File this under “things I used to know but forgot”.
I have an old cookbook in which the following tip appears:
“(…) If you wish to use the eggshells for brewing coffee, be sure to clean them thoroughly.”
I know that using the shells will change your coffee but I can’t remember in what way and since I don’t remember exactly how it’s done, I can’t test it out.
Does anyone know what I’m talking about?
It is usually used with boiled coffee where you just plop some coffee grounds into a pot of water and boil it. The egg shells will cause the coffee grounds to settle to the bottom. As an OBTW, this will also work with freshly fermented wine, causing certain types of yeast to settle out.
Regards
Testy
What Testy said.
The process is called fining and the stuff you use is finings. Gelatine is often used as finings in home brewed beer, as is irish moss and agar agar (seaweed-derived). The principle is simply that as it settles to the bottom, it takes with it all the yeast residue, leaving a clear or “bright” wort behind.
When I just boil up a pot of coffee…camping or back when I was cowboyin’ I’d just pour a cup of cold water in the pot after it was done and that’d settle the grounds.
I still put eggshells in with the grounds after I’m done and put them in my plants but I never used them like this recipe shows.
I know my grandma used to put her eggshells in with a pan of cornbread to feed to the chickens. Learned it the hard way though. Me and my dad showed up at the grandparents one day and they were away. So we went in and made ourself at home. He and I ate a half a pan of cornbread while we were waiting for them to get back. We’d crumble the bread in a large glass and pour some sweet milk in with it and eat it like a bowl of cereal. Couldn’t figure out why the bread was so crunchy though…not until granny 'bout laughed her apron off. 
It wasn’t that funny to us at the time. We laugh about it now though.
Now I always thought that was supposed to be buttermilk, with some black pepper scattered over it. At least that was what my grandparents always did.
Regards
Testy
You’re probably right but I could never stand the taste of buttermilk. Fresh whole milk is something else. I could never get enough of it. Minus the eggshells of course.
Jesus I miss cornbread! I haven’t had any of that in years. I’ve gotta make some today if I can find cornmeal. Maybe dump some onions in it. Some crunchy bacon bits would be good too. (No eggshells though!)
As far as using the eggshells for fining, they work well. Not that anyone in Saudi would ever buy 5 gallons of grape juice and add yeast and 1 kilo of sugar and deliberately let it spoil; but if some warped person did do all that, the eggshells would work great at clearing it up.
Regards
Testy
Not condoning the manufacture of illicit substances, but if one was to do that one would be sure to use preservative-free grape juice (and the right type of yeast).
One most certainly would avoid presrvatives. I have noticed that European brands are less likely to contain preservatives than US brands. Some are even sold in darh green bottles with a snap-top, like a Grolsch beer bottle. Proper yeast is a bit tougher to come by as it is of little use in producing bread. Luckily, it can be cultured and re-used a few times.
So I have heard, anyway.
Testy
Might be a bit hard finding good wine yeast in Saudi? Heaven help you if you have to use bakers’ yeast! Bleh!
Then again, Australian prisoners make their jailbrew with Vegemite (still some live yeast in it), so whatever’s available I guess.
Nope. I’ve heard of people doing that but their results were very cloudy and, rumor has it, tasted a lot like freshly-baked bread. Ich!
Regards
Testy
Ok, I suppose wine yeast is different to beer yeast
Oh it works, in the sense that something with sugar will ferment to alcohol in low percentages. The problem is the taste and appearance. Another problem is the side-effects. For some reason, drinking a significant quantity of something fermented with baker’s yeast will give a person a mild case of diarrhea plus a very bad head the next morning.
Regards
Testy
But the link above is saying that the yeast in Vegie or Marmite is ** brewer’s** yeast not baker’s- so I was thinking it should work well enough for prison/Saudi - brew
(I think I’ll stick to spreading my Marmite on toast, though, and cracking open a can of 'Stripe when I need some alcohol - or a Hefeweiss if I want it cloudy)
Oh, gotcha. Actually, I think we do a good deal better than someone in prison. Wine is not too difficult but beer is actually quite tough to get right. The standard recipe is to buy a case or two of alcohol-free beer and referment it with sugar and yeast. The result is dreadful; flat, cloudy, and damn-near chewy from the yeast. I just wait until I go elsewhere for my beer.
I haven’t tried Hefeweiss but it sounds good. I like stout and dark beer.
Regards
Testy