Making Wine at Home

Brewing and fermenting are some of humanity's oldest skills. Beer and wine have been produced at least as far back as ancient Egypt, possibly even further back in history.

A close friend is especially skilled in home brewing and has won several awards with his beers. He’s the one who got my wife and I started with winemaking.

While there is an initial equipment investment, it’s a one-time cost. The continuing expenses are in cleaning supplies, ingredients, corks, and labels if you choose. Bottles are infinitely reusable unless they break.

LEGAL NOTE: Brewing beer and fermenting wine are absolutely legal for individuals. Distilling spirits is not.

A glass of the author's homemade mead

There are a number of wine making kits on the market, such as this one or this one, which provide everything needed in regards to equipment. Consumable supplies are purchased separately, however.

A basic kit will contain at least some variation of the following items:

• 7-8 gallon primary fermenter with a tight fitting, drilled and gasketed lid
• 6 gallon glass carboy (secondary fermenter)
• Drilled rubber stopper for the carboy
• Airlock
• Bottle brush
• Hydrometer
• Siphon with tubing
• Plastic mixer
• Cleaning and clearing chemicals
• Some variety of corker
• Usually some corks

The consumable ingredients are water, some sort of fruit juice or honey, and the proper yeast for the type of beverage being made. Additional additives may also be used.

Equipment Prep

One of the most important elements is sterilization of equipment. Washing with soap and water may not be sufficient, and it's generally preferred not to use bleach as it can affect flavor. There are a variety of brewing and fermenting cleaners on the market, many of them based on some form of potassium metabisulfite or sodium metabisulfite. They’re sold as a white crystalline powder, mixed with warm water, and sprayed on the fermenting equipment, even inside the bottles.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If the primary fermenter has a spigot, make sure it’s properly tightened and doesn’t leak.

Once all the equipment is clean, the fun begins. As with baking, wine making can be fairly simple, but does call for a certain amount of precision.  It also involves bursts of activity interspersed with long waits.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: What follows is a general overview of the process. Always follow the directions for the specific recipe.

Primary Fermentation

After cleaning the equipment and letting it come to room temperature if necessary, the primary fermenter is filled with a mixture of clean water, concentrated fruit juice for wine or honey for mead, and any additives called for in the recipe. This will usually come to between five and six gallons of liquid.

Use the hydrometer to measure and record the initial specific gravity. This will help determine when fermentation is complete.

Dry yeast is sprinkled on top of the liquid and the lid is sealed in place. The airlock is filled to the appropriate level with water and inserted in the gasketed hole. The purpose of the airlock is to release gas produced during fermentation but prevent contaminants from entering the mix.

Allow this to sit in a 68° to 76° area undisturbed for about two weeks.

Stabilization

Use the hydrometer to check the specific gravity of the mix again to see if initial fermentation is complete. They come with a chart to help calculate this value. If the value is in the “wine range” primary fermentation is done. If not, give it a couple more days and check again. 

Once done, siphon the wine into the glass carboy. Be very careful not to disturb or suck up the sediment that has collected at the bottom of the primary fermenter.

Using the sterilized stirring spoon, agitate the wine vigorously for about ten minutes. This de-gasses the wine and removes any remaining carbon dioxide left over from the fermentation process.

Insert a filled airlock and let sit for 24-48 hours.

The author's mead stabilizing in the carboy.

Clarification

Add the clarification chemical and stir thoroughly. Replace the filled airlock and let sit for another ten to fourteen days.

Aging

If the wine isn’t perfectly clear, let it sit for another seven to fourteen days. If it is, siphon back into the sanitized primary fermenter or a similar container. Again, be careful not to disturb the sediment. Let the wine sit for a minimum of two days to allow settling.

Bottling

Siphon the wine into clean and sanitized bottles. Most recipes will produce twenty four to thirty bottles of wine. Cork the bottles and leave upright for three to five days to allow the corks to expand. After this period, store the wine on its side to keep the corks moist.

The author's mead, bottled and corked.

Most wine needs to sit in the bottle for six months or more to develop full flavor, but some may take over a year.

