How to Make Beer

So, you've considered brewing your own beer but you're not yet willing to drop the cash for the entry level kit just yet. With a few simple pieces of equipment and ingredients here's how you can brew your own mini batch. In just a couple of weeks you can taste for yourself if homebrewing is a hobby you want to take to the next level.

Don't get me wrong, I think the entry level brew kits are a good value. They include some special equipment not used here that will make things easier. But, will you enjoy the beer or find the brewing process rewarding? I think so. This project will allow you to find out for yourself.

Step 1 Equipment

• Brew pot - any large kitchen pot that will hold a couple of gallons of water with room to spare to avoid boiling over.
• Kitchen strainer - to strain grains and hops before going to the fermenter
• Kitchen thermometer
• Large funnel
• Rolling pin - for crushing the grain
• 3 gallon container of bottled water - this will provide you with the water to make your beer and serve as your fermentation container
• Bottling container - An empty container of at least 3 gallons...could be another empty water bottle or a clean, scratch-free, food grade plastic bucket.
• 3 feet of 3/8" clear poly-vinyl tubing - for siphoning and fermentation air lock
• Bottles - there are a lot of options here and I'll cover some of them in the bottling step later

Comments

[8039180]

im limited to ingridients. there isnt a homebrew store around where i live. so i was wondering what can i substitute for the ingridients. things that i cud find at a market or grocery store or something. i was wondering about corn starch, and whole wheat flour, for my "barley" and cloves for my "hops." wud that work? if not please help me out. thank you.

[BeerLover]

Raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries!!! Fantastic flavors for beer!!

Shipyard makes a fantastic seasonal Blueberry Smash ale.... and I thought it was one of the fines beers I've ever tasted.

[sabetts]

If you can't get malted grains and hops (and dont want to order it online), then you can always try making hooch! You'll need white sugar, molasses, some fruit juice, and bread yeast. Boil everything but the yeast with water. I believe the ratio is 5kg of sugar per 20L of water. The molasses and fruit juice add nutrients for the yeast since it can't live no white sugar alone. Cool it and transfer to your fermenter and pitch your yeast. The next step is to build yourself a still. I'd recommend a tea kettle still because its easy to make. You can find all the details online of course :).

[imarunner2]

If I were you I'd consider trying to brew with something you DO have available. If you are able to get apples you might try brewing a hard cider or if you have honey available you might try brewing a mead. I've personally not brewed either but I've tasted some excellent samples of both from home brewers.

[jmurray6]

Yeah! There's lots that can be brewed without brewer's ingredients, but most of them aren't beer. From my limited knowledge, any combination of sugar and yeast in a liquid will produce some sort of alcoholic beverage. Look around on the net for recipes, and if you're technically inclined, there are for sure some demos out there on how to make moonshine from corn syrup or sugar. You'd just need to fashion yourself a little still, which would cost about $40 or $50 at your hardware store. (note this isn't legal everywhere)

[mev]

If you have a turkey fryer, you may want to use the burner and boil outside. It's a little less convenient than brewing in a kitchen, but if you boil over, the mess is outside, not in your kitchen. A boilover is a real sticky mess!

[BeerLover]

I LOVE that idea!!!!

[eranox]

100% agreed! If you're married and experience a boil-over in your kitchen, expect to hear about it in recurring arguments for many years to come.

[Kharabe]

easier way to carbonate your bottles is to add corn sugar to each bottle heres the chart
12 oz bottle 3/4 tsp
16oz bottle 1tsp
22 oz bottle 1 1/2 tsp
1 liter bottle 2 1/2 tsp
2 liter bottle 1 1/2 tbsp
3 liter bottle 2 1/4 tbsp

its that easy and you dont have any where near as much risk of to much or not enough sugar when bottling as you do using a sugaring solution mixed with the wort

[mhashim el-tahir]

Is using hops necessary ? cuz i couldn't get any...and is there a replacement ?

[mbillups]

You can substitue othe things for the hops like Sruce tips.

[BeerLover]

This looks fantastic. I CANNOT wait to try it.

[rug]

at what step would we add other flavors?

[oufan]

Is alumimum ok for the brew pot ?

[Froden]

Maybe an useful pot would be an old keg, just use an axle grinder to get the top off and you have a 40 litre brewing pot.

Me and friends have been using an old keg for over 10 years now

[Scurvymcdiggle]

if you can get a keg for free or a keg pot used it is the best way to go. i love our keg pot more than the store bought one.

[jp_pianoguy]

The short answer is yes. The long answer involves wasting hours of your time poring over thousands of posts on message boards all over the internet, reading Charlie Papazian's book, the Complete Joy of Homebrewing, reading old studies that link aluminum cookware to alzheimer's disease, then reading newer studies that debunk that.

[BeerLover]

I'd love to see the "new" studies that debunk aluminum as harmful...and who the studies were FUNDED by.

