darkonc writes "The CBC has notes and an interview with Dane Rasmus Nielsen who decided to reduce the confusion between 'free as in speech' and 'free as in beer' by making a beer free -- in speech. The result is Vores Oel, an open source beer. The CBC site includes the recipe for the beer which is made with Guarana beans, and gives it a bit of a caffeine-like hit. The danish site downloads include the label for the beer (which is also Open Source)."
yeah yeah, find the torrent but good luck getting the beer out of your PC safely. How do you plan to get the beer out, drip it through that old unused floppy drive?
Are you crazy?
Streaming free beer over the internet is pointless without a DRM free RS-232 Bar Tap for output and only RMS has one of those.
Me to friend not well-versed in libre: "No, that's free as in beer." Friend: "Beer isn't free." Me: "Well, no. But when it is, it's free-as-in-beer." Friend: "Er, right. Suddenly everything becomes clear-as-in-mud." Me: "Actually it recently got a bit more complicated..."
Free-as-in-speech beer is all well and good, but I'd really like to see some of this free-as-in-beer beer that everyone talks about.
As everyone knows free beer will make you drink more and get drunk. When you get drunk you will speak more freely. So it will be free speach by free beer. How does this help anyone?
Except that it helps us get drunk, and that's not a bad thing, is it?;D
I suggest "free as in lunch", I think it might really be better than "free as in beer" ever was anyway, because it relates back to "there's no such thing as a free lunch" and basically re-enforces the idea that "free as in speech" = good, "free as in lunch" = be cautious.
And other drinks over at the Cat's Meow 3 [brewery.org] lots of beer related stuff. Of course it will cost you some money to brew a batch, but hey it could be worth it.
I do not vouch for specific recipies there, as I haven't done any brewing in years.
``Free software'' is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of ``free'' as in ``free speech,'' not as in ``free beer.''
Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:
* The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
* The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
* The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
* The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html [gnu.org]
Uh-oh... I hope "Vores øl" doesn't get in trouble for this (but then again, it's not like this is the US, so there is hope).
The thing is, a few years ago one of the two major Danish beer labels had a series of commercials in which "Vores øl" was the signature. They might not see this site as such a "free speech" win, though I hope they'll let it pass without raising a fuss.
Now... when you here the words "open source" most people think of computer software programs like Linux...It is a model where the original "source code" can be modified and improved at little cost...and it's shared among users for free.
Well now... thanks to Rasmus Nielsen, beer is free too. At least the recipe is... in an industry where ingredients and processes are typically kept under constant poliece surveilance.
Rasmus Nielsen is one of the creators of the Vores OI beer recipe. We were able to trace the subject to his secluded home in Copehagen, Denmark.
Recipe for approx. 85 ltr. Vores Øl (Our Beer) (approx. 6% alchohol by volume).
Malt extract
For Vores Øl we use four types malted barley:
6 kg pilsner malt
4 kg münsner malt
1 kg caramel malt
1 kg lager malt
The malt is crushed and put in 55-60C hot water for 1-2 hours.
The mixture is filtered and the liquid now contains about 10 kg malt extract.
Taste and sugar
Besides malt we use:
60 g Tetnang bitter hops
50 g Hallertaver aroma hops
300 g Guarana beans
4 kg sugar
(Guarana beans can typically be bought at health food stores).
The malt extact is brought to a boil in a large pot with the hops and approx. 70 ltr. of water.
After half an hour, the Guarana beans and sugar are added.
The mixture simmers for about an hour, and is then filtered and cooled in a sealed container.
Fermentation
Yeast is added and the beer is fermented at room temperature for approx. 2 weeks.
When the beer is fully fermented it is transferred to bottles. First 4 g sugar is added per liter and some yeast from the bottom of the fermentation tanks for priming.
Vores Øl is then left in the bottles at room temperature for 8-10 days for carbonation. Then the beer is ready to enjoy; cold and refreshing.
As a Heineken representative, I'd just like to remind you all that THERE ARE NO ADVANTAGES to open source beer.
See our website for zillions of usless statistics and reports (compiled by and independent organisation (funded by us)), that disprove the so called benefits of open source beer.
As well as conveniently digging up all those old patents we also plan to file numourous lawsuits against the open source beer community - if you are a user of open source beer, watch out - you may be prosecuted.
