Best brewing & fermentation siphons according to redditors
We found 7 Reddit comments discussing the best brewing & fermentation siphons. We ranked the 3 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 7 Reddit comments discussing the best brewing & fermentation siphons. We ranked the 3 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Oh yes, and it is quite simple to get the stuff together without buying a kit. Do you have a local home brew store?
This subreddit's wiki which includes a beginner section: https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/index
There are several videos on youtube that have good instructions.
Here is a basic list of gear to brew beer in a bag. You can get all of this stuff on amazon if you don't have it already. This is not the best list, but it works.
http://homebrewmanual.com/home-brewing-equipment/
Some of the stuff you won't likely have at home:
Beer recipes: http://beerrecipes.org/
To get grains from amazon, type in the grain type and it will provide you options. If you don't have the ability to mill it yourself, you can order it crushed. Its not ideal, but if you don't have a homebrew store near you and don't have your own mill....it will work. You will have to measure out the correct amounts for each grain that you add on your own from the bulk that you ordered. If you want to brew with extracts, you can also order those on amazon as well.
You can order hops on amazon the same way as grains or extracts.
To bottle your wine, you're gonna want an auto-siphon (one of these bad boys http://www.amazon.com/Fermtech-5516-Regular-16-Auto-Siphon/dp/B0064ODELI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462350125&sr=8-1&keywords=auto-siphon) and appropriate tubing.
You're also going to need some kind of liquid dispenser (a la http://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Plastic-00756-Beverage-Dispenser/dp/B005S4LOYY/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1462350089&sr=8-10&keywords=water+dispenser - wash that shit out first).
You'll use your siphon to "rack" your wine into the dispenser and then dispense it into bottles of your choosing. If anything, buy the siphon's tubing at a homebrew store and not online; a lot of online venders sell non-food grade tubing and list it as food grade.
To clean out your jugs (carboys) I recommend Oxyclean Free (http://www.amazon.com/OxiClean-Versatile-Stain-Remover-Free/dp/B005GI8UPI) used in conjunction with really any clean scrubber. I'd clean out the bottles with this stuff too, then sanitize with star san. I usually keep some star san in a spray bottle; it makes life a lot easier.
Check craigslist first for carboys. I got 5 6.5 gallon glass carboys for 75 bucks last year. As far as the rest...don't spend a ton.
You want a large primary fermenter, I don't use the buckets because they're too small if you want to use a bunch of fruit for a melomel. You can get a very high quality 14 gallon lab quality HDPE container for 31 dollars drill a hole in it and put in a bung with a 0.25 psi ozone check valve. You never have to worry about your airlocks going dry!!
You want a large stainless steel spoon, no plastic one as they are flimsy and will bend. I think I paid 7 bucks for mine at my local brew place.
You want a carboy brush that you can attach to a drill. I bought mine locally 3 years ago (it's a cheap shitty one like this) and I still use it all the time and it hasn't had any problems.
For sanitization, go Iodophor, it's cheap and it doesn't foam like StarSan, making it easier to rinse out carboys after you buzz them with the brush on your pistol drill. Buy this locally, it's very cheap, and you don't use a lot (like 1 cap full for a carboy) so if you buy the 4 ounce bottle, it will probably last you a year or more. I brew probably 100 gallons a year, and the 16 ounce bottle I bought 3 years ago is still like 1/3 full.
And always go glass, fuck plastic carboys.
For chemicals, go to your local brew place and get some bulk potassium metabisulfite it's the same thing as in campden tablets but it's cheaper in loose form, and a 1/4 teaspoon works just fine in place of a tablet.
I also buy potassium sorbate, it works differently than sulfites to stop fermentation, I use both when I use chemicals at all. You should get this locally, shipping accounts for most of the amazon cost.
You will want an autosiphon, doing it with the racking cane can be kind of a pain in the ass when you're brewing alone. I use a vacuum pump, but don't put up the 200 bucks until you know this is a hobby you really like. Again, get this locally as it's bulky but light so you'll get it cheaper vs buying online.
I don't personally use yeast nutrient except for a very few specific high test (like over 20% ABV) meads. I use raisins, they provide tannins (so you don't have to buy that in loose form) they help to acidify the brew just a bit (so you don't have to buy acid blend) and they provide plenty of nutrient for your yeasties. I add like 1 cup of finely chopped grocery store brand raisins when I brew to each 5 gallons of primary fermentation. Toss these in with your initial water boil to sanitize them and help to break them down a bit for the yeast. You can't taste the raisin after the yeast is done with them, they marginally add some more sugar, but it's so little that I don't even bother to take this into consideration when calculating.
