energy efficient but tasty brew

[slim34]

Being quite new to this I must admit I am finding the ingredients in this kind of brewing from grain both complicated and expensive.

Finding the right things for specific recipes has been quite a time consuming and expensive task. What with driving to town to get some bits and ordering others from suppliers, a single brew uses quite a few food miles. Then there's the enrgy used boiling and cooling wort, and huge amounts of water for cleaning.

This is a problem for me because the activity doesn't seem very green and my motivation for doing it was partly to reduce my food miles, by purchasing fewer bottled foreign beers from supermarkets.

I'm not moaning because the results are great and I know you don't get something for nothing in this world.

I just watched a documentary called 'crude impact' Sorry it's not porn. it talks all about how we might have to adapt in the future if oil becomes a very expensive commodity, localised produce etc.

I'm wondering what would be a cheaper, more energy efficient and simpler brew recipe that tastes good. Perhaps using one grain and one hop both grown in England, perhaps with a shorter boil etc.

A recipe and system like that could be pretty handy if we have another energy price hike.

any ideas?

[delboy]

get them sent by post, the established postage system has got to be a whole lot more energy efficent that driving about for ingredients yourself.
I think you could brew some fantastic beers simply sticking with english malt and hops.

[bitter_dave]

Finding the right things for specific recipes has been quite a time consuming and expensive task. What with driving to town to get some bits and ordering others from suppliers, a single brew uses quite a few food miles. Then there's the enrgy used boiling and cooling wort, and huge amounts of water for cleaning.

Buy all your stuff from one place to reduce the miles everything will have travelled. You also have a very wide variety of homebrew ingredients grown in this country - you need never buy an ingredient from abroad and still make great beer if you don't want. I also think it has to be put in perspective - buying a (small) packet of lager hops from the Czech Republic to make lager, or wherever, must be a lot less damaging to the environment than getting the finished product shipped from abroad. We also reuse our kegs, bottles etc etc., which must be good for the environment.

Pricewise, the cost of homebrewed beer is subtantially cheaper than shop bought beer, and the costs of buying the equipment are soon recouped.

On balance I'd say home brewing must be a pretty environmentally friendly way of providing laughing juice

[Matt]

laughing juice

Slim34 I think the seemingly frantic activity dies down a bit once you have got your kit sorted, done a few experiments, and generally got it into your system. Then you'll be clearer about what you want to brew and be able to plan on what ingredients you want stock, and buy in bulk ahead of time.

There's nothing quite like seeing the happy truck arriving with a big order of brewing ingredients and kit.

Happy brewing,

Matt

[Seadart]

On the water side, you could keep the cooling water for cleaning down with after it's done it job of cooling the wort. Just run it into a suitable container and there it is on hand.

The grains can be composted either on a compost heap or dug straight into the garden the hops can be dealt with the same way.

Mail order has to be greener than using your own transport but if your food shoping and the local Home Brew Shop is near use the supermarket carpark and walk to the HBS to get your supplies.

Just my take on green things

[slim34]

excellent tip for the water. I'll do that!

[Garth]

maybe it's your supplier, I can get everything I want from one place,

using large amounts of water was my worry when we move in a few weeks time as the new place is metered and it's wrong to waste so much water, use a cfc to chill, they use less water then as said earlier use it for washing as it comes out quite hot, and try switching to a no-rinse sanitiser to eliminate..err rinsing, theres got to be some water saved there.

[slim34]

yes i've just received an ad from hop and grape (with my current order) for a new product called chemipro oxi - no rinse steriliser which is apparrently environmentally friendly. I don't know if they mean because it saves water or doesn't use dodgy chemicals

forgive my ignorance but where chilling is concerned what's a "cfc"?

[iowalad]

cfc = counter flow chiller

[Garth]

aye, the wort comes straight from the boiler through a coiled small bore pipe usually 10mm, this is encased in another larger pipe, which has cold tap water flowing the other way thus cooling the wort, a bit like a water jacket.

here's mine I made last year after looking at other folks designs

[slim34]

i tried that once but worried about the beer getting contaminated.

how does the cfc device save water compared to a conventional coiled copper thingy that you drop in the wort and run cold water through (which is what i have)

[Calum]

Not everyone chills their beer, some leave it over night to cool, this would save a lot of water.

Yip, I'm one of those. I mainly brew after work and then pitch the yeast in the morning.

I also know someone who collects water in a water butt and uses this for cooling through a CFC. He then pumps this water back into another water butt which is used to water his greenhouses and veg plots. You really cannot get better than that.

[Vossy1]

i tried that once but worried about the beer getting contaminated.

You can't have it both ways

Which do you prefer, worrying about the slim chance of infection or using more water and damaging the environment

[subsub]

I also know someone who collects water in a water butt and uses this for cooling through a CFC. He then pumps this water back into another water butt which is used to water his greenhouses and veg plots. You really cannot get better than that.

That's exactly what I do as well, also my spent grain feeds the geese and chickens, and the hops make a good compost activator

[Vossy1]

Forgot to add that, beware the hops, they can be poisonous to our canine friends,as can chocolate and raisins