MaryB
Well-Known Member
Can sub herbs for hops if they are hard to get.
Can sub herbs for hops if they are hard to get.
If that particular bread yeast is not working well with the malt syrup, you can always try to ferment grape juice or make mead.
BTW, you have no problem getting hops?
DesertFox
I just read every word of this tread and I have to say WOW. I love your passion man. You have some guts. I love my beer but if I lived there I would quit brewing for my families sake but if I where single it on. You would fit right in, in the states. Best of luck to you and happy and safe as it can be brewing to you.
Paul
Can sub herbs for hops if they are hard to get.
MaryB, I always appreciate your contributions but could you expand for the OPs sake,?
Outside of spruce, I'm unsure.
I tried making wine several times but it always ends with some sour flavor, I don't why, even that I kept it not exposed to air.
Bahrain is another place I'd almost forgotten about. I recall standing on the Navy base outside the post office in the shade - dripping sweat in 93F heat and humidity, and that was before it really got warm. The saving grace was the Hard Rock Cafe in al Manama eating dinner and having a couple stouts afterward.
Hello everybody,
I live in a country where alcohol is highly prohibited and of course all materials and equipment that are exclusively related to brewing/fermenting.
I used to turn non alcoholic "beer' into regular beer using baking yeast and table sugar, the results weren't so great so I decided to try another method.
I have access to malt extract in a health food store (Meridian is the brand name) so I'm giving it a try and I have a batch in process now, it has been four days now since the start of fermentation, the thing is that I didn't get the foam I usually get on the top of the wort, although the bubbling is going really nicely and I have a decent amount of co2 released through the airlock, I don't know if I did something wrong or if this is normal, here's how I did it:
materials:
3x370g Meridian barely malt extract
2x500g dextrose (bought from the drug store, this is the first time I use it)
50g hops
1 table spoon of baking yeast
5 gallon carboy
1 condom (airlock)
I boiled 1 gallon of water in a stainless steel pot then added the malt extract and dextrose, stirred until completely dissolved, added hops in a muslin bag boiled for 60 min.
then poured the wort in the carboy and added 4 gallon of water, I activated the yeast in 16oz of water and 4 table spoons of table sugar, now this is how I usually activate the yeast and I used to have nice foam on the top of the sugary water, but this time I got a very thin layer of foam on the top of it after about 45 minutes, but I poured it to the wort anyways and affixed the airlock (condom).
I'm not sure if I could've done it better, please can anyone tell me if I've done a big mistake so I will dump the wort and start over. and please explain why I didn't get the nasty looking foam on the top of the wort.
thanks in advance
I didn't choose brewing, brewing chose me!
-------------------
Edit #1:
day 10: so I bottled today. I'm no expert, but there isn't off flavors, it smells and tastes good, BUT it's sweet!
I did not bottle early I'm sure, there was no action in the fermentor in the past 48 hours, I think it's the maltose (complex sugar) that bread yeast doesn't consume/ferment.
I bottled in IKEA bottles as I didn't find 500ml or 1L coke bottles, only 250ml and 2.25L, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
I'm keeping the bottles in a dark closet with some iced water bottles to control the temp.
I can get hops, it's not sterilized so I can't dry hop my beer, but better than no hops.
I tried making wine several times but it always ends with some sour flavor, I don't why, even that I kept it not exposed to air.
I'm curious how you sanitize your equipment. I brewed a few batches here before I finally found some no-rinse sanitizer. Is that a problem?
If its turning sour it usually is air getting in. You can make your own air lock. I use to brew in the juice bottle and i took the lid drilled a hole and glued a rubber tube to the lid then i took the other end and put in in a glass of water.
I'm curious how you sanitize your equipment. I brewed a few batches here before I finally found some no-rinse sanitizer. Is that a problem?
Hello everybody,
I live in a country where alcohol is highly prohibited and of course all materials and equipment that are exclusively related to brewing/fermenting.
I used to turn non alcoholic "beer' into regular beer using baking yeast and table sugar, the results weren't so great so I decided to try another method.