This recipe is terrible. The most glaring error is they don't specify the type of yeast. Is this an Ale or a Lager? There's a big difference beween the two. Given the room temperature fermenting, you'd assume an Ale, but some Lager yeasts can ferment at room temperature too. Among those two major yeast types there's a huge difference among the various strains that produces very different end products.
The recipe calls for armoma hops and bitter hops. The only difference between the two is the length of the boil. Bitter hops are boiled on the order of 30 minutes, Aroma hops are boiled on the order of 5 minutes. But no boil times are specified at all. The boiling time of hops impacts the hop level of the beer, which has a major impacts on the flavor of the beer.
If this recipe were code, it wouldn't compile. You'd have to guess at the yeast type and boil times for the hops. The massive 85 liter batch size isn't terribly usefull either. Most homebrewers do 5-6 gallon batches.
Whenever I complained about some open source app not doing what I wanted it to, some dude would always come along and whine something like, "it's free, it's open source - fix it yerself"....
Ahem... (clears throat)
"Quit complaining! it's free, it's open source! Fix it yerself"
But seriously, I agree - it definitly doesn't look ready for a version 1.0 release right now.
The problem is that it's impossible to even know what they're even trying to create in the first place. Without some kind of guideline to start with you might as well ignore the recipe they came up with and use your own.
It's as if you've got a collection of code that's incomplete, but you're not sure what the completed product was actually supposed to do. How would you possibly fill in the missing pieces of code?
exactly, and as a home brewer I took offense at the title "worlds first open source beer" which it is not. Myself and several other home-brewers share recipies and techniques all the time.
Open source beer has been around ever cince home brewing has been around. (like forever)
I strongly suggest to people wanting to get into home brewing to get some books on the subject, and make a couple of throw away batches (my first 4 batches were HORRIBLE! praanoid sterelization is key to making beer!)
I would put the recipie as not even a no compiling project but as a project that requires some dependancies but they only tell you generally..
Oh to compile you need a graphics library. and the lack of details on the rest of it is like not telling you what programming language it is.
This is not at all like that open source cola recipie that was on the net a few years ago. that one was complete and easy to make (if you can get your hands on the ingredients)
in fact that open source cola launched me into beer making. I bought several postmix pop canisters for making the pop.... found they are wonderful for fermenting my beer into larger than bottle sized batches. my "mini-keg" so to speak of lumpyale.
exactly, and as a home brewer I took offense at the title "worlds first open source beer" which it is not. Myself and several other home-brewers share recipies and techniques all the time.
While you're busy taking offense, how about taking a break and realise it's a joke?
Either way, people were sharing code and programs long before 'open source' got around. What makes open source is the licence (and preferably some idiot standing on a virtual box shouting, 'this is open source'), and this is the first I'
Not necessarily. What's printed on the label as an ale or lager does not mean what yeast is used. Some states have weird laws determining what you are allowed to call an "ale" which are not the technically correct definitions. (Ale yeast ferement at room temps, 60-70F. Lager yeasts ferment at refrigerated temperatures - 35F.)
Basically, the ingredients listed here are useless. Brewing is all about technique, not ingredients. In order to realistically clone a beer, you need to know:
The yeast strain to produce the correct flavor profile. Even specifying "ale yeast" is not enough. There are dozens and dozens of strains with very different flavors.
What kind/brand of grain used and its color. Caramel malt comes in a wide spectrum of colors and varieties.
The expected alpha acid % in the hops to normalize for natural differences. One day your Hallertauer might be 2% and the next 4%. If you don't normalize, the second will be roughly twice as bitter.
What temperataure it's fermented and conditioned at, and for how long. Some beers have complex fermentation schedules with many changes.
Mineral profile of the water they use. You can't substitute hard water for soft and expect it to be the same.
How it's mashed. Single infusion? Double? Protein rest? Mash out? Maybe it's a (single/double triple) decoction?
Without all that, you are not cloning a beer, but merely making something vaguely similar. This level of detail is what brewmasters need to do to make a zillion gallons that all tastes the same, regardless of region. That's why when you buy Sam Adams in Arizona, made with different ingredients, it still tastes like Sam Adams.
Basically, this recipe is a marketing ploy and not useful in the least.
