Learning to Make Beer

I learned how to make beer today! We at Luna Nueva are constantly seeking new recipes to introduce healthy foods on our farm. Fermented foods are wonderful for health, and since beer is fermented, and can be considered a food if it is unfiltered, we started to make our own beer! After tasting the first batch of beer I’ve been eager to learn how it was done. Just before I arrived at Luna our first batch of ginger mead, jackass bitter beer, and starfruit wine was made. The beers were made to be medicinal brews—something strong and good for your health since fermented foods, ginger, honey, and jackass bitters all have medicinal properties—but they were a bit too strong! The ginger was a bit overpowering, so the recipe had to be altered a bit, but the starfruit wine was just lovely! It was tart and sweet and a lot of fun to drink.

When Harold, our farm manager, was making a second batch of the ginger mead, I and the other interns, Gustavo and Riza, came to help and watch how it was done. We all donned hair nets and started heating the water and juicing the ginger and limes. The ingredients are so simple! All we needed was honey (it’s was makes it a mead), limes, ginger, and some yeast. I had no idea that making beer was so easy. The only tricky part was maintaining steady temperatures.

First, we heated the honey and then added it to a large vat of hot water. Next we added the ginger and lime juice and let the whole mixture heat for 30 minutes at 68° C. Then we poured the concoction into a sealable bucket and added cold water to make 19 L. After letting the solution cool to 26° C, we pitched in some yeast, while stirring it vigorously, and sealed the bucket. Now it just sits for a week and is later bottled where it will ferment some more for six weeks. Simple!

I can’t wait to try the new batch! I am definitely going to try brewing beer when I get home.