(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best home brewing & winemaking

It depends on where you live, but most cities now have some form of "home brewery" store.

If not, you can buy the kits off the internet:

[Amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Homebrewing-and-Winemaking-Supplies/dp/B0064COD74/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414095535&sr=8-1&keywords=wine+kits+merlot+vintners+reserve) This is the first Kit I ever used

You'll need a few supplies:
A bucket (7.5 gallon)
Some tubing
A big spoon
Some measuring cups/spoons
A hygrometer
A 5 gallon carboy

Again, [Amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Wine-Making-Quality-Durable/dp/B000FBOWQW/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414095601&sr=8-7&keywords=wine+kit) Comes through!

You could also look up on Google and find out what other people have used instead of buying the entire kit online. But, I bought mine and have used it about 8 times to make really nice wines (about 28 bottles at a time!).

EDIT: If you like wine, there's really no other way to get it. It's about $3 per bottle (reuse the old bottles). It makes wine that you really like. You can experiment to get new types of wine - my favorite so far was 5 parts merlot with 1 part black cherry, mixed down to the right specific gravity and then fermented. It took 1 month to ferment and then aged over the next year (I drank it so I only had one bottle by the year's end). But oh man, that last bottle was some of the best wine I'd had. I wish I had let it all sit for a year!

I don't put any preservatives in it either! Most store bought wines have some meta-bisulfate added to them to keep them from turning into vinegar with changing temperatures or age. That "blush" people get from wine is often a sensitivity to the sulfur. Also, the sulfur is a key component responsible for hangovers. I've literally drank two full bottles of my wine in one night without the hangover! Not saying you won't get any hangover, but the sulfur makes you dehydrate a lot faster since your body tries to expel it much faster.

This hops variety pack isn't close to $50.00, but it sure will help provide 1.21 Gigawatts of awesome to my budding brew hobby!

Thanks for the contest and happy payday weekend!

I got started with making wine and vinegar, then picked up a few Mangrove Jack beer kits and was pleasantly surprised with the results. I'll work my way up to grains eventually, but for now the extract brewing is working well for me.

Can anyone recommend a good source of LME? This is what I'm looking to stock up on right now, but if you know of anything that has a notably better price or quality I'd love to hear about it!

I can help as my friend and I have tried several fruity IPAs. Since this is your first fruit beer I would keep it very simple. That way you know it will be enjoyable and you can tweak it if you want more malt flavor, more hop flavor or aroma, or more fruit.

Regular DME and Chinook hops are a great choice because they have some great characteristics but won't overshadow the tangerine. You also don't want to have a beer that is too malty because it will again overshadow the fruit.

One very important recommendation I would make: do not try to use fruit. Use extract like [this] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WRPC2KT/ref=sxr_rr_xsim_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3008523062&pd_rd_wg=62l79&pf_rd_r=WKFP3SGH44XBYT0FA7MC&pf_rd_s=desktop-rhs-carousels&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B015RTMJ0M&pd_rd_w=Wxax1&pf_rd_i=peanut%2Bbutter%2Bextract&pd_rd_r=3b1db39e-a455-438d-bddc-427202f57b65&ie=UTF8&qid=1510151139&sr=1&th=1). We tried to use fruit multiple times and especially with the bitter fruits you get a lot of weird reactions during fermentation if you do it incorrectly. Pickup several flavors while you're at it. I made a PB stout with this stuff and it was phenomenal and a blueberry wheat was also amazing.

You will get a lot cleaner flavor because you can add it after fermentation is over right before you keg or bottle. Add a few drops to a bud light and get the flavor ratio correct for your taste and get a feel for how it effects the beer. I usually add 3 oz for a 5 gallon batch of most of those extracts.

Here is a recipe outline that I would do if I were you:

Light DME to bring gravity to 1.05 or 1.06. Boil for 60 minutes. Use an online calculator to see how much DME this will take to reach these gravities.

Add 1 oz chinook 30 minutes from flameout.
1 oz chinook 5 minutes from flameout
1 oz chinook whirlpool for 15 minutes

*Ferment at 67 degrees with any ale yeast (us-05) but I like vermont ale, 1318, and 007 for my IPAs if you are feeling fancy.

Add extract to bottling bucket or keg.

To piggy back on u/stormbeforedawn's comment.

This is the equipment I used that I've had good luck with so far. It's what he recommended, I'm just providing links to the specific product I used.

• 2 gal primary bucket
  
  
• 1 gal secondary glass
  
  
• Autosiphon
  
  
• racking cane
  
  
• Hydrometer
  
  
• Starsan
  
  
• GoFerm
  
  
• I used Fermaid O, not Fermaid K, because I was following a specific nutrient regimen. It's called TONSA 2.0. Popular, but apparently not cost efficient with larger batches. People better at this than I can answer nutrient schedule questions.
  
  
• Bubbler/Airlock.
  
  
• Bottles and cap method are your preferance. You can get bottles of tons of shapes, colors and styles. Corked, capped, swingtop, etc. Just make sure the bottles are food-safe and not decorative hobby/thrift store stuff. If you use corks, same rule, don't use decorative stuff. You'll want #8 agglomerated cork and a hand corker tool to put the corks on. #9 corks work too, but you'll need heavy tools (like a floor corker) to do that..

Agar is definitely the way to go. A good technique for making your plates is Pastywhyte's Easy Agar Tek but the recipe he gives is no good. Potato dextrose agar might be a viable option to inoculate with mycelium, but it's not good for germinating spores, and you definitely don't want preservative-laden potato flakes. Malt extract, oatmeal, and straight dextrose have all been known to work well. Here's a list of agar media recipes. I can only personally vouch for the malt extract. If you go that route, you want the light stuff, I've had good results with this.

