I heard today that some people have died and others in hospital after drinking home brewed spirits. I have been brewing beer, spirits and a little wine for over 30 years. When I finally hit the road fulltime I would like to at least continue producing my own spirits as I can make a more pure, chemical free and better tasting product than is available in the shops.
I have two questions. Does anyone here make home brew whilst on the road fulltime?
and,
Should some type of short course in safe brewing be required before purchasing home brew equipment?
Feel free also to preach the evils of drink on this thread if you feel the need.
Hi Willow
I Don't brew on the road,,, can't carry it all. Had a home brew shop years ago and don't see any reason why you can't brew on the road except when settling.
The movement on the road should assist the wort to break down the sugars etc,,, as I often shook my spirits (in 4l demijohn) to give it some "life",,,, what I was really doing was speeding it up drink it sooner lol,,,,ah the evil things we do.
Cheers Baz
-- Edited by Baz421 on Tuesday 11th of June 2013 08:27:23 PM
__________________
Why is it so? Professor Julius Sumner Miller, a profound influence on my life, who explained science to us on TV in the 60's.
.In years past I made my own beer. At first I followed the direction verbatim and found many a headache as a result of high alcohol levels and a little(?) over imbibing. As a result I reduced the final sugar dosing in the secondary fermentation which resulted in a lower alcohol level, about 3.5% . This resulted in a much easier beer to drink. Many home brewers make the mistake of going for a strong beer. I guess thats ok if you drink to get drunk. I drink a beer to enjoy and savour the flavour and essence. Never tried making spirits although a friend used to make his own GRAPPA. Yehaaaa! We used bab stainless steel cask equipped with a safety blow off valve, Trouble was, we put too many skins in it, which when heat was applied, swelled and blocked the valve. Managed to spot it in time and turned off the heat.
My beer I used to bottle into 2 litre coke bottles with screw tops, No failures and no burst bottles
-- Edited by Bent Axle Bob on Tuesday 11th of June 2013 09:29:13 PM
__________________
Take only your memories, leave only your footprints
I heard today that some people have died and others in hospital after drinking home brewed spirits. I have been brewing beer, spirits and a little wine for over 30 years. When I finally hit the road fulltime I would like to at least continue producing my own spirits as I can make a more pure, chemical free and better tasting product than is available in the shops.
I have two questions. Does anyone here make home brew whilst on the road fulltime?
and,
Should some type of short course in safe brewing be required before purchasing home brew equipment?
Feel free also to preach the evils of drink on this thread if you feel the need.
The brew these fellows came to grief with was Grappa. This is made from the third crushing of wine grapes. How they managed to make it with enough ethanol in it to be lethal is something that I am not able to answer. I have made beer, wine and spirits for 40 years without anything more deadly than the occassional hangover. On our yearly winter over in North QLD I have made my home brew beer in the annex of the van, though in saying this we are parked in the one place for 3 months. I dont think it would work with beer while travelling.
To address Grams question - spirits will not blow up. Beer and wine can if they are bottled too early before the specific gravity falls to a safe level.
__________________
If there is such a thing as a tourist season.... why cant we shoot them?
I have two questions. Does anyone here make home brew whilst on the road fulltime?
and,
Should some type of short course in safe brewing be required before purchasing home brew equipment?
Grams asked:
I've never tried or done this, but can I ask a couple of questions that I am curious about...?
Is this home brew more alcoholic than actual beer, wine, spirits? Can this stuff blow up?
Sorry if they are silly questions, but I've always wanted to ask, but never knew anyone who did it.
-------
Dunmowin replies:I have been making home brew spirits for about a year now, and enjoy both the hobby and the taste. I purchased an "AIRSTILL KIT" It came with everything needed from start to finish including an instructional DVD. Cost $500. We broke even at around the 6th batch.. But I have since sold the 10 ltr fermenter and replaced with a 25ltr fermenter. The AIRSTILL makes spirit at 60% alco. And its not bad drinking once watered down.. when you find the flavouring that suits your fancy... I have run in to many others that make it on the road....With the equipment supplied with the AIRSTILL it is possible to use the fermenter whilst traveling, but after 7 days of fermentation we need to have 12 hours with 240 volt power and stability for the airstill.
As for blowing up...I don't think so.
If you need anymore info send me a private massage
__________________
Pay it forward - what goes around comes around
DUNMOWIN is no longer on the road and still DUNMOWIN!
Antifreeze has Glycol, some people have used it to murder others, including children, it's a horrible way to die.
Ethylene glycol Chemical Compound Ethylene glycol is an organic compound widely used as an automotive antifreeze and a precursor to polymers. In its pure form, it is an odorless, colorless, syrupy, sweet-tasting liquid. Ethylene glycol is toxic, and ingestion can result in death. Wikipedia Melting point: -12.9 °C Boiling point: 197.3 °C Formula: C2H6O2 Density: 1.11 g/cm³ Molar mass: 62.07 g/mol IUPAC ID: Ethane-1,2-diol
I have been making my own bourbon for over 10 years. When the alcohol is distilled it is 91% alcohol which obviously would be bad for anyone. Before going through the flavouring process I dilute the alcohol down to 40% alcohol which is about equivalent to normal store bought bourbon. It is completely safe, and not a bad drop either.
Cheers
Jon
ps: Not possible for it to blow up. The only pressure buildup is within the still during the distillation process as the liquid boils so is about as unsafe as a pressure cooker.
