Wild Berry Wine

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I guess the next step is playing with the hydrometer and seeing when I should bottle it. Any advice at this point?

As for fire brewing, my maple syrup experience and outdoor cooking has helped me in this area. Plus the maple sugar is valuable as well, I use it when I process my homegrown tobacco. I'm growing herbs like fennel and mints for menthol to process the tobacco as well. At some point all this begins to tie together, wine making, beer brewing, alcohol distilling, extracts and essential oils, tobacco, cannabis, all the big cash crops and products you'd need for the black market, er, I mean personal use of course.

My grandmother made wine from almost anything grown. From elderberry to potatoes. Her porch was never empty and folk came from miles around to visit her.

I never learned how to make any of it, but I am a really good taste tester.

[purplemer]

Heather flowers picked when it has not rained for a few days dissipate a white powder.. They add a little magic to the beverage in fermentation.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

OK, I tried some of the wine and beer Sunday. I tired 2 1/2 oz of each.

The wine was sweet at first, then dry, and then had an aftertaste that wasn't very good. I believe it is related to the bramble berries, or from the seeds of all the berries. Still, it wasn't that bad and with some aging I believe that will calm down. But the alcohol was off the charts, it was like drinking a shot, I felt it for sure.

Then the beer, two weeks fermenting to the day. I thought it would be real nasty, so I had a Bud light on hand to wash it down. It is that light yellow amber color you'd expect of a beer, but so much particulates that it was milky and opaque. It smelled really good and although flat (as it hasn't been bottled yet) it tasted like a good IPA, but the hops were over the top IMO. Next time, I'm going with 8-10 oz hops with most of that in the bitter phase of brewing. It was real strong on the hops so I added some of the bud light to water it down, and that shitty canned beer flavor destroyed it. Even though it was room temperature, flat and too strong on the hops, it had this flavor of live fresh brewed beer I never experienced before, it wasn't really bad at all.

So I put 8 oz of the beer in an open mason jar in the fridge for two days. Then yesterday, I thought I'd try it cold, and other than being flat, it was great! I sat there and smoked cigarettes made from homegrown tobacco, puffed on a corncob pipe filled with homegrown cannabis and drank a home brewed beer with it. It was alright, I will do fine when shit hits the fan, warmed by my wood stove and some moonshine from the still. Once I smooth out some of the problems and fine tune my methods, I'm going to do very well.

[wtbengineer]

OK, I tried some of the wine and beer Sunday. I tired 2 1/2 oz of each.

The wine was sweet at first, then dry, and then had an aftertaste that wasn't very good. I believe it is related to the bramble berries, or from the seeds of all the berries. Still, it wasn't that bad and with some aging I believe that will calm down. But the alcohol was off the charts, it was like drinking a shot, I felt it for sure.

Then the beer, two weeks fermenting to the day. I thought it would be real nasty, so I had a Bud light on hand to wash it down. It is that light yellow amber color you'd expect of a beer, but so much particulates that it was milky and opaque. It smelled really good and although flat (as it hasn't been bottled yet) it tasted like a good IPA, but the hops were over the top IMO. Next time, I'm going with 8-10 oz hops with most of that in the bitter phase of brewing. It was real strong on the hops so I added some of the bud light to water it down, and that shitty canned beer flavor destroyed it. Even though it was room temperature, flat and too strong on the hops, it had this flavor of live fresh brewed beer I never experienced before, it wasn't really bad at all.

So I put 8 oz of the beer in an open mason jar in the fridge for two days. Then yesterday, I thought I'd try it cold, and other than being flat, it was great! I sat there and smoked cigarettes made from homegrown tobacco, puffed on a corncob pipe filled with homegrown cannabis and drank a home brewed beer with it. It was alright, I will do fine when shit hits the fan, warmed by my wood stove and some moonshine from the still. Once I smooth out some of the problems and fine tune my methods, I'm going to do very well.

That's really good to hear!  Nothing like tasting that fresh hoppy goodness when you know you made it yourself.  Sometimes I'm shocked at how good it can be.  Congrats and keep refining!

