Proportions For Home Brewing ?

[skyy38]

Hi there!

Just getting into this hobby and I have a few questions.

One: What is the proper proportion for liquid,sugar and brewing stock ( ie apples,bananas,potatos etc.)

Can you use regular sugar as well as the "specialty" kind?

I recently took a shot at trying to make some home brew( maybe more like wine,I think) after a friend told me he had made what he called "Rotten Apple Wine". He tossed the ingredients into large,heavy duty,trash bags and let it sit for 6 months. Uninformed me always thought that a still was needed for this purpose!

Well,I decided to try this for myself,even though I forgot to ask him what a proper recipe for this would be. I winged it using about 12 cups of dandelion blossoms, 2 cups of sugar and about a gallon of water for a batch. I put it away for six months and last night I broke it open and tried some.

Boy! Did it smell ripe, but it drank better than that, keeping in mind that "Sneaky Pete" might be just around the corner. I think I may have succeeded,to a point, but now I want to refine my efforts for my own education.

Any and all help appreciated!

 

[Amity]

Where to begin?

What are you wanting to brew? Hooch? Or beer?
Beer is made from sugar extracted from malted grain, hops, and yeast. Try getting an extract kit from a local Homebrew shop, along with a proper fermenting vessel and sanitizing solution.

 

[McKBrew]

What you are describing is more akin to hooch. Not homebrewed beer or home-made wine, mead or cider. Some of the ingredients you mention have a place in this hobby, but the process you describe doesn't.

If you are interested in beer. How to Brew - By John Palmer, would be a great place to start.

 

[ArcaneXor]

One: What is the proper proportion for liquid,sugar and brewing stock ( ie apples,bananas,potatos etc.)

Are you trying to make fruit and vegetable beers? If so, the amount to add varies wildly between different fruits and according to what you are trying to achieve with your recipe.

IIRC, Mosher's Radical Brewing book has a section on fruit beers that you might want to check out.

By the way, trash bags aren't food-grade plastic, nor are they an effective oxygen barrier. You'll want to invest in some real brewing equipment and forget everything your friend told you.

 

[skyy38]

Where to begin?

What are you wanting to brew? Hooch? Or beer?
Beer is made from sugar extracted from malted grain, hops, and yeast. Try getting an extract kit from a local Homebrew shop, along with a proper fermenting vessel and sanitizing solution.

I guess for now, "Hooch" will do since I'm not apparently following directions for wine, beer or spirits even though I may yet travel in those directions. Yep,still a " Homestead Kid" here,my roots are betrayed! The other definition of Hooch,I note rather ironically,is "liquid produced during the making of sourdough starter! All these years of eating sourdough pancakes and I never knew and nobody told me! Oh well,I guess when you make things like this a point of study,you WILL find out on your own.

Thanks for the heads-up about trash bags Arcane-I didn't want to use them for the initial reason that even the really thick ones might spring a leak or worse, quite possibly get a hole eaten through them by the fermentation process! I will think "food grade" from here on out and I plan on visiting a local homebrew shop for more information.

Another misconception I may have is that you have to start out with raw,unprocessed,brew ingredients but,yet here:


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/


....the main ingredient is premade apple juice.Does apple juice get heated during manufacture or do the apples just get squished and filtered?

 

[ArcaneXor]

Another misconception I may have is that you have to start out with raw,unprocessed,brew ingredients but,yet here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/

....the main ingredient is premade apple juice.Does apple juice get heated during manufacture or do the apples just get squished and filtered?

Most apple juice is pasteurized. As long as it doesn't have preservatives in it (other than ascorbic acid, which is fine), it will ferment.

If you want to make wines, maybe check out Basic Wine Making - Making Wine with Kits - Simplified and order their DVD. For beer, read How To Brew referenced earlier in this thread, and/or order the Extract Brewing DVD from Basic Brewing? : Home Brewing Beer Podcast and DVD - Welcome . Using the information provided by these sources, you'll understand the proper procedures to make excellent beverages that surpass many commercial products in quality, often at a fraction of the price.

Good luck with your brewing and winemaking endeavors!

 

[xbabyboy4021x]

i have no idea wut u r talking about, do u even know wut ur doing?

 

[bluehouse]

There is lots of free information on the internet about wine & beer making, you can also find books at your local library. If you are interested in wine a good place to look is:

The Winemaking Home Page

as far as recipes I would try some of the ones you find here and on other sites until you are really good, then you can begin to figure our the ratio, proportion & make up your own.
BTW wine is much more forgiving of recipe than beer, you can make wine out of anything and given enough time and the right temperature it will probably taste good.