Posts tagged "beer"

How can I reuse or recycle not nice homebrewed beer?

We’ve had an email from Simone:

My hubby and I have been homebrewing for a couple of years but our last batch was not nice at all! We’ve got 40 bottles of it but don’t want to drink it ourselves and don’t think it would be fair to force it on others either! Is there anything to be done with it other than pouring it away?

Since I’m obsessed with gardening these days, the first idea that springs to mind is slug traps – they’re not fussy about the quality or taste of the beer. (We’ve not had to use slug traps this year because it’s been too hot and dry for the critters but I’ve used some five years out of date four-for-80p lager for my beer traps in the past and they’ve dived in as if it’s the finest ale of the gods.)

Other ideas may depend on why it’s “not nice at all”. If it’s a problem with the mouthfeel or strength of flavour, you might be able to reuse it for making something like beer bread or in pies/stews.

And if there is a possibility it’s just a matter of taste, perhaps you should try it on some less discerning friends — or if it’s really vile, use it to teach kids not to drink (“this is what all beer tastes like, you should stick to lemonade” “yes mum, it’s horrible” – perhaps an unwise idea from the “smoke a whole box of cigars” school of parenting ;) )

Anyone else got any other ideas?

How can I reuse or recycle expired beer or beer dregs?

BeerWe’ve had an email from Wen Rou (from Chile!):

Hi, I’ve got a box with cans of expired beer, how can I recycle it? The empty cans I’ll take them to the recycling center. I can just throw the beer away, just wondering if anything useful can be made with it.

If you’ve got a snail & slug-infested garden, the most obvious suggestion is to use it for beer traps to catch those slippery suckers. From what I’ve seen, they’re not fussy whether it’s lager, ale, in date, premium or the cheapest nastiest stuff sold in our supermarket for 88p for four cans (John tried the latter and said it tasted like bitter, gone-off water).

Beer is also supposed to be good for hair – mix with water as a final-rinse aid. It apparently leaves it silky and shiny – but I don’t know whether that needs a yeasty ale-type beer or whether a lager will do. (Anyone know?)

Any other suggestions for either this expired beer or other related stuff, like the sediment-y bit at the bottom of bottles/barrels?

(Stock photo by macleod)

How can I reuse or recycle beer bottle caps?

Bottle capsWe already know what to do with narrow-necked glass bottles like those used for beer or lager and plastic screw-on caps, but what about the metal bottlecaps?

Like so many little random things, these lids seem infinitely usable – I just can’t think of many ideas to use them up.

Any suggestions?

(Photo by trelin)

How can I reuse or recycle stone/clay beer bottles?

We’ve had an email from John B:

I was recently bought some beer which came in stone/clay bottles. Having now drunk all the beer I am looking for something to do with the bottles. I wanted to reuse them for home brew but I am unable to get the corks back in as my corking machine only works with wine bottles.

The only thing I can think of is to break them up for crocks in plant pots but this seems like a waste of all their bottliness. Any suggestions?