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

It's been a full month now with the beer in the fermentation bucket. It hadn't been working for a week but when I added the priming sugar to the batch to bottle it, it was still reacting. I went with the rule of thumb of using 2/3 cup of sucrose to 5 gallons beer to prime it for bottling. Actually I had four gallons so I used just a little under 1/2 a cup.

I bottled 24 twelve oz bottles and had a few quarts left, so I decided to drink a few 12 oz glasses to get an idea of how buzzed I might get (waste not want not). Of course it was flat, except the primer sugar gave it a little sizzle. The hops had mellowed but were still really strong, dry and peppery. It has a short lived foamy head, medium body, smells sweet and fruity, and was slightly sweeter than I would like, likely due to the sugar I was using to keep it fermenting as long as I did. It might get drier with age and it will be at least a week to build up the carbonation in the bottles. I put the bottles outside in a cooler so if they blow, it should be safe.

After about a half a glass I was like yeah, feeling it, and it went down pretty easy when cold. After the second glass I was getting wasted, after the third one, I could barely stumble into bed. Just as good as that 9% ABV beer I drank a couple weekends ago. Then the slight hangover this morning was another success, just some dusty cobwebs. I thought if it was so green, it may cause me to puke or have bowel disruptions and gas, but none of that, just a little reminder hangover, nothing that slowed me down.

I need to buy some wine bottles now for the wine, I won't be priming that, just bottle it with a cork is what I'm thinking.

[Finspiracy]

Hi, it is Fin. You might remember me from such educational films as "General survival after drinking all the food money" And "What do you mean i acted like a dick again?"

This time i am gonna teach you how to make alcohol without yeast.

It is called Magic Potion of the Lapland Man. Lapland is what northern Finland is called. You are gonna need water, sugar, and 100% orange juice (not watered down, this shit has to be 100% or the magic is not gonna happen.) Like these:



Get like 10 liters. Freeze them. Freeze them good, all the way through, will not happen overnight. Give it 2-3 days and nights in the freezer. This activates the natural yeast of the oranges. After they are thoroughly frozen, peel them. With a knife. This activity sucks. Pro-tip: Do this sober.  And make sure there are no kids around, there will be profanity, even if you are a saint.

So now you have 10 chunks of frozen 100% orange juice. Put them into fermentation bucket that has 10 liters of water and like 3 or 4 kilos of sugar mixed well into that water. Close the lid. Sit down and make Rogue nation posts for about 2 weeks straight. At that point, a bubble will come from the water lock every 30 seconds, or no bubbles at all anymore. Bottle the stuff, but not the bottom layer. What is in the very bottom, is goo from another dimension and should never be touched by a human being. Cool it all down into fridge temp. Enjoy.

(This stuff is extremely easy to drink. One might think it does not even contain alcohol. When done properly, the alcohol content is about 17-19% so amateurs, beware!)

[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!

[Finspiracy]

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.

[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.

[Finspiracy]

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, but a lot of that seems to be traditions and methods that go beyond the basics, but will produce consistent brews. I used well water, added sugar, used baker's yeast and doubled the fermentation period. I guessed on how much hops I was using. All these things are big "no nos" in the brewing world, but it totally worked.

From my completely novice perspective, all of that seems really, really complicated. But usually i am able to learn new things if the thing happens to have my interest. Been thinking about this on and off the whole day and i am starting to feel like it is not a good idea if i have lots of alcohol here at home and i can make more with a relatively cheap price. I am an alcoholic, i could fall into delirium or die. All these years... decades... poverty is what has kept me alive, and prevented me from drinking myself to the bottom of my own grave.

Also, sorry about the quote format. RN has been doing this lately and i am feeling too lazy to fix the gaps.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

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, but a lot of that seems to be traditions and methods that go beyond the basics, but will produce consistent brews. I used well water, added sugar, used baker's yeast and doubled the fermentation period. I guessed on how much hops I was using. All these things are big "no nos" in the brewing world, but it totally worked.