-- Edited by Hylda&Jon on Wednesday 12th of June 2013 10:14:23 AM
__________________
Home is where we hang our hats - Home now in Yamba NSW
Even non-alcoholic ginger beer can blow the tops of the bottles. (Terrible sticky mess in the garage)
I heard on the news there was "antifreeze" in that grappa... what is anti-freeze made of?
I wonder if sloppy reporting is getting the media and public confused on this.
Where distillation is not properly controlled, methanol can easily be produced. That is bad. It is the poisonous liquid added to ethanol to make it undrinkable - methylated spirits.
Methanol was used years ago as an antifreeze.
Modern antifreeze is a different altogether. It is very hard to imagine anyone adding modern antifreeze, ethylene glycol, to home made booze. Lethal. Must be kept secure from children and pets. Clean spills.
I've been brewing my own spirits for nearly 3 years now, best part is I do not drink it really ! as I'm not real a drinker (occasional beer or wine ) but I love the concept making it.
My wife makes a good barmaid and gives most away
I never make it stronger than 40% and always follow all the safety rules re distilling.
I make it on the road as a hobby and carry the pure spirit in a couple of 4.5 ltre demijohns. And flavour it up to whatever. My best brew was a bourbon aged in oak woodchips for 3 months in the demijohn.
Albeit to say I am usually very popular where we usually overwinter up North. Amazing how a couple of bottles free to the CP managers gets me a lovely site.
I used to make home brew ginger beer, beers and stout using the store bought plastic drum and DIY products from supermarkets. I prefer stout, but the family liked the ginger beer.
Years ago I made some batches of a Swedish (?) home brew that used open fermentation with a cheesecloth over in the fridge. It was palatable, though yeasty. Lost the recipe.
There is obviously a lot of talent among GNs that needs to be shared. Some threads maybe?
It is sad news indeed and has cast a cloud over all or us that distill our own spirits even though it appears to be unrelated to normal home production of spirits.
I'm very interested in the Airstill thanks Dunmowin as my present still uses a lot of water for cooling. At home I recycle the water but that would not be easy when travelling. The only trouble is they appear to only come in 5 litre models and my present still takes 20 litres of wash.
I usually produce rum at 40 % proof but if I'm going to a party I make a bottle around 25% to avoid the dreaded hangover.
Grams, some of the stories about brews 'blowing up' come from the prohibition times when stills were hidden in the bush and were heated with an open fire. The danger in those days related to the fact that both methanol and ethanol are very infammable.And John, there is no better way to ruin beer than to use any form of sugar in the wort. The recipe for beer is Malt, Hops, Water and nothing else. If you are using the kits use two kits and no sugar or 1 kit and 1.5kg liquid malt.
It is very easy to make beer far better tasting than bought beer, just don't add sugar.
I am more than happy to use this thread to help anyone who would like home brewing tips as you can save a hell of a lot of money if you like a drink or three.
I had a quick look at the Airstill web site and found it most confusing.
The grammar was intriguing. Looks to me like it was put together by someone with either a rather casual attitude & a sloppy 'cut & paste' method, or who was not familiar with the language.
Makes me wonder about their product. But Dunmowin seems to have found it to be a good product & that's good enough for me.
I used to be a regular beer brewer back in the early 70's. Long before the commercial packs were available. I even wrote a handbook on brewing. My experience was that as you tried to increase the alcohol content you were likely to loose out on flavor. Fully agree with the comment about reducing the sugar to improve the flavor. Cleanliness was critical. Once again our old friend Milton nappy soak (was that sodium metabisulphite?) was a god send.
I use the Still Spirits air still, perfect for on the road use as it does not need cooling water, as per normal still. And it is basically fully automatic in operation so I only have to watch till the amount distilled reaches around 700ml, then stop it and refill and away it goes again. I also discard the first 30ml or so, even though it states this is not necessary with the air still process.
I was shown one by another traveller a couple of years ago and tasted his wares, some Baileys type liqueur.
As said previously I enjoy the hobby as a production process so the air still appealed to me for simplicity.
I usually brew a mash for 5-6 days then do all my distillation in a day, the alcohol result is around 75% when first out of the still, so I then break it down to 40% with distilled water then filter.
With this method I end up with around 4-5 litres of pure 40% spirit, from one 25lt mash.
I also use the air still to distill my water for adding to the alcohol so there are virtually nil impurities in it once it has been through the filteration process.
The Still is available online for around $199, I bought all my bits and pieces individually so all up cost was around $300 for everything.
-- Edited by banjo on Thursday 13th of June 2013 11:21:36 AM
.In years past I made my own beer. At first I followed the direction verbatim and found many a headache as a result of high alcohol levels and a little(?) over imbibing. As a result I reduced the final sugar dosing in the secondary fermentation which resulted in a lower alcohol level, about 3.5% . This resulted in a much easier beer to drink. Many home brewers make the mistake of going for a strong beer. I guess thats ok if you drink to get drunk. I drink a beer to enjoy and savour the flavour and essence. Never tried making spirits although a friend used to make his own GRAPPA. Yehaaaa! We used bab stainless steel cask equipped with a safety blow off valve, Trouble was, we put too many skins in it, which when heat was applied, swelled and blocked the valve. Managed to spot it in time and turned off the heat.
