Homebrewing Tips

I know many people who take a lot of pride in their home brewing abilities. Well, if you are one of them, then I am sure that you will already know a lot more than the tips I have collected below and if you are a beginner with a lot to learn, then I guess this is the right place for you.

Homebrewing Tips

• Dry hopping can add floral character to the beer. The dry hop can be added in the secondary or in the keg. To add the dry hop, add about a quarter to one ounce of the hop in a grain bag and leave them in the beer for a week. This only adds a nice flower aroma to the beer and does not change the taste in any manner.
• One of the keys to good homebrew is using fresh ingredients. Ensure that the yeast is not outdated, hops were stored in a refrigerator and you use dried malt extract as it is more shelf stable when compared to liquid malt extract. One way to ensure that your malt is in good condition is to ensure that the malt crunches when bitten into.
• One of the mantras that you must stick to for good homebrew beer is that oxygen just prior to pitching yeast is excellent while oxygen after the beer has fermented is very bad. To ensure that you follow this, try not to splash the beer when racking or bottling it. On the other end, the wort must be aerated by using a whisk or a aeration stone before the yeast is pitched to ensure a healthy fermentation.
• Another important aspect of home brewing is the water that is being used. Distilled water should not be used as it lacks minerals and nutrients that are required for proper yeast fermentation. On the other hand city (chlorinated) water can ruin the taste of the beer completely. The best kind of water is well water or spring water.

Homebrew Recipes

Here are some excellent homebrew recipes that you can use. These have been collected keeping in mind the first time brewers and hence are very simple.

Barley Wine

Ingredients
• Light Malt Extract – ½ lbs
• Crystal Malt 60 L – ½ lbs
• Munich Malt (Smoked and Toasted) – ½ lbs
• Columbus Hops 15.4a 90 minutes – 1.5 Ounce
• Columbus Hops 15.4a 90 minutes – 1 Ounce
• Willamette 5.7a 2 minutes – ½ Ounce
• White Labs Trappist Style Ale Yeast – 2 Vials
• Light Dry Malt Extract – ½ lbs

Directions
• Steep the grains in 5 gallons of water at 158 Degrees for 30 minutes adding all the extracts and brining the mixture to boil.
• Now add 1.5 ounces of the Columbus hops and boil for 45 minutes.
• Next add 1 ounce of the Columbus hop and boil for 35 more minutes.
• Add the half ounce of Willamette and boil for 10 minutes then add the half ounce of Willamette hops and boil for 2 more minutes.
• Remove from geat and chill the mixture to 70 degrees.
• Add the yeast and mix thoroughly.
• Let the wine ferment for a week and rack it till it is all cleared.

Dark Mead

Ingredients
• Raw Clover Honey – 5 lbs
• Raw Buckwheat Honey – 5 lbs
• Filtered Water – 2.25 Gallons
• Wine Yeast – 1 Packet
• Yeast Nurient – 1 Teaspoon
• Yeast Energizer – ½ Teaspoon

Directions
• Chill a part of the water and sanitize all the equipment.
• Mix the honey with half a gallon of water in a stockpot. Add some more water so that the total quantity of the mixture is about 3 gallons.
• Re-hydrate the yeast. The temperature of the yeast must be within 5 degrees of the room temperature. Mix it with the honey water.
• Start mixing the mixture in the stockpot 15 minutes after you have added the yeast. Mix as vigorously as possible and for as long as possible.
• Close up the stockpot and add the airlock.
• Rack to the secondary after a couple of weeks. Bottle the mead within a week to 2 months. The sooner you bottle the mead, the more likely you are to get carbonation in the bottle. Use strong bottles.