Lockdown booze recipes

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Steamy Tom

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Jonny_9 said:
Ok,

So i am looking at (constructive) tips to help my crude and unscientific pineapple cider along. I have to use what I can find in the shops.
I used one of those basic pineapple beer recipes on instructables.com to get me started.
My recipe of what I did so far:
4 pineapples in blender- skin and all
1 litre 100%pineapple juice
2kg brown sugar
2x 10g sachets bakers instant yeast
10litres hot water

Method:
After sterilising/disinfecting plastic tub with milton and hot water rinsing I added the whole mix except the yeast.
Yeast added after cooling down to just above room temperature. It immediately started visibly reacting which seems to be a good sign.
Closed the lid.

Will leave 7 days undisturbed- whereafter I will decant into empty plastic 2l coke bottles and leave a big gap of airspace below the lid.
The fermentation will continue in these bottles and they need a quick "burp" once a day.
If I leave these bottles out at room temperature they will continue to ferment?But if I place in fridge they will stop fermenting?

The lid is not airtight- it just clips on and had a flange.
I did all this 2 days ago. There are still some smallish bubbles rising from the bottom here and there.

Now what do I do? Keep lid on? Remove lid once a day and stir?
Am I correct in saying that about 70%of fermentation and alcohol production will be done in about 7 days. But not much fizz?
And the fizz and other 30% alcohol production will be done in the empty plastic coke bottles.

If I don't bottle, will the box of liquid go rotten? In other words, must I bottle all of it after 7 days?

And in the bottles- will they go rotten if not refrigerated after while?

Lots of info- I stated it all- with the point being to allow corrections and alterations for me and other forumites to adapt and improve and learn from those who have done this before.

Below check a pic of the box from day1: View attachment 821477
Click to expand...

is there any activity at all happening there? did your juice contain a preservative?
 
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Steamy Tom

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Dan C said:
Maybe I should get one of these for my pineapple brew... :X3:

View attachment 821625
Click to expand...

that's a bit too big, rather get like 2 smaller ones, and also westpack will be cheaper. Though i doubt any of these are food grade plastic, imo get a white bucket with lid there that is food grade rather for half the price
 
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Jonny_9

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Steamy Tom said:
is there any activity at all happening there? did your juice contain a preservative?
Click to expand...
There is a thin layer or approx half to 1mm diameter sized bubbled along the bottom which, here and there release up to the top where there another layer of these same bubbles at the top just below the floating pulp. (And also amongst the pulp)

The juice was in a 1l box. It said 100%pineapple and apple juice, no preservative, no added sugar. The ingredients said: pineapple juice, apple juice.
 
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Steamy Tom

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Jonny_9 said:
There is a thin layer or approx half to 1mm diameter sized bubbled along the bottom which, here and there release up to the top where there another layer of these same bubbles at the top just below the floating pulp. (And also amongst the pulp)

The juice was in a 1l box. It said 100%pineapple and apple juice, no preservative, no added sugar. The ingredients said: pineapple juice, apple juice.
Click to expand...

you should have more activity by now imo, normally 1 day and the yeast will be very active, do you remember what brand of juice it was?
 
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Jonny_9

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Steamy Tom said:
you should have more activity by now imo, normally 1 day and the yeast will be very active, do you remember what brand of juice it was?
Click to expand...
You just made me dig through my trash you bugger.
It was a box of Rhodes brand.
 
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Jonny_9

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Steamy Tom said:
That looks fine, how much and what type of yeast did you use? Where is your box stored? In a dark cupboard?
Click to expand...
Two 10g sachets of Instant Baker's Yeast (that's what I could find)
Box is there on top of fridge in kitchen. Ambient temp around there about 23 degrees mostly.
 
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Steamy Tom

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Jonny_9 said:
Two 10g sachets of Instant Baker's Yeast (that's what I could find)
Box is there on top of fridge in kitchen. Ambient temp around there about 23 degrees mostly.
Click to expand...

Yeast and light aren't great friends, put that puppy away in a cupboard or something
 
Toxxyc

Toxxyc

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NarrowBandFtw said:
you could also sweeten it after it has completely fermented out (aka back sweetening) with unfermentable sugars like xylitol, never tried it myself because I wanted a properly dry cider, but I'd probably prefer that to stopping fermentation early ... too scared of bottle bombs, or do you not use any priming sugar when you bottle that early? :unsure:
Click to expand...
Xylitol works, but only barely. Other artificial sweeteners are generally frowned upon, but saccharin works VERY well (and is used widely). In beers, it's very, very common to use lactose (milk sugar), specially in stouts (creating a milk stout). Lactose isn't very sweet for it's volume, so you usually add quite a bit.