You have now learned the basic process for making your own wine. Enjoy, and drink responsibly.

DIY Alcoholic Beverages!!

This can be EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. Do your research!!!
Other than that it is simple and have fun!!
UPDATE: definitely use half the amount of yeast. 1 glass and I’m stuffed up!!

Godspeed to you all.

Alcohol Poisoning

Most of us reading and writing here are old enough to enjoy an adult beverage on occasion. I grew up in the era before mad mommies started their push for stricter drunk driving laws, the legal drinking age was 18 or 19 in most states, and alcohol didn't have quite the taboo about it that it does now. Getting drunk was a rite of passage for most boys, and some of the girls too. Living in a rural area as a teen, it was common to drive around on a weekend night, looking for friends while legally drunk.

I also buried three friends due to drunk drivers before I graduated high school. Like most things in life, moderation is the key to alcohol.

What Is Alcohol Poisoning?
Alcohol poisoning will differ from person to person, but a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of 0.40 is generally considered the LD50 (Lethal Dose for 50% of a population) for ethanol. Things like body mass, genetic quirks, gender (sorry ladies, but it hits you harder), and acquired tolerances make it hard to predict how much it will take to cause poisoning, but once the body has reached that limit, the symptoms are the same.

A child getting into the liquor cabinet can cross the line quickly. A teenager trying to impress friends can easily drink too much, too fast. A person trying to “drown their sorrows” can keep drinking after their body has had too much. An alcoholic falling off the wagon and binge drinking can exceed their body's tolerances. I've seen all of these happen and they could all happen after TSHTF very easily.

Let's get the basics out of the way.

• Alcohol is a CNS (Central Nervous System -- your brain and nerves) depressant.
• Have you noticed the word toxic is right in the middle of intoxication? That's deliberate: Alcohol is a poison that is metabolized (broken down) by the liver.
• Your liver can only handle about one drink's worth of alcohol per hour.
• One drink is equal to one 12 oz. beer, a 6 oz. glass of wine, or one shot of liquor. They all contain about 0.6 oz. of pure ethanol.
• Your BAC can continue to rise for 30-40 minutes after you stop drinking.

Stages of Intoxication
There are levels of intoxication. The names vary by source, and the BAC ranges vary according to all of the variables I listed above, but the rough outline is shown in this chart:

http://tinyurl.com/zjnmejx

Not everyone will show the same symptoms, but they will fall into the same general categories.

As you can tell by the chart, once a person can no longer stand or walk, or has started vomiting, they are beyond drunk and need help. If you have access to 911 services, call them; it's better to have an angry, embarrassed, live friend than a funeral.

First Aid for Alcohol Poisoning

In the event that you don't have 911 available, there are things you can do to help... up to a certain point. If that 100-pound non-drinker decides to put down a half-bottle of whiskey in an hour, they'll likely need a hospital to survive. While you're waiting for the ambulance, or if you're all the help that is available, here's what you can do:

• Keep them awake if you can. Do not give them coffee -- it won't help, and can increase dehydration if they are vomiting.
• Do not let them drink any more alcohol. Pretty common sense, but it has to be said.
• Keep them warm. Their body temperature controls are going to be affected, and they will be at greater risk of hypothermia.
• Keep them upright (sitting if they can't stand) for as long as possible. If they have to lie down or pass out, make sure they are on their side and not on their back. Choking on vomit is a common cause of death in alcohol poisoning cases.
• One of the first parts of the CNS affected is the gag reflex, so don't try to make them vomit.
• Stay with them. Do not ever “just let them sleep it off” if you care to see them alive in the morning. See the reference to choking, above.
• IF they are conscious, give them water. Never try to give liquids to an unconscious person.
• Be ready to administer CPR if they stop breathing.

Unfortunately, dehydration from excessive vomiting and a drop in blood sugar as the liver tries to metabolize the poison can lead to seizures and brain damage. Without a stomach pump and IV equipment, there's not much you can do to help.

