Can homebrew make me go blind?

[Dewey_Decimal]

So I made some once and it was okay , was thinking of making more but my friend said if I don't know what im doing I could go blind


the time I did it , I got a 5 gallon bucket of water , added rice to the bottem & i put in a bit of yeast & added about a bag & a half of sugar. cut up a couple apples on top and left em there for about a week for flavor ... waited a few more days and drank it


was that safe to do hah also is there a better way of making it? the cheapest, most uncomplicated way with a decent taste prefereably

 

[TallahasseeBrew]

Touching yourself at night makes you go blind.

Homebrewing just makes your palms hairy

 

[beergolf]

Touching yourself at night makes you go blind.

Homebrewing just makes your palms hairy

You beat me to it. That was going to my response.

To the OP. This is a brewing forum where everyone is trying to improve the flavor of the BEERS they brew. I have no idea what you brewed but it probably tasted like chit.

Are you kid making alcohol in your parents basement?

 

[bragona71]

not sure how that would taste, not sure I want to know!! that might make you sick not blind

get an extract kit and fermenter kit and follow directions its that easy

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/sponsors/

 

[ong]

Your friend is thinking of distilling, which can concentrate methyl alcohol. You can't really get sick from homebrewing unless you add something toxic to the beer (or, y'know, drink way too much beer).

 

[Iseneye]

So I made some once and it was okay , was thinking of making more but my friend said if I don't know what im doing I could go blind


the time I did it , I got a 5 gallon bucket of water , added rice to the bottem & i put in a bit of yeast & added about a bag & a half of sugar. cut up a couple apples on top and left em there for about a week for flavor ... waited a few more days and drank it


was that safe to do hah also is there a better way of making it? the cheapest, most uncomplicated way with a decent taste prefereably

My first batch of homebrew turned me blind. I now have a helper reading forum posts out to me. j/k. You won't go blind.

The above recipe sounds disgusting and probably classed as some sort of cider with the apples but is not beer.

If you want uncomplicated read up on extract brewing - see John Palmer's How to Brew. If that is too difficult then just buy beer.

 

[Hopper5000]

Methanol can make you go blind/be very bad for you. Methanol comes from fermentation of primarily fruit. There can be trace amounts in wine, cider, mead , and (possibly) beer but not enough to harm you and nothing to worry about. You can only really go blind from improper distilling as your concentrating these compounds into a smaller volume.

 

[Qhrumphf]

How cheap are we talking? If that's the kind of cost expenditure you're looking for, you're better off just buying macro light lagers.

If you want uncomplicated, that's much easier. Mr. Beer is as simple as can be- sanitize container, dump in ingredients, ferment, bottle. Or, simply buying preservative free apple cider and adding beer or wine yeast to it.

But to answer your question, no, homebrew cannot make you go blind. The blindness thing is from improper distillation of hard liquor, where methanol is allowed to concentrate to toxic levels. In beverages that are simply fermented, not distilled or otherwise concentrated, the methanol can never reach high enough levels to be harmful.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Are you kid making alcohol in your parents basement?

This was my first thought as well.

 

[Hopper5000]

Sounds like (s)he made prison wine

 

[beergolf]

lock down in ....3.......2........1

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Touching yourself at night makes you go blind.

Homebrewing just makes your palms hairy

THATS why I can't legally drive anymore?

 

[Qhrumphf]

Sounds like (s)he made prison wine

Honestly I'd rather drink what the OP made than prison wine. Something about canned fruit and ketchup as the sugar sources and moldy bread for the microorganisms doesn't sound all that appetizing.

It sounds closer to my Russian friend's wife's mother's "moonshine" ie fermented sugar water (she doesn't bother with the rice or apples though, not to be fussed over, brewed the hard way, all that jazz). It's about 10% ABV but tastes like 40% ABV. Not pleasant. But I stomach some as a courtesy.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

 

[Dewey_Decimal]

hah yeah it wasn't great , mr beer ill check into that


if I buy the 24L kit , does it come with everything I need? & how much beer could I get outta that for every refill??

 

[Sailingeric]

Sounds like they were making Sake.

 

[madscientist451]

I'd skip mr beer. Get a 20 quart pot at walmart and a BIAB bag and do a real brew with grain. You can do 2.5 gallon batches and the beer will be good. If you are really broke, I've heard of 2 liter soda bottles being reused for bottling beer. So it doesn't take much to get started.

 

[kh54s10]

hah yeah it wasn't great , mr beer ill check into that


if I buy the 24L kit , does it come with everything I need? & how much beer could I get outta that for every refill??