Aluminum, the most abundant metal on earth, is a reactive metal, it is soft and quickly releases it's chemical contents when heated or comes in contact with alcohol....kind of like lead glass/crystal. That's why canned beer....tastes like a can.

One of the fine by products of aluminum is FLUORIDE.... yeah, the ADA says it's ok....but not the FDA. Plus it comes in a container with skull and crossbones on it.

But if you have "debunking" proof.....not funded by Alcoa Aluminum ..I would be more than happy to read it.

[rip333]

Your telling me that aluminum MAKES fluoride?

[BeerLover]

Glass or stainless steel.....your best bet! Or if you can get one of those old stone picking jars.... then you're IN.

One of the best brewers in England....Samuel Smith..... makes their beers in STONE VATS.

I have not had ONE bad beer from that brewery.... I highly recommend them for beer lover.

For your beer hater friends and girlfriends, try the Samuel Smith organic strawberry ale.... it is to die for. Light and delicious...with a true strawberry flavor. Haven't met a beer hater who didn't love it yet....but there's always tomorrow.

Enjoy!

[BeerLover]

Fluoride.... which is also found naturally in various foods... in TINY TINY amounts.....is actually also waste product of ALUMINUM PRODUCTION.

It is very toxic and very expensive to get rid of. So, in the, I belive MID 30's or 40's, when the EX attorney general for Alcoa Aluminum became the head of either the ADA or some HEALTH COMMISSION..... and touted it as "good for your teeth"... by making up a bunch of FAKE studies.... probably paid for by Alcoal Aluminum..... to prove so. Naturally, he held LOTS of stocks and options in the company when he came up with this wonderful idea of getting rid of the toxic waste from aluminum production. Follow the money.

But if you look into European studies, NOT paid for by Alcoa and money making US giants, you will see that they actually prove that fluoride destroys bone density, mottles teeth and can cause a lifetime of medical problems. Europe does NOT put fluoride in its water for that very reason. Simply....google "fluoride toxicity."

the FDA does not promote fluoride in toothpaste....only the ADA..... which is pretty much a "yes master" response to big money.

Aluminum cans are bad for beer making...as well as cooking..... because... it is a soft metal and its components actually leach into the foods and drinks you keep and make in them.... especially when heated.

Still waiting for JP piano guy up top to post some "debunking" studies....because I happen to know there are none unless they're funded by Alcoa or other alum. production companies. Again, follow the money and the source of such studies.

Remember....you are what you eat and drink. Without your health.... you have no wealth.... no matter how small or how great.

I did a report on this in college.... and it blew everyone's mind... including mine.....but I stopped using aluminum for cooking and use fluoride free toothpaste as does my child. And what do you know, there IS NO contact number for a poison control center.

[mbillups]

More significant than who funded the studies and whether or not aluminum causes problems is the question of whether there is any aluminum in the beer.

How much aluminum leaches off the pot during the boil, then survives fermentation and is still present in the final beer?

The answer, no significant amount.

[BeerLover]

Is that because YOU say so? Do you have any type of scientific data to back that up.

Beer in aluminum cans TASTES NASTY!! Most mass produced beer is made... probably in giant aluminum vats...plus all those delicious chemicals to increase shelf life...not our life....but shelf life. Wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten foot pole....maybe even a 20 foot.

I respectfully disagree with your comment.

[mbillups]

Tow possibilities. You are drinking nasty beer, or buying cheep beer in unlined cans. Could also be that you are drinking out of the can, and getting the cleaning that the big industrial breweries use to clean the cans after filling.

I have done side by sides of craft beer in cans, same batch in bottles, and same batch from keg. All at the brewery. Freshly bottled/canned/kegged all taste the same. After a while the can and keg are better. Cans let in less oxygen and no light.

No craft breweries that I know of that can or bottle use any chemicals.

I know a LOT of brewers and brewery owners.

My assumption is you are only drinking industrial lagers. If you want better beer stop drinking beer from stranger(Bud, Miller, and Coors are all owned by large corporations, none of which are in the United States.). Drink local craft beer.

If you do not have any local, look around. Sierra Nevada is canning beer now.

[BeerLover]

Really? Based on my comments, I seem to you like someone who actually drinks domestic mass produced beer... much less beer out of a can? Really?

Sierra Nevada... lol.... as much as when I think of beers in a can.... ok, not as much.

I know a lot of brewers too.....but I also know brewers who have science degrees.... in other words, they DO know that aluminum leaches more toxins into beer than anything else.... as does "plastic"..... lolol.... still makes me laugh. Sorry.....not being mean.... I'm a science geek myself..... so I know the terrible effects of putting a volatile substance like alcohol in aluminum, plastic.... or lead aka crystal.

Get healthy..... go glass!!!! DARK glass all the way! So that you can live longer to enjoy more beer. Why, I think it's time to open up a Russian Imperial Stout right now..... brewed in Scotland.

