Jan 11, 2011
Bear Ridge Bucket Beer
Nother Better Than A Cold Beer
This is a good starter beer recipe, simple, inexpensive and you can brew it in your garage.
Supplies
2 – 5 gallon buckets with lids and air locks (home brew store)
1 – 3 pound can of hops flavored malt syrup (home brew store)
4 pounds cane sugar
1 pack of beer yeast (bakers yeast will work but beer yeast settles better)
5 gallons of water
Instructions
- Boil malt and 4 pounds of sugar in 3 gallons of water for 30 minutes. I boil everything together in a large canning pot on a turkey fryer but a stove top top works.
- Cool slightly, then pour into a sterilized food grade plastic bucket marked at the 5 gallon level. A five gallon bucket from Walmart with a lid works just fine.
- Add cool water to bring the level up to the 5-gallon mark, cover with a plastic trash bag secured with rubber bands.
- When cooled to room temperature, add yeast to the mix then cover with lid that has air lock. The mix should be around 75 degrees or it kills the yeast. You can make an air lock out of a piece of 1/4 inch plastic tubing. The air lock lets the gas escape while keeping bacteria out.
- Let the beer ferment until only a few bubbles are breaking the surface. Around 5 to 8 days at room temperature.
- Next, siphon your beer into another sterilized bucket, leaving the gunk (lees) that’s settled to the bottom behind. You can pour the beer if you are really really careful.
- Cover with air locked lid and let settle for about 3 days or until the bubbling has ceased.
Your beer is now flat but ready to bottle. To carbonate your beer you must add sugar so it will carbonate in the bottle.
- Dissolve 1/4 cup of sugar per gallon of beer in about a quart of boiling water and pour it into a sterilized bucket (first bucket).
- Pour the beer into the bucket with the sugar mix again leaving the gunk (lees) behind, stir and bottle. You can siphon the beer into the bottles but it’s easier if you put a small tap near the bottom of your bucket. This is actually called a bottling bucket.
Let beer sit for 10 days to build up carbonation then enjoy.
Regarding bottle strength, use only bottles that require a bottle opener to remove the cap. Bottles with twist-off caps are thinner and prone to explosion, or use very clean plastic 2-liter bottles. Exploding beer bottles are not necessarily dangerous they just makes a terrible mess. You should buy new caps and a capper from a home brew store. 5 gallons of beer makes 54-12 oz bottles or around 28-22 oz bottles. I use 22 oz bottles. Your bottles can be washed and reused many times.
This is a good first beer. I use glass carboys now instead of buckets and have adjusted the recipe slightly. I would recommend buying new bottles at a home brew store.
So you won’t be shocked remember that this is a home brew beer, it is not Bud Light. Your beer will be darker, cloudier and stronger than the anemic store bought brands but it will taste incredible.
