Free Beer That's Free as in Speech

darkonc writes "The CBC has notes and an interview with Dane Rasmus Nielsen who decided to reduce the confusion between 'free as in speech' and 'free as in beer' by making a beer free -- in speech. The result is Vores Oel, an open source beer. The CBC site includes the recipe for the beer which is made with Guarana beans, and gives it a bit of a caffeine-like hit. The danish site downloads include the label for the beer (which is also Open Source)."

Comments

GPLed Mead

[jd]

The following recipe is mine (mine! mine!) and I am releasing it under the GPL. For those unfamiliar with Mead, it is a honey-wine that dates back something like 6,000 years to either Greece or Cyprus. It has been blamed on various Gods over time and is even in the English language (honeymoon refers to the practice of getting sloshed on Mead for one lunar month after a marriage.)

Ingredients per gallon of water (scale as appropriate):

• 4 lbs. of any light-color honey
  
• 3 acorns (crushed)
  
• 1/4 pint of extra-strong tea
  
• Juice of two medium-sized lemons
  
• 3-4 tbsp malt extract
  
• 1 sachet of Mead or Champagne Yeast
  
• 2 x 1 gallon brewing jar
  
• One airlock
  
• Pint jug
  
• Wine siphoning kit
  

Method:

Boil the acorns in a 1/4 pint of water, until the water turns yellow. Strain out the acorns. Boil the gallon of water separately, then let it cool slightly. Add the honey, tea, the water from the acorns and the lemon juice. Stir gently. It is recommended to remove the scum off the top, but I never do. Allow the water to cool to just above blood-warm and pour all but 1/4 pint into a brewing jar.

Heat 1/2 pint of water in a jug until blood-warm and dissolve into it the maltose. Add the yeast and stir. Let to sit until the yeast is active and a good froth has formed.

Pour the yeast mix into the brewing jar, then rinse the jug with the remaining 1/4 pint to get the remaining yeast. Also pour into the brewing jar. Shake the brewing jar to ensure a good mix, but not so much as to lose any of the mixture out of the top.

Fill the air-lock with water (assuming it is a type that uses water) and stopper the brewing jar. Place somewhere warm (most yeasts do best around 78'F). Regardless of what anyone else says, I do recommend direct sunlight.

Wait until fully fermented, then use the wine siphoning kit to siphon the mead into the empty brewing jar, minus the sludge. Stopper it again and let it settle for a day. Clean the original brewing jar carefully. Place the full brewing jar in a cool, dark location.

After six months, siphon back to the original brewing jar, stopper it up, and place it back in the dark. After another six months, bottle into dark glass bottles.

Mead is "best" after being left for 4-5 years, but is extremely drinkable within a day or two of being bottled.

I use just about any old mead or champagne yeast, but the one that seems to be the most popular is Wyeast's #3632 Dry Mead yeast. If you want something that'll give you an extra kick, START with that until it finishes, then pour out 1/4 pint to make a fresh starter kit. This time, use a high-tolerence yeast (champagne will go to 17 or 18%, but there are yeasts now that'll go to 25%). Once started, pour back into the main brewing jar and let it finish.

If you want a slightly fruitier flavor, add 1 lb. of blueberries or some other soft fruit, when making the original mix.

If you want a "cleaner", softer flavor, don't use the acorns.