Not to be combative but, to a little research, look up beer kits. Look at the vendors forum on this site.

Then come back with some somewhat informed questions.

If you are looking for really cheap beer you will have to go to the liquor store and buy it. You cannot make it for less until you have bought a lot of pricey equipment and know how to brew all grain batches.

 

[Qhrumphf]

hah yeah it wasn't great , mr beer ill check into that


if I buy the 24L kit , does it come with everything I need? & how much beer could I get outta that for every refill??

If you're looking for simple, go with the 2 gallon kit you can buy in many stores. However I'd temper your expectations about the resulting product. Mr. Beer ingredients are usually old, stale, and poor quality. But simple and uncomplicated to make.

If you want to make beer that tastes good, you're going to have to get fresher ingredients, boil it, hop it yourself, chill it, pitch a proper amount of yeast, control the fermentation temperature, and basically do a bit more work. It's still a simple process but it takes a fair amount of time, and it seems like you want just plain easy and just plain cheap at the expense of flavor. In which case, just buy beer.

However, if you want to take the plunge and make beer right, go to www.howtobrew.com, which'll teach you how to do it right. And then search out a local homebrew shop, or one of the online stores (Northern Brewer, Midwest Supplies, MoreBeer, Austin Homebrew Supply, etc), and get proper equipment and proper ingredients.

You may opt to go the wine, mead, or cider route over the beer route, as those are often simpler to make than beer. However, while the brew day is faster and simpler, they take much longer to be ready and are usually much more expensive to make (except cider, cider can be ready a little faster and for pretty low cost).

 

[mrgrimm101]

? the cheapest, most uncomplicated way with a decent taste prefereably

IMO, this isn't really achievable. You're going to sacrifice at least one of these 3 things (low cost, low difficulty, and high quality result) to achieve the other 2.

I love this hobby because I can dive headfirst into it and can constantly be learning and improving my techniques and upgrading equipment to achieve better and better brews.

If it were cheap and uncomplicated, where would the fun be?

Honestly, it's not too difficult to brew great beer, but you have to make the time investment to learn and research, as well as invest financially at least for a starter equipment kit.

 

[mrgrimm101]

it seems like you want just plain easy and just plain cheap at the expense of flavor. In which case, just buy beer.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[LandoLincoln]

So I made some once and it was okay , was thinking of making more but my friend said if I don't know what im doing I could go blind

the time I did it , I got a 5 gallon bucket of water , added rice to the bottem & i put in a bit of yeast & added about a bag & a half of sugar. cut up a couple apples on top and left em there for about a week for flavor ... waited a few more days and drank it

was that safe to do hah also is there a better way of making it? the cheapest, most uncomplicated way with a decent taste prefereably

Yes, it can. You can drink so much homebrew that you die, and you won't be able to see anymore.

But other than that, no, you can't.

 

[sudbuddy]

This thread is hilarious. No wonder I shave my palms more than my face nowadays

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I don't know if we should be giving advice on homebrewing to a person who is most likely underage and NOT one of our nephews...

 

[wardens355]

If you have a 30 minute boil addition of human face, you may go blind.

 

[soccerdad]

I'm having trouble reading these posts

 

[sanity1676]

So thats what they were talking about when they said id go blind lol.
by the way you are brewing, it sounds like a major bacterial infection or molding is possible... which could damage your health

 

[KavDaven]

Ok, ok, prison wine.

First sneak a juice into your room each day until you have enough to 3/4 fill the glass jar you managed to steal from the kitchen. Add the occasional sugar packet if your lucky. Get a couple of cracker packets, crumble into a clean sock. Pour juice into the sock into the glass jar to gather some baker's yeast. Talk a lady boy into giving you a condom. This goes over the mouth of the glass jar. This serves two purposes, one it keeps nasty germs out, two as it inflates and farts, you know it's fermenting. When the condom goes limp, fermentation is complete. Drink up and enjoy.

Some other day I can tell you how to make fruit roll ups with a juice and ramen noodles.

 

[Riggs1]

Hey Wally. Will I really go blind?

 

[C-Rider]

Read somewhere that the antidote for Methanol poisoning is Ethanol. LOL

 

[orangehero]

Ok, ok, prison wine.

