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By Sue HalserGazette CorrespondentWhile I swirl the last dropsof amber liquid in mymug, the stainless steel kettle on the stove is busy brewing up another batch of beer.My husband and I started making beer last year out of curiosity and economics. We heard we could make it cheaper than we could buy it.Ten successful batches and two failures later we are still devotedhome brewers. We’ve learned that it costs a little more to make than the store-bought stuff, but it sure tastes a lot better.You can brew many styles of beer from around the world.English ales and bitters, Irish stouts, and German lagers and bocks are just a few examples.Although it sounds complicated, amateur brewing is as simple is following a recipe.Our favorite brewing book is “The New Complete Joy of Home-brewing’’ by Charlie Papazlan. Besides good recipes, instructions for beginners and techniques for advanced brewers are included.It was easy to get started with a ldt from a specialty shop in Milwaukee. We found a capper in the attic, and the local liquor store was more than happy to give us bottles for the deposit price.A typical batch of beer contains water, malt extract, hops, sugarand yeast.Using malt extracts saves the home brewer a lot of time. In commercial brewing, malted barley is mashed to convert the grain malt starches into sugar.The sweet liquid that is drawn off after mashing is called wort. Malt extract is wort that has beenconcentrated to a thick syrup or a powder. All we did was add water and hops.A batch makes five gallons or a little over two cases of beer. It takes about a week for the wort to ferment and two weeks to age,then it’s time to pour.We ferment our beer in thebasement, so whenever we make a new batch our aerobic exerciseIncreases as we continually check out the yeast action.The alcohol content of homemade beer varies with the ingredients used, but it is usually similar to what you buy in the store. However, we managed to make a honey beer that one fellow brewer said made his ears turn red.The fUn comes not only with tasting the finished product but from trying new recipes and modifying favorites. We've added fruitand herbs for a spicier, feistierbrew.A group of amateur brewers gets together every couple of months, and we share some of our finer attempts.We’ve tasted an excellent cherry beer and hear that spruce buds provide a flavor that can’t be beat. A recipe for cock ale calls for a dead chicken-but none of us is brave enough to try it.The most experienced brewer in our group started the hobby in1972, but most of us are beginners. Swapping stories and suds makes for a great time.If you like beer, discovering brewing is something you deserve. Remember, making beer is easy. Relax. Don’t worry and have a home brew.Here are some recipes.Turn to RECIPES/2Cv 48I**.v- /** / ' -•: Jt4.m'itar making 4 id 5 gHom of boor at o bmo.W'4t.corboy-thooo on lam jugs that aro3* to 4*BHon ibe oot-an cniiMitd cannlnfl oot orS- to 10-flPton riM Dlntic buckat or tmh oaH6 feat of aO^tnch inatdo dlamatar daar olaattc hoaawv imiipiuuuii vook mmm nmr wvkAl / n i ilia —i ■ /€/. » *- » jly2 mm or whmi ouwaa uiaiww \wiwii inwoadoor ptaittc hoaawimm*iCi- 3?r'ltj^-ri y/ 9 pS'Vr* .|lf r t; » ‘i v\t v fv ipoommanoao}Dona oapa. now11sSof/i.tr --2^' '•*». •;U-4.' .Bi.«»■■ I 0'. ®BV rwlI!a/wJ■1^ • V'56lri'^. t ■ $lt;*:■ JS.ISu*r?» JLt ■#?[•Va. 4.4$ ’ ?■fclir2a^;.r y.?S-% •Ts-i^;. ji *Highlights Of brewing historyFirst brow: The first known recipe forbrewing the wine of the grain’’ was written in cuneiform on a clay tablet in Mesopotamia about 7,000 years B.C.Brewing was big in Babylonia by 1800 B.C., and frescoes on pyramids show the ancient Egyptians making beer. Pharaohs controlled the barley market, owned breweries and taxed beer.The Egyptian equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service executed saloon keeper tax evaders by drowning or burying them alive. Doctors in Egypt prescribed brew for scorpion bites and one of their medical manuals dated 1600 B.C. described a delicious remedy against death-half an onion in beer foam.”Beer ho!: On his fourth and last voyage, Christopher Columbus found the Indiansof Central America making a good beer of maize. The Scottish explorer David Livingstone and Henry Stanley, the newsman who rescued him in Africa, saw beer made from sorghum.Spreading the suds: Brewing withbarley came to Europe through the Greeks, who got it from their raids into Egypt. The Romans picked up the process from the Greeks. Beer traveled north to Britain and Gaul with Julius Caesar’s troops about 55B.C.The monks in northern Gaul were the first to use hops in their brewing, although the Germans are usually given the credit.Going commercial: From the monasteries, beer making moved to commercialbreweries. The Weinhenstepan Brewery in Freising, Germany, is the oldest in Europe. It was founded in 1040.It was a custom in some German cities to inspect the fresh brew when it was ready for market in the spring.An official beer test was held at city hall.Some beer was poured over a wooden bench and the braumeister, wearing leather breeches, sat in the puddle. If the bench stuck to his pants when he got up, the beer was certified as having enough body to be licensed.Across the channel: m England,brewing was done in homes for generations before it became commercial. The words ale and beer were synonymous after hops arrived from Flanders in the 16th century. Elizabethans made a beverage so sturdy it was calledwhip belly vengeance.ftAcross the ocean: The Mayflowerried beer on the voyage to America in 1620. The pilgrims landed at Plymouth rock instead of farther south because we could not now take time for further search, our victuals being must spent, especially our beer. Brewing in America began in 1548 when the English made a beer from com during their initial attempt to colonize Virginia.William Penn built the first brewery in Pennsylvania in 1638.Some of our country’s most notable figures were home brewers - Samuel Adams, Thomas Chittenden, the first governor of Vermont, and George Washington madp their own beer. And so the tradition of fermenting grain continues, as does brewing history.-Sue Halser
Newspaper Details
Janesville Gazette
Janesville, Wisconsin, US
Tue, Mar 02, 1993
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Hedberg P.
Wisconsin, USA 22 Sep 2022
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