I have access to malt extract in a health food store (Meridian is the brand name) so I'm giving it a try and I have a batch in process now, it has been four days now since the start of fermentation, the thing is that I didn't get the foam I usually get on the top of the wort, although the bubbling is going really nicely and I have a decent amount of co2 released through the airlock, I don't know if I did something wrong or if this is normal, here's how I did it:
materials:
3x370g Meridian barely malt extract
2x500g dextrose (bought from the drug store, this is the first time I use it)
50g hops
1 table spoon of baking yeast
5 gallon carboy
1 condom (airlock)
I boiled 1 gallon of water in a stainless steel pot then added the malt extract and dextrose, stirred until completely dissolved, added hops in a muslin bag boiled for 60 min.
then poured the wort in the carboy and added 4 gallon of water, I activated the yeast in 16oz of water and 4 table spoons of table sugar, now this is how I usually activate the yeast and I used to have nice foam on the top of the sugary water, but this time I got a very thin layer of foam on the top of it after about 45 minutes, but I poured it to the wort anyways and affixed the airlock (condom).
I'm not sure if I could've done it better, please can anyone tell me if I've done a big mistake so I will dump the wort and start over. and please explain why I didn't get the nasty looking foam on the top of the wort.
thanks in advance
I didn't choose brewing, brewing chose me!
-------------------
Edit #1:
day 10: so I bottled today. I'm no expert, but there isn't off flavors, it smells and tastes good, BUT it's sweet!
I did not bottle early I'm sure, there was no action in the fermentor in the past 48 hours, I think it's the maltose (complex sugar) that bread yeast doesn't consume/ferment.
I bottled in IKEA bottles as I didn't find 500ml or 1L coke bottles, only 250ml and 2.25L, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
I'm keeping the bottles in a dark closet with some iced water bottles to control the temp.
Thanks for the support man. I wish I was in a free country like the states, ordering a brewing kit via mail is a dream to me.
True, much easier elsewhere to brew for sure. However, the paychecks out here cannot be beat... by multiples of western norms. Thus, the inconvenience of makeshift brewing continues! Although, if you want to mail a Labatts my way, no complaints on this end...Canada you can simply walk into many grocery stores and get a part kit. Plus we have free healthcare so that's a plus.
If it's trying to get a visa/refugee status you could always apply to multiple countries in hopes one works (if that's your situation and you haven't already)
As for Ikea bottles, I had a sparkling mead in a few and they were fine, but you do have to watch your CO2 levels. 1/2 tsp per 500 ml though should be fine.
I read your thread. I'm in the same situation as you. I've gradually built my inventory of beer yeast packs and hops. i've also been using a similar nestle system. I am trying my best with the Meridian as well as i don't want to be bringing the weight across the border that DME/LME requires. I've also tried roasting my own barley (you can easily buy 50kg bag of grain barley - just be sure to freeze or toast soon after as the barley bugs kick-in soon after) for adjunct - some guys do the malting but that's way too much effort for me. If you're pushing that route though, get an Indian or helper to pick up a bag (a bit conspicuous if you're a white expat). i paid 50SR with delivery so dirt cheap.
I've done 9 ~350g Meridian LME, 1Kg roasted barley, a pound of oat flakes (dried from Hyper or Lulu), 4 Tablespoon (15ml each) of choc syrup, 2 ounces freeze dried coffee, and a yeast pack. I'm doing an ounce of EKG and 2 ounce of Northern.
i've tried two batches - 1 with Safbrew-33 and another with Safbrew-05. My issue is the safbrew 33 is spot on stout! but the yeast pooped out after 3-4 days and left my gravity way too high. the Safbrew is robust but gives me a rough metallic finish.
would love to here how your recipes have developed and any make shift aids you're using. Best of luck.
on the ikea bottles, they're solid. seals are rock solid.
Canada you can simply walk into many grocery stores and get a part kit. Plus we have free healthcare so that's a plus.
If it's trying to get a visa/refugee status you could always apply to multiple countries in hopes one works (if that's your situation and you haven't already)
As for Ikea bottles, I had a sparkling mead in a few and they were fine, but you do have to watch your CO2 levels. 1/2 tsp per 500 ml though should be fine.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
well firstly my last batch ended up 'ok', it was too malty and under-hopped, wasn't the best beer, but it did the job and still better than any homemade alcoholic beverage you buy over here. carbonation was good (1/2 tsp of sugar per 500ml bottle), Ikea bottles handled the pressure very well. bread yeast left (of course) a bread-ish taste and a little sourness, but aging in bottles for a month enhanced the flavor and clearness.
a friend of mine who is a biologist (with no brewing experience) suggested to wash the yeast and use it in future batches, he believes this will lead in the long term to a better yeast strain, I have no clue if this works but I'm going to try it anyway as I failed multiple times cultivating wild yeast.
