: fill up your jug with the hot barley juice and put the jug in a bucket of cold water to drop the temperature down quickly. If you have enough ice, put ice in the water. I find ice most effective at dropping the temperature once it has already gone below 100.
So I am down on the craft beer movement for a couple of reasons. One, it is damn expensive. Let me tell you, grains are cheap. Historically, grains have always been cheap. Grains are still cheap today. I figure that most of the cost of beer is advertising and distribution costs. In theory a beer that does little to no advertising and is shipping less than 100 miles should be cheaper than the big beer competition shipped a few states away and running Superbowl ads, right?
Two, after a while, these craft beers all start to look the same. The lineups are identical: a super hop charged ale, a super hop charged pilsner, a wheat beer, a stout, and an IPA. Beer genres. Bah.
And, thanks to Sam Adams, all beer must now have a ridiculous amount of hops.
After this commercial aired we saw Miller start with triple hops beer and the micros come out with a huge assortment of super charged hops beers.
No hops are not the soul of beer. Barley is the heart and soul of beer. Hops were not used in beer production 1,000 years ago. Hops are slightly toxic and therefore a natural preservative, but does not kill the yeast, which is why they were widely adopted. You know, before refrigeration. They impart a bitter citrus flavor, which can be nice sometimes but does it always have to taste that way? I reject the idea that all beer must be a bitter mouthful of super charged hops. I even question the necessity of a homebrewer using hops at all. They tell me it will be too sweet. Really? Sweeter than Pepsi? Surely not.
My ingredients cost 8 dollars and will make a bit less than 4 liters of beer. However, the most expensive ingredient was the yeast, which I will be able to reuse. So the cost of the beer was really more like 4 dollars for maybe 3 liters. A bottle of beer has 12 ounces. A 6 pack is therefore 72 ounces. 72 ounces is a little more than 2 liters. So I should get maybe 9 bottles of beer for around 4 bucks, or around 40 cents a beer. That is cheap.
My beer doesn't fall into any genre. This time the malt was a mix of 2 pounds of pale malt, 1/2 pound of crystal malt, and 1/4 pound of rolled oats. In the future I will probably cook 3 or 4 different types of malt separately and mix them together into the wort one bit at a time so that I can gain total control over the flavor profile. This batch I am shooting for a flavor profile like gingerbread or cinnamon oatmeal cookies or some other baked autumnal treat. The key thing is getting the right mix of malted barley and spices. Stay warm
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Malted Barley
Fermentation is a simple formula. Water + sugar + yeast = alcohol. This is a process that humans discovered thousands of years ago. Ancient Sumerians were brewing beer 4,000 years ago. This isn't exactly rocket science.
Today I seek to recreate, with my knowledge (and occasionally a google search) the process of getting sugar the ancient Mesopotamian way and malting barley. I know that the barleycorn is allowed to germinate slightly. The embryo releases amylase which converts the starches within the seed to dextrose. It is then dried out in order to kill the seedling before it begins to make chlorophyll. Boom, starches in grains converted to sugar.
First, where to get barley? The interwebs suggest feed stores, but there are none close bye. Think cheap. Gas is expensive. Well, the local Wholefoods sells hulled barley. I know some people on the webernets have said you can't malt hulled barley because the process strips the embryo from the seed. Well, that's not true.
Boom, malted
The concept was clear to me. Make the seeds think they were in the earth. Trick them into thinking it was time to sprout. The first attempt went poorly. I soaked them in water. I then strained them and dumped them in a big pot. I left residue water. Unfortunately, this was not correct as the seeds drowned and rotted. The second attempt went better. Soaking and straining. I left them in the strainer. They could dry, and then sprout. And they did.
Still, it wasn't a total success. They had feint smell of gym socks, which means they were contaminated. I believe they, like their predecessors, soaked too long and some of the seeds died. So I am starting anew, and soaking and straining and properly drying. Soon they shall sprout and be ready for the next phase.
Today I seek to recreate, with my knowledge (and occasionally a google search) the process of getting sugar the ancient Mesopotamian way and malting barley. I know that the barleycorn is allowed to germinate slightly. The embryo releases amylase which converts the starches within the seed to dextrose. It is then dried out in order to kill the seedling before it begins to make chlorophyll. Boom, starches in grains converted to sugar.
First, where to get barley? The interwebs suggest feed stores, but there are none close bye. Think cheap. Gas is expensive. Well, the local Wholefoods sells hulled barley. I know some people on the webernets have said you can't malt hulled barley because the process strips the embryo from the seed. Well, that's not true.
