Homebrew / Moonshine - Sink vodka appreciation

[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]

What would be the best way to go from primary into a secondary 1gal batch that I have whole fruit in? Just pour it through a funnel with a cheesecloth or do you guys have a more sophisticated way with smaller batches? I've mainly just done beer before.

Is it already in primary or are you planning this ahead? If you've already got this going, the auto-siphon is probably your best bet. If you haven't started yet, I'd advise using a fermentor with a spigot on the side so that you can transfer the clear liquid from the middle of your vessel straight through a tube into the secondary vessel. There is the option of passing that through a filter if you're concerned about debris, but you probably won't need that if everything's settled well and you're doing a secondary.

 

[Gentle_Brick]

Is it already in primary or are you planning this ahead? If you've already got this going, the auto-siphon is probably your best bet. If you haven't started yet, I'd advise using a fermentor with a spigot on the side so that you can transfer the clear liquid from the middle of your vessel straight through a tube into the secondary vessel. There is the option of passing that through a filter if you're concerned about debris, but you probably won't need that if everything's settled well and you're doing a secondary.

It's one already going, it's about a week into primary and I was going to start taking gravity readings to see when to get if off the fruit and into secondary.

 

[Troonos]

What would be the best way to go from primary into a secondary 1gal batch that I have whole fruit in? Just pour it through a funnel with a cheesecloth or do you guys have a more sophisticated way with smaller batches? I've mainly just done beer before.

The primary already has fruit in it, and is in a 1 gallon vessel? How much fruit is in it? Solid fruit brewing almost always results in significant loss. Unless your primary is in probably a 1/2 gallon container, you're going to have a ton of headspace, which risks oxidation.

Pouring through cheesecloth is a massive oxidation risk. Putting a cheesecloth at the intake of an auto-siphon lowers the risk a lot, but then you have the problem of the fruit particulate clogging the pores in the fabric.

A hops spider might work better, but it's expensive and will eventually clog too.

You probably should just carefully lower the auto-siphon tip and slowly push it under the fruit, then start gently pumping so you don't agitate everything. Like I said, you're going to lose a lot in order to avoid fruit particulate and lees, but that's just reality. I use 8 lbs of fruit per gallon, so my losses average 50%.

And I shouldn't have to say this, but buy a jug of StarSan and dilute it, and sanitize literally everything that will touch your brew, including your hands.

 

[Gentle_Brick]

The primary already has fruit in it, and is in a 1 gallon vessel? How much fruit is in it? Solid fruit brewing almost always results in significant loss. Unless your primary is in probably a 1/2 gallon container, you're going to have a ton of headspace, which risks oxidation.

Pouring through cheesecloth is a massive oxidation risk. Putting a cheesecloth at the intake of an auto-siphon lowers the risk a lot, but then you have the problem of the fruit particulate clogging the pores in the fabric.

A hops spider might work better, but it's expensive and will eventually clog too.

You probably should just carefully lower the auto-siphon tip and slowly push it under the fruit, then start gently pumping so you don't agitate everything. Like I said, you're going to lose a lot in order to avoid fruit particulate and lees, but that's just reality. I use 8 lbs of fruit per gallon, so my losses average 50%.

And I shouldn't have to say this, but buy a jug of StarSan and dilute it, and sanitize literally everything that will touch your brew, including your hands.

Thanks for the reminder about a hop spider, I have one, I didn't even think about it. Yeah, I keep a spray bottle of some fresh starsan in every operation. For everyone, starsan has a 3hr shelf life once mixed

 

[Troonos]

For everyone, starsan has a 3hr shelf life once mixed

Where did you read that? Mixed StarSan remains efficacious for a month in any container, and several months in an airtight container. Much longer if you use distilled or RO water, and practically indefinitely if you use these and an airtight container. It only loses efficacy when it becomes cloudy because the detergent ingredient is expended, bonding to contaminants like dust and your water's mineral content.

 

[Gentle_Brick]

Where did you read that? Mixed StarSan remains efficacious for a month in any container, and several months in an airtight container. Much longer if you use distilled or RO water, and practically indefinitely if you use these and an airtight container. It only loses efficacy when it becomes cloudy because the detergent ingredient is expended, bonding to contaminants like dust and your water's mineral content.

Sorry, it's one hr, straight from their website.

'Star San is an EPAs registered sanitizer and must be used immediately. We do not recommend using it if has been in solution longer than an hour.'

 

[Troonos]

Sorry, it's one hr, straight from their website.

'Star San is an EPAs registered sanitizer and must be used immediately. .'

That's the legal liability answer the company feels compelled to give so they have padding against lawsuits related to contaminated batches. Actual testing shows preservation of pH and no evidence of detergent loss for the time periods I quoted above, and decades of commercial use with StarSan that's been diluted for a month or more resulting in no infections and clean test swabs. Their website also claims that StarSan degrades into "food for your yeast" and there's no real science behind that. Corporatespeak isn't always reality.

 

[Gentle_Brick]

That's the legal liability answer the company feels compelled to give so they have padding against lawsuits related to contaminated batches. Actual testing shows preservation of pH and no evidence of detergent loss for the time periods I quoted above, and decades of commercial use with StarSan that's been diluted for a month or more resulting in no infections and clean test swabs. Their website also claims that StarSan degrades into "food for your yeast" and there's no real science behind that. Corporatespeak isn't always reality.

