Page 206 - The Lost Ways

the chaff is removed, and then leave the barley to steep for 8 hours in water that covers
it by around 2 inches.

Drain again after this time, and leave without water for 8 hours. After this time, again add
more clean water, and leave for another 8 hours. After this second soak, you should start
to see tiny shoots emerging.

At this time, drain and spread the grain onto something absorbent. You need to cover this
over with some sort of dark sack or bag (a trash bag, for example). This keeps it moist and

dark. You need to keep watch on the sprouting process and stop the process when the
sprouts are just less than the length of the grain itself; depending on the grain used, this
will take around 3 days. The object of this is to stop further germination of the grain at
this point as you get better beer.

To get your malt ready for beer making, you need to dry it out. You do this over a heat
source that can get to temperatures of around 100°–125°F for 24 hours. This could be a
fire pit in the ground with a tray over it, for example. Turn the malt over periodically to
help the drying process.

You’ll know it’s ready when the grain is crunchy and sweet to the bite. If it’s hard and
glassy in appearance, you’ve gone wrong during germination and need to start again. The
beer will be undrinkable if you use this sort of malt.

Take this final-stage malted barley and shake it up to separate the malted grains from the
sprouts. You can use a colander to do this or something similar. Finally, take the malted

grains and crush them to get ready for brewing.

Making the Yeast

Yeast is a naturally occurring organism. When you see the “bloom” on a grape, that’s a
type of yeast. If you don’t have access to commercially isolated yeasts, you can make your
own by following this recipe:

Use 1.5 pounds of grain (white flour is great if you can get it) to a gallon of water (or use
the equivalent ratio). Place together in a jar with a lid or piece of muslin or cheesecloth.
Give it a shake, and leave to stand until you see a froth forming (this can take a few days).
This froth should be removed and can either be used directly in the beer or dried out.

An even better method is to use fruit, which gives a different flavor to the beer. You can
use all sorts of fruits, the obvious one being grapes. Mash the fruit up and leave in a jar,

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