If they make it through the night alive, though, they will likely have a hang-over. If you want to help them recover, do the following:

• Make sure they drink plenty of water to replace what they lost through sweating, urinating, and vomiting the night before.
• Alcohol inhibits glucose production in the body, so intake of sugars will help. This is one of the reasons diabetics are warned to not drink alcohol.
• Along with all of the water they lost, they probably also lost significant amount of electrolytes. Sports drinks will help replace them.
• Wait it out. Time is the only thing that will clear the accumulated toxins from their body, easing the aches and pains.

Prepping isn't always about surviving the zombie apocalypse or being ready for severe weather; some of it is just knowing how to handle the odd crap that life throws at you when you least expect it.

Chemistry for Preppers: Distillation

One of the most common and useful chemical processes for preppers is distillation. Everyone has seen the water purification systems that boil the source water, cool the steam, and produce pure (distilled) water. The simple “solar still” method of collecting water uses the same principle at a much lower production rate and without an extra energy source.

How It Works
Distillation is a method of separating mixed chemicals based upon their boiling points (BP). If the difference in boiling points is more than roughly 25° C a simple still will work, but if the difference is less than 25° C you'll need to look into fractional distillation. The boiling points for various chemicals can be found in most chemistry reference books as well as the ubiquitous Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS or SDS) that producers are required to make available for every product they handle.

For most survival situations, specific chemical composition is not going to be known and resources are going to be scarce, so a simple still will be the best choice. For production of fuel or other trade goods, a fractional still will make a more pure product but requires more time and materials. Running your product through a still more than once will usually give a more pure product; before the introduction of reverse osmosis we used “triple distilled” water as pure water for general chemistry lab work.

There are mixtures that cannot be separated by use of a still. If the boiling points are too close to each other, or if they form an azeotrope (a mixture where the BP of the mixture is higher or lower than either of the constituents), you will not be able to get complete separation from a still. Be careful if dealing with petrochemicals or explosive compounds as they may decompose (violently) when heated, long before they reach boiling point.

If you are distilling anything for consumption, use only food-safe material in the construction of your still. Galvanized metal and lead-based solder will impart toxic levels of metals into your product. Stick with glass, copper, or stainless steel if at all possible.

Definitions

Bottoms: The material left over after you have distilled out what you want.

Condenser: A pipe or passage that acts as a heat exchanger to cool the vapors back into liquid phase. The common moonshiner's term for a condenser is “worm”, since they use coiled copper tubing that looks like a snake or worm. For cooling fuel-grade alcohol an old car radiator would work, but the metals present would make the distillate unsafe to drink. Running cold water over the exchanger will make it more efficient, but simply moving air past it will also work.

Distillate: The product that comes out of the still.

Fractioning Column: A vertical column rising above the pot, fitted with trays or packing. (Explanation below) Fractioning columns will often have more than one outlet, to allow the collection of parts of complex mixtures like crude oil.

Pot or Still-pot: The container that holds the raw or mixed beginning solution. It must be capable of being sealed to the condenser and withstand the heat need to boil the mixture.

Receiver: The container that catches your distillate.

Reflux: Recycling a portion of the distillate to pass it through the still again. Often used in continuous distillation processes instead of running batches through multiple times to increase the purity of the distillate.

Thump Tub: An intermediate cooling stage commonly found in moonshine stills. Vapor from the top of the pot is passed over a container of water on its way to the condenser. This allows for the removal of some of the chemicals that can impart bad flavors to drinking alcohol.

Simple Distillation

http://tinyurl.com/jprdu47

Purifying water or alcohol can be accomplished in a simple still. Here is a picture of a simple copper batch still, where the pot and condenser coil are easy to pick out. The pot is filled and placed on a heat source and the “worm” is placed in a tub of cold water (if available). There are electric and stove-top versions of this simple still on sale for purifying water, but as you can see they aren't that hard to cobble together. This one is almost a hundred years old and could probably still be used today.

Fractional Distillation

http://tinyurl.com/zu284p6

Here's a good diagram of a fractional distillation tower for separating crude oil into useful parts.

It is common practice to use the waste gas coming off the top to fuel the furnace that heats the incoming crude oil. Waste not, want not.

