Homebrew -

[Buster O'Keefe]

I've been brewing wine at home for a year: it is ridiculously easy, and for a modest outlay for equipment (mostly plastic buckets and bottles) and raw materials (pre-measured quantities of grape juice, cleaning agents, yeast and fining chemicals), I can knock out plonk that can compete with mid-range supermarket stuff for just over a pound a bottle. More expensive kits containing more grape juice produce quite outstanding wines.
If you enjoy a cheap tipple, I recommend you give homebrew a try: if you follow the instructions, you cannot fuck it up, and you will experience the magic of a micro organism turning juice into alcohol. Also, a batch is 5 gallons, so you can host a Bacchanalian orgy every couple of weeks.
Do any Kiwis have tales of homebrew? Beer, Mead, mash for moonshine?

 

[PumpkinSpiceBitchMeringue]

Oh, I thought this was a thread about D&D.

 

[Piss Clam]

 

[bolcan]

A few years ago I made some very low-grade "wine" out of orange juice and high-power yeast called "liquor quik". Tasted like farts but was definitely alcoholic, and I called it chienlit which is a French term that roughly translates to "shit the bed". I've thought about picking it back up again and actually trying to make something that tastes good this time.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

Hoping for muscadine eiswein next year, so global warming can ctfo. The frosts last year were all fucked up.

If the sun & moon behave, it should be pretty stout; but might induce instant alcoholic diabetes without a tonic mixer.

A few years ago I made some very low-grade "wine" out of orange juice and high-power yeast called "liquor quik". Tasted like farts but was definitely alcoholic, and I called it chienlit which is a French term that roughly translates to "shit the bed". I've thought about picking it back up again and actually trying to make something that tastes good this time.

Normal yeast & sugar doesn't provide the goods alone; it'll provide incomplete & weak fermentation.
You need the malt, or pure enzyme additive..... which can be a bitch & expensive to source.

Pro-tip:
Grape Nuts.

Add enough cracked/ground corn?

Barleycorn.
No need for extra sugar even, though that'll speed it up and boost the octane.

Do any Kiwis have tales of homebrew? Beer, Mead, mash for moonshine?

Speaking of Kiwi shit.

If I find enough pure, unblended honey to make it worthwhile, I plan on making manuka-mead before I die.

 

[Buster O'Keefe]

Necroing for lockdown reasons: not long after the UK closed down, I checked on some wine in three carboys that I had totally neglected and assumed would be vinegar: it was all totally fine. This was stuff I had started before my OP in March 2019, not in bottles, just left in plastic carboys. One had a dry airlock, which means it was exposed to oxidation, but was still perfectly drinkable. The red, which was a pricey kit (around £100) is a fantastic wine I'd happily pay 10 to 15 quid a bottle for (a kit will produce about 27-28 bottles). It's practically impossible to fuck this up. Fellow wine drinking Kiwis, unless you are as rich as Croesus and enjoy expensive French vintages, get fermenting, save big bucks, and stick it to the man (no alcohol duty)!

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

Oh, I thought this was a thread about D&D.

I thought it was about the PSP.

Been wanting to try my hand at making beer or mead. It'd probably be a disaster, but at least I tried.