Brewing with VERY limited resources.

[TimT]

Make a prison brew, 1 litre milk bottle, bit of torn up white bread, fruit juice and sugar.

I've heard about that. The trick, I'm told, is spit.

No, it REALLY IS! Human saliva contains an enzyme, called something like Ptyalar(?!?), that breaks starch into sugar.

 

[TimT]

Cool, New-Guy! Got to add that one to my own list....

Andy, you could also try catching a wild yeast. Baking yeast is bred to be much quicker than ale yeast; wild yeasts may be much closer to the thing you want. Basically, leave a sweet liquid out in the open, uncovered, and see what drifts along....

 

[hoppy2B]

Get someone to mail a packet of decent dry yeast.

Roasted flour and some sprouted grains would make a pretty good wheat beer.

I'd be willing to wager that a cluey person could even do quite well in a comp using the above ingredients.

 

[Grainer]

Use wheatbix or cereal wheat

 

[joshF]

the OP hasn't replied yet so i'm only guessing the homebrew attempt was a bit of a flop?

It is however a little odd how people here go apeshit about someone trying to make cider using limited resources etc but here no one has mentioned the likely-undrinkable crap that the OP would produce with his initial ingredients/plan. Nor have the sanitising & clean equipment nazi's mentioned anything about the lack of sanisiting equipment or general brewing know-how.

Why are people are actually encouraging the bloke to try and make this crap? It only leads to false expectations, a sink/garden full of complete crap and a complete waste of time & money. Quoting the OP: "Please tell me this will make a palatable beer". Not a bloody chance in hell. Stevie Wonder riding a horse half pissed could see this 'brewing' idea would be a disaster.

Beer didn't progress all these years to what it is today, only for us in these forums to encourage someone to go backwards to medievil times, surely ?!?!

 

[fletcher]

Beer didn't progress all these years to what it is today, only for us in these forums to encourage someone to go backwards to medievil times, surely ?!?!

so he shouldn't be allowed to or try? why not? might be fun if nothing else. should we just say don't and be done? nothing positive ever comes of that. if he makes something shit, who cares? the conversation and ideas in this thread, in my opinion, have been quite eye-opening. will i use them? **** no, but it's interesting to see what people CAN do to make things if they want to.

the OP has stated he has limited ingredients, so i highly doubt he expects to make the next big thing.

 

[joshF]

Of course the guy can try but if you read his original comments, he said he wants to make something PALATABLE and we all know it wont be, so then why encourage someone to waste time and money with false expectations? He said "Tell me i'm playing with fire but tell me it will make a PALATABLE beer".

Some people like mushrooms. Some don't. Tastes vary. But common sense tells me there isn't much to like about a dark brown, potentially infected, hopless liquid, fermented (even that part is questionable) with bakers yeast and no real means for temp control. You can't polish a turd so why not just be straight with the bloke since he ASKED for feedback in the first place.

 

[dibby33]

Is the pirate stoned? Ibtl

 

[dibby33]

I would go the cider option. Apfelwine.

 

[fletcher]

Of course the guy can try but if you read his original comments, he said he wants to make something PALATABLE and we all know it wont be, so then why encourage someone to waste time and money with false expectations? He said "Tell me i'm playing with fire but tell me it will make a PALATABLE beer".

Some people like mushrooms. Some don't. Tastes vary. But common sense tells me there isn't much to like about a dark brown, potentially infected, hopless liquid, fermented (even that part is questionable) with bakers yeast and no real means for temp control. You can't polish a turd so why not just be straight with the bloke since he ASKED for feedback in the first place.

you're right he should just give up

EDIT: i'm a pessimist at the best of times, but perhaps i see his glass as half full because he's talking about my passion; beer. if i had minimal ingredients and a desire to make it, i'd try whatever i had. call me a romantic. i just see it differently. each to their own opinion.

 

[Pogierob]

I say try. Then tweak.

Isn't that what we do?

 

[Dan Dan]

Just do it, and call it beer. Tell yourself you like it. Problem solved.

 

[TimT]

You negative nelly, JoshF.

Worth remembering: by medieval times, people had already been brewing ale for millenia. They weren't a time that lacked for knowledge or craft when it came to brewing, and what they brewed then must have been every bit as complex and sophisticated as what is brewed now - more in some ways, because they had knowledge of spices that somewhat fell out of fashion at some time between now and then, and some of that knowledge must have been lost.

At any rate: pretty sure molasses is a post-medieval thing, since it derives from sugar cane - ie, associated with that time of the slave trade when the UK became involved in sugar plantations around the world. Fair to say it was a cheap ingredient - it pops up a lot in household recipes and army and navy recipes. The recipes often include spices: all spice, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger. These would help to give body and flavour to the final product.

So, some tips. Andy, look around the net for old 18th century recipes with molasses: get an idea of the herbs and spices they used and the variety of things they did with it. Get the finest quality molasses you can find, with the best flavour; not everything will get fermented out. Try adding other fermentable sugars too; honey, especially a good organic variety, would be excellent (bear in mind honey may lengthen fermentation times somewhat because of the complexity of the sugars involved, but that's kind of what you want - it'll produce a more complex ale). Don't expect to get something brilliant first go: but aim to make it better each time and you should come up with some very interesting results. I salute you, sir!

 

[TimT]

And - this I just learned - avoid using molasses that has been treated with sulfur.

Turns out this was a problem with my effort in brewing with molasses, too.

Just chucked open a thread on this subject.

 

[hoppy2B]

I do agree that you need a sound knowledge of brewing to make good beer in the first place even with a supply of professionally produced malts.

 

[BrewinWalruss]

Bugger the negative nellies on this one andy, I say go for it!

Think of it from another angle people. A secure compound out in the desert... high walls... just pretend it IS a prison camp.... make a game out of sneaking ingredients past the missus... *shrug* I am a perverse individual.

As far as brewing goes; I think people are onto something with the wheat bear idea. As a side note, I use orange pith as a bittering agent in my mead... potentially useful in your case? A quick google shows:

A quick google turned up this "Burley Oak Brewing Co., a small brewery located about 15 minutes inland from Ocean City, MD, brews what they call “Atypical Ales,” often with local ingredients. They have been brewing Hopless Beach, a 4% wheat beer made with locally grown wheat, orange peel, and coriander instead of hops. " from http://americancraftbeer.com/item/going-hop-less.html

From this we could deduce that, with a source of wheat, and oranges, a wheat beer is very possible!

 

[TimT]

I made a kumquat saison recently - the bitter from the kumquat flesh is *very* noticeable.

 

[mje1980]

Wow making terrible tasting beer in a country where alcohol is highly forbidden, and probably carries a serious punishment. What a great idea, don't hold the guy back, let him get his drink on. I can imagine how good those recipes would taste. Mmmmm yum.

 

[Yeastfridge]

I've heard of Sumac used to bitter/spice a beer.
You can't call it beer until you get some malt in there though.

 

[gsouth82]

A few people have suggested cider....also on the non-beer topic, what about a ginger beer or an alcoholic lemonade. I've made both with what I would think could be accessible ingredients.