For corking...start with 20 ounce beer bottles and a crown capper. The reason I say this is those lever action corkers fucking blow, none of them are good, and you'll end up with mead all over the place. Until you're ready to invest in a Portuguese floor corker stick with oxygen absorbing crown caps and 20 ounce beer bottles (which you should also buy locally as shipping will kill you on these.) I still bottle all of my no chemical meads in 20 ounce beer bottles to prevent them from launching corks.
Lastly, ditch the hydrometer. Get a Refractometer that has both brix and specific gravity. You will lose less wort and you don't have to worry about accidentally dropping and shattering the thing (which always happens 5 minutes before you need it.) Hydrometers are SUPER fragile.
Equipment:
2 5 gallon glass carboy
Bubble Airlocks These allow the CO2 to escape the carboy while keeping the oxygen out. Alcohol fermentation is an anaerobic process. Too much oxygen will cause production of acetic acid(vinegar).
Non-Chlorinated water(I buy 5 gallon jugs, carboys what have you of spring water from my local co-op. Make sure it is spring water. Not "drinking" water. Chlorine isn't good for yeast.)
Wine siphons are really helpful. Used to just use a polyurethane tube, and that lead to some trial and error siphoning. There are two fermentations that'll happen during the process. You'll have to siphon the wine from one carboy to another. Hence why you need 2. Pro tip: Don't stick the siphon all the way to the bottom. That's where yeast, the oak chips, and clay from the primary fermentation are going to settle. Same with the secondary, but that'll be mostly yeast if you siphoned from the primary properly.
A giant ass funnel and corks obviously.
Wine Bottles! Go with the green. Reduces oxidation by letting less light in.
Bottle Tree! Use this to let your bottles dry out after cleaning them. Make sure all your pieces are sterile.
A corker!
I usually buy a wine must kit that has the clay sediment for nutrient content, finely ground oak, yeast, clarificant, and of course the wine must. (Must is a high quality grape juice that is fairly dense). For a first time I do suggest getting a must kit. It has detailed step by step instructions along with it. It's going to take about a month for both fermentations to be completed. Do try to keep the temperature of the carboy between 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit/23.5-27 degrees Celsius. Saccharomyces cerevisiae thrives best at that temperature gradient.
The musts price range wise are going to be between 60-200 dollars for the most part. You can ferment anything with sugar though. A 5 gallon carboy is going to get you 25+ bottles of wine easy. It's actually interesting to see how the taste of the wine changes over time between each bottle. Generally the yeast/sugar content will give you ~12% alcohol in these kits.
This is the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064ODELI/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I might just upgrade to the 1/2 inch to make my life easier.
Well you can technically drink your cider once fermentation is finished but aging can make it taste WAY better. A couple of weeks/months in bottles can improve the taste but yes you can drink it right after it's finished fermenting to its potential!
I'd recommend you buy an auto siphon as it limits the exposure to oxygen when transferring between vessels and when bottling.
[Here's a link on amazon to what I'm talking about] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/9q9/Home-Brew-Litre-Auto-Syphon-More-Sucking/B004KM4NHK/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1494891146&sr=8-1&keywords=auto+siphon)
Also if bottling this attachment makes life easy going from bottle to bottle
Now to carbonate the sugar is added to allow for a secondary fermentation. Once primary fermentation is done (aka the yeast ate up nearly all of the starting sugar and is now dormant) this new addition of sugar that is added before bottling causes the yeast to wake back up and start reproducing again. Well if this happens in the bottle the CO2 gas that's released has nowhere to go and will reabsorb into your beverage creating the lovely bubbles that you want in carbonated drinks.
I typically use Dextrose aka Corn Sugar. You can use really any type of sugar but I like dextrose because it's fairly flavor neutral and is very fermentable. Plain table sugar works just fine though.
Here's a link to a handy calculator to give you an idea of how much of different sugars you should use to get the carbonation level you want
Generally speaking I use roughly 1 oz of dextrose per 1 fluid gallon which when converted to metric (sorry I'm from murica lol) would be roughly 28 grams per 3.8 liters? So you can scale it from there to whatever batch size you have or use the calculator I gave you.
I'd say patience is key with making cider so don't be afraid to let it sit at least 3 weeks to even a month before you bottle it.
Unfortunately never tried making a ginger beer but maybe I'll do it one of these days! I do love ginger beer.
Like I said just let me know if you have any more questions :)
One of these
https://smile.amazon.com/Home-Brew-Ohio-W4-2A50-1Z5L-Bottle/dp/B007VFBLBE
I bought a 3/8" one but I wish I got the 1/2" just so it's faster.
Then you need a siphon
https://smile.amazon.com/Home-Brew-Ohio-Siphon-Multicolor/dp/B071NG9Y6S/