home brewing for first time in a dry country HELP !

[hadi]

hello

i live in a country where alcohol is illegal and cant be purchased

so this is my only way to get alcohol {except buying smuggled liqueur which is verrry expensive } so i decided to make my own alcohol !

my goal is alcohol itself so i want the fastest way to make a drinkable high alcohol percentage beverage (i know i cant get more than 20% without distilling ) . and i do not want to distill because it could be dangerous{i dont want to go blind im a pilot i will lose my job ) and needs equipment and experience

im absolutely new to home brewing i have no experience whatsoever

i have read a lot and watched a lot of videos about basics of brewing

i write in wine forum because i think what im going to make is not beer or cider or liqueur , but could be wine

i have ordered this this Fermenting Kit but im really afraid it wont get passed the customs as they may know the purpose of it !

if they catch it i will be left with a water carboy i even dont have an airlock
i only have very basic ingredients : water . table sugar . yeast

but i know this will get me alcohol

first : do i have to heat the water when adding the sugar ?

second : whats gonna happen when i ferment without airlock ? i know i can use a ballon or a condom but some say you can make alcohol this way but it will taste like vinegar , im planning on closing the cap of the water carboy then poking a small hole to let the co2 out . how can i know when the fermentation is complete without an airlock ?

third : what comes after the fermentation is complete ? how is it going to taste like ? im planning to mix it with coke and ice , i know there will be leftover yeast and sugar . how do i filter it before mixing ?

sorry for the long post and for my bad English im not a native speaker .

 

[TeeJo]

Other than that you maybe lose the money you spent on the kit, there is really nothing special about it. It is a Bucket, with a hole in it. And a spigot. The spigot can be bought and put on your own bucket if you want one.

I would rather have a bucket without a hole in it.

Hose that can be used to siphon out the product is easy enough to source.

Take a good look at the recipes for wine, cider, and mead, in the recipe database, and you can compare the ingredients to what is available locally. Or look at the recipe for tepache, which is fermented fruit and fruit juices, and is drank while very recently fermented.

People make bread with yeast where you are, yes? Yeast used for bread will work to make alcohol too.

If you want fast easy drink, then fruit juice and fruit are probably the easiest. To make something more like liquor is going to take more planning, and materials that are harder to get, like high alcohol tolerant yeasts (Turbo Yeast) which are not meant for drinking directly, so may end up tasting bad.

Distilling is not too difficult and the materials you need can be bought pretty much everywhere. There is a LOT of good information online, if you do some reading, and there is little risk of blinding yourself, if you do not get greedy and adulterate your original source of alcohol (the wash) with bad stuff, and you follow some simple rules with regards to throwing away the first and last parts of the distillate. The actual quantity's are based on the size of the batch, so you must do your homework.
A simple pot still or alembic would work well enough. Again, lots of info on line.

To get the yeast out, one uses patience. Allow the product to sit in a cool location for a time, and the yeast settles out to the bottom of the container. Drinking active yeast may cause some stomach distress, as well as bad gas!

TeeJo

 

[bernardsmith]

You may live in a "dry" country but my guess is that there are few dry countries on this planet that don't grow fruit and any fruit (from bananas to paw paw from figs to plums ) will ferment and produce wine... trying to ferment sugar water will result in one thing - an alcoholic buzz. If you can buy a bottle of fruit juice and you have access to bread yeast then you can make wine.. Won't be wonderful. Won't win you any prizes... but it will taste like ... fruit wine (you can also make wines from vegetables too (carrot wine for example), or make wine by adding sugar to edible flowers (hibiscus, for example). Then there is wine from honey (needs to be diluted about 4 parts water to one part honey...

 

[jbaysurfer]

Anyone else watch the series: "Locked up Abroad"? This sounds like the beginning of an episode.

 

[MaxStout]

Buy fruit juice from the grocery store and a packet of bread yeast. Maybe buy them on separate trips, so nobody figures out what you are doing.

For equipment (if your kit gets seized by Customs), you can improvise. The fermenter can be a plastic bucket with a lid. You can use a toy balloon as an airlock, or just tape a coffee filter over a hole in the top.

Good luck and be careful to not get busted!

 

[thumpersk_a]

This mixed with coke and ice will be nasty. This whole thread sounds like BS.

 

[hadi]

Other than that you maybe lose the money you spent on the kit, there is really nothing special about it. It is a Bucket, with a hole in it. And a spigot. The spigot can be bought and put on your own bucket if you want one.

I would rather have a bucket without a hole in it.

Hose that can be used to siphon out the product is easy enough to source.

Take a good look at the recipes for wine, cider, and mead, in the recipe database, and you can compare the ingredients to what is available locally. Or look at the recipe for tepache, which is fermented fruit and fruit juices, and is drank while very recently fermented.

People make bread with yeast where you are, yes? Yeast used for bread will work to make alcohol too.

