Is Having Your Own Onboard Brewry A Good Addition

[Magic1st]

I like the way u all think. My question is, how long does a keg last (still good after x days, not how long until it's empty!) ? Yes, provisioning issues when you need a refil, and weight/ space. But one on tap and one spare sounds like a plan to me.

I know it doesn't last forever. In the olden days, a took a leftover keg to college dorm (1k miles away) 2 weeks after the party. Couldn't drink it.. it was terrible.. rancid.

Yea i could google, but, more fun to talk about here..

FnM

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Magic1st

I like the way u all think. My question is, how long does a keg last (still good after x days, not how long until it's empty!) ? Yes, provisioning issues when you need a refil, and weight/ space. But one on tap and one spare sounds like a plan to me.

I know it doesn't last forever. In the olden days, a took a leftover keg to college dorm (1k miles away) 2 weeks after the party. Couldn't drink it.. it was terrible.. rancid.

Yea i could google, but, more fun to talk about here..

FnM

Depends on how it is pressurised. I bet the college dorm one used an air pump to push out the beer. If you keep it pressurised with CO2 and keep the termperature fairly constant, it will last for weeks or even months.

[bill good]

Some of our US friends would like to hear that there has been reports of Vegemite being used as a ready supply of yeast to produce a good drop!!

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by bill good

Some of our US friends would like to hear that there has been reports of Vegemite being used as a ready supply of yeast to produce a good drop!!

Yum, yeast cake for breakfast!

Could add an idea to "make money while cruising" thread...sell the yeast slurry from your batches of beer to those euro-folk who eat that stuff.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by StuM

Depends on how it is pressurised. I bet the college dorm one used an air pump to push out the beer. If you keep it pressurised with CO2 and keep the termperature fairly constant, it will last for weeks or even months.

Yes, the "picnic taps" use direct air pressure which will spoil the beer slightly slower than college students can suck it down. That beer is done for once you start pumping.

With proper temp and CO2 pressure the beer can stay good for months, but once again temp control would be a problem on a small boat. Temp consistency is most important. If temp is all over the place then the beer will develop off flavours and/or lose clarity faster. Most cruisers already have to be miserly with their energy use, brewing aboard could certainly complicate that picture.

If you want to brew really good beer then that requires lots of energy and water (not to mention fresh, high quality ingredients), the very two things often in short supply on a small cruising boat. The water usage is not just for the beer itself, but also for cleaning & sanitation (very important) and cooling wort. On brew day, for a 5 gallon batch, I guesstimate that I go thru 20 gallons of water (including wort chiller usage).

[StuM]

Originally Posted by bill good

Some of our US friends would like to hear that there has been reports of Vegemite being used as a ready supply of yeast to produce a good drop!!

Only by uninformed reporters repeating the comments of an uninformed politician

While it is derived from "brewers yeast", it does not contain any live yeast.

The "yeast extract " in vegemite is is an after product of the brewing process and is composed of dead yeast cells which have broken down by autolysis into simpler compounds. The broken down remains then have had the cell walls removed by centrifuge. No way can the "extract" metabolise sugar to alcohol.

[bill good]

Humbug true!! I should have quoted the source of the information. But I do try to promote the product to the USA just like long life milk which is also hard to find on a shelf in the USA. It was meant as humour of which I am poor at.
Sorry too much.

[Impetuous too]

A question close to our hearts. We brew a reasonably palatable and successful ginger brew but the coconut and banana skin 'wines' were got by the vinegar bug. We're considering a still before we leave nz as we stand to save money even of we only ever buy rum in Cuba. Does anyone have any experience of how palatable these air still brews can be made? How inventive have you been with your own flavours? I'm not after lurid sickly stuff but hope to work out how to make a soft 5yo style imitation.

Am I only dreaming?

[RaymondR]

I commented to another yachty in Townsville on a 20' Wharam that he seemed to run his genset a lot and were his batteries shot.

He replied that he ran it on his reflux still.

I commented that he must be an alcoholic to need to run it all day every day.

He replied that he sold the alcohol to make a living.

I had stumbled on a cruising bootlegger.

Can you make booze on a small boat? Yes.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

This is a subject close to my heart

There are easier ways that growing your own mash....

Kits make great brew!

I've used this one on board. Fill with water at the fuel dock and then set sail on passage with it gently brewing in the aft head or the lazarette and when you drop anchor a week later you can get rolling drunk...

http://www.amazon.com/Coopers-Brewin.../dp/B004QCXWSA for Americans
Coopers DIY Beer Brew Kit For Aussies

And its Australian so it can't be less than great!

Mark, I used to have two of those Coopers kits going side by side when I was a uni student. We could tell when friends arrived at the front door because we'd hear them ferrying their empties from the car to the verandah before they knocked. Good times but I put on some weight I never managed to shed.

I kept them warm by wrapping them in old army blankets with a fish tank heater to get them started, the reaction was exothermic so the heaters never came on after about the second day, and that was in Melbourne which is not the warmest place on earth.

Anyway, I just assumed they had to be kept perfectly still for the fermentation to work properly but from the sound of it they don't need that? This is very good news, with a bit of attention paid to hygiene they produced very pleasant brews. We use to run stout in about every fifth batch FWIW, a Black and Tan was particularly popular in Autumn.

You've given me something to look forward to, I am already working out where in the boat to put a kit.

Matt




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[Wotname]

Originally Posted by GILow

………..

You've given me something to look forward to, I am already working out where in the boat to put a kit.

Matt




Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

In the forward bilge area

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Wotname

In the forward bilge area

You'll keep.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by StuM

The "yeast extract " in vegemite is is an after product of the brewing process and is composed of dead yeast cells which have broken down by autolysis into simpler compounds. The broken down remains then have had the cell walls removed by centrifuge....

This only goes part of the way to explain the taste, and absolutely none of the way to explaining why some of us Australians still eat the stuff. But we do and I do, and I couldn't tell you why...

[LLCoolDave]

If you love the tinkering of homebrew then do it. Here is a lazy mans solution to making your own hooch. It takes 30 seconds. It's http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2014/...our-own-cider/

[sparrowhawk1]

I make wine this way mostly with grape juice I usually add 2 cups of sugar to a 3 liter bottle of juice and one teaspoon of yeast. PLEASE DO NOT put on a tight fitting cap without making a relief" valve. Photo doesn't show it clearly but under the piece of tape is a hole. Don't ask me how I know this and yes that's my forearm.