Anyone wants an Iranian friend?

I am an absolute beginner living in a Muslim country(Iran) .I have so many questions and unique limitations that this forum doesn't seem like a suitable medium.
If you are an experienced brewer please do add me on Facebook or email me.
I promise I'll make a good protégé
Www.facebook.com/saied.vanguard
[email protected]

unique limitations make this forum the ideal medium for you! welcome to the wide world of a very addicting hobby. if you have any specific questions on how to get started, just put them out there...you'll find a ton of really good advice here.

You would be surprised how helpful this group can be. Try it!

Ok here goes:
We add sugar and yeast to 0.0% beer and after 3-5 days of fermentation we have beer.
For carbonation we bottle it early as the bubbling is dying down.
This time around we were a little too late and it is not carbonated enough.
Is there any way to carbonate it now?
What do you suggest?

saied, you want that primary fermentation to be about three weeks long. The initial phase of fermentation takes place in 3-5 days, but it is still going on after that. Get a hydrometer. When your specific gravity levels are the same three times in a row (over three to five days), then bottle. After you bottle and depending on the type of beer you've made (ale or a heavy stout, for example), carbonation can take 3 or more weeks. There's a good carb'ing thread (or three) on here if you search. Are you taking alcohol free beer and trying to use the yeast/sugar to give it alcohol? If that's the case, there might also be threads on here about that. What happens if you get caught with alcohol in Iran?

saied said:

Ok here goes:
We add sugar and yeast to 0.0% beer and after 3-5 days of fermentation we have beer.
For carbonation we bottle it early as the bubbling is dying down.
This time around we were a little too late and it is not carbonated enough.
Is there any way to carbonate it now?
What do you suggest?

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So you have taken a non-alcoholic beer and added sugar and yeast to it? Interesting. The yeast in the beer is still alive. Once your sugar has completed fermentation and you want carbonate it, add approximately 6-7 grams of sugar per liter of beer, then cap you beer. The remaining yeast will eat this extra sugar and carbonate your beer. It could take 1-3 weeks to carbonate and it will work best if kept around 70F or 21-22C.

Yes it is 0.0% beer based.
If you are caught drunk the Islamic law says 40 lashes
But I'm not sure that is always carried out. Specially in big cities.
If you are a producer or seller you will go to court and get jail time.
And there is the risk that parents and family find out.
It is taboo with the old generation but it is OK in urban areas and between youth.

Thanks two hearted
And how many grams are there in a teaspoon of sugar?

Also its been bottled for a week now
Are the yeast still alive or should we add yeast as well?
And how much yeast you reckon?

No need to add yeast. The biggest issue with carving beer is the amount of sugar. Too much sugar and it will be over carbed, not enough and it will be under carbed. As said before try 6-7grams (I think it is a little over a teaspoon) to a liter when bottling

Probably not a big concern in Iran right now but most of us try to keep our bottles above 70F (21C) for at least 2 weeks to allow for good carbonation in the bottle. Then another two weeks refrigerated to allow the carbonation to be reabsorbed by the beer.

I 'm living in Turkey, How can I change non-alcoholic beer to alcholic one?

Cyclman said:

You would be surprised how helpful this group can be. Try it!

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Yup. We have people living in some pretty remote places or places where homebrewing is rare (like sri lanka for instance) and have had quite a few folks living in Muslim countries coming on here for advice/support/even help getting things.

Thinking yakking on FB to one person as opposed to the collective wisdom and experience of 40,000 brewers in all parts of the world, is plain silly.

Out of curiosity, are you adding the sugar and yeast to each individual bottle of non-alcoholic beer and then capping for fermentation and carbonation, or are you collecting the contents of multiple bottles into a larger bucket/carboy in order to ferment?

I think he would have to add quite a bit more sugar to actually produce noticable alcohol AND carbonation. 6-7 grams won't be nearly enough. I believe 1 lb of sugar in one gallon of water equals a SG of 1.048 and ferments out completely for a 6.3 % ABV. If I did my rough math right you need at least 30-35 grams of sugar per 12 oz bottle. This should give you roughly 5-6% "beer" and also carbonate it. I am assuming he is doing it per bottle and not in bulk.

Phunhog said:

I think he would have to add quite a bit more sugar to actually produce noticable alcohol AND carbonation. 6-7 grams won't be nearly enough. I believe 1 lb of sugar in one gallon of water equals a SG of 1.048 and ferments out completely for a 6.3 % ABV. If I did my rough math right you need at least 30-35 grams of sugar per 12 oz bottle. This should give you roughly 5-6% "beer" and also carbonate it. I am assuming he is doing it per bottle and not in bulk.

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Post #4 seems pretty clear to me. He's fermenting in bulk and then bottling just before primary dies down. Sort of like krausening. Only this time, he didn't bottle it in time and there wasn't enough sugar left to carbonate it.

Adding 35 grams of sugar to a 12 oz bottle and then capping it is just plain bad advice....period. That much sugar would certainly lead to bottle bombs of epic proportion. 5 oz of sugar into 5 gallons is the usual amount for carbonation for ales. Not sure about lagers, I don't brew them. That comes out to 2-3 grams per bottle.