The trays are designed to allow the heated vapors to rise through the column, but the “caps” on the holes in the trays cause some of them to condense at the temperature present at that height. The condensed liquid helps maintain the temperature at that height and is drawn off in a continuous stream.

Fractional distillation would be useful for long-term situations as a way to recycle used motor oil or production of fuel from local supplies of crude oil (which is more common that you may believe, I've seen oil wells in Iowa and Nebraska). By using a taller tower with more trays, it would be possible to sort out the constituent parts of the gasses produced by roasting coal or wood to produce fuels and solvents such as methanol (wood alcohol) and acetone.

There is also a lot of research going on right now into the recycling of waste tires and various biological wastes into crude oil through pyrolysis. If we ever get to the Mad Max stage of survival, knowing how to produce lubricating oils and fuel could be a valuable skill.

Other Uses

This has been an extremely simple overview of distillation. There are so many uses for this method of separating compounds that it is difficult to keep things prepper-related. Distilling out essential oils for medicinal uses, concentrating the flavors of certain spices to make them easier to transport, making useful chemicals, and so many more all use the same basic mechanisms -- with special attention being paid to the details like temperature and pressures. If you need more specific information, please comment on our Facebook page and I will try to help as best I can.

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #66

Adam and Sean do bring you Episode 66 of The GunBlog VarietyCast.

• Erin Palette talks about addictions.
• In our Foreign Policy for Grownups Segment, Nicki Kenyon talks about the Paris attacks and the refugees situation in the attack aftermath
• Our Special Guest this week is Ryan Michaud of Handgun Radio. He talks about Nanny Bloomberg's assault on Maine gun owners' rights
• Barron B is still "On Assignment" with his family.
• and Weer'd takes Girl Pants Productions to school with another of his Patented Weer'd Audio Fisks™. 

Thanks for downloading, listening, and subscribing. Please like and share The GunBlog VarietyCast on Facebook, and if you use iTunes, give us a review!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here.

A special thanks both to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support and to our sponsor, Law of Self Defense. Use discount code "Variety" at checkout and get 10% off.

Trade Goods: Alcohol Addendum

After hitting "publish" on my last post, a few things were brought to my attention, or rather the lack of a few things. This is an attempt to cover those omissions.

Distilling Drinking Spirits
I mentioned the legal framework for making your own beer, wine and fuel but forgot to cover the distilling of drinking alcohol. Under current law, you can't. The various governing agencies have not provided a legal way for people to distill their own drinking alcohol without paying huge fees and taxes. Moonshining is still illegal, and you may have noticed that I won't suggest that anyone knowingly break the law. Consider all of the information available on line "For entertainment and educational purposes only":

• A good place to start is Tony Ackland's page. He's a chemical engineer from New Zealand and his measurements are metric, but the information is clear and reliable.
• The History Channel has covered moonshining in a few of their series and their webpage has some clear and concise graphics to help explain the process.
• There are commercial home stills available for sale, but the tax man will want it registered if it is going to be used for drinking alcohol.
• Of course, in a WROL situation, the tax man will be the least of your worries, and having this kind of information could be very valuable. Use your own judgement and know the risks before getting started.

Trade Goods: Alcohol

David mentioned precious metal in yesterday's post, and that set off some discussion on our Facebook page about trade goods. As far as precious metals go, I believe that silver is better than gold for the simple fact that most transactions that take place face-to-face are worth less than an ounce of gold. Having a Krugerrand on a chain around your neck might be enough to get you a plane ticket home, but what if all you need is a hot meal and a place to sleep? Making change is easier with silver.

One of the topics that got brought up was trade goods. Food, medicine, clothing, tobacco, and ammunition were all mentioned, but I got a few questions about alcohol. Useful as a fuel, antiseptic, for recreational use, or just as a way to store value, alcohol can be a handy thing to have around. It can be even more handy to know how to make it.

First things first: Fuel alcohol is not and cannot be made safe to drink. Drinking alcohol may be usable as fuel, but it doesn't go the other direction. Fuel alcohol is made using materials and methods that can contaminate it with poisonous chemicals, and by law it then has to be denatured by adding a poisonous substance. Laws like this are written to make sure the “proper” amount of tax is paid on the alcohol, depending on how it is to be used. Fuel alcohol is taxed at a much lower rate than the fun kind.

