The GaP (Grocery and Produce) Beer Experiment

[samljer]

hmmm. a raspery ale or framboise, with a lavender bouquet.spiced with mint, anise and wolfsbane. then aged in a watermellon!@

Remove the watermelon and it sounds like
a beer you can get down here at the LCBO for $2.25/can
its actually pretty good.

 

[samljer]

The chocolait beer is bottled now, and carbonating.
Tasted good, but the bread yeast i got stuck using "grocery store only"
over powered it in taste.
I think if id used a ale beer this would be a beer worthy of another batch.
its really not that bad though, i will be drinking it
Going to remake it this way:


Going to use ale yeast: i know ...
Going to change malteesers to malted milk or Tiger Malt


Just to see what happens

 

[samljer]

Follow up on my original brew:
Tastes fantastic, rather pleased.


BEER Characteristics.
ABV: tested 3.8%
Mouthfeel: Sharp and smooth at the same time. was appealing.
was almost like velvet.
Taste: Lager like in taste. like Molson canadian.
Hints: Chocolate hint mild, raisin undetected.
Head: About 1/2 finger with no retention, gone in 15 seconds.
Other: Carbonated well, after aged, no "yeast" taste thats common with bread yeast. I plan on doing this again to adjust its taste based on what i have here.
Friends thought it was store bought beer *i smiled* Success!!!
I will be doing this one again. for real....

cost: aprox $10 for 2L "The maltesers were the most expensive part! $4 for a bag"


Since people have seem to lost interest in this GaP project I probably wont
return. and will continue my efforts alone.
So far Ive had GREAT success with it. and will continue to develop my own
personal beer recipie.

 

[fezzman]

Follow up on my original brew:
Tastes fantastic, rather pleased.


BEER Characteristics.
ABV: tested 3.8%
Mouthfeel: Sharp and smooth at the same time. was appealing.
was almost like velvet.
Taste: Lager like in taste. like Molson canadian.
Hints: Chocolate hint mild, raisin undetected.
Head: About 1/2 finger with no retention, gone in 15 seconds.
Other: Carbonated well, after aged, no "yeast" taste thats common with bread yeast. I plan on doing this again to adjust its taste based on what i have here.
Friends thought it was store bought beer *i smiled* Success!!!
I will be doing this one again. for real....

cost: aprox $10 for 2L "The maltesers were the most expensive part! $4 for a bag"


Since people have seem to lost interest in this GaP project I probably wont
return. and will continue my efforts alone.
So far Ive had GREAT success with it. and will continue to develop my own
personal beer recipie.

Sounds like a fantastic success. I've not contributed to the project but have been trolling it for quite some time. I've even got a shortcut to it on my desktop as a reminder. The stores in my area are lacking much of what various people have stated theyv'e used. I do plan to experiment a bit on my own...just haven't started yet. The success of yours is a definite motivator.

BTW: What are maltesears? I've not heard of this before.

 

[Revvy]

Sounds like a fantastic success. I've not contributed to the project but have been trolling it for quite some time. I've even got a shortcut to it on my desktop as a reminder. The stores in my area are lacking much of what various people have stated theyv'e used. I do plan to experiment a bit on my own...just haven't started yet. The success of yours is a definite motivator.

BTW: What are maltesears? I've not heard of this before.

The canadian version of malted milk balls.

 

[fezzman]

Ahh, I believe I've seen these at World Market. I suppose I could have googled that myself. [/shame] Thanks, Revvy.

 

[Dr_Gordon_Freeman]

First of all, awesome thread.

Second, I have a suggestion for getting fermentables at the store. See the quoted article at the thread here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/so-how-did-everyones-pumpkin-sweet-potato-ales-turn-out-154306/

I used my slow cooker to heat the sweet potato slowly and get conversion. I used the sweet potato "extract" to make a sweet potato pie brew that is fermenting right now. I don't see why you couldn't mash grains with the sweet potato to take advantage of the enzyme action! It seems like malt-o-meal and/or corn grits would be the best option.

