should it be illegal to brew your own drink at home??

ohnonotgmail

Academic wrote: »

None of these things is even remotely possible. Surely you know that?

he seems to be confused about the differences between brewing, fermenting and distillation.

CruelCoin

MadYaker wrote: »

Id love to try it but I've never had the time. My friend has been doing it for years and he's quite good at it now. He can make really nice ale and it works out at about 60 or 70 cent per 500ml bottle. He says he rarely buy off license drink now but he still drinks in pubs so I don't think it has much of an effect on the bar trade. If everyone started making their own the offies might be in trouble though.

The beer kits are really simple and quick.

1 - Sterlise everything
2 - warm up goop bag
3 - empty goop bag into brewing bucket
4 - add hot water to goop and mix
5 - add cold water to amount on goop bag recipe
6 - close lid, fit airlock, wait 8 days.
7 - bottle, add small bit of sugar, wait 10 more days.
8 - enjoy.

scamalert

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

presuming everyone who brews at home knows what they are doing - but what about people who dont know what they are doing and blow their gaff up fermenting the drink .. or making something so potent or its like poison and it kills them or others when they drink it?

think you mistaken home brewing with meth making here :rolleyes:

marcbrophy

CruelCoin wrote: »

The beer kits are really simple and quick.

1 - Sterlise everything
2 - warm up goop bag
3 - empty goop bag into brewing bucket
4 - add hot water to goop and mix
5 - add cold water to amount on goop bag recipe
6 - close lid, fit airlock, wait 8 days.
7 - bottle, add small bit of sugar, wait 10 more days.
8 - enjoy.

I was with you until step 7

You add sugar to the already bottled beers?
How much sugar?
When you store them for the last ten days, is it in a garage or a fridge?

Sorry for all the questions!

sbsquarepants

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

presuming everyone who brews at home knows what they are doing - but what about people who dont know what they are doing and blow their gaff up fermenting the drink .. or making something so potent or its like poison and it kills them or others when they drink it?

No one blows up their house making home brew!

Burns it down after drinking the stuff, probably yes. But blows it up in the attempt - No:D

weldoninhio

marcbrophy wrote: »

I was with you until step 7

You add sugar to the already bottled beers?
How much sugar?
When you store them for the last ten days, is it in a garage or a fridge?

Sorry for all the questions!

Its carbonated drops to give it the fizz. About half a tablet (which is about the size of a cough sweet) per bottle.

Then you store it somewhere that is room temperature.

sbsquarepants

I Seen a small table top still for sale online a while back, for making whisky, vodka and so on. It's illegal to distil spirits in Ireland so the sales blurb said - "In the republic of Ireland this machine is sold only as water purifier - please do not use our product to make delicious cheap spirits":D

marcbrophy

weldoninhio wrote: »

Its carbonated drops to give it the fizz. About half a tablet (which is about the size of a cough sweet) per bottle.

Then you store it somewhere that is room temperature.

Ah gotcha!

Anyone try brew cider at home?
I'm partial to the old Bulmers myself

topper75

donegaLroad wrote: »

OP, I remember years back when a local garda asked a guy I know... 'who is supplying the mushrooms'... nuff said

As usual, the golf club is above the law apparently.

topper75

marcbrophy wrote: »

Ah gotcha!

Anyone try brew cider at home?
I'm partial to the old Bulmers myself

Yeah - give it a go. You'll be surprised how much sugar goes into the juice though. It's not economic. Just for fun as a once off.

Herb Powell

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

just looking at the Smithwicks advert - wondering should it really be legal brewing your own drink at home? - I know loads of people do it but what about dangers of stuff fermenting? what about how it could be damaging pub and off-licence trade? - what about revenue the government misses out on? ( ) - is making Putcheen (spelling?) still illegal? - if it is how come you can brew beer and wine and that lot, but not putcheen and other stuff?

There aren't any dangers of stuff fermenting.

You're unlikely to create anything truly hazardous during fermentation, the worst that will happen is you'll make something undrinkable.

If you use a plastic fermentation vessel rather than a glass one, that also eliminates any potential danger that there might be on the off chance of an explosion happening when you'e nearby.

I don't think people realise how easy it actually is. There's relatively little to it.

sbsquarepants

topper75 wrote: »

Yeah - give it a go. You'll be surprised how much sugar goes into the juice though. It's not economic. Just for fun as a once off.

Isn't there something like 20 spoons of sugar in a pint of cider:eek:

hatrickpatrick

Oh God... Don't be giving them ideas, I've been stockpiling empty bottles and equipment ever since the spectre of minimum alcohol pricing was raised...

hatrickpatrick

Herb Powell wrote: »

I don't think people realise how easy it actually is. There's relatively little to it.

I'm getting ready to learn how to do it in case they manage to pass the minimum pricing sh!te, and it strikes me from everything I've read that fermenting itself doesn't require much skill - more so the ability to follow a recipe. The skill seems to simply differentiate between whether you'll brew something that tastes decent or something that's barely tolerable.

