EATURE NOVEMBER 2ND 1983 PAGE7 Hreto How to make it : we ree Braumeister Laurie’s Guide to home brewing Here’s what you need to get started on your own batch of ‘‘Lowlife’’: *a plastic garbage can big enough to hold 10 gallons-or a can made of ‘food grade’ plasatic if you can find it. *about six feet of clear plastic tubing for siphoning the beer. *a large spoon, preferable wooden and one not used for anything else (because of possible contamination). “bottle caps and a capper, the latter worth spending about $18 on. *a liquid thermometer, worth about $5. *a hydrometer, for checking oe worth about 8. “empty beer bottles. (I made the mistake once of buying two cases of ‘morning-after- the-party’ empties from the 18-year-old next door, only to find most of them harbor- ing a vile mixture of soggy cigarette butts and back- wash. Suffice it to say that the best way to procure clean empties is to rinse out your own as they’re down- ed.) Total cost for all equip- ment: about $45. Total cost of ingredients necessary to make about four gallons: $9. Here is a simple, step-by- step recipe to make four gallons of beer: 1. Prepare your wort. This is as simple as filling your fermenter with a gallon of hot water, mixing in three pounds of sugar and a two-pound can of malt ex- tract. A reading of the wort wsith the hydrometer should show a specific gravity (SG) of between 1.035 and 1.042. 2. Add tap water, up to about four gallons. I usually run it hot directly out of the shower head to aerate the water. 3. Get the yeast ready. Fill the empty extract can half- full with wort, add the contents of the package of yeast and let it bubble for awhile before adding it to the rest of the batch. 4. Fermentation. Cover the fermenter and leave it in a place with a temperature between 50 and 70F for about a week. 5. Bottling. When the spec- ific gravity is down to 1.004 or so, the beer is ready to be bottled. Use the plastic tubing to siphon the beer into the bottles, and before capping add a half-teaspoon of sugar to each pint bottle. Or alternatively, add the equivalent of that-say 6 to 8 ounces-to thé fermenter it- self just before bottling. 6. Aging. The bottles should sit in a cool, dark place for at least two weeks-preferably longer-before tasting. Dont be dismayed to find sediment in the bottom of a bottle when you open it: the sediment is a normal by- product of fermentation. For this reason, quart bottles make more sense than pints- since you will always lose the bottom half-inch to sed- iment, you’re better off losing it to a quart. It is possible to get rid of some of the sediment by putting your beer through a second fermentation before bottling; however some, like Frark Plastino, say second- ary fermentation is ‘‘not worth the bother’’ for the beginning home brewer. Over the matter of sugar, there is some disagreement among the rank and file of the underground brewers. Frank Plastine, an Ottawa brewing supply store employee and an avid beer- Dialogue on drinking Think about it. Talk ab BFl