The advantages of home brewing when you fancy a cheap tipple

mr2jay

OK, I have been asked several times about my home brewing on here as a way to have a cheeky drink without it costing too much. I will outline some of the costs below and show just how cheaply you CAN have a drink, especially with the proposed minimum cost per unit being brought in by the government. What's best, home brewing is completely legal (provided you don't try setting up a still - big no no).

OK, basic equipment. Probably the best place to start. I got 3 of my 4 demijohns (glass bottles used for brewing) on freecycle - so got them for diddly squat. This is a demijohn



Now, even if you have to buy one, they can be got for as little as £1 at a car boot.

Next you need an airlock. What this does is allows CO2 out of the demijohn but doesn't allow O2 back in which is bad for the yeast



Again, dirt cheap. Even brand new on eBay, these are about £5 for 4 of them including postage

Next you will need something to sterilise the equipment. Harmful bacteria can get into the yeast, killing it off and spoiling your wine/cider/ginger beer/beer/mead. I use what is called VWP steriliser which is about £2 for 100g. That will last ages.

Right, so now you are set up, what can you make? This equipment can be used for all sorts of tasty drinks (as shown above). Here are a few of mine to give you some ideas. If anyone wants some recipes, just let me know :T

1. Rhubarb Wine



OK, this is made from fresh rhubarb from the garden. You need a bag and a half of sugar and a little bit of grape concentrate and bottled water (tap water has all sorts of nasties in it). From a 1 gallon Demijohn, I will get 9 "half" bottles (I always put wine into smaller size half bottles so there is no waste). Cost per bottle 44p. Approximately 14% volume as well

2. Elderflower Cider



OK, I cheated on this one. I bought a kit which cost £17 and provided the bottled water and 1kg of sugar but, even so, that is for a 5 gallon drum. Now, this kit will produce 40 pints of high quality cider so, cost per pint = 50p. I have it in a fermenting bin but the juice in the kit can be split into 5 and frozen for smaller batches (I have a weekend coming up in the middle of June so made the lot and putting it into a keg)

3. Fruit wines



The 2 outer demijohns are full of fruit wine, the one on the left is black cherry wine, the one on the right is blackberry wine. These are from kits and cost 87p a bottle (half bottles again)

The one in the middle is an experiment I have on the go, apple and pear cider. I bought clearance pears from Tesco and ran them through my juicer to get REALLY fresh juice. I blended this with apple juice concentrate and yeast and left it to go ahead. You'll get about 8 pints from a demijohn - approximate cost - 40p per pint.

As you can see, it is possible to still enjoy a cheeky drink for next to nothing. If anyone wants any recipes, hints where to find the kit or anything else, let me know

January20

I've followed you from the other thread. What a good idea to start this thread! Over 12-15 years ago, I used to have all the equipment and make all sorts of beverages, following in my dad's footsteps as he used to make a lot of fruit based alcohols when I was a kid. I have got rid of all my equipment, and forgotten everything but I may start again!

mr2jay

The main reason for starting again was thinking ahead to Christmas. For all the adults in the family, we are going to be making foodie hampers using things we are growing ourselves (Chillis, tomatoes, red onions, strawberries etc.)

A couple of little bottles of home made wine will be going in, in fact I have been working this morning in producing labels for them. This is the finished product for the Rhubarb Wine :beer:



In case you are wondering, I used to make a lot of car stickers and as a result, I have full vinyl cutting facilities in my house. Thats how I am able to make the labels

January20

Yes lol I was wondering! And a bit amazed too!

Excellent! So now I'll pm you my address and you send me a case? :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

antonic

An even cheaper way is to give up alcohol completely (Like I have - 31 weeks dry and counting) and I have no intention of starting again either.

mr2jay

antonic wrote: »

An even cheaper way is to give up alcohol completely (Like I have - 31 weeks dry and counting) and I have no intention of starting again either.

Very true - although I do like a drink now and again I am by no means a big drinker.

As I said above, the main reason for starting the homebrew though is not for my own inebriation, it is a means to give people something a little different for Christmas while saving ourselves a small fortune in the process :cool:

mr2jay

Just a quick picture of the finished product - these are all gifts



As you can see, with a little imagination, you can produce something at home that is a little different as gifts

January20

antonic wrote: »

An even cheaper way is to give up alcohol completely (Like I have - 31 weeks dry and counting) and I have no intention of starting again either.

