My interest in fermentation started with beer. A friend and former colleague who had moved to the US told me about his attempts at homebrewing after becoming frustrated with the price and quality of the beer available to him. At the time I was living in Belgium, which many would argue made homebrewing entirely unnecessary, but for reasons I no longer quite remember, I decided to give it a try myself and bought some basic equipment for 20-litre batches.
What began as an occasional brewing experiment soon turned into a regular hobby. Over time, however, my interest expanded beyond beer. Fermentation is a remarkably versatile process and I now enjoy making everything from beer and wines to elderflower champagne and other fermented drinks. This section collects recipes, notes and observations from those projects.
If you’re new to brewing, my Beginners Guide to Home Brewing is a good place to start. It walks through the essential steps of brewing, using an American Wheat Beer as an example recipe to illustrate the process from grain to bottle.
Latest fermentations
A Beginner’s Guide to Home Brewing Beer
This post is intended as a short walk-through of my home brewing process, from milling the grain to bottling the finished beer. The recipe itself is simply an example to illustrate each step, but the same principles apply to countless other beer styles with only minor adjustments. For this batch, I decided to brew an…
Elderflower Champagne: A Refreshing Summer Fermentation
Let’s talk about elderflower champagne, a sparkling summer drink made from one of the most eagerly awaited wildflowers of the year. Elderflowers are only in season for a few short weeks, so when they bloom, you have to be quick to collect them. I’ve been looking at different home fermentation recipes and after 2 successful…