Sorry folks, but that's just plainly stupid. All IP issues with recipe for beer should be settled with Hildegard of Bingen [fordham.edu]. This German Benedictine nun was the first author to suggest that adding hops to the disgusting fluid hitherto known as beer will be generally a good idea. Since the age of Hildegard (12 century), no significant progress has been made in this topic - she has described the beer as we know it today. And as it was with many medieval philospophers, Hildegard created her "intellectual property" just "ad maiorem Dei gloriam", feel free to copy for the greater God's glory. So there is no need to make "open source beer" today - it was open source since last eight centuries.
Personally, I think the idea of adding guarana to beer is just plainly insane. Beer is meant to relax people. If I want to stay alert and awake I can drink coffee or energy drinks. Beer is something to drink when the work is over and you can relax. Guarana beer is like coffee with sleeping pills.
can a person under the legal drinking age purchase these ingrediants without anyone asking for ID?
I know that malt can be used for other things (although I doubt lager malt has other uses), and hops have properties that stop bacterial reaction (although I have never heard of their use for anything else). Yeast, of course, is used for bread. So for thoes with experience in home bewing, what's the verdict?
This beer has a viral license. After you drink it you are running embedded beer and you will have to open all your internals for free (small fee for sending your intestines is acceptable)
And the caffeine in coffee and chocolate ISN'T natural? Natural != healthy. The nicotine found in tobacco is perfectly natural: the plant makes it as an insecticide. And even though it's perfectly natural, I doubt snake venom beer would be very good for you (okay, okay, it has been found that small doses of certain snake venoms can actually help patients overcome certain disorders, but in general, not a good idea.) Or how about a nice tetrodotoxin [emedicine.com]saki? It's made from the all natural pufferfish, a Japanese delicacy.
And then there's the fact that guarana has not been evaluated by the FDA for safety, effectiveness, or purity. All potential risks and/or advantages of guarana may not be known. Additionally, there are no regulated manufacturing standards in place.
Now, the caffeine in guarana beans is generally disgested much slower than in, say, a cup of coffee. However the effect when you grind up the bean and mix it with a carbonated alcoholic beverage would probably be to extract the caffeine directly into the liquid, where it can be digested quicker. Not that I'm against mixing caffeine and alcohol within moderation... just as long as you know what's going on and understand that, yes, you are taking risks.
The process of brewing beer is easy, but not quite THAT easy.
A good introduction to brewing is How To Brew [howtobrew.com] by John Palmer. The entire 1st edition of the book is available on the web for free at the URL above. (Perhaps predictably, it's free as in beer, not as in speech:)
Unless you are already a homebrewer, don't try this recipe - it's a difficult grain recipe, and looking at the recipe, will not will not be a fantastic beer.
If you are interested in starting with the hobby (and I recommend you do, you'll never look back), go to your local home brew shop and grab a starter kit, you will make some pretty good beer - certianly better than that recipe will get you.
Once you have made up a few batches, add some Gurana to a recipe you like and you will have a cafinated beer
Unless you are already a homebrewer, don't try this recipe - it's a difficult grain recipe, and looking at the recipe, will not will not be a fantastic beer.
A fantastic beer is all a matter of personal preference. The history of beer in north america was changed dramatically by prohibition. During that period, they were brewing awful stuff, and serving it very very green. What was discovered, if you chill the beer till it's 'cold', folks liked it better. If you look into the specific reason why, it's kind of hillarious. A liquid chilled the way north americans prefer beer (ice cold), will numb many of the tastebuds when it flows over the tongue. Those are specifically the buds that react to the flavour of yeast. When prohibition ended, the brewing industry held onto this concept, because it allows one to serve a green beer, and nobody will taste the yeast. Ever notice how much the industry spends promoting 'cold beer'? That simply because they know, if folks are drinking it chilled, they can sell a beer that's got a horrible yeast flavour, and nobody will notice.
The recipe in question as given on the website will produce a very interesting beer, but, its definitely a european beer. That means it should be served just below room temp, not well chilled, and, it does need to be fully and properly cured, to get rid of the yeast flavours. the majority of the flavour from this particular beer will be lost if served chilled the north american way.
If you are doing your own brews, it's a very interesting experiment. Make up a traditional european beer, then try 2 bottles side by side. Chill one 'the north american way', and treat the other exactly the way you would treat a good red wine (8 to 12 degrees below room temp). The chilled variant will taste awful, the room temp bottle will have a host of interesting flavours. Repeat the process with an american beer, and you'll find the room temp bottle will have a horrible yeasty aftertaste, which you dont notice when trying the chilled bottle.