If I were you saied, I would start letting primary finish out (wait until the bubbling stops) then mix in some priming sugar like I mentioned above and bottle it. You will get more consistent carbonation levels this way and you won't have to worry about bottle bombs.

I agree with BBL. Add what sugars you want to the N/A beer with your yeast as normal. Let it ferment out all the way (2 weeks?) then add approximately 4-5 oz sugar to the entire batch and package. Leave for about 2 weeks to carbonate, you can get some carbonation at 1 week, but 2-3 is better.

I have never considered fermenting N/A beer. Interesting idea.

Note: We do not advocate doing anything against the law. Please stay out of trouble.

dont9 said:

I 'm living in Turkey, How can I change non-alcoholic beer to alcholic one?

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I live in turkey as well. Why do you want to make non alcoholic beer alcoholic? Alcohol and brewing is legal in this country...

BBL_Brewer said:

Post #4 seems pretty clear to me. He's fermenting in bulk and then bottling just before primary dies down. Sort of like krausening. Only this time, he didn't bottle it in time and there wasn't enough sugar left to carbonate it.

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yep, I see that now. +1 on your other advice too: let it ferment out completely and then add priming sugar. Turning non-alcoholic beer into home-brew:

BBL_Brewer said:

Post #4 seems pretty clear to me. He's fermenting in bulk and then bottling just before primary dies down. Sort of like krausening. Only this time, he didn't bottle it in time and there wasn't enough sugar left to carbonate it.

Adding 35 grams of sugar to a 12 oz bottle and then capping it is just plain bad advice....period. That much sugar would certainly lead to bottle bombs of epic proportion. 5 oz of sugar into 5 gallons is the usual amount for carbonation for ales. Not sure about lagers, I don't brew them. That comes out to 2-3 grams per bottle.

If I were you saied, I would start letting primary finish out (wait until the bubbling stops) then mix in some priming sugar like I mentioned above and bottle it. You will get more consistent carbonation levels this way and you won't have to worry about bottle bombs.

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Yeah..I think you're right. In that case DO NOT add 35 grams of sugar to a bottle and then cap!! I was envisioning them doing it per bottle for some reason.

If I were you Saied, I'd probably abandon the idea of making N/A beer alcoholic, and figure out a way to make a fermented beverage directly from material you have available to you. To me turning N/A beer alcoholic is nothing more than turning a sow's ear into a silk purse.

If you were handy and could build things, you could build....uh...."instruments" to....uh...."further refine" said products.

BBL_Brewer said:

Post #4 seems pretty clear to me. He's fermenting in bulk and then bottling just before primary dies down. Sort of like krausening. Only this time, he didn't bottle it in time and there wasn't enough sugar left to carbonate it.

Adding 35 grams of sugar to a 12 oz bottle and then capping it is just plain bad advice....period. That much sugar would certainly lead to bottle bombs of epic proportion. 5 oz of sugar into 5 gallons is the usual amount for carbonation for ales. Not sure about lagers, I don't brew them. That comes out to 2-3 grams per bottle.

If I were you saied, I would start letting primary finish out (wait until the bubbling stops) then mix in some priming sugar like I mentioned above and bottle it. You will get more consistent carbonation levels this way and you won't have to worry about bottle bombs.

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Thank you very much all of you.I'm gonna wait for it to die out and then add sugar. but the bubbling dies after 4-5 days, does the process continue after it?
Also I'm worried about rotting because I dont keep things sterilized.I'm afraid it will rot if I keep it unbottoled for two weeks.

broadbill said:

If I were you Saied, I'd probably abandon the idea of making N/A beer alcoholic, and figure out a way to make a fermented beverage directly from material you have available to you. To me turning N/A beer alcoholic is nothing more than turning a sow's ear into a silk purse.

If you were handy and could build things, you could build....uh...."instruments" to....uh...."further refine" said products.

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I'd love to.but I'm a poor student living with my parents and I really rather they dont find out.
But I'll do the complete thing in a friends place soon hopefully.

saied said:

Thank you very much all of you.I'm gonna wait for it to die out and then add sugar. but the bubbling dies after 4-5 days, does the process continue after it?
Also I'm worried about rotting because I dont keep things sterilized.I'm afraid it will rot if I keep it unbottoled for two weeks.

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Keep it covered and you should be ok. If it does get infected, it won't hurt you it will only affect the flavor. I would try waiting for 7 days and then the next one try waiting two weeks and see if the two week brew tastes better. If it doesn't, then there is no sense in waiting.

I'm adding 125gr of sugar per each litre and using bakery yeast(It actually for confectionary and is made in france) can you approximate what percentage I'm getting?

dont9 said:

I 'm living in Turkey, How can I change non-alcoholic beer to alcholic one?

