How to brew your own beer
Step 1: Gather your ingredients and equipment
The four main ingredients you need to brew beer are water, malt extract, hops, and yeast. Water makes up most of the beer, so use good quality water that tastes good to you. Malt extract is a concentrated form of malted barley that provides the fermentable sugars and the base flavor of the beer. Hops are the flowers of a plant that add bitterness, aroma, and preservative qualities to the beer. Yeast is a microorganism that converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
You also need some equipment to brew your beer. The basic items are:
- A large pot (at least 3 gallons) to boil the wort (the liquid that will become beer)
- A fermenter (a large plastic bucket or glass carboy) with an airlock to store the wort while it ferments
- A siphon hose and a bottling bucket to transfer the beer from the fermenter to the bottles
- A bottle filler, a bottle capper, and some bottle caps to seal the bottles
- A thermometer, a hydrometer, and a measuring cup to monitor the temperature, gravity, and volume of the wort
- A sanitizer to clean and sanitize all your equipment and bottles
- A large spoon or paddle to stir the wort
- A strainer or cheesecloth to filter out any solids from the wort
Step 2: Make the wort
The first step in brewing is to make the wort, which is the sweet liquid that will be fermented into beer. To make the wort, you need to:
- Heat about 2.5 gallons of water in your pot until it reaches about 160°F (71°C)
- Turn off the heat and stir in your malt extract until it dissolves completely
- Bring the water back to a boil and add your hops according to your recipe (different hops have different flavors and aromas, and are added at different times during the boil)
- Boil the wort for about an hour, stirring occasionally and watching for boil-overs
- Turn off the heat and cool the wort down as quickly as possible to about 70°F (21°C) by placing the pot in an ice bath or using a wort chiller
- Strain the wort into your fermenter, leaving behind any solids
- Top up the fermenter with cold water until you reach about 5 gallons of wort
- Take a hydrometer reading to measure the original gravity (OG) of your wort, which indicates how much sugar is available for fermentation
Step 3: Ferment the wort
The next step in brewing is to ferment the wort, which is when yeast turns sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. To ferment the wort, you need to:
- Sprinkle your yeast on top of the wort and stir gently
- Seal the fermenter with an airlock filled with water or sanitizer
- Store the fermenter in a dark and cool place (about 65°F or 18°C) for about two weeks
- Check the airlock for bubbles, which indicate that fermentation is happening
- Take a hydrometer reading after two weeks to measure the final gravity (FG) of your beer, which indicates how much sugar has been consumed by yeast
- Calculate your alcohol by volume (ABV) by subtracting your FG from your OG and multiplying by 131
Step 4: Bottle the beer
The final step in brewing is to bottle your beer, which is when you add some sugar to create carbonation in your bottles. To bottle your beer, you need to:
- Clean and sanitize about 50 bottles (12 oz each) and caps
- Boil about 2/3 cup of sugar in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes
- Pour the sugar solution into your bottling bucket
- Siphon your beer from your fermenter into your bottling bucket, leaving behind any sediment
- Fill each bottle with beer using your bottle filler, leaving about an inch of headspace
- Cap each bottle with your bottle capper
- Store the bottles in a dark and cool place for about two weeks
