The GaP (Grocery and Produce) Beer Experiment

[Revvy]

I have both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Whole Foods may be cheating, but I'm not so sure about Trader Joe's....

EDIT: Trader Joe's is in 9 states and sells all kinds of grocery items, but isn't strictly a health-food store. It's more like a high end merchandise grocer. I vote that it counts.

I went to T-J's last week on a scouting trip....I actually thought they had less usuable ingredients than your average Kroger did...for example they had less variety in terms of cereal and other grains...Then of course they mostly only carry their own brands, so I didn't see any beano either.

I did get a mixed sixer of some decent beers for $5.99, and some awesome meat and fish, but nothing I could see to brew beer with.

 

[EvilTOJ]

I gotta go shopping for food anyways, I'll see if there's anything I can find there for ingredients.

 

[Freezeblade]

I did go to my local trader joes, and although they have loads of good stuff for pretty cheap, not much in the way of stuff for zombie apocalyptic brewing, I was unimpressed. I'm actually thinking salivia might work....the boil will kill any nasties...

 

[Revvy]

I'm actually thinking salivia might work....the boil will kill any nasties...

I so dare you

Chicha

"Chicha" is beer made from corn. Any variety (or several varieties) of corn can be used - the color of the corn will impact the color of the beer. Traditionally, the chicha brewing process was begun by grinding the selected corn into meal, moistening the meal slightly with water, then rolling it into a ball. The meal balls were then placed in the mouth and worked with the tongue until completely saturated with saliva. This is the method chicha brewers traditionally used to convert the starches in the corn into fermentable sugars. After being worked in the mouth, the meal balls were then allowed to dry in the sun. To make the chicha, the meal balls are added to unmalted corn meal in a ratio of 2-to-1. Occasionally, pulp from the local squash or prickly pear cactus fruit was added. Finally, the mixture is boiled in a complex boiling process before being transferred to clay pots for spontaneous fermentation.

 

[DeathBrewer]

i think i'm going to get in on this. but i'm going to cheat and go to whole foods and see what they got i'll try to stick to stuff you could get at any half-way specialty grocery

i really like the bananas idea. bananas and corn ftw. there's gotta be a product that will add enzymes without chewing the damn thing, though.

i've been talking with a buddy of mine about it...he has some interesting ideas for bittering

 

[clemson55]

I've only been to the trader joes here once but they had some barley and oats and things that I thought might be useable although I wasnt looking for this purpose. The one here has a really good beer selection about 20-30 beers I havent had before and I've had about 350 now. Most of the 6 packs were $5.99 which is a pretty damn good price for microbrews.

 

[Freezeblade]

Hmmm.... What about bananas? According to this, anywhere from 39ºf to 143ºf with a calcium addition will promote good alpha and beta amylase enzyme activity in ripe bananas. It doesn't mention whether just the meat of the fruit is used, or the entire thing skins and all is used. I'll bet it's the entire fruit. Any fruit high in carbohydrates also has amylase enzymes in it.

One word for you man: Plantains, plenty of starches there, and a fruit to boot!

I'm thinking malted corn, plantain, oat and rice beer

 

[Arneba28]

Well I tried mine last week and like revvy, managed to burn the hell out of two pots. Rice flour. Horrible stuff. It didnt work in the first try and not this time either. I am thinking about a Molasses and figs brew now. Next week sometime I think.

 

[user 19629]

I saw this in the store the other day.
Could you just mash this stuff?
http://www.foodforlife.com/sprouted-grain-difference.html
I haven't done any AG brews yet so a lot of this stuff is a little beyond my understanding. But I find it very interesting. I'd like to give this a try but my brewing is already pushing the limits with SWMBO.

 

[Freezeblade]

I saw this in the store the other day.
Could you just mash this stuff?
http://www.foodforlife.com/sprouted-grain-difference.html

That's a pretty good question, I'm thinking probably not, because even though they are sprouted, the heat required in baking would probably kill off the enzyme that we need to convert the starches to sugars.

 

[SkinnyShamrock]

This thread is officially the coolest thing I've ever read.

 

[user 19629]

http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=104050
They have this at a Whole Foods store near me.
But I guess that would be cheating

 

[Revvy]

http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=104050
They have this at a Whole Foods store near me.
But I guess that would be cheating

We talked about it...some people feel that that and malta goya are cheating...I don't agree...If your grocery store has it then why the heck not...it's not going to be quite the same as brewers malt syrup, so it may be interesting to brew with it anyway.

