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My First Batch of Home Made Beer - Michigan Swamp Buck - 11-28-2022
Firstly, I'm putting this in the Survival and Sustainability Forum here on the new and improved RN as a redo from the old R-N3 on a thread I called "Wild Berry Wine" that you can look at here . . .
https://rogue-nation3.com/thread-8989.html
Why here in the Survival and Sustainability Forum? Well, this is about my very first batch of beer I made from organic barley seed, hops I grew myself, common baker's yeast, sugar and water from my own well. I now feel that I can survive given the fact I can make my own IPA. Because what is life without a good IPA at least once a week? Also, I attached this parallel subject to one about some wine I made in this same forum on the old R-N3, so I felt it needed it's own detailed thread here so others could make their own beer and survive long enough to enjoy each and every batch they make.
My Official Recipe (as of now)
Rinse and then soak 8 lbs Whole Barley with Husks in a food grade bucket or other sprouting container with 1.5 gal of water for 8 hours.
After 8 hours of soaking, drain and leave to air dry for 8 hours, and then soak them again for around 10 hours.
Drain the barley that has now begun to sprout (develop "chits") by pouring the water out of the sprouting container.
Now put the drained but wet barley into a clean and sterile medium sized plastic tote container then shake the grain around, flip it a few times and shut the lid.
Do this shaking and flipping a couple times a day for a week until the grain germinates and sprouts a bunch of rootlets. Add a little water to it after about four or five days, but only if it really needs it.
After a week of germinating, the acrospire growing inside the grain has gone from the base of the rootlets to almost the top of the grain (not quite ready to burst out of the grain and become leaves).
Dry the germinated grain at around 110 degrees F in an oven for 8 to ten hours. I used a large bath towel on a table top to dry it with a heat lamp for about the same amount of time.
Rough grind the dried malted barley in a blender, place it into a muslin bag and boil it for an hour in 5 gallons of water at between 150 and 170 degrees F. If you only have a 4 gallon pot, put an extra gallon on to boil then add at the end to bring the wort to 5 gallons.
Drain and remove the bag of ground up barley and continue to boil the wort for another half an hour. Now, using the empty and clean muslin bag, add 6 to 8 oz of dried hops (twice as much if you use fresh hops) and boil for another 1/2 hour. Ten minutes before it is done, removed the hops and add another 4 to 8 oz of hops (double if fresh) to the bag and boil for about ten minutes before removing the pot to cool it down. You can chill the wort by placing the pot into a sink or tub of ice water.
Cool the wort to below 100 degrees F and pour into the primary fermentation bucket before adding activated dry yeast. Mix with two cups of warm sugar water (50/50 mix). Within 5 or 6 hours the wort should be fermenting.
Add a cup of sugar when necessary to keep it fermenting, other wise, add a cup of sugar every 3 days, for a total of no more than 5 cups of sugar (one cup per gallon) to keep it fermenting for two weeks. After two weeks transfer the fermenting wort by siphon into a 2nd stage fermentation bucket or jug. Allow the wort to ferment and settle out for another week (no more than two) without adding more sugar.
After a total of about four to five weeks fermentation, it's time to bottle up the beer. Make sure the bottles are sterile by cleaning with soap and water, then soaking in water with bleach (one table spoon per gallon) for about one half hour. Rinse with water that has been boiled and cooled a bit.
Dissolve 2/3 cup of sucrose (pure cane sugar) in a few cups of boiling water then cool to less than 100 degrees F before adding it to the 5 gallons of beer to prime it for bottling. Stir it in and mix it with a sterile stirring spoon and then bottle it off.
Keep the capped bottles between 70 and 90 degrees F for one to two weeks to build up carbonation in the bottles. After this, keep cold and consume within the next two months.
Five gallons is 640 ounces, or about 53 beers, you aren't going to get that much, two cases at best or around 48 beers.
. . . So folks that is basically what I did to produce this fine IPA that will get you good an buzzed after two and in bed after three 12oz bottles. I've determined that if I malt the barley (sprout and dry it) about two weeks before hops harvest around Labor day, I can have beer bottled and ready to go by the first or second week of October. I need more equipment like caps and bottles if I am to go for more than a 5 gallon batch next year.
RE: My First Batch of Home Made Beer - GeauxHomeLittleD - 11-28-2022
Years ago I used to brew with my dad. Always loved the way it made the house smell- almost like sweet potato pie.
RE: My First Batch of Home Made Beer - Michigan Swamp Buck - 11-28-2022
(11-28-2022, 01:30 AM)GeauxHomeLittleD Wrote: Years ago I used to brew with my dad. Always loved the way it made the house smell- almost like sweet potato pie.
During the brewing process, when I added the hops, I thought I ruined it. It smelled like I pulled up swamp plants by the roots and dumped them in the boiling wort, mud and all. It smelled like Satan's potpourri until near the end of brewing when it had a more spicy scent. It was nasty, I thought my hops were bad, but no, it turned out great.