Page 205 - The Lost Ways

Frontier America didn’t have as much access to beer, and their chosen tipple was whiskey,
which they made from corn, saying that “drink in itself is a good creature of God.” Even
presidents drank homebrew; Benjamin Franklin making his own spruce-based beer.

Of course, one of the positive aspects of brewing beer is that grain lifetime can be
extended. Grains have a limited shelf life and can be contaminated with the fungal
hallucinogen ergot. So there was good reason for our forefathers to brew a concoction
from their grains before they were lost.

Making Beer – Basic Recipe

This recipe is for a basic beer; no additional fermentation steps are needed. One thing
before you start. It’s really important to use clean equipment. Bacteria can spoil beers
and make them undrinkable.

Equipment

❖ A large cooking pot (around 5–10 gallons)
❖ A decent-sized barrel or container as a fermenter (It must be very clean; you can
use boiling water to clean it if you don’t have any sterilizing tablets.)
❖ A syphon (This can be a piece of tubing—again, clean.)
❖ A clean mixing spoon (Keep the spoon for this purpose only.)

❖ A hydrometer (This is for checking the strength of the beer. If you don’t have
one, you can’t check the strength, so beware—it may be the strong stuff!)
❖ Muslin or similar cloth for filtering the beer
❖ Something to bottle the beer in (sterilize before using)

Ingredients

You can use most grain types to make beer. This includes barley, millet, corn, rice, wheat,
and spelt. You can also use mixed grains.

Creating the Malt: Malted Barley

To make good malt, you need to take grains that still have their husks on. You need 2

pounds of whole barley for every gallon of homemade beer.

The first step of malt making is getting the barley (or other grain) to form shoots. To do
this, wash the barley, and allow the chaff to float to the top. Drain the barley, making sure

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