Introduction
About a year ago I was standing in the checkout at Kmart. The bloke in front of me had a large cardboard box and a very happy look on his face. The box contained a Coopers Micro-Brew Kit. I asked him "is it good?" and in the Australian vernacular he just said "Maaaaate!". So I immediately bought one.
The homebrew kit contains a 30l plastic barrel, thirty 740ml plastic bottles, a can of concentrate, other equipment, a bag of sugar and an instruction video. The plastic bottles have screw caps and remove much of the difficulty and danger of glass bottles. Brewing with this is a bit like making a cake from a packet: you just follow the instructions and add water. The video features Paul Mercurio, star of the 1993 Australian film " Strictly Ballroom".
Plastic Fermenter
While in Europe I was exposed to some different views on brewed drinks. My Belgian host served me drinks of all colors and with all sorts of ingredients. One from Brussels was naturally fermented from local cherries. The Lambic or Kriek (Cherry) drinks taste a bit like cider, with a slightly rotten apple smell.
The Belgians call these beer, but others would dispute this. According to the Wikipedia, beer "... is a fermented beverage made from malted barley, hops, yeast and water ...", whereas "Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of the juice of fruits, usually grapes. ...". So if barley and hops do not contribute to the result, this is a wine, rather than beer.
Lilly Pilly Fruit
On return to Australia I was inspired by the Lilly Pilly season. Lilly Pilly (LillyPilly or Syzygium oleosum) is an Australian native tree with cherry-like white to red fruit. They grow in and around Sydney. I picked mine from the streets of the inner west of Sydney.
The traditional Belgian fruit drink calls for a natural fermentation using raw fruit, where you open the windows and let whatever blows in start the fermentation. I wasn't game enough to try that and instead first boiled the fruit and used brewer's yeast.
Belgian style Lilly Pilly Wine
Ingredients
- Coopers home brew kit (or similar),
- 1 kg Lilly Pilly (or cherries),
- Half kilogram of raw cane sugar.
Clean the fermenter barrel and equipment, as per the standard instructions.
Lilly Pilly Fruit Simmering
Rinse the fruit in cold water (it is not necessary to remove stalks or pit the fruit). Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Allow the mix to cool, then mash them with a potato masher or similar. Pour the mash into the fermenter barrel, add the concentrate, sugar, water and yeast.
Seal the barrel with an airlock and leave until fermented. Bottle as per the standard instructions.
Filling Bottles
In theory, you could leave the mix to mature for several years. I found it takes about two months to be ready to drink and improves over the next six months. Note that the fruit adds more sugar, and therefore more alcohol. If you do not want it as strong, use half a kilogram instead of the usual one kilogram of sugar (I use Queensland raw cane sugar for a more fragrant mix). Dark Ale concentrate makes for an interesting variation, instead of the pale ale which usually comes with the home brew kit.