How to make beer.

I had a few people ask me to make this.. SO heres a quick rundown on how i make homebrew. This was used making a simple nothing fancy dark ale with dry yeast and one type of hops.




And this his how it begins! ingredients and equipment



Chris and i measuring out 5 gallons of water to make a mark on the carboy. it'll make sense why in a bit. We even made sure the floor was level...



Siphoning the 5 gallons into the bottling bucket with sterilization formula



here is the spring water that will be beer. 6 gallons. One extra because of boil-off



All the equipment you will be using needs to be sterilized.



More of the previous.



Now switch and use the spigot. Carboy needs to be sterilized too. keep it in there for 5 mins total and then dump. That makes for hospital standards of sterilization.



Now bring two gallons of spring water to a boil. Once that begins to boil, turn off the heat and mix in malt according to directions. This called for 7lbs of a certain kind of malt (of which i forget) and once that is thoroughly mixed bring back to a roaring boil. BUT watch for overboil. Adjust the heat and find that balance.



Once that boil is reached your hour starts. Pour in your first addition of hops



It breaks apart almost immediately.



Mess. Note though that the carboy is turned upside down so it can drip dry. This is not necessary and i don't do it anymore becuase of contamination issues.



Getting the carboy ready for its new home. it MUST be in a cool, dark, dry place. This will make a really good home.



now fill with two gallons of chilled/damn near frozen spring water



tada..



Your two gallons and malt extract boil for a full hour. If you spread out the addition of hops throughout that boil it will make for a tastier beer. Some reciepies call for certain additions throughout the hour. I added this amount in the last 5 mins of the boil to give it a bit more of a Sierra Nevada kick.. The more towards the end, more Sierra Nevada-ness it will have. The less, the more Lager (Red Stripe) it will taste.



Be careful not to have any of the hot wort (term for beer thats not fermented yet) touch the side of the carboy. it will crack. Cold water at the bottom helps it not explode under the heat, which is why we added it a few moments ago..



green thing keeps the funnel centered. Wort goes straight down the center



now time to top off to that mark we made at the beginning. Gotta be up to 5 gallons



Theres the mark..



good enough! the 6th gallon helped with the topping off because of boil-off from the full hour of boiling the wort.



Fill the bubbler with vodka to create a sterile environment. Bubbler will allow the CO2 to come up through the post and then through vodka before leaving the carboy altogether. I dont use vodka anymore, just some of the steral water from earlier works fine.



tada..



This temp thing is just like the one you got on your aquarium. The section off to the right is where we want the temperature when it is making itself into our ale. The other side (colder) is for Lager.



Now the important part. After the beer has cooled almost to room temp, add yeast. The yeast will eat sugars from the malt and shit alcohol



The yeast sitting at the top there and bubbler installed



and in it goes for about 2 weeks! Store in a somewhat cool environment and for sure away from light. Fermentation occurred the next day! It rip/roared for a good week and settled down after that.



About two weeks have passed. we now steralize some bottles and delable others. OXYCLEAN will really help get rid of labels.. poor oxyclean guy..



Glass carboy needs to be covered from light. Moved onto a counter top night before to let sediment settle again



Bottling bucket filled with sanitation liquid and the tools for today's job.



bottles get filled and submerged in sanitized water



after 5 mins of sanitized, empty bottles and hang them to dry. Dont need to be super dry, just.. dry enough. Sanitation fluid doesnt effect beer whatsoever and leaves no taste.



i used the oven as i have no dishwasher.. house is from 1940...



add 3/4 - 1 cup of bottling sugar (corn sugar) to..



one pint of boiling spring water



dump into somewhat dry and empty bottling bucket located on the floor.



start a siphon while looking retarded using water in the tubing. I now use whats called an autosiphon. it does just that. BUY IT it will save you big time.



uncover your masterpiece and uncap.



dive right in there..



and make sure the beer goes in along the side of the bucket. no sloshing no bubbling. just nice and smooth.



smoooth..



this is how to do it...



line up your bottles..



Put the bucket on the counter and remove the carboy. hook the tubing to the spigot and let the beer flow through tubing and into the bottle filler. Filler has a button at the end of it that allows the beer to flow when depressed into the bottom of a beer bottle. so beer gets filled into the bottles from the bottom up.



we chose a corona bottle first. Its clear and allows us to show what we're doin...



fillin up..



and use a capper to put the bottle caps on while a friend does the bottling. make a team effort here for ease. You wanna do these steps fast. oxygen hates beer.. so hurry up.



Aint it beautiful? 5 gallons made for 2 boxes of beer. It'll be another 2-3 weeks before we can try it. The bottling sugar will give food to the yeast and allow the carbonization to occur.



The end.

 

How complex.

 

dude seriously.. TOO BAD YOU COULDNT BRING THAT TO CLEGHORN!

 

i know huh?? it got bottled on sunday, BUT i'll have it for the meet in august (if it lasts that long!!!)

 

You sir get rep, but only if it works, LOL.

 

haha you mean "works" as in "gets you drunk" Then yes, oh yes, works like a charm!

 

Rep given. I have always wanted to brew my own. Maybe this will motivate me. I think my mom has most of the stuff since she cans fruits and what not.

 

thanks - it's easy and if you know someone who knows how to do it, have them walk you through the first time. AND my only tip - sanitation is KEY, but the instructions really make it sound like its super easy to mess up. It's really not.

 

indeed