A cold lager for a hot summer day and a pint of ale for a cool winter day, there is always a beer to suit the occasion. However, with the rising inflation and shrinking family budgets, beer is no longer cheaper. Don’t worry. Now you can brew your own beer in few simple steps. That will give you a taste that will be many times better than the ones you buy from stores. You will save some money as well. So, here we go. Read on to know the art of making beer.
Complexity Level: Moderate
Time Required: 2-3 weeks
Resources Required:
- Liquid or dried malt extract
- Hops
- Specialty grains
- Yeast (based on the variety of beer you are brewing the yeast also differs)
Instructions:
1. Preparation
- All the vessels or utensils that you use while preparing beer need to be sanitized. This can be done by making use of an electric dishwasher set at high or a powdered cleanser.
- Rinse well after sanitizing and dip the utensils in a iodine solution or bleach. While using bleach to sanitize, mix one ounce of bleach with five gallons of cold water and then add one ounce of white vinegar to make the water more acidic.
- While using iodine solution don’t rinse the utensil, instead allow it to dry on itself.
2. Brewing
- To start brewing, put the specialty grains which you are using into a mesh bag and immerse them into a large pot in 3 gallons of hot water at 150 F(66C) for about 30 minutes.
- After the stipulated time remove and let the water drain from the bag. Don’t squeeze the bag as it might cause extraction of tannins which will give a astringent flavor to the beer.
- Now, add the extract to the pot and bring everything to a boil. Based on the flavor and bitterness and aroma required, the hops can be added early in the boil or at the end of the boil.
- After boiling the liquid, it needs to be cooled down as soon as possible by keeping it in a tub of cold water and gently stirring it.
- When the liquid has cooled down to about 80 F(27 C) strain it and transfer it to the fermenter and add the yeast to it. Once all is done close the fermenter and make it airtight and put it in a dark area.
3. Bottling
When the activity near the airlock has ceased after about seven to eight days, the beer is ready to be transferred to the bottle.The bottled beer should stay at room temperature for about 1 to 2 weeks before being used. Your beer is now ready to be served.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. How to make sure that your beer has carbonated?
Beer making requires patience.The beer needs to stay bottled for at least 2 weeks for it to carbonate properly, otherwise it will be flat. Also the amount of priming sugar added also should be proper. The beer needs to be kept at room temperature for 10 days and then in cool temperature for another ten days.
2. What type of bottles to be used to bottle beer?
As the beer is carbonated, it will exert pressure on the bottle in which it is stored. So, you should always store beer in bottles designed to store carbonated drinks or they might explode causing serious injury.
Quick Tips:
- Plastic PET (Pepsi, Coke, etc.) bottles are the best for storing beer as they can withstand pressure and are light weight and easy to handle.
- You can prime your beer easily by adding 2 level teaspoons of sugar to the bottle before bottling it.
- To sanitize your equipment properly, use a food-grade cleanser which doesn’t need to be rinsed or use an iodine solution like BTF Iodophor.
Things To Watch Out For:
- When boiling the wort and the DME for carbonizing, watch for boil overs as the malt extract scorches out when boiled.
- While adding the extract to the boiling water, turn off the gas and stir it in. This reduces the chances of boil overs.