VinLieger

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I'm getting ready to learn how to do it in case they manage to pass the minimum pricing sh!te, and it strikes me from everything I've read that fermenting itself doesn't require much skill - more so the ability to follow a recipe. The skill seems to simply differentiate between whether you'll brew something that tastes decent or something that's barely tolerable.

Exactly it, it really is incredibly simple, definitely start with simple recipe kits first but eventually you can start getting a feel for your own creations with different flavours etc

VinLieger

CruelCoin wrote: »

The cost part of home-brewing never came into it for me.

It's always been about if it's fun or not, and it bloody is!

Agreed but whenever ive explained it ive always been asked about cost of kit etc and giving that example of 50 cent per bottle usually turns heads and gets people properly interested

fizzypish

I say we make it illegal. That way I'll get to brew and when I tell people about it I'll be an edgy bad ass!!!! And if prohibition happens I'll be one step ahead.

he hehe hehehe prohibition in ireland......... The place would look like Kandahar in a week.

CruelCoin

marcbrophy wrote: »

I was with you until step 7

You add sugar to the already bottled beers?
How much sugar?
When you store them for the last ten days, is it in a garage or a fridge?

Sorry for all the questions!

You add roughly a teaspoon of sugar (dextrose, never fructose)

The idea is that you wait untill the beer has stopped fermenting (no more bubbling from the airlock). At that point the yeast has run out of food.
You then bottle it, add a little bit more sugar and the yeast kicks back into life, produces CO2 in the bottle and that's what carbonates your beer.

smurfjed

I live in a country where alcohol is illegal, so we have to make our own.
Beer is easy, take a malt beverage, add sugar and yeast in a dustbin, wait 10 days, drop in hops, wait 7 days and bottle it.
Wine is the same, take grape juice, add sugar and yeast, wait 3 weeks, bottle it and wait another 3 weeks.
Liquor is a different story, you can distill a basic mash, but it needs a lot more attention than beer /wine, getting it wrong has lead to deaths in certain parts of Asia, but if guys get it right its bloody good. I don't have the patience to do it, so i just buy it for around 50 euros for a gallon of almost pure alcohol, this will need to be cut 50/50 with water, so 7.5 litres for 50 Euro.
Right now I have around 40 litres of beer and 60 of wine going.

kenmc

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

presuming everyone who brews at home knows what they are doing - but what about people who dont know what they are doing and blow their gaff up fermenting the drink .. or making something so potent or its like poison and it kills them or others when they drink it?

You need to do some research.

Ipso

If anyone wants to make an easy beer, look up "speedy brewing" on youtube.

andekwarhola

Home brewing is something I've been meaning to get into. Not so much for the quantity or cost of brewing beer but just intrigued with experimenting with custom ales and stouts, as I like so called craft beers.

Haven't really got a spare room in the house though so was thinking of buying a shed to brew in.

Ipso

andekwarhola wrote: »

Home brewing is something I've been meaning to get into. Not so much for the quantity or cost of brewing beer but just intrigued with experimenting with custom ales and stouts, as I like so called craft beers.

Haven't really got a spare room in the house though so was thinking of buying a shed to brew in.

Look up small batch brewing (and brew in a bag), like cooking a large pot of soup.

Skyfloater

andekwarhola wrote: »

Home brewing is something I've been meaning to get into. Not so much for the quantity or cost of brewing beer but just intrigued with experimenting with custom ales and stouts, as I like so called craft beers.

Haven't really got a spare room in the house though so was thinking of buying a shed to brew in.

You don't really need that much space at all. The fermentation vessels are only about 380mm by 380mm and you need space for about 4 stacked boxes of bottles. Don't underestimate the quality of the all malt extract kits, they give excellent results, easily the match for commercial beers. For about 3 hours investment, you get 19-20 litres of whatever style of beer you fancy(except pils type lager which is trickier)

andekwarhola

Skyfloater wrote: »

You don't really need that much space at all. The fermentation vessels are only about 380mm by 380mm and you need space for about 4 stacked boxes of bottles. Don't underestimate the quality of the all malt extract kits, they give excellent results, easily the match for commercial beers. For about 3 hours investment, you get 19-20 litres of whatever style of beer you fancy(except pils type lager which is trickier)

I need a man shed though so I reckon this is my best method of pushing it through the spousal authorities

Widdershins

People should be allowed to poison themselves in theirown home without nosy parkers meddling in their business. Also, if you pay the mortgage,you get to risk blowing it up. Anyway, highly unlikely to blow more than a dent in the ceiling if you're unlucky and careless.
It'll be ''should people be allowed to use dangerous home hair dye kits '' next.

Andy From Sligo

Yes sorry all , getting brewing mixed up with distilling , my mistake. Should have done my research first before posting...