First sneak a juice into your room each day until you have enough to 3/4 fill the glass jar you managed to steal from the kitchen. Add the occasional sugar packet if your lucky. Get a couple of cracker packets, crumble into a clean sock. Pour juice into the sock into the glass jar to gather some baker's yeast. Talk a lady boy into giving you a condom. This goes over the mouth of the glass jar. This serves two purposes, one it keeps nasty germs out, two as it inflates and farts, you know it's fermenting. When the condom goes limp, fermentation is complete. Drink up and enjoy.

Some other day I can tell you how to make fruit roll ups with a juice and ramen noodles.

Glass jars and ladyboys with condoms, huh? That's some fancy minimum security equipment there.

 

[Chadwick]

I'm 99.9996321% sure the OP was a troll. Anyone even half-way serious about brewing real beer, while having the mental capacity to do it, wouldn't approach a forum dedicated to fine brewing with a post like that.

The OP was either:
A) a troll
B) a kid
C) incarcerated in a prison for the mentally challenged
D) some ignorant activist we are yet to learn about

This list is in order from most likely --> least likely.

 

[Rockn_M]

I'm 99.9996321% sure the OP was a troll. Anyone even half-way serious about brewing real beer, while having the mental capacity to do it, wouldn't approach a forum dedicated to fine brewing with a post like that.

The OP was either:
A) a troll
B) a kid
C) incarcerated in a prison for the mentally challenged
D) some ignorant activist we are yet to learn about

This list is in order from most likely --> least likely.

I'm thinking kid or troll.

 

[fastengine]

Here is the absolute truth as I say it. There is NO WAY a 5 gallon ferment will create enough methanol to make you go blind. PEIRIOD!!!
Drinking the foreshots from 10 15 gallon moonshine ferments won't make you go blind, just give you a massive hangover. It was a goberment lie and poison added to ferments during prohibition that caused Jake leg, blindness and toothloss.
Worst case is you will need glasses, dentures and a cane if you drink bad alcohol

 

[Chadwick]

It is actually possible to hurt yourself making home brew if you are completely inept and clueless. Prisoners across the nation are poisoning themselves with botulism because they are trying to make unsanitary hooch with potato skins and dried bread with ketchup.

The danger with the OP's post is that it might be some dumb kid that will do any stupid thing he/she thinks might get them high. And if that kid does cause harm to his/herself the parents might link it back to us.

I think this child needs reminded that underage drinking/manufacturing of alcohol in any form is illegal and dangerous to ones health if done with reckless abandon, I.E., how every dumb kid will do things, and the OP needs banned for: Take your pick
1) being an underage kid trying to procure unlawful carnal knowledge
2) being a troll
3) for basically being reckless and harmful to the health of our site by being either 1 or 2 or some other type of reckless and irresponsible person.

I'd like to add that the recipe the OP provided screams of "reckless and clueless". It would be different if they approached us talking about forms of sake and rice wine. But this is not the case. They are clearly only looking to ferment anything with some form of alcohol in it for the sake of the alcohol in it. If they listed raw potato skins as part of the recipe would anyone have been able sound the alarms fast enough before this OP claimed we inspired it?

 

[72hw]

Sorry, but how many 'kids' today know about Dewey Decimal.... I mean come on, a troll is a troll by any other name.

And besides, with such ready access to bath salts, methamphetamine, Slim Jims and other mind altering substances, what kid in thier right mind would try and stash a mash tun under thier mattress?

"No seriously Mom, it's pond water for my science class! I have no idea why it's bubbling and smells like dad does after he comes home late!"

 

[Chadwick]

Sorry, but how many 'kids' today know about Dewey Decimal.... I mean come on, a troll is a troll by any other name.

And besides, with such ready access to bath salts, methamphetamine, Slim Jims and other mind altering substances, what kid in thier right mind would try and stash a mash tun under thier mattress?

"No seriously Mom, it's pond water for my science class! I have no idea why it's bubbling and smells like dad does after he comes home late!"

Ok then, guilty of argument #2. There we have it.

 

[Chadwick]

oh wait, here is even a worse scenario. What if the OP is the parent pretending to be the kid. They are planning to poison their kid and then use our website as the protagonist. They jump in and accuse us as being the inspiration for why their kid made botulism brew and drank it and died.

Seriously though, kids these days are hunting down bed bugs so they can smoke them. I'm not making this stuff up. I didn't believe it at first either. Kid these days....God help them. I'm beginning to think the human race is un-evolving back into monkeys.

 

[1977Brewer]

You're looking for devolve. But we're not. Kids are kids.

OP, f'real though, give mommy her laptop back and go smoke some grapevine behind the gym.

 

[AkTom]

I can't believe I read 4 pages of this. I'm the dip.