SeRpEnT said:
So using plastic bottles is a no?
(properly washed mind you)
Click to expand...

Plastic bottles will work fine for the short term. They permeate oxygen, so for a long-term solution it's not highly recommended.

Jonny_9 said:
<pineapple cider>
Click to expand...

Your questions are hard to answer, because a lot can go wrong in a homebrew like that. So here goes:

1. You used instant yeast, not brewers yeast, so I'm guessing fermentation will be complete in a few days. The taste will be very dry, tart and very sour (because of instant yeast). I would strain the entire solution after about 4 days in total to get as much of the fruit pieces and pulp out of there as possible. Those are the parts that go off.
2. If the fermentation is complete, you can bottle the drink and store are room temperature. It should last (if there's no other infections in there) for a long time, even for a few years. Ciders tend to age well, so if it's not "nice" now, just leave it for a few months and try again. If fermentation is NOT complete, the fermentation will continue for as long as the yeast is active. This means even in the fridge. In the fridge, fermentation doesn't STOP, it just slows down to VERY slow. So yes, if you leave it in the fridge for a few weeks, it might pop.

My recommendation would be to first and foremost, rack it off the solids into a clean and sanitized container, trying to minimize exposure to air. Then, seal it off, shake the bottle to get all CO2 out (like you are trying to make it flat) and keep doing that until the solution is flat. Then leave it for a few hours and see how much CO2 is building up in there. If there is none, leave it for a day, and check again. If still none, chances are fermentation is complete, and you can bottle. If there's still CO2 escaping, just keep burping the bottle until it stops. Then you can bottle.

internaut said:
I would say allow it too settle first before pouring it over and refrigerating.
Also there will be some slight sediment at the bottom after being in the fridge. The idea then is to pour it slowly as to not disturb the layer of sediment at the bottom.
Click to expand...

There's actually a nice method even a home user can do:
Stick the entire container in the fridge. Get it down to about 2°C. Then dissolve about a teaspoon of plain gelatin in about half a cup of boiling water, stir to dissolve and pour that into the container. Leave it for a few days, and that should help a lot of the cloudiness drop to the bottom of the container, after which you can siphon off a much clearer (and cleaner tasting) drink.

internaut said:
Ok this one is legal if you dont want to go the distilling route :D

Click to expand...
I've done this with a mead before. It's a chore, but it works like a charm. ProTip: Set your freezer as cold as it will go right from the start, and go slow. Run the solution several times. There's a lot of wastage (I used around 5 litres of mead to make one 750ml bottle of drink),

Dan C said:
Maybe I should get one of these for my pineapple brew... :X3:

View attachment 821625
Click to expand...
This will work much better: https://www.loot.co.za/product/leisure-quip-foldaway-water-container-15l/kbxx-4979-g660


Jonny_9 said:
There is a thin layer or approx half to 1mm diameter sized bubbled along the bottom which, here and there release up to the top where there another layer of these same bubbles at the top just below the floating pulp. (And also amongst the pulp)

The juice was in a 1l box. It said 100%pineapple and apple juice, no preservative, no added sugar. The ingredients said: pineapple juice, apple juice.
Click to expand...
Do me a favour. With the lid closed, stick your nose close to it. Lift the lid and quickly take a big sniff. If you get a harsh burning sensation in your nose, that's CO2, that means there's fermentation. If not, it's very possible that the bakers instant yeast isn't doing it's thang and you'd better get that sorted ASAP. Get a packet of brewer's yeast, strain the entire solution, pasteurise it and pitch the brewer's yeast once it's cooled down.
 
NarrowBandFtw

NarrowBandFtw

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internaut said:
Ok this one is legal if you dont want to go the distilling route :D

Click to expand...
Toxxyc said:
I've done this with a mead before. It's a chore, but it works like a charm. ProTip: Set your freezer as cold as it will go right from the start, and go slow. Run the solution several times. There's a lot of wastage (I used around 5 litres of mead to make one 750ml bottle of drink)
Click to expand...
mind blown!

I'm so gonna do this with part of my leftover mead batch! been wanting to try distilling, but not necessarily invest in a still
 
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