Making Beer

[Malicious Afterthought]

Seeing as I have gainful employment of some description at present, I have little time to go to the pub. So, I attended the "Edible Garden Show", where I saw lots of pigs, some chickens and goats. I also heard a talk by a man from the telly, who MrsA seemed quite keen on. And a talk by a man who told me how to make beer and wine.

It was easy, he said. All I needed was a bucket, some malt extract, some water, lemonade bottles and some yeast. After walking the streets of Oxford in my lunch hour, looking for these things, I gave up and went to the pub. I used their wireless to go to Amazon, and for £40, I bought a bucket, some malt extract, some yeast, sugar (this must be dextrose, this is important) and some other stuff I didn't understand.

I went to Tesco (easy in Bicester) and purchased 26 litres of Extra Value Still Water (and 2 9v batteries for a Cat Deterrent, which doesn't work) and set to work. I boiled the kettle, stuck the tin of malt extract in a pan, added the hot water and set 3.5 litres of water on the hob to boil. After 3 hours I returned from the pub, and realised I hadn't set the hob on, so I did that, and had a nap. In the meantime, MrsA sterilised the bucket and some other stuffs.

An hour later, the water was boiled so i added the malt extract to the bucket, and 1kg of dextrose. More sugar means more booze. So I stuck the lot in. MrsA added the water and stirred it for a while and then we topped it up with 23 litres of cold water. In with the yeast, stick the lid on and wait....

4 days later, the bucket is bubbling away happily, so fermentation is occurring, and bottling and secondary fermentation should begin on Friday or Saturday. Beer should be ready on 23rd April.

So, Americans who are below the age of 21, all you need is a bucket, some boiling water, malt extract and some yeast. And dextrose. It is important that you have a monosaccharide.

The kitchen doesn't smell too bad, but keep the bucket between 18-20 degrees until the thingy says 1006 then add half a teaspoon of sugar per 500ml beer into a 2L bottle Extra Value Still Water. leave that in the warm for two days, then in the cool for 12 days.

I shall tell you the results on the 24th April.

Stuff I bought:

http://www.biggerjugs.co.uk/starter-bee ... -1042.html
Water

GET TO IT RETROBIKE!

40 pints of beer for £40, then 40 pints for £15 as you've bought the other things already....

 

[highlandsflyer]

All power to you man, it is good to see people putting time into something traditional.

I used to use Grolsch bottles.

Save some for a RB meet, aye?

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

The kits are quite good. Get one from a recognised brewer as it is in there interest for your beer not to smell like TCP. This can happen if it goes wrong.
I have a micro-brewery kit with 40 pints of Woodforde's Werry. I shall start it at the weekend.

 

[taffy]

Save some for a RB meet, aye?

MaliA's "old rusty chain"

 

[MagD]

Now I know what to ask for for fathers day ;-)

Have some german beer bottles with the proper lids in the garage, saved for just this purpose........

M.

 

[David B]

Dad's been brewing his own since before I was born, with some excellent results (including a nice hoppy one plus a couple of Belgian-style strong ales for last Christmas).
He's always used tap water (local mains supply round that way is very hard so just right for pale ales) with no detrimental effect on the quality, likewise Tate & Lyle rather than dedicated brewing sugar. Will be interesting to see what effect bottled spring water [1] and the proper sugar have on the end product.

David

[1] Quite a few supermarket own-brand bottled waters emanate from springs around Huddersfield, so a drop of genuine Pennine water bodes well for a good quality bitter, even if not in the same league as Keighley's finest.

 

[REKIBorter]

The Retro Beer standard has been set very high

 

[JeRkY]

I have a couple of freinds into the moonshine business in the shire. Brewing real ale (one of particular note is his ye'olde toilet brew-brewed in his ensuite, and his Clavic-ale named in honour of myself when I broke my collarbone cycling)

The other chap is into home made cider, a bottle of his "vintage" offering attends every bikes n beers meet, yet to be cracked open as we all suspect it will smell like really bad arse.

 

[lewis1641]

the bucket says bigger jugs

 

[cyfa2809]

and 2 9v batteries for a Cat Deterrent, which doesn't work

yeah its hard getting them to lick em as they dont like it as much as us it seems

me and my bro are planning on doing this
probably a nice perry?
but have no idea what any of you just said apart from beer

mmmmm beer

whats the possibility of making a beverage close to that bought in a shop?