Making Beer

[littlecanoe]

and old ways of doing things. Fella's enjoyed that thread! I remember, as most do, standing at the sink, eyes below the rim looking up at my dad shave with an old safety razor, wondering when I'd get to to that! Thanks for the look back!

 

Dr. Hess stated that he makes his own beer which is a hoppy(sp intended) that has intriqued me for some time.

 

If I might impose, I wonder if you could make some suggestions for a beginner. I have a friend who makes nice red and white wine but not beer. I'm only a bit familiar with the process.

 

Much thanks,

LC

[Dr.Hess]

A good source for supplies is Defalco's Liquor in Houston. http://www.defalcos.com/

They ship. Don't buy one of those "kits" on eBay or from a magazine/catalog. Junk and way too expensive.

 

Supplies:

5 gallon water jug (plastic OK)

large pot (~2 gal up), not aluminum, preferably stainless

large spoon

thermometer (candy or digital IR pyrometer, whatever)

gas lock (a rubber stopper for the top of the 5 gal jug with a hole in it and a little water lock system to let gas out but not let anything back in. Few dollars at Defalco's, or you could rig up something with plastic tube through a bucket if you had to, just make sure it is air tight and designed so no air can get into the jug.)

bottle capper (about $15, Defalco's)

2 cases worth of glass bottles and caps. My fraternity brothers would sometimes use 2 liter soda bottles, but they won't keep the beer good as long. If you are saving bottles, make sure you get bottles that are compatible with your bottle capper. I have found Samual Adams, Coors, Cott Premium Glass Root Beer, and some others with the same wide top mouth part (you'll see if you look) to work well. Twist off are OK. I think the press type cappers will cap about anything, but the little $15 tool type need the neck in the right place to grab on to. Try capping a bottle to make sure it will work for you, because you don't want to find out it won't cap when you have everything ready to go.

bottle caps

funnel

charging bucket (5 gallon bucket with on/off spigot at the bottom)

 

 

Ingredients:

1 oz Hops - Mt. Hood or whatever

4 lbs Alexander Pale malt

1 lb domestic 2 row barley, cracked.

2/3 cup honey or one "packet" of "priming sugar" for 5 galons

Brewer's yeast (not baker's yeast, not cheap brewer's yeast from a kit)

 

Directions:

Make sure everything you use is very clean. I wash with bleach and rince thoroughly. Put some water in pot, not full, but a couple inches in. Boil. Put cracked barley in a panty hose leg, tie knot, place in water, temp around 180F for 30 min. Rinse barley with hot tap water (that is, hold the packet of barley over your wort [soon-to-be-beer in the pot] and pour hot tap water over it, letting it drain into the wort), squeeze out excess water into wort, throw away barley/hose. Bring to boil, add 4 lbs alexander pale malt while stirring. Make sure you have left enough room in your pot for the malt. You don't want to spill it. Add 1/2 oz of hops. Boil for 30 min. Add 1/4 oz hops, boil for 20 min, add 1/4 oz hops, turn off heat. I add an additional 1 lb of honey at this point for a little extra punch. Put big funnel in mouth of jug. Put some ice cubes in the funnel. Pour the wort over the ice into the jug. Fill jug to about where the end of the straight wall part is and it starts to slope inward to the mouth. You want to leave a little room for expansion to avoid a mess. The temp should be fairly close to room temp at this point from the ice cubes and the water you added. Add yeast (you can sprinkle it over the top or mix it with some water first and pour it in. I don't think it matters.) Cap with your gas lock. Let sit for 5 days. It should start bubbling pretty well by the next day or the day after that. If it doesn't, your yeast was bad. Get some more immediately and put it in. If everything was clean, you should still be OK, but if you used good yeast from Defalco's or another home brew store, you should be OK the first time. After 5 days, the bubbling should stop. If it is still bubbling, let it go another day or two. A small bubble every few minutes is OK, but it should be about done with the bubbles. Pour the beer out from the jug into your charging bucket. Some people use fancy siphons, I just pour real careful. You want to leave all the funk at the bottom and not pour that in. Put your priming honey or sugar in some water in a sauce pan and heat it up/disolve it. If you're going to use honey, make sure you use exactly 2/3 cup. More will burst the bottles, less will be a bit flat. Pour into the charging bucket and stir. Have your bottles clean. I put my bottles into the dishwasher with some bleach in the bottom in addition to the soap and run them through. I wash up about 52 bottles to have a couple extra. Fill a bottle from the charging bucket up to about an inch below the top. Cap. Repeat. A helper is real handy right here. After you have filled all the bottles, put them somewhere in the dark, preferably, and in a large container like a plastic storage bin or something so that if a bottle bursts you won't have a big mess. Let sit a MINIMUM of 3 weeks, and 6 weeks is better. Enjoy.