Drinking Alcohol
Unless you're a moonshiner with a still hidden in the woods, it's cheaper and easier to buy your drinking goods and store them. I don't drink hard liquor, but I keep a few bottles on hand for guests and as potential trade goods. Small bottles fit my needs best, since they take up little space and, like silver, make for good “small denominations” when making change. Even a few of the airline-sized bottles would come in handy for cleaning a wound or trading for small items. This is obviously a “bugging in” or cache item. Every once of weight in a backpack will make itself known once you start to carry it.

Making safe-to-drink alcoholic beverages is an old art that predates science and agriculture and isn't hard -- if bread, water, and fruit can be turned into contraband wine in prisons, how hard can it be? -- but it takes time, equipment, and money. Since 1978, the Federal Government has allowed people the privilege of producing up to 100 gallons of beer or wine per adult per year for personal consumption without paying taxes on it. State laws vary, but at least you don't have to worry about the BATFE as long as you stay under their limits. Drinking alcohol comes in two types, fermented and distilled.

Fermented Alcohol
Beer, wine, cider, and mead are the main fermented forms of alcohol.

Beer is the result of fermentation of cereal grains followed by the addition of hops, which act as a preservative.

• Since the sugar content of grains is fairly low, and the “malting” process of converting starches to sugars is dependent on the enzymes available, most beer yeasts produce 4-6% alcohol. This is not quite enough alcohol to kill off other microbes, so hops are added as a preservative. 
• Barley, oats, rice and wheat are the main grains used in making beer around the world. 
• Simple beer is nothing more than barley, water, yeast and hops. 
• Beer doesn't store well, and should be consumed within a few months of being made.

Wine is the result of fermentation of fruits.

• Since the sugar content of fruit is higher than that of grains, it is possible to get a higher alcohol content in wine (generally around 10%), which is high enough to be self-preserving as long as the container stays sealed. 
• Wine, if properly stored, can last for centuries. 
• I helped put up 60 gallons of Elderberry wine in recycled liquor bottles (free from a bar) about 40 years ago. As long as the lid sealed tight, the wine is still fit to drink and may have actually improved a bit with age. The ones that didn't seal are pretty nasty.

Cider, or Hard Cider, is fermented apple juice, and usually has an alcohol content around 7%.

• Often made using wild or native yeast, the taste and quality can vary from batch to batch.
• Like beer, it doesn't store well.

Mead is fermented honey.

• Since honey has strong anti-microbial properties, making mead involves a few more steps than making beer or wine. Normally, the addition of nutrients and water is required to allow the activity of the yeast. 
• Meads run from 8-20% alcohol, and should store at least as well as wine.

Distilled Alcohol

Distillation is the process of removing water from a fermented liquid in order to raise the alcohol content. The main difference between distilling drinking alcohol vs. fuel alcohol is the equipment construction: you cannot use any lead, zinc, or other heavy metals in the construction of a still that is going to produce drinking alcohol, as the metals will leach out into the alcohol and poison the person drinking it. Dead customers don't come back, so save car radiators and galvanized pipe for the fuel still. If you use copper, use only lead-free solder or welds on joints.

• Distilled drinks include whiskeys, brandies, vodka, schnapps, and other “hard” liquors. 
• You can take a wine at 10-12 % alcohol and convert it into a brandy at 35% alcohol by distillation. Instructions for home distilling can be found here. 
• Hard liquor is useful as as disinfectant, and if the alcohol content is over 60%, it can be used as a fuel in engines and lamps. 
• At roughly 50% it will hold a flame, which is how moon-shiners tested, or “proofed”, their batches: if it would hold a flame, it was 100 Proof. That's how we got the silly “80 Proof” on the labels of our rum, which is 40% alcohol. (Sorry, the chemist in me detests arbitrary measuring systems, and alcohol production is so old that it is full of arbitrary measuring systems.)

