Simple and Hard for a Novice

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kind

Guest
Hey All!

I am very new to cider making and fermenting in general, but am very excited to get started. I have done some research and looked at some recipes and have decided what I want to make in general, but have a few more detailed questions.

I want this to be easy to make and pack a serious punch. I think that will get me off on the right brewing foot. Taste to me isn't really and issue, its all about the AC. But if it can taste good too why not?

I have a good source of fresh unpasteurized cider, so should I just use the Campden Tablets to serilize all the bad bugs?

Also, I would prefer to make it in 1 gallon batches, while most of the recipies I have seen call for 5, any particular reason for this?

Right now I have absolutely no equipment and I really wouldn't like to invest much at this point. I remember my dad once telling me he used to take juice, drop some raisins in, and cut a hole in the lid. Would this work?

So if anyone has any recipies they think would fit my guidelines could they please post them? As well as any other advice. Thanks in advance.
 
Do a search for EdWort's Apfelwein. It doesn't get any easier than that.

All you need is a bucket or carboy, the ingredients, and a means to bottle it.

Oh yeah, I think you meant Campden tablets. Calamine tablets would make the cider less itchy, but probably wouldn't help the flavor. :p

Taste to me isn't really and issue, its all about the AC.
Click to expand...
Be careful with statements like that. Flavor is really the heart of homebrewing. If all you're after is cheap alcoholic swill, I suggest you find someplace else to get your advice.
 
Haha yeah I fixed the Campden part...

I stated that incorrectly, I would just like this strong. Tis all.

Thanks I actually just looked at that and thought it would be easy. Now I have to get to a brewing store and pick that stuff up.

One new question, what would be a good way of bottling the cider without, you know, bottles or equipment?
 
Carlo Rossi bottles work great for one-gallon batches. You're going to need a racking cane, tubing, a bottle filler, and bottles if you want it carb'd. If not, siphon into whatever container you wish.
 
Kind said:
One new question, what would be a good way of bottling the cider without, you know, bottles or equipment?
Click to expand...
The best way to bottle it is...in bottles...

Bottle caps are about $1.00 for 50. A wing capper is about $10. Bottles are free after you drink their contents.

This thread is really starting to remind me of some of the underage folks who come here trying to figure out how to make hooch under their beds. If you're trying to hide this whole operation from your parents, once again, find somewhere else to get your advice.
 
Hey, who needs equipment? You have a toilet, right? If you can make it in the toilet in prison, you can surely make it in the toilet at home. Right? Right?! Just dump some welch's into the shi**er, stir in some table sugar, and wait for wild yeast to come and inoculate it. When it's done, you can either bottle it, or just serve it right out of the sh**er...as long as your guests don't mind having to serve themselves warm booze out of the toilet with a soup ladle.

Either way, that's some fine hooch...
 
Kind said:
Taste to me isn't really and issue, its all about the AC.
Click to expand...

Go to the liquor store and buy Everclear.

Cheap, easy, and about 5 times the alcohol as anything you can brew yourself.
 
mmmm... pruno... LOL

why not just buy some OJ from the store, dump some sugar in, and let it sit under your bed for a month? :drunk:
 
Kind said:
Taste to me isn't really and issue, its all about the AC. But if it can taste good too why not?
Click to expand...

This is pretty ignorant to post on a brewing forum for homebrewers. Serious homebrewers don't do it just to get drunk, they do it for the exceptional and widely varied flavors as well as getting a bit tipsy. Homebrewers are proud of their creations, to tell them that taste doesn't matter only AC... well then I agree, you'd be better off buying a bottle of everclear and mixing it with whatever you want!

OOOR.... you could find a good moonshine forum and find out how those guys make their huge high AC bathtub concoctions... you wouldn't even need a bucket or carboy!!:drunk:
 
Kind said:
Ok thanks guys. or not.
Click to expand...

Sorry Kind, but all your questions / comments are reminiscent of under aged hooch makers coming on line and tryng to figure out how to make party juice.

Here's a few of your snippets that were suspicious:

Kind said:
I want this to be easy to make and pack a serious punch.

Taste to me isn't really and issue, its all about the AC.

Also, I would prefer to make it in 1 gallon batches...

I have absolutely no equipment and I really wouldn't like to invest much...
Click to expand...

We brew beer.
We make apfelwien.
We are very concerned with taste.
Alcohol content is not the primary motivation for this hobby.
We have invested in equipment and are always looking for the next product/process to take our brewing to the next level.

So...If you're legitimately looking to get into the hobby of brewing and wine making, welcome.

If you're looking to crank out some cheap dime-store home made happy juice, you're at the wrong place.
 
Doesn't want to invest much... hehe.. I just dropped over $800 for my setup to do about 4 to 5 five gallon batches at a time... I know you can do it cheap, but I prefer to have the right equipment to do the job right!

Funny thing is I will have to spend quite a bit more for when I make the move to kegging... bottling is alot of work! Of course so is brewing!
 
You can get set up for AG relatively cheaply if you're patient and look on craigslist every day. That said, you can't brew anything from nothing; If you want to bottle, you'll need bottles.
 
Well... he could get some of those wine-in-a-box bags- those are cheap, hold about a gallon and keep oxygen out of wine...
I know, I know- I'm feeding the idiot
 
I can't believe those weren't the words of a 31 yr old!
 
ROFL this reminded me of the "closet hooch" I made in highschool (was only 10 years ago so I still remember my recipie).