But, that's the beauty of open source beer:) for our north american folks that prefer ice cold beer, they can fork the recipe, and refine it for one that has acceptable flavours when served chilled, and disregard the yeast artifacts, the the chilled serving will hide them.
After all, I can still taste Coke when it's icy cold... in fact, I can still taste a lemonade icy-pole well, and it's very cold...?
Did the post say _all_ tastebuds, or many tastebuds ? Some are not affected by the cold, others are. Heat has a similar effect. I'm sure you know at least one food that seems to 'taste better' after it's got cold?
The following recipe is mine (mine! mine!) and I am releasing it under the GPL. For those unfamiliar with Mead, it is a honey-wine that dates back something like 6,000 years to either Greece or Cyprus. It has been blamed on various Gods over time and is even in the English language (honeymoon refers to the practice of getting sloshed on Mead for one lunar month after a marriage.)
Ingredients per gallon of water (scale as appropriate):
4 lbs. of any light-color honey
3 acorns (crushed)
1/4 pint of extra-strong tea
Juice of two medium-sized lemons
3-4 tbsp malt extract
1 sachet of Mead or Champagne Yeast
2 x 1 gallon brewing jar
One airlock
Pint jug
Wine siphoning kit
Method:
Boil the acorns in a 1/4 pint of water, until the water turns yellow. Strain out the acorns. Boil the gallon of water separately, then let it cool slightly. Add the honey, tea, the water from the acorns and the lemon juice. Stir gently. It is recommended to remove the scum off the top, but I never do. Allow the water to cool to just above blood-warm and pour all but 1/4 pint into a brewing jar.
Heat 1/2 pint of water in a jug until blood-warm and dissolve into it the maltose. Add the yeast and stir. Let to sit until the yeast is active and a good froth has formed.
Pour the yeast mix into the brewing jar, then rinse the jug with the remaining 1/4 pint to get the remaining yeast. Also pour into the brewing jar. Shake the brewing jar to ensure a good mix, but not so much as to lose any of the mixture out of the top.
Fill the air-lock with water (assuming it is a type that uses water) and stopper the brewing jar. Place somewhere warm (most yeasts do best around 78'F). Regardless of what anyone else says, I do recommend direct sunlight.
Wait until fully fermented, then use the wine siphoning kit to siphon the mead into the empty brewing jar, minus the sludge. Stopper it again and let it settle for a day. Clean the original brewing jar carefully. Place the full brewing jar in a cool, dark location.
After six months, siphon back to the original brewing jar, stopper it up, and place it back in the dark. After another six months, bottle into dark glass bottles.
Mead is "best" after being left for 4-5 years, but is extremely drinkable within a day or two of being bottled.
I use just about any old mead or champagne yeast, but the one that seems to be the most popular is Wyeast's #3632 Dry Mead yeast. If you want something that'll give you an extra kick, START with that until it finishes, then pour out 1/4 pint to make a fresh starter kit. This time, use a high-tolerence yeast (champagne will go to 17 or 18%, but there are yeasts now that'll go to 25%). Once started, pour back into the main brewing jar and let it finish.
If you want a slightly fruitier flavor, add 1 lb. of blueberries or some other soft fruit, when making the original mix.
If you want a "cleaner", softer flavor, don't use the acorns.
But what good is an open source recipe when it is written in Shakespear-ish measurements like "lbs", "gallons", "sachet", "F" and "pint"? This kind of anglosaxican prejudice is exactly the problem with open source!
Creative Commons [creativecommons.org] liscenses allows "open sourcing" just about any IP you want: music, visual arts, writing... it's just a license that you have to print the license and the recipie if you want to distribute the beer.
Wait... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wait... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Free Beer? (Score:5, Funny)
Are you crazy?
Streaming free beer over the internet is pointless without a DRM free RS-232 Bar Tap for output and only RMS has one of those.
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Re:Free Beer? (Score:5, Funny)
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reduce the confusion? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:reduce the confusion? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yup. Not that it isn't already confusing enough:
Me to friend not well-versed in libre: "No, that's free as in beer."
Friend: "Beer isn't free."
Me: "Well, no. But when it is, it's free-as-in-beer."
Friend: "Er, right. Suddenly everything becomes clear-as-in-mud."
Me: "Actually it recently got a bit more complicated..."
Free-as-in-speech beer is all well and good, but I'd really like to see some of this free-as-in-beer beer that everyone talks about.
