Alcoholic beverages; commonly beer and wines and made at home. Most often brews are made from brewing kits purchased at shops specialized in spirits. Cheap Draft features homebrew recipes, equipment requirements, and best practices needed to deliver the perfect batch!
Best made as draught beer and drunk by the half pint. Best kept for grumpy relatives to induce them to sleep soundly while the rest of the household enjoys itself.
3 lb. dark malt extract
2½ lb. demerara sugar
3 oz. hops
small level teaspoonful salt
¼ oz. citric acid - yeast - nutrient
Boil hops and salt in a quart of water for fifteen minutes. Take out bag and squeeze when cool enough. Pour strained hop-water into fermentation vessel and add sugar, malt and citric acid. Then make up to two gallons with boiling water. Allow to cool to 65°-70°F. And add yeast and nutrient.
Cover as directed and leave to ferment in warm place until beer goes ‘flat’ and then bottle.
Note. Liquorice sticks add colour and desirable flavour and are available from most chemists at about 2d. each, otherwise obtain them from home brew supply firms.
Boil hops and salt in a quart of water for fifteen minutes, take out bag, squeeze when cool enough and pour hop water into fermenting vessel. Add malt, sugar, citric acid and black treacle and make up to two gallons all but a quart. While sugar and malt are dissolving, boil the liquorice sticks in the remaining quart of water and when dissolved add to the rest. Stir well to ensure malt and sugar are dissolved and allow wort to cool to 6So-7oof. Add yeast and nutrient. Cover as directed and leave to ferment in warm place for seven-eight days.
If using hydrometer, take readings after five days until 1.00S is recorded and then bottle. If hydrometer is not in use, allow beer to ferment on until it goes ‘flat’ and then prime - add sugar to restart fermentation, as already directed, and then bottle. This recipe ought to be made as a frothing beer, but if draught beer of this sort is required, merely allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘flat’ and then bottle.
Boil hops and salt for fifteen minutes in a quart of water. Take out bag, squeeze when cool enough and put hop-water into fermenting vessel. Add malt, sugar and citric acid. Make up to two gallons with boiling water, stirring to ensure malt and sugar are dissolved. Stir in gravy browning. Cover as directed and leave to cool to 65°-70°F. Add yeast and nutrient and ferment in warm place for five-six days. If using hydrometer take readings after five days until 1.005 is recorded and then bottle. If hydrometer is not being used, allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘fiat’ and then prime - add sugar to recommence fermentation - and then bottle. If draught beer of this sort is required, merely allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘fiat’ and bottle.
Boil hops and salt for about fifteen minutes in a quart of water. Take out the bag, squeeze when cool enough and pour the hop-water into fermenting vessel. Add malt, sugar and citric acid and make up to two gallons with boiling water.
Stir well to ensure malt and sugar are dissolved and then allow to cool to 65°-70°F. Add yeast and nutrient, cover as directed and ferment in a warm place for five-six days. If using hydrometer, take readings after five days until 1.005 is recorded and then bottle. If hydrometer is not being used, allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘flat’ and then prime - add sugar to recommence fermentation and then bottle. If a draught beer of this sort is required, merely allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘fiat’ and then bottle.
Boil hops and salt for about fifteen minutes in a quart of water. Take out bag and squeeze when cool enough. Pour hop-water into fermentation vessel and add malts, sugar, treacle and citric acid. Make up to two gallons with boiling water.
Stir well to ensure malts, sugar and treacle are dissolved and then allow to cool to 65°F -70°F. Then add yeast and nutrient and leave to ferment in a warm place for seven-eight days.
If using hydrometer, take readings after six days until 1.005 is recorded and then bottle to produce sparkling beer. If hydrometer is not in use, allow fermentation to go on until beer becomes ‘flat’ and then prime - add sugar to recommence fermentation as already directed (p. 58) - and then bottle. If draught beer of this sort is wanted, merely allow fermentation to go on until beer becomes ‘flat’ and then bottle.
Boil hops and salt in about a quart of water for fifteen minutes. Take out bag, squeeze when cool enough and pour hop-water into fermenting vessel.
Add malts, citric acid, sugar and treacle and make up to two gallons with boiling water. Stir well to ensure sugar and malts are dissolved and allow to cool to 65°F -70°F. Add yeast, nutrient and cover as directed and leave to ferment in a warm place for six-eight days.
If using hydrometer, take readings after five days until 1.005 is recorded and then bottle. If hydrometer is not being used, allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘flat’ and then prime - add sugar to recommence fermentation as directed and then bottle. If draught beer of this sort is needed, merely allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘flat’ and then bottle.
Use four teaspoonfuls tea and allow to stand for five minutes.
