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Well not necessarily Camp Cooking, but with it soooo cold I'm going to brew a couple batches of beer (well Ale actually, but what we call today "ale" was called "beer" back in the colonies), and use the outdoor temps to cool the wort.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Can you describe the process for making wort?


pistuo deo lalo
 
Posts: 3714 | Location: Acatlan de Juarez, Jalisco, Mexico | Registered: 22 October 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I recommend a very small book titled,"Brewing,Vintage,and distillation along with various remedies for Hangover Melancholia".
The title is almost longer than the book itself but the book itself is a marvelous introduction to brewing,vintage,and distillation(D'OH!).It shows you how to do it on the cheap,and come up with some very drinkable,if unremarkable,brews.


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2014 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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As for wort; make a really sloppy batch of barley cereal(soup,actually),decant the liquid,and pitch the yeast when the soup/wort cools to about 90*.If beer,or champagne yeast aren't available,use bread yeast.It won't be as powerful,but it gets the job done....Actually any grain will work,but Barley is best.


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2014 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Oh yeah,don't put any salt in the wort.That would kill the yeast.


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2014 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Yeast needs sugar to ferment. Starch is too big a molecule, so it must be broken down into sugar. "Malting" is the process where by the grain is allowed to sprout (usually barley but maize and oats or wheat will also malt) then the process is stopped by drying in an oven. This kills off the plant and leaves the enzyme behind that the plant was using to modify the starch in the grain to make it sugar.

The easiest way is actually to buy malt syrup or dried malt extract DME, and mix it with water. About three pounds to three gallons of water. Bring it to a boil, and add 1/2 ounce of hops and a 1/4 cup of cut oats or ground wheat. Boil for ten minutes and then remove from the heat and add a second 1/2 ounce of hops. You now have a wort [Old English for "tea" see St. John's Wort] Pour the liquid into the fermenter, seal, and allow to cool. When below 70 degrees F add the yeast and install a fermentation lock. After about a week, maybe two, you have ale. Most people separate the liquid from the spend yeast resting on the bottom of the fermenter, and a tiny bit of sugar, and bottle.

If you can't get malted grain, you can grind up whatever grain you have, add it about two pounds per gallon, and heat it to 98F degrees aka 37 C. You can add Amylase enzyme (mail order from a brewing supply store) to the water/ground grain mixture, and by keeping it at the 37 C temp it's most efficient in converting the starch in the water to sugar. After about four hours, bring to a boil and add the hops as above, then cool, and follow the rest.

It's best to get a book or two on the subject.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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LD,you are,of course,right,I was trying to get him in at the basement level.Totally forgot the need for sugar.You can get away with 2 lbs. added to the wort to get things going.Malting the grain is best.Buying a book on brewing beer is best to understand the process.


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2014 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I wasn't correcting you...Boartooth, you mentioned "barley cereal" and I thought you meant a breakfast cereal (so there is sugar included Wink ) I've seen folks make beer from instant oatmeal cereal. It actually worked, and didn't taste bad though it was oat based. I've also seen folks use a five pound bag of sugar and a box of organic, preservative free corn flakes for a five gallon batch. That worked too..., the beer was OK, and would be pretty nice in a remote location in a far off place and no other options. BUT if you omit the hops, and then do a distilling experiment, you do get a small amount of moonshine. (Be sure you are in a state where you can legally distill before you try this. Wink )

BUT if you used say pearl barley from the shelf next to the dried peas and dried lentils from the market..., you're not going to get a fermentation...as you know, there's no sugar. Eeker

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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L.D.,It's been so long since I tried to make a batch of redneck beer,I forget stuff.Thanks for helping out.


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2014 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Well it's been a year since this thread was used....I made Irish Stout and Belgian Orange Ale for Christmas gifts to friends and neighbors this past December. I have an Irish Red ale in the fermenter that I need to rack and bottle this weekend.

I also made some Limoncello, as gifts too.

I'm thinking I should so a SMASH brown ale next....S ingle M alt A nd S ingle H ops. Should be closer to what they were drinking in colonial times, since they'd a needed to use whatever grain and hops were around, no fancy recipes...

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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That's a lot closer to what I make.I tried an ale with no hops once a long time ago as an experiment. I was a medieval reenactor, and had it pointed out to me that hops were a fairly recent addition to beer. It turned out fairly sweet. Not bad, but not my favorite. went bad within a month also....


Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin
 
Posts: 2014 | Location: Oreegun Territory | Registered: 24 March 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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