Adventures in Homebrewland (image heavy - you have been warned!)

Gigervamp

That sounds interesting AA. I have both in my garden, so I'll have to give that a try. Thanks for posting the recipe.

ampersand

An urgent ? please -
I started elderflower champagne yesterday and have covered it over with muslin, as per recipe.
Is it alright/necessary/no-no land to loosely sit the bucket lid on top of this?
I can justify all 3 in my mind, but would like to know which is correct and why.
Thankyou.
############
a p.s. - bought 1.5 litres of sterilising liquid from Poundland - have scrubbed and lain the green lemonade bottles in bath of this to soak.

May try the elderflower wine, too - any recommended recipes?

constantinum

hi,
that is a great post made me think actually.

shandypants5

Bongedone wrote: »

Methanol is produced by fermention of wood. You will not get any methanol from home brewing.

You will not find methanol in commercial products either. It is highly toxic.

I am sorry but your wrong, Methanol can be produced by fermentation of plant matter, including fruit.

From Wikipedia.

Methanol is produced naturally in the anaerobic metabolism of many varieties of bacteria, and is ubiquitous in the environment. As a result, there is a small fraction of methanol vapor in the atmosphere. Over the course of several days, atmospheric methanol is oxidized by oxygen with the help of sunlight to carbon dioxide and water.

and

Because of its toxic properties, methanol is frequently used as a denaturant additive for ethanol manufactured for industrial uses— this addition of methanol economically exempts industrial ethanol from the rather significant 'liquor' taxes that would otherwise be levied as it is the essence of all potable alcoholic beverages. Methanol is often called wood alcohol because it was once produced chiefly as a byproduct of the destructive distillation of wood. It is now produced synthetically by a multi-step process:

And this from HERE at the Food standards agency.

European Council regulation 1576/89 lays down no specific limit for methanol in vodka. However, vodka is produced exclusively from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, for which a methanol limit of 50 g per hectolitre of 100% volume alcohol applies. On these grounds, vodka should contain no more than 0.5g methanol per litre of 100% volume alcohol.

Gigervamp

ampersand wrote: »

An urgent ? please -
I started elderflower champagne yesterday and have covered it over with muslin, as per recipe.
Is it alright/necessary/no-no land to loosely sit the bucket lid on top of this?
I can justify all 3 in my mind, but would like to know which is correct and why.
Thankyou.

We put the lid on the bucket loosely and didn't use muslin. I think the muslin is just to keep flys and things out, but still allows it to breathe.

Bongedone

shandypants5 wrote: »

I am sorry but your wrong, Methanol can be produced by fermentation of plant matter, including fruit.

From Wikipedia.

Methanol is produced naturally in the anaerobic metabolism of many varieties of bacteria, and is ubiquitous in the environment. As a result, there is a small fraction of methanol vapor in the atmosphere. Over the course of several days, atmospheric methanol is oxidized by oxygen with the help of sunlight to carbon dioxide and water.

and

Because of its toxic properties, methanol is frequently used as a denaturant additive for ethanol manufactured for industrial uses— this addition of methanol economically exempts industrial ethanol from the rather significant 'liquor' taxes that would otherwise be levied as it is the essence of all potable alcoholic beverages. Methanol is often called wood alcohol because it was once produced chiefly as a byproduct of the destructive distillation of wood. It is now produced synthetically by a multi-step process:

And this from HERE at the Food standards agency.

European Council regulation 1576/89 lays down no specific limit for methanol in vodka. However, vodka is produced exclusively from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, for which a methanol limit of 50 g per hectolitre of 100% volume alcohol applies. On these grounds, vodka should contain no more than 0.5g methanol per litre of 100% volume alcohol.

I stand corrected. I better try and avoid drinking a litre at a time then.

Austin_Allegro

Gigervamp wrote: »

That sounds interesting AA. I have both in my garden, so I'll have to give that a try. Thanks for posting the recipe.

I have seen recipes online for nettle wine and lemon balm wine, but not a combination of the two, but it seems to work ok. Nettles and lemon balm are the two plants that grow rampant in my garden so it makes sense to use them!

BTW I haven't done a two step fermentation with this recipe (ie, leaving the mulch to ferment in a covered bowl). Is there any particular reason why people do this? Is it to stop violent over-fermentation in the jar or does it give a more full bodied wine than the stewing/simmering method?

stevenhp1987

These "buckets" that people use for wine...

My friend has 2x 1 gallon buckets, with one lid - the lid has no air holes or anything...

Can one make wine/cider in this or does it need to breathe somehow and how would one do this? cheers, Steve

nopot2pin

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

These "buckets" that people use for wine...

My friend has 2x 1 gallon buckets, with one lid - the lid has no air holes or anything...

Can one make wine/cider in this or does it need to breathe somehow and how would one do this? cheers, Steve

You can use them, and losely cover the bucket.
Although it is safer to use an airlock...
At least that way, once everything has been sanitised, and the airlock is fitted, nothing should be able to get in and spoil what you are making.

There are a few wine and beer making forums around that may explain it better than I can

Link1 and Link2 are a couple that I sometimes check out (I prefer the second link)
But there are many more around...
Hope this helps

Pooky

ampersand wrote: »

An urgent ? please -
I started elderflower champagne yesterday and have covered it over with muslin, as per recipe.
Is it alright/necessary/no-no land to loosely sit the bucket lid on top of this?
I can justify all 3 in my mind, but would like to know which is correct and why.
Thankyou.
############
a p.s. - bought 1.5 litres of sterilising liquid from Poundland - have scrubbed and lain the green lemonade bottles in bath of this to soak.

May try the elderflower wine, too - any recommended recipes?

Just make sure the lid is really loose or you'll have elderflower champagne flavoured ceilings