A few days ago I started two batches, and I'm trying to enhance a few things.
in batch#1 I used:
1- 30 x 330ml Holsten non-alcoholic beer. I found that Holsten is the "hoppiest" NA beer in the market, so Im using it instead of hops! because I don't have access to sanitized hops.
2- 3 x 350g Meridien ME.
3- 1 tbs Baker's yeast
4- 500g sugar
boiled the malt extract in 8 L. of water with the sugar, after cooling I poured it in the carboy, emptied the 30 cans of NA beer. now the fermentation has been active for 6 days but there was no krausen, and it's not because of the baker's yeast, I used it before and there was krausen.
batch#2:
I tried Prostel NA beer a while ago and LOVED it, so I decided to make a batch of it.
18 x 1L. Prostel Classic NA beer.
500g sugar
baker's yeast
and again there's no Krausen!
I know both batches will not taste awful, but also not good.
I'm curious how did your batch turn out?
where did you get grain barley?
and most importantly, where did you get the yeast!
Yeah, i know a lot of people use holsten - i tried a couple times when trying to do an IPA but i over-hopped with a pine variant hop (Polaris i think) i picked up in Paris and an US-05 yeast. i didn't like the finish flavor (metallic/twangy vibe) so switched to more forgiving Stout and S-33 yeast.
For the yeast, i just bring the small packs through customs (causeway). i know a lot of guys buy yeast in bulk and repackage into something less innocuous. most fly through DMM. never issues. There's guys bringing DME and LME by the Kilo - relabeled syrup and the like. i personally don't mind bring light weight yeast/hops because a little goes a long way. not willing to risk the DME/LME though - just need too much for only a batch or two.
if you're in a bind for real 'baking ingredients', try camel cakes... they Aramex in via Britain.
as for the barley. i got it through a friend whom had his helper/cleaner/driver guy go to the DMM port and buy directly. i paid 50 SAR for 50KG bag, including delivery! so dirt cheap. i personally don't know who or how to go to but if you ask about Dammam dry dock (assuming your Eastern Province), i'm sure you'll situate. personally, i find roasting a few kilos in the oven and adding for adjunct really adds the mouth/flavor for a stout. if you get serious, an all-grain route works too - a lot of die-hards here only go this route (too much effort for me). if you go this route, watch the barley bugs! they take over quickly - repack and freeze roast all of it and then store.
if you get serious about C02, you can easily get a filled tank for like 700 SAR - 30 SAR refill (have use for several kegs and plenty of gas left)
i Aramex'd two new kegs in - specifically asking for all marketing materials to be excluded from packaging. As far as this place is concerned, Coca-Cola dispensing.
my latest batch came out nice - probably will add a little more coffee next time for a little more kick - maybe more vanilla too for fun.
In your situation, I think you need to explore cultivating your own yeast strain - sourdough bread bakers maintain their starters for years on end, feeding them a little every day and/or keeping them refrigerated. That would also work if you are able to lay your hands on a beer yeast, using it to start a permanent starter. Added bonus, basically impossible to tell the difference between a beer and a bread starter in a jar unless you send it to a lab.
If you are using baker's yeast, you will get likely better results from a local starter than you will from commercial bread yeast, albeit with an increased chance of lactobacillus. You may be the pioneer of the newest trend in brewing, Saudi-style sours.
The Scandinavian drink 'kvass' and the Finnish 'Sahti' are both made with a bread yeast.
You can use sourdough starter for a beer yeast. I gave it a try in this thread. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/sour-dough-starter-for-yeast.625442/
I'm gonna try sourdough starter in my next batch. Thanks a lot, you've been very helpful guys.
Head to a Utah State Wine Store... Squatters Hop Rising... it does the trickThis is a crazy thread, so fascinating. It really re-frames my complaints after moving to Utah. Good luck DesertFox we're all pullin' for you.
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