D*Bo
Well-Known Member
Anybody have a recipe for a homemade birch beer?
Measure 4 quarts of finely cut twigs of sweet birch into the bottom of a 5 gallon crock.
In a large kettle, stir 1 gallon of honey into 4 gallons birch sap and boil for 10 minutes, then pour over the chopped twigs. When cool, strain to remove the twigs and return to the crock.
Spread 1 cake of soft yeast on a slice of toasted rye bread and float on top of the beer. Cover with a cloth and let ferment until the cloudiness just starts to settle, about a week but it depends somewhat on the temperature.
Bottle the beer and cap tightly. Store in a dark place and serve it cold after the weather gets hot. It should stand in the bottles for about 3 months before using. If opened too soon, it will foam all over and pop worse than champagne.
THIS IS NOT A DRINK FOR CHILDREN:
SWEET BIRCH (Betula lenta) also called Black birch, Sweet birch or Cherry birch has fragrant bark and twigs that smells of wintergreen. The sap flows about a month later than maple and much faster than maple. You tap the trees the same as maple but must gather about 3 times as often.
The sap also can be boiled the same as maple but the syrup is much stronger, more like molasses.
Since I have no idea where a person would be able to find birch sap (No Birch trees around here that I know of; do you harvest it like they get maple sap from a maple tree?), I can't help, but I'll give you a bump to see if anyone can give any more info!
As it ferments, I definitely smell the wintergreen odor from the branches. This is a total science project. If I can stomach the taste and it has the ability to intoxicate.....and I don't die, I guess I can call it a success. Brew day was 2 days ago.
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