Boom, malted
The concept was clear to me. Make the seeds think they were in the earth. Trick them into thinking it was time to sprout. The first attempt went poorly. I soaked them in water. I then strained them and dumped them in a big pot. I left residue water. Unfortunately, this was not correct as the seeds drowned and rotted. The second attempt went better. Soaking and straining. I left them in the strainer. They could dry, and then sprout. And they did.
Still, it wasn't a total success. They had feint smell of gym socks, which means they were contaminated. I believe they, like their predecessors, soaked too long and some of the seeds died. So I am starting anew, and soaking and straining and properly drying. Soon they shall sprout and be ready for the next phase.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The raisin wine follies
Brace yourself.
No foolin'! Yeah it went down like this.
I started brewing raisin wine. I altered the recipe slightly from the original conception. Only a half cup of rolled oats. I used a lot of raisins. I used too many raisins. I spiced it with cinnamon and cloves. I threw in some sugar. Also some pectic enzyme and acid to help clarify and break things up. Did I buy that stuff or inherit it from my roommate? Maybe it will help break down some of the starches, but I doubt it.
I used the yeast from the old slurry. Previously I saved the slurry in a jar in the fridge. Care was taken to activate it before pitching just in case I screwed something up. I've never reused a yeast cake in this way before. I even used a bit of yeast food just in case, since I've never pitched yeast in this manner before.
In the morning no activity. In the evening when I got home no activity; a little bubbling on top but no real action. I suspected that the must ended up too thick. This could spoil the whole batch.
After shaking it up a bit the activity grew more vigorous. But I knew trying to ferment porridge would cause problems. So action!
This can't end well, can it?
First, I freed up another container by racking the pineapple coconut wine into two smaller vessels, their final container. Then I cleaned the old vessel and dumped over half the raisin porridge in and shook it up and dumped some back so that they were equal levels. I then topped them both off with water which was allowed to sit and de-chlorinate. I basically diluted the wine. Now I have twice as much raisin wine fermenting. One batch, having more of the bottom contents, is more viscous than the other and is consequently less vigorous in its fermentation. But they are both brewing.
At this point I actually ran out of airlocks and had to MacGuyver some new ones with tape and some piping I found on the handle of Mrs Booze's purse. I'm also out of carboys so no new batches from me. Probably. Though there was a slight sulfur smell greeting me this evening. Oh noes, contamination! Well hopefully not. It was a very slight smell, especially considering there is twice as much brewing as usual. It was awfully hot today and now that it has cooled off the smell seems to be gone. Maybe. I hope I don't have to dump all this hooch.
You know who has the heebie jeebies? My wine, bitches.
No foolin'! Yeah it went down like this.
I started brewing raisin wine. I altered the recipe slightly from the original conception. Only a half cup of rolled oats. I used a lot of raisins. I used too many raisins. I spiced it with cinnamon and cloves. I threw in some sugar. Also some pectic enzyme and acid to help clarify and break things up. Did I buy that stuff or inherit it from my roommate? Maybe it will help break down some of the starches, but I doubt it.
I used the yeast from the old slurry. Previously I saved the slurry in a jar in the fridge. Care was taken to activate it before pitching just in case I screwed something up. I've never reused a yeast cake in this way before. I even used a bit of yeast food just in case, since I've never pitched yeast in this manner before.
In the morning no activity. In the evening when I got home no activity; a little bubbling on top but no real action. I suspected that the must ended up too thick. This could spoil the whole batch.
After shaking it up a bit the activity grew more vigorous. But I knew trying to ferment porridge would cause problems. So action!
This can't end well, can it?
First, I freed up another container by racking the pineapple coconut wine into two smaller vessels, their final container. Then I cleaned the old vessel and dumped over half the raisin porridge in and shook it up and dumped some back so that they were equal levels. I then topped them both off with water which was allowed to sit and de-chlorinate. I basically diluted the wine. Now I have twice as much raisin wine fermenting. One batch, having more of the bottom contents, is more viscous than the other and is consequently less vigorous in its fermentation. But they are both brewing.
At this point I actually ran out of airlocks and had to MacGuyver some new ones with tape and some piping I found on the handle of Mrs Booze's purse. I'm also out of carboys so no new batches from me. Probably. Though there was a slight sulfur smell greeting me this evening. Oh noes, contamination! Well hopefully not. It was a very slight smell, especially considering there is twice as much brewing as usual. It was awfully hot today and now that it has cooled off the smell seems to be gone. Maybe. I hope I don't have to dump all this hooch.
