Beardwell4.com

Extreme Brewing

Look forward to some innovative ideas and experiments. Some will work , others won't.

Like brewing your own Alco-Pops and other easy recipes for brewing newbies to try.

And of course the good old tried and tested "cheap white wine" recipe.

Link to printable version of "cheap white wine" recipe

Assumptions are made that anyone trying these recipes / experiments has a rudimentary knowledge of brewing and has some basic equipment. I.E. a demijohn or two and some airlocks. It's probably best if you are over 18 too. 21 in the US of A and about 10 in France ... I think.

I'd read through the original "cheap white wine recipe" first if you are new to this for tips and basics theory.

Started early Dec 2010

Cherryade Alcopop

2 x 2 Litre bottles of Cherryade.

1Kg of sugar

Pour a Kilo of sugar into the demijohn with a funnel. Pour in 2 litres of flat Cherryade. Mix it all up.

Add a tea spoon of yeast .... and watch it go.       After the initial burst of activity top it up with more Cherryade.

After about three weeks it has brewed down to about zero SG and has gone very clear.

Surprisingly it has lost all it's colour and given     me a gallon of clear liquid with a load of bright pink sediment at the bottom.

I suspect the bright pink stuff is all the additives and artificial colours put in at the factory. This could be viewed as a health drink !

Next step is to rack it off and taste test it.

Taste tested this evening 5th Jan 2011. Result = GOOD !

it's a clear drink with a pink tinge and a definite but not strong cherry flavour. About the same strength as wine (13%). Would be great over ice on a summer afternoon.

Cost

66p for 4 Litres of Cherryade ( 3 x 2L for £1 in Lidl ).

About £1 for a Kilo of sugar.

Pennies for a tea spoon of yeast.

Cheap Cider

4 Litres of supermarket apple juice - Sainsbury's cheapo range is about 50p a litre. Iceland do a 2 litre carton for £1.50.

Half a Kilo of sugar (That will be quite enough to give a very potent brew).

A spoonful of yeast.

Mix it all into a 1 gallon demijohn and leave in a warm place for a couple of weeks.

It will probably clear itself as there a very few solids in there in there to start with. If it doesn't, use some wine finings and it will be crystal clear in no time.

Tried some recently which had been made about 3 months ago. It's really powerful stuff. Estimate about 7 - 8 %.

It's really clear and it tastes good.

Cheap "Vodka" and Coke or Sherry .....

I've got high hopes of this one. Read on for a rather surprising result.

2 x 2 litre bottles of Coke. I actually used genuine "Fat" Coke originally but I have also got a later brew going using Lidl's freeway diet cola. The Lidl's stuff appears to be brewing a bit faster.

1 x Kilo of sugar.

Note : - We are dumping 1 Kilo of sugar into this, that's why I don't think using Diet or Fat Coke will make any difference whatsoever.

A spoonful of yeast.

Important ! ... Let the Cola go flat first. If you go pouring sugar into "live" Coke, this is what Happens ......

Same as before, Mix up the FLAT Coke and sugar, add the yeast and keep in a warm place until it stops bubbling or until the S.G. has reached 0.00 ish.

Mine has been steadily bubbling for 2 -3 months now, so it's not a quickie. Just be patient.

Checked it today 19th Feb and it's finished.

Results

The Lidl's freeway diet Coke turned out pretty much as expected. A bit watery but otherwise just like a Cola flavoured alcopop.

It will be fine with ice and maybe a splash of lemonade in the summer.

The regular "fat" Coke one ( genuine proper Coca Cola ) has turned out with a much better flavour.

It took quite a lot longer to brew and is probably a bit stronger.

It still has it's colour and most surprisingly it tastes just like sweet Sherry !

My wife says it's also a bit like Pimms, but I can't comment on that as I've never tried Pimms.

Honestly it REALLY does taste just like Sherry.

Give it a try.

This could theoretically work for any fizzy drink. How about alcoholic Ginger beer ? Tizer ? Cherry Coke ? Dr Pepper ?

Or What about trying it with Non fizzy drinks or juices. E.G. alcoholic Um Bongo or Tomato juice (instant Bloody Mary).

Watch this space.

Easy cheap wine with absolutely no investment in equipment

(for real tramps)

I tried this one a while ago  and it sort of worked.

Take an empty plastic 2 Litre fizzy drinks bottle.

Add a Litre of either Red or White grape juice from any supermarket. I read somewhere that Asda grape juice doesn't contain preservatives which would inhibit the yeast, so it might be better to stick to Asda juice. However I tried it using non Asda juice and it seemed to work OK.

Mix in half a Kilo of sugar and a spoonful of yeast.

Note :- The bottle should only be about half full. (or half empty, depending on your outlook on life).

Screw on the top tightly. Give the bottle a shake then unscrew the top, just enough to hear a pssshhht of gas escaping. Leave the top loose like this. If it's tight the pressure will build up and it could leak or explode.

So we are really using the screw top like an airlock. It stops germs getting in but still allows CO2 to escape.

This should start brewing away quite furiously for a couple of days if kept somewhere warm.

Once it has settled down a bit you can top up the bottle with the rest of your juice.

This will probably take months to ferment but be patient.

I kept taste testing my brews (I did a red and a white). Both tasted very sweet. I think the white would eventually have been OK but the red always tasted like Ribena.

I wasn't patient and ended up mixing mine in with another brew but if you try this and it works I'd be interested to know.

Just Alcohol

Last year I bought some "Super-Yeast" off E bay for a couple of quid.                              

I mixed up some sugar water as prompted by the instructions on the packet.

This stuff went wild within minutes. 20 Minutes after adding the yeast I had a head on the brew the same size as the liquid underneath.

Anyway I left this to ferment and it very quickly settled down after a few days. That was most of the fermenting done I guess, because after that it just bubbled away quietly for ages. Still tasting disgustingly sweet every taste test.

I gave a small sample bottle (No not that sort of sample bottle) to a mate and gave up, mixing it into another brew. Some months later my mate told me he had drunk the bottle of fermented sugar water and reported it to be very powerful and not at all sweet.

Lesson .... Be patient !

And finally, a very rare picture of my favourite pub. Long since knocked down to provide space for flats.

The Cambridge, Shoeburyness. God bless all who sailed in her.

And a special thought goes out to all that were maimed or disfigured during the 11.00 pm Friday and Saturday night fight.

You could set your watch by it !