Demijohns - Making booze

[Gaz3376]

I've just inherited 6 demijohns from the inlaws. I've done homebrew wine and beer before from kits, which were done in fermentation buckets.

Whats the advantage of demijohns over buckets? and can someone recommend me something to make using them?

[Gaz3376]

this looks amazing ill give this a go.

[Gaz3376]

4x4Tyke said:

I've always used Demijohns for wine and buckets for beer.

Cider or Scrumpy is very quick and easy as starter. 3 Litres of supermarket apple juice, wine yeast, nutrient and pectinase. The fresh apple juice will give you a rough Scrumpy and the UHT cartons if you like your cider bright. After 10-14 days it will generally start to clear and settle. If you like your cider strong and sweet you can supplement with sugar to taste. I use 250g of Demerara sugar which gives better final result than pure sucrose.

Mead (Honey Wine) is also pretty easy but takes much longer to finish. 1L of apple juice, 3 jars of pure Honey, wine yeast and nutrient. That can ferment for 3 months, let it clear naturally, bottle and leave in cool dark place for at least another 6 months.

Edited by 4x4Tyke on Wednesday 12th July 20:14

Do you add the demerara when bottling, will this contribute to the alcohol content?

[Gaz3376]

Thanks, I will try your cider recipe this weekend - looks easy enough.

[Gaz3376]

4x4Tyke said:

Gaz3376 said:

4x4Tyke said:

I've always used Demijohns for wine and buckets for beer.

Cider or Scrumpy is very quick and easy as starter. 3 Litres of supermarket apple juice, wine yeast, nutrient and pectinase. The fresh apple juice will give you a rough Scrumpy and the UHT cartons if you like your cider bright. After 10-14 days it will generally start to clear and settle. If you like your cider strong and sweet you can supplement with sugar to taste. I use 250g of Demerara sugar which gives better final result than pure sucrose.

Mead (Honey Wine) is also pretty easy but takes much longer to finish. 1L of apple juice, 3 jars of pure Honey, wine yeast and nutrient. That can ferment for 3 months, let it clear naturally, bottle and leave in cool dark place for at least another 6 months.

Do you add the demerara when bottling, will this contribute to the alcohol content?

Sugar that you want to be turned into alcohol should be added when the mix is first made up, but could be added anytime before stabilisation (when the yeast is killed). Alcohol vs. sweetness is a trade off, but there is a cap on the alcohol since alcohol inhibits the yeast, at that point extra sugar will increase the sweetness but not alcohol. If you let it self stabilise, then 250g will give you strong medium dry result, 500g will give you a strong medium to medium-sweet cider, 600-700g will give a very sweet cider. Apple juice is around 10% sugar already, so 3L already includes around 300g of sugar.

The reason to add sugar when bottling is to make the mixture sparkling (fizzy) and you only need a little to do this, a half flat teaspoon. Add too much sugar at bottling and you risk the bottle exploding. When bottling sparkling leave plenty of air in the bottle neck.

You can control this closely with a hydrometer this but I didn't want to complicate things too much.

I recommend going with the first receipt and than adjusting things to taste, it will be pretty strong, above 10% alcohol.

Edited by 4x4Tyke on Thursday 13th July 12:24

So could i use less sugar to make a slightly less potent cider? maybe add some sweetener to make up the sweetness?

[Gaz3376]

4x4Tyke said:

Gaz3376 said:

So could i use less sugar to make a slightly less potent cider? maybe add some sweetener to make up the sweetness?

Yes, but I've never used sweetener. I would stabilise it (kill the yeast) then sweeten to taste with real sugar.

http://www.wilko.com/homebrew-accessories+equipmen...

Edited by 4x4Tyke on Thursday 13th July 15:35

I see, got you.

[Gaz3376]

4x4Tyke said:

I've always used Demijohns for wine and buckets for beer.

Cider or Scrumpy is very quick and easy as starter. 3 Litres of supermarket apple juice, wine yeast, nutrient and pectinase. The fresh apple juice will give you a rough Scrumpy and the UHT cartons if you like your cider bright. After 10-14 days it will generally start to clear and settle. If you like your cider strong and sweet you can supplement with sugar to taste. I use 250g of Demerara sugar which gives better final result than pure sucrose.

Mead (Honey Wine) is also pretty easy but takes much longer to finish. 1L of apple juice, 3 jars of pure Honey, wine yeast, nutrient and water. That can ferment for 3 months, let it clear naturally, bottle and leave in cool dark place for at least another 6 months to mature.

Edited by 4x4Tyke on Thursday 13th July 12:43

I'm going to try and start the cider off tomorrow, if I just rely on the sugar in the apple juice without adding extra, what sort of alcohol content can I expect? And also how do I go about judging the alcohol content? I got a hydrometer today.

[Gaz3376]

227bhp said:

You've answered your own initial question there; DJs are for learning with. If it's crap, at least you've only got 4.5 litres of it. Once you've made some you like and want to repeat it you can fill a 25litre bucket. With DJs try different recipes in each one, just don't forget to make notes, i've got loads of them I don't use any more, it's all done in buckets now.
Some folks are getting their quantities mixed up, 1kg of normal sugar to 25 litres of apple juice will get circa 9 - 10% cider.
You use your hydrometer to take a before and after reading to give you your % alcohol, with no sugar i'd guess 3 - 4% vol.

What you are discussing is called Turbo cider, make sure you get apple juice with no additives (it can come from concentrate, as long as it's 100% apple juice. TC is harsh or rough, if you like it like that then ok, if you don't then add artificial sweetener, if you've messed up, but don't want to sling it you can put those sugar free coffee sweeteners in. You can buy a cider yeast on Ebay with the correct amount of sweetener in it to make a medium drinkable cider with 9 - 10% vol.
Once you've got the hang of it you can try chucking allsorts in, a jar of honey (microwaved until thin), minced sultanas (in a muslin bag in a bucket), Oak chips, T-bags in boiled water will give it tannin or a rhubarb flavour and a dash of cochineal to make er, rhubarb cider....

I've got mine to be just how I like it now and save a fortune, then I started buying wine kits, you can't beat a decent bottle for £2 - £3 excluding equipment. Bramble wine is easy too, I'm currently experimenting with turboyeast, this will make 24% from just water and sugar, which you then add flavours to to make a liqueur.

Edited by 227bhp on Tuesday 18th July 23:57

Ive ordered some cider yeast off ebay that has sweetener included, and plan on making a turbo cider when it arrives. Love the idea of Rhubarb Cider, maybe some ginger would compliment it too.

[Gaz3376]

227bhp said:

Be careful with the quantities, 1 sachet does 22 - 25 litres (a brewing bucket full). You can separate it like coke into 4 piles
I had some rhubarb cider at a pub once and it was lovely, so I searched the 'net for a bottle of flavouring and just put two or three drops per 330 bottle. It's usual to think that using a primary ingredient like rhubarb makes rhubarb flavoured drink, it doesn't really once it's been through the process, although homemade cider has far less chemicals in and more actual juice, you have to take some ideas from the major manufacturers.
Ginger flavouring here:
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/16828/Star-Kay-White-Foo...

As per above, put it in when bottling or even into your glass if just trying it out.
There is a lot to learn, but it's good fun, at this time of the year with the ambient temp what it is it's easy to get it started too - good luck.

If i dont use all the yeast will it keep?