 

[samljer]

Actually long found out that either banana or orange can be used for thier enzyme action
and you dont have to heat the mash at all for the amylase in those 2 sources

 

[Bosium]

How about malting some pearl barley - like used in soup? Surely that would work. You could probably add some granary bread flour to it too once you had some enzymes.

For bittering, maybe some grapefruit juice concentrate, or coffee grounds, or citrus peel?
You wouldn't need a lot.

 

[Freezeblade]

AP and Bread flour also contain a percentage of Malted Barley Flour (I can't find anywhere online that says the amount, but it is listed in the ingredients and other sources say it is as low as .5%)

I've seen Malted Barley Flour on sale in a store once, I think it was by Bob's red mill.

 

[electric_beer]

Actually long found out that either banana or orange can be used for thier enzyme action
and you dont have to heat the mash at all for the amylase in those 2 sources

Do you add the banana to the mash and mash per usual? Do you freeze or mashup the banana or put it in whole and fresh? This should dry a beer out, yes?

 

[Heckle]

This has been a great read! I have only done extract kits and never done any AG brews. I may grab some ingredients to do a gallon test batch and see what I can come up with.

 

[starrfish]

to update:
just tried last small bottle of "zombie apocalypto" grocery store experiment:

smells of spice, cloudy, very fizzy, no head & a bit cidery... black pepper back of the throat sting... ( I'll never brew with black pepper again! and I didn't use much 1/4 tsp to gallon)

made the mistake of putting 1 bottle in a 22oz bomber... just going to let that ride to see how the black pepper ages...


all in all no oxidation no cardboard flavor (surprising considering NO HOPS!!)
could have been REALLy good w/o black pepper.

BUT would do the "job" when the zombies come... JUst remember the line from "shawn of the dead"..." ...any of you C***'s want a drink!"

 

[samljer]

Do you add the banana to the mash and mash per usual? Do you freeze or mashup the banana or put it in whole and fresh? This should dry a beer out, yes?

Actually from what I did was kept the mash at 27*C
anything higher kills the amalyse in a banana.
its also a lot slower then other sources but it DOES
work!

It also thickened the beer up a bit, made it smooth
like if the beer had oat in it.

Keep in mind though, this thread is about experimenting
and this is a source not to dismiss, when doing just that

 

[rhoadsrage]

Just ran into this threat and read the whole thing. I will have a whole new challenge next time I walk into the grocery store. Two things of that come to mind.

1) I read an article in BYO awhile back about a doctor that used probiotic supplements to ferment a beer, without yeast. It turned out pretty well. I wonder if they would also break down complex sugars awell.

2) I have had Kvass once, and seen many recipes on homebrew sites, but it is basically soaking rye bread in water and then adding sugar and yeast (often bread yeast). That would be a quick and dirty GaP beer. You could probably mix all the ingredients on the way home.

3) I see Kombucha tea popping up in more and more places so you could use a bottle of that to make a tart more berlinner weisse beer which doesn't require much bitterness anyhow so the hops wouldn't be missed.

 

[samljer]

Just ran into this threat and read the whole thing. I will have a whole new challenge next time I walk into the grocery store. Two things of that come to mind.

1) I read an article in BYO awhile back about a doctor that used probiotic supplements to ferment a beer, without yeast. It turned out pretty well. I wonder if they would also break down complex sugars awell.

2) I have had Kvass once, and seen many recipes on homebrew sites, but it is basically soaking rye bread in water and then adding sugar and yeast (often bread yeast). That would be a quick and dirty GaP beer. You could probably mix all the ingredients on the way home.

3) I see Kombucha tea popping up in more and more places so you could use a bottle of that to make a tart more berlinner weisse beer which doesn't require much bitterness anyhow so the hops wouldn't be missed.

RE #1) You could, but I wouldnt, people have also used stuff like BEANO
to break down carbs. again, i wouldnt.

RE #2) Thats prison brew ! lol bread + Ketchup + yeast = brew, but id
imagine it would taste like brewed anus. but yes, that works 100%

RE #3) Not sure what kombucha tea is, but i once made a "green tea"
beer by brewing a green tea at half strength, adding sugar and yest
when it was all done, a touch of lime and aged it.
It was pretty good havent made it since, but one day i may, dunno.