You know who has the heebie jeebies? My wine, bitches.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
New homebrewing project: beer vs wine
I was reading James Joyce's Ulysses on the train. Close to Bloom's day and all. I was at the part where Blazes Boylan, Dignam, and Stephen Dedalus were discussing Hamlet at the pub. I found I wanted a beer. I haven't bought a beer in a long time. I wanted a specific beer with a big barley taste and very little hops. Is this an English Ale? I thought I would make it myself. Mrs Booze knows of a pet store that sells big bags of barley for horsies. I could malt that and brew it.
I've also been working on a spiced wine recipe. I've found quite a few recipies call for raisins, aka zombie grapes, and I'm not sure why. I tried to imaging the flavor a raisin would impart to a wine versus a grape. I haven't eaten a raisin in at least 15 years. So I bought a box. Ahhh, the flavor's coming back to me now.
At first it wasn't so good, but then the flavors lingered in my mouth and I came upon an idea. Maybe a bad one. Make a mash of raisins and oats. Ferment.
The problem is that the starches in the oats need to be broken down into sugars for the yeast to be able to feast. Since they are cut oats they cannot be malted. So then what? Well the raisins would provide the sugar. The oats would provide flavor, but too much starch might spoil things.
The recipe, for now, is:
2 cups of oats
2 cups raisins
1/2 cup of sugar
a pinch of cinammon
a dash of cloves
It might be necessary to add some malted barley to this recipe so that the starches in the oats don't make a soupy unfermentable mess. The crazy person in my head says things like "why don't you just spit in the mash. The salivary amylase in your spit will do the trick." Hey that sounds like a fairly simple solution. Ok, time for my meds...
Once Mrs Booze racks her wine I will start the fermentation and we will see how good or bad this recipe is. This seems like a great thing to drink on a chilly December evening, and I will let you know.
I've also been working on a spiced wine recipe. I've found quite a few recipies call for raisins, aka zombie grapes, and I'm not sure why. I tried to imaging the flavor a raisin would impart to a wine versus a grape. I haven't eaten a raisin in at least 15 years. So I bought a box. Ahhh, the flavor's coming back to me now.
At first it wasn't so good, but then the flavors lingered in my mouth and I came upon an idea. Maybe a bad one. Make a mash of raisins and oats. Ferment.
The problem is that the starches in the oats need to be broken down into sugars for the yeast to be able to feast. Since they are cut oats they cannot be malted. So then what? Well the raisins would provide the sugar. The oats would provide flavor, but too much starch might spoil things.
The recipe, for now, is:
2 cups of oats
2 cups raisins
1/2 cup of sugar
a pinch of cinammon
a dash of cloves
It might be necessary to add some malted barley to this recipe so that the starches in the oats don't make a soupy unfermentable mess. The crazy person in my head says things like "why don't you just spit in the mash. The salivary amylase in your spit will do the trick." Hey that sounds like a fairly simple solution. Ok, time for my meds...
Once Mrs Booze racks her wine I will start the fermentation and we will see how good or bad this recipe is. This seems like a great thing to drink on a chilly December evening, and I will let you know.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Pineapple coconut wine
I racked the pineapple coconut wine to secondary fermentation. The coconut oil congealed into a thick layer at the top. I left that in with the slurry. I tasted the juice and it was a bit oily and a bit dry but good. I added a little more sugar and some corn sugar that the yeast will not ferment for additional sweetness. It will be good but will probably only yield 2 liters. Maybe less. The new batch was good and clear of Sulfur Dioxide.
I also tasted the orange juice/orange pineapple juice mixture. It was bad. The previous batch was probably contaminated because the old slurry produced more SO2. Even after the SO2 aired out the taste was bitter. There was no sugar left, and oranges without sweetness is a bitter drink. So I dumped it.
So now Mrs. Booze is making wine and I am clearing out another jug of Carlo Rossi. Can you believe it is 12 dollars? It used to be 7 or 8. Oh well. What sort of wine should I make next? After all, everything can ferment.
I also tasted the orange juice/orange pineapple juice mixture. It was bad. The previous batch was probably contaminated because the old slurry produced more SO2. Even after the SO2 aired out the taste was bitter. There was no sugar left, and oranges without sweetness is a bitter drink. So I dumped it.
