Here's an alcoholic drink that requires some special equipment to make, but isn't all that difficult.

Home Made Apfelwein.

Special Equipment
2 gallon or bigger plastic or glass jug with a spigot and screw on top or an air tight stopper. I found a suitable jug at the Dollar Store.
1 air lock or piece of tube that can be ran down and kept submerged under water at it's opening outside of the jug and a stopper. Air locks can be found at home brew shops for $2 or less.
It's important to keep air from getting in while allowing carbon dioxide to escape. That's what the air lock or tube is for. Don't put the other end of the tube into the juice. It goes just into the jug.
A drill to make a hole in the top of the jug or cap for the air lock, stopper and/or tube
You're making a fermentation vessel.

Ingredients
1 gallon or more of apple juice. You want something that is 100% apple juice and has no preservatives. To make more than 1 1/2 gallons, you will need a fermentation vessel bigger than 2 gallons.
1 cup of brown sugar. More will make it sweeter, if you like.
1 pack of Montrachet or Ale yeast. Bread yeast just won't work right.

Make it
This is the easiest part. Mix your apple juice and brown sugar in the big jug. Get all the brown sugar dissolved. Add yeast. Cap it and put in the air lock or tube. Remember to put the end of the tube under water if you use it instead of an air lock. Wait. Wait some more.

In a few hours this will begin to ferment. You'll see it bubble in the jug and blow bubbles of CO2 through the air lock or tube. This will go on for a few days to near 2 weeks. Once it stops, wait 2 or 3 days. You can drink it right out of the jug by dispensing through the spigot or use the spigot to transfer it into another jug. Don't get the sediment. That's yeast. It's best to put it in another jug or bottles and refrigerate it to keep mold from growing in it. DO NOT put it in another jug if it's still bubbling. That's an Apfelwein bomb right there; sticky juice all over.

The taste is light, clean and a bit dry. Sort of like apple flavored water if water had a dry feel. Alcohol content is anywhere from 3% to 8%. It's very easy to drink, so be careful. This is real booze.

Other fruit juices can be added for additional flavor.

Aint, what do you mean with the airlock tube. I don't get it.

You buy one of those two or three gallon plastic vessels with the spigot on the bottom. I understand that.

Where else, besides the brew shop, can you get those airlock thingy's you're talking about? Can it be improvised? Where's the best place to drill the whole for the airlock and how are you going to keep the edges airtight?

Air locks can be found at brew stores and stores that sell laboratory equipment. If an air lock can't be found, that's where the tube comes in. The whole idea here is to allow CO2 inside the jug to vent while not allowing outside air to get in. We don't want air getting in because it can bring with it unwanted bacteria that will ruin the brew.

The tube will act as an air lock since one end is under water. Use a pot of water placed lower than the top of the jug. That allows the CO2 to push though the water, but air cannot push the other way and get up the tube. The other end, that goes in the jug, does not go into the Apfelwein because the tube cannot collect the CO2 until it comes out of the Apfelwein.

The best place for the air lock or tube is on the top of the jug. I put mine in the cap of the jug.

Here's a picture of my Apfelwein maker. It has an air lock. You can see how the air lock is put into a stopper. The stopper fits into a hole I drilled out with the drill listed in the first instructions. The stopper already had a hole in it for the air lock. That stopper keeps it air tight, so all the holes should only be big enough to provide a very snug fit.

A tube would be placed the same way as the air lock, but with one end of the tube under water. It would be best to use a little bleach in that water to keep bacteria from growing in it. Some people use a little bleach in air lock water as well. The tube set up is an improvised air lock called a blow off tube.

The CO2 must be vented from the jug. If not, it will build pressure until it explodes making a big sticky mess.

I put this in Photobucket so I didn't have to resize. It's a big up close pic.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/Zuljins/DCP_0012.jpg

And the thing thing on the top is the airlock?

Yep, that be the airlock, Stone. It's been a while since my hub and I made wine, but I remember how the contraption works. Makes yer whole house smell like a winery, too... Yummmmmmm.

Hey Aint, as far as the ingredients go, do you only use apple juice and brewer's yeast? We made some apple jack and some grape wine that came out at about 16% alcohol content. Man, that stuff was GOOD!! If it hadn't been so long ago, I'd probably remember all the ingredients.

Stone, we bought our first winemaking kit from Sears, but we were able to purchase some replacement stuff from a local nursery & craft shop. The yellow pages might list suppliers, and the internet would most likely be a good resource.

Oh, okay, that answers my question. Apple juice is already sweet, though, so I don't think I would use any more brown sugar than that... just so it contains enough for the yeast to work on sufficiently.

Has anyone here made their own beer?

Not yet. Don't have the room for it I don't think. But I want to bad like. That's why I like Aints hard apple juice idea.

He's a cheap drunk.

And therefore an economic date?? I think either Dax or Bff have made their own beer... maybe they'll give us a head's up (pun intended).