Topic: Ale
The more beer I make the more I am amazed at the gaping chasm between how easy it is to brew ale and how complicated all the instructions to make it are.

Elephants can make beer by knocking down palm trees, stomping on the trunk to make a depression so the sap collects in it, and then waiting for it to ferment. That is how simple it is to make beer.

I now have a "perpetual beer" brewing in my kitchen. I mix the sediment from a bottle of ale with more water, sugar syrup, malt extract and some fineground flour and let it ferment for a few days. I then pour it into plastic soda pop (fizzy drink) bottles. When the bottles are firm to the touch, it's ready to drink. I refill the larger bottles with more water, sugar, malt extract etc. and the process continues.


This bottle is not ready to drink yet.





I had originally started to make an "ongoing" batch, (directions at http://yankeeharp.googlepages.com/7dayale.html ), where I would start one batch with the sediment from the previous batch, but I found it was easier to just keep one single batch going and bottle from that. I use two 2-liter bottles and transfer from one to the other so the brew will ferment a couple days in those and then a few more days in the smaller bottles. I suppose it is a lot of pouring from one bottle to the other. Its main convenience is that I don't have to keep track of how long it has brewed or which batch is which.

I have also begun flavoring the water with wood and other spices. I have used sassafras (the flavor behind root beer), birch, maple and oak. Right now I am using hawthorn, and it gives the final brew a very nice, smooth taste. I just cut some branches off the tree, break it into smaller pieces so it will fit in a heat-proof glass jar, fill it with water and set it on a hostess warming tray for a couple days until it turns a beautiful, deep reddish brown. I can re-use the same wood about 2 or 3 times. When it no longer colors the water, I go out for a walk in the woods to gather some more. I also add some spices like whole cinammon, ginger, nutmegs, cloves and anise to the water.

I keep the sum of what I learned about how to make beer as a beginner on my page at http://ourworld.cs.com/omsapphire/beer/ , but I prefer to call what I brew "ale" now, rather than "beer". Beer is a product with perservatives (hops) in it, designed for long shelf life. Once I eliminated the hops and aging, other aspects can be done differently when brewing, too. Many of the beer-brewing methods are designed for preserving and standardization, rather than good taste or nutrition.

Topic: Malt Extract
I started my 7th batch of malt extract beer on May 1, using a pound of malt extract and 3 quarts of water, along with 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar and 300 mls of a sugar syrup made of sugar and water in a 2:1 proportion.

I am using the proper ale yeast for the first time in this brew. It foamed up right away with a beautiful, creamy foam, but then the next day it died down.

I decided to add some other grains. I put 6 Tbls of ground barley into a quart of water, brought itt to a boil and boiled until the barley flour was cooked. I took it off the heat and added another quart of cold water to it so it wasn't too hot and poured it into the brew, along with another 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar.

That worked great. By the next morning there was a solid layer of foam on top of the batch and I could hear it fizzing when I walked into the room. I will definitely use that formula for making beer from now on: malt extract + mixed ground grains + sugar + cream of tartar.

The fizzing/fermentation lasted until May 10, longer than usual because it was interrupted in the middle. I decided to bottle right away as I am out of beer at the moment and in a hurry to get more. I poured it into another container, leaving behind the sediment, and let it set for a few hours. Then I poured it into pouring jugs to pour into bottles. This is not "regulation" procedure as you're supposed to do a whole lot more siphoning and clarifying, but it gets the job done. And if the beer is a little bit cloudier for it, the cloudiness is caused by yeast that will probably add flavor to the final product and are good for you anyway. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-) )

I put 1/4 tsp of granulated white sugar into each pint of liquid as a primer, still using the plastic soda pop bottles. Screwed the caps on tight and put the bottles in an out-of-the-way place.

Final recipe:

1 pound malt extract
150 mls 1:1 sugar syrup
6 Tablespoons of ground barley
1 1/2 tsps cream of tartar
5 quarts of water

Topic: Hops
I bought a bag of dry hops this week. They look like little green pine cones when they are on the vine, but these are dry and flat. I am going to add them to the current batch of malt extract beer brewing.

I will not add them to the beer now because I want to keep the yeast sediment for food after I have poured off the beer, and hops taste very bitter. It is what makes beer bitter. Brewer's yeast actually has a rather sweetish taste, if it's brewed without additional hops.

I also bought a packet of real ale yeast. The bread yeast has been doing fine, but I understand bread yeast turns out *more* alcohol than yeast specially made to brew beer or ale. The beer yeast should turn out a beer that is 9% (18 proof) alcohol, while the bread yeast is supposed to be capable of making a beer that is 12% (24 proof) alcohol. I don't have any way of testing it to determine what the alcoholic content of the beer made with bread yeast is, but I can certainly vouch for it that it _feels_ like it has a good kick to it, and I would actually be glad to have it be less alcoholic so I could enjoy more of it.

Topic: Raspberry Framboise


The Raspberrry Framboise has a lovely deep pink color and looks clear enough, so I bottled it. I put some in small bottles so that I can test it, and most of it in liter bottles (a little bit bigger than a quart)and will save it until summer.

Topic: Malt Extract
I started another batch using Malt Extract (batch #6) and cane molasses. This will be the first time making a large brew with malt extract and adding lots more water -- more than double -- than what I had originally thought would be the correct amount to use.

