Kid Friendly, pretend homebrew kit

My wife informed me today that my son told her what he wanted for his birthday in a few weeks. He wants a pretend beer making kit that makes water he can drink Could a father be happier? So I'd really like to put something together that he could play with. It'd be nice if he could add a few "ingredients" and get something different in the end. He's not allowed to have soda and he will tell you this if you offer it to him. His drink list consists of milk, water and occasional juice or capri sun waters. He will be 4 on August 4th so of course I'm not going to turn him lose with a propane burner. I'm thinking something that mixes up powder drink mixes and has some flare to it. He loves all things cooking. Maybe air of some kind for bubbles, stirring/mixing of some sort. I don't want to go overboard and put a bunch of money into it, but it'd be nice to make something fun that he can play with and drag out with me on brew days. I have a small pond pump I don't use for anything any more, miscellaneous ball valves, my old 5G speckled pot, portable CO2 dispenser for the 12 gram canister and a 20oz co2 tank with no hookups. Random tubing leftovers. a 2G igloo cooler not being used for anything. I've got some 1G jugs he can "ferment" in.

Keep in mind he is just turning 4, so a process less than 30 minutes would probably be best

Put your heads together and help me put together a "homebrew" setup for my boy

I'm in the same boat. My son turns 4 in October and talks about brewing all the time. I hadn't really put alot of thought into yet but I'm subscribing to this.

Carbonated Kool-ade?

Put a ball valve on the 2 gallon cooler. Maybe some marbles or something that he can pretend are the grain (If small parts are still an issue, put them in a paint strainer and tie it shut.

If you keg, you can put some apple juice into a 2 liter bottle and carbonate it for him. Although, I'm sure his juice consumption will triple.

Cool type mixes (with less sugar) are what I'm thinking. Just over complicate the process to make it more fun. He knows grains have to be mashed. We were at a brewery tour a couple weeks ago and he asked the guy if he could some grain. It was a proud moment. So maybe some rice hulls would work to fill that desire without impacting anything.

This is cool.

Are you familiar with the drink Malta Goya? Many of us use it for making starters.

Here's a blurb on it...

Malta drink is a non-alcoholic beverage common in the the Caribbean and Latin America. It is basically unfermented wort. Traditionally, since this was treated as a foodstuff, no adjuncts were added. However, all commercial examples I could find, both in the US and in Cuba now contain Sugar of some kind, generally Molasses but also Cane Sugar. Historically, malta was used as food for children and the sick and has since become a mainstream beverage. Of course, the other soft drink companies have taken market share from Malta, but it is still a very popular drink. I got a prototype malta recipe from a friend in Cuba, and along with John Curtis (another Malta enthusiast), we decided to give it a shot. Here is the result of our Malta experiment.

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This entire thread is all about making your own malta drinks...

Malta Drink – Non Alcoholic Malt Beverage from the Caribbean and Latin America

You could make him a little mini mash tun with a 2-3 gallon cooler, like what I use for small batch brewing.

Using the braid from my regular tun in a 2 gallon cooler


Counter Top Ghetto Tier (A little foot stool, my 2 gallon cooler and a graduated bucket in the sink.)


First Runnings


All you're really making is unfermented wort, the trick then is to come up with recipes that are actually tasty. You may have to fortify them with things. If you've ever tasted Malta Goya, to me it's pretty nasty...it's like an unfermented porter. BUT for example if you took malta goya and mixed it with coconut milk it would probably taste great, so in formulating the malt soda recipes, you might need to trick them out with some adjuncts. Even he said in that article that modern commercial malta have some added sweetners and such.

If you really wanted to spoil him, you COULD build him a mini kegorator with one of those 3 gallon corny kegs.

Revvy, can you point me to how you calculate the usage of Malta Goya for starters? I'm curious. Would be far easier for me than hogging the stove for a half hour, then the sink for ice-bath, etc.

/

No soda kind of kills it. Throws root beer right out.

You could get him a juicer and let him do that while you brew.

Zuljin said:

No soda kind of kills it. Throws root beer right out.

You could get him a juicer and let him do that while you brew.

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eh, carbonated juices and flavored waters would be good. My kids keep begging me to make "soda" even though I told them it would likely be carbonated sugar-free juice or flavored water. they just want their own "special drink".

Take room temp Malta Goya, add yeast = Starter.


As for the brewery, I am thinking tea. Substitute loose leaf tea for grist and hops. Green tea for hops any other tea for grist (they do have barley teas). Let him experiment with combinations for something drinkable. Use hot tap water for Infusion mashing.

Me thinks you are on the right track... BUT

30 minutes might be a strech but you know him beter than me......

