[Video] Homebrew Beer

Here's the first installment of a three part series. 5 or so hours of work, compressed into less than 15 minutes.



Not our carboy below ;) And yes, I do realize is misspelled "hops."

Step 1: Background

My good friend, Brodie, has an awesome hobby. Last weekend he invited me to watch (and help a little) his next batch of beer, an Irish Red Ale. Between cleaning, sterilizing, boiling, brewing etc. - it Took roughly 5 hours... of mostly waiting. Ironically, it took about the same amount of time to import, cut and edit that video showing off my lacking video skills and my very not radio host voice :) You'll also notice some possibly superstitious beliefs in there (such as the BierBierBier song ;) )

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I'm not going to go into the major details of how to brew. It's covered for the most part in the video, but there's some excellent instructables on brewing beer. See links below. You will find some helpful hints, tips and see what your brew should look like.

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By far the best part of brewing was the company. We had a good time goofing off and afterwards, a celebratory meal!

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Links!
Make Beer - like ours
How To Brew Beer - from scratch

Suppliers
Homebrew Heaven - Where our recipe came from
Northern Brewer - I think he got his hardware (brew pot, fermenter, carboy, keg, etc.) from here

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Other Fermentables
Big Batch of Kombucha
Making Kombucha
Root Beer - Only a tiny bit :)

Comments

[mbalcer]

I have found that making this can be a great experience…. Here is the sight I get all my stuff from…

Mr. Beer Beer of the Month Club Receive everything you need to keep you brewing great tasting beer all year long.

[parodoxicalplay]

"Skunk beer" (LOL) man you guys are legends for posting this... Just started brewing myself would love to make such a mineral rich potent beer such as yours:) You have given me such great ideas within this video. keep up the great work........

[Wired_24_7]

inspired me to go out and get a home brew kit today. going to make my first pale ale tomorrow. wish me luck :)

[marker5a]

hey, i am fellow knight... do u guys brew your own beer for the foozball games? a group of friends and myself all have mr beer kits, but I wanna branch out and get the real deal. and yea, orlando water sux

[lemonie]

Why are you using bottled water, and why boil then cool a portion of it? I use (Yorkshire) tap water without any problem. And you're sterilising with iodine? Hope it tastes as good as it looks! L

[trebuchet03]

I asked the very same question (which didn't make it in) about boiling and cooling. You don't necessarily have to do that when you're not doing a full boil. However, the gentlemen that my friend follows recommends to always boil - regardless of where you got your water from and that a full boil is not necessary (little to no taste difference). One of those people happens to be the president of the Brewer's Association :)

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As for our tap water..... For four years it has failed to meat "safe" quality standards due to high HAA5 content (tested quarterly). No immediate effects.... but long term cancer risks :P It's also extremely hard :( We try to avoid it where possible.

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Yes, we're sterilizing with iodine. About two minutes will sanitize - 10 minutes to sterilize to "hospital standards." Is it necessary? Well, the first batches (without these cleaning practices) were a bit rough. Better cleaning practices, better beer. Of course, there's diminishing returns - but to use iodine, just fill the bucket, mix a little in and let it sit. So it's easy "work" and that bottle was around $3. But it will stain certain plastics.

[uglicoyote]

Boiling your extracts will relases some of the enzymes and, in my experieince improve the flavor. If you are using malted grains, let them steep in the hot water at about 150-180 degrees Then remove them, add your extract and your boiling hopps, and boil for at least a half hour, and hour is better. Cooling your wort down to at least 80 degrees before pitching the yeast, the faster you cool it the bettter. The longer the beer sits uncooled, the more likely it is to encounter contamination.. If you are using a dry yeast, stir it up with some warm (100 or so) water and let it work for ten minutes before you pitch it. DON't Stir it in. Pitch it , seal it up, let it do its thing. Sterilizing is essential to good beer. Bacteria is the enemy. The best sterilant I've found is bleach.(unscented) ,about a cup to five gallons of water ought to do it. Sterilize everything that will come into contact with the beer. You can actually sterilize strainers and smaller items byt putting them in the boil with the wort. With tap water, the added chlorine is the thing. Filter out the chlorine with a carbon filter and your water should be okay. Some types of beer actually like hard water ,but experiment.Alton Brown uses bottled spring water (nver distilled) but I use our city tap water with great success. Relax, don't worry, have a home brew. Properly prepared homebrew is a gift from the gods.

[lemonie]

If I understand correctly, your tap water comes out of the ground & is tainted by industrial pollution (bummer)? Do you know where the bottled water comes from? My water runs off the hills and is very soft. In addition to plastics, iodine will also react with copper, and 'stainless' steels. I inherited some Campden tablets (which will feature in the plum wine instructable I'll be posting shortly) so I use them, if I sterilise anything. L

[trebuchet03]

No, they treat the water with chlorine before sending it out.... HAA5 is, apparently, a by product of chlorine treatment :/

[Drunkenlizard]

Yeah CFL water is horrible stick with the zephyrhills ;)

[lemonie]

Interesting, think I'll do some research.
Plum wine is up:
http://www.instructables.com/id/EWVZS620PPEYKVV9XX/

L

[CementTruck]

Hey! You're all set for the St. Patricks day Instructable contest. (I'm sure that one's going to get multiple beer entries) Maybe some green food color for authenticity.

[lemonie]

Dying beer green makes it authentically stupid. Over here St. Pat's is most heavily promoted by Guinness, hence Irish Stout would be the most authentic brew. However, I wouldn't be at all suprised if Magners gave it a push this year, we'll see... L

[CementTruck]

I meant authentic to the U.S., not Ireland. St. Patrics Day has become so commercialized over here that they dye entire rivers for the event. As far as stupid, or not, (shrug) I have no strong feeling either way. It's been a tradition for years.

[lemonie]

Do you know what dye is used? Am I also to assume that it's tradition to drink US beer? Which ever side of the water you're on it's a big drinking event... I've been promised home-brew stout & Hartlepool (I think)

[CementTruck]

Dyeing the river green the dye formula is a big secret.

Actually, microbrews/breweries have become a big thing around here (US), and although the beers are "made" in the US, their recipes, ingredients, and yeast are international.

[lemonie]

The dye formula is Fluorescein according to e.g. Wikipedia. Not harmful according to the MSDS. However, I would not want to drink a pint with this in.

[Drunkenlizard]

Great instructable, Can't wait to see the next installment.

[Professor Hognutz]

I considered doing a beer instructable. Good work.

[trebuchet03]

Don't let this discourage you from doing so :D Variation of a common theme is always great :)

[Shark500]

it's beer! horay beer!

[trebuchet03]

Hooray Beer! indeed :) Well, it's not beer yet :) But in about 4 weeks it will be, and we don't have to prime and bottle it :) Forced carbonation is nice :)

[Shark500]

seriousily, great instructable