For this batch of beer, I used:

12 quarts of water
1 pound of malt extract
almost a pound of molasses
yeast from raspberry framboise

I put the malt extract and molasses into about a quart of water and brought it to a boil. Then I added the 7 more quarts of tepid water, so it brought the temp down to lukewarm. Then I added the yeast sediment from the raspberry framboise. I'll cover it with an airlock (meaning a piece of plastic and a rubber band) and wait 8 days.

Topic: Raspberry Framboise
I filtered out the raspberries in the raspberry framboise and moved it into secondary containers.

Topic: Barley Flour Beer
I have been drinking the barley flour beer. I had thought I would not like it because I used raw barley flour, but it tastes very nice, in a lighter, more fruity-like way. Perhaps I will continue to use the uncooked flour after all.

Topic: Watershed
I tried some of the malt extract beer that I had added the water to after I had already made and bottled the beer with too little water. I was hoping that it would at least be OK, but it was great. It was fantastic. I am amazed.

Now I have found out that I was doing something similar to what is called "high-gravity brewing". I had accidentally calculated a recipe that was too high in fermentable stuff and sugar, and too low in water. That is what you do for "high gravity brewing", and then you add the water later. The recipes and instructions for figuring out the proportions seemed a little complicated, so I will have to save them in case I ever want to do it again on purpose.

Topic: Barley Flakes
Now that I have found out that I have to add so much more water to make beer, I have to calculate how to make much smaller batches. We only drink less than a quart a day and I have run out of bottles to use.

Here's the recipe and directions for a quart of beer I am making out of barley flakes:

Beer, 1 quart
----------------------------
4 Tbls barley flakes
2 Tbls sugar, and later 1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbl molasses
1 quart (946 mls) water
active yeast
-----------------------------
I put the barley flakes, molasses, 2 tablespoons of sugar and water in a non-metallic saucepan and brought it to a boil. Continue at medium boil for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Cover, set aside and let cool. Afterwards, it occurred to me that I could have used only a cup of water to boil with, and then added the rest of the water to cool it down so I wouldn't have to wait so long. I'll do that from now on.

When it had cooled down to warm, I transferred it to a glass jar and added some yeast sediment.I covered the jar with a piece of plastic cut from a grocery bag and secured it with a rubber canning ring.

Topic: Mead
I want to try to make a "mead" using table sugar as the main fermentable, and adding honey for flavor after most of the fermentation has taken place.

Recipe:
200 mls sugar (13 Tablespoons and 1 teaspoon) white sugar,
a quart of water (946 mls),
a drop of lemon juice (for acidity)
yeast sediment from another batch.

I poured the "mead" (sugar water) into a wine bottle with a bubbler airlock on top to watch the fermentation, rather than relying on just the amount of time it has been fermenting, as I had been doing with everything else. In the end, it will probably come out about the same. When the bubble shows 3 bubbles a minute coming out of the airlock, that is when it is considered to be ready to bottle.

Topic: Chocolate Oatmeal
I bottled the Chocolate Oatmeal beer.

Topic: Raspberry Framboise
I added the raspberries to the framboise. 400 mls frozen, reduced to 200 mls when they thawed out, I mixed it with 200 mls water. I was going to boil it, but then I changed my mind and added them raw

Topic: Raspberry Framboise
I want to start a Belgian Raspberry Framboise to have this summer. I won't be able to keep it in bottles the full 6 months it needs, but such as may be... it's either that or not have it at all.

Raspberry Framboise, 1 gallon
----------------------------
1 gallon water
7 Tablespoons, 1 teaspoon whole wheat flour
5 Tablespoons, 1 teaspoon barley flakes [*1 cup of flaked cereal = 2/3 cup of flour]
10 Tablespoons of sugar

active yeast
----------------------------

I'll give it a day to start fermenting, and then I will add the raspberries tomorrow.

Topic: Bread Beer
I bottled 3 pints of the bread beer. I added 1 teaspoon of cane molasses for each pint bottle, and added a small bit of yeast sediment left over from the Rice Beer (Saki) that I bottled yesterday.

Topic: Rice Beer (Saki)
I bottled the rice beer (Saki). There was way too much, after I had to add so much water to it, so I bottled 4 liters as wine.

Topic: Bread Beer
I added a liter of sugar-water to the bread beer for good measure, although that wasn't done to a specific recipe so it is harder to guage proportions than in the other brews -- I just took the stale bread and covered it with water. Next time, I should grind the stale bread into a flour consistency first so I can measure it by the tablespoon.

Topic: Watershed
I boiled a pound of sugar in a gallon of water, and then went through all my bottles of thick beer and added the sugar-water in a ratio of 5 parts of thick beer to 8 parts of sugar-water.

Topic: Chocolate Oatmeal
I poured the chocolate-oatmeal beer into the jug and added more water.

Recipe, with corrected amount of water:
***4 2/3 quarts of water***
200 grams brown sugar
200 mls on the liter measure of oatmeal flakes
teaspoon mixed spice
tablespoon of raisins
tablespoon of cocoa

Topic: Watershed
I just came across a recipe and instructions for beer-making that is similar to what I make, and I found out that I am not using anywhere near enough water, by more than half the amount of what I should have been using, in all my brews. That explains why everything is coming out so thick.

So I have increased the water and sugar in the Malt Extract I am making right now, (batch #5) so it is 13 liters, instead of 5, and I will have to go through all the other bottles of beer and add more water to them, along with some extra sugar to compensate for the extra water.

So, if you are looking back at the previous posts for information about brewing beer, disregard the recipes instructions for amounts of water used, and figure you have to multiply the amount of water by 2 1/3 (approximately) and possibly add more sugar.