The first thing you need to know before brewing your own beer is that it’s nowhere near as easy as asking the bartender for one! That being said, you can make your own beer at home with a minimum of fuss if a) you have the right equipment and b) you know what you are doing.
We are about to show you just that in this article on how to make your own beer. Read on for the answers!
The Equipment
Not as expensive as you might expect, home brewing equipment is available from your local brewing supply store and will cost you from $100 to $150 for all the gadgets you need to get started. To make your own beer you will need the following equipment:
1. Brew pot
2. Primary fermenter
3. Airlock and stopper
4. Plastic hose
5. Bottling bucket
6. Bottles
7. Bottle brush
8. Bottle capper (if glass bottles are used)
9. Stick-on thermometer
10. Household items
You will also need the following items, most of which you should have at home:
* Small bowl
* Saucepan
* Rubber spatula
* Oven mitts/pot handlers
* Big mixing spoon (stainless steel or plastic)
Once you have gathered all these, you are ready to make your own beer!
Buying the Ingredients and Choosing a Recipe to Make Your Own Beer
As a beginner brewer we recommend you buy a beer kit. Your kit will tell you what type of beer you are going to make and also contains all the ingredients you will need. Once you are more experienced in beer making you can find a good recipe and buy the ingredients but you’re not there yet! You can get a beer kit online or at brewing supplies stores.
Using a beer kit means it’s hard to make mistakes and you can get accustomed to the procedure before going for individually chosen ingredients. You may find you enjoy how convenient they are and use them to make your own beer ever after.
Beer kits contain:
* A can of hopped malt concentrate
* A packet of yeast.
In addition to your beer kit you will need to buy ‘fermentables’ (to make the alcohol). These may be brewers sugar, dry malt extract, liquid malt extract, rice syrup, demerera sugar, Belgian candi sugar or any combination of these ingredients.
The more fermentables in your beer the more…ahem…alcohol it will contain. For your first try you will need at least two pounds, but not more than three.
Get Ready to Make Your Own Beer
Sanitize Your Equipment
It is vitally important that you sanitize all your equipment and that means just before you use it. While you work, make sure your tools and environment are scrupulously clean. Bacteria and fungi lurk in all sorts of places and if they enter your brew they will spoil it. Start by cleaning the equipment for the first stage of brewing:
* Brewpot
* Primary fermenter
* Brew spoon
* Airlock and stopper
* Saucepan
* Small bowl
* Rubber spatula
* Big mixing spoon
Remove any sediment, film and dust from all of your equipment. Use a dishwasher or soap and a cloth or brush. Now you are ready to sanitize your equipment.
Use heat combined with chlorine or iodine mixed with water to kill off any bacteria that were left behind during the cleaning phase. Use the ‘heat dry’ cycle on your dishwasher if it has one – turn it on and let the steam in the dry cycle do the sterilizing.
If not mix up a sanitizing solution, using either unscented chlorine bleach (2 ounces per 5 gallons of water) or PURE iodine. Use a large basin or bathtub and clean all your equipment again by soaking it in the solution for thirty minutes (if you use bleach) or five minutes if you are using iodine. If you use bleach don’t forget to rinse everything once they are clean. Allow your equipment to dry and keep it away from pets and animals.
Instructions to Make Your Own Beer from a Beer Kit
* Bring 2 quarts of water to 160-180°F i.e. steaming hot but not boiling. Take it off the heat.
* Add your beer kit and fermentables according to the directions contained in your kit. Choose your fermentables according to taste. Doing some research before you make your own beer will give you some idea of what to add to get the taste you want.
* Stir the mixture vigorously to dissolve everything.
* Place a lid the pot and allow it to stand for ten to fifteen minutes on the lowest heat setting to achieve sanitation.
* Now add your mixture to four gallons of cold water (already in your primary fermenter).
* Mix for a minute or two. The mixing process introduces oxygen to your wort before adding your yeast (yeast needs air to ferment).
* Once your fermenter feels cool to the touch, add your yeast.
