New to this and could use some help, first timer

[Box]

Hello all! Been doing some cruising on here and finally signed up, on to the topic at hand; with the closure of liquor stores and a interest in homebrewing I recently started a process to make my own alcohol. As in making a sugar syrup and adding dry yeast and letting nature do its thing. Most of the ingredients and equipment is home made or jury rigged up due to the quarantine, and kinda just working with what I have at hand. There are a bunch of questions that I have that I definitely need help or clarification on, and just general opinions from this fine community!
1- once the fermentation has stopped (it's bubbling away right now) how exactly should I go about stopping the yeast population?
2- do I absolutely have to use a clarifyer or is filtering/straining acceptable?
3- any opinions on seeping or infusion?
Sorry if I got any terms wrong, I just started with this hobby and definitely want to pursue it further, please keep in mind this is my first try and am pretty much just trying this with stuff at hand, not trying (yet) to distill or make a wonderful craft alcohol. Just trying my hand at simple production to get the hang of it first. Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[kh54s10]

1) you don't. It will stop fermenting when there is no sugar left for the yeast to consume.
2) with sugar hooch, there won't be anything that you need to filter.
3) I have no idea what you mean by this.

Good luck on getting anything that you will want to drink.

Look online for the e-book How to Brew by John Palmer for a starter. It is outdated but still a good starting point. In hard copy it is updated - I thing 4th edition.

 

[TechFanMD]

This is going to taste and smell bad. Not sure what yeast you're using, whether bread yeast or brewing yeast of some sort.....but sugar water lacks a lot of the nutrients yeast like for healthy reproduction and fermentation. My guess is that this will have a VERY sulfurous smell (egg smell)

Ferment some apple juice or something - it's not ideal but would be drinkable and have a more complex flavor. Fermenting and making alcohol - if that's the only goal, is extraordinarily easy and happens without any help. Making something that tastes good is harder.

Number one rule - sanitation....everything has to be well sanitized. You're going to have trouble unless you have some basic brewing equipment because moving the brew in a sanitary and low-oxygenating (oxidation tastes bad too) way can be tricky without some basic equipment.

I'd get a 96oz bottle of apple juice, add yeast, and let it rip for 3 weeks and decant it off the yeast cake and start with that if all you want is hooch and aren't planning to buy anything.....it's an easy experiment.

 

[Box]

1) you don't. It will stop fermenting when there is no sugar left for the yeast to consume.
2) with sugar hooch, there won't be anything that you need to filter.
3) I have no idea what you mean by this.

Good luck on getting anything that you will want to drink.

Look online for the e-book How to Brew by John Palmer for a starter. It is outdated but still a good starting point. In hard copy it is updated - I thing 4th edition.

Thanks for the info! Pretty much my plan after reading a bunch of internet things is to wait a day or so after the bubbles stop, empty one container at a time into a pot to slightly heat to kill the yeast, then strain through membrane/coffee filters back into cleaned vessels. Then add sugar/fruits etc in jars/bottles and let sit to give it a flavor besides wet bread lol. Figured it would be a good start in learning, either the process to do better or what I did wrong by getting sick haha

 

[Box]

This is going to taste and smell bad. Not sure what yeast you're using, whether bread yeast or brewing yeast of some sort.....but sugar water lacks a lot of the nutrients yeast like for healthy reproduction and fermentation. My guess is that this will have a VERY sulfurous smell (egg smell)

Ferment some apple juice or something - it's not ideal but would be drinkable and have a more complex flavor. Fermenting and making alcohol - if that's the only goal, is extraordinarily easy and happens without any help. Making something that tastes good is harder.

Number one rule - sanitation....everything has to be well sanitized. You're going to have trouble unless you have some basic brewing equipment because moving the brew in a sanitary and low-oxygenating (oxidation tastes bad too) way can be tricky without some basic equipment.

I'd get a 96oz bottle of apple juice, add yeast, and let it rip for 3 weeks and decant it off the yeast cake and start with that if all you want is hooch and aren't planning to buy anything.....it's an easy experiment.

Another good idea! Yeah this was kinda "just see if I can" experiment till I can actually get a proper brewing setup and start taking it more seriously. Right now it's just about 15 lbs of pure cane and brown sugar, water, and dry yeast (bought for making bread). Didn't start out with dreams of grandeur, knowing this is going to just be "basic alcohol" that I'm gonna add to various things and try to stomach. Once everything gets back to normal I do want to try my hand at a proper brew experience

 

[Box]

One main concern is the use of a clarifyer (isingglass, moss etc) that right now I don't have access to. Don't know if that is a huge deal breaker in the process or not, or if just heating and filtering would suffice

 

[kh54s10]

I wouldn't worry to kill the yeast. But if you are trying to backsweeten the hooch you probably have to, otherwise it would just ferment the addition of any fruit.

If you don't put in fruit there is nothing in there that you need to filter. I don't know about isinglass, but Irish moss goes into the boil before fermentation. You can't use it now.

Good luck, but don't expect too much. Personally I doubt that you will get something you will want to drink. Unless you don't care about taste and your only aim is to get wasted.

 

[Box]

I wouldn't worry to kill the yeast. But if you are trying to backsweeten the hooch you probably have to, otherwise it would just ferment the addition of any fruit.

If you don't put in fruit there is nothing in there that you need to filter. I don't know about isinglass, but Irish moss goes into the boil before fermentation. You can't use it now.

Good luck, but don't expect too much. Personally I doubt that you will get something you will want to drink. Unless you don't care about taste and your only aim is to get wasted.

Thanks for the info, yeah pretty much this first trial is just to produce something that can get me a bit drunk. Planning on mixing it with something or trying to backsweeten it to make it drinkable or make a liquor with it. Just worried about clarification for suspended yeast, or further fermentation with any added sugars. Thanks again!

 

[kh54s10]

You could look up backsweetening of ciders.