Dangers Involved In Brewing?

Hello all,

I'm about to attempt the 'coffee pot beer' recipe from allaboutbeer as well as a brandy recipe from welchs juice, but I wanted to make sure of some things and I'd really appreciate some help.

Is there any danger when brewing of creating isopropanol or some other non-ethanol? I read that you only have the danger of making methyl when using wood for distillation, so I'm alright there. If there is this risk of creating something that will blind or kill me, is there any way of testing an alcohol to verify that it's ethanol?

My other question is when making brandy or beer, during distillation do you just cheese cloth the lid, or do you want it airtight with something like a cap/cork/balloon?

I appreciate your time!

I just skimmed the article, sounds interesting. My guess is that the beer won't taste very good, but whaddaIknow?

From reading the online forums, and the homebrewing books, and the howtobrew.com online book, I gather that beer has been such a popular drink through the ages because no know pathogen can survive in it. Never ever heard of somebody dying by a bad batch of beer, so my guess is that you can only get one kind of alcohol through standard techniques.

As to distilling, I think that is illegal, and I don't know nutt'n anyway.

I believe you can get fusels if you ferment hot (temp wise).. stay in the recommendation range for your yeast and you will be fine. Either way, I don't think they're going to hurt outside of a bad hangover.

Distilling I know nothing about, as it is illegal. By the nature of it you're concentrating alcohols which leads to the problems.

As far as whether to cap, I use a carboy cap and airlock. If it's a fruit or wheat beer (or very high OG) I use a blow off tube where the other end sits in a pot of santizer.

HTH

I appreciate the replys, and I'm relieved...I think I'll order my hops and barley now =)

woah wichita? Far from this opera forever more?

FenianB said:

wichita? Far from this opera forever more?

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I moved here about 6 months ago from MT, and I have heard that quote twice now, where is it from?

It's from the White Stripes song 'Seven Nation Army', good song.

Your biggest danger is that you will enjoy this hobby and obsessively chase it with time and $$$.

I second the last post, money can find itself going missing very easily when you get involved in this (like many other) hobbies. So many cool things you can get.

david_the_greek said:

I second the last post, money can find itself going missing very easily when you get involved in this (like many other) hobbies. So many cool things you can get.

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No doubt, the LHBS guys almost wouldn't let me leave the other day because I hadn't spent my usual $50+....seems like there's an endless list of cool things that are very useful.

olllllo said:

Your biggest danger is that you will enjoy this hobby and obsessively chase it with time and $$$.

Click to expand...

ha! I was about to post the same thing!

Some states are starting to loosen up with distilling; in Michigan, for example, a license to distill fruit liquors was announced a little while ago, and it's only $150 a year to produce and sell your own. With the taxes something like 70% here, that means you could conceivably save a lot of money with that...

Woodstone Creek here in Cincinnati are, so far as I know, currently the only licensed micro-distillery in Ohio. From the little chat I had with one of the owners while I was sipping their meads (check out Taliesin and Crowne Amber if ever you have the chance!), I got the feeling that it'd be a lot of hassle if you were just a small distiller looking to make some for your personal use. You have to be open to inspection at any time, etc. I wish them the best of luck with it, though--if their vodka is as good as she said it is, it must really be something else.