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It can't be open source (Score:5, Funny)
If this were in the true open-source spirit it'd be 0.99_rc3_beta1.1 at most.
Beta testing (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Beta testing (Score:4, Funny)
Did you ever wonder about the poor guys who beta tested preparations A through G? That had to be a crappy job...
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Free beer is one thing (Score:5, Funny)
Trusting the Danish for your free beer is quite another.
*ducks*
Re:Free beer is one thing (Score:5, Funny)
mmmmmm danishhhhh
that would confuse the fuck out of homer simpson!
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Now that will just add to the confusion... (Score:5, Funny)
Except that it helps us get drunk, and that's not a bad thing, is it?
The label... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The label... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Wired (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wired (Score:5, Informative)
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You can talk about free beer all you want. (Score:5, Funny)
More Free (as in speach) beer (Score:3, Informative)
I do not vouch for specific recipies there, as I haven't done any brewing in years.
No wonder there is confusion (Score:3, Interesting)
Confused? (Score:3, Informative)
``Free software'' is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of ``free'' as in ``free speech,'' not as in ``free beer.'' Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:
* The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
* The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
* The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
* The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html [gnu.org]
Uh-oh ... whose beer now? (Score:3, Informative)
The thing is, a few years ago one of the two major Danish beer labels had a series of commercials in which "Vores øl" was the signature. They might not see this site as such a "free speech" win, though I hope they'll let it pass without raising a fuss.
Article Text, in case of /.ing (Score:3)
Now
Well now
Recipe for approx. 85 ltr. Vores Øl (Our Beer) (approx. 6% alchohol by volume).
Malt extract
For Vores Øl we use four types malted barley:
6 kg pilsner malt
4 kg münsner malt
1 kg caramel malt
1 kg lager malt
The malt is crushed and put in 55-60C hot water for 1-2 hours.
The mixture is filtered and the liquid now contains about 10 kg malt extract.
Taste and sugar Besides malt we use:
60 g Tetnang bitter hops
50 g Hallertaver aroma hops
300 g Guarana beans
4 kg sugar
(Guarana beans can typically be bought at health food stores).
The malt extact is brought to a boil in a large pot with the hops and approx. 70 ltr. of water.
After half an hour, the Guarana beans and sugar are added.
The mixture simmers for about an hour, and is then filtered and cooled in a sealed container.
Fermentation
Yeast is added and the beer is fermented at room temperature for approx. 2 weeks.
When the beer is fully fermented it is transferred to bottles. First 4 g sugar is added per liter and some yeast from the bottom of the fermentation tanks for priming.
Vores Øl is then left in the bottles at room temperature for 8-10 days for carbonation. Then the beer is ready to enjoy; cold and refreshing.
Important message from Heineken (Score:5, Funny)
See our website for zillions of usless statistics and reports (compiled by and independent organisation (funded by us)), that disprove the so called benefits of open source beer.
As well as conveniently digging up all those old patents we also plan to file numourous lawsuits against the open source beer community - if you are a user of open source beer, watch out - you may be prosecuted.
Coming from an ameteur brewer.. (Score:5, Informative)
The recipe calls for armoma hops and bitter hops. The only difference between the two is the length of the boil. Bitter hops are boiled on the order of 30 minutes, Aroma hops are boiled on the order of 5 minutes. But no boil times are specified at all. The boiling time of hops impacts the hop level of the beer, which has a major impacts on the flavor of the beer.
If this recipe were code, it wouldn't compile. You'd have to guess at the yeast type and boil times for the hops. The massive 85 liter batch size isn't terribly usefull either. Most homebrewers do 5-6 gallon batches.
Re:Coming from an ameteur brewer.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Ahem... (clears throat)
"Quit complaining! it's free, it's open source! Fix it yerself"
But seriously, I agree - it definitly doesn't look ready for a version 1.0 release right now.
:-)
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Re:Coming from an ameteur brewer.. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's as if you've got a collection of code that's incomplete, but you're not sure what the completed product was actually supposed to do. How would you possibly fill in the missing pieces of code?
Re:Coming from an ameteur brewer.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Coming from an ameteur brewer.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Open source beer has been around ever cince home brewing has been around. (like forever)
I strongly suggest to people wanting to get into home brewing to get some books on the subject, and make a couple of throw away batches (my first 4 batches were HORRIBLE! praanoid sterelization is key to making beer!)
