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Old 23-02-2013, 08:07   #1
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brewing beer aboard while cruising

So I was doing some reading about brewing and it seems easier than I thought, and simple brew can be.made up and ready in just acouple weeks...
Our boat being our home, we do the same things we would do in our land based home including canning of.veggies and fruits so I don't see any negitive issues in making brew.
The positive side as I see it as an ample supply of gods nectar.
Storing of the goodies would be a simple task...
Any brew masters see any negitive issues :...........
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Old 23-02-2013, 08:15   #2
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

MarkJ is the master. Here's a thread. I made some Coopers ale on Mark's advice. It's easy and really good!
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Old 23-02-2013, 08:21   #3
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

Some issues to resolve...finding a source of ultra-clean water...how are you going to pasteurize it?...where are you going to get the hops, barley, whey, malt and bitters from? When done with the "mash", how are you going to cool it and filter it? If you can resolve all these issues, invite us for a cold one! L'Chaim! Mauritz
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Old 23-02-2013, 09:00   #4
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

Its real simple if you have access to the Oz/NZ brewing kits.

1. Boil a tea kettle of water.
2. Open can and mix contents, 1 Kg sugar and hot water in 30L container until dissolved.
3. Add 25L of cold water, sprinkle yeast on top, cover, and wait 2-3 days till it stops bubbling.
4. Decant beer into plastic pop bottles, add half a teaspoon of sugar per bottle, and cap.
5. Wait 10 days and drink some real beer

Works best if water temperature is about 70-80 degrees, and you need to sanitize everything with a tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water.
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Old 23-02-2013, 09:09   #5
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

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Some issues to resolve...finding a source of ultra-clean water...how are you going to pasteurize it?...where are you going to get the hops, barley, whey, malt and bitters from? When done with the "mash", how are you going to cool it and filter it? If you can resolve all these issues, invite us for a cold one! L'Chaim! Mauritz
"Pasteurize" it? Beer does not require pasteurization. "Ultra clean-water"? If you can drink it, you can brew with it. Whey? Bitters? These things have no place in brewing. Further, all the equipment and ingredients necessary to make beer are available from any number of online supply houses. Randy actually lives fairly close to the largest one in the world.

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Old 23-02-2013, 13:36   #6
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Old 23-02-2013, 13:55   #7
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

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Some issues to resolve...finding a source of ultra-clean water...how are you going to pasteurize it?...where are you going to get the hops, barley, whey, malt and bitters from? When done with the "mash", how are you going to cool it and filter it? If you can resolve all these issues, invite us for a cold one! L'Chaim! Mauritz
A brita type filter will make most water good enough to use for brewing without affecting the taste of the beverage.

Mash is used in the distilling process for things like moonshine, rum, whisky not for beer. We use wort in beer brewing, at least here in the states. I'm not sure I'd want to try distilling on a boat with out a lot of thought, 80 proof distilled alchol will burn.

I buy most of my supplies, (i.e. grain, hops, etc) locally or from websites such as northern brewers, midwest brewing, etc.

I think two things are going to make brewing on a boat a challenge for some.

Motion of the boat and temperature,as most ale yeasts like the temperature while fermenting to be 68 to 72 °F (20 to 22 °C).

In any case if one can boil water, have access to grains and yeast, they can make beer. How good the result is depends on the brewer.
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Old 23-02-2013, 14:09   #8
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Mashing is used in certain brewing processes, depending on what type of beer you want to brew. It's not just for distilling liquor.

The main thing for brewing on board would be storage of equipment, such as the 5 gallon car boys, or whatever you would be using, and the kegs or bottles needed to store the finished beer.

Also, being able to have enough ice to rapidly chill the wort during that stage of the process. During brewing you want everything to be as sterile and orderly as possible; working in the galley of a sailboat would certainly pose a challenge but I'd say it's possible, you're just not going to be making any stellar brews. For what it's worth I'd rather pick up a case at the marina, and save brewing for a place where it can be done right.
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Old 23-02-2013, 14:40   #9
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

If one brews a porter or stout, one need not worry overly much about pasteurization; most stouts and porters are top fermenting and unlike lagers, do not need to be cold fermented and stored. With their higher alcohol content, they keep longer without spoilage.
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Old 23-02-2013, 14:42   #10
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Yeah, you could just brew a nice barleywine, those can age for years.
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Old 23-02-2013, 14:54   #11
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

OK - I have some expertise in the brewing arena. Mashing is certainly 100% part of the brewing process. What you get when you brew an extract beer is the sugars after the mashing process is complete - that is what is in the can. There is no reason why you could not mash on a boat.

Wort is what you boil. As far as hops go... hops are very sensitive to heat and time. If you brewed as soon as the hops came in, you could probably be just fine. You can always keep them cool in the freezer if you have one.

The trick is yeast. If you are in the tropics and make the right style beer with the wrong yeast or make the wrong beer with the right yeast, you end up with lots of phenolics due to the warm fermentations... things that can throw off the taste of a certain style beer. There are yeasts and types of beer - like steam ale - that lend them selves to brewing in warmer climates.

Whatever you do, do not plan on using old soda bottles for bottling - your beer will taste like soda.

In regards the water quality. This is the #1 most important aspect of your beer. After all it makes up 95% of the beer. You CAN effectively use almost any water and filter it using a basic filter to get out solids and chlorine. Heck - you can use river water if you first add potassium metabisulfate and let it sit overnight. That will kill just about anything. Even the pros don't overly filter the water and the boiling kills everything anyhow.

Sanitation after the boil is extremely important for the first 48 hours. Everything and I mean everything that touches the beer must be completely sanitized. High hop beers have less problems with this because the hop oils kill spoilage germs. However, you must keep everything sanitary. Bleach takes much too long to kill... 5-10 minutes of direct contact. We use starsan which only takes 15 seconds and is therefore more likely to be effectively used.

edit... Whitelabs WLP001 yeast is perfect for boat brewing in warmer climates. You could use a swamp cooler to keep the fermentation temperature down and make Belgian and Saison style beers. Easy peasy.
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Old 23-02-2013, 16:52   #12
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

Quote:
Originally Posted by Teknav View Post
finding a source of ultra-clean water...how are you going to pasteurize it
Quote:
Originally Posted by DDabs View Post
Mashing is used in certain brewing processes,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Astrid View Post
most stouts and porters are top fermenting and unlike lagers, do not need to be cold fermented
Quote:
Originally Posted by zboss View Post
Mashing is certainly 100% part of the brewing process. ,.....Wort is what you boil.

LOL Its all far easier than all that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its all made ready for you, no mashing, pasturising, or all the stuff.

Bung a can of beer brew, swill in some sugar and water and bango its beer!

I really have oved brewing beer on board but I dont need to here in the Caribbean as its 66 cents per can!!!!!!!!

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Old 23-02-2013, 16:57   #13
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

In Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, Heineken beer cost less than Coke; it is locally made, while Coke must be imported. Mauritz
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Old 23-02-2013, 17:00   #14
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Blah edit
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Old 23-02-2013, 17:21   #15
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Re: brewing beer aboard while cruising

Believe the brew has to be in a stable environment while it's fermenting. The motion while at sea doesn't agree with this. Probably quite doable while at anchor, however.
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