Wild Berry Wine

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

Oh yeah, the beer is good. I have the left overs in a couple of plastic quart fruit juice jugs, just to see if the primer sugar is producing CO2 and pressuring up. It's working and I have this feeling I'll be working a slow pace at my job for the next week (He, hee, heee!).

I think I'm going to ferment everything in season I can find. I'm going to do apples for sure, maybe use sugar beets, soon potatoes for vodka. Boo-Haaa-Haaa-Haaa!

Making my own beer has began to spark my interest.

We tried, me and my pal, back in the days. But we were just teen punks and we half-assed the process. It was not drinkable beer, or any kind of beer whatsoever. Granddad used to make great beer at home, though... I think it had like 8% of alcohol in it, and it was like... it was fresh and had nice bubbles.

I think i gotta do some calculations. But i suck, regarding math. In the nearest grocery store, the cheapest beer is 1,19 euros per 0,33 liter can of 4.5% And with my alcohol tolerance, it is what consumes most of my income   I wonder how much, if any, money would i save if i brew my own poison. Maximize the DIY spirit.

This thread has my attention, to say the least.

The beer/wine making equipment will be necessary and then the bottles for the finished product. However, both will get used again and again I'm sure. Food grade buckets, fruits, grains and other fermentables, sugar, water and yeast is all you really need.

A blender is helpful for making the mash. A large pot to boil the beer wort and hops is necessary for making beer. Plus temperature is important, so a cooking thermometer is needed. I suggest growing hops, they come back every year and take over like weeds. Buy the barley, you can malt it yourself in those plastic Rubber Maid bins.

I was starting my wine in plastic fruit juice jugs, you can use almost anything to make wine in as long as it's clean (soap and water) and sterile (20 min. soak in a solution of 1 tablespoon of bleach to one gallon of water, rinse with sterile water that was boiled).

There is a lot of details and things to know, however, a lot of that seems to be traditions and methods that go beyond the basics but will produce consistent brews. I used well water (instead of spring or purified water), added sugar, used baker's yeast instead of brewer's yeast and doubled the fermentation period. On top of all that, I guessed on how much hops I was using. All these things are big "no nos" in the brewing world, but it totally worked.