Here are some things I researched brewing with, organized into a calendar estimating when they are available naturally in the northeast. I haven't tried any of these yet (though hope to soon!) Note, that some require specific processes to remove tannins and other undesireables. If you plan to brew with any of these, research the individual plant before hand, some may have toxic look alikes, poisonous portions, require specific preparations, or may be otherwise dangerous.
March:
Birch Sap
Maple Sap
April:
Dandelion
Lilac
May:
Dandelion
Lilac
Edlerflower
Nettle
June:
Elderberry
Linden Flower (American Basswood)
Nettle
Honeysuckle
Clover Flower
July:
Sumac
Honeysuckle
Clover Flower
August:
Blackberries
Raspberries
Sumac
September:
Blackberries
Raspberries
Sumac
Acorns
Chestnuts
October:
Acorns
Chestnuts
Here is an excellent resource with specific recipies for wild-plant wine making: Jack Keller's Making Wine from Wild Plants.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
- Grocery Store Apple Juice - Hard Cider
Grocery Store Appple Juice - Hard Cider
Equipment used: Half gallon glass bouron bottle - cleaned and sterilized, bubbling air-lock, 2 litre plastic soda bottle
Ingredients: 1/2 gallon bottle of grocery store 100% apple juice (unsweetend), 1 cup sugar, 1/2 pacakge of Lalvin 1116 yeast.
Steps: 1. Sanitize all equipment in/with boiling water 2. Mix apple juice and sugar in your container. 3. Shake vigorously. 4. Hydrate your yeasties in a cup for 10 minutes (about 1/3 filled with warm water, + teaspoon of sugar.) 5. Mix in yeast/water from cup. 6. Shake vigorously again. 7. Fit airlock and wait 1-2 weeks or until bubbling slows considerably. 8. Taste it! It's pretty strong at this point and almost tastes like booze--sweet!! 9. Mix in 1/4 teaspoon of sugar for every twelve ounces of liquid (in this case it comes out to 1 teaspoon) 10. Transfer to 2 litre bottle, cap, and wait until the bottle gets hard!
Results: Tasted before bottling-very dry and promising. I put this into a two litre soda bottle to carbonate. After carbonated, it tasted great, almost like a dry Woodchuck Cider--not as sweet. However, I then foolishly tried to transfer it into single-serve bottles (8oz green glass ginger-ale bottles with screw-top, available at the grocery store.) As you can guess it lost its carbonation. I still drank them, refering to them as buzz bombs. Though flat and somewhat strong tasting, they packed a punch!
Suggestions: I didn't have the single-serve bottles when I started carbonation in the 2 litre bottle. I just bottled another batch of this last night, directly to sterilized single-serve bottles for carbonation. I'm hoping this will turn out better.
Notes: Cheap, easy, and potent. This is sure to be a favorite!
Equipment used: Half gallon glass bouron bottle - cleaned and sterilized, bubbling air-lock, 2 litre plastic soda bottle
Ingredients: 1/2 gallon bottle of grocery store 100% apple juice (unsweetend), 1 cup sugar, 1/2 pacakge of Lalvin 1116 yeast.
Steps: 1. Sanitize all equipment in/with boiling water 2. Mix apple juice and sugar in your container. 3. Shake vigorously. 4. Hydrate your yeasties in a cup for 10 minutes (about 1/3 filled with warm water, + teaspoon of sugar.) 5. Mix in yeast/water from cup. 6. Shake vigorously again. 7. Fit airlock and wait 1-2 weeks or until bubbling slows considerably. 8. Taste it! It's pretty strong at this point and almost tastes like booze--sweet!! 9. Mix in 1/4 teaspoon of sugar for every twelve ounces of liquid (in this case it comes out to 1 teaspoon) 10. Transfer to 2 litre bottle, cap, and wait until the bottle gets hard!
Results: Tasted before bottling-very dry and promising. I put this into a two litre soda bottle to carbonate. After carbonated, it tasted great, almost like a dry Woodchuck Cider--not as sweet. However, I then foolishly tried to transfer it into single-serve bottles (8oz green glass ginger-ale bottles with screw-top, available at the grocery store.) As you can guess it lost its carbonation. I still drank them, refering to them as buzz bombs. Though flat and somewhat strong tasting, they packed a punch!
Suggestions: I didn't have the single-serve bottles when I started carbonation in the 2 litre bottle. I just bottled another batch of this last night, directly to sterilized single-serve bottles for carbonation. I'm hoping this will turn out better.
Notes: Cheap, easy, and potent. This is sure to be a favorite!
- Oatmeal Breakfast Beer
Oatmeal Breakfast Beer
This was my first attempt at making beer from things around the house. It was my biggest learning experience yet. I don't reccomend brewing this one as I did (check "Suggestions" for better method/results) it was a mess and yielded mediocre results for an excessive amount of effort.