I would put the recipie as not even a no compiling project but as a project that requires some dependancies but they only tell you generally..
Oh to compile you need a graphics library. and the lack of details on the rest of it is like not telling you what programming language it is.
This is not at all like that open source cola recipie that was on the net a few years ago. that one was complete and easy to make (if you can get your hands on the ingredients)
in fact that open source cola launched me into beer making. I bought several postmix pop canisters for making the pop.... found they are wonderful for fermenting my beer into larger than bottle sized batches. my "mini-keg" so to speak of lumpyale.
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Re:Coming from an ameteur brewer.. (Score:3, Interesting)
While you're busy taking offense, how about taking a break and realise it's a joke?
Either way, people were sharing code and programs long before 'open source' got around. What makes open source is the licence (and preferably some idiot standing on a virtual box shouting, 'this is open source'), and this is the first I'
Re:Coming from an ameteur brewer.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Since it's named "Vores Oel", I'd guess it's an ale.
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Re:Coming from an ameteur brewer.. (Score:4, Informative)
Basically, the ingredients listed here are useless. Brewing is all about technique, not ingredients. In order to realistically clone a beer, you need to know:
Without all that, you are not cloning a beer, but merely making something vaguely similar. This level of detail is what brewmasters need to do to make a zillion gallons that all tastes the same, regardless of region. That's why when you buy Sam Adams in Arizona, made with different ingredients, it still tastes like Sam Adams.
Basically, this recipe is a marketing ploy and not useful in the least.
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Beer is already free (as in speech) (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally, I think the idea of adding guarana to beer is just plainly insane. Beer is meant to relax people. If I want to stay alert and awake I can drink coffee or energy drinks. Beer is something to drink when the work is over and you can relax. Guarana beer is like coffee with sleeping pills.
Out of morbid curiosity..... (Score:3, Funny)
I know that malt can be used for other things (although I doubt lager malt has other uses), and hops have properties that stop bacterial reaction (although I have never heard of their use for anything else). Yeast, of course, is used for bread. So for thoes with experience in home bewing, what's the verdict?
ALERT!!! DO NOT DRINK IT! (Score:3, Funny)
After you drink it you are running embedded beer and you will have to open all your internals for free
(small fee for sending your intestines is acceptable)
Recipes are already free (Score:5, Informative)
Why do you think Coca-Cola keeps their recipes under strict secrecy?
So brew away -- and feel free to ignore the licensing restrictions of the CC license, at least for the recipe.
Re:caffeine LIKE? (Score:3, Funny)
> natural sources of our beloved caffeine!
The important thing is that guarana is better for you as it is a natural source of caffeine. so that's something to remember
Re:caffeine LIKE? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm pretty sure I read the original article some months ago, btw - don't know if it's a
Re:caffeine LIKE? (Score:5, Insightful)
And then there's the fact that guarana has not been evaluated by the FDA for safety, effectiveness, or purity. All potential risks and/or advantages of guarana may not be known. Additionally, there are no regulated manufacturing standards in place.
Now, the caffeine in guarana beans is generally disgested much slower than in, say, a cup of coffee. However the effect when you grind up the bean and mix it with a carbonated alcoholic beverage would probably be to extract the caffeine directly into the liquid, where it can be digested quicker. Not that I'm against mixing caffeine and alcohol within moderation... just as long as you know what's going on and understand that, yes, you are taking risks.
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DO NOT follow their directions (Score:5, Informative)
A good introduction to brewing is How To Brew [howtobrew.com] by John Palmer. The entire 1st edition of the book is available on the web for free at the URL above. (Perhaps predictably, it's free as in beer, not as in speech
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Re:Somewhat Lacking? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you are interested in starting with the hobby (and I recommend you do, you'll never look back), go to your local home brew shop and grab a starter kit, you will make some pretty good beer - certianly better than that recipe will get you.
Once you have made up a few batches, add some Gurana to a recipe you like and you will have a cafinated beer
Re:Somewhat Lacking? (Score:5, Interesting)
A fantastic beer is all a matter of personal preference. The history of beer in north america was changed dramatically by prohibition. During that period, they were brewing awful stuff, and serving it very very green. What was discovered, if you chill the beer till it's 'cold', folks liked it better. If you look into the specific reason why, it's kind of hillarious. A liquid chilled the way north americans prefer beer (ice cold), will numb many of the tastebuds when it flows over the tongue. Those are specifically the buds that react to the flavour of yeast. When prohibition ended, the brewing industry held onto this concept, because it allows one to serve a green beer, and nobody will taste the yeast. Ever notice how much the industry spends promoting 'cold beer'? That simply because they know, if folks are drinking it chilled, they can sell a beer that's got a horrible yeast flavour, and nobody will notice.
