friend of mine had one of those "brew your own beer" kits, it honestly wasn't that terrible...

that's what i had, i got it for christmas. i think the poor quality was a combination of 3 things. self grown hops, inexperience, and trying to make too dark of a beer for my first draft.

i've since abandoned it to make my own wine and cider instead. i have apple trees that dont have particularly great apples for snacking (maybe 1 in 5 is a good eater) and we have so many raspberries that we eat them until we're sick of them, then make jelly for the whole year, then make stuff like raspberry butter and cakes, and still have a lot left over. this year we picked over 15 gallons. and people always accept a gift of wine with a smile, whereas when u hand them a homebrew beer they're likely to look at it like it might be poison.

to be fair, self made jam (my mother also makes raspberry jam almost every year) is fucking awesome, especially with 3 to 1 sugar, which makes it extra fruity and less sweet. that and wine also lasts significantly longer than self-made beer (except you have proper bottling equipment), so i can see why one would be a bit sceptical about the latter.
that said, living in a traditional wine region within germany, i have yet to taste a privately made one that's even close to the quality of anything you can buy for a reasonable price at any store - and i'm not even a wine snob or anything. my grandmother used to make a mean black currant schnapps though, plenty sour and strong af - my mouth is watering just thinking about it, lol.

the thing i'm probably most jealous of is the cider, lol. that's such a nice summer drink (yes i know, self-made won't be available till late summer / early autumn). doesn't have much tradition in this region though, unfortunately, given this is firmly beer and wine country...

being staunchly american i use a 1:1 fruit to sugar ratio lol. 3:1 would be tasty but i dont use pectin and doubt i could get it to set properly at that ratio.

i grew up in a cider making family, we had trees no one bothered to spray for bugs so cider was the only use for them. i like it fresh and also alcoholic, many people dont like it fresh as its sort of like sour apple juice and can be gritty if you dont strain it a half dozen times.

the wine i make is indeed nothing on even a 10$ bottle of store made wine, making it at scale with industrial equipment just adds so much consistency over small batch, but i dont have to buy gifts for anyone year round. i either deliver fresh produce or jam/wine/cider or the stuff my wife and i make in our hobbies.

used to make beer and keg it in 5gal soda pop canaster kegs (only way to go). one time coming home from hunting i was drafting beer on the drive home. that was along time ago.

cider is fantastic, but i cant drink a lot of it or i wake up with some major heartburn

oh for sure. from what i understand (never made it myself, this is all just from my mom telling me, i'm a better at eating than remembering how to make it) you need those additional thickeners in order to get a proper jam, OR use more sugar. obviously a matter of personal taste, but with naturally sweet fruits like strawberries i definitely prefer less additional sugar. also, home-grown raspberries are significantly more tasty and fruity to begin with.

cider i really can't even say what i like in particular. most ciders i had were those big brands you get in your irish pubs. still enjoy them, particularly in the summer. that said, a friend of mine, whose family is from northern france (bretagne i think), once had a couple of bottles (really small ones, smaller than beer bottles even, maybe just 0.33 l) with cider from that region (not home grown in their garden, but still somewhat of a local specialty), and that was pretty amazing. i think i remember it was rather sour too, and maybe stronger than the irish one, but i'm not sure.

This post was edited by fender on Aug 16 2022 02:55pm

Making your own ginger ale is super easy. Very nice too. Hard to get wrong... unless it turns. Not as long of a shelf life and not as alcoholic as your choices. But bloody refreshing.

You can also try to make your own cheese.


Its probably too acidic for you. Try watering it down next time.