If you want fast easy drink, then fruit juice and fruit are probably the easiest. To make something more like liquor is going to take more planning, and materials that are harder to get, like high alcohol tolerant yeasts (Turbo Yeast) which are not meant for drinking directly, so may end up tasting bad.

Distilling is not too difficult and the materials you need can be bought pretty much everywhere. There is a LOT of good information online, if you do some reading, and there is little risk of blinding yourself, if you do not get greedy and adulterate your original source of alcohol (the wash) with bad stuff, and you follow some simple rules with regards to throwing away the first and last parts of the distillate. The actual quantity's are based on the size of the batch, so you must do your homework.
A simple pot still or alembic would work well enough. Again, lots of info on line.

To get the yeast out, one uses patience. Allow the product to sit in a cool location for a time, and the yeast settles out to the bottom of the container. Drinking active yeast may cause some stomach distress, as well as bad gas!

TeeJo

yes ive learned that the spigot might leak but at least it comes wiht an airlock which i really need . thank you

You may live in a "dry" country but my guess is that there are few dry countries on this planet that don't grow fruit and any fruit (from bananas to paw paw from figs to plums ) will ferment and produce wine... trying to ferment sugar water will result in one thing - an alcoholic buzz. If you can buy a bottle of fruit juice and you have access to bread yeast then you can make wine.. Won't be wonderful. Won't win you any prizes... but it will taste like ... fruit wine (you can also make wines from vegetables too (carrot wine for example), or make wine by adding sugar to edible flowers (hibiscus, for example). Then there is wine from honey (needs to be diluted about 4 parts water to one part honey...

of course we have fruits but i have decided to use orange juice instead , looks more simple , thank you

Anyone else watch the series: "Locked up Abroad"? This sounds like the beginning of an episode.

LOL ive seen it , dont worry im not planning on selling it

Buy fruit juice from the grocery store and a packet of bread yeast. Maybe buy them on separate trips, so nobody figures out what you are doing.

For equipment (if your kit gets seized by Customs), you can improvise. The fermenter can be a plastic bucket with a lid. You can use a toy balloon as an airlock, or just tape a coffee filter over a hole in the top.

Good luck and be careful to not get busted!

i did exactly what you said especially the part of separate trips LOL . and yes i have used a 4 gallons plastic water carboy and used a balloon as an airlock and poked a small hole on top . we will see how it goes . thank you

This mixed with coke and ice will be nasty. This whole thread sounds like BS.

i also think it will be nasty and for that i decided to ferment orange juice . and no sir why would someone lie about a matter like this ? .







thank you all for your replies .

as i said above i started fermenting orange juice with no added preservative (13 liters of it , that's 3.4 gallons) with saf-instant yeast and normal white sugar and i also added mushed dates as a nutrient for the yeast in a 4 gallons plastic carboy .

my questions are :

1- how can i figure the right amount of sugar and yeast to add ? { i want maximum alcohol % )

2- how much time does it take to ferment ? a week ? two weeks ?

3- am i going to have fusel alcohols in my drink ? i read that it gives bad hangovers . how would i know i got fusel alcohol in my drink ? is there a way remove it ?

 

[thumpersk_a]

I would think you would have better luck with edworts apfelwein than using orange juice. Buy some apple juice without preservatives and use edworts recipe. Lots of people make it on here its pretty good stuff. Ill see if i can find the recipe link for you.

 

[thumpersk_a]

Apfelwein - Fermenting

Award Winning Apfelwein Recipe (German Hard Cider) Apple Wine Recipe
Placed 1st in the Cider & Apple Wine category at the BJCP sanctioned Alamo Cerveza fest (out of 11 entries) and took 2nd place for Best of Show for the main category of Meads & Ciders (out of 50 entries).

Ingredients

5 Gallons 100% Apple Juice (No preservatives or additives) I use Tree Top Apple Juice
2 pounds of dextrose (corn sugar) in one pound bags
1 five gram packet of Montrachet Wine Yeast

Equipment

5 Gallon Carboy (I use a Better Bottle)
Carboy Cap or Stopper with Airlock
Funnel
First sanitize the carboy, airlock, funnel, stopper or carboy cap.
Open one gallon bottle of apple juice and pour half of it into the carboy using the funnel.
Open one bag of Dextrose and carefully add it to the now half full bottle of apple juice. Shake well.
Repeat Steps 2 and 3, then go to step 5.
Pour in the mixture of Apple Juice and Dextrose from both bottles into the carboy.
Add all but 1 quart of remaining 3 gallons of apple juice to the carboy.
Open the packet of Montrachet Yeast and pour it into the neck of the funnel.
Use the remaining quart of juice to wash down any yeast that sticks. I am able to fit all but 3 ounces of apple juice into a 5 gallon Better Bottle. You may need to be patient to let the foam die down from all shaking and pouring.
Put your stopper or carboy cap on with an airlock and fill the airlock with cheap vodka. No bacteria will live in vodka and if you get suckback, you just boosted the abv.
There’s no need to worry about filling up a carboy so full when you use Montrachet wine yeast. There is no Kreuzen, just a thin layer of bubbles (). I'm able to fit all but 4 oz. of my five gallons in the bottle. Ferment at room temperature.