Equipment used: 2 half-gallon glass growler containers, 2 additional glass half gallon bottles, large cooking pot, wooden spoon, siphoning tubing, bottles, 2 balloons with pin holes.
Ingredients used: 4 cups of rolled oats (oatmeal—use the instant variety for best results), ½ cup of ground coffee, water to one gallon, general brewer’s yeast.
Steps: 1. Sanitize all equipment in/with boiling water 2. Bring water, oats, and coffee to a boil 3. boil for 45 minutes (this is where it gets messy—it now looks like gravy!) 4. Strain, strain, strain, until you feel you’ve had enough straining. 5. Allow to cool until just warm. 6. While it’s cooling, and within ten minutes of anticipating adding yeast, hydrate your yeast per package instructions. Mine called for allowing it to sit 15 minutes in a cup (about ½ full) of warm water. 7. Mix in yeast/water from cup 8. Siphon into growlers and fit balloons with pin holes over mouth of growlers. 9. Allow this to sit for two-three weeks 10. Siphon off the liquid (be sure to leave the gravy on the bottom of the growler!) into another glass container and allow to sit for another 2-3 weeks to clarify. 11. Siphon this off, again leaving the sediment behind, into a prepared solution of sugar/water (this is called a priming solution). Use just enough water so that the sugar is in solution. General rule of thumb that I’ve gathered is ¼ teaspoon of sugar per 12 oz. bottle of beer. 12. Mix the sugar-water and your beer, then siphon into bottles. I used glass beer bottles and tried to re-use caps, attaching them with pliers. Surprisingly this held carbonation, but I do not recommend it. I have since decided to use screw-top bottles, be it glass, like Jones soda product bottles, or PET plastic such as any carbonated soda you might buy at the convenience store (see "Suggestions" below if concerned about leeching.) Be sure to sanitize the bottles, and only use bottles that previously held carbonated beverages. There is a risk for explosion if you put too much sugar in the priming solution, or if you use a bottle not designated for carbonated beverages. Allow this to sit for at least a week, probably be best if left two weeks.
Results: Not horrible. Better than I expected. Nicely carbonated, light colored. Tasted strongly of coffee—overall flavor could be described as a weak ginger ale mixed with coffee.
Suggestions: Take this to heart! Put the oatmeal in a bag of some sort while in the mash. Perhaps a coffee filter contraption, a tea strainer ball, or a clean, sterilized 100% cotton sock. If the oatmeal is added to the water freely, you will end up with a thick, unpleasant gravy-ish mixture, which is quite messy. I would also suggest using a similar “bag” for the coffee grounds. It would save the hassle of straining at the end. Instead of boiling for 45 minutes, bring all the ingredients to a boil for about 10 minutes, and gradually reduce your heat from there, applying pressure to the "bag" with a poatoe masher (kind of squish it now and again to be sure you're getting to your grains.) You might also try toasting the oatmeal for a few minutes in the oven prior to mashing.
I’m too poor to buy a bottle capper and caps, so I tried to half-ass that. It kind of worked, but I wouldn't reccomend it. I’ve since read about using screw-top bottles (such as soda bottles), and plan to give this a whirl in the future. It’s cheap, easy, and a good way to know if the carbonation is working—just give it a squeeze! If you’re worried about the plastic leeching into the brew (as I was), from the research I’ve done it appears to be a non-issue if you are using plastic that consumables were directly stored in.
Notes: This one was a success in that I learned a lot. However, I would not recommend brewing it as I did. If you want to make it, I strongly recommend applying the above suggestions.
This was my first attempt at making beer from things around the house. It was my biggest learning experience yet. I don't reccomend brewing this one as I did (check "Suggestions" for better method/results) it was a mess and yielded mediocre results for an excessive amount of effort.
Equipment used: 2 half-gallon glass growler containers, 2 additional glass half gallon bottles, large cooking pot, wooden spoon, siphoning tubing, bottles, 2 balloons with pin holes.
Ingredients used: 4 cups of rolled oats (oatmeal—use the instant variety for best results), ½ cup of ground coffee, water to one gallon, general brewer’s yeast.