So now Mrs. Booze is making wine and I am clearing out another jug of Carlo Rossi. Can you believe it is 12 dollars? It used to be 7 or 8. Oh well. What sort of wine should I make next? After all, everything can ferment.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wine Odyssey
At the grocery store I wonder "will this ferment" and "will this taste any good". Can you ferment bacon? Can you ferment pizza rolls? Wouldn't bacon wine be the best thing ever?
Since the tropical theme is going strong, I wondered aloud "can you ferment that coconut juice in the can from the 'ethnic food' isle?" Mrs Booze says "yeah, of course" and then suggests I make pina colada wine and grabs some pineapple juice concentrate for me.
With this batch I will take every precaution to sterilize most thoroughly every particle. I will do my utmost to keep it cool in case it gets to 95 degrees again. And I will buy some white wine (champagne) yeast for this project. I hope to have a report on the progress in a few weeks or less. I hope to not have any sulfur smell or sour tastes that need airing out. Cheers.
Since the tropical theme is going strong, I wondered aloud "can you ferment that coconut juice in the can from the 'ethnic food' isle?" Mrs Booze says "yeah, of course" and then suggests I make pina colada wine and grabs some pineapple juice concentrate for me.
With this batch I will take every precaution to sterilize most thoroughly every particle. I will do my utmost to keep it cool in case it gets to 95 degrees again. And I will buy some white wine (champagne) yeast for this project. I hope to have a report on the progress in a few weeks or less. I hope to not have any sulfur smell or sour tastes that need airing out. Cheers.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Mango wine conclusion and epilogue
I couldn't wait any longer. I am thirsty. Time to see if the mango wine is spoiled or successful. I cracked it open. It fizzed and is bubbly as soda pop. I am amazed by this bit of magic and will probably be amazed for a while. The nose was a bit sour. The same sort of sour that my first batch of pruno had. The taste is ok. It has the mango flavor. The apples came out really strong. It is a bit too dry. Maybe next time I will actually measure the sugar? Hey, before you sass me my grandmother never measured the sugar when she baked lasagne and it tasted great. Measuring isn't how it's done.
So was it contaminated? Possibly. It is just a hint of sour, lingering in the back, probably coming in from the nose. There is some acid from the apples, and of course the mango notes that dance on the back of your tongue. As it aired out and "breathed" the sourness dissipated a bit. Still a bit too dry and acidic for what I hoped to achieve. The fact that it wasn't too sour and it seemed to air out suggests that it might have been from the heat, but I can't say for sure. Maybe I've just drank too much rotgut wine to really tell?
I will admit that this mango juice wasn't the best mango juice I've ever had. It was a blend, and I recall mangos were second on the list of ingredients behind apples. Again I probably should have used the white wine yeast. Oh well; I learned a lot from these experiments as I look to make the best tasting and cheapest pruno possible. Contamination can add sour notes to the hooch and one should take as much care as possible to sterilize every piece of equipment. Also brewing is affected by the heat, and you should either avoid brewing when it is 95 degrees or find some way to mitigate the heat like pack it in and icewater bucket or move the project to the storage locker in the basement. I think the flavors would have mellowed if I would have let it sit longer, but time is not on my side.
If you can do me a favor, please steal all the sugar packets you can from restaurants and the like and mail them to me. Thanks.
So was it contaminated? Possibly. It is just a hint of sour, lingering in the back, probably coming in from the nose. There is some acid from the apples, and of course the mango notes that dance on the back of your tongue. As it aired out and "breathed" the sourness dissipated a bit. Still a bit too dry and acidic for what I hoped to achieve. The fact that it wasn't too sour and it seemed to air out suggests that it might have been from the heat, but I can't say for sure. Maybe I've just drank too much rotgut wine to really tell?
I will admit that this mango juice wasn't the best mango juice I've ever had. It was a blend, and I recall mangos were second on the list of ingredients behind apples. Again I probably should have used the white wine yeast. Oh well; I learned a lot from these experiments as I look to make the best tasting and cheapest pruno possible. Contamination can add sour notes to the hooch and one should take as much care as possible to sterilize every piece of equipment. Also brewing is affected by the heat, and you should either avoid brewing when it is 95 degrees or find some way to mitigate the heat like pack it in and icewater bucket or move the project to the storage locker in the basement. I think the flavors would have mellowed if I would have let it sit longer, but time is not on my side.
If you can do me a favor, please steal all the sugar packets you can from restaurants and the like and mail them to me. Thanks.
