brand new, looking for guidelines/help

[TheNewTeddy]

Hello, I'm Teddy! I live in Ontario, Canada, and I've checked into the law, and it seems I can brew my own wine for my own personal use.

What inspired me to try this was, in a way, comedy. I've been playing a video game where the player character has bad habits, and one of the thing you can do, is brew Kilju, Finnish sugar wine. Only need water, sugar, and yeast.

So, I want to try it! Put some sugar, yeast, and water in a bottle, and let it sit for some time (a week I think) and see what it tastes like. Maybe I've made wine, or maybe I've made vinegar; I'll have to try for myself.

I know I need a special airlock top, to only let CO2 out but no Oxygen in

...and that's it. That's where my knowledge on home brewing starts and ends!

I have, lying around the house, a number of empty 2L bottles that once contained pepsi. They are plastic. My father also has empty 30L buckets that once contained red wine; they look nearly identical to the video game bucket you make kilju in, but none of the tops that came with the buckets has the airlock. I'm also able to buy a very small number of very cheap supplies if needed.

My first question is - can I do this in a 2L plastic bottle that once contained sodapop? I know I will need an airlock topper - but I think my father's neighbour has some (he used to homebrew wine) and I'm sure my father could get me one if I asked nicely. If not, I've checked online, and the airlocks themselves seem cheap.

My second question is - assuming I do get the airlock and a workable bottle, do I really just chuck things in as per the in-game recipe? If I do that will mean a bit under 1700ml of water, and a bit over 300ml of sugar, plus a packet of yeast. Do I just... pour it all in and put the airlock/cap on?

My third question is - how do I know if it's all gone wrong? I am under no misconceptions that this is going to taste anything but horrid when I'm done. Is there any particular taste/smell I should look for that tells me it's gone wrong VS it's simply an awful but still alcoholic brew?

My fourth question is - If I am able to successfully make a wine at home once, I am going to try it again; but for some reason, I really feel like making it watermelon flavor. Do I just throw chunks of watermelon in there to achieve this?

My final question is - should I do anything with it when done? I've heard people talk about filtering, how do I do that exactly, and do I really need to?

Hopefully I'll manage it all and it will be a success. If so, I may try for a third batch; and if so, maybe I've found a new thing I enjoy doing!

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi TheNew Teddy and welcome. I gotta say, I don't know if the origins of Kliju are Finnish but in English this translates as "kill you" and while technically, it uses yeast to ferment fermentable sugar the sugar that is fermented will produce ethanol (alcohol) but that ethanol is as far from a pleasant tasting wine which is full of flavor, aroma, mouthfeel (viscosity) as farm silage is from crops. If you want to make a wine you might make a gallon of a delicious tea you enjoy and add enough sugar to transform the tea into a must (the solution before you add yeast) that will have the potential to make a wine to the alcohol by volume (ABV) that you want: one pound of sugar dissolved in that tea to make 1 US gallon will have a gravity of about 1.040 and a gravity of 1.040 has a potential ABV (all other things being equal) of about 5 or 6 %. Double that amount of sugar in the same volume of liquid and the potential ABV will be about 11-12% and that is typical of a wine.
If you don't want to try tea then any store bought fruit juice is fermentable - just as long as there are no preservatives such as sorbates added to prevent fermentation. So you could ferment apple juice or OJ or lemon juice or cranberry juice or pomegranate juice or... or... Most juice naturally will have enough sugar in the fruit to make a wine at about 5% ABV so you may want to add another pound of sugar to each gallon to get it more towards 1.080 -1.090 which is the "sweet spot" for wines. Hard cider might be great at 1.045...
Good luck! But as to Kilju... I would leave to the charlatans on Youtube. Wines don't kilju.

 

[TheNewTeddy]

oh I'm fine with drinking the equivalent of silage. I'm mostly on the "ha ha, that's crazy, I can make booze? at home!? That's crazy!" stage. Supposedly, Kilju will result in an ABV of between 6%-13%. I'm going to just presume it will be 13% when I consume it so I do not over-do it.

