Alcotec 48 - A story, and questions

[Esqulax]

Hi, I'm Esqulax, and I'm pretty new to all this.
That being said, I'm jumping in with two feet!

So I got a cider making kit for xmas last year which was a bucket, syphone tube, stirrer and a bag of consumables. I made it and it was ok. A year later, i found a couple of unopened bottles, and its awesome, but it digress.
One of my hobbies is a re-enactment-like activity, and homebrew/baking/crafting is encouraged, so i thought I'd brew something sweet and nice. I needed a fast turnaround, as in the summer its about 5 weeks between events.

Luckily there is a homebrew shop within walking distance, so I pop in, and start looking at the sweet wines, and after a conversation with the guy, I settle on trying the Alcotec Spirit Base kit, and get a glass demijohn to boot.
Follow the instructions, and 3 anna bit weeks later, I have 5L of spirit base - I used Absinthe (nice), Cherry Brandy (Nice), Amaretto (Nice), Irish Coffee liqueur (Ok-ish) and Spiced Rum (God-awful).
I figure that this is an easy way to make a lot of booze, nice and easily to share with my friends.

I pop back to the shop, and OH NO! no more kits left - So I improvise - A Packet of Alcotec48, Activated carbon, Potassium sulphate and some turboklar. Whats life without experiment?
So all that came to about the same as the 5L kit, but had the potential for 25. So I'm already stoked, I get a 2nd demijohn and my bodyweight in sugar - Why the hell not.

I think i made my mistake here - I got a quarter of the yeast, and a quarter of the recommended sugar and pumped it into the demijohn (As opposed to a fifth), and it went MENTAL - froth all over the place - I know now not to fill it up so much. after the aggressive frothing, i popped an airlock on and it was bubbling away for the last three weeks.

My 1st question: Why was it bubbling for that long? Surely its meant to be a quick one?

So today, I siphon it off (Or Rack, i think the term is) and added the activated liquid carbon. I can see it now, all dark and boding.

Q2: how long does it take to filter? some places say 12hrs, others say 24hrs?

Q3: When is the idea time to do that first racking? It was still 'fizzing' nearly 3 weeks after the initial mixing - If the hydrometer says 998, regardles of fizz, is it good to go?

Also, My tip - If your going to use carbon in a packet liek that, make sure you have a demijohn cleaning brush - That dark stuff is a pain to get off!

 

[Esqulax]

So I liquid carbon'd it, and it went a really delicious black colour, left if for a day, and did the Turboklar thang.
Its about 18 hours later, most of the carbon has sunk to the bottom, but the liquid is hazy - The colour of cloudy lemonade.
Will this clear up or is the the colour it's meant to be?

 

[alawlor66430]

Just leave it to clear and be very careful when syphoning out, some things I've made work on time and some things take forever, you never can really say with 100% accuracy what's gonna happen or what it's gonna be like, but you sound like you're keen so you'll learn quick from any mistakes you make

 

[wilsoa1111]

wish u luck with that- sounds more like chemistry that brewing to me and i doubt i could convince anyone in my flat to drink it so props to u guys. Personally i reckon the lack of nutrients in the brew is probably why it took so long, adding some next time would sort it. Also dont know why u need that much abv, i used to make a fizzy flavourless mixer with 4-8% alcohol with champagne yeast, no filtering and was always quick- then u add sodastream conc to the glass and mix it in- could prob do the same with ur flavour kits... same amount of alcohol just less faff and more dilute

 

[Esqulax]

The high ABV is mostly a 'bang-for-buck' mentality.
The good news is that it worked fairly well.
The bad news is that I'm eager to go again, but with MORE CHANGES!!
This time i was thinking of using Honey or Maple syrup instead of sugar.. So making a half-strength spirit using that,
So - Here is another question!

What OG should I be aiming for when mixing the honey into the water?
Would it be easiest to work backwards from the ABV I want/expect and get the figure that way?

That will be next week though, The 2 demijohns have Peach Wine and Strawberry wine in and the bucket has spiced apple cider (Hey, It was discounted at the brew shop due to it being christmassy) all due to be bottled & barrelled tomorrow!

I'll put on a sugar-based one aswell and as soon as the hydro reads below 1000 I will de-gas it and start the filtering/clearing process - Just to see if leaving it for that extended period made it better/worse. Last time it read 998 about a week in (Tested a few times over 2 days)

wilsoa1111 - There are nutrients in the packet.. Maybe it was just me being over protective.
I really like the idea of using Sodastream concentrate. I'll pick some up next time i'm near a shop that sell it. Almost like an instant mixer!

Although, off on a major tangent here, a few years back i did make Open Cola (As a new user i cant post links, but the 8th link down on google with the mit.edu site are the instructions i went by) - the techniqie can be used to make loads of different flavours, all you gotta do is mix the oils to get the flavouring nice (Lemon and lime works well) I just kept it in the same physical quantities as described on those instructions (So I always ended with about 11ml of mixed oils before making the flavouring) Bonus of this is that it can be super cheap - although for cola all those oils can get pretty pricey. Also, Gum Arabic was hard to find, but Xanthan gum works just aswell and sounds better as it has a 'X' in it.