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Hi
I dont know why you would like to do it but anyway:
pure all the N/a beer into a wide open capped container.
and 125gr of sugar per litre.
add yeast(you can buy it from bakeries or stores that sell confectionery equipment)
let it ferment till the bubbling dies out.
add a full teaspoon of sugar to each bottle(assuming 1 litre bottles) and then cap it.
wait till it is carbonated and clear.
Enjoy

I took a couple of pictures.
The foam is snow white, the color is because of light.
Also I myself haven't had any "real" beer but my friends say it is really simillar to beer and I can tell you it is really nice

saied said:

I took a couple of pictures.
The foam is snow white, the color is because of light.
Also I myself haven't had any "real" beer but my friends say it is really simillar to beer and I can tell you it is really nice

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If you ever come to the states ill buy you a beer. Good luck in your brewing adventure excited to see how you make out

For sanitation....

It is really easy to do. Boil all your equipment first or sanitize with bleach (and rinse very well).

For your fermenting bucket, use something with a lid. Get some tubing and drill a whole the size of the tube in the lid. Put one end of the tube in the whole and the other in a jug of water. That will keep anything from the air from getting into your beer and spoiling it.

I'm curious as to what N/A beer you are working with.
Certainly need something with a lid and tubing.
How are you putting this back into bottles and capping?
I'd certainly share some of my beer and/or buy you one were you ever this way.
Take care and be careful!

Wow - Good luck with this. This is a perfect example of necessity being the mother of invention.

I might try this myself just to see how it turns out. I'm very curious as to what you'll end up with. Maybe do a gallon and dry hop at the end. Just need to figure out how to minimize oxidation.

I guess if my options were so limited, Kool aid or juice with lotsa sugar might be my way to go.

rodwha said:

I'm curious as to what N/A beer you are working with.
Certainly need something with a lid and tubing.
How are you putting this back into bottles and capping?
I'd certainly share some of my beer and/or buy you one were you ever this way.
Take care and be careful!

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I can buy a plastic barrell with lid but shouldn't I be worried about too little oxygen since I use bakery yeast and the process is more intense?
Thank you very much and I'll gladly share my beer with you if you came this way
Also I'll buy you other kinds of underground liquor . You'll feel like you are in prohibition era

b-boy said:

Wow - Good luck with this. This is a perfect example of necessity being the mother of invention.

I might try this myself just to see how it turns out. I'm very curious as to what you'll end up with. Maybe do a gallon and dry hop at the end. Just need to figure out how to minimize oxidation.

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I'd love such a comparison
And I'm sure you'll be able to give me great advice then
Tell me more about oxidation please

rodwha said:

I'm curious as to what N/A beer you are working with.
Certainly need something with a lid and tubing.
How are you putting this back into bottles and capping?
I'd certainly share some of my beer and/or buy you one were you ever this way.
Take care and be careful!

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I think I can get lid and tubing.
Using a jar and funnel of course
Thank you!
And I'll share my beer with you and buy you under ground home made liquor.It'll be like prohibition era

saied said:

I'd love such a comparison
And I'm sure you'll be able to give me great advice then
Tell me more about oxidation please

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Yeast need oxygen to reproduce. Oxygen is necessary at the beginning of the brewing process. However, after fermentation starts oxygen will ruin the beer by giving it bad flavors. These flavors have been described as tasting like 'wet cardboard'. In a normal fermentation you don't want to expose your beer to Oxygen once fermentation has begun. Brewers go to great lengths to minimize their beer's exposure ot oxygen throughout the brewing/bottling/storage cycle.

In your case you are exposing existing NA beer to a lot of oxygen just by transferring it into a fermentation vessel. That will probably change the flavor quite a bit.

cheezydemon3 said:

I guess if my options were so limited, Kool aid or juice with lotsa sugar might be my way to go.

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based on your post history cheezy, I'd say you and creamygoodness are both likely to try such random adventures anyways

Really cool, Saied!! Couple tips; like Billl said, you can sterilize with bleach, but be careful. Mix ~1 capful per gallon (~4 liters) of cold water and rinse thoroughly with hot water. Get a lid for your fermenter and fashion some sort of airlock; you can do this with some tubing inserted into a hole in the lid with the other end in a jar/jug of water or water/bleach solution. This will allow the co2 to escape the fermenter while the fermenter is still covered. I'm sure considering your circumstances in Iran, that oxidation is the least of your concerns, but you will want to limit the amount of splashing when transferring you beer to bottles. Siphon if you can, but if you have to pour through a funnel, make sure the tube is on the bottom of the bottle to limit splashing. Oxidation will cause paper/cardboard like flavors is extreme circumstance. And last, cheezydemon is onto something, you're not limited to just adding sugar to NA beer, though I see where you're going with that. Anything that has sugar in it can be fermented; kool aid, fruit juice, honey, etc. My guess would be that in a country like Iran, making fruit wine might be the way to go. It's very simple, can be made with any juice or fresh fruit that doesn't have preservatives like potassium sorbate in it, and will make you a tasty beverage. There are some great recipes and info for juice wine in the wine and cider making forums on this site. Last, best of luck man, brew strong, commando style!! I'm looking forward to hearing/seeing your results, be sure to keep us updated.

This has really started to sound like an interesting experiment to try in my 1-gal bottle, only problem I have is finding a N/A beer in Portland, and doing it without inciting a riot.

How much sugar have you been adding to boost alcohol?
And how are you getting it back into the bottles and recapping them? I'd figure a capping tool and caps are quite scarce.