Mango wine status update
The mango wine started to smell of sulfur. There are 3 possible explanations:
1. Contamination. I did not disinfect the airlock tubing, and the batch was possibly contaminated this way.
2. The heat. It has been hot and the high heat may have thrown off the fermentation.
3. The yeast. The wine yeast I bought, Red Star Montrachet, reputedly releases a sulfur smell.
Thus far I have tried to keep the brew cool with those freezer packs you put on your head. The smell diminished. I have also racked the wine into a new vessel, recharged it with more sugar, and sealed the cap so that it will naturally carbonate. Now I really regret not going with champaigne yeast.
Additionally I recharged the old vessel with more sugar, frozen orange juice and orange juice pineapple concentrate, and more water. It is again fermenting. Because I was able to reuse the yeast, the costs are much lower than I previously thought. I can either calculate that this batch costs a dollar less or that both batches cost fifty cents less. Someone call my accountant.
1. Contamination. I did not disinfect the airlock tubing, and the batch was possibly contaminated this way.
2. The heat. It has been hot and the high heat may have thrown off the fermentation.
3. The yeast. The wine yeast I bought, Red Star Montrachet, reputedly releases a sulfur smell.
Thus far I have tried to keep the brew cool with those freezer packs you put on your head. The smell diminished. I have also racked the wine into a new vessel, recharged it with more sugar, and sealed the cap so that it will naturally carbonate. Now I really regret not going with champaigne yeast.
Additionally I recharged the old vessel with more sugar, frozen orange juice and orange juice pineapple concentrate, and more water. It is again fermenting. Because I was able to reuse the yeast, the costs are much lower than I previously thought. I can either calculate that this batch costs a dollar less or that both batches cost fifty cents less. Someone call my accountant.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Mango wine
The problem with wine is that it is made from grapes. Grapes are ok, but not my favorite fruit. So why grapes then? Why not wine out of whatever fruit you wish? How will it taste? Wine flavors represent the grapes that spawned them; I image the flavors of wines made from other fruits to represent those original flavors well. Wouldn't coconut or mango wine be great? I mean if plum wine is a delightful but rare taste of Asia, why not the flavors of the tropics?
So I went to the grocery store and bought some mango juice. It has some other juices, I think apple. Whatever. I will try fermenting that and will comment in a week or two when I have some wine. I even shelled out a buck for wine yeast to eliminate the sour flavor of the first batch of pruno.
Cheers.
So I went to the grocery store and bought some mango juice. It has some other juices, I think apple. Whatever. I will try fermenting that and will comment in a week or two when I have some wine. I even shelled out a buck for wine yeast to eliminate the sour flavor of the first batch of pruno.
Cheers.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Homebrew report card
Time's up! Put your pencils down. And how did you do, blueberry and pomegranate blend? Let's see, first we check the nose. The smell is off. A sour smell. I blame the baker's yeast. The taste is ok, smooth but also a bit sour. I thought the juice blend was a bit sour for this project. I will try a straight grape juice blend before I condemn this project entirely. Still, it is a drinkable alcoholic beverage. I'd guess I hauled 3 liters worth of hooch for less than 5 dollars. I'd grade this a "gentleman's C". Ok, maybe C-. Also, I don't have a hydrometer so I don't know how strong it is. I'm guessing maybe 13% but who knows. Perhaps it just needed more sugar. Sugar is fungible in these kitchen projects...
I think this strain of yeast would be better served brewing a beer or something made from cereals rather than fruit though. Maybe it is worth it to get that winemaker's yeast. I wonder if that is something teenagers today can buy? Surely you don't need ID to buy yeast, right?
At the very least you could easily mix this with Diet Coke or something. Probably a cola, though Coke is too expensive these days. Is this the poor man's Kalimotxo?
I think this strain of yeast would be better served brewing a beer or something made from cereals rather than fruit though. Maybe it is worth it to get that winemaker's yeast. I wonder if that is something teenagers today can buy? Surely you don't need ID to buy yeast, right?
At the very least you could easily mix this with Diet Coke or something. Probably a cola, though Coke is too expensive these days. Is this the poor man's Kalimotxo?
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Did I used to be stupid? A homebrewing experiment
I've understood the basics behind fermentation for a long time. You need three ingredients: water, sugar, and yeast. The yeast float around in the water and eat the sugar, releasing alcohol as a waste product. This is really basic stuff. Knowing this, why did I ever bother with a fake ID when I was younger? I wasn't going to bars. Why not just brew my own booze in my dorm room? Way easier and cheaper. I would have made my room the Goldeneye/Street Fighter 2 mecca. Maybe it is because I knew nothing of cooking and didn't realize that they sell yeast in the grocery store. Anyone can simply buy the stuff. Yeah, I know you want brewer's yeast not baking yeast. But I'm sure the baking yeast will do in a jiffy.
