Learning to home-brew - and fast

MARY IZETT just gave us the book we've all been waiting for: a book that teaches us not only how to brew, but how to brew fast.

I'm talking five days from boiled wort to cold brew in your pint glass. That's, like, 10 days faster than normal, which is a lifetime when you're thirsty.

Speed Brewing (Voyageur Press) is the answer to the all-important question: Why should I homebrew when I can just run down to the deli and grab a fresh beer?

Well, not the only answer, of course. After all, homebrewed beer is cheaper, is sometimes better and, if you have even modest kitchen skills, more fun. Thanks to the availability of quality ingredients, it's more popular than ever.

But with savvy techniques that save time, Izett encourages even multitasking, busy-as-hell workaholics to tie on an apron and pitch some yeast.

"If people just give it a try," Izett said, "once they find out how easy it is, and how delicious they are, they're just going to love making their own. Honestly, anyone can ferment alcoholic beverages, even in the smallest apartment."

Indeed, that's what got Izett started. She lives in Brooklyn, where she once deployed an outdoor gas burner to heat each batch. Only problem: She's small and couldn't lift a full, six-gallon kettle onto the stove by herself.

That's when she started thinking of downsizing, which turns out to be a big part of speedy brewing.

By brewing as little as a gallon at a time, Izett discovered it took less time to boil the wort, less time to chill it to a suitable fermentation temperature, and less time to clean up.

She learned other tricks, like using a heat stick - a gadget that keeps livestock water from freezing - to bring water to the proper temperature more quickly.

And she's a big proponent of "brew in a bag," in which grains are steeped in a porous linen bag during mashing, then removed just like a tea bag. The technique makes cleanup a cinch.

But it's in the actual fermentation process where she really cuts down the time.

Normally, it takes about two weeks for yeast to do its trick. But by deploying aggressive strains, like the type used to make Champagne, and brewing at relatively warm temperatures, she can cut that down to four or five days.

"I just made a bia hoi on Tuesday morning, and it was ready to drink yesterday," she told me Monday.

A what?

"It's a bastardized Vietnamese pilsner," she said. "It's only about 3.4 percent alcohol - very light and very refreshing. They serve it in all the street cafes in Hanoi."

Many of her recipes are for unusual styles that you may never have heard of: Mauby, an alcoholic soda that's popular in the Caribbean; kefir, a low-alcohol drink from Eurasia; and short mead, a low-alcohol honey wine that's often fermented with fruit.

"These kind of beverages exist all over the world, and we've kind of forgotten about them in America," Izett said. "But people still make them. It's just that the homebrewing culture we're all exposed to here is very different from what exists all over the world. . . . People are making very delicious, short-fermented alcoholic beverages with whatever they have on hand."

Izett will be in town next week for several Philly Beer Week events. Her book goes on sale June 15. Here's one of her favorite recipes:

STRAWBERRY-PEPPERCORNSHORT MEAD

1 1.2-ounce pack freeze-dried strawberries

1/2 tablespoon mixed peppercorns

1 1/4 pound honey

1 gallon spring water

1/16 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1/4 package dry champagne yeast

Place yeast packet, stopper or lid, airlock and scissors (to open the yeast packet) into a sanitizing solution. Clean and sanitize a glass jug or jar.

Pulverize the freeze-dried strawberries in a small food processor or by hand. Crack the pepper slightly in a mortar and pestle. Place the crushed berries and peppercorns into a heatproof glass measuring pitcher.

Boil 2 cups of water and pour over berries and peppercorns. Add yeast nutrient, stir and steep for 10 minutes to make a tea. Place pitcher in an ice bath to cool to below 75 degrees.

Fill sanitized jug with honey. Add filtered water, leaving enough room for the tea, cover securely and shake until the honey is combined. (No honey is left clinging to bottom of the jug.)

Uncap the jug and add the cooled strawberry-peppercorn tea. Do not strain. Top off with water to fill a gallon, recap and shake gently to combine.

Uncap, pitch the yeast and place a rubber stopper and airlock on the jug. Ferment between 66 and 76 degrees for 5 to 14 days.

Taste after a week. If it's at your desired sweetness, place into flip-top "Grolsch-style" bottles and cap.

Note: Experiment with other fruits and spices, including blueberries and nutmeg.