Make Beer at Home

If you loved the whole lot of beer brewing shown in 'Beerfest', then you ought to have this question - how can I make beer at home? This article will surely try to help you learn how to make beer at home. In a few weeks of brewing, you can check for yourself if it turns out to be a hobby.

Now, as you've decided to try making beer at home, there's no need to buy some expensive 'make beer at home kit'. You can start with a few simple pieces of equipment. Here's how you make beer at home in mini batches. Though there are several processes of making beer at home, I have illustrated a simple and easy process which would not cost you much and would take not more than a week.

Let's Make Beer at Home

Wondering how to make homemade beer? Well, it's quite simple. You require no complex equipment.

What's Needed to Make Beer at Home:

• Brew pot - a large kitchen pot with a capacity of a couple of gallons.
• Kitchen strainer - for straining of grains before fermenting.
• Kitchen thermometer
• Large funnel
• Rolling pin - to crush grains
• Three gallons of bottled water
• Bottling container - A container of at least 3 gallons - you can use empty water bottles or a food grade plastic bucket which should be clean and scratch-free.
• 3 feet clear poly-vinyl tubing (3/8") - for fermentation, air lock and siphoning
• And lastly, bottles!

Let's take a look at the ingredient list for making 2.5 gallons of simple Ale beer, which is ideal for small parties. Find a local home brew supply store or you may purchase these ingredients online.

• 8 oz crushed malt crystal
• 3 lbs light and dried malt extract
• 1 oz Northern Brewer pellet hops
• 1 pkg brewers yeast
• 3/8 cup sugar for bottling

Steps to Make Beer at Home: Now, let's take a step-by-step look at the process to make beer at home

• Grain Crushing: Pour 8 ounces of crystal malt in a deep freezer polythene, in small amounts at a time. Crush grains using a rolling pin. Take care not to powder the grains.
• Infusing or Steeping: This is a term used for the process of letting the liquid stay still to extract its flavor. Start by pouring ½ a gallon of water from the 3 gallon bottle. Now, pour the remaining 2½ gallons of water into the brewing pot making sure that you leave at least 3 inches at the top of the pot. Now, add the crushed grains and turn the heat on medium high thereby bringing the temperature up to 150 degrees. Turn the heat off, cover the pot and let it cool for 30 minutes. Strain the spent grain as much as possible.
• Boiling: Bring the brew pot contents to a boil. Then, let it cool a little and stir in the malt extract. Increase the heat and boil it again. At this point, you are at the risk of the contents boiling over; make sure you prevent it. Add about 2/3 oz of hop pellets to the boiling contents and continue boiling for an hour. To sanitize it for later use, submerge the strainer in the boiling contents for the final quarter of the hour. Now, turn off the heat and add the remaining hop pellets, cover and let them steep for 10 minutes.
• Air Locking: This step can be done during the boiling stage. You can either use a commercial air lock, or design an air lock from clear vinyl tubing, fitting one end to the cap and the other end to the water cup. The idea behind an air lock is to let the carbon dioxide released during fermentation escape without letting the air outside rush in.
• Wort Formation and Cooling: At this point what you have is called wort, which is simply unfermented beer. Cool it by using cold ice water in a sink submerging the brew pot partially. Now, pour the cooled wort gently through the sanitized strainer and funnel it into the fermentation bottle.
• Adding Yeast or Pitching Yeast: Pitching yeast is a term used for the process of adding yeast to the wort. You can add yeast when the wort is approximately at room temperature.
• Fermentation: Let the yeast do its work by converting sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide in the next 7 to 10 days. Total darkness isn't necessary for this. After about 12-14 hours, the beer starts foaming and bubbles can be seen escaping from the air locks.
• Priming: This is the point where the beer is ready! But, the process is not complete yet. The addition of fermentable sugar before bottling beer, is known as priming. For this, mix a cup of water and add 3/8 cup of sugar and boil it for 5 minutes. Cool it for some time, then pour the contents into a large sanitized container. Now siphon the beer into another container without disturbing the sediment at the bottom. This completes the beer priming process and it is ready for bottling.
• Bottle the Beer: You can buy empty bottles or reuse old bottles and buy caps. Empty soda bottles or champagne bottles can also be reused for this purpose. Any bottle being used should be able to withstand pressure.
• Aging or maturing the Beer: For the complete fermentation of beer, it must be aged for at least 7 days. The bottle can be placed in a cool and dark place for 7-10 days without refrigerating it, or else the priming will not take place.

Now, you have your beer ready to be gulped in! Drink it chilled on a warm afternoon. Serving beer is another skill you need to master to make the experience of drinking beer worthwhile. Always serve beer slowly in a glass, without making a lot of froth and leave a small amount in the bottle. When the froth settles, pour in the remaining amount to top up the glass.

This is where we sum things up while discussing how to make beer at home. Hope you enjoy the brewing experience and make sure you don't expect a perfect lager in the very first attempt.