From my completely novice perspective, all of that seems really, really complicated. But usually i am able to learn new things if the thing happens to have my interest. Been thinking about this on and off the whole day and i am starting to feel like it is not a good idea if i have lots of alcohol here at home and i can make more with a relatively cheap price. I am an alcoholic, i could fall into delirium or die. All these years... decades... poverty is what has kept me alive, and prevented me from drinking myself to the bottom of my own grave.

Also, sorry about the quote format. RN has been doing this lately and i am feeling too lazy to fix the gaps.

Yes, it is complicated, but the simplicity of yeast and fermentation, it's very basic.

I have had my day of binge drinking and partying, that's long ago now. Now I've come to appreciate an expensive craft brew of higher quality and alcohol content, twice the price of the mass produced domestic swill they call beer here in the states. I can't really afford that for daily consumption, but two will do the trick, more than that and it's a party.

If the only beer you drank was from 5 gallon batches of home brew that takes a month to produce, and you had to make that last until the next batch is done, then drinking might not be so big of a problem, then again, I wouldn't want to encourage alcoholism either.

Five gallons is 640 ounces, or about 53 beers, you aren't going to get that much, two cases at best. 48 beers until the next batch, or a 12 pack per week.

[Snarl]

Yes, it is complicated, but the simplicity of yeast and fermentation, it's very basic.

Am glad to know there are people keeping the process alive on a personal scale.

[Finspiracy]

Yes, it is complicated, but the simplicity of yeast and fermentation, it's very basic.



I have had my day of binge drinking and partying, that's long ago now. Now I've come to appreciate an expensive craft brew of higher quality and alcohol content, twice the price of the mass produced domestic swill they call beer here in the states. I can't really afford that for daily consumption, but two will do the trick, more than that and it's a party.



If the only beer you drank was from 5 gallon batches of home brew that takes a month to produce, and you had to make that last until the next batch is done, then drinking might not be so big of a problem, then again, I wouldn't want to encourage alcoholism either.

What is "a party"? I remember something like that, very faintly, from the distant nineties. Then the millennium changed, and i forgot how to party, forgot how to smile. My alcoholism is all about numbing the pain within and suppressing consciousness. And i can't recommend that to anyone. It is ugly.

But yeah, making alcohol can also be simple. It can literally be only water, sugar and yeast. Then it turns into this asphalt gray liquid that tastes like horror. The big boys used to sell it to us with like, i think it was 15 marks per liter. That is about 2.5 euros and roughly the same in dollars. Magic potion of the Lapland man (recipe above) is also ultra simple. But i got into some trouble with that too... the amount i made, and the strength of it. Had to donate a lot away just to save my own skin.

But i love the do-it-yourself mentality. And i kinda like saving some money too. That is what drives me to maybe consider making my own alcohol here at home.

[Finspiracy]

@"Michigan Swamp Buck" or someone:

This is maybe a bit embarrassing but i am scared of everything that has pressure. Pressure cookers, pressured gas containers, everything like that. Dunno why, i have never had any bad experiences with them.

I maybe like to try making beer. And according to my understanding, when you bottle it, you have to add a little bit of sugar to the bottom of the bottle, then add the beer, then close the bottle firmly. The sugar, i think makes the fermentation process continue, then it is i think co2 there and that is where the nice sparkly bubbles come from. Can't have beer without them, right?

Is there a risk of the bottle turning into a fragmentation grenade?

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

@"Michigan Swamp Buck" or someone:

This is maybe a bit embarrassing but i am scared of everything that has pressure. Pressure cookers, pressured gas containers, everything like that. Dunno why, i have never had any bad experiences with them.

I maybe like to try making beer. And according to my understanding, when you bottle it, you have to add a little bit of sugar to the bottom of the bottle, then add the beer, then close the bottle firmly. The sugar, i think makes the fermentation process continue, then it is i think co2 there and that is where the nice sparkly bubbles come from. Can't have beer without them, right?

Is there a risk of the bottle turning into a fragmentation grenade?

