I like beer but my favorite is good craft beer. While its lovely to get out and visit a microbrewery for the last few years I’ve been making my own. Its not difficult and not expensive. Here’s a recipe and instructions of one I made yesterday.
The equipment. I bought all mine on a very well known auction site for very little money.
You will need a food grade bucket. This is used for the first fermentation which depending on temperature takes a few days to a week. On the side of this bucket is a tiny strip which indicates temperature in . You can do without this but temperature control plays a vital part in how the beer tastes. The cost of this temperature indicator is very small and well worth while.
Here 's mine after one day of brewing ..there is a lot of fizzing action and hops have floated to the top of the mix
Sterilizing solution - Keep everything clean I mainly use the one they sell to sterilize babies bottles because it convenient to purchase. It is vital to keep everything as close to sterile as possible!!!
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The barrel/keg. This is used for secondary fermentation. While most people use bottles its a time consuming thing to sterilize each and every bottle. Having a barrel means I can be generous. If you get into beer making you’ll most likely find you’ll need two, so while you are drinking one, the another is fermenting .
The process.
This is a simplified, tried and tested recipe. It produces a deep malty flavoured beer .
1 x can of malt extract. I like a dark beer but these extracts and available from very light to very dark.
1-2 handfuls of hops. ( 2-6 ounces depending on how bitter you like it )
I grown my own. They add a beautiful green hedge to the yard and are very easy to grow. This is a variety called fuggle. From 2 plants I get enough to brew all year as it dries and stores easily.
- it is of course widely available to purchase.
Sugar. - As a rule of thumb the more sugar you add the stronger the brew as the yeast turns the sugar into alcohol. Around 2 pound ( approx one kilo) gives a a strong enough beer with good malty flavour
So:
Clean the bucket
Tip in malt and sugar and hops
Pour several kettles of boiling water on. Stir till everything is a brown soup.
Top up bucket with cold water - get the temperature down till it doesn't feel too warm. 70 -75 degrees farenheit or 21-24 centigrade is good.
Stir in the yeast.
Leave till bubbling subsides - ( a few days)
Transfer to sterilized barrel/keg
wait a couple of weeks
Enjoy.
I brew lots of different beers and wines. If there is an interest I’ll do my best to keep you posted.
PS
I don't need to say drink responsibly do I? Surely not? Enjoy!!
The house I grew up in had hops growing up its rainwater downpipe - in the middle of a very old city. When tourists inquired what kind of plant that is, my father would say you can make ice tea from it and offered them some.
And when they accepted, he gave them a cold bottle of beer.
Thats funny. Hops are really a fab plant to grow. They seem to be able to cope with anything and the flowers (the hops) have many uses. I of course I use they for beer but also make a tincture from them by soaking them in vodka.
That's a pretty neat idea actually! I've been experimenting in that direction also a bit, but not with hops. You use the fresh buds, I take it?
Absolutely...
Upvote!
Hey great post, I love that you grow your own hops. We should collaborate on a post sometime. Do you have a twitter? My handle is bier_vibes
thanks for your thoughts . There dont seem to be many beer drinkers on steemit so we are either in a small minority else they are too busy watching the rollercoaster ride of steem Thanks for the upvote :-)