The origins of Kilju come from prohibition, from what I can tell, as it was a cheap and easy way to make booze; this in a way is also what I'm aiming for; if I can make a bottle of wine for myself that is cheaper than what I can get in the store; do it reliably, and find I enjoy doing it, then I can start looking into making it taste like not-poop.

I quite like Sake, so, it is likely that if this works that I'll be looking for how to make something as 'smooth'/'flat' tasting as that. For now I'm more on the "this won't kill me right, cause it tastes like it just might" stage of things

At this time I'm focused on the ease of doing this. It will probably be weeks (if not months) before I dare to try something whose entire recipe can not fit into a single tweet

 

[Seamonkey84]

Doable yes, but it will need some (lots) of aging to be drinkable. The yeast also needs nutrients to grow and ferment properly, or it will produce lots of nasty smells since they are stressed. There is a post a bit down about this already.
yes you can ferment it in a soda bottle, but you’ll need to move it to glass to let it age. Plastic bottles keep in CO2 but O2 is smaller and can get in and oxidize your brew. Problem with plastic bottles and air locks, it will blow and suck through it every time you go to move it since it is flexible.

 

[TheNewTeddy]

eh, I have a broad definition of drinkable supposedly in finland some people let it age 24 hours! this sounds insane to me, wouldn't it still mostly just be water with sugar in it?

I'm curious what the difference in taste will be; like, what kind of bad taste will it have from not being fully aged.

 

[Coffee49]

You will gain an upset stomach if you drink a batch that has not completely gone through the fermentation process, time is the best ingredient for maturing and clarifying a home brew

 

[TheNewTeddy]

will filtering help, and how do I filter?

(so far, only question 1 has been answered, I am still hoping for answers for my other questions)

 

[BruceH]

Hi Teddy, welcome to the forum.

I wish you luck and will make one suggestion that you didn't ask for, sorry in advance.

Try Joe's Ancient Orange Mead. It uses common ingredients and will be drinkable. Joe's Ancient Orange Mead

Sugar wash will make alcohol, I'm pretty sure it will also make a huge hangover.

 

[Seamonkey84]

When it’s done, you can cold crash it in the fridge for a few days to clear it, then rack/siphon the clear product off of the sediment.

 

[TheNewTeddy]

When it’s done, you can cold crash it in the fridge for a few days to clear it, then rack/siphon the clear product off of the sediment.

what will happen if I consume the sediment?

 

[Sebastian Weetabix]

Would you happen to be of Dutch lineage by any chance?

 

[Seamonkey84]

what will happen if I consume the sediment?

That would be depending on your health/immune system. Taking in too much live yeast could really throw off your gut fauna, giving you some stomach issues.

 

[TheNewTeddy]

alright. *claps hands*. so given the feedback, and my own google searching, what I'm going to do is...

take an empty 2L bottle of pepsi. clean it out. put 1700ml of water in it. put 300ml of sugar in it. put one packet of yeast in it. I will then put a airlock top thingy on it.

I will leave it for a week. Once the week is done, I will use paper towels and a funnel to strain it into a different bottle, or, different bottles. all glass.

I will then try drinking this.

If successful (IE, it makes me feel nice and I do not die)

I will do the same again, except, with a bit less water/sugar, and, with small cubes I've cut from the yummy part of the watermelon in it. otherwise same procedure.

if successful again, and if I enjoy doing this, I try again following some of the tips in here (wait a month instead of a week, look into getting a hydrometer, and so forth). If that is both successful and enjoyable, I may consider making something more "normal".

now to get an airlock. this may take time.

 

[bernardsmith]

Two quick thoughts. One. there is really no need for an airlock during the active fermentation when you are making wine. The amount of carbon dioxide pumped off by the yeast creates enough positive pressure from the container to prevent any air from getting in and so all you need is a piece of cloth over the mouth of the container to keep out flies, dirt and pets. Why do brewers (of beer) use airlocks? Perhaps because traditionally beer was brewed in very large containers and those containers were often so open that they attracted lacto bacteria, and lacto bacteria love grains... and they produce lactic acid when they eat the sugars in competition with the yeast and that creates sour beers. But you are making "wine" (OK Kilju) and there is no grain in kilju, so there is nothing to fear about bacteria souring the result.
Two, What are you filtering? There is no protein or fruit particles in sugar so there is nothing to "filter". all you are likely to get is some ethanol, some higher alcohols, and water. No filter that you will have access to will filter any of those out of solution. My guess is that what you will get is a liquid that looks much like vodka.

