Filter?

I'm new to everything homebrew, and am trying some really cheap (probably not-too-tasty) things to start out with before I buy any equipment (mostly due to having no room where I live). I don't have a car here, so I can't easily go out and buy even the basic stuff.. I'm just making due as more of a science experiment than trying to make tasty beverages.

Anyways, right now I'm brewing 4 one gallon jugs of different things. I have no equipment, basically. I've got one gallon of Welch's grape juice wine, one gallon of hard lemonade, one gallon of Ed's Apfelwein, and one gallon of sugar water (to later be mixed with cool aid... I started with that one on a recipe from wikihow, haha). Anyway, I have no more containers to put liquid in. Once everything clears out, I'll have to go straight from primary jug to drinking bottles. I don't have a siphon, so I'll have to get it out some other way. The things I have available are (that I think may be useful) a sieve, coffee filters, and a knife. I have a few ideas of how to get the liquid from jug to bottle, and need to know if any are viable. Here they are:

What makes the most sense to me, would be to just pour it through a coffee filter into the bottle. Whatever sediment gets kicked up would hopefully get filtered. Are there any nasties that would be in there that a coffee filter wouldn't pick up (or any goodies that it might prevent from getting through, although I doubt there are any)? On the same note, I have a sieve, which would be better than coffee filters if it would get everything I don't want out since it is reusable, but it seems that a coffee filter would provide better filtering.

My only other idea is to stab a hole in the bottom of the jug, above the sediment, and let it drain into other containers through that hole. If I could make the hole without disturbing the liquid too much, I figure it would just pour out without anything from below the hole getting out, but then I'd need to buy new jugs if any of this stuff turns out drinkable and I want to make more (which is a hassle, since I'm a poor college student with no car on campus).

Would any of this work, or are there any other ways of not giving myself/my friends explosive gas from drinking yeast using really common items?

I would suggest spending your time @ school in the books not trying to make swill in your dorm room.
Just a suggestion
JJ

I'm glad I finally have advice for someone else here.

I'm working on my 'first' brew now, an apfelwein, after having a failed brew before that I'm not counting. That brew? I got myself five gallons of distilled water, forgot to buy some frozen concentrate, and brewed it as was (was looking at the same recipe on WikiHow you're talking about, haha).

After it was finished, I took a funnel attached to some spare garden hose that I happened to have kicking around and scooped it out (I suck at siphoning even just using a basic hose) from the top and poured it into the funnel, which also had a sheet of five coffee filters in it. It took a while, but the stuff eventually went through, and did an OKAY job of filtering, but not great. I could still taste a lot of the yeast.

My advice would not be not to poke a hole above the sediment. I've never done it, but I imagine it not just pouring out the stuff pushed down by gravity above it, but seeing as it'll be working on suction from the inside, it might also pull up a lot of the sediment with it. If you're using plastic jugs, I'd recommend putting them in your fridge for a little bit to help kill off the remaining living yeast and help it settle to the bottom. Then, I'd find a way to cut the top off of the bottle and carefully/slowly just pull it out cup by cup if you're not good at siphoning through spare hose like myself.

As far as the taste? Well, I doused mine with Kool-Aid of all flavours repeatedly, and... well... I hope you can drink just about anything, haha.

That sugar water is going to only taste nasty, and give you massive hangovers and I would dump it. Everything else you have going is going smoothly though. However all of the techniques you listed to rack off the sediment is going to give your brews really bad oxidated taste. Think cardboard, or PBR. Poking a hole in the bottom of the the bottle is only going to shake up the bottles and sediment, therefore ruining any chance of getting it off the sediment.

Dude, it's not that hard to siphon. You have a science lab? Go 'borrow' three feet of tubing from the lab. There's your siphoning hose. Or if someone has a fishtank hose they can score for you, use that. Dunk the hose into water and let it fill. Plug both ends of the hose with your thumbs, drop one end into the jug and push it almost down to the bottom. Let go of the other end of the hose, let it drain until it changes color, then move the hose into your new container.

Jaybird said:

I would suggest spending your time @ school in the books not trying to make swill in your dorm room.
Just a suggestion
JJ

Click to expand...

No worries, it won't affect my grades at all.

The problem isn't that I don't know how to siphon, I had fish when I was younger so I have experience with that. It's that I don't have a hose, and I don't know anyone here with one. I'm not taking any labs (other than Computer Science ones, which don't use hoses..), so I can't steal one either. I suppose I'll just let it sit until I can come about a hose, someone around here is bound to make a trip to a store sometime.

I understand the suger-water koolaid drink is going to be horrible, the only reason I'm making it is because I found that wikihow article before I read anything about homebrewing and started it up quickly. I figure I might as well try some before dumping it. Mostly out of curiosity, why would it give a worse hangover than juice?

Producing "alcohol" from such poor ingredients, equipment, and procedures will produce plenty of off chemicals, alcohols, flavors etc.

Your profile says you are 28, is that really true? Because you didn't seem to deny what was implied about you living in a dorm etc. Along with implying you might steal needed equipment if you were able.

But anyways, to give good advice to a bad situation. Go to a hardware store, any hardware store, even a walmart or something similar, and buy some hose there. There are plenty of options for just a couple bucks. Do not use anymore improper equipment or procedures and you will at least get the best hooch you can at this point.

If you are living in a dorm, then chances are you are a first or second year college student under the age of 21 trying to make hooch. We don't do hooch threads and membership is limted to folks 21 and older.

Are you short on cash?