Homebrewing questions.
I am interested in either making my own beer or wine.
Have any of you ever done either?
Between beer and wine is one easier to make?
Can I let in ferment in my house or will there be an odor?
I think I would rather make wine because shelf life is better and higher alcohol so I would have to make less or less often.
What do I need to know to start out? I have seen starter kits for both.
Have any of you ever done either?
Between beer and wine is one easier to make?
Can I let in ferment in my house or will there be an odor?
I think I would rather make wine because shelf life is better and higher alcohol so I would have to make less or less often.
What do I need to know to start out? I have seen starter kits for both.
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My wife taught me how to brew it (what a gal). We haven't made any for a while, but it's real simple as long as you follow directions to the letter. Hardest thing is the waiting! Everything must be super clean, as any bacteria will spoil it. Google "home brewing" and you'll get all kinds of information. I'd bet there's even a forum dedicated to it. Most bigger towns have a wine-making, beer brewing shop that will help you get started. It's a great hobby. 0 -
In my experience, wine-makers think wine-making is easier and beer-makers think beer-making is easier.
I've only ever brewed beer, and I started with concentrated malt (i.e. I didn't mash my own grains). I recommend starting that way because it's simpler and a lot cheaper to set up (appx $150 vs. twice that for a pretty sweet setup). If you get into it, then it's time to buy the propane burner, the lauter-tun, the heat-exchange cooler and mash yer own grains (I've got a friend who does this....it IS fun).
I have the sense that beer is cheaper to brew than wine, but I'm not sure.
I've gotten beer up to 8.5% alcohol by volume using off-the-shelf yeast (champagne yeast). If you re-use your yeast cultures you can effectively do artificial selection to increase their alcohol tolerance. My buddy claims to have a strain that'll make 12% beer.
You'll get a lot of odor out of the wort-boiling process. You get some odor from the boiling malt, and a lot of odor out of the hops. I never minded this, but my mother wouldn't allow my father to brew in their house. You get a little odor out of the fermentation, but that was one of my keenest joys. If you have a basement or a room to which you can shut the door, you can probably contain the odor.
I disagree with jimdeere. It ain't that hard to brew; it's not that important to follow instructions to the letter (just don't pitch the yeast before the wort is cool enough), and it ain't that hard to keep things sanitary. I washed the beer bottles in the dishwasher and called them good. I used bleach solution on the other equipment and never had a problem.
Charlie Papazian's "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" is an excellent resource for the beginner. He explains things clearly and encourages the beginner to concentrate more on having fun than on freaking out about whether they're screwing up.0 -
Just found this site w cuuute pics [8D][;)]
http://stilldrinkin.com/Turbo Tilt.htm0 -
Didn't mean to imply that it is difficult. I do think first timers should use new bottles. We re-used some bottles once and we think that we didn't get all the dregs out of the bottoms. (Didn't have a dishwasher at the time). If there's a way to screw it up, I would have found it. 0 -
Wine is so easy to make you can do it by accident.
Anything that will rot can be made into wine, possibly not good wine but wine none the less.
all you need is yeast
your juice
some suger
and a container with some type of 1 way pressure valve
Like a gallon jug with a ballon on top with a needle hole in it
as the yeast works to ferment the wine the gas given off will fill the balloon depending on amount of yeast/sugar content the wine will go faster/slower or be stronger or sweeter as the ballon fills up it gets to a certain pressure then slowly releases gas out the pinhole you made once the balloon goes flat a week-however long later your wine is done.
Or you can go the complicated route and use a gravity meter and more complex pressure release systems and do it that way.
"note adding more sugar will not make it sweeter unless you do it after it is finished fermenting and make sure you kill the yeast with an enzyme."
Example I made
watermellon
werd mexican fruit
welches grape
apple
raspberry
strawberry
banna
and im currently brewing dill pickle wine
I would reccomend starting off with 1 gal glass jugs and if you do it a lot go from there. You can make a hell of a lot of wine in 1 gal jugs though.0 -
Rugergunz
If you want to get into making wine. The best thing to do is buy a kit for the first batch. For around $100.00 to $150.00. You get everything needed to make a 4 to 6 gallon batch.