Steps: 1. Sanitize all equipment in/with boiling water 2. Bring water, oats, and coffee to a boil 3. boil for 45 minutes (this is where it gets messy—it now looks like gravy!) 4. Strain, strain, strain, until you feel you’ve had enough straining. 5. Allow to cool until just warm. 6. While it’s cooling, and within ten minutes of anticipating adding yeast, hydrate your yeast per package instructions. Mine called for allowing it to sit 15 minutes in a cup (about ½ full) of warm water. 7. Mix in yeast/water from cup 8. Siphon into growlers and fit balloons with pin holes over mouth of growlers. 9. Allow this to sit for two-three weeks 10. Siphon off the liquid (be sure to leave the gravy on the bottom of the growler!) into another glass container and allow to sit for another 2-3 weeks to clarify. 11. Siphon this off, again leaving the sediment behind, into a prepared solution of sugar/water (this is called a priming solution). Use just enough water so that the sugar is in solution. General rule of thumb that I’ve gathered is ¼ teaspoon of sugar per 12 oz. bottle of beer. 12. Mix the sugar-water and your beer, then siphon into bottles. I used glass beer bottles and tried to re-use caps, attaching them with pliers. Surprisingly this held carbonation, but I do not recommend it. I have since decided to use screw-top bottles, be it glass, like Jones soda product bottles, or PET plastic such as any carbonated soda you might buy at the convenience store (see "Suggestions" below if concerned about leeching.) Be sure to sanitize the bottles, and only use bottles that previously held carbonated beverages. There is a risk for explosion if you put too much sugar in the priming solution, or if you use a bottle not designated for carbonated beverages. Allow this to sit for at least a week, probably be best if left two weeks.
Results: Not horrible. Better than I expected. Nicely carbonated, light colored. Tasted strongly of coffee—overall flavor could be described as a weak ginger ale mixed with coffee.
Suggestions: Take this to heart! Put the oatmeal in a bag of some sort while in the mash. Perhaps a coffee filter contraption, a tea strainer ball, or a clean, sterilized 100% cotton sock. If the oatmeal is added to the water freely, you will end up with a thick, unpleasant gravy-ish mixture, which is quite messy. I would also suggest using a similar “bag” for the coffee grounds. It would save the hassle of straining at the end. Instead of boiling for 45 minutes, bring all the ingredients to a boil for about 10 minutes, and gradually reduce your heat from there, applying pressure to the "bag" with a poatoe masher (kind of squish it now and again to be sure you're getting to your grains.) You might also try toasting the oatmeal for a few minutes in the oven prior to mashing.
I’m too poor to buy a bottle capper and caps, so I tried to half-ass that. It kind of worked, but I wouldn't reccomend it. I’ve since read about using screw-top bottles (such as soda bottles), and plan to give this a whirl in the future. It’s cheap, easy, and a good way to know if the carbonation is working—just give it a squeeze! If you’re worried about the plastic leeching into the brew (as I was), from the research I’ve done it appears to be a non-issue if you are using plastic that consumables were directly stored in.
Notes: This one was a success in that I learned a lot. However, I would not recommend brewing it as I did. If you want to make it, I strongly recommend applying the above suggestions.
- Hillbilly Wine
Hillbilly Wine
My first fermentation experiment was something I came across online called “hillbilly wine.” I also found it (variations of it) listed as balloon wine, prison wine, and Welch’s concentrate wine. Its simplicity and turn-around time were it's main selling points.
Equipment used: 1 gallon cleaned and sanitized plastic orange juice (or similar) container, balloon with pin holes
Ingredients used: 3 cans of frozen generic grocery store fruit-punch concentrate, 3 cups of regular ‘ol sugar, water to fill jug, Fleischman’s dry baking yeast (normal, not turbo or fast-rise)
Steps: 1. Thaw concentrate 2. Add sugar, concentrate and water to jug. 3. Put yeast in a cup (about 1/3 full) of warm (barely warm to touch) water with a teaspoon of sugar—wait ten minutes for yeast to hydrate. 4. Put lid on jug and shake vigorously to oxygenate for initial yeast process. 5. Add yeast liquid from cup to jug. 6. Shake jug vigorously to mix yeast into solution and further oxygenate. 7. Fit balloon (put a few pinholes in it first) over mouth of jug. Do not allow air to access the wine after this point. The initial yeast process requires oxygen, but thereafeter oxygen is detrimenal to the process. 8. Wait. Typically most sources say a month. Some say three days. I tried it after three weeks.
Results: Tasted pretty good, though too sweet and had a noticeable aftertaste from the bread yeast.
Suggestions: Use less sugar. I saw numerous recipes calling for between 1-4 cups of sugar. I used 3, and it was a good bit too sweet. Use a wine yeast instead of baker’s yeast. I've since had great results with Lalvin 1116--its noted for reliability, high alcohol yields, and retaining fruitiness.
Notes: I would call this one a success. Applying the above modifications would likely make it a winner. As it was, regardless of the sweetness and yeast aftertaste, this wine tasted surprisingly pleasant and had good buzz potential. I would liken it to a (flat) wine cooler, or maybe a little sweeter than Mad Dog. If left to age for another month or so, it may have rounded out a bit better.
My first fermentation experiment was something I came across online called “hillbilly wine.” I also found it (variations of it) listed as balloon wine, prison wine, and Welch’s concentrate wine. Its simplicity and turn-around time were it's main selling points.
