Ferment Your Brew Keeping the Carbonation

Yep, this is about brewing and fermenting again. I have not written about this topic often, but I believe it is worth sharing a quick tip for guys who make their own beer (and other carbonated alcoholic drinks).

Today, it is all about keeping the carbon dioxide in your brew (the easy way).

My present technique is to brew my mash, let it chill down to about 24 degrees centigrade and infect it with the yeast of my choice. 4 to 6 days later, I should have my young beer. So for, so traditional, you know all about this!

The next steps from here could be either filling the young beer into bottles (glass of what have you) and add some sugar or in a keg (adding carbon dioxide from a bottle).
The cheap chap that I am, I can't be bothered with a keg and all the fuzz with bottles of CO2, regulators and stuff. Too much going on here.
I also hate to clean, prime, fill and cap 50 to 100 bottles when the primary fermentation is done.

So, this is what I came up with.
I am filling (after cleaning and priming) decently sized PVC soda containers with my young beer. Of course, a soda container will never withstand the full pressure of beer in a secondary carbonizing fermentation. Here, today's tip comes in: Pat Mack's Home Brewing Caps.
If you can ferment your brew using those caps and soda bottles in primary, secondary should not big of a deal at all.

So, rather than getting a 20 liters keg for €200 (not including the CO2-system), I use 10 of those caps on 10 pcs 2 liter bottles of soda (bought at the right super-market, are costing next to nothing).

Given advantage: when the beer in the specially capped soda bottled is matured, you can cool and open a bottle at random times, not having to care much about the remainders of the batch, contrary to an entire batch filled into a single 20 liters container.

Cheers, 17!

nomen est omen?

Not sure, but, the name for this blog was chosen carefully.
Yes, it reflects "homebrew IT", i.e. computer stuff. However, the name also allows for "homebrew it", it being beer, wine (OK, wine is actually no brew), etc. whatever you might understand under making your own drink (or food).
Food? you may ask?! Yes, a lot of food is based on fermentation in one or the other way. Mind you, some bread is based on yeast for rising, which is exactly the same process used when making alcoholic beverages, with the only difference that the alcohol is "boiled" off.

What I want to share today is actually not a type of hack or file server or something, it is about making ginger ale!

The equipment used is really inexpensive an easy to use. As fermentation vessels I use 2l PET cola bottle (content dumped!) and special caps.

So far, I started 2 mini batches (<2l). Each using 1 thumb of ginger.

1. 1 thumb of ground ginger (peel included) together with 200g of unrefined cane sugar and a little bit of water brought to a simmer of about 15min. The juice of 1 lemon added to the fermentation vessel with the addition of some (filtered) water, in which the (slightly cooled) ginger wash was added.  Filled up the vessel to about 2l with filtered water and pitched some dry yeast.
2. 1 thumb of peeled ground ginger, together with 200g of beet sugar and some raisins, brought to a simmer in some water for about 15 min. Since I had no more lemon, I added some lime concentrate to filtered water. The slightly cooled wash was added and the vessel topped up a bit. This time, I used yeast which was harvested from a previous batch of cider. 

Too many parameters changed between the 2 batches, you might think. And yes, you are right, however, taking things to the extremes in the beginning may also put you off a track which does not lead anywhere.

Cheers!