Flashing lights, bubbles, and sound would be good...

Maybe a few buttons to push...

Why not have him make cider. He would need to "mash" the apples and if you got a Soda Stream he could even carbonate it.

DPBISME said:

Me thinks you are on the right track... BUT

30 minutes might be a strech but you know him beter than me......

Flashing lights, bubbles, and sound would be good...

Maybe a few buttons to push...

Click to expand...

Yeah. I am thinking a "redecorated" Mr Tea. Add the water and the "grist", push the button and it brews. Siphon the brew to a Mr Beer, add the yeast packet (a packet of sugar in the raw), and serve it straight from the bright tank (Mr Beer fermenter).

i was just going to say sun tea... my boys love "brewing" sun tea... they get the water prepped, put the bags in, and wait an hour or two for it to finish...

DPBISME said:

Me thinks you are on the right track... BUT

30 minutes might be a strech but you know him beter than me......

Flashing lights, bubbles, and sound would be good...

Maybe a few buttons to push...

Click to expand...

My kids have these little fish tanks with LED lights that change colors underneath the bubblers. You could have that be the "hot liquor tank" of sorts, I suppose. Here's a link:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tetra-Bubbling-LED-Hexagon-Aquarium-Kit-1ct/16940356

I'm thinking 2 Gallon cooler with braid, add water and drink mix, recirculate with pond pump for a few seconds for fun, add rice hulls. Let sit 1-2 minutes, then drain into 1G growler. Let sit overnight in fridge or I could buy a carbonator cap and we could drain it into an empty 2-Liter and carbonate. Maybe use food coloring to make it brown/black like Daddy's Beer.

Why not root beer?????. Kits are available and it could go on tap!!

H-ost said:

Why not have him make cider. He would need to "mash" the apples and if you got a Soda Stream he could even carbonate it.

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That's a good idea. My 3 yr old calls apple juice his beer. Instead of the soda stream maybe get a tap-a-draft. My old one worked with 3 liter soda bottles. Can pick up a cheap store brand soda, dump the soda (or drink it), wash the bottle, fill with cider and he can have his "beer" on tap.

French coffee press as an MLT?

"Mash" some specialty grains for color and a little flavor, sprinkle with cherry kool-aid "yeast." Add some carb tabs for fizz?

If you can find pop rocks candy, they might make some fizz. I was also thinking about some kind of tea. You could find some herbal stuff with a dark color.

I really think the carbonated juice or Koolaid is the way to have a drinkable function. I have a 5 year old who knows beer is stinky and I've thought about this a little bit. I need to get my CO2 tanks refilled so I can do the Carbonator Cap thing.

You have a few options mostly already discussed. I would take a varied approach depending on mood, and your brew day.

Maybe get a T-ball for "Steeping Grains" in a sun tea on sunny days, and IF you do a Steeped grain/extract batch. That way they can pretend to do what Daddy does.

Make a Kool-Aid Mash like discussed above when you mix up ALOT for them to drink during a long AG brew day. Find some kind of bottle that is thier "Beer Bottle", maybe use a Mr Beer Fermenter for distribution after "mashing" in the cooler. *Edit* Add some fresh berries as Grains */Edit*

I like the Carbonator Cap idea for making some drinks. It would be pretty cool for her to open her own fizzy drink.

And then for normal in the house (rainy days) I would have an assortment of "Brewing Equipment". Make a big deal out of building his "brew rig" like Daddy does! Maybe get some Catalogs and ask him to figure out what he has or is around the house that he could use. It will get his little mind owrking. My daughter has her own kitchen in the corner that she get TONS of use of things that she re-purposes into stuff Mommy+Daddy use.

Collect a bunch of re-useable bottles and let it be "Bottling Day" every now and again. There's a ton of different things you could do.

That Colored Aquarium aerator is an awesome idea for "boil"

Maybe have a shot glass with a little baking soda in it. Pour in a little vinegar and watch it fizz! If the amount was really small you could probably have him pour it into whatever you're making and not taste it. I'd think a little vinegar in apple juice wouldn't hurt too much.

Why not make him a set up to make Horchata? This is a rice based drink that is popular here in South-central Texas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horchata It does contain sugar, but you could probably find better sweetener alternatives, such as coconut milk, honey, etc..

If you are staying simple with carbonated juices but want to add a little Pizzaz, why not pop in a block of dry ice? Many larger grocery stores have a cooler of it. Leave it above reaching/tipping level and just let the dry ice smoke over your pot or what not. Didn't catch his age but 20 minutes of playing with his toys in dry ice smoke should add to the excitement.