Non-alcoholic "home brew" recipies?

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Whittler Kev

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 8, 2009
4,314
12
65
March, UK
bushcraftinfo.blogspot.com
I'm not sure if "home brew" is the right terminology for something non-alcoholic but there you are.

As some of you know the old medication means I'm not supposed to drink alcohol at all :nono::grouphug: -I thought avoid alcohol meant crossing the road if a pub was on the same side as me or a brewers dray might get me :rolleyes:.
I am therefore looking for something nice and refreshing to drink. I've got one recipe for ginger beer from a previous thread but fancy something different. I bought a bottle of Rochester Old Jamaican Recipe Dark Ginger Drink :)(Ginger and dark sugar) at £3-50 but thats soon gone:(. Any recipes out there?
Over to you......
also, does anyone know how Kaliber make their non-alcoholic beer, and can you brew it at home?:confused:
 

badgeringtim

Nomad
May 26, 2008
480
0
cambridge
Kev,
As a note, ginger beer and elderflower 'fizz' all do have alcohol in them. Tiny amounts but it depends why you shouldnt have it?
If you like the flavour of something you can heat it over 70 something degrees and the alcohol will evaporate before the water. ie you can make mulled wine and it will be alcohol free if you simmer it for a little while.
Also if the cordials are starting to get fizzy (my elderflower always does) you can add a campden tablet to it and it prevents it starting.
Can make cordial from most beries very easily.
 

Harvestman

Bushcrafter through and through
May 11, 2007
8,656
26
55
Pontypool, Wales, Uk
Made my first batches of these today, from flowers collected on saturday. Steeped the flowers in plain water for 2 days, then strained , added flavours and sugar, and boiled. Seemed to work ok. Quantities were kind of 'by eye'.

Elderflower, plus lemon juice, a bit of peel. and sugar. Tastes fabulous.
Meadowsweet - saw someone mention something about this on the forum a week or so back, but can't find it now. Anyway, I added juice from 3 lemons, some honey (used all the sugar on the elderflower stuff), juice of a mandarin orange, and a cinnamon stick. Tastes a bit like a well known commercial iced tea. I like it.

I've got about 3 litres of each, as I only made small quantities. Looking forward to drinking it now.
 

Bushwhacker

Banned
Jun 26, 2008
3,882
8
Dorset
I tried a non-alcoholic stinging nettle brew at the weekend, I also tried an alcoholic version. Both very nice but I haven't a clue about the recipe.
 

Gagnrad

Forager
Jul 2, 2010
108
0
South East
also, does anyone know how Kaliber make their non-alcoholic beer, and can you brew it at home?:confused:

AFAIK, commercial low-alcohol beers are made by brewing beer in the normal fashion and then removing the alcohol (or most of it).


However ... why not got for a lactic fermentation instead of an alcoholic fermentation?

Back in the distant past many "beers" would have been more lactic than alcoholic ferments, though there was probably a bit of both going on in the container. Mexican Indians still drink tesguino, which is a cloudy maize-based beer that's rather of that sort. It's the favourite drink of the famous running tribe, the Tarahumara.

That's probably partly because it's refreshing and, in a very hungry place, fairly nutritious (unlike high-alcohol beer from modern multinational food factories that's also been pasteurized, filtered, and in general denuded of its nutritional content). However, it's undoubtedly also partly because tesguino is still alcoholic enough to give them a good time.

Anthropologist John Kennedy reports that "the average Tarahumara spends at least 100 days per year directly concerned with tesgüino and much of this time under its influence or aftereffects."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesguino

Africans still living in the tribal state often drink similar brews perhaps made from millet or sorghum. I think there can be little difference between sour porridges and "beers" in Africa, except that the latter will be a little thinner and mildly alcoholic.

Anyway, it's possible to do a lactic ferment with various starting materials, and so long as there's reasonable hygiene so that wild yeasts don't blow in you should get something non-alcoholic. Such drinks are also rich in vitamins, minerals, and useful enzymes, and help keep your intestinal flora healthy.

There is also a range of lactic-fermented vegetables -- most notably sauerkraut from cabbage. Basically, the organisms needed to get a lactic ferment going are present on the surface of vegetables and you encourage them (and discourage the wrong organisms) by having a slightly acidic medium or a rather salty one. Or you kick-start things by adding a spoonful or two of whey. (You can make whey by allowing real unpasteurized milk (available at the door from all good dairy farmers) to separate or by hanging yoghurt in cheesecloth to drip.)

The drink kvass which is really the national Russian drink is made from lactic-fermented stale rye bread:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6BjI6bU_VQ

The Ukrainians have a version made from beetroot. Here's some crazy Aussie in a singlet demonstrating how to make it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJH_rs6QAKs

I'd strongly recommend the wonderful book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig. That has recipes for various lactic-fermented drinks and several other types of non-alcoholic drinks in it, and the food recipes are great stuff, too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0967089735/

There's a few here, too:

http://westonaprice.org/childrens-health/1445
 

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