Sure, I think I've come across the same tests you're referencing, but when a cheap wine kit is $60, a good price for malted grains is $1/lb and hops are closer to $3/oz. The $1.25 for a fresh 5gal batch of sanitizer is an almost nonexistent cost for best practice. It's 1ml for a 16oz spray bottle, it's silly to risk a batch that will cost several times what a whole container of sanitizer costs. And then there's the time loss if you have to dump a batch.

 

[Orange Rhymer]

My take: StarSan is a phosphoric acid based sanitizer. There is no way it dies in 1 hour.
I've seen it etch glass after 6 months.

 

[M(e)ad Man]

Going to try this. Adding all this in secondary seems the safest option, especially cloves which I don't trust to not turn everything into ass. I reckon cinnamon would be fine in primary in limited quantities and maybe add more in secondary if need be, what do you think?
I did some estimations on how much spices to add based on what I read online, if you tried this recipe, how much of each spice did you add?

It's been done since a while ago. It was so good I did not even bother to wait for it to age a little bit. I only have a bottle left of this that I am saving for some special occasion.
To report back: adding spices into primary seems to have done nothing. It tasted like regular mead.
I added cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and cloves and left them for a while in secondary, maybe 10-12 days.
The result was something extremely cinnamon flavored, which mellowed out pretty well to a present but not overpowering flavor after a week. The other spices are also present but not really distinctive. None of the vanilla flavor came through however. It would have paired well, I tried adding vanilla extract to a glass of it and it's good.
I'll try either adding oranges or lemons to it next autumn. Thank you all for the info

 

[teriyakiburns]

Reading this thread has inspired me, so I dug out some old brewing equipment, then threw most of it away because it had turned to shit. Basically just the demijohns were still viable. I've currently got a gallon of elderflower wine brewing up, which I'm going to try and turn into a sparkling wine - I made an "elderflower champagne" a few years back, following an old folk recipe that included an ill-advised shortcut. Turned out ok, but a bit yeasty, so this time I'm doing it properly. I'm also setting off some mead at the weekend.

 

[Polyboros2]

I've gotten old enough that the "make your own alcohol" bug has infected me.

My goal is to try and make a base I like that I can experiment with back flavoring. I really like sweet ciders that taste like juice. I currently have a 1 gal carboy a sample pack of brewer yeasts (the 71B recommended here is one of them), pectin enzyme and yeast nutrients.

My plan is to ferment with pasteurized apple juice that my local store has, cold crash, syphon, filter(the wife has a chemex). My plan is to back flavor with syrup made from artificial sweetener using fruits and/or spices, one I got a base I like. That way it's the sweetness I like with out being too sugary.

Originally, I was just going to ferment with the sugars in the apple juice, but reading the thread it seems like that will be too weak, so I'll probably start with white sugar, and experiment with brown, maple, and honey to match my back flavoring.

Any advice?

 

[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]

Any advice?

It sounds like you've got a pretty good general plan. I would just advise skipping the filtering. If you're just fermenting juice and sugar, there shouldn't be very much sediment, and the cold crash should drop most of that out. When brewing beer, cider, and mead, I've been able to get pretty consistently clear results with just cold crashing and taking care during the transfer out of the fermenter. Filtering with a chemex might risk contamination and oxygen exposure without much benefit.

I'm guessing that you're already planning to do this, but definitely do the math to make sure that you're adding the right amount of sugar for your desired final alcohol content.

 

[Hantavirus]

I have never filtered any of my batches, and the only hazy batch I made was a beer that is supposed to be cloudy. Cold crashing does 90% of the work; you can read small print through most of my "lighter" wines that I only cold crashed (dandelion, parsnip, beer-strength mead/cider, etc.). If you still have stuff suspended in your brew, you have a wide variety of finings that can take care of different hazes. Unless you forgot the pectinase, then you just have to live with it.

 

[The Fuck's Going On Here]

Well, fermented my black tea mead for a month; racked it to secondary now. Took a specific gravity reading and a taste.
The SG has reduced to 1.07. from an online calculator, that means the mead is about 9%. Makes sense as the mead I tasted was pretty sweet, when I was aiming for a less sweet one. I think the yeast I used for it might've gotten old or something, so I may have to get some new yeast for my next batch.
As for the taste, it was sweet; but unlike my previous meads, this sweetness was heavier; compare eating sugar vs eating caramel. There was also a bit of earthiness there.
IMO, not really a failure, but I definitely would've liked a drier mead for this tea one. Figured I'll reduce the honey per gallon and use fresh yeast when I try this again.

 

[Hantavirus]

I think the yeast I used for it might've gotten old or something

Yeast doesn't really go bad if it's stored properly; I make bread from the same 2 lb bag of yeast that has been sitting in the freezer for over a decade. You did not mention what yeast you used or whether you used any yeast nutrient. Fermentation stalling is a sign you either used a yeast that is not tolerant of the ABV you got up to, or that the yeast ran out of nutrients. A little Fermaid in the mash is a cheap insurance policy, especially when fermenting mead, which has basically nothing in it for the yeast except the sugar, but honestly most country wines are not going to have enough for a successful high ABV fermentation on their own.