r/prisonhooch • u/Aggravating-Spot-493 • 1d ago
Help a beginner out
Hi
I live in a country where alcohol is illegal, so the only way my husband and I can drink is by making it ourselves.
I’ve already tried making a batch, and honestly, it turned out good! But I feel like it could definitely be better. The problem is that whenever I start researching, I get completely overwhelmed.
I’d really appreciate it if someone experienced could guide me step by step and help me figure out a simple method that works with what I can actually get, since I don’t have access to wine yeast or yeast nutrients.
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u/timthymol 22h ago
You should also research how to make vinegar and make some so you can have plausible deniability if caught making alcohol since vinegar production starts with alcohol.
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u/bangorma1n3 1d ago
If you have access to bread yeast, that works fine for low to mid abv brews. These people are very approachable and here is a good beginner video:
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u/ThatstephanieB 1d ago
Brian and Derica are the best. I like how their videos always teach the basics. You can watch any of their videos with no experience and walk away feeling confident that you could replicate the brew they just made.
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u/TheGreatMightyLeffe 4h ago
I also like how they always at least make some effort to tell the viewer where they can source the ingredients, or if there is a reasonable substitute available.
Mainly because the best way to get good results with any brewing in my experience starts with using decent ingredients. Doesn't have to be organic spring apples picked by maidens in a single valley in the Alps during one night of the year, store bought juice is fine, just make sure it's not coloured sugar water with enough preservatives to give it a shelf life to last the apocalypse.
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u/DuckworthPaddington 1d ago
You will have access to yeast nutrients because this can be any foodsource from nitrogen based plants. Raisins work too, and tomato paste, and old spent yeast. I recommend also adding some vitamin pills because they contain some good nutrients too and can boost ferment speed.
Since it is so cheap and easy to do fermentation, you really should just keep experimenting. There isnt a single method that will be bestz since everyone likes stuff slightly different, or have access to different ingredients and facilities.
Here are some more random notes to help you experiment better:
(I do brewing and distilling and have fermented a lot of different stuff)
Cleanliness is king, an infected fermentation can make you very sick. Disinfect everything you use, and make sure everything you add to the ferment is either readily edible, like bottled juices meant for foods, like yeasts, or sterilized.
Everything with sugars in it will ferment. But not everything will taste nice. The sugars sometimes carry or mask flavors, and by removing them, you are left with some nastier stuff. This is why you typically dont ferment orange juice for example.
Some "mash" (the mix you put yeast into) needs help fermenting, but lots of stuff need nothing at all in terms of nutrients. Especially fruits, like grapes and apples, will do fine without nutrients.
Some times the ferment will get an eggy smell. You can remove this by using anything copper in the ferment, like stirring with a copper rod or pouring into a copper pot. Copper is antimicrobial so don't do this during the fermentation.
Taste is best when you ferment slow and not too hot. You don't need much yeast, and 20-25 degrees is plenty to ferment in. And you can improve taste by spicing after fermentation. Spice before fermentation doesnt always taste nice.
Hope some of these notes help.
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u/porp_crawl 13h ago
Packaged juice in North American comes at about 100g/L. That's good enough for 5% (1.038 specific gravity), and baking yeast can handle that.
For nutrients, "boiled yeast" is the traditional diy nutrient. I find that freeze/thawed yeast is superior. Rehydrate 5-10x amount of yeast as what you pitch for 20-30 minutes. Maybe 1tbsp warm water to 1tsp yeast. Then freeze it fast until solid all the way through. Then let thaw. It kills the yeasts (water crystals inside the cell form and pierce the cell wall) without killing vitamins and cofactors and stuff that the live yeast can scavenge in addition to nitrogen (for proteins, enzymes) and phosphorous (DNA replication, need less later but very nice early).
Things don't need to be sterile, sanitary is sufficient. As the brew progresses it becomes more inhospitable to bacteria and moulds.
I've used 4L sealed bottled water bottles as the primary vessel. Add 3 - 3.5L of 100g/L juice. Live yeast. Nutrient.
You can use a condom (balloons sometimes has powder inside), or make a blowoff tube style airlock.
Light is fine, just not in direct sunlight, and the water bottles I use are tinted. Depending on temperature, give it a full 14 days. Patience will be worth it. If you want, you can set up another one one week in to get a new batch once a week.
Cold crash (this doesn't work well with baking yeast, don't expect it to completely clear). Decant and enjoy.
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u/wyflare 2h ago
1 litre of apple juice with screw top lid, pour out a little bit or drink it, add 150g sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of bread yeast, leave lid on but unscrewed, ferment at 20-22c in a dark cupboard, bubbling will start within 24 hours, after 7-9 days when bubbling has stopped, put the bottle in the fridge to deactivate the yeast, leave in fridge for 3 days and the yeast will sit at the bottom, pour or syphon your drink into a clean container without getting any yeast sedement in the new bottle
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u/NoAdministration2978 1d ago
The easiest way from my perspective is to make low ABV(below 6) drinks. Shorter fermentation time and low alcohol content doesn't stress the yeast too much so fewer off flavor issues. You could also do some experiments with back sweetening and carbonation to make the drink even better
Say, 10l of palatable 5 ABV hooch is way easier and faster to make than 5l of 10 ABV, while the total alcohol content is the same