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**BigKahuna** · 03-05-2008, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moonshae

I've actually heard that running cheap vodka through one of these cleans it up and makes it like premium vodkas...but haven't tried it to find out.

I just watched the Myth Busters on that very thing.
The "Expert" vodka taster could actually rate them depending on the # of times they were filtered.

lovebeer · 03-05-2008, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beala

Suppose all of the above were true. Suppose he was a 14 year old just looking to make hooch. Is that good reason to dislike/hate him or even ridicule him? The only possibly sound reason is that he may be deceiving his parents, which might be good reason to dislike him, but even that is tenuous. It rests upon many unprovable assumptions. (1) Only kids make hooch (2) He lives in an area with a drinking age (3) His parents are in fact being deceived (I started homebrewing at 19. My parents knew, and didn't care). Reading the previous posts, I don't think any of those points can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence is circumstantial at best.

Second, I find it questionable that even the previous argument is sound. Does deceiving parents necessarily justify hate? Let me create an analogy to illustrate this better. Suppose there's a nation, let's call it the Nation of Beala, where it's illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to make cookies. Further suppose that there's an enterprising young man, age 14, who really really likes cookies. One day, a friend of his excitidely approaches him and exclaims that he's gotten a hold of an illegal cookie recipe. If he were to go behind his parents' back, and produce these contraband cookies, would that be seriously immoral? Further suppose that the cookies are of low quality, because he couldn't get his hands on better cookie ingredients. Would he deserve ridicule and hate for it (or even just dislike)? My intuitions say no.

The only objection I can think of to this analogy is that the idea of a cookie law is ridiculous, and that it's not at all like a drinking age, but I challenge anyone to try to make a distinction between the two. They're both arbitrary restrictions on what sorts of (mostly) harmless substances you can put into your own body.

Other clearly unsound arguments would be: (1) Making hooch somehow demeans the art of homebrewing. (2) It's off topic, because this forum doesn't deal with this subject, and therefore he deserves to be ridiculed. These, to me, are clearly unsound, and I won't even bother to address them.

For the record i'm 27. But you make good points. I don't understand the ridicule either. I mean why does a beverage become "cheap hooch" just because it has twice the alcohol content as beer? (even some wine has 20% Abv)

There are a whole lot of unjust laws and the drinking age is one of them in my opinion. It has nothing to do with public health. (Because why are cigarettes legal? They kill 450,000 per year in america alone) And why should we be allowed to kill in wars and own guns at 18, but not drink until we're 21? A 20 year old war vet can't even have a drink? And I'm sure everyone in this forum patiently waited until they were 21 to have a drink

But i'm getting off-topic...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denny's Evil Concoctions

Knowledge is not illegal. What you do with that knowledge may be.

For what I know, the reason for prewetting the carbon filter is so you don't end up with fine particles of carbon powder in your final product. You run water though the filter till the black crap stops coming out, then ou filter. I guess you could let it drip dry somewhat then filter your .. beverage.

If you are doing the 5 gallon turbo yeast thing then I'd get a household carbon filter and run it through that, they are pretty cheap.

I'd also go for the liqueur flavorings. There is even a whisky flavoring. At least then it would taste better than watered down vodka.

But those instructions went beyond pre-wetting the carbon. It said that the carbon cannot come into contact with air while filtering, so you have to flush the carbon with water immediately before you filter. It would be hard to tell when the water stops flowing and you liquor starts flowing. I'll definitely get some of those essences. I'm not a fan of the taste of whiskey, in fact i prefer vodka. But that coconut rum flavor sounds pretty good.

Btw, That wikipedia article on distillation that someone posted said mash is normally fermented in a steel fermenter. So are people sure my mr. beer keg will work?

Also about the yeast, i've gathered it's important to keep the package airtight after using once, but why is it important to shake it? does this prevent it from becoming dormant?

I'll definitely keep people updated on the results and maybe post some pictures.

**Denny's Evil Concoctions** · 03-05-2008, 09:21 PM

You are talking about mashing which is basically the same process as mashing grains for beer.

If you are going to go that route and NOT distill then why not just make some high gravity beers? It's not that hard to make a quality beer that hits 10% or more alc/vol.

lovebeer · 03-07-2008, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denny's Evil Concoctions

You are talking about mashing which is basically the same process as mashing grains for beer.

If you are going to go that route and NOT distill then why not just make some high gravity beers? It's not that hard to make a quality beer that hits 10% or more alc/vol.

why make a beverage that contains 10% alcohol when i can make one that is 20% for the same price or lower? i don't think i could use this turbo yeast to make apfelwein, it would prbly taste awful due to high alc. content.

something that occured to me has got me worried. how tight should the lid be on the mr beer keg? yeast that is fermenting that much sugar is going to produce a lot of carbon dioxide, much more than beer does. i know you're never supposed to take off the keg lid during fermentation of beer b/c this can spoil it. Would this be the same for mash? The last thing i want is for my keg to explode due to pressure. should i just unscrew the lid during fermentation without taking it off to release some of the co2?

CBBaron · 03-07-2008, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovebeer

Btw, That wikipedia article on distillation that someone posted said mash is normally fermented in a steel fermenter. So are people sure my mr. beer keg will work?

Also about the yeast, i've gathered it's important to keep the package airtight after using once, but why is it important to shake it? does this prevent it from becoming dormant?

I'll definitely keep people updated on the results and maybe post some pictures.

Your mr beer should be good to ferment any beverage if just a little small. Many people on this forum use 6.5gal plastic buckets for fermenters. Others use glass carboys and a few lucky ones use SS conicals. I shouldn't matter what you are fermenting.

Turbo yeast is dry yeast with added nutrients which helps it ferment to those high alcohol levels. You should shake it before pouring some out to ensure it is well mixed.

You are getting lots of recommendations for producing a beverage around 10-12% ABV because you are much more likely to produce something that tastes good at those levels. When you start pushing the yeast to those really high levels you get many more undersireable byproducts that affect the flavor. The higher the alcohol content of the fermented product usually the longer it takes to age it before the flavors meld and the hot alcohols and other flavors mellow. A 5% beer is very good in a month. A 7% Apfelwein is drinkable in 2-3 months. A 12% wine at 6months to a year. When you push the beverage to 20% I would expect it to be very harsh for a couple of years or more. You would be better off making multiple batches of a smaller beer or wine.

This forum is not about producing the cheapest alcohol possible but about producing quality beers, wines and mead. Most people here are not saving money by making their own but instead are producing something they enjoy.

Craig

**olllllo** · 03-07-2008, 03:37 PM

And just to follow up on CBBarons post, if a poster were to say that they really liked hops- so much so that they wanted to add a pound of hops to a 5 gallon batch, that poster would get about the same reaction here.

After all why brew a balanced beer when you could punch through the IBU stratosphere.

Ridicule (your words). IMO good advice.

You've been given enough good information from the members here to do what you want. So go with it and post back in another thread whether it was worth it or not.

Another good course of action would be to seek the information in a forum where others have done what you are asking, see it's value, claim it tastes good, etc.

Just be prepared to read stuff like...

doodz this sh1t is teh bomb...

Closed!