The rule of thumb is use 2/3s cup of sugar to 5 gallons of beer by dissolving it in boiling water, allowing it to cool down, then mix it in the beer before bottling. And yes, they can explode, that's why I put them in a cooler outside my home for awhile. Otherwise, they have a way to carbonate it without reactivating the yeast to produce CO2.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

My God! This beer gets better by the day! I'm going to be a full blown alcoholic by the end of the week!

I've got a case bottled, but I have to hold back and allow that to ripen and reach full carbonation. I have enough in the plastic containers to last until Friday, at which time I will have to buy a top shelf craft brewed IPA for close to $12 for a six pack. After that, cold turkey until the following weekend when I will have to purchase the local craft beers again.

The hops I have left from harvest are still good, maybe I should get some barley from somewhere and brew another batch, yeah, that's the ticket! Boo Haa, Haa, Haaa!

[Finspiracy]

My God! This beer gets better by the day! I'm going to be a full blown alcoholic by the end of the week!

I've got a case bottled, but I have to hold back and allow that to ripen and reach full carbonation. I have enough in the plastic containers to last until Friday, at which time I will have to buy a top shelf craft brewed IPA for close to $12 for a six pack. After that, cold turkey until the following weekend when I will have to purchase the local craft beers again.

The hops I have left from harvest are still good, maybe I should get some barley from somewhere and brew another batch, yeah, that's the ticket! Boo Haa, Haa, Haaa!

I bet your beer is wonderful

I have a beer day today also. But it is that 1.19 euros / 0,33 liter can / 4.5% stuff again and it is really low quality. What can you expect from the cheapest brand the grocery store has to offer?
Enjoy your products, you had to put some effort in making those, so now it is time for you to get rewarded then!

[wtbengineer]

My God! This beer gets better by the day! I'm going to be a full blown alcoholic by the end of the week!

I've got a case bottled, but I have to hold back and allow that to ripen and reach full carbonation. I have enough in the plastic containers to last until Friday, at which time I will have to buy a top shelf craft brewed IPA for close to $12 for a six pack. After that, cold turkey until the following weekend when I will have to purchase the local craft beers again.

The hops I have left from harvest are still good, maybe I should get some barley from somewhere and brew another batch, yeah, that's the ticket! Boo Haa, Haa, Haaa!

Glad to hear!  The hops I grow I vacuum pack and put in the freezer.  I've used some of mine with dates 5 years out with no ill effects, although I'd recommend using within a couple years.  I buy a 55 lb sack of malted barley from Northern Brewer for $65 free shipping.  That brews a few batches. 

Get to brewing man, that's what I say!

[Snarl]

Get to brewing man, that's what I say!

I'll second that!!

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

I just popped open the first bottled beer after one week. It was one of four bottles I put into the fridge to keep an eye on. The average temperature in the fridge is under 40 degrees, so I never expected the primer sugar to over ferment and explode a bottle and that never happened. In fact I've been expecting the carbonation to be low because yeast does best around 70-80F. Also, because I didn't bottle at the recommended two weeks and went for four, the alcohol level got pretty high with the sugar I'd been adding to keep the ferment going, so the yeast couldn't be very active at this point, or so I thought.

Well, it let off some pressure when I popped the top and had a very small head and a fair amount of carbonation bubbles through out. It had some "mouth feel" from the carbonation as well. It was very low though, about half of the carbonation I wanted. Also the flavor was quite different from the quarts I had in plastic containers. It was not as full bodied and had a more regular beer flavor, less of a kick from the hops, but still very present. Not as sweat either, but still somewhat sweet and just different enough to taste a bit off from the fresh "living" beer I had been drinking all week and had grown used to.

I think I should bring in that beer from out doors and get it to the room temperature of the house and give it another week. I doubt it will activate enough to blow up at this point, but I was so paranoid about that, I was handling the bottles like they were filled with nitro this whole time and feel rather foolish now that I actually opened one up and found the carbonation to be rather low. Hardly seems dangerous at all now.

Also, the yeast and a lot of sediment collected at the bottom of the bottles, but the particulates were still so heavy that it made it cloudy, it looks a lot like orange juice actually.