63 comments on We'll run out of beer before we run out of oil
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There's another good point. Refridgeration or ice, how do we do that post-oil. I know they drink it warm in Europe, but I'ld rather not if I don't have to.
cellar temperatures.
Lagers come from Germany and are served/fermented colder because their basements are colder.
Ales come from England and are served/fermented warmer cause their basements are warmer.
This ice cold beer idea is an American invention. The colder a beer is the less you taste it. And with American pale lagers, that's what you need to do.
But if you're hard up, beer is about the hardest alcoholic drink you can make. Colonial Americans drank rum and hard cider which are really much easier to make. Americans didn't start drinking beer until the mid 19th century when German immigrants brought it with them.
Making cider is easy. Get some apple juice and let it sit out in the open un capped. Wait a couple of weeks. Enjoy.
Check out the book "A self sufficient life" I linked above. The author covers all these things (albeit a little briefly).
At last, sense. Cidre is most pleasant and more than suitably intoxicating. Perfect with food, ideal with pudding. Not to mention the countless pints one can consume with mates in the local.
From scrumpy to that Frenchy sweet and bubbly stuff, it has a range beer can only envy.
I made 10 gallons for the first time this year. Bottled first batch 2 weeks ago. smuuuck! WOW was it tart. Seems the yeast ate all the sugar. 0% sugar content, 12 % alcohol, had to add concentrated apple juice to sweeten it back up.
It is easy! Wash, grind and press your apples. Put the juice in a carboy and add a fermentation lock(I added some sugar but not required). It's worth the money to buy both a sugar meter and a alcohol meter. They will answer your questions.
Helpful website (sells stills too). http://www.mainbrew.com/ make your own ethanol(hic!)
Cheers!
D
I learned how to make both cider and beer this year. Cider is much easier to make. Use apples or pears. I would say that making really good cider is not so easy though. My home made beers tasted really good, comparable to a good microbrew, but the ciders were not of the same quality as store bought hard ciders.
There's a book by Jessica Prentice called Full Moon Feast that compares different kinds of beers from around the world. She actually does this for all sorts of food processes, including bread making. Anyhow, not only are different grains used, but different flavorings. In old Europe all kinds of herbs were added to flavor beer. For some reason a German law was eventually made saying it had to be hops. Ancient libertarians and anarchists were aghast.
If you want to sprout your own grains (malting) study carefully what this means and how to do it. YOu are not waiting for the grain to actually start making new leaves, only for the process of starch converting to sugar inside the grain. You can't SEE this happen. Must use water, heat and known timing, perhaps taste, to know when the process needs to be stopped by roasting.
Making wort requires a temperature of about 150 F, too hot and the chemistry isn't quite right, though the process isn't all that finicky.
You obviously haven't been to Belgium yet.
When I lived in Michigan there was the place called the Cadieux Cafe in Detroit where they offered every Belgian Beer they could get their hands on.(They also had feather bowling which is an enormous amount of fun.) The Belgians sure are prolific in varied beer production! (I don't know if Cadieux Cafe is still there or not, but definitely worth it if you live near there. They also have a restaurant where they feature buckets of steamed mussels.)
Just looked on the Web. They are still there, and apparently have ghosts!
http://www.miparahaunt.com/id39.html
http://www.cadieuxcafe.com/
thank you for summing it up. as a homebrewer, which is easy, i thank you for explaining to the masses the simplicity. it's really very easy to homebrew! i encourage everyone to get into homebrewing. do you happen to have George Washington's recipe for homebrew? i doubt it's a wimpy 3% 0r 5% brew!
thanks!