Noob's Guide to Fermentation
To use these recipes, you're going to need some equipment. The first one can be done entirely with things found in your grocery store. The second two will require some stuff you'll either have to buy from a homebrew store or improvise. There are a lot of great guides on the process readily available online, but I'll go over the essential equipment here to help avoid confusion.
The first and most important thing is a fermentation vessel. The most common vessels are made of glass, number 1 plastic bottles, or HDPE buckets. Depending on the size you can find them pretty easily. Gallon sized vessels are easy to find. Gallon wine jugs are perfect (and fun to empty). There are homebrew specialty stores that sell pretty large ones (five gallons is the standard size for most brewers), but if you've got access to empty water cooler bottles those will work. If you're using an HDPE bucket make sure it's never been used for any other purpose. Also you're going to need to drill a hole in the lid.
The second most important piece is some kind of sanitizing solution. You've got to sanitize your fermentation vessel otherwise all kinds of nasty things can grow in your brew. Oxyclean one-step cleaning solution, star-san, or even a ratio of one part bleach to ten parts hot water will do. Make sure you rinse well.
Finally, you're going to need some way to keep air from getting in while letting carbon dioxide out. The most common way is with an airlock, a device that you feel with sterile liquid (personally I use vodka. Water can become contaminated) that bubbles to let CO2 out. Failing that, you can use a balloon with a single hole punched in it.
For a good look at what this equipment looks like you can poke around at http://www.northernbrewer.com/. You'll also need some kind of tubing to move the finished product to bottles, and either a capper or corker depending on how you're bottling. I'll cover that later.
Now for the recipes.
Reinbach's Scurvy-Fighting Scapegoat
Yield: 1 gallon
This is a short mead favored by an infamous corsair. Not only is it good for keeping scurvy at bay, it's the perfect scapegoat for whatever indiscretions you've got in mind. This is a good test batch to see if the hobby is for you. It's low maintenance and you can find all of the ingredients at any given grocery store.
You'll need:
2 lbs. Clover Honey
1 2-inch cinnamon stick
2 limes
1/2 gallon Welch's Grape Juice
25 raisins
1 tsp. bread yeast (not normally reccomended, but for this recipe it's OK.)
Quarter the limes and slice the raisins. Pour some of the grape juice into your fermentation vessel, then pour and stir in the honey. Stir extremely well. Top up the rest to a gallon. The honey should displace the half gallon of juice into a full gallon, but top up with water if you need to. Add the limes, raisins, and cinnamon stick. Pitch the yeast, close up the vessel and add the airlock. Let it sit in a dark place. There should be some activity in the airlock or balloon. That's good. It means the yeast is turning the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Don't disturb it for two months. By then all of the honey should be integrated with the mead and all the fermentation should be done. You have mead ready for bottling. It's OK to drink now, but the longer you wait, the better it gets.
Jagged-Eared Apple Jack
Yield: 5 Gallons
5 gallons Apple Juice - Make sure there are no preservatives aside from absorbic acid. Otherwise this will not ferment.
2 lbs. brown sugar (light or dark)
1 packet beer yeast (I reccomend Nottingham yeast or Danstar US-05. You can buy these from a homebrew shop)
Pour a gallon and a half into your fermentation vessel. This should mean you've opened two bottles of apple juice. Pour some brown sugar into the remaining half gallon of the second bottle, cap and shake. Pour the rest into the vessel. Repeat this until the brown sugar is gone and all the apple juice is in the vessel. Pitch the yeast, cap and put the airlock on. Yep, it's that simple. Again, wait two months and you've got some cider.
Dogberry's Family Recipe
Yield: 5 gallons
10 lbs dark malt extract (dry)
2 oz Galena hops
1 packet beer yeast
The following grains (these can be bought from a homebrew store):
12oz Crystal Malt
10oz Chocolate Malt
3oz Roasted Barley
3oz Black Patent
Make sure to use at least a 3 gallon stockpot. Heat 2 gallons of water to 155 degrees and steep your grains in a cheesecloth bag for half an hour. Remove the grains and discard them. Remove the pot from heat and add malt extract. Return to heat and bring to a boil. Allow it to boil for 45 minutes and add 1 oz hops. Boil for ten more minutes before adding the second oz of hops. Boil for five more minutes. Take the pot from the heat and immediately chill in an ice bath. Keep dunking it in the ice bath until it's close to room temperature. 80-85 degrees should be good enough, but try to go a little lower. Congratulations, you now have wort! Add it to your vessel, top it up with water. Pitch yeast, cover, and add the airlock. There's going to be a ton of bubbles on this one. Make sure your vessel is larger than five gallons to keep it all in. Otherwise look into making a "blow-off tube." It's basically a large version of an airlock that can handle large amounts of foam. You can make it with tubing, a milk jug, and some water.
The fermentation should be done in about a week to 10 days. Keep it in a relatively cool area. Siphon the beer into a second fermentation vessel, this time without leaving any head space. Seal off and add the airlock. Wait a month, then bottle after adding 1 oz corn sugar to the batch (you can use table sugar in a pinch, but it will leave an aftertaste). Keep it in bottles for three weeks while it carbonates.
Again, it's one of those things that is better with age. Wait a few months and you'll be happy.
I hope that covers everything. If you have any questions I can answer them for you, but you'll probably find better guides on the internet. I learned what I did from reading "How to Brew" by John Palmer. It's more or less THE book for beginners.
