My First Brew Ever!!!!

[jackg100]

Ok, so I am about to brew my first ever batch. I have read a few books and bought £20 (including postage costs) worth of equipment which consists of:

• Rubber Bung (Cork) with one hole
• Rubber Bung (Cork) with no hole
• Airlock
• 25 Litre Fermentor Container
• Syphon Tube
• Syphon Tap (Not sure what it does)
• Vinometer
• Vinkwik Yeast Sachet
• 5.5" Funnel
• Super Enzyme Sachet

In my first batch I will try to ferment 2 litres of apple juice concentrate into something similiar to alcoholic apple cider. I have a few questions:

1. Should I add water to the apple juice concentrate when I put it into the fermentor?
2. How does an airlock actually work I mean how does it let carbon dioxide out but no oxygen in?
3. What is a syphon tap and what does it do?
4. Because the yeast I am using is meant for 20 litres of liquid and I am only using 2 litres should I only use a tenth of the sachet?

Lots of thanks in advance!!!

 

[jackg100]

One more question I need answered,

Am I meant to just leave the airlock as it is or fill it with water or something while its fermenting?

 

[jackg100]

Why is no-one replying? I really need this info.

 

[the_bird]

Before answering, consider the 1990 date of birth. Not going to tell people to answer or not answer (I don't know jack about cider, so I can't), just want people to be aware of that fact before THEY decide whether to provide help or not.

 

[Markusface]

Yeah... I wrote quite a lenghty reply but I've deleted it... hmmmm

 

[Markusface]

Waaait a minute... You bought all that equipment just for 2 litres of cider? That does sound very strange. Why not go ahead and do the full 20 litres?

2 litres of cider is only around £3-£4. And you spent £20 for the same amount, plus the time required to make it.

All evidence does point to someone whos fake ID obviously isn't good enough

Before answering, consider the 1990 date of birth.

In the UK, at 16 it is legal to have a pint of beer/glass of wine with a meal. I don't know what relevance that has with homebrew, but i guess the laws are a bit more relaxed here... even though we are a nation of binge drinkers and single mothers hooray

 

[jackg100]

No, the reason is I wanted to try it out.

The £20 spent all was a one off payment, for equipment I don't need to replace each time I home brew.

The 1 litre apple concentrate was buy one get one free for £1.30, so I got 2 litres for £1.30. I might go back and get a couple more tomorrow and get another 4 litres for £2.60 if that deal is still on.


Do you think I should add water mixed with sugar to the concentrated apple juice?

Also can I just use boiled tap water instead of vodka in the airlock?

 

[veggiess]

Might be easier to get some questions answered about cider in a cider thread.

Also, read read read before homebrewing, if it's even legal for you to do. Here's a place to start:

www.howtobrew.com

Imagine how annoying it is to have newbies asking questions all the time that get repeated over and again. That link will help, and so will doing a search on the forum.

 

[jackg100]

I'm real sorry If I caused you any distress, but I really needed some of that info, but thanks for your guys time anyway.

 

[Exo]

American's are tight about drinking age. Some of us grew up with drinking some brew or vino with dinner...others never touched the stuff before "legal" age and it was "taboo". Still, 16 is young and we "see" your experiment.

You might not have a lot of luck here due to your age. Plenty of reading on the internet...look around.

 

[Grimsawyer]