It will become cloudy in a couple of days and remain so for a few weeks. In the 4th week, the yeast will begin to drop out and it will become clear. After at least 4 weeks, you can keg or bottle, but it is ok to leave it in the carboy for another month or so. Racking to a secondary is not necessary. It ferments out very dry (less than 0.999, see here)

Apfelwein really improves with age, so if you can please let it sit in a carboy for up to 3 months before bottling or kegging, then let it sit even longer. Here's what some folks think.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Saccharomyces View Post
Six months and it hits its stride. Eight months and it'll blow your mind.
If you want to bottle and carbonate, ¾ cup of corn sugar will work fine. Use as you would carbonate a batch of beer.

Remember to reserve judgment till after 3 glasses. It grows on you.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND START ANOTHER BATCH 2 WEEKS AFTER YOU START THIS ONE.
YOU WILL THANK ME LATER!


GENERAL QUESTIONS
compiled by Dammed Squirrels from the first 37 pages of this thread. Thanks DS!

How does it taste?
It ferments quite dry. Some people have tried different yeasts in order to achieve a sweeter taste. It may take you a few glasses to get a feel for the flavor. It is very reminiscent of a sort of apfelwein produced locally in Germany. There really is no comparable product in the United States. It's drier and less sweet than commercial hard ciders. It gets better with age and at 6+ months, the apple flavor really comes out.

How do you sweeten it?
Many folks back sweeten it with Wine Conditioner. Wine Conditioner is a blend of sucrose and sorbic acid. The addition of 2-4 oz. per gallon adds sweetness and prevents renewed fermentation. It can be purchased as any LHBS that caters to wine makers. Others will use Splenda or lactose (other non-fermentable sugars). Germans who prefer it sweet (or Suß as they say) will add a splash of Sprite or 7up to a glass. This is the easiest method as you don't have to make a whole "sweet" batch that way.

What is the difference between Apfelwein and hard cider?
EdWort says, “Most ciders are a bit sweeter. Ciders and Apfelwein are about 6% abv, but I like the little boost I give it with 2 pounds of Dextrose. It adds no body or flavor and still tastes like Possmann's Apfelwein, only it will kick your butt much quicker.”

Is this like Apfelmost / Apfel Korn?
No. Apfel Korn is a german liqeur made from wheat spirits. Apfelmost is spontaneously fermented with fresh-pressed apples or apple juice. It is probably similar, but the results may vary as a result of the spontaneous fermentation. Either way, Apfelmost is most certainly has a lower alcohol content since the initial gravity is not increased by the use of concentrate or corn sugar.

What’s the difference between apple juice and cider?
Cider is made by pressing apples. Juice is then filtered to remove all of the stuff that makes it cloudy.

Can I use apple cider instead?
Sure! You can use whatever you want. However, there is not enough information in this thread to give you any better details as to how it will turn out. I recommend starting a new thread or ask more experienced cider-makers.

What kind of Apple Juice should I use?
Ideally, you want to use 100% natural apple juice with no preservatives. The only acceptable preservative is ascorbic acid, which is a source of vitamin C and does not affect fermentation. Pasteurized juice is preferred, since it will have less bacteria.

How much will this recipe cost me?
5 gallons of Apfelwein can be made for between 20 and 25 dollars.

What else can you do with this recipe?
EdWort says, "this makes a great Grog in the winter time. Take a quart in a sauce pan, add some rum, turbinado sugar, and float a cinnamon stick in it and simmer for a while. Serve hot in mugs. It'll warm you right up."




Drink a quart of water and take 3 aspirin before going to sleep tol help reduce the effects of excessive Apfelwein consumption as well as the urge to call EdWort a M'F**kR the next morning!

I think this would be your best bet and you dont need to buy a bunch of stuff to make a good tasting drink. I have put 6 - 8 cinnamon sticks in this recipe and it is my favorite way of making this stuff

 

[bernardsmith]

Hadi, Wine from orange juice is not hard to make but oranges are quite acidic. You may want to dilute the orange juice with some water (perhaps 8 or 9 volumes of orange juice to 2 or 1 volume of water. One pound of sugar (about 1/2 kilo) will raise the specific gravity of 1 US gallon of water to 1.040 and a gravity of 1.040 has the potential to produce about 5% alcohol. Orange juice without any added sugar will probably have about 1/2 K of sugar per gallon so you can do the arithmetic and figure out how much sugar you may want to add - the more sugar you add the more stress you will put on the yeast and the more unpleasant chemicals the yeast are likely to produce in response... They won't poison you and they won't make you go blind but they will make the wine taste crap... Most wine makers aim for a wine of about 10 or 11 % Alcohol by Volume (ABV)...

 

[Yooper]

We are teetering here on illegal activity- talk of distillation (also illegal in the US) and talking about illegal activity in the OP's location.

Let's not do that.