[mbillups]

There is no aluminum in contact with any food that is put into a can. They are all lined.

Obviously you are afraid of plastics and cans. Par for the course these days. Everyone is afraid of everything based on limited and incomplete information. I still get people arguing with me that you should not use Aluminum pots because it will cause Alzheimer's.


If you really are honest about the taste of beer in cans go get some good craft beer in cans, and the same in bottles or in kegs(which are cans). Do some double blind tasting. Until you do this all you have is speculation.

[Mikie-z]

As a studied chemist at Rutgers University I can tell you that, 1 cans have a plastic liner and what you are tasting in the can is the plastic, and 2 that Aluminum is quite stable, except with the presents of very low pH. When you are boiling your Malt there will be a close to neutral pH, so there is no need to worry about boiling in an aluminum pot.

[psyoper22]

LOL...and then drinking the home made brew anyways....

[madmedix]

Yes there is....use a cornelius keg (the old stainless steel kegs used to be connected to soda fountains), a tank of CO2 and a regulator. Get at least a 24" fridge. Get the draught tap. drill a hole through the door. NO MORE BOTTLING. and .....cold....carbonated....beer in about 2 days. NO SEDIMENT. It is worth every freakin' penny. No more bleach splashing in bottles, all that jazz. only have to sanitize the kegs, clean the lines (reasonably, about one a month) and you are golden....And in no shortage of friends to help you try it out either :-)

[Scurvymcdiggle]

YEAH kegging is where its at!...that being said its not for everyone. requires more space than bottles...it is also a larger cash investment.

[curiousthemonkey]

is there any way to not have that layer of misery (suspended yeast) at the bottom of the bottle?

[rickharris]

Only by filtering the beer. Then you loose the fizz it collects in the bottle and have to artificially carbonate the bottles.

Storing your beer in a Barrel allows the fizz to develop AND the sediment to fall to the bottom leaving nice clear beer to draw off.

For a truly complete solution a pressured beer barrel is the answer so you don't have to open the top to let the bees and Carbon dioxide out.

[hossweightlifter]

I know how don';t be cheap and buy your own beer.......

[pyrosparker]

Before bottling, pour the beer in a sanitized flexible container (Thin plastic bottle) and place in the freezer to help get it cold. After cooling, (try not to freeze it, nothing can settle if the whole thing is solid) place in fridge and wait for yeast to settle. Once it's all settled, bottle it. (The beer may not become completely clear if there are unfermented sugar particles. To get every last bit of yeast to settle, wait 1 - 2 weeks before bottling.

[IBreakHeavyStuff]

Instead of racking (syphoning) into the priming bucket at step 12 rack into another fermentation bottle instead and leave it another week or so and wait for some more settling of the yeast. This will lessen the yeast in the bottom of the bottles, but you will still get some. The yeast in the bottles is what carbs them - you don't want to get rid of all of it otherwise you'd have flat beer =(.

[organic mechanic]

I have developed a beer clearing technique that imitates a large brewery process. I simply cool the finished beer in a sealed bottle (Iuse a 2 liter pop bottle. Cooling beer allows the gas CO2 to dissolve in the beer. Then I carefully decant the beer into another bottle. I leave the sediment behind. If the bottle overflows from foam do not stop the gentle pouring, use another container. because as soon as you tip the sediment containing bottle upright the the sediment will mix.. wait for the foam to subside then fill up. remember air make beer go stale. co2 gas imitates sugar to our tounge that is why ITS ALL ABOUT THE HEAD. btw I use beer kits and a plastic bucket with a lid.... no air lock...... my beer is drinkable 7 days after brewing.....
good luck to alll I my opinion alcohol is a hormone to mammals as ethylene is a hormone to plants. But i'm weird

[teufel.dan]

If you have another container to transfer your beer into, there is a process called secondary fermentation. When transferring the beer over you want to siphon it and try to keep most of the yeast out of secondary. Keep you beer in secondary for another 7 days, this process add some waiting time but its all worth it.

[IBreakHeavyStuff]

Oops - sorry dan. Looks like you answered already.

[BeerBellyJoe]

You can always use Clarifying aids such as; Irish Moss, Gelatin and Isinglass. You add one of these about 20min left in the boil and they act as a magnet attracting the suspended yeast and having it settle at the bottom of the fermenter. This will considerably lower the amount of yeast settlement at the bottom of the bottle, unless you filter the beer (Which you don't want to do as it takes all the Goodness out of it!).

[imarunner2]

If you age long enough...a couple of weeks or more, most yeast will settle pretty firmly at the bottom. Just pour carefully and you shouldn't get too much yeast in your glass. Bottle conditioned beers will always have some yeast settle to the bottom. There are methods of carbonating filtered beer before bottling but that goes well beyond the intent of this instructable.