Home Brewing

My grandparents and my mother used to brew wine for special occasions. Actually, it's in our culture to make rice wine (tapey or tafei in the local dialect) to be served during gatherings. Aside from rice, they can also make wine from other fruits (such as from a wild berry we call "bugnay") and from root crops (e.g. cassava and yam). I also know how to make them but I don't have the ingredients here in the city so I never made any.

In the Philippines countryside, it is also common for a household making their own vinegar from different sources, most common of which are sugarcane and coconut.

i've brewed my own beer using kits and it's enjoyable, it's satisfying when you finally get to taste it.

i used beer making kits, it's like a thick syrup to which you add hot water, sugar and yeast.

the equipment is quite expensive but you should only need to buy each item once. you will need a five gallon bucket with a lid, sterilising powder, a syphon tube, a large plastic spoon for stirring, a hydrometer (this measures the alcohol in the brew and indicated when it is ready for bottling or transferring to a barrel) you will also need 40 glass 1 pint bottles and caps, a thermometer and a funnel.

if you decide to keep your beer in a barrel you will need a 40 pint keg plus a gas cylinder but you get much better results if you bottle the beer.

it takes a few weeks until the beer is ready for drinking. while it is fermenting you will need to keep it in a warm place, a brew belt is optional, this will keep it at a steady temperature and help it to ferment quicker.

good luck