Boil hops and salt in about a quart of water for fifteen minutes. Take out bag, squeeze when cool enough and pour hop-water into fermenting vessel. Add strained tea, malt, sugar and citric acid and make up to two gallons with boiling water. Stir well to ensure malts and sugar are dissolved and allow to cool to 65°F -70°F. Then add yeast and nutrient. Cover as directed and leave to ferment in warm place for seven-eight days. If using hydrometer, take readings after six days until 1.005 is recorded and then bottle. If hydrometer is not in use, allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘flat’ and then prime - add sugar to recommence fermentation as; directed - and then bottle. If draught beer of this, sort is required, merely allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘flat’ and then bottle.
Boil hops and salt in about a quart of water for fifteen minutes. Take out the bag, squeeze when cool enough and pour hop-water into fermenting vessel. Add the malts, sugar and citric acid and make up to two gallons with boiling water - in two stages if your boiling utensil will not hold two gallons. Add nutrient, stir well to ensure malts and sugar are dissolved and then allow wort to cool to 65°F -70°F. Add yeast, cover as directed and leave in a warm place for seven-eight days. If using hydrometer, take readings after five days until 1.005 is recorded and then bottle to produce sparkling beer. If hydrometer is not being used, allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘flat’ and then prime - add sugar to recommence fermentation - and then bottle. If draught beer of this sort is required, merely allow fermentation to go on until beer goes ‘flat’ and then bottle.
Malt extracts are obtainable from almost any chemist, but these are rarely suitable for our purpose. Do go to a reliable firm dealing in home brewing equipment, for these firms cater especially for us. Their malts and hops are of the finest quality and specially selected for our purpose.
Those who have read the parts in this book relating to the need for a mashing period to extract the maltose from the grain will understand that this mashing period is not needed with the recipes in this chapter because the malt extract we shall be using is the maltose we obtain by the mashing period. It is dear then that, simply speaking, the mashing has been carried out by someone else and we have the benefit of using the readily prepared ingredient. Only those using grain malts will need to put the grain through a mashing period to extract the maltose.
It will be seen that all the recipes are designed for two gallons. The fermentation vessel should hold more than this amount in order to allow for the yeast head that will form.
No large boiler is required, as the boiling can easily be done in two stages as in the recipes. Before you begin using these simple recipes, do read the section detailing the causes of spoilage and take the necessary steps to avoid disappointment.
Whether it be ale, lager, stout, old ale, pale ale or just beer from the barrel - it, or they - are all beers. But this has not always been so. For centuries ‘unhopped’ beer - that is, beer made without hops was known as ale. Only beer made with hops was known as beer. However, as time went on, hops found their way into all beers whether they were known as ales, beers, stouts or what have you. The real difference between the various beers comes in the treatment of the malted barley, the amount used in the various beers and the amount of hops used in each.
Pale ale is made with more hops than other beers and the malt used is of the highest quality pale variety. It may be sold as either draught or bottled beer. Light ales are a weaker version of pale ale. Mild ale - the popular draught beer - is made with darker malt. Stouts are made from the darker malts and with some roasted malt.
It will be seen that by blending the various malts and by either increasing the amount of hops used a wide variety of beers can be made from the two basic materials - malt and hops. From all this the reader will at once see that he has only to use his imagination and his palate to decide on how, after a few initial experiments using the various recipes, to alter slightly the amount of ingredient to produce a beer that will be the envy of his friends.
Careful blending of light and dark malts and increasing or reducing the amount of hops used will show readily enough in the variety of beer produced how each may be altered a little more until the operator has designed a recipe for a beer that will be the only one for him forever more.
My urging you to experiment does not suggest that you will be disappointed in your first effort. Indeed, you will most likely be delighted. I make the suggestion of experimenting in case amongst the many recipes there is not one that suits your palate but I’m willing to bet there is.
Best made as draught beer and drunk by the half pint. Best kept for grumpy relatives to induce them to sleep soundly while the rest of the household enjoys itself.
Malt extracts are obtainable from almost any chemist, but these are rarely suitable for our purpose. Do go to a reliable firm dealing in home brewing equipment, for these firms cater especially for us. Their malts and hops are of the finest quality and specially selected for our purpose. 
Whether it be ale, lager, stout, old ale, pale ale or just beer from the barrel - it, or they - are all beers. But this has not always been so. For centuries ‘unhopped’ beer - that is, beer made without hops was known as ale. Only beer made with hops was known as beer. However, as time went on, hops found their way into all beers whether they were known as ales, beers, stouts or what have you. The real difference between the various beers comes in the treatment of the malted barley, the amount used in the various beers and the amount of hops used in each.