* (Some kits recommend re-hydrating your yeast by placing it in water but you can skip that step).
* Ferment as close to recommended temperature range as possible.
The Fermentation Process
Ok so, you have made your ‘wort’ – no it’s not beer yet! The next step will require some patience.
Primary Fermentation
Fermentation begins almost immediately i.e. within the first day after you make your own beer and it will carry on for about three to five days. When your wort starts to ferment you will see little air bubbles rise in the water in the airlock. These bubbles are the gas produced by the fermenting yeast that is being forced out of the fermenter.
Leave your mixture alone for the first five days, but after that you can start to check it each day to make sure it is still fermenting. If the water in the airlock is still bubbling you’re o.k. so leave well enough alone. If you fiddle you will ruin your brew and cause your bottles to explode.
Once the fermentation slows and the bubbling stops (a pause of two minutes between bubbles is good enough it indicates that fermentation is over and you can begin bottling your beer! No that doesn’t mean you can drink it. Not yet!
Bottling and Secondary Fermentation
You are almost but not quite there!
The process of secondary fermentation will take place within the bottles.
Needless to say you will need to clean your bottles using a bottle brush and sanitize the following as described above: Bottling bucket, bottles, bottle caps, plastic hose, saucepan, and mixing spoon.
* Now, do you have enough bottles to contain your new brew? Five gallons of beer equals approximately 640 ounces so for example, if you have 16-ounce bottles you’ll need forty bottles. Get enough bottle caps to allow for mistakes too!
* Buy some pure dextrose and make a priming solution. This will make the remaining yeast in your beer ferment in order to carbonate the brew. Put two or three cups of water into your saucepan dissolve 3/4 cup of dextrose. Boil over medium heat, cover and aside to cool for 15 to 20 minutes.
* Now put your bottling bucket on the floor and place the primary fermenter on a chair, table or counter above it (don’t shake the beer inside the fermenter as you may dislodge the sediment on the bottom. Next, attach the plastic hose to the spigot on the primary fermenter and place the other end of the hose in the bottom of the bottling bucket.
Decant the priming solution into the bottling bucket, and the spigot on the fermenter, letting the beer flow into the bucket and mingle with the priming solution. Leave the dregs in the bottom of the fermenter as it contains sediment and you don’t want that in your beer!
* Close the spigot on the fermenter and remove the hose. Clean it thoroughly. take off the hose, and clean it well. Move the fermenter out of the way and place the bucket up where it was. Hook up the hose to its spigot. Place a line of bottles on the floor beneath it and put the hose into a bottle.
* Open the spigot on the bucket and let the beer fill the bottle. Make sure it’s in all the way to the bottom, and as your brew reaches the top, pull the hose out and place it into the next bottle. As you pull the tube out, the level in the bottle drops (you want to leave about an inch of airspace at the top of the bottle so pull the hose out when the beer is approximately at the top of the bottle. Tip: If you make your own beer, regularly, invest in a bottle filler!
* Now you can place the caps on your bottles. Do it immediately since if your beer is exposed to the air it is a bad thing. If you use glass bottles with metal caps, use a bottle capper and sit at a table. Use the appropriate directions for your capper to make sure you get it right first time. Make sure that none of your bottles is leaking.
* Place your bottles in a cool, dark place (but not in the fridge) for secondary fermentation. If the beer is kept in a very cold place the yeast won’t ferment so keep it at a steady 60 – 70 degrees. Leave your beer alone for umm… two weeks! (Quite hard isn’t it?).
* Before you flip on the TV, clean all your equipment ready for your next brewing experience. When you make your own beer you have to keep everything as clean as possible so don’t be tempted to bung it all in a closet where it will no doubt greet you with a green, moldy leer the next time round. Once the cleaning is done you can are allowed to officially say you know how to make your own beer. Oh did I forget to say?…your beer is ready to drink once the cloudiness caused by the fermenting yeast has cleared – at which time you can place it in the refrigerator and enjoy your hard work.
Cheers!