No Boil Beers

[Joeywhat]

I'm looking for some information on no boil beers. I'm planning on including some 'beer kits' in my SHTF stash. My thoughts are that if the power is out for an extended period and tap water is either unavailable or undrinkable something will be needed to survive. The alcohol created during fermentation ensures the beer is safe to drink, it has calories and some nurishment...it would all be sealed and included EVERYTHING needed for beer - just mix and ferment.

On to my questions...1) is there such a thing as a good hopped extract kit? I've tried a few of them and 'bland' is an understatement. Yeah it's for SHTF but if I can have good beer then why not. If there isn't such a thing as good hopped extract then...

2) is there a way to make homemade hopped extract that tastes better? Maybe use unhopped extra with hop extract/oil or whatever it's called?

3) can you get dry, hopped extract instead of liquid? Thinking it'll be easier to mix dry then liquid.

Thanks for the help.

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

The problem I think you're going to run into is that the bittering compounds in hops aren't very stable, so under normal conditions they will decrease over time. So even if you make a kick ass pre-hopped extract (or a hop tea to add to normal DME) if will lose potency over time.

From what I understand that's why you can't have hopped DME either. The drying process will destroy too much of the bittering compounds.

My brewing plans for after the zombie apocalypse have to do with cider, not beer.

 

[david_42]

Another flaw in your idea: the bacteria in untreated water will consume your wort sugars way faster than the yeast. Boiling sanitizes the wort, alcohol only reduces the chance of contamination post-ferment.

 

[beeton]

I'd think no-chill win-paks would work for this,
Rotate bi-yearly.
Dave.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/exploring-no-chill-brewing-117111/#post1299451

 

[alecoholic]

Get a propane burner, you really need to boil beer. Then you can boil water too. You can also boil over a fire like they did in the old days.

 

[CodeRage]

Can't build a wood fire to boil with? Only need a few matches or any kind of survival fire starting kit.

 

[jcobbs]

For a basic hopped extract, check out the Premier Malt Extract thread. Not exactly fine craft beer, but I've made it and it's drinkable. The consensus on the thread is that you most likely will want either two cans or some other adjunct instead of the one can and sugar that the directions call for. On the upside it's pre-hopped and it's sold at ordinary grocery stores, so you can save a trip to the LHBS.

A while back I came up with an idea for a Disposable Beer Kit using a 2.5 gallon container of bottled water, some hopped malt extract, and recycled soda bottles. Instead of doubling the Premier malt extract recipe, I just made a half batch. I think next time I do this I will use a can of PME and a pound of light DME and see what happens.

 

[Joeywhat]

Part of the 'kit' includes sealed commercially available water, either purified or distilled, I'm not sure yet. I also wouldn't make it until needed, and would probably switch kits out on a yearly basis so it's not going to sit for years on end.

I guess another idea is to go with the no chill, I could throw a batch into a sanitized keg, purge with CO2 and keep it on enough pressure to seal it...I do have a keg I could modify into a fermenter that can also be pressurized (the gas post is FUBAR), so when it needs to be used just un seal, pitch yeast and rock and roll.

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

For long term storage of wort, sanitizing won't be enough. You'll have to sterilize the contents, probably through pasteurization.

Sanitizing just gets the number of microbes down to a level where the yeast we add in have a massive head start. If you aren't pitching soon, then the few cells that are in there will have the opportunity to propagate and eat all the sugars.

 

[indigi]

Screw it. Just brew a really strong barleywine or RIS every other year. A bottle of that will have some yeast you can use, and you can dilute it with water to drink without getting smashed if you want.