The recipe in question as given on the website will produce a very interesting beer, but, its definitely a european beer. That means it should be served just below room temp, not well chilled, and, it does need to be fully and properly cured, to get rid of the yeast flavours. the majority of the flavour from this particular beer will be lost if served chilled the north american way.
If you are doing your own brews, it's a very interesting experiment. Make up a traditional european beer, then try 2 bottles side by side. Chill one 'the north american way', and treat the other exactly the way you would treat a good red wine (8 to 12 degrees below room temp). The chilled variant will taste awful, the room temp bottle will have a host of interesting flavours. Repeat the process with an american beer, and you'll find the room temp bottle will have a horrible yeasty aftertaste, which you dont notice when trying the chilled bottle.
But, that's the beauty of open source beer :) for our north american folks that prefer ice cold beer, they can fork the recipe, and refine it for one that has acceptable flavours when served chilled, and disregard the yeast artifacts, the the chilled serving will hide them.
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Re:Somewhat Lacking? (Score:3, Interesting)
Did the post say _all_ tastebuds, or many tastebuds ? Some are not affected by the cold, others are. Heat has a similar effect. I'm sure you know at least one food that seems to 'taste better' after it's got cold?
Re:Somewhat Lacking? (Score:3, Funny)
Hard to set up, isn't that good, and you can add something to something more mainstream to make it do the same thing!
(just kidding!)
GPLed Mead (Score:5, Interesting)
Ingredients per gallon of water (scale as appropriate):
Method:
Boil the acorns in a 1/4 pint of water, until the water turns yellow. Strain out the acorns. Boil the gallon of water separately, then let it cool slightly. Add the honey, tea, the water from the acorns and the lemon juice. Stir gently. It is recommended to remove the scum off the top, but I never do. Allow the water to cool to just above blood-warm and pour all but 1/4 pint into a brewing jar.
Heat 1/2 pint of water in a jug until blood-warm and dissolve into it the maltose. Add the yeast and stir. Let to sit until the yeast is active and a good froth has formed.
Pour the yeast mix into the brewing jar, then rinse the jug with the remaining 1/4 pint to get the remaining yeast. Also pour into the brewing jar. Shake the brewing jar to ensure a good mix, but not so much as to lose any of the mixture out of the top.
Fill the air-lock with water (assuming it is a type that uses water) and stopper the brewing jar. Place somewhere warm (most yeasts do best around 78'F). Regardless of what anyone else says, I do recommend direct sunlight.
Wait until fully fermented, then use the wine siphoning kit to siphon the mead into the empty brewing jar, minus the sludge. Stopper it again and let it settle for a day. Clean the original brewing jar carefully. Place the full brewing jar in a cool, dark location.
After six months, siphon back to the original brewing jar, stopper it up, and place it back in the dark. After another six months, bottle into dark glass bottles.
Mead is "best" after being left for 4-5 years, but is extremely drinkable within a day or two of being bottled.
I use just about any old mead or champagne yeast, but the one that seems to be the most popular is Wyeast's #3632 Dry Mead yeast. If you want something that'll give you an extra kick, START with that until it finishes, then pour out 1/4 pint to make a fresh starter kit. This time, use a high-tolerence yeast (champagne will go to 17 or 18%, but there are yeasts now that'll go to 25%). Once started, pour back into the main brewing jar and let it finish.
If you want a slightly fruitier flavor, add 1 lb. of blueberries or some other soft fruit, when making the original mix.
If you want a "cleaner", softer flavor, don't use the acorns.
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Re:GPLed Mead (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:GPLed Mead (Score:5, Funny)
Says the guy with RGB colors in his sig. In my country, we only use HSV, you insensitive clod!
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Re:Freedom (Score:5, Funny)
Shame. *hic*.
Don't forget - all drivers are incompatible with this open source release, DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE
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Re:Open Source Beer? (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Open Source Beer? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Open Source Beer? (Score:5, Funny)
MadCow.
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