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Making Beer part 1
Home Brew How To
Some of us here at Barrel and Brew have had the opportunity over the past few years to sample and produce a variety of notable and flavorful home brews. In the interest of promoting the joys of home brewing, we thought it would be interesting and educational to share some of the highlights of our latest home brewing experience.
For simplicity's sake, most home brewers begin their brewing careers by making "top-fermenting" ales that use yeast strains that ferment ideally at temperatures ranging from 55-75 degrees F. Lagers typically utilize "bottom fermenting"yeasts and may require additional equipment to keep the fermenting beer's temperature in the yeast's ideal range of 32-55 degrees F. Many delightful ales are relatively simple to produce and come in a wide range of hues and satisfying flavors.
Before you can make a batch of home brew, you have to find a good home brewing supplier. Here in Orlando, The Brew Crew likesHeart's Home Brew. They are friendly, knowledgeable and have everything you need. If you can't find a good store in your area, or if you prefer to shop on line, Mr. Beer, featured on Barrelandbrew.com is an excellent source. A good home brewing supplier will have a number of recipes and everything you need.
The Brew Crew recently bottled a batch of Brown Ale. We will use that experience to illustrate the general process for making a batch of home brewed beer.
The equipment you will need to start the process is pretty basic - a four or five gallon stock pot, a five gallon bucket (buy a brew bucket with a valve at the bottom, it will come in handy later), a five gallon carboy ( a large glass jar with a narrow neck), large funnel with a strainer, a colander, a couple of plugs and some tubing.
Typically, the process starts by steeping the grains called for in the recipe in one to one and a half gallons of 160 degree F. water for one hour. After steeping, separate the liquid, called wort, from the grains by pouring the wort through the colander and funnel/strainer and into the brew bucket.
Capture the grain in the colander and sparge (wash) the grain with one gallon of fresh water heated to 170 degrees F. to remove all of the wort from the grain.
Return the wort (2-2.5 gallons) to the large stock pot. At this point the malt extract called for in the recipe is added to the wort along with hops or other ingredients as called for in the recipe.
Depending on the recipe, additional ingredients may be added later in the process. The wort is then boiled for an hour; stir frequently to prevent burning the malt extract to the bottom of the pot.
While the wort is boiling, prepare the carboy. The carboy, and everything else that will come into contact with the beer, must be washed and sanitized.
The Brew Crew recommends B-Brite Cleanser and an Amberdyne solution for sanitizing. After the wort has boiled for an hour, remove it from the heat and place the brew pot in a sink with some cold water to begin the cooling process.
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Some of us here at Barrel and Brew have had the opportunity over the past few years to sample and produce a variety of notable and flavorful home brews. In the interest of promoting the joys of home brewing, we thought it would be interesting and educational to share some of the highlights of our latest home brewing experience.
For simplicity's sake, most home brewers begin their brewing careers by making "top-fermenting" ales that use yeast strains that ferment ideally at temperatures ranging from 55-75 degrees F. Lagers typically utilize "bottom fermenting"yeasts and may require additional equipment to keep the fermenting beer's temperature in the yeast's ideal range of 32-55 degrees F. Many delightful ales are relatively simple to produce and come in a wide range of hues and satisfying flavors.
Before you can make a batch of home brew, you have to find a good home brewing supplier. Here in Orlando, The Brew Crew likesHeart's Home Brew. They are friendly, knowledgeable and have everything you need. If you can't find a good store in your area, or if you prefer to shop on line, Mr. Beer, featured on Barrelandbrew.com is an excellent source. A good home brewing supplier will have a number of recipes and everything you need.
The Brew Crew recently bottled a batch of Brown Ale. We will use that experience to illustrate the general process for making a batch of home brewed beer.
The equipment you will need to start the process is pretty basic - a four or five gallon stock pot, a five gallon bucket (buy a brew bucket with a valve at the bottom, it will come in handy later), a five gallon carboy ( a large glass jar with a narrow neck), large funnel with a strainer, a colander, a couple of plugs and some tubing.
Typically, the process starts by steeping the grains called for in the recipe in one to one and a half gallons of 160 degree F. water for one hour. After steeping, separate the liquid, called wort, from the grains by pouring the wort through the colander and funnel/strainer and into the brew bucket.
Capture the grain in the colander and sparge (wash) the grain with one gallon of fresh water heated to 170 degrees F. to remove all of the wort from the grain.
Return the wort (2-2.5 gallons) to the large stock pot. At this point the malt extract called for in the recipe is added to the wort along with hops or other ingredients as called for in the recipe.
Depending on the recipe, additional ingredients may be added later in the process. The wort is then boiled for an hour; stir frequently to prevent burning the malt extract to the bottom of the pot.
While the wort is boiling, prepare the carboy. The carboy, and everything else that will come into contact with the beer, must be washed and sanitized.
The Brew Crew recommends B-Brite Cleanser and an Amberdyne solution for sanitizing. After the wort has boiled for an hour, remove it from the heat and place the brew pot in a sink with some cold water to begin the cooling process.
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Depending on your recipe, pour two to three gallons of fresh, nearly freezing water into the carboy.
Using a clean and sanitized funnel and strainer, strain the still hot wort into the cold water in the carboy.
If hops flowers have been used in your recipe you will want to also use the colander to separate them out. Once the wort has cooled to 75-80 degrees F. you can pitch (add) the yeast to the carboy. Different recipes will call for different types of yeast so just follow the directions on the package.
Ale yeasts will perform best at temperatures between 60-75 degrees F. You can keep your beer cool by using the "swamp method". Place the carboy in a large container (a cooler will do nicely), wrap a towel around the carboy and then soak the towel and fill the bottom of the cooler with several inches of water.
After two or three days, this heavy activity will stop and the blow-off tube can be replaced with a fermentation lock which allows the gas produced by fermentation to escape while keeping air out of the system.
Approximately two cases of delicious home brewed beer are now on their way. Typically, the beer will need to ferment in the carboy for ten days to two weeks before it is ready for bottling; but that's another story...
to be continued...
Beer Making Part Two
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