home brew for the first time

What you need to know to brew your first beer

The proliferation of craft beers has caused many of us to want to try brewing our own. The idea of ​​being able to create delicious beers of all varieties is very attractive. And now, you have decided to take the plunge and make your own first infusion.

The easiest way to get started is to buy a starter kit, which will have most of the specialized equipment needed for your first setup. A good starter kit should include the following items.

• Six gallon fermentation bucket with lid.

• Six gallon bottling pail with spigot

• With fermentation lock

• Automatic siphon

• Siphon pipe

• Bottle filler

• bottle brush

• Bottle capper

• Bottle caps

• Manual

The list above is the bare minimum you’ll need to get started, however there are a few other items often found in good starter kits that are worth having in your kit.

• Hydrometer with test glass

• Large stirring spoon, either stainless steel or heavy plastic

• Fermometer

An obvious misnomer about a complete starter kit is that it has everything you need to brew your first batch of beer. This is simply not true. There are other items you will need to have on hand to complete your first preparation.

• Beer ingredients

• Boiling pot

• Empty beer bottles

• Disinfectant chemicals

• Heat source (kitchen stove)

I would like to add some personal comments to the parts you will receive in your kits. First, add a faucet to the fermentation bucket. This serves two purposes. The spike makes taking a sample very easy. This is where you would use a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity of your beer to see if it has finished its fermentation. The faucet also allows for easy transfer of beer to a secondary fermenter, bottles, or kegs. This eliminates the need for an automatic siphon, which a good shop will likely swap out for the second tap.

I prefer the three-piece fermentation lock to the “S” lock. I find all three pieces the easiest to clean.

Choosing your first beer kit can be a lot of fun. There are hundreds of different kits available from many good homebrewing sources. My suggestion is to choose a simple first kit in your favorite beer style. My first beer was a porter and I still remember how wonderful it tasted!

Your kit will include a container of malt extract, hops, and a packet of priming sugar. Basically, that’s all you’ll need for your first brew. The kit will also have complete instructions, which will be very easy for you.

Your boiling pot should easily hold at least three gallons. Ideally, it would be best if it could be brought to a full boil, which means you have a pot large enough to hold six gallons of wort and can maintain a continuous boil for about an hour. Very few kitchen stoves can boil a pot big enough to hold six gallons, so for your first batch we’ll start with a three gallon boil and then add two gallons of boiling water to make a total of five gallons of wort. in ferment

A difficult project will be collecting empty beer bottles. This means you’ll have to enjoy about ten six-packs of beer alone or with friends, all in the name of homebrewing. You will need between 54 and 60 empty brown beer bottles. You don’t want screw top bottles. When he was bottling, he would pick up the bottles, wash them well, remove the labels, and store them upside down. They are now ready to be sanitized when bottling day arrives.

Time to prepare!

The time has come to start your first home brew. Fill the selected brew pot halfway and place on the stove to bring to a boil. Once the water has reached a boil, remove the pot from the heat and add the liquid malt extract and mix well. You will notice that there is still a bit of extract left in the container. You don’t want to waste any, so add some hot water to the container, close the lid, and dissolve what’s left. Now add the additional solution to the brew pot.

Bring the value to a boil. Be very careful with the wort that foams and overflows. A cold water spray bottle is extremely effective at eliminating foaming. Its boil will last about an hour. During this time, you will add hops as directed. The hops included in your kit will most likely be pelleted hops rather than leaf hops.

One item I use for hops is a very fine mesh hop bag. The bag helps remove most of the hop particles from reaching the fermenter. I highly recommend purchasing one to use for all of your future prep sessions.

While the wort boils, you can now focus on your fermenter and yeast. The fermenter must be very clean and sanitized. Since this is your first brew, your vat fermenter only needs to be rinsed thoroughly before sanitizing with bleach, iodophor, or Star San. I use iodophor for my sanitation. It is easy to use, inexpensive and highly effective. You just have to follow the instructions included in your package.

The cube fermenter, its lid, rubber stopper and three-piece fermentation lock need a good regiment of sanitation. Basically all of this can be done in the bucket. Add all the pieces to the bucket filled with water and iodophor.

The yeast you will use will be dry yeast or liquid yeast.

Dry yeast can be used in two ways. The first method is to simply sprinkle the yeast over the wort in the fermentation bucket. The second method is to add yeast to a cup of sterilized water and allow the yeast to rehydrate. I prefer the second method because I feel that the yeast rehydrates better in water before introducing it into the sugar-based wort.

Liquid yeast comes in a tube or what is called an instant packet. Both work fine. They should be at about the same temperature as the wort in which they will be collected for fermentation. Follow the instructions with the smack package.

The wort has already boiled for an hour and it’s time to cool it down as fast as we can. I like to cover the boiling wort for the last five minutes of the boil to help sanitize the lid. You want to leave the lid on during the cooling process. Place the boiling pot in the kitchen sink with cold water and ice cubes. Continue chilling until the wort reaches yeast fermentation temperature, around 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the must in the plastic bucket to ferment. Let it splash into the bucket. This adds some oxygen to the wort. Oxygen is an important ingredient for yeast growth and function. You will need to add some additional sanitized water to bring the volume up to five gallons. To sanitize water, simply boil for 15 minutes and cool to yeast fermentation temperature.

Pitch your yeast and place the lid on the fermenter. Add some cheap vodka to the three-piece fermentation block and add it to the lid.

Place the fermenter in a dark place where the temperature will stay around 65 degrees. In about 24 hours you will see activity, especially in the fermentation block. The yeast is busy making beer from your wort. The fermentation process will last between one and two weeks.