Hey guys, what about the other kind of “brewing”, fermenting? Anyone does any of this?
We do lots of Sauerkraut each winter. Its a centurys old tradition here.
About 200 pounds at least, actualy l just bought 100 pounds of cabage the other day, for a second batch. Anyone else?
We allso did about 30pounds of sour tarnip but it gone bad. Its more tricky thain sauerkraut but good eating.
A nother is Serbian salad, but we dont do that wery much any more. Cabage, green tomato, carrot, onion (l think?) Is packed in in jars and let to ferment. I think its seasoned with vinegar a bit first thugh…
I wuld allso like to try brewing soy sauce one day. Anyone tryed?
We just finished a little batch of kraut from our winter cabbages, but we let it go a little too long, so some of it has gotten soft. My favorite fermented food is half-sour pickles, which uses a fairly lightly salted brine. They wont keep very long, but they are so good that we always eat them right away anyway. I have also made some really good blended krauts, with grated carrot, hot peppers, and leeks mixed in with the cabbage. As long as you stick to the 5lb vegetable - 3 tbs salt ratio it seems like anything goes. My brother experimented with some sort of root crop -rutabegas maybe? It was awful. Beets were also weird.
Kristijan I tried kraut once about 30 years ago it jot so stinky that I took it out and dumped it. Later some one told me it gets like that while working but I don’T know if that’s right or not.
This sounds like kimchi. I started experimenting with it last year. Awesome stuff, if a person has the stomach. A friend got interested and diversified, made a beet kimchi, a “southwest” kimchi with beans, etc. It’s a natural fermentation based on lactic acid. You can’t use much salt or it won’t ferment right. No vinegar added. Same principle as sauerkraut, but way tastier.
Best fermented in a crock all in one batch. Any hot pepper powder or a Vietnamese chili sauce will do for spice. Bok choy works well (maybe better) instead of Napa / Chinese cabbage.
Makes an awesome soup, just add water, and fat pork, boil. Serve on rice in a bowl.
Looks like no one brewed any thing this winter and neither have I .Got enough stuff on hand to brew about 12 gallons of dark ale,but don’t know if I’ll get to it or not
Beer making, brought down to it’s simplest level. A 23 liter fermenting jug, containing a malt beer kit boiled according to specs. Near ready to siphon into 2L plastic bottles.
As simple as could be. Add 3 tsp corn sugar per 2L bottle, leave a week, and good to go.
3 table spoons of sugar per 2l sounds like a bomb to me l carbonise myne in kegs with a CO2 botle, pressure set at 0.7bar but before l had the setup, l used to add one teaspoon of sugar per 0.5 l bottle. Gave it plenty of carbonisation. My father once opened a botle of it to fast in his kichen, it shot the crone corq up and left a nice dent in his brand bew drywall cealing
Well, there’s a margin of error, but what I describe is from experience, 3 tsp per 2L. It will foam over if not refrigerated, or too young, otherwise it’s about perfect for carbonation. 4 tsp is a bit excessive.
This is supposing that the beer has been let brew till quiet, a week or so.
Well l guess it all comes to taste too. Personaly l like my beer warmer and less carbonised. Cellar temp is ideal for my taste, 12-15c. The aroma is enhanced at this temp.
Actualy, l am a big fan of draught beers, thats no carbonisation at all. In the summer l like to brew weak black or brown beer, 3-4% alc, stored it ia unpressurised wine cistern. Its preety much the best rehidration drink that doesent get you drunk.
I also like warm beer, for the flavour.
Most people here think that weird, they like their ice cold Budweiser.
I agree, in that most north American beer is over carbonated. Probably due to being made in giant vats. And once you add 3 tsp sugar per 2L, it won’t be 4% any more, might leave a man laying in the field, at 6+%…
I use liquid malt about 7 lbs. for 6 gal. of beer and I like to use German tetaning or hallertau pellet hops when I can get them . Last year hops labeled german hallertau or tetning were grown in california , there not as good.I wish some one would stock real german hops again as I like them better
The European hops are mostly different stock. The north American varieties are largely cultivars from north American wild hops with comparable flavors to the originals. Wild hops grow as far as southern Manitoba, interesting plants in their own right. Many of the commercial north American varieties were developed at the Ag Canada site at Morden, MB.
We have a hop call cascade hop very low in being bitter, has a great smell and flavor. Dana has the hops growing in the garden for making kabocha with other flavors.
Bob
I have a hops menagerie, around 22 varieties. I have Cascade. Hops are amazing plants, some 80 + flavour compounds, including real vanillin, and citrine, and a mind boggling list after that, all tweaked each time a seed grows. Never mind the acid contents. Willamette, I think, has a clear citrus flavour. They should be used more in food.
Have you ever heard of Galaxy? It’s proprietary, so far as I understand, so not available to grow. It has the most amazing passion fruit flavour.
First year we have all our winter supply of sauerkraut from homegrown cabbage. Total about 170 pounds
Had trouble pressing the water out the sliced cabage this year for some reason but after about 2 hours it finaly started to release the juice (or as we say it took a piss ) probably a good thing thugh, bought cabbage is usualy to fertilised wich makes it watery and can even cause problems with fermentation.
We did a small batch last month, started out real spicy! Must be lots of sulfur compounds in there, good for imune sistem!
l carbonise myne in kegs with a CO2 botle, pressure set at 0.7bar but before l had the setup, l used to add one teaspoon of sugar per 0.5 l bottle. Gave it plenty of carbonisation. My father once opened a botle of it to fast in his kichen, it shot the crone corq up and left a nice dent in his brand bew drywall cealing 