Equipment used: 1 gallon cleaned and sanitized plastic orange juice (or similar) container, balloon with pin holes
Ingredients used: 3 cans of frozen generic grocery store fruit-punch concentrate, 3 cups of regular ‘ol sugar, water to fill jug, Fleischman’s dry baking yeast (normal, not turbo or fast-rise)
Steps: 1. Thaw concentrate 2. Add sugar, concentrate and water to jug. 3. Put yeast in a cup (about 1/3 full) of warm (barely warm to touch) water with a teaspoon of sugar—wait ten minutes for yeast to hydrate. 4. Put lid on jug and shake vigorously to oxygenate for initial yeast process. 5. Add yeast liquid from cup to jug. 6. Shake jug vigorously to mix yeast into solution and further oxygenate. 7. Fit balloon (put a few pinholes in it first) over mouth of jug. Do not allow air to access the wine after this point. The initial yeast process requires oxygen, but thereafeter oxygen is detrimenal to the process. 8. Wait. Typically most sources say a month. Some say three days. I tried it after three weeks.
Results: Tasted pretty good, though too sweet and had a noticeable aftertaste from the bread yeast.
Suggestions: Use less sugar. I saw numerous recipes calling for between 1-4 cups of sugar. I used 3, and it was a good bit too sweet. Use a wine yeast instead of baker’s yeast. I've since had great results with Lalvin 1116--its noted for reliability, high alcohol yields, and retaining fruitiness.
Notes: I would call this one a success. Applying the above modifications would likely make it a winner. As it was, regardless of the sweetness and yeast aftertaste, this wine tasted surprisingly pleasant and had good buzz potential. I would liken it to a (flat) wine cooler, or maybe a little sweeter than Mad Dog. If left to age for another month or so, it may have rounded out a bit better.
- An Introduction
I enjoy libations of all sorts. Particularly I like beer and bourbon. I also enjoy wine. I have long been interested in the notion of self-reliance, and have been growing my own vegetables the best that my living conditions allow. I have since decided to, and am now addicted to, creating my own fermented beverages. Unfortunately home-distillation is illegal, so for now I'll have to keep buying my bourbon. Beer and wine are another story.
An enthusiastic conversation originating around a campfire led me to seriously consider home-brewing. When I started looking around online there was an overwhelming plethora of technical information. I bought the brewers' bible, or something similar, which contained a great deal of information, but was confusingly full of mubojumbo. This at first discouraged me. My interest in brewing comes from elsewhere--partially the fact that I can do it-- a notion re-affirmed when I tasted a bottle of beer created by my friend, one of the original campfire discussion participants. It may have been the best I tasted up to that point. He learned the basics and devised the rest from experimentation, he didn't use books; he dove in head first. His beers continue to amaze me.
There's certainly a place for all the precision and anal-retentive homebrew heros, but it's not here. To me, experimentation is the key--not data-sets. I want to pull things from available resources and create enjoyable beverages, cheaply. I want to see what is possible without using brewshop ingedients (with the exception of yeast.) I want to explicitly utilize things available in nature, things commonly found in the woods, around the house, in the grocery store, at the local grist-mill, farm etc... The most fundamental piece of information is sugar + yeast = alcohol, the rest is a field day.
In my initial quest for useful information on a back-to-basics approach, there was little to be found (though there was enough to get me off and running.) Such is the purpose of this site: to document my experiments, successes and failures and perhaps add to the fermentation store-of-knowledge that has been building for thousands of years. Hopefully, you might even find something useful (if not entertaining.)
An enthusiastic conversation originating around a campfire led me to seriously consider home-brewing. When I started looking around online there was an overwhelming plethora of technical information. I bought the brewers' bible, or something similar, which contained a great deal of information, but was confusingly full of mubojumbo. This at first discouraged me. My interest in brewing comes from elsewhere--partially the fact that I can do it-- a notion re-affirmed when I tasted a bottle of beer created by my friend, one of the original campfire discussion participants. It may have been the best I tasted up to that point. He learned the basics and devised the rest from experimentation, he didn't use books; he dove in head first. His beers continue to amaze me.
There's certainly a place for all the precision and anal-retentive homebrew heros, but it's not here. To me, experimentation is the key--not data-sets. I want to pull things from available resources and create enjoyable beverages, cheaply. I want to see what is possible without using brewshop ingedients (with the exception of yeast.) I want to explicitly utilize things available in nature, things commonly found in the woods, around the house, in the grocery store, at the local grist-mill, farm etc... The most fundamental piece of information is sugar + yeast = alcohol, the rest is a field day.
In my initial quest for useful information on a back-to-basics approach, there was little to be found (though there was enough to get me off and running.) Such is the purpose of this site: to document my experiments, successes and failures and perhaps add to the fermentation store-of-knowledge that has been building for thousands of years. Hopefully, you might even find something useful (if not entertaining.)
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