I use swing top bottles, and most of them are new. Chances are not all of them would be defective so it's probably another issue.

I taste what little bit doesn't make it into the bottle and it doesn't taste overly sweet.

I could try a different scale and see if that help. I definitely made sure to weigh it in ounces. Since I cold crashed the beer, it recommended to use .6 oz, and I actually added in closer to .7. I also checked the weight in grams to make sure the corresponding values are also correct.

I am using this for the priming sugar. I've tasted it and it is very sweet.

I triple checked everything from temp, to weight when inputting the values into the calculator.

Brewer's Best makes a Peanut Butter extract (among many other flavors). I used it in a peanut butter stout last year and was quite happy with the results. Some may say it's "cheating" to use extracts like this, but it's a fair bit cheaper than the dehydrated PB powders and probably easier to use (I used 4 Tbsp in a 5.4gal batch, added w/ the priming sugar solution to my bottling bucket).

I would recommend getting a basic starter set and doing extract kits, this is a good one for example.
You'll also want:

• http://www.amazon.com/Coopers-Brew-Products-644-Dextrose/dp/B002WF5JSE/ref=sr_1_3?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1453967122&sr=1-3&keywords=coopers+can
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Coopers-Brew-Products-647-Light/dp/B00AWQW7DK/ref=sr_1_4?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1453967122&sr=1-4&keywords=coopers+can
  
  and you're ready to go. This puts you at $44 for 20L of beer or 2.20 / L.
  
  I would rather buy slightly bigger equipment than you need at any given time or you'll find yourself at your capacity limit from day 1 and end up buying stuff twice.

This is a good, cheap yeast, just keep the temp down below 65 for best results. Sitting your jug or bucket in a tub/bath of water and frozen water bottles for the first 3-4 days of fermentation should be sufficient. Works great with preservative-free juice and a bit of yeast nutrient, if you've got it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fermentis-SafAle-S-04-English-Yeast/dp/B00JKKYNEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503417375&sr=8-1&keywords=safale

I’m not usually an advocate for doing the least, but I recently made a cranberry braggot (that could easily be just a mead, but I had liquid malt extract to get rid of). I only used a single can of this in a five gallon batch and it is wonderfully cranberry flavored after some light backsweetening. I don’t know that I would’ve wanted any more cranberry to it.

I have some extra packs of Red Star Premier Cuvee wine yeast that I'll send out for free as long as I can send it via normal USPS first class mail (shipping confuses me but I think this would work). Allegedly up to 18% alcohol tolerance. People report success with wine, cider, and beer with this yeast.

You have a few options....you can repitch a bitching yeast like WLP-099 in a big starter (take out say 1/2 gallon of your brew, water it down a bit, mix with 1.5 liter yeast starter (DME, a little table sugar, yeast energizer, vial of yeast) you made in a 1 gallon jug the night before, then after 24 hours (and verification of bubbles) pitch that into your bucket. That will crank through at least a chunk of the remaining sugar. It will also make more alcohol.

You will NEED to kill your yeast if you want to bottle for christmas though, as WLP-099 is a slow yeast, and you still need time for it to clear.

You will need to add potassium sorbate at like 1/2 teaspoon per gallon to stop fermentation.

In addition you will want to use something like Super Kleer to force the sediment to fall. Make sure you give 7 days for it to clear (packaging says 2...but give it a 5-7 days for best effect).

Alternatively you can water the brew down. This will tamp down the boozy flavor as well as make it less sweet, but it may taste watered down...so be careful if this is the route you go. I have never been successful in de-sweetening this way without making my brews taste watered down unless I continue to bulk age for a while after watering it down.

Homebrew Birch Root Beer. Seriously. It's awesome root beer. Make it yourself and everyone will tell you how awesome you are.

should work pretty well. wine yeast is super cheap on amazon, it can tolerate higher levels of alcohol. I use Red Star Cuvee to make Skeeter Pee, which is a baby step up from Kilju in difficulty.

No, it’s a good question! Here’s the link

Hope you enjoy!

What yeast did you use?

I've used both Lalvin 71B-1122 and Lalvin D-47. The 71B was very drinkable shortly after racking while the D-47 is best left for about 6 months. Those were both recommended in the forums I read prior to starting mead making.

Interesting, would be curious to see how it comes out with standard brewing fruit puree.

https://www.amazon.com/Vintners-Harvest-Fruit-Puree-Raspberry/dp/B0064OLWJ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502148397&sr=8-2&keywords=Oregon+fruit+puree

Its already puree'd has all the seeds removed, and is sterilized without cooking so you dont have to worry about infections if your not adding it in the boil. Half a can is a pretty potent fruit flavor for 5 gallons.

I found adding fruit into the boil just kills the flavor.

Looks like amazon has it: https://www.amazon.com/Liquor-Quik-Super-Kleer-2-Part-Finings/dp/B01J0LJ1IG/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1540490527&sr=8-1&keywords=super+kleer

like this maybe? http://www.amazon.com/Vintners-Harvest-Fruit-Puree-Raspberry/dp/B0064OLWJ4/ref=pd_sim_indust_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1EFKJ8KHC86MT9921PTK

Agreed. This stuff works wonders, I use it all the time.

https://www.amazon.com/Liquor-Quik-Super-Kleer-2-Part-Finings/dp/B01J0LJ1IG

Just go to amazon and search the name of whatever yeast.
Lalvin d47

Lalvin 71b

Just for example

Here you go! It's potent https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015RTMJ0M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1