quick brew ideas

[Andy Hamilton]

I want to make something alcoholic and cheap within about 2 or 3 weeks for a party that I am planning. It can be anything really as I am not fussy. Any ideas?

[Luath]

Try my simple beer:

Simple beer

Hops are ready for picking about the second week of September in my garden; I grow four bines of Fuggles hops for beer making. I pick the hops off into big bins, then tie them up in clean net curtains and hoist them up on the drying rack above the Rayburn for a couple of weeks or so. They are then stored - paper bags preferable, so they don't sweat. This is the simple recipe I use to make our everyday beer: 1lb malt extract (from brewing or health food shops) 1 oz hops 1 gallon water dried yeast Boil all the ingredients together for 90 minutes; add more water to restore it to the original volume. Strain, allow to cool until tepid, add the pre-started yeast (1 tbsp dried yeast with 1 tbsp sugar, dissolve in warm water and wait until it has worked and is good and frothy). Keep closely covered in a warm room for four days. Prepare bottles by washing and/or sterilising if required (I don't, I just wash in very hot water, or pop them in the oven for a while). Prime each bottle with 1/4 teaspoon of sugar, and siphon off the beer into the bottles. Stopper well. Keep in a really cool place - the cool helps the beer to clear. It should be ready in 3 - 4 weeks, but improves with age. Different types of beers can be made using different hops, malts, etc but I just make this basic beer for drinking every day and it is very good. Hope this is of use for you. (lowlander)

[Stonehead]

How desperate are you?

You could always try barrackroom (or prison) hooch...

10 oranges
1 can fruit cocktail
1 litre water
Fast acting bread yeast (although you can make hooch without it)
1kg sugar
Heinz tomato sauce (own brands taste really, really vile in this)
A coupe of large sealable bags, ziplock bags are good but a couple of heavy duty bin bags inside each other with rubber bands around the neck are good (and you can stash them inside a metal rubbish bin)
Towels or blankets

Chop your oranges into quarters and stick them in the bag. Tip the contents of the can of fruit cocktail in the bag. Seal the bag and mash the contents with a piece of wood (a rolling pin is fine if domestic).

Open the bag and pour in the water. Reseal. Fill a sink, bath, rubbish bin etc with hot water and stick your bag of juice in the hot water for 15 minutes.

Remove the bag and when it feels about blood warm, open and pour in your yeast (if you have it).

Wrap the bag in towels or blankets, and stick it somewhere warm (or to avoid messes, in the rubbish bin).

Wait 48 hours. Open the bag carefully (it should be very swollen up with gas). Now's the time to feed the hooch and give it some flavour.

Tip in the sugar and a few big slodges of sauce (or, tip in the contents of about six of those sauce sachets you get from cheap cafes).

Seal the bag and shake well, then submerse in a hot water bath again - but not too hot or you will kill the yeast. Wrap in towels and leave.

For the next three days, remove the hooch from its towels and heat in a water bath for 15 minutes once a day, then rewrap. If the bag looks a bit too distended, carefully let a little gas out.

Day six is hooch cleaning day. Carefully open the bag and strain the contents through a cloth (or a fine sieve if you're feeling domestic). Don't worry, it's supposed to look like puke at this point and it will stink!

Squeeze the cloth to get all the hooch out.

You could drink it now, but I'm a bit more sophisticated. Pour the hooch into a clean plastic screw-top bottle with a couple of spoons of sugar, seal well and stick in a water bath for 15 minutes. Wrap in towels.

Leave for 48 hours, then open and drink. The second shot of sugar should give your hooch a nice head and a little more kick.

NOTES: You can use a couple of cartons of fruit juice instead of whole oranges, but you are best advised not to use grapefruit juice (shudder). Banana hooch is "interesting", while grape juice hooch can be fairly decent. A straw through the neck of the bag is one way of allowing the gas out, but you will notice the smell! If have no bread yeast and want to kick things off, damp mouldy bread will get things going but the taste is awful!

