How to Brew your 1st Beer!

What You Need!

Ingredients - (You can get all of these items at a Homebrew supply shop. Some shops even handle mail orders.)

Malt Extract Syrup - Malt extract syrup is made from barley and has a lot of natural sugar in it. Brewing yeast eats the sugar, and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. The extract normally comes in 1.5-kilogram (3.3-pound) cans. You'll need two cans of lightly hopped, light-colored extract for your first batch.

Hops - Hops are flowers with a bitter flavor. The bitterness balances the sweet flavor of the malt. Hops are usually in the form of compressed pellets. You'll need about 1 ounce of the pellets.

Ale Yeast - Dehydrated yeast is sold in small paper-like packages. Buy a brand that includes instructions on the packet. You should use two packages of ale yeast for your batch of beer. That's what you'll be brewing - an ale.

Water - Tap or bottled water is fine.

Corn Sugar - You need only 3/4 cup (4 ounces dry weight) for your first batch. This is used to prime your bottled beer, giving it carbonation.

Equipment - (homebrew Supply shops sell these items, but check around the house first - you probably already have some of this stuff. Brewer's Best has an equipment kit that has all you need to start brewing, except for a brew kettle, retails about $40.)

Brewkettle - Use an enamel coated steel or stainless steel pot that holds at least 3 gallons. It's for boiling your wort, (pronounced "wurt") which is what beer is called before it is fermented.

Primary Fermenter - A food-grade container, usually a white plastic bucket with a lid, that holds at least 6 gallons will do.

Bottling Bucket - This should hold at least 5 gallons. It can be the same type of container as your primary fermenter.

Siphon Hose - This is usually clear, food-grade plastic tubing. You will need about 6 feet. This is for transferring your beer from one container to another.

Racking Cane - A stiff piece of plastic tubing about 2 feet long, often with a curve on one end. It connects to your siphon hose and is used when transferring your beer from one container to another. It makes siphoning easy and efficient.

Fermentation Lock - It is also called an airlock and it keeps your beer from being exposed to outside air while letting carbon dioxide escape from your fermenter. It should fit in a hole in the lid of your primary fermenter.

Bottles - These should be made of brown glass. Don't use the twist-off variety. You will need about 50 12 ounce bottles or the same volume in whatever size bottles you use.

Bottle Capper - Numerous styles of this device are available, any one will work for capping your bottles of homebrew.

Bottle Caps - These must be new. You will need about 50.

Bottle Filler - This is a clever device that will really speed up your bottling process.

Long Handled Spoon - You probably already have one that will work. It is for stirring, of course.

Unscented Household Bleach - You will use a dilute bleach solution to sanitize your brewing equipment. Preventing common bacteria and wild yeast from getting into your beer is very important. While they will not harm you, they can cause unpleasant flavors in your beer.

What To Do!

Boiling - Soak the two cans of malt extract syrup in hot water for at least 20 minutes. This makes the syrup easier to pour. While they soak, bring 11/2 gallons of water to a boil in your brewkettle.

Remove the kettle from heat, add the malt extract to the water, stir until it's all dissolved and return the kettle to the burner.

Boil the mixture, called wort, for at least 30 minutes (watch for boilovers!). Stir occasionally if you want. Five or 10 minutes before you are finished boiling, add the hop pellets. These hops will give your brew a nice hop aroma.

Sanitizing - While you are boiling, sanitize your primary fermenter using a solution of 1 ounce of bleach to 1 gallon of water. Sponge all the surfaces of your fermenter with the sanitizing solution and rinse well with hot water. From now on, everything that comes in contact with your beer must be sanitized - either with a clean sponge or by soaking in a bleach solution. This is very important. In fact, it's one of the secrets to making good beer

Fill your fermenter with 3 gallons of fresh, cold water and cover with the sanitized lid.

Cooling and Pitching - When you are finished boiling, carefully pour all the wort into your water-filled fermenter. It's boiling hot, so be careful. Put the lid on tightly.

When the wort has cooled to near room temperature, follow the instructions on the yeast packet for rehydrating the yeast, open the lid and pour the yeast into the wort (This is called pitching your yeast.) Work quickly, so that the wort is exposed to air as briefly as possible. There is no need to stir. Cover again and attach your fermentation lock. Add water to half-fill the airlock.

Fermenting - Fermentation should start within 24 hours, but it could take longer. A sure sign of fermentation is the bubbling of carbon dioxide through the fermentation lock. The bubbling should be rapid and vigorous for a couple of days and then gradually slow down. Keep the beer at room temperature, protected from light and in a place where children or animals can't disturb it. Fourteen days after fermentation has begun, you're ready to bottle.

Bottling - Sanitize your bottles by soaking them in a solution of 1 to 2 ounces of bleach to 5 gallons of water. Or, you can fill each bottle with the same solution. Let them soak for at least 45 minutes. Rinse each bottle with hot tap water. Make sure the bottles don't have any gunk in them.

Sanitize your bottling bucket, siphon hose, racking cane, bottle filler and anything else that's going to come in to contact with your beer using a bleach solution like the one used to sanitize your fermenter. Sanitize your bottle caps with either vodka or a very dilute bleach solution.

Dissolve 3/4 cup of corn sugar (4 ounces dry weight) in a cup of water. Boil for 10 minutes.

Put your fermenter of beer on the counter and your bottling bucket on the floor. Pour the sugar solution into the bottling bucket. Siphon the beer from the fermenter into the bottling bucket. Do this carefully, without splashing or agitating the beer and leave the sediment in the bottom of the fermenter behind. (This is called racking.) Don't expose your beer to the outside air any more than you have to and make sure all surfaces the beer contacts are sanitized.

Put the bottling bucket on the counter hook up your racking cane, siphon hose and bottle filler, then begin filling your bottles. Bottling can be messy, so have some paper towels or rags handy. Newspaper or a shallow baking pan can be used to catch spills. Cap each bottle.

Aging and Tasting - You're done! Store your bottles in a cool, dark place. Wait at least two weeks (if you can), uncap a bottle and pour into a nice, clean mug or glass, leaving the sediment in the bottle. The sediment won't harm you, but it can change the flavor and appearance of the beer.

Taste the fruits of your hobby. Congratulations! You're a homebrewer! We hope you learn to love this hobby as much as we do!