How to brew beer A brief guide to get you started making your own home brew.
Brewing
Boil water
Bring 2 to 3 gallons of water
to a boil in the brew kettle. If
specialty grains are included
in the recipe, you'll need to
steep them first.
Add malt extract A
Turn off the heat.
Stir in extract until its
A completely dissolved.
Return to a boil
The wort will form foam
and may easily boil over
during this stage until it
reaches a hot break, when
the foam recedes.
Add bittering hops B
Some recipes call for later
hop additions.
B Whole
Boil for one hour
Add finishing hops, during
the last 15 minutes (if called
for by recipe).
Cool the wort quickly C
Immerse the kettle in a cold
water bath and cool to
between 65 and 90 degrees.
C
Fermenting
Pour wort into fermenter D
Pour vigorously, allowing it
to splash, adding oxygen.
Strain hops as you pour.
Add water
Add bottled or boiled water
to make a total of 5 gallons
in your fermenter.
D Measure the gravity E
Use the hydrometer in a tall
glass or test jar to determine
the original gravity.
Pitch the yeast F
Pour liquid or rehydrated dry
yeast into the fermenter.
Seal and store G
Seal your fermenter with lid
or stopper.
E F Put the airlock in place and
fill it with clean water or
sanitizer solution.
Leave in a safe location
where the beer can ferment
undisturbed at a temperture
between 65 and 70 degrees
for up to two weeks.
G
Bottling
Prepare priming sugar
Boil 2 cups of water with sugar and allow to cool.
Pour into bottling bucket.
Siphon beer into
bottling bucket
Use an auto-siphon or racking cane and tubing
to transfer beer to bottling bucket; make sure
not to splash.
Transfer to bottles
Fill bottles using the bottle filler attached to
spigot on the bottling bucket (or use siphon if
spigot not provided).
Seal on bottle caps with capper.
Carbonate Non-twist-off
Store bottles out of light at 65 to 75 degrees for
Youll need 40 to 50 bottles, depending on
two weeks.
the size, cleaned and sanitized. You can raid
your neighbors recycling bins or buy new
bottles. Swing-top Grolsch-style bottles
are great as long as the gasket is intact.
Source: How to Brew by John Palmer
Brew kettle Malt
For extract brewing, youll need something Grains such as barley are allowed to germinate and
that holds at least 3 gallons of boiling wort. then quickly dried. These malted grains provide the
Got a turkey fryer? Youre in business. Large sugar for the yeast to feed on and ferment the beer.
canning pots work well, too. Whole grain Dried extract Liquid extract
Grains are crushed Extracts are the concentrated
and soaked to draw sugars extracted from malted
out the sugars. grains.
Hops
The cone-like flowers of a climbing vine; used to
Long-handled plastic or metal spoon provide bitterness, aroma and flavor to beer.
They also act as a preservative.
Plugs Pellets
Thermometer
Measures the temperature of your wort.
Use the dial kind that clips onto your
brew pot or a digital kitchen model.
Avoid glass, which can break Easy to strain from the Pellets dissolve and are
and ruin your batch. wort; often used in dry difficult to strain from
hopping. These soak up the beer, but store
more wort than pellets. fresh for a long time.
Fermenter bucket Carboy Airlock
Lets gases escape from the fermenting
beer while keeping air out. The airlock
fits into the lid of the fermenter bucket
or a stopper in the carboy.
Hydrometer
Measures the gravity, or concentration of malt
sugar in your wort. This allows you to monitor
the progress of your fermentation and estimate
alcohol content.
Yeast
Yeast is made up of
microorganisms that
A plastic bucket or glass carboy can be used consume sugar in the
to ferment the beer. Some kits include a wort and emit alcohol and
secondary fermenter, which gives beer extra carbon dioxide. Yeast is
time to condition and clarify before bottling. sold in dry or liquid form.
Homebrewing glossary Original gravity: The concentration of
sugar before fermentation. The final gravity
Ale: Beer brewed from a top-fermenting yeast, determines how much of the sugars have
with a relatively short, warm fermentation. been converted to alcohol.
Hot break: The stage at which proteins Trub (pronounced troob or trub):
coagulate and settle out during the boil. The stuff that settles to the bottom of the
Kraeusen (pronounced KROY-zen): fermenter; includes hops bits, coagulated
The foamy head that builds on the top of proteins and dead yeast.
fermenting beer. Wort (pronounced wert): The
Lager: Beer brewed from bottom-fermenting malt-sugar solution that is boiled with hops
yeast and given a long, cool fermentation. prior to fermentation.
Priming sugar Racking cane For transferring beer Bottle filler
Added before bottling from one container to Spring-loaded opening
to spark the second- another. An auto- allows you to easily fill
ary fermentation that Auto-siphon siphon makes the job a bottles without overfilling.
gives the beer its fizz. lot less messy.
Plastic tubing
Bottling bucket
Bottle caps
Bottle
capper
Grolsch-style
Bottle brush
Photos by KELLY JORDAN, Research by ED STANSEL, Graphic by ANNA BERKEN/The Times-Union