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[Sensei]

Little John's Body Heat Brewery

[jester]

the older non energy saving lightbulbs produce a little heat, I used to heat a beer keg by placing a desk lamp with one in right up against it and wrapping the whole deal in a blanket.  Worked fairly well.

  Something else I have heard of for smaller stuff is placing your booze container in a bucket full of water and using a fishtank/water heater to warm the water.

[zchris13]

What are the effects of methanol again? I know poorly distilled moonshine can make you blind. Isn't that from methanol?

[Bauglir]

It is! You have to ingest a quantity equivalent to a couple dozen milliliters or so, IIRC, for it to actually blind you, so even poorly fermented wine is unlikely to have that unless you drink a bunch of glasses all at a go. Or distill it, concentrating the methanol immensely.

[Little]

Bumpage!

It's been roughly three and a half weeks since I started this project, and the balloon has begun to deflate. I believe this means the main fermentation is done. The mixture is a nice yellowish colour. According to my guide, I can now either rack it or just continue letting it sit in the fermentation vessel to age. Any personal opinions on which one makes a better beverage, the effects of both, and the pros and cons of leaving the mixture fermenting in the original jug?

[jester]

Cons:  There is a risk of contamination from unwanted bacteria/whatever if you move it into another container, if you shift it over, try some in a few weeks and its gone bad, then you will never be sure where things went wrong.

Pros:  You will be able to pour off the cleaner liquid from the to into another bottle, you should have a reasonable layer of yeasty gunk on the bottom of you jug, this stuff can be kept and 'farmed' by pouring it into a clean jar and feeding it on 1 teaspoon of sugar a day, then you can use the gunk in the jar too 'seed' your next batch.  Frankly the sediment isnt tasty, and Id always recommend re bottling for this reason.  You can also pour off into niftier looking bottles, depending on your peers people may be happier to drink your home made goon out of a stylin wine bottle rather than your moonshine jug.

Once you rebottle you can also start up the next batch right away while you are in the brewing mood.

That said, ive only really done beer, so thats what im getting my info from, though id think things wouldnt be too differnt with mead.

Ive looked at the mead recipie many times and wondered, I dont really drink enough to justify full batches of beer anymore, please keep us posted.

[rakkar]

As someone who has done a bit of brewing, id back up what has been said earlier in that you should ditch the milk jug.  If you can find something glass at that size, that would be best, failing that you can buy sterilizing products from brewers shops, there are a few homebrew ways to make sterilizers cheaply, though if you use any sort of chems to sterilize, you need to clean your flask out over and over and over and over (seriously like 6 times) with clean water (fresh each clean) to remove any traces, as sterilizers will kill your yeast.


  If you can get glass, a great way to sterilize is capping the top with foil (use a bit about as big as your palm for something about beer bottle size, bigger for a bigger hole)  just place it on top then smooth the sides down with your hands.  Then place your bottle into an oven.  THEN turn the oven on to about 150 C.  Turning the oven on after it goes in will let the bottle heat up slow and then there is no chance of cracking.   Cook it for about 45 mins-1 hour,  If there is any glue/labels on it it may get a bit of a burning paper smell, dont stress.  Then turn the oven off and just let it cool.  This is basically how alot of labs sterilize glassware, once its done, if you leave the foil on it should stay sterile for a fair while, (eg, months)  and will kill bugs better than sterilizing powders, is nearly free and doesnt require large amounts of flushing with clean water.  Metal lids can be boiled to sterilize as well.

  Other thing that can kill yeast fairly quick is water with chlorine in it, even many bottled waters will contain chlorine.  An easy and cheap way to be sure to clean in out in your own kitchen is to fill a big pot with water and bring it to the boil, then uncover and leave to boil, the chlorine is one of the first things to come off when it boils.  Boil it for about 10 mins uncovered, then remove the heat and let it cool enough its not going to kill the yeast.  THEN add your yeast

  I make beer from homebrew kits on a regular basis and I boil all my water like this and while it is still fairly hot I put it into the sterile keg with all the sugar, etc.  Once I have enough water I seal the thing up and leave it till the next day, then crack it one more time to put the yeast in.

