Chevron

by Una O'Callaghan ' Chevro’n staff

If you’re a student chances are you find yourself, in these days of inflation and higher taxes, unable to keep your wine cellar stocked with the finest brands. ’ '

While you brood over. your dim- inishing stocks of Pinot Chardon- nay, consider the following sugges- tion. -

You can ‘brew your own wine or.

beer for a fraction of the cost‘of most brands now on the market and the process is really quite simple. The advantages to be gain-

ed by dabbling in the art of hOme- v ~

brewing are many and varied, not the least being: ,. ‘ 0 you get to screw the Ontario Government out of liquortaxes. 0 you get to compete with Sea— gram’s air pollution wise. - 0 you can turn out asnperior

product to many brands now on the '

market. .

0 you don’t have to produce proof of age to buy the necessary ingredients. -

0 home brews rarely produce hangovers unless consumed in en- ormous quantities. ' ‘

If you, start small, say a five gallon batch of dry red wine or light ale, the equipment required is minimal. The first requirement is a primary fermenter, This can be any vessel which holds at least six gallons, and'has not previously been used to store diesel fu‘elfA plastic garbage pail will do the job nicely.

Other equipment includes a hy-

drometer, fermentation lock, capping machine; five gallon car-

boy for aging, and a few yards of

plastic tubing to use as a syphon.

Ingredients for both wine and beer can be picked up at Hughes Home Centre (Parkdale Plaza) on Albert street. ' "

Wine is easier to -make than beer, except for one hardship; it takes forever. Afficionatos have been known to store the stuff for five or ten years, but this seems a bit extreme for the first batch.

It takes at least a month to brew

a“lit-hing that tastes better than.

Communion wine, but after two or three months ,_ you should have SOme good gulping wine.

Because the time involved in aging allows the possibility of bac-

t("-‘rla developing, it is important to ,

have complete sterility. So, for example, don’t allow the cat to dOQ-doo in your barrel or carboy.

is is not so important in the case of» beer, as anyone who has

:gsited a brewery will have notic-

Hm“? brewﬁd.heerisa,cmeh..to . .

amp

The Cadre, vol. 8, no. 11, December 2, 1976,‘page 9.

WHE‘

,

Beat the-Hoes with home brews,

in distracting ﬂies from your young wine.

niake. and as the procedure is list- ed on every tin of malt, it need not

‘i- be repeated here. Suffice it to say

that, the resulting glop will be ready to drink in about seven days, if you disregard the conservative instructions on the tin. Timeand expense can be further ~ reduced by drinking the product direct from the primary fermenter and ignoring the strictures on deis- el oil.

WINE INGREDIENTS ‘ 1-80 oz. tin of red grape concen— trate, 5 lbs sugar, l-lb of white raisins 2 025. of acid blend, 5 camp- den tablets, 1 oz yeast nutrient, 1/3 teaspoon grape tannin, wine yeast. Dump the whole caboose into the

», primary: fermenter, except. ,theu

wine yeast and add 4' gallons of warm water. Whenlcool add the yeastand cover with plastic sheet.

Leavefor 6 to 7 days or until spe

-cific gravity, (measured by hydro-

meter) is 1.030. Syphon into car-

boy and attach fermentation lock. .

Back in three weeks and again in three months.

BEER INGREDIENTS

ltin_of malt, 1 tin of hop extract,-

4 lbs. dextrose sugar, 1 teaspoon citric acid, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon ascorbic acid, 1 teaspoon yeast energiser, 1 teaspoon head- ing liquid, monks yeast.

In a 1 gallon pot put malt, citric

acid, salt, hop extract and sugar:

Heat to dissolve. Dump into prim— ' fermenter‘and’ 'add water to

Emanu-

ek J} N

\.

' Chevron staff

Careﬁd attention of hygiene.sz of utmost importance. A bag'pf garbage is extremely useful .

bring contents up to five gallons. When water reaches room temper- ature add yeast and leave for 4 to 5 days. Rack and add heading liquid, ascorbic acid and yeast energiser when SC. is l or less. Bottle.

It should be drinkable within 2 to 3 days. Refrigerate a few hours before imbibing.

‘All considered, home brewing is a challenge and an adventure, ano- ther example of western man’s ability to explore, to conquer, and to, prevail. The same divine hand which helped to lift two cour- ageous men onto the moon will, we hope, look after your humble undertakings and guide your two

billion yeasties on a successful

mission. '

nomonvs

Photo by Rob Brady :

e