 

[jaydventer]

Okay, so tried my hand at the traditional(-ish) Zulu Beer.

as found in most South African grocery stores

the malted sorgum and yeast

the mash, malted sorghum enzymes turn maize starch into sugars

then you wait a day and boil it, wait a day, filter and bottle (or actually put in traditional clay pot)

after a day or so in the bottle

 

[jaydventer]

this stuff smells nasty! like ass actually, but what does it taste like? i was actually a bit too scared, but finally tried it:

it smells kinda like fermented pineapple, it tastes a bit sour. i would not drink this for fun, only if there were really NO other beer anywhere!

the grrfriend agrees, not tasty, but not too bad either.

my friend heino does NOT like it!


who knows, maybe if i bottled and refrigerate it it will taste better, but that's not how the Zulus drink it...

also, i dont know why it's so yellow instead of the red/pink sorghum beer is supposed to be? maybe i squished it to hard and too much of the maize's white slime went into the mix when i strained/filtered it?

oh well.

 

[Revvy]

this stuff smells nasty! like ass actually, but what does it taste like? i was actually a bit too scared, but finally tried it

Oh, jaydventer the look on all three of your faces is priceless!!!

Well I guess we count that as a failure...

Thanks for posting!

I hope you all had something nice to wash that nasty tast down.

 

[MrFebtober]

I'm thinking malted corn, plantain, oat and rice beer

Only in this crazy thread could a statement like this be taken seriously...and it's all very interesting! Sucks the success rate has been a bit dismal so far, though, but definitely has me interested in hitting up Kroger on my way home.

One question: without hops, aren't these post-apocalypse brews much more susceptible to infection?

 

[Revvy]

Only in this crazy thread could a statement like this be taken seriously...and it's all very interesting! Sucks the success rate has been a bit dismal so far, though, but definitely has me interested in hitting up Kroger on my way home.

One question: without hops, aren't these post-apocalypse brews much more susceptible to infection?

Probably...though some herbs do have antiseptic properties as well...either way it will be best consume them young....

 

[Freezeblade]

One question: without hops, aren't these post-apocalypse brews much more susceptible to infection?

I think if we boost up the alcohol content a little bit it really shouldn't be a problem, I mean, how long do we store apfelwein? that doesn't have hops or other herbs in it. The same could be said about wines and gruits which don't use Hops. The move to hops way back in the day wasn't entirely due to it's antiseptic properties if you check the history books. This was a time before germ theory and proper sanatation tecniqus.

 

[Arneba28]

OK and for my next attempt at GaP.

Strawberry Molasses GaP Drink.

I decided to make only a small 1 gallon test batch of this. So that if it was horrid I could just throw the whole thing at a grand cost of about $5

9 fl. oz. Regular Molasses
1Tbsp Strawberry Jelly
2 Shakes Smoked Paprika
2 Tbsp American Oak Chips
4 fl. oz. Flaked Oats
1 Packet Montrachet.

I heated the water to 155 and added the oats and let them steep for 30min. Then I poured in the molasses while stirring as to not burn the pan like last time. Smoked Paprika and Oak chips went in right before I funneled this into the growler bottle. I didnt boil because I wanted to see the effect of the smoked paprika. This tastes really good. Almost like smokey candy.

 

[Arneba28]

1 Packet Montrachet.

Yes I did break my own Rule. Honestly, dont know what I was thinking.:cross: Now I feel like a moron. So I will be doing this again with my harvested Chimay yeast.

 

[Freezeblade]

OK and for my next attempt at GaP.

Strawberry Molasses GaP Drink.

I decided to make only a small 1 gallon test batch of this. So that if it was horrid I could just throw the whole thing at a grand cost of about $5

9 fl. oz. Regular Molasses
1Tbsp Strawberry Jelly
2 Shakes Smoked Paprika
2 Tbsp American Oak Chips
4 fl. oz. Flaked Oats
1 Packet Montrachet.

Aww man, not jumping in on the wild/cultivated/bread yeast train with us? Just kiddin, looks like it could turn out interesting, I'm racking mine today, we'll see how the sample is, I'll post pics.