Equipment:

1 gallon glass jug
1 balloon with a pin hole in it
1 funnel
6 or so coke bottles
coffee filters (optional)
funnel

Ingredients:

1 can concentrated juice (your choice, I liked Welches white grape at the time)
4 cups sugar
1 pack bakers yeast


Add sugar and concentrated juice to jug, fill up with warm water and stir/shake to mix, add packet of yeast, stir, place balloon over the top, place in closet.

Wait a 2-4 weeks

Bottle using funnel. Optional: add a coffee filter to the funnel to catch some of the dregs.

Drink:drunk:

Puke.:cross:

BTW if this is inappropriate feel free to zap it. just bringing up memories. ;)
 
"We have invested in equipment and are always looking for the next product/process to take our brewing to the next level."

....Yeah! I have 3 buckets, and a big pot!

(okay, I have more than that, but not much)
 
ohiobrewtus said:
You guys are all a bunch of EAC's. :D
Click to expand...

Ha! I was just reading through this thread and I was waiting for that one!
 
Geez doesn't anyone give the drunk guy in front of the liquor store a few bucks to get some booze. That's what I did when I was underage. Just make sure you have the means to get your money back if he tries to take off with it.
 
BierMuncher said:
Sorry Kind, but all your questions / comments are reminiscent of under aged hooch makers coming on line and tryng to figure out how to make party juice.

Here's a few of your snippets that were suspicious:



We brew beer.
We make apfelwien.
We are very concerned with taste.
Alcohol content is not the primary motivation for this hobby.
We have invested in equipment and are always looking for the next product/process to take our brewing to the next level.

So...If you're legitimately looking to get into the hobby of brewing and wine making, welcome.

If you're looking to crank out some cheap dime-store home made happy juice, you're at the wrong place.
Click to expand...

I got into the hobby because I was tired of paying $7 a six pack for 4% hard ciders. So alcohol content and expense were a part of my motivation. After a few years doing it, I happen to have a knack for producing good beers and better ciders, but it was the thought of a 9% hard cider that cost the same per ounce as MGD that really got me there.
I think my initial investment was $15 for a bucket, capper and hose and two hours of lugging cases of empty bottles from a homebrew-friendly bar down the street. A lot of the guys I knew when I was first brewing did the same - expense can be a big issue (I had just turned 21 and was in college). So maybe we shouldn't be QUITE so hostile? I mean, I hate to be that guy that defends the forum troll on the off chance he isn't 12, but just in case...
 
PsiWulf7 said:
I got into the hobby because I was tired of paying $7 a six pack for 4% hard ciders. So alcohol content and expense were a part of my motivation. After a few years doing it, I happen to have a knack for producing good beers and better ciders, but it was the thought of a 9% hard cider that cost the same per ounce as MGD that really got me there.
I think my initial investment was $15 for a bucket, capper and hose and two hours of lugging cases of empty bottles from a homebrew-friendly bar down the street. A lot of the guys I knew when I was first brewing did the same - expense can be a big issue (I had just turned 21 and was in college). So maybe we shouldn't be QUITE so hostile? I mean, I hate to be that guy that defends the forum troll on the off chance he isn't 12, but just in case...
Click to expand...

If you're buying Mikes Hard-On Lemonade or some other girly malt beverage looking to get drunk, then you're a fool to begin with. If one was truly worried about getting the most alcohol bang for yer buck, he'd go buy some Popov vodka. I do believe a 1.5L handle costs about $11.

vodkaguide_1966_43172124


In that light, it really doesn't make sense for someone who is of age and has access to a liquor store to worry about how drunk his hooch will get him. It'd be scores cheaper to make good, lower-alcohol beverages, and then take shots of Popov in between.

So you can see why we get suspicious when someone is trying to up the alcohol percentage of their prison hooch by dumping table sugar into it. There's simply no economic model that makes it cheaper to get drunk on homemade hooch than just buying some Popov.
 
Kind said:
Right now I have absolutely no equipment and I really wouldn't like to invest much at this point.
Click to expand...

Raise your hand if you've been brewing for any length of time and only wish that you had MORE money to invest in your equipment!
 
PsiWulf7 said:
...So maybe we shouldn't be QUITE so hostile? I mean, I hate to be that guy that defends the forum troll on the off chance he isn't 12, but just in case...
Click to expand...

Understood. But we don’t want to be the beer and wine making discussion forum whose web page ends up on 20/20 because we gave some 15 year old the exact recipe for making 14% hooch using grocery store materials.

Again I quote:
Taste to me isn't really and issue, its all about the AC.
Click to expand...
 
Alright, the issue of underage forum members has been discussed ad nasueum on this forum. Nothing else to be added here. I didn't ban this kid in particular, but I have banned many an underage individual from these forums without any hesitation.

I can't keep people from lurking, but I'm not here to help kidlings out.

The kid also called us a bunch of c*cksuckers, which is enough to get you banned regardless of age (he also admitted to being underage).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

M
Short-term fermentation
Replies
2
Views
598
SoCalPlumber
SoCalPlumber
C
First hard cider questions and concerns
Replies
4
Views
653
Graham H
G
D
Too sweet
Replies
0
Views
268
DTT
D
T
Acetobacter recurring infections
Replies
7
Views
714
Tancred the Brewer
T
W
Cider Clearing?
Replies
6
Views
345
WindingWayCider
W
Yakima 300

Latest posts

Back
Top