Now I know I live in a ghetto.

[Callaway]

I remember one time my dad tried to make wine, but I don't think that it turned out too well.   

I have had success with making brandied fruit, though.

[Blasted]

My grandparents make cherry vodka.

Beer too.

[garmonbozia]

Well they never came in.  Turns out all they were doing was checking fire extinguishers, so I put mine outside my front door and they never had to come in.  I wish they'd have made that clear in their letter.

I was wondering what would happen with just water, sugar, and yeast.

No water lock?  The idea is to keep out all the other airborne microbes.

[Parts]

You should still get alcohol I have no idea what it would taste like though

[Peter]

You should still get alcohol I have no idea what it would taste like though

Yeasty and foul, like a whore's minge.

[Peter]

Well they never came in.  Turns out all they were doing was checking fire extinguishers, so I put mine outside my front door and they never had to come in.  I wish they'd have made that clear in their letter.

I was wondering what would happen with just water, sugar, and yeast.

No water lock?  The idea is to keep out all the other airborne microbes.

Maybe the fermentation happened too quickly for airborne microbes to overwhelm the culture before the alcohol level could inhibit them.  I had it in a big 8-litre plastic tub under my bed, and I can't remember whether I kept the lid on tight or left it loose to let the CO2 out.

[Callaway]

Well they never came in.  Turns out all they were doing was checking fire extinguishers, so I put mine outside my front door and they never had to come in.  I wish they'd have made that clear in their letter.

I was wondering what would happen with just water, sugar, and yeast.

No water lock?  The idea is to keep out all the other airborne microbes.

I'm glad that they never came in and were just checking the fire extinguishers.

How do you set up the water lock?

[garmonbozia]

A water lock looks kind of like this:



Mine's a slightly different design, but it works the same way.

That way, the air above the liquid is CO2, with the outside air kept out by a barrier of water.  You can monitor the level of activity just by observing the rate at which it blows bubbles through the water.

The water lock normally installs in the hole through a rubber stopper you cap the container with.  However, I used a small plastic plumbing fixture through a hole drilled in the top of the container, with o-rings and silicon sealant.  I have two such vessels, each with a capacity of two gallons.  They're cleaned and filled through a large hole that uses a cap kind of like on a peanut butter jar.  Finally, there's a spout about 3/4 inch from the bottom of the container, which lets me bottle the stuff when ready without sucking out sediment.  They were originally made for buying purified water out of a vending machine.

As for the OJ, what about cold-fermenting it?  That is, set it up in the container with yeast and sugar, seal it, and then put the whole apparatus in the refrigerator.  Seems it would lessen the chances of it fouling up, or would it be too cold for fermentation to take place?

[Tesla]

Depends on the yeast... some thrive in colder climates.  Lager is brewed at refrigerated temperatures, while ale is brewed at room temperature.  Which is why most home brewers do ale... you don't need to have a spare fridge. 

You could always make a crap mixture, ferment it, then distill it.  My friend and I did that once... it was awful, and we didn't know that methanol boils at a lower temperature than ethanol and thus you have to throw away the first bit.

[Callaway]

As for the OJ, what about cold-fermenting it?  That is, set it up in the container with yeast and sugar, seal it, and then put the whole apparatus in the refrigerator.  Seems it would lessen the chances of it fouling up, or would it be too cold for fermentation to take place?

I don't know.

I found a recipe that made wine out of frozen concentrated orange juice, but it did not look like they refrigerated the mixture.

http://makinghomemadewineandbeer.blogspot.com/2006/03/orange-concentrate-wine-recipe.html

[garmonbozia]

Looks like I should bottle the OJ and start it aging after a much shorter time in the tank than with the cider.  I keep the cider in the tank for three weeks, at which point the bubbling has slowed to almost nothing and there is a thick layer of sediment on the bottom.

I started the OJ with two gallons of pulp-free orange juice, three cups of sugar, and 1/4 tsp of wine yeast.  It bubbled like crazy for a couple of days and then suddenly slowed so much that there was some positive pressure but not enough to keep sending bubbles through the lock.  I opened the lid and added another cup of sugar as soon as I saw that, and it started right back up.  As of today, it's been in the tank for a week and is bubbling slowly.

[renaeden]

We have a house inspection next month.

["couldbecousin"]

That would drive me crazy too.

What are the county inspectors looking for?

The note said they're checking the fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, circuit breakers, etc.  But what goes in the broad category of "etc." that they didn't care to mention on the note?

I got rid of the cascaded surge supressors last year, so I hope they don't mind the two power strips plugged into the UPS.

Quick, pack up the meth lab!

 

There's no meth lab in here, but I do have hard apple cider brewing in a clear plastic tank next to my sink, and about twenty bottles of it aging on top of the cabinet.  There's also another tank where I'm seeing what happens when you ferment orange juice with yeast and sugar.  I just hope they don't think it's something else and freak out.

Isnt that what they do in prison? make booze out of oranges or something, or so I've heard.

      *necrobump because why not!* 


       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruno

[renaeden]

We have had one inspection since being here and are probably due another within the next month.

[Yuri Bezmenov]

A water lock looks kind of like this:



Mine's a slightly different design, but it works the same way.

That way, the air above the liquid is CO2, with the outside air kept out by a barrier of water.  You can monitor the level of activity just by observing the rate at which it blows bubbles through the water.

The water lock normally installs in the hole through a rubber stopper you cap the container with.  However, I used a small plastic plumbing fixture through a hole drilled in the top of the container, with o-rings and silicon sealant.  I have two such vessels, each with a capacity of two gallons.  They're cleaned and filled through a large hole that uses a cap kind of like on a peanut butter jar.  Finally, there's a spout about 3/4 inch from the bottom of the container, which lets me bottle the stuff when ready without sucking out sediment.  They were originally made for buying purified water out of a vending machine.

As for the OJ, what about cold-fermenting it?  That is, set it up in the container with yeast and sugar, seal it, and then put the whole apparatus in the refrigerator.  Seems it would lessen the chances of it fouling up, or would it be too cold for fermentation to take place?