Home Brewing Is Tasting Better Than Ever. Here’s How To Get Started.
As our enlightened taste buds and craft brewing culture continue to grow, so too is the art of home brewing- and it tastes better than ever. Home brewers are increasingly experimenting with recipes, adding new and familiar flavors to their beers and ales, and exploring the incredible possibilities that stem from the creative fermentation process. If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at brewing beer and creating your own unique brews, this post is for you. Here, we’ll offer an in-depth guide to home brewing and explain why it’s the newest hottest hobby for beer-lovers everywhere.
Brewing beer at home isn’t just about having fun- it’s about crafting beers and ales to your own tastes. Home brewers can choose from a huge selection of hops, grains and other ingredients to create something truly unique. While advanced home brewers may opt for experimental recipes and ingredients, even beginners can master the basics of classic beer and ale styles.
But before you can get into the details, you’ll need to find out the basics. Home brewing can be broken down into four major steps: selecting ingredients, preparing grains and extracts, boiling the liquid, and fermenting. Your ingredients and equipment will depend on the type of beer you’re making, but you’ll usually need a source of malted grains, what’s known as a “wort” -that you’ll need to boil, and yeast. You’ll also need a fermenter, to which your boiled ingredients should be added. Finally, a bottling machine or device can be used to create carbonation and separate the beer from the residues of the active yeast.
Once all of the ingredients and equipment have been gathered, it’s time to start the brewing process. First, you’ll need to prepare either malted grains or extract for the wort. Malted grains can be crushed and steeped in water, wet milled, or cooked. You’ll need to boil your wort for an hour or longer depending on consistency, hop additions, and the type of beer or ale you’re making. Hops are added to the boiling wort to give the beer its bitterness.
When your boiling is complete, the cooled liquid needs to be transferred to the fermenter. Here, yeast is added, and the beer begins the process of fermentation. This process is essentially when the yeast eat the sugars in the wort, break them down and create alcohol.
Depending on the type of beer or ale you’re brewing, fermentation can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks. During this time, the yeast will multiply and consume the sugars in the wort, ultimately transforming the liquid into beer or ale. When the beer is almost ready, it’s important to “cold crash” or cool the beer down. This helps clear the beer from the residues of the active yeast and also gives it a smoother flavor.
Once the beer is fermented, it’s ready to be bottled. This is where a bottling device or machine comes in. This device carbonates the beer and separates it from the residues of the active yeast. It can also be used to bottle condition the beer, a process which will add a few extra weeks to its aging process. If a beer is bottled conditioned, it will develop more carbonation and a slightly different flavor than it would if it were consumed immediately.
At this point, you can begin to enjoy your homebrewed beer or ale. But keep in mind that home brewing isn’t just about drinking- it’s about exploring the process, experimenting with recipes and ingredients, and creating something unique and totally your own.
In the past, home brewing was perceived as complicated or difficult. It can be for those just starting out, as it requires a bit of knowledge about the process and the different types of malt, hops and other ingredients. But with a thorough understanding of the process and the right tools, anyone can become a successful home brewer. All you need is the right equipment, some good quality ingredients, and a willingness to experiment. Who knows- you may just end up creating one of your very own signature beer recipes!