The Art of Making Your Own Beer

Approved by:
Paige Master, Gainesville Weddings in Gainesville Florida

Brewing your own beer is easy and fun. The expectation of taste and texture of your own beer is a great experiment for any true beer connoisseur. Additionally, beer brewing kits are cost-effective, and relatively easy to come by. Brewing the best beer possible is always the goal so below are some tips on brewing better tasting beer. The following beer recipe assumes you have got a kit, or already know what to have on hand. A breif overview of what you will need follows:

1) Big boiling kettle

2) Malt in a can

3) Hops pellets

4) Timer or clock

5) Fermentation container with a lid

6) Bleach or other sanitizing option

7) Dehydrated yeast in packages

Empty bottles to put the beer

9) Bottling bucket

10) Siphon hose,

11) Racking cane

12) Bottle filler

13) Corn sugar solution

About Malt Extract and Making “Wort”

To begin, you need to have malt extract. Usually it comes in cans that must be heated. This softens the extract, making it easier to pour from the can. You need a kettle sufficiently large to boil a gallon and a half of water. Once the water is boiling, begin to add your malt extract. This mix is sometimes known as “wort” once the malt is completely melted into it. Continue to boil your wort for a full 30 minutes. Just 10 minutes before the time is up, add your hop pellets to the boiling mix.

About Sanitation

Sanitation is not just to have a germ-free work area before brewing, it also creates a much better beer taste. As you probably know many individuals aim for exactly the right taste and if you use bacteria-tainted equipment you’ll definitely not get excellent tasting beer. To clean your beer making containers, use an ounce of bleach to a gallon of water, and with a brand-new sponge, clean everything. Some people prefer to use boiling water to sanitize objects. Clean up the fermenter utterly and fill it with 3 gallons of cold water and place the top on.

Ways to Cool Down and Ferment your Beer

Now you are able to add your wort to the water in the fermenter. Carefully pour your boiled wort mix into the fermenter and let this to chill to room temperature. Then follow the re-hydration instructions on your yeast packets. Some do this before as the yeast has to go into the wort mixture while it is still warm enough to activate the yeast. You definitely shouldn’t want to do it too soon though, so read your yeast activation instructions thoroughly. Don’t stir in the yeast; just lock down your fermenter top quickly to assist in the fermentation process. Fill the air lock on the fermenter halfway. Now just leave the fermenting beer by itself in a dark room where nobody will be tempted to peek at it. Before 14 days you should see bubbling inside your fermenter air lock. This indicates a good fermentation has happened.

Correct Bottling

Clean or sterilise your bottles and caps by putting 2 oz of bleach into five gallons of water and let them soak for no less than 45 minutes. Again, some choose to boil the bottles and caps for an extended time instead of using bleach. For the caps employ a weaker bleach solution. Wash them in water that has been boiled to get rid of traces of bleach. Confirm they’re well washed before filling them with your beer. Sanitize all tools you will use to fill your bottles.

Now you want to dissolve corn sugar into a cup of water and boil it for ten minutes. Next add your corn sugar solution into your bottling bucket. Next slowly siphon the fermented beer into the bottling bucket, and when it is full place it on top of the counter top. Then attach the racking cane, siphon hose and bottle filler to the bottling bucket. When you fill each bottle, leave some space at the very top of the neck and then cap it. Keep these bottles in a cool dark area. They’re going to need to wait for a minimum of 2 weeks. After they’ve been sitting in a cool dark area for two weeks, they’re ready to be put in a fridge and enjoyed!

Jeff is a beer enthusiast who owns a site that lists the very best of Houston happy hours. He frequently writes articles about all the different types of Houston bars with their numerous drink specials.

Beer Beer, brewery, brewing beer, making beer