Brew Delicious Beer In The Comfort of Your Home.
We all enjoy the taste of a good craft beer. But when purchasing a pint out at the pub, or by the six-pack from the liquor store, the cost of quality can start to add up. Home brewing beer is an increasingly popular way to save money and learn something new, while enjoying a rewarding hobby. Whether your beer-of-choice is an IPA or stout, or something in-between, home brewing allows you to customize your recipe and make batches right at home with ease.
The basic home-brewing process is easy to understand and requires minimal equipment. Begin by collecting the ingredients; this includes malt extract, hops, yeast, and brewing salts and sugars. Then decide on the type of beer you’d like to brew: ale, lager, dark ale, India pale ale, and many more are all possible.
Once you have gathered your ingredients, you’ll need some type of vessel to hold your brew as it ferments. This can be as simple as a large plastic bucket, or as durable and exotic as a conical stainless steel fermenting vessel. The fermenter must be airtight and should hold your beer at an ideal temperature (18-21 degrees Celsius or 64-70 degrees Fahrenheit). You’ll also need some type of tubing to transfer the beer from the fermenter to bottling or kegging.
Next is what is known as the ‘mash’ phase. This is the process of stirring the malt extract and hot water together, which then combines with hops, yeast and some boiling. During this process, the starch in the malt is converted to sugar, giving your beer its sweet flavour. This liquid is left to cool and is then transferred to the fermenter to let the yeast do its work.
As the yeast starts to feed on the sugars in the liquid, it will produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. As the fermentation continues, you’ll notice the beer getting more and more carbonated. It’s important to leave it in the fermenter for the correct amount of time to make sure the alcohol content is correct. Once you’re happy with the fermentation you can move onto the ‘bottling’ or ‘kegging’ steps. If bottling, you’ll need bottles, a bottle-capper, some priming sugar and sometimes a siphon.
For kegging, it’s a bit different. You’ll need a Kegerator (a refrigerator specifically built to hold kegs and dispense draft beer) and a pressurised CO2 tank. When you’re ready to tap your beer, you’ll need some specifically sized tubing, a CO2 regulator and a tap.
Now your delicious beer is ready to be enjoyed. When it comes to home brewing, there are many components tied to how successful or unsuccessful your beer will be. Controlling the temperature and taking gravity readings can be intimidating elements of this hobby that can sometimes lead to disappointment. But, with patience and practice your beer-making skills can improve. If you’re curious to learn more, there are numerous clubs, books and online communities where you can get more insights and tips.
While home brewing isn’t for everyone, it is an extremely rewarding and enjoyable experience, from the mash to the your first pint. If you have a passion for beer and are in search of a dynamic and interesting hobby, homebrewing is probably for you. Because after all, nothing compares to the feeling of having a handcrafted brew that you can say you created yourself.