any home brewers?

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by mr.nobody, Jan 8, 2012.


  1. thebastidge

    thebastidge Monkey+

    The bigger the batch the more homogenous you can make it. Consistency is good. Go ahead and spring for the 5 gallon carboys. Brewing kits are like exercise machines- people buy them and stop using all the time. You can always find reasonable prices on brewing stuff on Craig's List.

    Right now I'm making wine and cider out of commercial juice out of the px, in a 18L water cooler jug. My last batch I started from leftovers before I realized the entire base was out of grape juice, so I had to transfer the 6 liters or so into water bottles, and these smaller batches didn't come out as well. The apple/pear cider I made in the big jug after transferring it came out pretty good tho. Not bad for champagne yeast, commercial table juice (nestle) and a touch of honey and a bunch of white sugar. (added some lemon juice just to increase the acidity a bit).

    It's not hard to make something potable, the Sumerians figured it out millenia ago. In a SHTF scenario, alcohol would be good trade goods, and living primitve, it's actually good for you- reduces parasites in your drinking water and adds calories while preserving juice that would otherwise become vinegar and undrinkable.
     
  2. zeker

    zeker Monkey+

    minuteman

    I make shine with 3 ingredients. water sugar and yeast.. thats it.. If I want a flavor, instead of cutting it with water (to 50% alcohol) I will use apple juice, peach, orange or whatever is the flavor of the day. The wife used to make mikes hard lemonade by just adding the lemon and sweeten to taste.
    The brew sets for 2 weeks then gets run thru the still. from 5 gal of brew, I get about 6x40oz, sometimes more.. depends on my patience. I figger it costs about $3 per 40oz depending on sugar price. The yeast can be bought online from places like brewhaus.com.
    The still (ebay) cost me about $200, maybe 8 yrs ago but copper prices have risen.
     
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