Reddit mentions of Dry Wine Yeast - EC-1118 (500 g)

Most of the stuff I've been brewing lately is a little complicated for beginners. Skeeter pee is absolutely fantastic once you've built up some confidence with the basics and bought a few supplies off Amazon or from a local supply store.

One of the biggest problems I had with my earliest brews was the sulfur smell and overall yeasty taste (still quite drinkable though!). To avoid that, make sure your yeast has some nutrient and do a round or two of putting your finished hooch in the fridge then gently pouring off the liquid into another container without disturbing the sediment on the bottom. For nutrient I like to either barely boil the yeast sediment from a previous batch or toss in some boiled fruit like cantaloupe or peaches. The go-to recommendations for nutrients on r/prisonhooch are boiled/mashed raisins or tomato paste. I'd lean toward tomato paste if you don't want to tinker with anything else. I haven't done A/B testing to determine how much of a difference it makes, but I like to throw in at least a quarter cup of guava nectar... at the very least it probably doesn't hurt anything.

So, a basic recipe would look like this:

1. 1 gallon apple juice - just go to Walmart or whatever grocery store is convenient and pick up whatever is cheapest (as long as it doesn't have preservatives, most don't)
   
   
2. pour out about 4 cups of the juice to make room for all the sugar you're going to add
   
   
3. add 2 cups of sugar, cap it, and shake vigorously until it's all dissolved
   
   
4. add a packet/teaspoon of yeast. If you have fancy cider/wine yeast then use that, but bread yeast will work just fine. Add whatever you have for nutrients. Boiled yeast and fruits or tomato paste/ketchup, just give your yeast a little something to chew on. Cap it and shake it again to get everything intermixed.
   
   
5. loosen the cap just enough for air to escape. You can rig up a balloon air lock (or even a real airlock) if you really want to, but I've never had an issue with just a loose cap. put it somewhere that's not too hot and not too cold. mid-70s F is ideal.
   
   
6. You should see lots of bubbles after a couple of days. Let it bubble away until there is noticeably less activity: time to step feed.
   
   
7. Add two more cups of sugar and shake until it's all dissolved. Your yeast may or may not be able to tolerate eating all of this. Baking yeast might die off as the alcohol content rises. I spent $46 for a lifetime supply of EC-1118 wine yeast and haven't regretted it in the least.
   
   
8. You should see some renewed fermentation... just let it sit with a vented cap until you're not seeing any more bubbles and pour yourself a little taste. If it's still sweet, then the fermentation is stalled and it's probably as strong as you're going to get with the yeast/techniques being used. If it's really dry then you're all set, but you might want to back sweeten it before you drink it. You can add a little simple syrup or other sweetener to taste.
   
   
9. Move it to the fridge for the 'cold crash'. Let all the sediment fall to the bottom then either siphon it to another container (vinyl tubing is dirt cheap at most hardware stores) or gently pour it off while doing your best to not disturb the layer at the bottom. You can do this a couple of times until no more sediment falls to the bottom.
   
   Another simple thing to brew is tepache, a 'wine' made from pineapple scraps. Whenever I cut up a pineapple I save the skins in the freezer. After I fill up a freezer bag (3-ish pineapples) I use them for the hooch.
   
   You'll want a decent sized vessel, 2-3 gallon size is ideal. Walmart has some beverage dispensers around this size, and they're usually on sale this time of year. It's tempting to just brew it in a bucket and make a 5 gallon batch, but this stuff really doesn't store well and you should only brew what you'll drink reasonably soon. I like a bit of a vinegary taste like you get with kombucha, so I use the native yeast that lives on the pineapple skin and just feed it as much sugar as it can handle. The final ABV can vary from batch to batch. Cover the pineapple skins with water, leaving a decent bit of room at the top for bubbles/foam. Start with 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar, stir until dissolved then keep it somewhere warm, and once you've got a good fermentation going you can add some more sugar. There will be a foamy/scummy layer on the top but it's completely normal and harmless. You can just scoop it off and give everything a good stir.
   
   It only takes a few days- maybe a week or so. When it's ready it'll be somewhat fizzy and sweet and delicious over ice. The longer you let it sit the more vinegary it will taste, and if you just let it go indefinitely you can get a tasty pineapple vinegar if you want to branch out with your fermentation experiments. Adding cloves, mint, vanilla, and other spices can also give good results. If you search the subreddit, several people posted about making their own tepache over the summer.
   
   I just realized I wrote half a novel :P That should at least get you started...