Back then the interwebs was a dark place, full of shitty geosites webplaces and terrible midi files that played in the background when you loaded a site. These days kids have everything handed to them. Like this awesome tutorial on how to make your own dorm wine. Man if I was young again I would kick so much ass...
So I'm running a little experiment to see if I am truly a more enlightened person now than I was back then. I went to the store and bought some cans of Old Orchard 100% juice blueberry and pomegranate. It is the frozen stuff and has no preservatives. Preservatives will kill the yeast, duh, so only use preservative free juice. It is also less then 2 dollars per can, so very much recession/college student pricerange. I was hoping to get mango because when was the last time you drank mango booze that wasn't some overpriced mangotini crap? But I didn't see the mango stuff at the store. Oh well, maybe next time.
2 cans of juice is less than 4 dollars and yields 48 fluid ounces. That's about 1 1/2 liters, which is decent for a first brew. Granulated sugar is like 3 bucks for a big bag, and yeast is three bucks for a big jar. But the sugar and yeast will give you many yields, so maybe a dollar's worth of sugar and yeast gives you a yield. So maybe 5.50 for 1.5 liters of hooch.
For the carboy I'm using the big 4 liter Carlo Rossi wine jug. Even as a youth I could get these: my old man loves that Paisano.
If you were a youth needing a big carboy on the cheap and your dad doesn't like rotgut wine, you'll have to stick with the plastic jug. I hate drinking from plastic.
So I'll see how long it takes to make wine with no instructions (other than the website I liked, the information therein I already knew). I'll see if it tastes better than malt liquor. I'll see how easy it is, how cheap it is, how strong it is, etc.
Are college kids still making fake IDs? Or are they smart and making their own hooch? After all college is more expensive now than ever. And since high school is like a prison I'd wager that the more intrepid kids are making their own pruno but what do I know. I'm thinking that the time it takes to ferment is probably the weakest part of this project, but I had nothing to do in high school. Especially those lazy halcyon days of summer. Shoulda spent my time loading up the back of my closet with bottles of hooch. I coulda run that place like Al Capone.
This is what booze know-how looks like
Back then the interwebs was a dark place, full of shitty geosites webplaces and terrible midi files that played in the background when you loaded a site. These days kids have everything handed to them. Like this awesome tutorial on how to make your own dorm wine. Man if I was young again I would kick so much ass...
So I'm running a little experiment to see if I am truly a more enlightened person now than I was back then. I went to the store and bought some cans of Old Orchard 100% juice blueberry and pomegranate. It is the frozen stuff and has no preservatives. Preservatives will kill the yeast, duh, so only use preservative free juice. It is also less then 2 dollars per can, so very much recession/college student pricerange. I was hoping to get mango because when was the last time you drank mango booze that wasn't some overpriced mangotini crap? But I didn't see the mango stuff at the store. Oh well, maybe next time.
2 cans of juice is less than 4 dollars and yields 48 fluid ounces. That's about 1 1/2 liters, which is decent for a first brew. Granulated sugar is like 3 bucks for a big bag, and yeast is three bucks for a big jar. But the sugar and yeast will give you many yields, so maybe a dollar's worth of sugar and yeast gives you a yield. So maybe 5.50 for 1.5 liters of hooch.
For the carboy I'm using the big 4 liter Carlo Rossi wine jug. Even as a youth I could get these: my old man loves that Paisano.
If you were a youth needing a big carboy on the cheap and your dad doesn't like rotgut wine, you'll have to stick with the plastic jug. I hate drinking from plastic.
So I'll see how long it takes to make wine with no instructions (other than the website I liked, the information therein I already knew). I'll see if it tastes better than malt liquor. I'll see how easy it is, how cheap it is, how strong it is, etc.
Are college kids still making fake IDs? Or are they smart and making their own hooch? After all college is more expensive now than ever. And since high school is like a prison I'd wager that the more intrepid kids are making their own pruno but what do I know. I'm thinking that the time it takes to ferment is probably the weakest part of this project, but I had nothing to do in high school. Especially those lazy halcyon days of summer. Shoulda spent my time loading up the back of my closet with bottles of hooch. I coulda run that place like Al Capone.
This is what booze know-how looks like
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