Homebrew Thread V1- Make drinks instead of buying them! - General

Wikidump from [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrewing[/url] [quote] Homebrewing is the brewing of beer, wine, sake, mead, cider, perry and other beverages through fermentation on a small scale as a hobby for personal consumption, free distribution at social gatherings, amateur brewing competitions or other non-commercial reasons. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages can be made at home. [/quote] Homebrewed drinks often turn out to be just as good, if not better than storebrand drinks. Usually cheaper to make as well! I've recently started to get into it, just finished my first batch of kvass, [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass"]a traditional Russian drink.[/URL] Here are some pictures- [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/s1FOM.jpg[/img_thumb] [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/OawE4.jpg[/img_thumb] Edit: Here's what I did for the kvass- I took a 2.5 liter jar, filled it up around 5/8ths with water and 2/8th with boiling water, then mixed 5 tablespoons of rye wort, 4/5ths of a cup of sugar, and around 3 grams of regular baking yeast. Mixed it all up, sealed the jar and placed it at room temperature for 20 hours. Originally it came out as a watery, weakish kvass (almost no pretaste,yet a strong aftertaste of rye bread) so I let it stand for another 12~ hours, and it became considerably stronger. Has a consistent taste of bread now, with a slight alcoholic tinge (closer to monastirsky kvass, albeit less bitter).

is Kvass any good? On the topic tho, I've done Sima(a Finnish non-alcoholic mead beverage thingy) many, many times and it's still awesome as fuck! [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_(mead)[/url]

[QUOTE=TomZa;38224489]is Kvass any good? On the topic tho, I've done Sima(a Finnish non-alcoholic mead beverage thingy) many, many times and it's still awesome as fuck! [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_(mead)[/url][/QUOTE] Yeah, kvass is incredibly good, probably my favorite drink, I usually consume more of it than any other beverage. Depending on the brewer/brand, it can range from incredibly sweet to bitter, but the average can best be described as a bitterish drink with an aftertaste of dark bread. Is mead easy to make though? I was considering making medovukha (another type of honey mead) but if its too complicated I'm not sure I'll have the time.

Making mead is easy, but unless you leave it in a dark cupboard for a good 6months (Better for a year) it will taste like crap.

OP is a bit lacking. Came in here excited, expecting a nice big informative OP, detailing methods and personal experiences. I'm upset and disappointed, amazer :( I know I can look up homebrewing methods myself, but it would have been nice to hear your own tried-and-tested method and experience during it all, and how the actual brew tasted when you were finished. Your kvass looks very thick though, almost like honey. Is that right? Or is it more watery than the picture makes it seem?

[QUOTE=loopoo;38230331]OP is a bit lacking. Came in here excited, expecting a nice big informative OP, detailing methods and personal experiences. I'm upset and disappointed, amazer :( I know I can look up homebrewing methods myself, but it would have been nice to hear your own tried-and-tested method and experience during it all, and how the actual brew tasted when you were finished. Your kvass looks very thick though, almost like honey. Is that right? Or is it more watery than the picture makes it seem?[/QUOTE] Sorry about the lacking OP, I don't know too much about brewing myself. I've only just gotten into it. What I did for the kvass- I took a 2.5 liter jar, filled it up around 5/8ths with water and 2/8th with boiling water, then mixed 5 tablespoons of rye wort, 4/5ths of a cup of sugar, and around 3 grams of regular baking yeast. Mixed it all up, sealed the jar and placed it at room temperature for 20 hours. Originally it came out as a watery, weakish kvass (almost no pretaste,yet a strong aftertaste of rye bread) so I let it stand for another 12~ hours, and it became considerably stronger. Has a consistent taste of bread now, with a slight alcoholic tinge (closer to monastirsky kvass, albeit less bitter). For my next brew, (which is fermenting right now) I'm doing a mixture of 1/4th of my last, stronger kvass (for a more powerful flavor and so that I can reuse the yeast that's grown in the last, I hear that you can continuously cultivate it throughout your drinks and avoid having to buy more), then filling the rest of it with the previous mixture of rye wort and sugar, except that I'm also adding honey this time. Expecting it to be sweeter and thicker, you can already smell the combination of bread and honey from the jar.

Does it taste nice? Drinking a beer that tastes like rye bread, doesn't seem to appealing to me. But man, it's so awesome you're getting into homebrewing. I'd love to do it myself, just I don't have a place of my own just yet. Hopefully when I get a place this September, I'll start brewing, can't wait! Also, good job saving 1/4 of the kvass from your last batch. You're right about cultivating the yeast. Bakers use it when they make sourdough bread, they have "starters" which are basically generations-old batches of yeast. As you use it more and more, it gains more and more richness and flavour. Hope your next batch turns out awesome man :) A friend of mine had a homebrew setup going for wine, it was really awesome. Never got to try any yet as it was still a good long way off from being ready.

Thanks! Tastes great btw, though I can see how some people might not like it, rye is more of a specific taste. Good luck on getting a place to stay- brewing something gives me great enjoyment, nothing describes the pride you get from sitting back and enjoying a fine drink you made yourself. Also, I'm surprised at how little this is setting me back. I never really believed that brewing saved people that much money, but based on the current rate of ingredients, for 6$ I can make from 30-40 liters. Finally found a way to cut back on spending so much money on soda by replacing it with something cheaper and healthier- would definitely recommend.

I'm thinking of making a 1 gallon batch of sweet mead, and if it's a success, ill move up to 5 gallon batches, and eventually start making more complex recipes. A friend makes it, and according to him, it's incredible.

for homebrewing ([I]sima[/I]) will it be ok to halve or quater the recipe? I don't have anything which can boil 4 liters of water at once!

I make this awesome drink called [URL="http://translate.google.com/#pt/en/%C3%A1gua%20gelada"]água gelada[/URL]. It's Portugese in origin. Fill a bottle about 7/8th with water. Put it in the fridge for about six hours and you are done! On a serious, thread related note, I've tried brewing ginger ale about five times now but always turns out shitty. Got any recipes for a good, strong ginger-ish brew?

[QUOTE=Eltro102;38233417]for homebrewing ([I]sima[/I]) will it be ok to halve or quater the recipe? I don't have anything which can boil 4 liters of water at once![/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure its fine to halve recipes, its what I did with some of the ones I found (almost all of them are something ridiculous like "make 50 liters") and everything turned out okay.

Been pondering brewing my own mead for quite some time now.

[QUOTE=Frankiscool!;38248048]Been pondering brewing my own mead for quite some time now.[/QUOTE] Do it. Take out a loan, open up an Inn, become an Innkeeper and do it.

Finished my honey kvass- tastes amazing. It's got this bittery pretaste of regular kvass, and then leaves a strong taste of honey in your mouth afterwards. I can best describe it as tasting of bread with honey spread on it- its exactly like that, but bubbling and in liquid form. No pictures, sorry- finished it with my family before remembering to get a camera, but I started another batch today- hopefully it turns out just as well and I get it on camera.