How to Make Beer

Step 14 Drink it!

Place a few bottles in the fridge to chill. Open a bottle and slowly pour into a glass leaving just a bit in the bottom of the bottle.

This one turned out well. It tastes very good but I did notice a slight chill haze after refridgeration. I'll admit, I'm still pretty new to this so I'll have to do some research to find out what causes chill haze. Nevertheless, it's still a tasty brew!

Comments

[MekkMan]

Folks have been making "drinkable" beer for a really looong time. For most of that time they didn't know squat about sanitizing. During my college daze we let the hops and yeast take care of the nasty bacteria. Never had an undrinkable lot. What ever works for you is good enough. That said, I boil everything - I have a bit more patience now and more consistent beer.

[warz0n3]

as for the chill haze. Adding some irish moss in the last 15 minutes of the boiling should help fix that

[stonerhhi]

Help, My husband made beer on Sat. 1/17/09 and there is no bubbling from the air lock. We added bread yeast because he used brewers yeast that was 2 years past exp. date. We added same amount of bread yeast right after the bad yeast. Is there any way to save this batch? Thanks J stone

[hullabrew]

An inactive airlock does not mean no fermentation. In fact, in my experience it almost always doesn't. Most likely you have a leak somewhere and the gas is escaping through that instead. Always wait for 72 hours, and only re-pitch if there are no visible signs of fermentation Don't ever use bread yeast. There is no good reason to do so. Yeast has a significant affect on the flavor of beer, and not all yeast is created equal. There is a reason that brewer's yeast and bread yeast are given those names. With that being said, open up your fermenter (if you can't see through it) and check for krausen (foam that wasn't there before). If there isn't any after 72 hours (no less time than that) then re-pitch the same type of yeast you originally used or, if it's an ale, and american ale yeast. American ale yeasts impart fewer flavors that will affect the flavors of the original yeast.

[gingerbreaddon]

i know im super late with this but if you ever run into this problem again i would say to wait for a little while longer. i realize 3 days is 3 times as long as it shoud take to start fermenting but theres still a chance it just hadnt kicked in yet. otherwise i would say after a day or two more to just add more brewers yeast. from what ive heard it can be risky to use bread yeast.

[Spartan 117]

Is there any other signs of fermentation, yeast cake, condensation or a krausen? inho never trust the airlock Aaron

[imarunner2]

Hmmm. Hard to say for sure. I'd say wait it out at this point and see what happens. As long as the temperature is agreeable to the yeast you may begin to see some activity soon. I'm guessing bread yeast would be happier at the warmer end of the beer fermentation temperature range...but I'm not sure. I don't really have any experience using bread yeast in beer but I've heard it can make decent beer. If your sanitation was really good then the yeast may still be able to outrun the possibility of contamination from the undesirable critters. Hopefully, you'll see the yeast become active within the next day or two. If not, I'd lean toward starting over with fresh yeast. Good luck!

[deacons323]

Hi all, how can I make the beer a lighter color? More like a Lauger?

[rosemore]

There are many light ale kits available on line I use Midwest supplies. You can also use lager yeast at 70 degrees it is called steam-style beer and it has a bit of the lager characteristics but mostly ale.

[Jarlaxle]

One more thing. Lagers ferment at a lower temp. Just something to keep in mind. Depending the yeast, ales yeast ferments at 65-75 (even 80 for some). lagers ferment between 45-65. I don't know about you but my house stays at 70-72. 45 is cold and I don't have an extra fridge to keep the fermenter at 50 for a lager.

[Cracticus]

To keep your fermenting beer at the required temperature, try putting it in a container full of water. A good-sized plastic storage box will do. Put that into an insulated box to keep its temperature under control. Keep its temperature monitored; put ice in the water if it is too warm, or warm water in it if it gets too cold. Syphon some of the water out when it gets too full. Your beer will benefit from being kept at an even temperature throughout fermentation.

[Jarlaxle]

Malt Extract controls the color of the beer as rated by the Standard Reference Method (SRM). The SRM scale goes from light yellow (2), think Bud Light to Black (70) which is more of a Guinness color.

