Home Brewing...
So, on an impulse, I decided a couple weeks ago to take up home brewing. I had been thinking about doing this for a few years, but have never taken the plunge.
I spent a few days online researching what I would need, and ordering various supplies and recipe books. Packages have been arriving at the door almost daily this past week.
I now have a few dozen glass bottles with wire-cage stoppers, a couple of 3-gallon carboys with bubble-filter air vents, a large stainless steel stock pot, and a 6-gallon plastic bucket with a pour spigot for filling bottles.
I decided that I need to start with simple things, making homemade soda pop first, because it only takes a few days.
I have been having trouble finding Sassafras and licorice root locally, so my first brew wasn't Root Beer as I had originally planned. That will have to wait until the ingredients I ordered online gets here.
Wednesday was my first brew: Molasses Ginger Ale. The ingredients were really simple: Water, Molasses, freshly grated Ginger Root, 1 whole lemon cut into small pieces, and yeast. I brewed a little over 2 gallons on the stove, strained it into the plastic bucket, added the yeast when it had cooled enough, and then bottled it up. I will check it Friday afternoon to see if the yeast did its job and turned it into soda.
I only used about half the bottles for that batch, so on Thursday I started another. This time, I made a Cream Soda. I didn't have enough Brown Sugar, so I mixed the recipe with Molasses and granulated sugar. It was a bit heavy on the molasses side, so the mixture turned a bit dark, but it has a wonderful molasses aroma. This recipe has Water, Sugar, Molasses, Cinnamon Bark, Vanilla Bean, Vanilla Extract (I didn't have enough vanilla bean), Cream of Tartar, and Yeast. I'll check it Saturday afternoon for fizziness.
The sodas, once fizzy enough, need to be kept chilled, or they will over-carbonate (not to mention fermenting into alcohol and/or vinegar), and there is a risk of exploding bottles. Most of the bottles will fit in my refrigerator, but I also have an igloo cooler than I can place the rest in and swap out cold-packs daily to keep them chilled until consumed.
The only difference when I start making beers is that after brewing, the mixture will go into a carboy (large glass bottle, like you'd use in a water cooler) with the bubble filter on top to let gases escape, and let it ferment for a couple weeks until all the sugar is converted to alcohol. Then you add just a bit more sugar before bottling it, and that is enough to create the carbonation.
I spent a few days online researching what I would need, and ordering various supplies and recipe books. Packages have been arriving at the door almost daily this past week.
I now have a few dozen glass bottles with wire-cage stoppers, a couple of 3-gallon carboys with bubble-filter air vents, a large stainless steel stock pot, and a 6-gallon plastic bucket with a pour spigot for filling bottles.
I decided that I need to start with simple things, making homemade soda pop first, because it only takes a few days.
I have been having trouble finding Sassafras and licorice root locally, so my first brew wasn't Root Beer as I had originally planned. That will have to wait until the ingredients I ordered online gets here.
Wednesday was my first brew: Molasses Ginger Ale. The ingredients were really simple: Water, Molasses, freshly grated Ginger Root, 1 whole lemon cut into small pieces, and yeast. I brewed a little over 2 gallons on the stove, strained it into the plastic bucket, added the yeast when it had cooled enough, and then bottled it up. I will check it Friday afternoon to see if the yeast did its job and turned it into soda.
I only used about half the bottles for that batch, so on Thursday I started another. This time, I made a Cream Soda. I didn't have enough Brown Sugar, so I mixed the recipe with Molasses and granulated sugar. It was a bit heavy on the molasses side, so the mixture turned a bit dark, but it has a wonderful molasses aroma. This recipe has Water, Sugar, Molasses, Cinnamon Bark, Vanilla Bean, Vanilla Extract (I didn't have enough vanilla bean), Cream of Tartar, and Yeast. I'll check it Saturday afternoon for fizziness.
The sodas, once fizzy enough, need to be kept chilled, or they will over-carbonate (not to mention fermenting into alcohol and/or vinegar), and there is a risk of exploding bottles. Most of the bottles will fit in my refrigerator, but I also have an igloo cooler than I can place the rest in and swap out cold-packs daily to keep them chilled until consumed.
The only difference when I start making beers is that after brewing, the mixture will go into a carboy (large glass bottle, like you'd use in a water cooler) with the bubble filter on top to let gases escape, and let it ferment for a couple weeks until all the sugar is converted to alcohol. Then you add just a bit more sugar before bottling it, and that is enough to create the carbonation.