The idea of a fully 'open source' drink & mixer is awesome!

 

[Esqulax]

So, An update!

I got 4 Jars of honey (425g each I think).. 'L'Value De Asda' - When i mixed them with warm water and put it in a demijohn.. Well.. Umm... The hydrometer was sat so high up, there was no reading. So I popped about a third of a packet of Alcotec 48 in there anyways.
In retrosepct, I should have diluted it a bit more/used less honey. Shrug. Three was minimal activity for a day or too, Then... awww yeaaahhh! Fizzirific! Its's about 5 days on now, and the Hydrometer is saying about 1030, and is sinking more each day.

I got me Liquid Carbon on standby and some TurboKlar ready to rock.

I also bought some sodastream concentrates for my next alcotec turbo batch. I found a cool variety pack which has 7 little bottles of flavour, Each does a litre. (Cream Soda, Dandelion & Burdock, Lime, Cola, Cherry, blackcurrant and Orange) It will be nice to see what they are like.
Asda alos had bottles of Mojito Flavour and Cosmo. Guess what I'll be getting next.. awwww yeeeaaahhh!!

I also got a Raspberry and lime Cider made and.. Well.. not as nice as I thought it was going to be. The spiced cider is delicious though!

 

[Larplady]

One of my hobbies is a re-enactment-like activity, and homebrew/baking/crafting is encouraged, so i thought I'd brew something sweet and nice. I needed a fast turnaround, as in the summer its about 5 weeks between events.

Esqulax, are you a Larper too?

 

[Esqulax]

Got it in one :)

So, The honey batch.. was a bit disapointing to be honest. The filter and clearer pretty much took away ANY honey taste and colour. It still made a fine half-strength spirit though.

The sodastream flavours worked AWESOMELY and it was enjoyed by all.
Off the back of that, I'm going all out and making a 25 litre batch.

I might do a small experiement to see if it was the carbon filtering or TurboKlar that de-honeyed my spirit and find a workaround.

I got a couple of 7-day wine kits aswell and although it might be the wrong borad, I'll ask anyways -

Why does this only take 5 days?

Is it the Yeast? Sugar? Concentrate?

My intention is to buy the separate parts to make my OWN 7-day wine and maybe save a few quid in the process. (If its worth the hassle)

 

[bobsbeer]

I got a couple of 7-day wine kits aswell and although it might be the wrong borad, I'll ask anyways -

Why does this only take 5 days?

It doesn't. That's just marketing speak. Take your time with wine, but the cheap kits can be a bit thin. Try to keep the fermenting temp to 20c or just below.

I might do a small experiement to see if it was the carbon filtering or TurboKlar that de-honeyed my spirit and find a workaround.

My guess is it is the carbon filtering that is stripping out the flavour as that is what it's supposed to do. But never used it so.... :hmm:

 

[Gayle]

The honey batch you made was a mead-kinda-thing. Honey is low in nutrients, and many mead-makers add half the nutrient on brewday, then the other half a few days later. This apparently helps the yeast to build up a better alcohol tolerance, and helps prevent stalling due to lack of nutrient. If the hydrometer reading is still above 1.010 it might help to add a little pinch of nutrient now. It can also take a while for it to drop the last few points down to nearer 1.010, or as low as your yeast will take it, but I've never used that yeast before so I don't know here it will finish. If it ferments down to 995 or so, you can add a little more honey to increase the strength, and keep going that way til the yeast gives up.

I agree the yeast probably stripped out most of the honey flavour, but I've used value honey before too and TBH there is very little honey flavour in there to begin with. If you're adding sodastream flavours to it, then the honey taste is probably irrelevant, but if you want a honey taste then try backsweetening with some nice honey - that is, if it doesn't finish sweet anyway! Mead also takes a notoriously long time to age and taste good, at least a few months if not a year!

One thing I've learned about kits is that the manufacturers are selling you the idea that you will have quick booze. It may well be fermented out in 5 or 7 days but that doesn't mean it will be any good then, and everything benefits from having time to ferment properly and clear up. WOW recipes are usually pretty cheap and quick, and drinkable fairly young, but I've never tried a kit so can't compare.

 

[Esqulax]

I only sodastreamed it cos there was no flavour. Hmmm... Another experiment on the horizon it seems!

I'm using the Solomon Grundy fruit wine kits they make a tasty drink, especially if they settle in the bottle for a while, but are drinkable from day 7.
I'm sure wine afficiandos would argue, but as i have a limited brew schedule between events, It's what I'm after :)

I also worked out, I can cut costs amazingly if I buy the yeast/nutrients/finings/concentrate seperately - I think the only pain is getting the flavoured concentrate. Also.. What is the Add-Back? It looks like it just more flavour - how can i recreate this if making my own fruit wine?

Keeping on forum though, as the spirit takes 8 kg of sugar, i shopped around and found that the big tesco does 5-kilo bags for £3.25! Result!

 

[Xian]

have you tried caramelizing the honey? I've done it for a honey blonde and it really changed it. When you do that, it converts some of the sugars in the honey so they wont ferment out. I turn it almost black on the stove then add it in. It also gives off a nice toffee flavor and color. It also works nicely in ciders.