  Simple way to make an airlock (ive tried the balloon without great success) is attach a rubber hose to the lid of you jug, then drop the end of the hose into a bowl of water, bubbles of gas come out, nothing comes in

What kind of foil do you mean? Cling foil? Tin foil?

[jester]

tinfoil, all you have to do is make sure the insides of the bottles are nice and clean with alot of hot, clean water, then let em dry right out, then tear off bits of tinfoil a bit smaller than the palm of your hand and smooth them over the necks of the bottles starting from the top. (should look like, ummmm, the foil on champagne bottles).

  You should end up about the top inch or 2 of the bottle covered with tinfoil, it makes a good enough seal to keep the bottles sterile if you just want to store them in the cupboard or something till you need to use them.


  I just use the cheapest aluminum foil in the supermarket, make sure it isnt plastic backed or something crazy or you will end up with melted plastic fumes in your bottles.

[Little]

Bumpage!

I decided to leave it in the original fermentation jug, because if it works, don't rock the boat. The honey has mixed in pretty much completely with the mixture, leaving only yeasty sludge at the bottom. Still a lovely golden colour, and it smells of honey, citrus, and alcohol. I'm gonna start a second batch during this week, and that should be the summer batch. I found a place that sells hops and malts, so next up is my attempt at beer! I'm looking to start that mid-April.

The first crappy batch shall be drunk in the fine spring sun of May, and at least it's alcohol! 

[Osmosis Jones]

Posting to watch.

Also, if you're afraid of methanol, take a few shots of vodka. Seriously; the cure for methanol poisoning is ethanol, as it competitively inhibits the body's metabolisation of methanol into the far more toxic formaldehyde/formic acid.

[jester]

You should only have real issues with methanol if you are stilling, charcoal filtering will clear pretty much all of it out.

[Korgus]

I'm not sure about this, but I think if it burns yellow it has methanol in it.

[Little]

Well, I started a second batch, the cute little 'Celebrate!' balloon I got for a quarter filled up. Gonna make another batch tomorrow since I have no reason not to, have a nice solid seven-almost-eight liters of homemade alcohol for the summer. I'd assume it'll suck, but we'll see once May rolls around!

Expect the next update in early May, as myself and comrades get utterly smashed!

[Caz]

Posting to watch.

Also, if you're afraid of methanol, take a few shots of vodka. Seriously; the cure for methanol poisoning is ethanol, as it competitively inhibits the body's metabolisation of methanol into the far more toxic formaldehyde/formic acid.

Gotta love any solution that recommends imbibing more alcohol.


Mead generally takes months to settle down and be drinkable after bottling, if you want something faster beer is probably a better idea. Get a proper demijohn, airlock and sterilising tablets. If you don't want to mess around with giant bubbling pots full of wort you can always do extract brewing, not as good but cheap and easy.

Then again, I've made mead in milk bottles before and it was fine. Just got to be careful with sterilising everything and keeping it warm... my favourite place is in the cupboard of my room, or the airing/boiler cupboard. Nice and toasty for the yeast to have a party.

[Sadrice]

Mead is a little weird, fermentation wise.  Honey has very little of the nutrients that yeast needs to survive, so it tends to ferment slower with less active bubbling.  A common DIY trick is to throw a small handful of raisins in with it, adding a bit of flavor and nutrients.  Another strategy, common in medieval times, is to make braggot, a beer/mead fermented from malt and honey.  You can also just buy a yeast nutrient from a brewing store, as well as specialized yeasts that work well with mead.  I made a large batch (5 gallons) a while back, but didn't sterilize it properly.  As a result, the mead tastes fine, but has a faint, barely detectable spoiled fruit smell.  Make sure you sterilize properly if you want the most delicious booze you can make.  Some metabisulfite also helps, especially if the final product has an alcohol content below 12-13%.  Beer doesn't need it because it has hops, which is a decent antimicrobial.


The bit about methanol burning with a yellow flame is an old urban legend, by the way.  A methanol flame is blueish, almost invisible, very much like an ethanol flame.

EDIT: oh hey, your recipe calls for raisins.  Never mind, then.