Most basic of basics

I somehow don't think you are serious. You can get more information on the net in five minutes than you are pretending to have. Maybe you're just a kid looking to make booze. If I am wrong I apologize.

Tom

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- it did strike me something similar when i posted this, maybe people would think i'm trying to brew up in whilst prison. :)

actually Tom i like to think i'm a kid at heart but am actually a pensioner. about forty years ago i used to make beer but have forgotten most of the details. my son recently expressed an interest in brewing and asked me to show him.

since i have hardly any room in the kitchen I thought i would start very small and try and make cider or something very simple and involve him so we could learn together. grateful for any tips on the best way forward.

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You would need a fermentation container at least twice the volume of that which you wish to ferment. Get some champagne yeast and look up some cider recipes. Cover the fermentation vessel with a cloth or a piece of cotton in the mouth. After the initial fermentation transfer to a smaller container with just a little room on top and fashion an airlock. You could push a piece of vinyl hose through a hole the cap and keep the other end in a container of water. Wait until the bubbles stop. That will get you flat cider. Don't let the guards see it. Tom

You know that you really need hydrometers and such. Otherwise, look at

under apple juice. A cup of apple juice is about 248 grams of which about 24 grams is sugar. You can do just a straight fermentation of the apple juice to make cider, which can be consumed as it is still fermenting, or you can add an additional 24 to 36 grams of sugar/cup and try to make a cider that can age.

You don't water down the juice. Many people add various types of sugar to increase the alcohol content.

If you have a homebrew shop nearby, buy some real brewers yeast. Dry yeast costs less than $2. Any ale yeast works well, as do many wine and even champaign yeasts.

Use a well rinsed 2 liter soda bottle. Add the cider, yeast, and sugar, and set it somewhere out of the way, where the temp is maybe 60-70F. Leave the cap just a little loose, or loosen the cap once in a while to release excess pressure. When it has quit fermenting, if the lid was loose so there's not much carbonation, add a tespoon or 2 of sugar, and close the lid tight to carbonate it. In a week or two, it'll be ready.

Don't let the bottle get too hard. If it gets rock solid and continues, it will burst. Let the pressure out as slowly as possible (just a little hiss) if this happens. If you go too fast, it will foam up and make a mess.

"john bently" wrote in news:hicgot$7bj$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

Poke a small hole in a Baggie, and then seal it around the top of the bottle with a rubber band. That should keep most of the nasties out and the inflation of the bag lets you know how fermentation is coming along.

B.

I used a balloon with tiny holes pricked into it once when I needed something quick. the balloon held itself on and let out the gas. Lynn

You don't, really you don't. Not for basic wine making which is what the OP is after. Hydrometers come later when you've got a little knowledge. If he's trying to brew in a plastic bottle then I think hydrometers are a stage too far at the moment.

True, they are only good at reflecting the amount of dissolved solids in solution, i.e. sugar.

Sounds like you want to make balloon wine.

Enpty the apple juice equally into two 1 gallon milk jugs. Boil a pint of water and turn off the heat as you mix in 2 cups of sugar until clear. Do that twice and add each one to the gallon and allow to cool. Each jug should be 3/4 full. Bread yeast will work to some degree, but Champagne Yeast from a wine supply store would be much better. If you have the thermometer the applie juice needs to below

100 Degrees Farenheit before adding the yeast. After adding the yeast, attached a balloon to the top of the jug and wait a day. You may want to slightly shake the jugs after one day..If it doesn't foam right a way, place the jug next to a heat source, like a heat register. The balloon will inflate from the carbon dioxide given off. If the balloon comes off, put it back on. It basically keeps the bugs out. Eventaully the balloon will deflate while on the jug after two to three weeks. When this happens, your wine is ready to drink your sparkling cider wine. The sediment at the bottom is known as brewers yeast. It takes bad but is full of vitimins and will clean your drain dish/sink pipes out very well. Yeast will eat the grease and decayed food that can plug up the drain pipes in your house.

Tom

Brewers yeast (or Bread yeast) will eat grease? Have you got any documentation of this? It certainly isn't what I'd expect.

I too have heard of brewers yeast somehow being beneficial when poured down the drain. Must say, I can't see why. Apart from maybe consuming simple sugars that 'smelly' bugs might otherwise thrive on. I can't even believe that it would be that beneficial for septic systems (a cited reason).

rb

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Tom, I think he said "pensioner", not "prisoner" (I read it wrong the first time). Though if he's in a nursing home, the effect might be the same. ;)

I was referring to his line "it did strike me something similar when i posted this, maybe people would think i'm trying to brew up in whilst prison. :) " Tom

I saw a recipe for cider that calls for raw meat. Yuck. And I thought Cock Ale was discusting

ROger