 

[TheNewTeddy]

won't air getting in turn my kilju into vinegar? I will need some way for the bottle to off-gass without oxygen getting in, no?

 

[Seamonkey84]

Towel over the opening will keep the draft out enough for the positive pressure to push the air out.

 

[bernardsmith]

Towel over the opening will keep the draft out enough for the positive pressure to push the air out.

Also, it takes more than air to turn alcohol to vinegar. You need aceto-bacteria to transform the alcohol to acetic acid in the presence of O2. If you don't have those bacteria around you don't get vinegar. You MIGHT oxidize the kilju but oxidation is the equivalent of rust on wine. How long does it take rust to form on the underside of your car? a week? a month? a year? five years? longer? And if the yeast is pumping out - PUSHING OUT - CO2 how is air going to get anywhere near the surface of your kilju?

 

[TheNewTeddy]

I have some good news, and some bad news. I have the yeast. but seems to be some special kind of yeast. it says I should add warm water. it came in a 4OZ jar. its called quick-rise instant yeast. so. uh. how do I do this? I assume I just add warm water then?

 

[bernardsmith]

That yeast is processed differently from regular baking yeast and is packed as much finer grains than regular yeast. It is , I understand very susceptible to thermal shock so if you are rehydrating it before you add it to your must you need to make certain that there is virtually no temperature difference between the yeast solution and your kilju or you may kil'em yeast. I gotta say, that while I bake bread just about once a week I never use instant yeast so I honestly have no idea how you might use this for making your "wine" - that is to say, I have no sense whatsoever about the quantity of yeast you might need for this project. Normally, one pitches about 5 g of yeast for normal gravities of must for volumes between 1 gallon and 5 so you might want to pitch about 2 g of instant yeast...

 

[Seamonkey84]

The instant yeast doesn’t need to be hydrated before using, that’s the “instant” part. It’s designed to be mixed in with the dry ingredients and will hydrate with the dough. There are apparently different levels of nutrients that it’s been grown with too, not sure how that would effect the use as a wine yeast.

 

[TheNewTeddy]

alright; thanks for the tips; I'm gonna start in a few minutes

 

[TheNewTeddy]

4 hours (or so) in: man it looks nasty. in the first hour it bubbled up a bit, made some 'head' (like in beer), but that's died down. it's just sitting there now really, doing its thing. I also think the colour is changing slowly.

 

[TheNewTeddy]

1 day in. its definitely changing colour. I think its becoming more clear too. what would happen if I drank it like this?

 

[Seamonkey84]

Drinking lots of live yeast might give you a stomach ache, especially if your not into daily probiotics!

 

[TheNewTeddy]

a bit over 48 hours in - its definitely getting clearer. How would I go about filtering off the yeast, as, I notice there's some settling at the bottom of the bottle, and there's a small ring near the top.

 

[Seamonkey84]

If your in a rush and you don’t care about taste or if it’s done. Stick it in the fridge for a day or more to cold crash it. when it’s crystal clear, siphon or gently pour the clear stuff away from the layer of sediment on the bottom. Keep chilled and with a loos cap on, it’s possibly start fermenting again.if your going to drink some but it still carbonated and taste/smells kinda foul, stir or shake a sample until it’s completely degassed then try it again.

 

[TheNewTeddy]

I decided to take 100ml of kilju out for tasting. taste like feet. we'll find out in a bit if it gets me drunk and/or gives me the poops. Also pouring it, sounded still bit fizzy. so I'm gonna leave it for longer.

 

[TheNewTeddy]

so. I ended up taste-testing the entire bottle. I tried to filter it with a coffee filter, but that didn't seem to filter anything. So I just drank it all.

I estimate the ABV to have been around 6%-8%