Comments on: Greentime Episode #8 – Brewing Soft Drinks

By: Rhett

Rhett — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:01:33 +0000

Ronald,

Your English is quite good, and I’m sure it’s better than my ability with your native language. Where are you from, out of curiosity? We’ve seen peoplee all over the world view our videos, and we love knowing where people are from.

We’re really glad you like the recipe, and if you find another recipe that words well, we’d love to know. I’m brewing a soft drink right now that uses green tea and pomegranate, and it looks like it might be good, but I don’t know yet.

We absolutely will be doing an upcoming episode on beer. The owner of our brew shop would love to. We just need to finish drinking the current beer. We also have some wine on the way. We’re also waiting to try out a way to make small amounts of beer without special equipment.

By: Ronald

Ronald — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:16:56 +0000

Rhett,

Hi! Good day, your recipe really rocks, i really enjoy doing it over and over, you are right, the key of success on fermentation is cleanliness, the first time i do it, it horribly fails due to i forgot to sanitize everything. But now it’s pretty cool, plus the fact that i almost forgot to drink ordinary cola.

p.s.

Please forgive my english, since i’m not a native english speaker i hope one of these days if you are not busy, could you please post it here on your blog your _secret_ recipe on how to make a _beer_. :p

Best regards,

Ronald

By: Rhett

Rhett — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 20:48:44 +0000

Okay. That made a very welcome and humorous addition to my afternoon. You’re just a wonderful part of our community! Don’t ever leave.

Now I don’t feel so bad when I show up as Science Geek Boy on your blog.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 20:35:14 +0000

Oh yeah! I forgot about those things… that’s a good idea. I think my grandparents had one of those.

Yeast freaks me out because it’s like this weird powder that’s alive — I get creeped out by things like plants that move (Venus fly trap) or powders that make things bubble and grow and stuff (like, what’s it doing in my stomach then?). Also am totally freaked by monkeys… they’re just way too close to being humans. I like concrete dividers between human, animal, plant and mineral.

Can you tell I flunked science?

By: Rhett

Rhett — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:46:01 +0000

Nathan,

Thanks for the nice vote. I’m catching up on the blog while Amy sleeps, so I haven’t had time to see your vlog yet. We just got married yesterday and we’re playing catch-up. I’m going to watch your videos tomorrow. Just looking at the banner tells me I’m going to love them.

By: Rhett

Rhett — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:44:56 +0000

Vanessa,

If yeast freaks you out, the other option is to go back to the seltzer bottle like the ones you see from classic physical comedy routines. Just sweeten and flavor the water, and you’re set. I believe the small CO2 cartridges are aluminum and recyclable. If not, the secret is to just up the size of your CO2 reservoir until it’s a size that is returnable and thus reusable.

Why does yeast concern you, if you don’t mind my asking?

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 21:52:00 +0000

This is great! I’ve been trying to convince my cubicle neighbours, who are all addicted to Diet Coke, to wean themselves off pop (sorry, soda!) because it’s so evil, from the high-fructose corn syrup to the aspartame, and so on. I was recommending they try fizzy water with some lime cordial or grenadine, but this is a great alternative. Yeast totally freaks me out, though…

By: Nathan

Nathan — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 07:33:53 +0000

That was great…
I enjoyed listening to your explaination – you never slipped up or became lost for words…I think I might give this a try!

By: Rhett

Rhett — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:39:30 +0000

Well, the co-op in question is specifically for brewing. It’s not a “true” co-op, I suppose, because the brewers are not themselves owners of the shop and equipment, but its business model is close to that of a co-op. It’s a store that sells brewing supplies, but which also has a set of kettles for brewing. You pay a flat fee to use a kettle to make a 13.5 gallon batch. You pick the recipe and cook it, with supervision from a brewmaster if you need it, and then the brewmaster transfers it to a fermenter for you. They keep the fermenter for you, make sure it doesn’t catch an infection or violently ferment, etc. Then, you come back in a few weeks and use their equipment to bottle it in your own bottles. You get to keep the first 72 pints, and the rest are returned to the store for use in parties and other things. You can also trade them a case of your beer for a sampler of the beers other brewers have made there. It’s probably more expensive this way, but we think it’s worth it because the brewmaster cares for it while it’s fermenting and will re-brew failed batches. We also think it’s a more sustainable choice to share common equipment with others than to buy our own fermenters and equipment.

If you’re looking for research and recipes, I highly recommend The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. I’m reading it right now to better understand the recipes I use. It really demystifies the entire process and its introductory recipes are quite simple to follow. It was recommended to me by our brewmaster, actually.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:23:17 +0000

A co-op that does brewing? Fabulous!

I havent actually tried to make alcoholic beverages yet, but I have had a few friends try their hand at it-both beer and wine-and the results fell flat with every one who tried their concotions. I am thinking about trying it sometime this summer, but being the perfectionist planner that I am, I need to do more research first and find some tried and true recipies.