 

[mullenite]

Kvass is interesting. The best way to describe it I think would be to say it tastes like rye/pumpernickel swirl and honey butter....

 

[rhoadsrage]

Beano is a dense packet of enzymes that can eat through lots of complex sugars specifically polysaccharides and oligosaccharides and , remember it is also expected to lose quite a bit of the enzymes in stomach acids. So you will get a very light, dry, think Miller 64 low carb beer.

Probiotics, OTOH, are live microorganisms. Most probiotics contain Lactobacilis or other Lactic Acid Bacteria. If you look on the label some will also have yeast strains.

Here is the article I was talking about.
http://www.byo.com/stories/article/indices/36-homebrew-stories/1751-pharmacy-brewing-last-call

 

[MacBruver]

Just saw something that really got the gears turning in my head. Earlier in the thread, there was some talk about bananas and their alpha amylase content. I've been doing a bit of reading about sweet potatoes, and they are chock full of beta amylases. With both of those, you could potentially have enough diastatic power to actually fully convert wheat or barley. It would require a LOOONG step mash starting at around 100f, but it could certainly make for an interesting brew.

I think a Banana / Sweet potato ale could be really interesting.

 

[oswiu]

This has been one of my favourite threads on Homebrewtalk, and at long last I've finally gotten around to brewing my own GaP beer!

I used kumara (New Zealand sweet potato) for converting my starches. As MacBruver notes above, it does supposedly contain beta amylase. I've found some sources that say various varieties of sweet potato have a diastatic power of 150-300 lintner. I also found some sources that suggested that ginger root contains alpha amylase. These seemed a lot less certain, and give no indication of how MUCH, but I figured it was worth a try, and added some ginger to the mash too.

Since I might well have ended up with only beta amylase I did my best to include adjuncts that have relatively high quantities of unfermentables.

Here's the recipe:

9.5L batch
MASH INGREDIENTS
1.0kg Orange Kumara (chopped, frozen, thawed, then blended)
0.9kg Raw soft wheat
0.1kg Toasted raw wheat (toasted for 40 mins @ 185C in the oven. Came out looking a bit lighter than pale chocolate malt.)
0.02kg Ginger root

Mash for:
60 mins at 63C
40 mins slow ramp up to 69C
20 mins at 69C

BOIL INGREDIENTS
0.5kg Treacle @ 60 mins
50g orange peel @ 60 mins
20g orange peel @ 20 mins
5g cinnamon stick @ 5 mins

FERMENTING
Tasti Bread yeast @ 16-18C

OG=1.045

I mashed using a BIAB type method with only the solid ingredients included, leaving the treacle for addition at the start of the boil. The mash used 5L of water, then I did two "dunk" sparges with 3.5L, and one with 2L, giving about 12L into the kettle. Unsurprisingly, with a nothing but kumara and wheat in the mash, lautering wasn't easy.
The first runnings were nice and sweet, and a nice dark gold colour. Later runnings were an ugly green-brown colour. I took 1L of the first runnings and boiled it down to 500ml, hoping to caramelize some of the sugars.

The wort had lower gravity than I'd expected.
Part of this was because I mis-calculated the extract potential of kumara at first.
Part of it was because my efficiency was quite low (about 60%.) This may have been because I didn't let the mash rest long enough to fully convert, though I forgot to pick up some iodine before brewing, so I guess I'll never know.

That said, the kumara and/or ginger definitely DID convert starch to sugar. If I've (finally) got the math right, then the sugars in the ingredients alone should have given an OG of 1.012 or so. Since my OG was 1.045, a good chunk of the sugar in the wort must have been converted from starch.

The wort was pretty tasty. Nice dark brown colour. Quite sweet, with minimal bitterness. Soft, but clearly noticeable ginger and cinnamon flavours.

It's been fermenting away happily for a few days now, and I'm looking forward to trying this when it's ready

 

[starrfish]

DIgging through the archives I found a mysterious bottle labled GAP... I racked my brain... Great Britan ale Please? no.... Great Ale Paula?... no she was before brewing?


