Homebrew Beer

If you are like me, you love to end the day with a cold beer. Have you ever been unable to find your favorite at the store? On the internet, you can find recipes for just about any kind of beer you can imagine. With a little equipment, and some time you can make your very own beer right at home.

First thing is to gather the equipment.

· Brewing kettle

· Fermenter + airlock

· Auto siphon

· Stir spoon

Now that everything is there it’s time to sanitize. Several great sanitizers available just mix with water and require no rinsing. Such as Star San, One step, and PBW.

Tip: this is the most important part of the whole process. Without proper sanitation, bacteria will ruin your beer.

Second, fill the brew kettle with water. (Amount will depend on the size of Kettle. I recommend 2.5 gallons.) Heat it until it reaches 155 degrees. Keep it about that temperature, and try not to let it boil. Put the grains in a nylon bag, and into the heated water. The amount of time may vary depending on recipe, but is generally 60 min. Remove the grain from the water; squeezing the liquid out of the grain. You can then dispose of the grain.

Tip: The grains can still be used to make different food items. Do a search on the internet and maybe find a recipe to try.

Once the grains have been removed increase the heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling add any malt extract the recipe calls for while stirring. Once mixed place hops in a bag, and into the water. Again, depending on the recipe, the amount of time the hops is boiled might change, and additional hops maybe added. After the boil it is now called a wort.

Warning: during the start of this step be watchful of a boilover. They are messy, and not fun to cleanup.

Next, we need to cool down the wort. There are two ways to do this. The first is to place the kettle into a sink with ice and water and wait for it to cool, or use a wort chiller to run cold water thru the wort. (If using a wort chiller be sure to sanitize it before use.) Once it has cooled, pour into your primary fermenter. Add water to fill the fermenter. Mix by either stirring or splashing it around in the container. (This also has the benefit of aerating it. The yeast needs air to feed on.) Add yeast, seal the fermenter using an airlock.

Now the hardest part. Waiting for it to finish fermenting.

Finally, Fermentation is done, and it is time to bottle.

It’s probably been about 2 weeks of fermentation. Clean and sanitize the bottles, caps, bottling and bucket, and anything else that will have contact with the beer. Boil priming sugar in 16oz of water. After it cools add to bottling bucket. Siphon beer from fermenter to bottling bucket. Leave as much sediment in the fermenter as possible. Attach the bottle filler to the hose, then to the bottling bucket. Fill each bottle to the top. When the bottle filler is pulled out, it will leave space in the top of the bottle. Then cap each bottle with the bottle capper.

Allow to sit in a cool dark place for about two weeks. This gives it time to carbonate.

Refrigerate, and enjoy.