Fun With Fermentation

I’ve been a fan of homebrewing for a few years now. It’s not about the cheap beer either, although I can’t deny it’s a massive perk, I just find the whole process fascinating. In a way it’s almost like magic; in goes a kit (yeah, I’m not as far advanced as making my own mash yet), some water, yeast and spraymalt/sugar – 3 weeks later you’ve got beer! But on the other hand it’s very, very simple. The yeast turns the sugar/malt to alcohol during the first week, and when it comes to bottling it’s just a case of priming the bottles with a little sugar or spraymalt. The yeast is still active, and the carbon dioxide that’s produced as a side effect of the fermentation process is dissolved into the drink. As the caps are on and the whole thing is under pressure, fizziness is made.

The beer is meant to stay in the bottle for a minimum of two weeks before tasting, but I defy anyone making their first batch to not sample it after a week, or even sooner. I’m much more disciplined now and will wait about three or four weeks before I cave in to temptation. Early beer tastes horrible, there’s no denying it, but you’ll swear it tastes wonderful.

This year I’m going down the same route as I did a few years back, where I made a brew specially for Christmas. I’ve picked a really nice ale and will be brewing it strictly in accordance with the ancient German Reinheitsgebot rules, which guarantees purity – not a grain of sugar in sight. It’ll be bottled up in nice bottles and labelled, once I decide what I want on the label and more importantly, get someone to do a nice drawing for me. Although I’ll be brewing a kit which already has a name (I paid a bit more this year and got a Muntons Premium one), I’ll be naming the finished product. Yes, it makes me a sad git, but I don’t care, it’s great fun :). The previous ones were inspired by a friend’s pet lizard and had a pencil sketch of him (the lizard, not the friend) on the labels, and thus ‘Beerded Dragon’ (do you see what I did there??) was born.

Home brewing is something I think everyone should have a go at. It’s easy, cheap and really satisfying. As long as you’re careful to sterilise everything, be clean and take care (bacteria in the fermentation bin can kill the yeast), there’s very little to go wrong. It’s not just reserved for the beer lovers of the world either, wine and spirits are just as easy and if anything, take less room. I’ve made a few liqueurs before and some ginger wine which turned out fantastic. Think of this blog post as an adult adaptation of ‘80s kids TV favourite ‘Why Don’t You?’.