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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >...I always added a little priming sugar to 
> each bottle.
> 

That works just as well.  I was just going for the lunatic fringe 'all 
barley' to 'more than alll barley' approach.  The carbonizing sugar needs to 
be 
about 1/8th the total (assuming the final beer is about 4%, much less if the 
alcohol content is higher).

It's the dextrose in the barley wort that does the charging.  Adding a 
tablespoon of powdered dextrose to a pint bottle achieves pretty much the 
same thing.

I was once given some beer made just as you describe out of birch sap (not 
syrup, sap!) and it was magnificient.

You can also make beer out of wheat instead of barley.  Since wheat is not as 
starchy, most Wheat Beer is made with half wheat malt and half barley malt. 
It is naturally a little cloudy.

When the enzymes are active in the mashing stage, you can add up to 25% or so 
of any form of starch and it will mash along with the barley starches.  
Cooked rice, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, corn starch, etc.  The reason American 
Pilsner and American Lager beers are so piss-water in nature is because a lot 
of 
rice has been added to the mash.  It makes them lighter bodied and lighter 
tasting.  In other words, it ruins them.

Barley, wheat, and rye will malt but rice will not.  If you want rice starch 
to convert into sugars, you add a fungus ... oops, we're supposed to say mold 
... eh, that doesn't sound any better .... called Koji to the boiled, 
drained, 
and cooled rice.  The enzymes in the fungus break down the rice but also give 
the whole operation a definate mushroomish taste and smell.  When you ferment 
this, you have Sake.

Another drink you can have right off the homestead is Chicha, beer made from 
malted corn.  It's deninately an acquired taste!


James