Fuel Alcohol (Ethanol)

In order to make alcohol that will run an internal combustion engine, you'll need to be able to get the alcohol content above 80% and you'll have to make some modifications to the fuel system in order to allow more ethanol into the cylinder. Ethanol (grain alcohol) has about 65% of the energy that gasoline does, so it takes more of it to get the same amount of work out of an engine. On a carbureted engine, increasing the fuel jet size by 30-40% will do it. If you have a newer engine that is fuel injected, you will have to either replace the injectors with ones that will allow more flow or reprogram your cars computer to hold the injectors open longer. The new “Flex Fuel” cars have their computers programmed to run on either gas or ethanol (or any blend of the two).

I've worked on small engines for years, and lawnmowers, chainsaws, motorcycles, etc. don't like ethanol. Ethanol tends to degrade some of the synthetic rubber compounds used in small engine fuel systems, and can also corrode the really cheap alloys used in older carburetor bodies. Two-strokes are a bit more forgiving, due to the oil mixed with the fuel, but you may still have problems feeding them ethanol. Make sure you have parts on hand to repair your small engines if you plan on running a generator or pump on ethanol!

Most of my reference books were written in the 70s and 80s. Back then there was serious concern about “peak oil” and the environmental damage being caused by burning petroleum. Peak oil has been shown to be a myth, and auto makers have made great strides in reducing the pollutants coming out of their cars. The alternative energy push back then laid the groundwork for the ethanol industry we have today, and the research and experimentation is still valid. My main source of information is a loose-bound book printed by the old Mother Earth News (MEN) as a handout for a seminar on home production of fuel ethanol. The book cost $25 in 1980, and I can't find it on their website, so I have to say it is out of print. MEN has gone through several management changes over the years, and they keep coming back to simple, do-it-yourself projects. The late 70s and early 80s were the “prime time” for the magazine; self-sufficiency was a big, new phenomenon that had an eager audience. Most of the information from that era is now available on their website, and I suggest you go there for details and actual plans for building a small-scale ethanol production plant, since I cannot do it justice in a blog post.

Fuel alcohol is taxed and controlled by the federal government, but they have created a “small-scale producer” permit that is fairly easy to obtain. It will allow you to produce up to 5000 gallons of pure alcohol per year, which should be enough for your daily driving.

How To Make It

Making fuel ethanol is fairly simple:

1. Find a source of sugars or starches, be it grain, fruit, or whatever you have at hand that can contribute sugars. There are special tools that will tell you how much sugar is in a solution (measured in Brix).
2. Find the enzymes you'll need to break the starches into sugars.“Malting” is simply wetting the grain to allow it to sprout. This releases enzymes that break down the starches for the plant to use. Heating the malted grain stops the sprouting and gets it ready for the yeast. 
3. Add yeast to start the fermentation. Brewers yeast is best, since it has been bred to be efficient at producing alcohol, but any yeast (even wild yeast floating through the air) will work. 
4. Keep the yeast happy (manage nutrients, temperature, etc.). This is where you get to control the heat and air. Fermentation is an anaerobic process and must be done in an environment free of oxygen. 
5. Once the yeast are done converting the sugars to alcohol, run the liquid through a distillation column. Done-ness is normally indicated by the reduction of CO2 being produced by the yeast. Testing the density (specific gravity) of the liquid will tell you how much of it is alcohol. Design of columns is a science, and there are many kits and plans available. A good column will result in 90-95% alcohol, which is good enough to use as fuel. Plans for a 6 inch column can be found here, and it is rated at 6-8 gallons of alcohol per hour. 
6. Separate the solids for use as high-protein animal feed. You don't lose the grain, just the sugars and starches. It is common to rinse the solids and use the rinsate for the next batch, thereby reusing some of the nutrients. Contrary to claims on the internet, alcohol production does not take grain out of the mouths of children and animals. The Distillers Dry Grain Solids (DDGS) is a great animal feed, and is actually sold to feed-lots and feed producers. Cows, pigs, and chickens love it. 

I didn't give you complete instructions on how to build your own still, nor did I tell you what you need to stock in your larder. That's not my place. I am here to point you towards information and help explain things that some folks may not understand. As always, I welcome questions and comments here and on our Facebook page.