I’ve never tried my own home brew before and I’ve been sitting on two kits for years now (got them sitting the pandemic but never found the time) and I wanted to try to start something

The original juice and hops are probably toast by now so I’ll have to purchase some new, but I’ve got two of those jugs and the other bits that come with them.

I also have a small orchard in my back yard and wanted to try to use the thousands of plums in get every year to make some kind of lambic ale.

Any advice is appreciated!

  • CouldntCareBear@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    4·
    5 days ago

    If the juice is concentrated, like molasses it’ll be fine. Hops might be ok if they’re vacuum sealed and freeze dried as they often are… they look like little pellets. If they’re just dried then get some more.

    Just follow the instructions.

    If you’re bottle conditioning, (adding a bit of sugar in the bottle to carbonate) I would recommend using plastic coke bottles. They’re pressure safe and don’t explode like glass does if you add too much sugar.

    • Alexander@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      Another way that prevents bottles from exploding is corking with wine corks slightly slices across to hold a thick thread that wraps around the neck to hold the cork against pressure. It’s quite weak seal that should pop before the glass.

      My friend once had some bottles of sparkling hard cider bottled like that (naturally explosive), left for a trip in winter (Texas), temperature went below freezing, so his landlord (old redneck lady with confederate flags and deer skulls on her house) went into his place and turned on gas stove. Sure she forgot to turn it off when weather normalized to regular +10C, so when he came back, it was hot sauna with apple flavor, but no broken glass at least!

    • pyr0ball@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      So I shouldn’t trust those pop-top glass bottles?

      Looks like the juice wasn’t concentrated enough, so maybe I’ll juice some plums and cherries this year

      • CouldntCareBear@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        4 days ago

        The pop top ones are great and I love them but it’s easy to mess something up and make them pretty dangerous.

        If you have a hygrometer you can measure the sugar content of your brew which takes out the guess work, get one of them before glass bottling. Hygrometers are like $10 and well worth having.

        Plum and cherry wine sounds divine. Good luck!