Yes, of course! but why if you enjoy it and don't abuse it? I don't drink very often and not very much when I do have a drink, and I have certainly been put off by the prices lately. Although alcohol is not a huge part of my life, I have no intention of giving it up altogether, and I enjoy making things, be it food or crafts.

MrsMoo2U

Hello, I am so pleased that I found this thread. Thanks for starting it.

Many years ago I started to brew my own wine and beer for fun as much as anything else. I used to love doing it too and built up a really good range of equipment. Long story short I had to get rid of it all when I moved home. Recently I have been thinking about starting out again but I cant remember anything about what I had or how I did it.
I have been looking at some starter kits because I have no clue where to start. What are your thought on this?
Do I really only need the demijohn and an airlock? I was thinking (from my poor memory) that I will need a bucket, temperature matt, thermometer, syphon.
Would love your advice on just getting started first. Could you maybe put up a very easy starters recipe and equipment needed?
I live in the countryside so hopefully there will be lots of elderflower soon. Elderflower champagne might be a good starter for me.

mr2jay

Glad you are thinking of starting again - once you have the kit it really is a cheap way to have a hobby. Plus you have the added advantage of a pleasant tipple you have made yourself

OK, basic kit

1. Demijohn
2. Airlock and Bung
3. Something to put the finished product into
4. VWP Steriliser (or similar)
5. Length of pipe bought in an aquarium shop to syphon

If you are looking to make wines from foraged fruit, then you will need a food grade fermenting bucket. Has to be food grade as ordinary buckets can't be cleaned properly and the plastics will absorb the juices and spoil the fruit. You will also need muslin bags to strain out the fruit waste.

Yes, a hydrometer is useful but only really if you want to measure the volume of alchohol that has been produced. Without, all you need to do is watch for when the bubbles finish passing through the airlock then leave it a couple of days just to make sure. Heat mats aren't really essential if you are able to keep a room constantly above 17 degrees C. Most kits say to ferment at 25 to 30 degrees C but this just means that it ferments quicker and compromises the quality of the finished product

The most important thing is to ensure that everything is VERY clean and then sterilised. You don't want anything spoiling the yeast.

OK, A basic recipe. I have just put this one on again (the first batch went down far too well) for Rhubarb wine. This is for a 1 Gallon Demijohn which will make about 6 normal bottles

Ingredients

1. 1.5kg Fresh Rhubarb
2. 1.3kg Sugar
3. 500ml of fresh grape juice (I use Morrisons Finest juice) - This must have NO additives in it, no vitamin C, no sweetners just 100% juice. From concentrate is fine.
4. 3l Bottled still water
5. 1tsp Yeast Nutrient (cheap on eBay)
6. 1 Packet of wine yeast (I use champagne yeast)

Step 1.
Cut up the rhubarb into approximately 0.5cm chunks and place it into the bucket. Stir in the sugar and leave for 3 days to mulch down. You'll end up with a very sweet, very sticky liquid in the bucket.

Step 2.
After 3 days, crush the rhubarb with the end of a rolling pin and then strain through a muslin bag. Make it up to 3 litres with still water and add the grape juice.

Step 3.
Transfer the lot into a demijohn and add the yeast nutrient. Shake the demijohn briskly to mix it in well. Then add the yeast and shake again. Add the airlock and leave.

Step 4.
After 3 days, the foaming will have settled so top up the demijohn with still water.

Step 5.
Once the bubbling has stopped (plus a couple of days ), Rack the wine off into a clean and sterilised fermenting bucket and clean the demijohn out well. Sterilse the demijohn again and rack the wine back in. Add the air lock again and leave to clear.

Step 6.
Once the wine has completely cleared, rack off into bottles. You can drink it right away but I have found that leaving it a couple of months to mature really brings out the best of the wine.

Hope this is useful

FireWyrm

Oooooh wow!

Please can you post more recipes. I've done basic stuff from kits, but I'd love to know more about different varieties - especially the fruit kinds. I'm getting the garden fixed for next year's growing season so I want to think about what I might need to grow as well.

Mods, perhaps this thread should be moved to Old Style and stickied?