From Malachai:
Hat tip to a group of Danish university students! They’ve created the world’s first open source beer recipe. As the article at the Beeb explains:
“It is called Vores Oel, or Our Beer, and the recipe is proving to be a worldwide hit. The idea behind the beer comes from open source software. This is software whose code is made publicly available for anyone to change and improve, provided that those changes and improvements are then shared in turn.“
Great stuff! Here’s the recipe:
Our recipe
Recipe for approx. 85 ltr. Vores Øl (Our Beer) (approx. 6% alchohol by volume).
(Note that brewing for the first time is a bit tricky, so a reference book is recommended. For instance the free web book How To Brew.)
Malt extract
For Vores Øl we use four types malted barley:
* 6 kg pilsner malt
* 4 kg münsner malt
* 1 kg caramel malt
* 1 kg lager malt
The malt is crushed and put in 55-60°C hot water for 1-2 hours.
The mixture is filtered and the liquid now contains about 10 kg malt extract.
Taste and sugar
Besides malt we use:
* 60 g Tetnang bitter hops
* 50 g Hallertaver aroma hops
* 300 g Guarana beans
* 4 kg sugar
(Guarana beans can typically be bought at health food stores).
The malt extact is brought to a boil in a large pot with the hops and approx. 70 ltr. of water.
After half an hour, the Guarana beans and sugar is added.
The mixture simmers for about an hour, and is then filtered and cooled in a sealed container.
Fermentation
Yeast is added and the beer is fermented at room temperature for approx. 2 weeks.
We use Safbrew T-58 yeast, available in 10g packeting, ideal for homebrewing (details).
When the beer is fully fermentet it is transferred to bottles. First 4 g sugar is added per liter and some yeast from the bottom of the fermentation tanks for priming.
Vores Øl is then left in the bottles at room temperature for 8-10 days for carbonation. Then the beer is ready to enjoy; cold and refreshing.