Turbo Beer - what is the least equipment I need to brew beer ?

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The origin of this thread was when someone asked the question "what is the least equipment I need to brew beer ?". Turns out you need very little, in fact less than I'm going to use here because this methods adds a little to the absolute basic. For this brew you need these ingredients :-

A 500g packet of Dark Dried Malt Extract
1/2 packet of Newcastle Dark Ale Yeast
About 10 grams of East Kent Gold Hops
A 5 litre bottle of still water

and this kit :-

Pan
measuring jug (although you can just judge it)
Funnel if you are not steady handed
5 1 litre fizzy drink bottles


turbo-kit-393.jpg



Pour out about 700ml of the water into a pan and put in the hops. Boil for about 10 minutes.

turbo-hops-done-395.jpg


While it's boiling put the Malt Extract into the water bottle and give it a shake. The water/DME mix should be below the shoulder of the bottle.

When the hops are 'done' pour enough of the liquid into the bottle to just go above the shoulder and give it a shake to mix. Then add the 1/2 packet of yeast and give it another shake.

That's it made.

turbo-everything-done-396.jpg


Now loosen the lid so that it is just on and put it somewhere warm. It will probably volcano over on the second day so make sure it is standing on something like a dinner tray to catch the spill.

By day 4 it should have stopped bubbling. To confirm it has stopped tighten the lid, wait for about 10 minutes and then loosen it again. If it hisses it is still fermenting.

When it has definitely stopped tighten the lid and stick it in the fridge for two days. This will drop most of the yeast out of the beer and make it clear.

After two days in the fridge, put a level teaspoon of sugar in 5 clean one litre fizzy drink bottles. If you are steady handed you can simply pour it in, if not use a funnel.

img-20150602-00719-398.jpg


Put the bottles somewhere warm and wait for them to get fizzy (when the bottles become stiff). Depending on the temperature this will be around 5 days.

Put a bottle (or two) in the fridge, let it go cold and then drink it.

The taste will not win any prizes but it is certainly drinkable.:razz: When I made the above recipe I had my first bottle 9 days after mixing it but you need to let the process run its course and it could take longer than that.

The Malt Extract, Yeast and Hops can all be substituted for whatever you fancy. You can also mix different Malt Extracts, I mixed Dark with Amber to make something like and ESB colour.

Enjoy:wink:
 
Even with having brewing kit I'd be tempted to have a crack at this just to see how it turns out.

It tastes better than it should and takes about 25 minutes to do the 'assembly', quick enough to be able to get away with doing it in the kitchen without incurring the wrath of SWIMBO. One element to the 'turbo' nature of it is that you don't sterilise anything (though obviously you can if you want).

I'm going to do another one and dry hop it.
 
I've a bag of hopped light spraymalt. Gonna use that and up the turbo rate, so it'll be a turboed turbo as I won't be boiling any hops.
It'll be a pale brew for sure, but if it's naff, the son will neck it.
Just need the water now. Wonder if the missus wants to go to Tesco LOL.
 
It tastes better than it should and takes about 25 minutes to do the 'assembly', quick enough to be able to get away with doing it in the kitchen without incurring the wrath of SWIMBO. One element to the 'turbo' nature of it is that you don't sterilise anything (though obviously you can if you want).

I'm going to do another one and dry hop it.

Twostage any SG/FG readings on it or any idea what the ABV is?
 
Putting the figures for 500g of light DME/5L, 70% efficiency, 75%AA yeast into brewmate, gives
1.038OG/1.010 FG 3.73ABV%

About right there MyQul :thumb:

The ones I've done so far have ended up between 1.010 and 1.012. I've never measured the OG as the DME doesn't completely mix but the MyQul/Brewmate estimate should be accurate.
 
What about sanitising everything?

NOTHING gets sanitised. That's part of the Turbo element, see above post to LarryF. Sanitising takes time (and more kit).

The FV is already sterile, the pan gets sterilised during boiling and DME has been through a sterilisation process in production. The only risky area is the bottles which are just washed but then you are putting in a liquid which is acidic, alcoholic and antibacterial (from the hop oils).

If you really want to sanitise everything then feel free but it really isn't necessary and you are departing from the principles of Turbo. ;-)
 
Further clarification point - you bottle whilst cold, straight out of the fridge. Two reasons for this :-

1) The slurry stays at the bottom of the fermenter whilst you are pouring the beer into the bottles.
2) You can feel the cold beer as it gets towards the neck of the bottle so you know when to get the next bottle.
 
:hat:This is brilliant!

I am sure my 18 yo daughter would call this "Bandit Beer".

They watch me messing around for up to 5 hours at a time (if they have got up) and waiting for up to 3 months for it to be "perfect".

Then compare that with this approach.
 
If you don't want to spend a lot of time on sanitizing but still want to do it. You could just rinse the lemonade bottles and microwave them on full for 15-20secs, I read somewhere that that method sanitizes plastics and glass.

Would that be considered a 'turbo' way to do it?
 
If you don't want to spend a lot of time on sanitizing but still want to do it. You could just rinse the lemonade bottles and microwave them on full for 15-20secs, I read somewhere that that method sanitizes plastics and glass.

Would that be considered a 'turbo' way to do it?

I'd call that quick rather than turbo. I think you need to have faith in the process and adopt it 100%. It really is a kind of release when you do it, like getting cured of sanitising.

Although you are not really cured, I sanitise everything when I'm dong AG. Even my mash stirrer goes into a pot of starsan between stirs.
 
It's a great way for a newbie to try out some turbo moonshine, I'll definitely give this a go using some of MyQul's Hop Taster Packs.

Youngs do 100g of dried Active Yeast for wine and beer for roughly £1.25 if you want to be really cheap.

Youngs also do a Hopped Light Spray malt, I wonder would there be enough bitterness to do away with the hops?

I suppose you could also beef up the ABV by adding 50g or 100g of table sugar.
 
I've a bag of hopped light spraymalt. Gonna use that and up the turbo rate, so it'll be a turboed turbo as I won't be boiling any hops.
It'll be a pale brew for sure, but if it's naff, the son will neck it.
Just need the water now. Wonder if the missus wants to go to Tesco LOL.

I'd be curious to know how this turned out. I only read your post after I'd made my own - I was thinking the same thing.
 
<It's all Clibits fault>

Mwahahahahaha!

This turbo brewing is extract brewing on a small scale. You could use 1kg of extract and more hops and up the quantity to a more productive level. Add 100g of sugar perhaps.

To answer Brewed_Force's question, it is likely to make a better beer than most kits. Using dried extract rather than tins is a step up IMO. And using actual hops is defo a step up.
 
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