 

Also, I take the sludge in the bottom of the fermentation jug after pouring off the beer and I put it in a bottle and cap it, then stick it in the refridgerator for next time and use that instead of more store-bought yeast. Saves money. Just make sure you put it in the refridgerator or it will burst and you will have a mess. It will stay good for months, but not years.

 

Ingredient costs per 2 cases is about $16-18. I started priming with honey because it was cheaper than the priming sugar packets, but the price of honey has gone through the roof, and I think I'll switch back to the packets. I still like to add the extra pound, even if it would be cheaper to just add a pound of malt.

 

Dr.Hess

 

[littlecanoe]

Thank you sir,

Look forward to trying this soon.

There is a shop in Louisville that will be seeing my money soon!

Thanks and I'll let you know how the first run goes.

LC

[fritz]

My folks used to make beer, but I think the recipe, or the incentive, was lost through the years.

 

My mother did have a very good recipe for wine, made from the mustang grapes of South Texas. We had them all over the ranch. But when she died, so did the recipe.

 

I remember stories my father told me about times when he and my mother were visiting neighbors (they did that in those days), and they were playing dominoes in the kitchen. Suddenly there would be a loud explosion from the next room. The man of the house would tell his wife, "I told you we bottled it too soon!"

 

They had bottled the beer a bit too green, and it was still fermenting (and expanding). Result---blown cork, seal , cap, whatever.

 

Ahh yes, those were the simpler days, before government scandals and power hungry politicians. When a man gave you his word and actually kept it! The days before LBJ and Clinton and Bush and Cheney.

 

When country people made their own brew, be it wine or beer. We never got into that distillery business. Those ATF guys were just as tough then as now.

 

fritz

[Dr.Hess]

That's why you wait for it to stop bubbling. That batch I brewed on Sunday still has a few bubbles coming out, but it is about done. I'll bottle it Friday. When you use your last sludge for the yeast, it takes off faster too.

 

The above is my recipe for Hesselbrau, a good drinking beer. Many people tell me it's the best homebrew they have ever had. My frat brothers would make what I call "grunt beers." That's where you take a swig, grunt and go "that's good." I don't like those. This is a mild "drinkin" beer. Put it in the refridgerator, then pour off the beer into a mug and leave the sediment in the bottle. Some people drink the sediment too. It won't hurt you, I just would rather not.

 

I made a mead once. That was just fermented honey, no malt, no hops. It was different, but familiar. Took a long time to ferment, and I bottled it too soon as it was still bubbling a little by day 5 or 6. It blew some of the bottles.

[littlecanoe]

Dr. Hess,

 

That sounds like one I'd like to start with. I don't like the really strong or really bitter beers. Mild, mellow is good.............

 

My friend who makes wine does a good job. He is developing his line and v ariety of grapes. Presently he uses concords and is working with some cuttings that he bartered away from a guy who has a legit Winery. I believe that they are afrench variety. He does make a very nice white and red table wine. I'm sure that it doesn't have the "bouquet" and added flavors that so many bought wines do, but to me that's the beauty. He makes simple, honest, flavorful wine.

 

I had tried to talk him into using his equipment to make beer jointly with me buying any new equipment needed. Since he didn't seem too excited about that proposition I'll do the beer and we can trade with each other for a little variety.

 

IZH