January 22, 2018

B2B Book Review: Homebrewing Course

The Back to Basics Living Bundle is mostly eBooks, it's true, but it also contains several online courses. Bill Osuch's Homebrewing eBook Package is one of those courses. Bill and his wife Jennifer founded the Self Reliant School which offers numerous self-reliance courses. This was the one they chose to include in the B2B Living Bundle.

The PDF file included in the bundle download is just two pages. The first is the cover as you see on the left, and the second page is a link to the course itself. You sign up with your first name and the same email addy through which you purchased the bundle, and you're there!

Included in the course is Bill's 85 page downloadable, printable eBook, access to 5 homebrewing master class videos, plus a bonus handout with root beer recipes! The videos correspond to the first seven lessons in the eBook.

The course begins with a thorough discussion of the equipment you'll need. Lesson 2 discusses yeast. I've been a bread baker for a very long time, but I learned a whole lot about yeast, its fermentation phases (which explains why you can't make an alcoholic bread), the various types (baking, champagne, ale, mead, wine, and wild yeasts), and tips on making it work well. You learn how to make a ginger bug with wild yeast, proper sanitization technique, three techniques for dechlorinating water, and how to use a hydrometer. 

Then it's off to the kitchen. Lesson 3 teaches you how to make fruit soda, with recipes (watermelon mint soda anyone?) and discusses various additives and sweeteners.

Lesson 4 covers sodas made with roots, herbs, and spices. One of those is wild black cherry bark, which we have growing around! Apparently it's a traditional root beer ingredient and helpful for coughs and colds. He also covers how to bottle soda and troubleshooting problems.

Lesson 5 teaches you how to make hard cider, and lesson 6 shows you how to make your own cider press. Those things are very expensive to buy, so this is great additional information. Lesson 7 covers blending apples, tepache, problems, and how to make apple cider vinegar. The following lessons cover mead, wine, beer, and hard liquors (not to make your own, but how to use them to make your own infusions, such as vanilla bean extract, and liqueurs). 

For my blog post listing all the eBooks in the Back to Basics Living bundle, click here.

You have several options to purchase the collection:
  • Online access: $39.97
  • USB flash drive: $64.97 (includes domestic shipping)
  • USB flash drive PLUS online access: $69.97 (includes domestic shipping)

If you decide you don't like it, it has a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Click here for more information or to buy.

And remember! If you buy the bundle through my blog, you may have your choice of one volume from my Critter Tales Series eBooks - free. My Honeybee Tales is included in the bundle, but if you buy the bundle through this link, email me with whichever Critter Tales volume you'd like, and I'll send you a link for your free copy. (The first volume in the Critter Tales Series is always free, no purchase ever necessary. You can get a free copy of that here.)

Tomorrow is the last day that the bundle is available. So one more Back to Basics Living Bundle post, and then I'll be on to other news. 

2 comments:

Harry Flashman said...

I knew a fellow back when I was in high school, in the sixties, who made his own root beer. It was lots better than what you could buy at the store.

Leigh said...

Harry, I imagine the flavor was fantastic, and I'm definitely interested in learning how to make our own soda. We don't buy it anymore because of the ingredients, but that fizzy sweetness sure does go good with some foods. I need to collect some equipment first and I'm sure there's a knack to be developed!