Sourdough Beer
If you leave a bowl of sourdough culturing unattended for too long, you may get a brown liquid rise to the top. Called sourdough tea or "hooch", this liquid is both an alcoholic beverage and a sourdough yeast starter. Adding it to some other source of sugar and water will cause a sourdough beer to ferment. A sourdough beer is basically a type of lambic beer, a beer that is fermented not just by yeast but also by bacteria, particularly the bacteria that produces lactic acid. This gives it a sour or tangy taste and a wider variety of beneficial acids in the brew. to make the sourdough beer or ale, make a sourdough starter (as you would for making sourdough bread), use that to make a sourdough beer starter and then use the starter to make ale.

Making a sourdough starter:
Mix one cup of flour and one cup of water. (You can use rye flour the first day if  you have it, and then switch to wheat flour after that, but, if you don't have rye flour, you can still use wheat flour every day)
Let it sit out at room temperature uncovered
Every day, take one cup of this mixture and make biscuits with it (see recipe below)
Replace the cup of mixture with a half cup of flour and a half cup of water
Continue to let it sit uncovered at room temperature.

     1 cup of starter in progress
     1/4 cup of melted lard or butter
     1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
     1 cup of legacy flour such as emmer, einkorn, kamut or spelt
     Mix all the ingredients together. Spoon out into 12 parts. Put in a greased enamel pan and bake in 425 degree oven for 20 minutes or until they turn golden brown on top. 

Making the sourdough beer starter
When your sourdough starter is bubbly and has a pleasant lactic-smelling tang to it, cover it with an airlock and let it sit undisturbed until it separates into sourdough tea and flour starter.

Drain or siphon off the tea. Filter through a fine sieve if there are any clumps of flour or dough in the liquid.

Making the sourdough beer
1/4 cup of sourdough tea
2 tablespoons of malt extract (barley malt syrup)
3/4 cup of sugar or 1/2 cup of sugar syrup
1 quart of water
Pour into a  glass jar or jug. Stir thoroughly, cover with an airlock and let it sit at room temperature. After it starts to ferment (bubbles appear at top), let it sit for 3-5 days, depending on how strong you want it. (See Adjusting Strength in Homebrews)

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Transfer liquid to plastic soda pop bottles after it has fermented however long you want it.
Leave a few inches airspace at the top of the bottle.Allow it to continue to ferment until the bottle becomes firm to the touch and cannot be squeezed.

http://yankeeharp.googlepages.com/squeezebottle.jpgThis bottle can still be squeezed and is not ready to drink yet. 

Once it is carbonated, store in the fridge and drink within a few days.


Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers
by Stephen Harr Buhner
Food Enzymes for Health & Longevity by Dr.Edward Howell
Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz

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Site-Related Products Available For Sale Online
Sourdough Starter

Strainer Bag
Kamut Flour
Sucanat (sugar)
Rye Flour

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