 

[Arneba28]

What you mean I couldnt just follow the recipe in my signature. That could be my recipe. Who knows maybe ill do that, toss some honey in and see how it turns out

 

[EvilTOJ]

My first batch actually isn't that bad! I tasted a sample, it's kinda like a sweet hefeweizen. I think it's the orange peel and coriander that's doing it. OG is now at 1.005, giving me 3% booze.

Anyways, this will be brewed later today. It's a modification of my previous recipe which I thought went alright.

1 lb 8 oz box of grape nuts
14 oz of minute rice
5 bananas that are almost black with ripeness

10 beano tablets
1 package corn husks, cut up with scissors

1 tablet of NO-DOZ
1/2 oz spruce tips
1/8 tsp whole, cracked coriander seeds
1/4 tsp orange peel zest

1 packet of proofed Fleishmann's baking yeast.

Yes, for bitterness I'm using a caffeine pill! I think it will offset the sweetness nicely. The hard part is trying not to overdo it. The bananas are going to be used for the enzymes along with beano. I'm going to let it mash a loooong time.

 

[jaydventer]

1 tablet of NO-DOZ
Yes, for bitterness I'm using a caffeine pill!

haha! that's a mighty interesting idea!

 

[Arneba28]

Well my GaP with Montrachet is bubbling along nice but smells super sweet, more so then just wort.
I think monday I will be redoing this recipe with my Chimay yeast.

 

[Brew-Happy]

As a newb, I decided to keep it simple (stupid) and ferment out a ginger ale soda recipe.

Recipe:

~1.5 Tbl Fresh ginger, grated
1 cup corn syrup
0.5 cup white sugar
0.5 cup brown sugar
~0.5 Tbl bread yeast

Total Volume: 2 liters

Grated ginger and put in water in microwavable cup and nuked for 30 secs.
Added ginger, sugars, syrup, and water to 2 liter boiling flask.
Pitched yeast.
Primary: 1 week
Secondary: 1 week
Bottle: 2 weeks (might need longer)
Fridged: 2 days before tasting.
Rough Beer tools calc: 8%abv(no hydro so kinda roughing it here.

Results:

No head retention. Well carbed tho. Dry mouth feel. Almost too bitter from ginger flavor, but nice bite. This info will help in future beer additions.

Conclusion: Almost like a ginger champagne. Note to self: DO NOT MAKE A GINGER WINE/CHAMPAGNE!

Given the lack of equipment on my part, I would say this is a success. I will age the bottle more and see how it turns out. It might just be a little to green and I can't tell.

Good luck to all. It was fun.

Pics:
Primary

Freshly poured

 

[EvilTOJ]

OK here's how my brewday went for attempt #2. I put a gallon of hot tap water into the brewpot and mixed in the crushed beano and caffiene pills. I took 5 bananas that were nice and black, skinned em and threw the skins away. chopped em fine and mixed them into the water as well. I then dumped the grapenuts and rice into the 'mash' and covered. I then went to sleep because it was after I got home from work. The mash went on at least a good 6 hours or so, probably longer.

When I tasted it later in the evening, it tasted super sweet. I mixed a bunch of the shredded cornhusks into the mash, and then scooped the mixture up into a grainbag to sparge. It was still a wet sticky mess, but I think I cut up more corn husks this time, so it did kinda help. Next time I'll use a paper shredder to cut up the husks. I still didn't get complete conversion, but I think it was better than last time.

I got all the goop out and threw the spent grains away. I boiled down the remaining water to 1 gallon, added my spices and cooled. Then pitched my proofed bread yeast. The OG reading was 1.060, but it was VERY thick. It all kinds of sedimentation floating around and was quite gooey. I'm not sure if this will be better or not. Oh well, we'll see!

As far as bitterness goes on this, if it's not bitter enough I'll add more caffiene pills as I see fit. I started with only one, I didn't want to make it TOO bitter.

I just freed up a carboy, I'm considering a 3 gallon batch of a wheat beer to mix this into when I'm done playing god

 

[ericd]

You could get it to mash using aspergillus oryzae. It naturally grows on rice and will convert starches into sugars for you. It's what's used traditionally used to make sake.

 

[Revvy]

You could get it to mash using aspergillus oryzae. It naturally grows on rice and will convert starches into sugars for you. It's what's used traditionally used to make sake.

So it's an enzyme???? How would we get it, just use rice??? More info please.