How To Brew Delicious and Cheap Beer At Home in 9 Easy Steps

There’s no bottle of beer that tastes quite as good as the one you’ve made yourself. Home brewing is a fun and rewarding hobby that anyone can do! So what are you waiting for? Here’s how to brew your own beer at home.

To get set up, you’ll need some basic equipment – a lot of which you probably already have. Visit your local home brewing supply store or check out Beer College’s Starter Home Brewing Kit for $43.

Here’s the equipment you need:

* Large Pot
* Plastic siphon hose
* Fermenter with Airlock
* Bottling bucket with spigot
* Hydrometer
* Mixing Spoon
* Sanitizer Powder

The easiest way to make your first batch is by picking up a pre-made beer kit. It will contain all the ingredients you need to brew your beer such as yeast and hopped malt concentrate. You may also want to buy additional fermentables, which are what add different flavors to your beer. Of course you can buy your ingredients separately, but using a kit helps keep things simple for your first few times.

Step 1 Prepare Your Wort - I.e. The Stuff That Turns Into Beer

1) The first step is to sanitize all your equipment. In fact, sanitizing is the most important part of the brewing process to prevent your beer from getting contaminated by bacteria. Clean everything with hot soapy water. Then you need to sanitize all your equipment by using a chlorine bleach solution.

2) Now that everything is sterilized, you are ready to start preparing the wort – basically the solution that is going to turn into beer. Put two quarts of water in your brew pot; then heat to around 180F or until it steams; then remove the pot from the heat. Add in the ingredients contained in your beer kit and follow any extra instructions provided with your kit.

3) Stir until everything is dissolved; then put the lid on and leave it sit for 20 minutes on low heat. After 20 minutes has passed, pour the wort into your fermenter which should be filled with 3 gallons of cool water. Stir for 4 minutes. This oxygenates the mixture which helps make the fermentation go smoothly. When the wort has cooled down you can add your yeast.

Comments

[anode505]

This is one of the first entry instructions Ive seen where they mention keeping the fermentation temps steady and cool. Most glance past that part. Too hot and the yeast stress and create esters that make the beer icky. Yeast selection and style of beer dictate ferm temps.

(though I disagree with the ferm times. No air bubbles is NOT a sign the ferm is done, it could be a stuck fermentation. Only hydrometer/refractometer readings steady for 3 days says its done. I leave in primary for 3-4 weeks)