Brewing Beer on the Ranch

Well, the frost is on the pumpkin and the hay is in the barn ...and the Yanq now longs to ramble along, stumbling 'round drunk down on the farm.

After the historically hot summer, agrarian work is ending and temps have cooled to beer brewing temperatures ...and I aims to make the most of it.

It is rustic, I must say ...but since beer has been brewed cheerfully for about 4000 years in all weathers and conditions, I think that we'll be able to churn-out a brew acceptable to any working man or woman.  I do believe my brewhouse could use a good old-fashioned scrub-down, however.  I'll get to it.

This time out, I'll be giving a couple of relatively new methods a try ...both, strangely enough, originating on this South Side of the Planet.  Australia, specifically.

First, in order of battle, is the BIAB (brew in a bag) method ...and many thanks to the world-wide community devoted to exploring this time and work-saving method, not the least of whom are the BIAB facebook group.

Those of you who know how to take malted barley grains and turn it into beer won't fail to appreciate how this method simplifies the process ...athough it is still new enough to engender controversy.  Those of you who have no idea how yer cold one gets from feed-sack to frosty glass will just have to trust that there is something new and magical.

And time and effort saving!  Yea!  This new method saves hours and days and has been producing award-winning beers.  Those savings free the mind from drudgery towards more creativity ...and making more beer!

Another VERY Australian method, is to cool the pre-fermented beer in a food-grade jerry-can instead of using a radiator of cold water or dunking in ice ...more inside baseball, I know, but another antipodal and extraordinary innovation for folks that like to make beer for themselves.  "Oztrayan as a shit sammich," an Aussie friend once described it to me ...and perfectly suited to our lack of serious refrigeration on our un-electrified ranch.

Why make beer for yourself?  Good question, if I do say so myself.  Well, it's better ...and it can be tailored to your preferences ...it dovetails so very nicely into self-sufficiency ...and can be cheaper, although beer is about the last cheap thing here in the Argentine peso economy.  As a dirt-ranchin' resident deep in the recesses of the mighty Pampas, I can also tell you that it saves me a rediculously wasteful trip into town ...when all I need is a few cold ones.

Another good reason to brew beer in Argentina is: this is not a great beer drinking country.  Things have changed substantially over the past 10 years but, the general rule is still, "if it's good, it's hard to find and expensive ...and if it's easy to find and affordable, it's not very good."  Making your own beer changes all of that ...and could save you a 25km dirt road trip into town for a Quilmes.

But here's another REALLY good reason to brew beer in Argentina: great barley and barley malt ...and we owe it all to one man and his sons:

Otto Bemberg

The Bembergs systematically made Argentina into the beer barley powerhouse that it is today.  Other than the cultural preference for wine and a general prejudice against public drunkeness ...there is no substantive reason for Argentina not being a beer powerhouse, as well.

If you've read this far, I'll give you the recipe for what got into my fermenter right now:

I started with a 50 liter kettle of 41 liters of water (10.83 US gallons) heated to 72°C/160°F

Then dumped into it a mesh bag containing:
4.66 kilos of pale malt (10.27 lbs)
2.68 kilos of pilsner malt (5.91 lbs)
0.66 kilos of melanoidin malt (1.46 lbs)

Mashed at 66°C - 67°C (152°F - 154°F) for 90 minutes

Boiled for 90 minutes,
adding 15 grams of Cascade at 60 minutes,
adding 15 grams of Goldings at 45 minutes,
adding 5 grams of Cascade at 15 minutes,
adding 5 grams of Goldings at flame out.

Adding 1 whirlfloc tablet at 5 minutes.

Yielding: about 29 liters (7.66 US gals) of extract.

No chill 14.5 liters each in two 20 liter (5.28 US gals) cubes.

Fermenting each 14.5 liter (3.83 US gallons) batch in 20 liter (5.28 US gals) plastic buckets with airlocks using 1½ packets of dry SAF-05 each.

Too much inside baseball, once again.  However, if you know how to brew, it's informative ...and if you are interested in brewing, even in tight city situations, there might be a few cues for you within the recipe as you find your way through your first few batches.  This method has allowed people in cramped urban situations to brew batches as small as one-gallon.

The frost on my pumpkins is both a blessing and a curse, however.  Not only do I lack modern refrigeration, I lack central heating back at the ranch. Chilly temps are good and preferable for fermenting beer ...but they extend the time necessary to bring grain to glass.

I'll update you in about 3 weeks and ...if you care to venture to Barrio Retiro, I'll do my best to serve you a glass and take notes from your critique.

Na Zdrowie,
Mike