Fermenter, Carboy, Airlock, Hydrometer, Flavoring, Bentonite, Yeast, Sorbate, Metabisulphite, Finning, Sanitizer.. Well everything but the bottles and corks and some suppliers even throw those in the kit.
With a kit you get step by step instruction and maybe even a recipe book with tons of recipes for different wines.
Going with a kit allows you to get started quickly with everything needed to make good wine from the start. It teaches you the basics that you will need to know to expand once you learn the basics.
If the fruit is right. You don't even need sugar or yeast to make good wine.
Black Raspberry Merlot is a good tasting wine (if it is not to sweet) that is easy to make and good for beginners to start with.0 -
Beer is it! Get a starter kit for around $100 - includes fermentors, siphones, cleaner, etc plus usually your first kit. Follow the directions. It takes about 3 hours to make it on a Saturday (mostly jsut waiting for it to boil). Then about another hour or 2 10 days later when you bottle it. 1 to 2 weeks after that, you drink it! Once you go homebrew on beer, you'll never be able to drink store bought again. I've got a batch of Scotch Ale brewing right as we speak. The initial brewing has a smell (the wort) - I LOVE the smell but my wife doesn't so much. It goes away shortly after you finish though. I suggest making 2 batches at a time, 1 light, 1 dark. The batches make 5 gallons (2 cases plus a little more).
Both Git-r-Done and fishermanben have tasted my homebrew, maybe they'll chime in on how it was.
I get all my beer from here:
http://ashevillebrewers.com/
You can get your supplies (starter kit) from here:
http://www.beer-wine.com/index.asp
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Rugergunz,
I dont think either one is more difficult than the other, it's more of a personal choice.
I think the best thing to do is buy a kit & follow the instructions. After you see how easy it is your going to want to get that book spurgemastur mentioned(if your making beer, I dont know a good one for winemaking).
The odors arent that bad and they go away.
Good luck & have fun.[;)]0 -
The one thing about wine making over beermaking is you can buy beer cheeper at the store.
Where wine you can make cheeper, than you can buy it.
I didn't start with a kit my dad started when he was 12 made his first batch on the roof of his parents house. I learned from him theres really nothing to it but time, its pretty hard to screw up making wine unlike beer.
And don't think its complicated alot of these books and stuff will tell you you have to have a certain kind of yeast exact amount of sugar etc etc etc.
Its not that complicated, I found the best way to learn was to experiment, if it doesnt turn out what are you out? A few bucks worth of fruit, and remember some wines have to age.
It may taste like crap right after fermenting but let it sit a few months and it may taste like the nector of gods....
Biggest thing is when your transfering from your fermentor into bottles is try not to get any yeast, that can sour your wine and or give it a yeasty taste.0 -
quote:Originally posted by redice
The one thing about wine making over beermaking is you can buy beer cheeper at the store.
Where wine you can make cheeper, than you can buy it.
...
I can't comment on the cost of making wine, never having done it myself, but I can tell you that when making beer, you can make kickass beer at about $0.50 per bottle. Yes, you can buy cheaper beer at the store, but beer at the store that is comparable in quality to what you can do at home will cost about $1.10 per bottle.
If you just want cheap beer, buy it at the store. If you like good beer (e.g. Sierra Nevada IPA, etc) then you'll save some $$$ by making it at home.0 -
quote:Originally posted by spurgemastur
quote:Originally posted by redice
The one thing about wine making over beermaking is you can buy beer cheeper at the store.
Where wine you can make cheeper, than you can buy it.
...
I can't comment on the cost of making wine, never having done it myself, but I can tell you that when making beer, you can make kickass beer at about $0.50 per bottle. Yes, you can buy cheaper beer at the store, but beer at the store that is comparable in quality to what you can do at home will cost about $1.10 per bottle.
If you just want cheap beer, buy it at the store. If you like good beer (e.g. Sierra Nevada IPA, etc) then you'll save some $$$ by making it at home.
+1 on that. But be prepared. Once you make some good beer, you may not be satisfied with Old Mopsqueezin's. I can hardly drink the popular beers off the shelf. I love the dark beers, porters, etc.0
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