GaP! OH Grocery & Produce!!!! DAMN! Well Last post pepper was still strong...I decided to pop the top... It's the holiday season! Almost a bottle bomb! lots of spray lots of foam!

HOWEVER OMG. what was left... a bit cidery... a bit malty, heavy spicey, but pepper took a back seat. yes pepper. but on back end. not like before. I like what has happened to this zombie apacolypto! it was stored not well burried under stuff in one of the hottest closets in my house. may have contributed to big gush on opening at room temp. BUT it proves I CAN brew a beer like substance from a GaP with the right aging! It FINALLY TASTES GOOD! Less Pepper and it may have been done sooner. still slightly cidery. however it may be around 5% after weird almost bottle bomb status.

need to clean up now... sprayed this weird fuzzy brew all over but she smells nice from the asian 5 spice... age it and GaP will make you rule the WORLD!!

 

[EricB]

Curious about your raisin bran brew. How did it turn out? Could you post measurements? How much of each approximately?

 

[EricB]

Alright, several "this is what I have going" posts on here.

WHO HAS A GOOD RECIPE that made good beer that they are willing to post?


I've never made beer from anything but the kits my local brewsupply puts together.

 

[oswiu]

Alright, several "this is what I have going" posts on here.

WHO HAS A GOOD RECIPE that made good beer that they are willing to post?


I've never made beer from anything but the kits my local brewsupply puts together.

This one has turned out pretty well.

It's a pale orange colour.
Was full of unpleasant chemically yeasty flavours when it was young. The spices were completely buried.

Now, three months after brewing it's pretty tasty. Quite tart, but no real bitterness to speak of. A bit of bready-ness, the cinnamon is coming through nicely.

Several homebrewer friends have tried it and finished their glasses. I actually had two in a row by choice a couple weeks back.

If not for the fact that I'd prefer another experiement, I'd even consider making it again (though possibly with a proper ale yeast to ferment.)

 

[EricB]

Thanks buddy. I will definitely try to pull this one off.

Good brewing to ya.

 

[count_dookie]

well I am inspired to make something weird because of this thread.

Corn Flake Chicha
1.5 lbs store brand cornflakes
1 lbs brown sugar
some coriander, cinnamon, and orange zest
and probably some harvested Belgian yeast

I think that sounds good, not sure if I need to chew the cornflakes to get conversion so I will do it anyways. Brewing on June 7th, drinking on June 10th. Hopefully I can find enough people to drink the whole gallon with me.

it will be fermented in a #2 HDPE walmart bucket, that is going to be the base of my grain mill, with a towel over it.

 

[airdusters]

well I am inspired to make something weird because of this thread.

Corn Flake Chicha
1.5 lbs store brand cornflakes
1 lbs brown sugar
some coriander, cinnamon, and orange zest
and probably some harvested Belgian yeast

I think that sounds good, not sure if I need to chew the cornflakes to get conversion so I will do it anyways. Brewing on June 7th, drinking on June 10th. Hopefully I can find enough people to drink the whole gallon with me.

it will be fermented in a #2 HDPE walmart bucket, that is going to be the base of my grain mill, with a towel over it.

i wouldn't use corn flakes, too much salt

 

[prushik]

Haha I was just reading this thread a few days ago, before it got resurrected!
I'm actually working on making one of these at the moment. I'll be ready to start fermenting this tomorrow, I followed all the rules of this thread and I am even going use a makeshift airlock from items I got at the grocery store (just for the hell of it). I did use my toaster oven for something, I feel a bit bad about that, but I'll get over it.

If anybody cares, I'll post my recipe and maybe some pictures once I get it fermenting.

 

[Revvy]

Of course we care prushik, we love to see what folks come up with. This was one of the greatest threads on here ever. It was fun having so many folks experimenting at the same time.

 

[prushik]

Of course we care prushik, we love to see what folks come up with. This was one of the greatest threads on here ever. It was fun having so many folks experimenting at the same time.

Great! Its about half way through the boil right now.
I totally agree about this being the best thread ever, I've been on quite a few message boards before, and I've never seen one last 3 years before. I love the spirit of it, I read all 27 pages. I'm really excited about participating in this.