To use these recipes, you're going to need some equipment. The first one can be done entirely with things found in your grocery store. The second two will require some stuff you'll either have to buy from a homebrew store or improvise. There are a lot of great guides on the process readily available online, but I'll go over the essential equipment here to help avoid confusion.
The first and most important thing is a fermentation vessel. The most common vessels are made of glass, number 1 plastic bottles, or HDPE buckets. Depending on the size you can find them pretty easily. Gallon sized vessels are easy to find. Gallon wine jugs are perfect (and fun to empty). There are homebrew specialty stores that sell pretty large ones (five gallons is the standard size for most brewers), but if you've got access to empty water cooler bottles those will work. If you're using an HDPE bucket make sure it's never been used for any other purpose. Also you're going to need to drill a hole in the lid.
The second most important piece is some kind of sanitizing solution. You've got to sanitize your fermentation vessel otherwise all kinds of nasty things can grow in your brew. Oxyclean one-step cleaning solution, star-san, or even a ratio of one part bleach to ten parts hot water will do. Make sure you rinse well.
Finally, you're going to need some way to keep air from getting in while letting carbon dioxide out. The most common way is with an airlock, a device that you feel with sterile liquid (personally I use vodka. Water can become contaminated) that bubbles to let CO2 out. Failing that, you can use a balloon with a single hole punched in it.
For a good look at what this equipment looks like you can poke around at http://www.northernbrewer.com/. You'll also need some kind of tubing to move the finished product to bottles, and either a capper or corker depending on how you're bottling. I'll cover that later.
Now for the recipes.
Reinbach's Scurvy-Fighting Scapegoat
Yield: 1 gallon
This is a short mead favored by an infamous corsair. Not only is it good for keeping scurvy at bay, it's the perfect scapegoat for whatever indiscretions you've got in mind. This is a good test batch to see if the hobby is for you. It's low maintenance and you can find all of the ingredients at any given grocery store.
You'll need:
2 lbs. Clover Honey
1 2-inch cinnamon stick
2 limes
1/2 gallon Welch's Grape Juice
25 raisins
1 tsp. bread yeast (not normally reccomended, but for this recipe it's OK.)
Quarter the limes and slice the raisins. Pour some of the grape juice into your fermentation vessel, then pour and stir in the honey. Stir extremely well. Top up the rest to a gallon. The honey should displace the half gallon of juice into a full gallon, but top up with water if you need to. Add the limes, raisins, and cinnamon stick. Pitch the yeast, close up the vessel and add the airlock. Let it sit in a dark place. There should be some activity in the airlock or balloon. That's good. It means the yeast is turning the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Don't disturb it for two months. By then all of the honey should be integrated with the mead and all the fermentation should be done. You have mead ready for bottling. It's OK to drink now, but the longer you wait, the better it gets.
Jagged-Eared Apple Jack
Yield: 5 Gallons
5 gallons Apple Juice - Make sure there are no preservatives aside from absorbic acid. Otherwise this will not ferment.
2 lbs. brown sugar (light or dark)
1 packet beer yeast (I reccomend Nottingham yeast or Danstar US-05. You can buy these from a homebrew shop)
Pour a gallon and a half into your fermentation vessel. This should mean you've opened two bottles of apple juice. Pour some brown sugar into the remaining half gallon of the second bottle, cap and shake. Pour the rest into the vessel. Repeat this until the brown sugar is gone and all the apple juice is in the vessel. Pitch the yeast, cap and put the airlock on. Yep, it's that simple. Again, wait two months and you've got some cider.
Dogberry's Family Recipe
Yield: 5 gallons
10 lbs dark malt extract (dry)
2 oz Galena hops
1 packet beer yeast
The following grains (these can be bought from a homebrew store):
12oz Crystal Malt
10oz Chocolate Malt
3oz Roasted Barley
3oz Black Patent
Make sure to use at least a 3 gallon stockpot. Heat 2 gallons of water to 155 degrees and steep your grains in a cheesecloth bag for half an hour. Remove the grains and discard them. Remove the pot from heat and add malt extract. Return to heat and bring to a boil. Allow it to boil for 45 minutes and add 1 oz hops. Boil for ten more minutes before adding the second oz of hops. Boil for five more minutes. Take the pot from the heat and immediately chill in an ice bath. Keep dunking it in the ice bath until it's close to room temperature. 80-85 degrees should be good enough, but try to go a little lower. Congratulations, you now have wort! Add it to your vessel, top it up with water. Pitch yeast, cover, and add the airlock. There's going to be a ton of bubbles on this one. Make sure your vessel is larger than five gallons to keep it all in. Otherwise look into making a "blow-off tube." It's basically a large version of an airlock that can handle large amounts of foam. You can make it with tubing, a milk jug, and some water.
The fermentation should be done in about a week to 10 days. Keep it in a relatively cool area. Siphon the beer into a second fermentation vessel, this time without leaving any head space. Seal off and add the airlock. Wait a month, then bottle after adding 1 oz corn sugar to the batch (you can use table sugar in a pinch, but it will leave an aftertaste). Keep it in bottles for three weeks while it carbonates.
Again, it's one of those things that is better with age. Wait a few months and you'll be happy.
I hope that covers everything. If you have any questions I can answer them for you, but you'll probably find better guides on the internet. I learned what I did from reading "How to Brew" by John Palmer. It's more or less THE book for beginners.
![[Image: BZneHYK.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/BZneHYK.jpg)
No Gods and Precious Few Heroes
