Home brew recipes and equipment aboard

[marujo_sortudo]

I've been brewing beer and wine at home through the years and I'd like to continue that aboard.  Of course, letting 6 gallon glass carboys age for months on my boat seems out of the question.  Still, there should be plenty of options, esp. for shorter turn-around brews.  I'm wondering if there are any other boat-brewing sailors out there who would like to share their ideas for equipment, boat specific issues, and recipes!

Cheers, Colin

[maxiSwede]

Hi Colin,

It looks like my prvious posting to you ended up in the 'cooroded engine mount' -thread... ???

Anyway, apart from wishing you welcome aboard here, I too brewed beer (and darned good beer honsetly) during over ten years of dwelling on land, working har d and saving money for the boat and the Voyage to come.

Honestly, I haven't even considered brewing on board but would be happy to hear of any ideas in that field.

Cheers, Magnus

[marujo_sortudo]

Thanks for welcome (I did wonder about it in that thread ;)

Here's some links I found about folks brewing on boats:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f91/homemade-hooch-11263.html
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f91/my-home-brew-beer-is-ready-25005.html

To me, it seems like any recipe that had quick turnaround and suited small batches could work well.  I'm thinking beer, cider, ginger beer, chicha, etc. are in, and wine is out (except for maybe a Beaujolais or Vinho Verde style, perhaps?)  I'm also thinking, that life would be easier & safer (although less tasty) with only plastic fermenters.  Any other thoughts are welcome.  I will be experimenting eventually...

[maxiSwede]

Being currently in Portugal, I can verify to 'Vinho Verde' as a very agreeable wine.   ;D

Does need refrigeration or ice though... :(

Cheers!

[skylark]

I have homebrewed beer since 1984.  I have had a keg on my boat but have never brewed on board.  

The process of boiling the wort is better done on a stable surface.  The boiling of 5 gallons of liquid on a boat is somewhat questionable from a safety perspective, also, it is common for the boil to foam up and drip hot sticky, syrupy wort on the floor.  This is something that could easily be done at a dock.

Cooling the wort requires access to cold tap water.  Brewing uses a lot of water so you will want access to a hose with cold water and where no one will complain about your excessive water use.

Tranferring to the fermenter also can have spills, so it is a dock operation, not a boat operation.  The wort that is being transferred is full of sugars and will cause large amounts of mold if not cleaned up.

Fermenting can also cause foam to spill out of the breather tube.  You can catch it in a pail but it is prone to mold, the same mold that can spoil your beer if you are not careful.  I don't believe it is a good idea to ferment in the sun, preferably brewing temperatures are under 70F for ales.  After the first two or so days, the fermenting slows down and at that time, the fermenting beer could go in the boat. It is actually preferred to keep it absolutely still to try to let sediment drop out for a clear beer.  So a boat is not ideal for this but it would work.

Bottling and kegging are best done where spills are not a problem.

I kept my 5 gallon keg in the engine room, after I removed the engine, and had a small tap at the sink.  I would throw boiling water on the tap every few days.  It stayed reasonably clean.  The keg was at a pleasant drinking temperature, but I am on Lake Michigan which remains cool most of the year.

http://cruisenews.net/brewing/

[carl762]

Adapting a corney keg for fermenting would be an ideal solution on a sailboat.  Transfer to another c-keg, C02 it, make another batch. 

I've been doing many Ales for years.  Keep a couple of 5 gal kegs out in the garage/shop, at all times.  When I try and even attempt to organize brewing beer on a boat, I just think:

[size=8]GOING TO NEED A BIGGER BOAT [/size]

I'd be happy to post a recipe from me secret book for anybody who PMs.  I have a modest few, basically modifications from other recipes I tried.

In the meantime, look up Simpson's Golden Promise as far as a base brain.  Try and find 50# sacks of same.   It's as simple as it gets.   SGP with no adjuncts, add hops, bam! BEER. 

One of me favorites. 

[JWalker]

I would think a simple cider or hard lemonade would be easy on-board IF you have the room, using store bought apple juice or lemonade (stay away from pasteurized stuff).
But I think I would want to extend my airlock a few feet so that sloshing wouldn't be a problem while underway.

I would keg....where would you put 50 bottles and how would you clean them?

they have a picnic co2 deal that charges a corny keg with small 16 oz co2 cartridge, but make sure you have plenty of them....it took me 3 or 4 to empty a keg, I think 1 just to blast off the o2 when I was kegging.... definitely not as cost effective as a 10 or 20 # co2 tank.

IANAL - I have not tried this, fantasy theoretical discussion only, no liability for this idea expressed or implied!
;D

[highestbid]

My 1st post :-)   I have been brewing for a number of years and now mostly keg my own.  Making beer without refridgeration would be daunting task for all but the most basic ales.  In addition keeping ingredients fresh would pose an issue to folks in the tropics. I have no financial interest in it,  but it might be worth a try for on board small batch http://e-z-caps.com  so far i have only used this device for a small batch wine cooler.  I stumbled across it cause the guy lives just down the street from where i used to live in Alaska.  I am happy to see a small boat forum  I was about to think if I could not afford a 42' Cat I would never get to go cruising.  Got a lot to learn but hope I get to join in at least in the Texas Gulf Coast starting in the spring.

[JWalker]

Anyone know what would happen if you climbed a coconut tree.....harvested a coconut.....drilled a hole pitched some yeast and plug it with an airlock?


maybe add some sugar........before pitching yeast.....


Assuming of coarse you don't fall out of the tree, the coconut was free for harvesting and not owned by a government  and/or personal agency, and you had a drill, yeast, and airlock....

[Sue W]

Pasteurized juices can be OK for brewing if you are desperate; it's those containing potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate that you want to avoid. These stabilizers will prevent yeast from reproducing. That's why you often see these chemicals in store bought juices and why they are used to stabilize wine after fermentation is completed.

Having tried to make wine from almost everything, I've come to realize that our ancestors weren't stupid. Grapes make about the best wine.

I'm now starting to "bottle" home-made wine in plastic bags sold for this purpose. They are like those used for boxed wine, but held in a plastic bin with a spigot. Seem to be ideal for a boat: robust, compact and easy to open. They claim that the wine will keep in this for up to a year. Probably won't need to last that long!

The coconut thing...very small amount of juice for a long wait! My recommendation is to drill the hole and add a measure of rum or so...add your straw and little umbrella.  Or just whack off the top of a water nut with a machete. Rum always seems to be cheap in the Caribbean...