Use a Lager Pilsener malt or Pale ale malt for a lighter yellowish color.

[el kabong]

To quote the zen master of homebrewing: "Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew!" -Charlie Papazian

[imarunner2]

el kabong, Thanks for all your comments. It's only now that I've gone back and looked at each step that I've seen them.

[sprucedriveman]

what would an approx cost for a brew like be

[Grizz72]

Has anyone ever ran there beer threw a wine filter during the bottling process just wondering what would happen, if you would loose taste or would you lose your prime or what the out come would be. please reply as this is my first batch of beer and I am almost ready to bottle. Thanks Grizz72

[cakes227]

would filtering it through like a coffe filter or a strainer or something be afective in removing the yeast?

[imarunner2]

I don't know how well a coffee filter would work. You might end up creating off flavors from aeration. The key to clearing your beer is to be patient. The yeast will typically settle to the bottom of the bottle if you have the patience to wait 3 weeks or so. It somewhat depends on how flocculant your yeast strain is. I was in a hurry to create this instructable and didn't wait as long as I should have. I'll post another photo to show the results of waiting longer.

[FryChampagne]

A few tablespoons of irish moss(found at your homebrew store) added near the end of the boil will help clear up the beer. Nice instructable.

[TimeTraveller]

Way....to much work. I've had very satisfactory results using a plastic laundry tub as fermenter. No airlock required...the covered tub has a blanket of CO2 that protects the wort from Oxyen. As long as you keep the cover on the the tub, should be no problem Also, I don't bother filtering out the grains and hops, they settle to the bottom. My laundry tub has a drain with an opening that sits about an inch off the bottom of the tub, so the the yeast crud, hop residue and grain stuff stay behind. I add something called yeast energizer ( I think it's diammonium phosphate ) that the brew store sells. My fermentation is usually done in 4 days. Most of it happens over 2 days..takes about 24 to 36 hours to get the yeast going. I add 2 packages of yeast spread over the suface of the wort. I can make about 200 bottles at crack with this setup, so I only have to make beer a couple of times a year. The worst part is the bottle washing. I don't need a siphon either..I just drain the laundry tub contents into a clean plastic tub, add priming sugar, mix and drain from it straight into the bottles. For sanitation, I store everthing in a water / bleach filled plastic garbage pail. I have a garden mister with a 50% bleach water mix in it. I spray everything with it that comes in contact with my beer. I use tap water to bulk up my wort. I've been making beer for 15 years and only once have had a batch go bad...don't know if it was the water or something else. For fast cooling of the hot wort, I just pour it into my laundry tub fermenter straight from the stove. The large surface area of the tub bottom makes for quick cooling. After initial cooling I use a garden hose sprayer to add cold water to the wort and adjust the temperature to bring the final mix to around 70 deg Fahrenheit. The sprayer injects oxygen into the wort which apparently yeast needs before it starts fermenting. I sprinkle yeast over the top of the mix immediately and in 4 days I'm ready to bottle. Now what I'm looking for is away to use 2 liter pop bottles to act as primary fermenter, container, storage and dispenser. Kind of like the beer machine Kmart used to sell. I'm thinking storing them inverted, so the yeast and crud stays in the cone part of the bottle, with the delivery tube raised up above so clear beer can be dispensed. All I need is time...

[bierliebe]

Honestly, you must make crappy beer dude. Certainly your way is cheap, but I don't think I'd want to drink your beer. Plus, your laundry bucket probably isn't food grade. Also, you're using a garden hose sprayer? That has to be hard to clean. Anyways, to others that may read TimeTraveller's post, don't do what he's doing! He didn't even know that oxygenating the wort is a key part of getting a solid fermentation! Also, the 2 liter soda bottle idea won't work unless you have an airlock, otherwise the bottle will just explode as it ferments.

[spell check 2000]

I think what you are looking for is here:
http://home.swbell.net/bufkin/cheap_3_liter_kegs.htm
He made 2 and 3 liter soda bottles into mini-kegs. Pretty good idea.
I don't agree with your techniques, but all that really matters is that you get batches that don't sour and get a final product that you like! Which you obviously have!
Brew on!