hehe, screw cider, make some beer! It'll put some hair on your chest. Something at 9%abv with about 300 ibu's of bitterness, heheheheh Nice and black and enough bitter to grow hair on your tongue! hehehe j/k man. OK, 4 liters is one us gallon, give or take about 6 and 1/2 oz, right? I have absolutely no idea on how to brew cider, none, but what the heck, why not fill that sucker up to 20 liters(5 gallons) not diluted but apple juice tasting, get some corn sugar, maybe what, 3 pounds or so(not sure what that would be in metric... wish we used metric, makes so much more sense... *sigh*)get some yeast that would work well for cider, buy a blow-off tube(just a large diameter hose of some sort, something about 1/2 meter long or so that you stick in the opening of your fermenter), make sure everything is rinsed well with sanitizer solution toss in the yeast, insert the blow-off tube (one end in the fermenter the other in a container with some sanitizer solution in it), cover it with an old black(or dark colored) shirt, keep it at around 65 degrees to 70 degrees Ferinheit where the light can't get to it(don't know what that is celcius, my apologies) and let it sit for about 2-3 weeks. Get a good size food grade bucket after your 2-3 weeks, big enough to hold your 5 gallons, boil up 3/4 cup of corn sugar in about 2 cups of water for 15 min(caution: if you put too much corn sugar in at this time you will have bottle bombs so measure carefully), dump that in the sanitized bucket then siphon the cider into your bucket. Hope you have 48 12 oz sanitized bottles (give or take up to 10 depending on how well you measured) (also, maybe old plastic pepsi/coke/mountain dew 1Liter or 2 Liter bottles might work if you don't have access to some beer bottles. Just wash well and sanitize them even better.)siphon the cider from the racking bucket into each bottle. Cap them and keep them at the 65-70 degrees F for another week(to allow it to carbonate) then toss one in the fridge and see how it turned out. If it's anything like beer it'll taste good, but if you wait another few weeks it'll taste better. Anyone that has done cider, please post something. This is just what I'd suggest to someone trying to do cider with limited resources. Not sure it'd turn out great but what the heck! Why not try it. If it does turn out well at least you're not getting plastered on some crappy BOON'S FARM WINE(oh god, how I remember those Strawberry Hill hangovers..... ) at least you can say to your buddies you MADE it! Keep experimenting, have fun with it! That is what this hobby is all about. Just remember to keep everything sanitized. That really is key.

 

[Grimsawyer]

1. Should I add water to the apple juice concentrate when I put it into the fermentor?
2. How does an airlock actually work I mean how does it let carbon dioxide out but no oxygen in?
3. What is a syphon tap and what does it do?
4. Because the yeast I am using is meant for 20 litres of liquid and I am only using 2 litres should I only use a tenth of the sachet?

Lots of thanks in advance!!!

1. It would be my guess to use water and concentrate to your desired consistancy. If you want alot of apple juice taste use less water.
2. YES. It lets CO2 out while keeping all air out, not just oxygen. Fill it up with sanitizer solution to where it is marked. It makes a water trap to keep out bacteria, wild yeasts, etc...
3.dunno. Maybe it is handy for racking/bottling. Give us a link.
4. naw, toss in the whole thing. Why not do 20 liters/litres (wierd how spelling of things like litRE/litER and theatRE/theatER differ across the ocean but mean the same thing... hehehe) only costs a few coins more.

 

[jackg100]

Wow, thanks for those replies.

One question about sanitizing my equipment, I am going to use home bleach, don't hate me for it, but I don't want to spend more money on sanitizer, maybe in my next batch I will.

Because my (brand new) fermentor is 25 litres does that mean I have to fill the fermentor with 25 litres of bleach!!!??? (can't be right)

 

[Fatabbot]

Because my (brand new) fermentor is 25 litres does that mean I have to fill the fermentor with 25 litres of bleach!!!??? (can't be right)

No, it only requires a fairly dilluted bleach/water mix. Not 25 litres of straight bleach.

 

[Grimsawyer]

Wow, thanks for those replies.

One question about sanitizing my equipment, I am going to use home bleach, don't hate me for it, but I don't want to spend more money on sanitizer, maybe in my next batch I will.

Because my (brand new) fermentor is 25 litres does that mean I have to fill the fermentor with 25 litres of bleach!!!??? (can't be right)

WOW!!! NO WAY!!! EASY MAN!!!!! Gotta go easy with that bleach man! Maybe someone who uses bleach can post, but I'm thinking 1 Tbsp/ gallon would almost be too much. The thing with bleach is RINSE, RINSE, RINSE!!! when you think you've rinsed enough rinse your stuff off/out again for just as long. Bleach WILL give you some off flavors if you don't get it rinsed completely out/off. It is an effective sanitizer tho. Might want to read this thread-----> https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=3710&highlight=starsan <--------- if interested in buying a good sanitizer and not sure which one to get. I personally have used starsan cause that's the one I bought first. (it foams ALOT) When it's out I am going to try Iodophor. Then I'll use whichever one I liked the best!

 

[jackg100]

But if I only use 5 teaspoons, the bleach wouldn't clean all of the fermenter?

It would only be in contact with a tiny bit of the fermenter.

 

[jackg100]

OOO I dilute it in water lol,

Sorry for all the dumb questions.