The process of brewing coffee is very similar to
the way beer is brewed. This mini-homebrew recipe below only produces a
small batch of beer, but very worth it since you most likely have most
of these supplies in your kitchen already!
Equipment:
1 - standard electric drip coffee maker (with water heating compartment and hot plate)
1 - wooden rolling pin
1 - coffee filter
1 - saucepan, larger than 2 quarts
2 - One-quart canning jars with lids
2 - Six-inch squares of cheesecloth
2 - rubber bands
½ - gallon filtered water (not distilled)
Ingredients:
1¼ - cups malted barley (or can use base malt)
5 to 7 - hop pellets
½ - packet of champagne yeast (or can use baker’s yeast)
Malted barley acts as the sugar content for fermentation. The hops will
help preserve the beer and give it added flavor. Make sure you clean
everything thoroughly before starting, because any kind of small residue
can affect the process.
Directions:
1. Start with the 1¼ cups malted barley.
2. Take the rolling pin and roll
gently just to crack the grains, but don’t over roll to get the
consistency of flour.
3. Place the grains in the coffee pot.
4. Put 2 cups of
filtered water into the coffee machine and turn it on.
5. The hot plate and
water-heating chamber with temperatures of 170°F and 150°F are perfect
temperatures for brewing.
5. Then wait for the coffee maker to brew for
about an hour before it shuts off.
The coffee maker will break down the
grains and complex sugars into fermentable sugars.
6. Strain the liquid through the coffee filter and put the filter full of
grain into the filter basket.
7. Pour the strained liquid back into the
water-heating chamber.
8. Add 1 of cup water to the strained liquid in the
chamber and start the coffee machine again.
9. After the liquid flows into
the coffee pot, turn off the machine and pour the liquid back into the
chamber.
10. Repeat 5 times, adding another cup of water each time.
11. Keep an
eye on the coffee maker through this "lautering process."
12. This is where
the hot water washes over the grain extracting the sugars.
0dh.The liquid that comes out is called "wort," or sweet liquor.
14. Place the
wort in a saucepan and when it comes to a rolling boil, add 5 to 7
pellets of hops.
15. Boil for an additional 30 minutes, then turn off the
burner.
16. Stir until mixed then pour the wort into the canning jar.
17. Pour
down the side of the jar without splashing to keep all the ingredients
contained.
18. Next, place the jar into the sink filled with cold water.
When the temperature reaches 60-70°F, screw on the top of the jar and
shake vigorously.
19. Take off the top and add yeast.
20. Put a piece of cheesecloth over the top of the jar and secure it with a
rubbed band.
21. Place jar in a cool, dark place and the liquor will become
beer in 5-7 days.
If you try brewing beer in your coffee maker let us know how it turns
out!
This is a great way to learn and understand the process of how beer
is made.
I simplified the instructions above; for more details read the
article. Now this is a long process that is time consuming and you will
only have created a small amount of beer. This process will be fun to
try, however if you’re really serious about making beer.
----------------------------------
Yet another method.
10. Beer
This sounds insane, but bear with us. Southern Fried Science has produced the definitive article on “
how to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.” They recommend using cereals for grains, vegemite for malt, and seaweed for hops. Amazing.
- Grind up your ‘grains’ (but not so much that it becomes powder).
- Place your ‘grains’ in coffee pot (not the filter basket, the carafe).
- Run 2 cups of clean water through coffee maker and let it sit on the
hot plate for an hour. This releases all the good chemicals from you
‘grains’ and creates a fluid called wort.
- Strain the wort through the coffee filter and place the filter full
of ‘grain’ into the filter basket. Add the ‘malt’ to the filter basket.
Pour the strained liquid back into coffee maker and add 1 cup of water.
- Run the wort through the coffee maker 5 times, each time adding 1 cup of water.
- Pour the wort into the saucepan and boil for 45 minutes. Two minutes before boiling is done, add the hops.
- Carefully pour the wort into the canning jars.
- Let the wort cool to between 60 and 70 F. Once it is cool enough to
touch the outside of the jars without burning, pitched the Bakers’ Yeast
into the mixture.
- Seal jar with a handkerchief and rubber band over the mouth, and let sit for 3 to 5 days.
- And table spoon of sugar to the jar and seal with the lids, making sure they’re air tight.
- Store in a cool, dark place where it will not be disturbed for a week.
So the next time you’re in a hotel and reaching for the phone and
steeling your nerves to fork over $30 for a crappy pizza, go for the
coffee maker instead. And if you’re willing to throw the clothes iron in
to the mix, it opens up
all sorts of possibilities. Now go out there, and cook some dinner in the most backward way imaginable.