[Stonehead]

Hmm, forgot to mention cold distilling your hooch if you have time. Instead of adding sugar to your bottle on day six, stick the bottle in the bottom of a freezer and wait a couple of hours.

Then, carefully tip the liquid out of the bottle, leaving the frozen water crystals behind. Repeat the freezing process.

Do this two or three times and you have hooch brandy.

[Andy Hamilton]

Nice one will have a go at both. I won't ask how you know how to make prison booze SH especially with the Avatar you have at the moment

[Stonehead]

Nice one will have a go at both. I won't ask how you know how to make prison booze SH especially with the Avatar you have at the moment

I was in the army a long time ago in a land far, far away...

And be warned, hooch is not a drink for the faint-hearted. It's cheap, fruity booze and that's it. Done properly, it's just about drinkable; done badly, it's worse than vile.

[chadspad]

Have just come across a ginger wine recipe by C.J.J.Berry thats quick and easy:

30g essence of ginger 15g tartaric acid
15g yeast 15g cream of tartar
2lb sugar 4.5 litres of water

Mix sugar, tartaric acid & cream of tartar. Dissolve in 4.5 litres of very hot water. Make up to 12 litres adding cold:warm water so that your liquid is at about 70°F. Cream the yeast with some of the liquid and add to the bulk. Add the ginger essence and stir well. Bottle in screw stopper bottles and store at about 50-60°F. Note: Screw down stoppers tightly.
After 3 days, put quarter Campden tablet into each bottle. Screw down tightly again and you may drink on the 5th day. If you do not use campden tablets you will risk bursting bottles.
The cost works out less than 5p a bottle, is foolproof and is far superior to that you can buy.

[thebristolbloke]

Found some more info on "pruno"


take care



phil

[Stonehead]

Found some more info on "pruno"


take care



phil

Must be an international recipe - it certainly hasn't changed since I first tried making it about 20 years ago!

[abingdonboy]

Hi,

Not sure if i am too late, but....

Why not try this -

http://www.winesathome.net/forum/showthread.php?t=30

Has worked well for me.

Cheers,

AbingdonBoy

[Shirley]

fab link!!

[Andy Hamilton]

Not really sold the hooch idea to me stoney I think I will have a go at the cider perhaps for christmas presents. My folks like a bit of cider, I almost got round to making it and went out and bought a few litres of apple juice - it does have to pure though eh? - (according to another stoney post the preservatives can kill off the yeast).

[Stonehead]

Not really sold the hooch idea to me stoney

I don't blame you. It's a drink for nutters and desperados!

I think I will have a go at the cider perhaps for christmas presents. My folks like a bit of cider, I almost got round to making it and went out and bought a few litres of apple juice - it does have to pure though eh? - (according to another stoney post the preservatives can kill off the yeast).

That's right. Most of the halfway decent supermarket, refrigerated apple juice can be used. Cloudy, organic apple juice is best, though.

Just check the ingredients, first. It's mainly sulphites that you have to watch for - E220 through to E228. Caramel colouring also has sulphite in it - E150.

I can't see my E number book from here, but I think that's the main ones.

[Andy Hamilton]

Yep the stuff I got from lidl was really not right for the job, will have to have a shop around - cheers stoney

[abingdonboy]

Hi Andy and Shirlz,

I use T***o value stuff off the shelf, not in the fridge and have had no problems. The ingredients say that there is only apple juice in there...

I think is all they generally do with apple juice is pasteurise to preserve?

So for one (1 gallon) demi john I use -

4.5 litres of T***o value apple juice
1 jar of honey
1/4 of a packet of general purpose wine yeast

Put it in, give it a shake to get the honey dissolved, add airlock, leave to ferment out, rack, leave to settle, rack, consume. Should be about 7.5% ABV.

You could hold back a litre of the juice for the first few days of fermentation as it can get a little lively, you can also add a cinnamon stick, or some oak chips to add flavour. Also looking at lemon and tea to change the flavour a bit...

Cheers,

AB.