Learn to Homebrew: Shake Up Your Home Beer Making with These 8 Simple Steps.
Home brewing is becoming increasingly popular amongst hobbyists in this era of craft beer and craft spirits. While the thought of hopping into the world of home brewing can seem intimidating, the process is actually not that difficult once you get the hang of it. From selecting ingredients to plotting out an experimental brew, following these eight simple steps will help you become a wine brewer master in no time.
Step One: Gather the Necessary Equipment
The very first step to getting into home brewing is gathering the necessary equipment you will need to start your beer making endeavors. Luckily for any beginner, the equipment needed to make beer can easily be found in any home or in specialty stores (though some items may vary based on personal preference and the type of beer you plan to make). A basic homebrew setup includes:
• Large pot for boiling
• Fermenter (typically a large bucket or plastic carboy)
• Airlock
• Hydrometer (a device for measuring the specific gravity of a liquid, used for measuring alcohol content in beer)
• Thermometer
• Bottling bucket
• Bottles, crowns, and caps
• Tubing
• Sanitizer
• Strainer
• Funnel
• Siphon
• Bottle capper
The basics of the equipment may vary slightly depending on the style of brewing you’re attempting. But if you are just getting your feet wet in the process of home brewing, this should be all you need to start.
Step Two: Sanitize
Once you’ve gathered all of the necessary equipment, it’s time to give it a thorough sanitation. Sanitizing the equipment before use is an essential step in the brewing process and must not be overlooked. If not properly sanitized, beer can become contaminated, ruining an entire batch of beer. Sanitizing can be done with a store-bought sanitizing solution and a scrubbing brush or, if you have an all-in-one cleaner like Star San, it can be sprayed or sprayed directly on the equipment and wiped off.
Step Three: Understand the Differences Between Extract Beers and All-Grain Beers
When it comes to home brewing, it’s important to understand the differences between extract beers and all-grain beers. Extract beers are the easiest type of beers to make at home, as they require no mashing. Mashing is the process of converting the starches in grains into sugars that can be used to brew beer. All-grain beers require mashing and are more advanced than extract beers.
Extract beers will be the first choice for most new homebrewers and come in a variety of styles, including pale ales, stouts, wheat beers, and other popular beer flavors. All-grain beers require more steps in the brewing process, but they are often seen as the “higher tier” of homebrewing, as creating all-grain beers from scratch allows you to create one-of-a-kind combinations and flavors.
Step Four: Choose Ingredients
Once you’ve settled on the type of beer you’re going to make and you’ve gathered all the equipment, you’ll need to start looking for ingredients to make that beer come alive. The ingredients for a typical homebrew beer will include hops, malt extract or grain, yeasts, and any other flavorings you wish to include.
Hops are used to provide the bitterness and flavor to beer while malt extract or grain provides the sugars needed to induce fermentation (creating alcohol). Yeasts are used to ferment the wort, resulting in alcohol and your completed brew. For all-grain beers, you’ll also need to acquire the necessary grains.
Step Five: Start Brewing
Now that you’ve gathered the ingredients you need, it’s time to start brewing! Before you get started, make sure to read over any instructions that come with the ingredients, especially for all-grain beers as this process requires a more hands-on approach.
First, make a “wort” of water, malt extract, and any other grains you may have added. This is done by boiling the mixture of ingredients for about an hour in your large pot. During this time, you’ll also add hops or any other flavorings to access the desired flavor of your beer.
Once the wort has boiled for an hour, it is ready to cool. This can be done by submerging the pot of wort in a sink or by transferring it to a large bowl filled with ice.
Step Six: Ferment
Now that the wort has cooled, it is ready for fermentation. To begin the fermentation process, add the cooled wort to a fermenter (your fermentation vessel) in which the yeast will ferment the sugars into alcohol. Make sure to leave a few inches of air space at the top of the fermenter, since the fermenting beer will produce carbon dioxide and could overflow.
Once the wort is in the fermenter, you can add an airlock to the top of the vessel to prevent oxygen from entering the beer to prevent oxidation and contamination. Allow the beer to ferment for 1-2 weeks or until it reaches the desired alcohol content.
Step Seven: Bottle Brew
For those ready to take a step further and bottle their beer, there are a few extra steps you’ll need to follow. First, you’ll need to siphon your beer from the fermenter into a bottling bucket. This can be done using a siphon kit or through auto-siphoning. Once in the bottling bucket, you’ll need to add a “priming sugar solution” which will induce additional fermentation and provide carbonation to the finished beer.
At this point, you can fill the individual bottles, add the crown caps, and use a bottle capper to secure the caps onto the bottles. After this, put the bottles in a warm, dark place for about two weeks to allow for an additional fermentation process.
Step Eight: Enjoy Your Home Brew
The final step in the process is to enjoy your homebrewed beer! After two weeks of waiting, you’ll finally be able to crack open a bottle and taste your creation. Homebrewing is not only fun and rewarding, but you can also experiment and come up with unique and personalized brews.
Home Brewing can be such a rewarding and unique experience. With these steps, you’ll be on your way to concocting your own delicious beverages in no time. So just remember, gather the equipment, sanitize, choose your ingredients, brew, ferment, bottle, and enjoy – and you’ll be making all kinds of beer in a matter of weeks!