How to Make Beer

Step 5 The Boil

Now bring the contents of the brew pot to a boil. Then, remove from heat and stir in the malt extract. Return to heat and again bring to a boil. Be careful here! This is the point where you are at most risk of boiling over. A boil over is something you definitely want to avoid as you'll have quite a sticky mess to clean up if it happens. Once you have a controlled boil add about 2/3 oz of the hop pellets to the boil and maintain the boil for 60 minutes to get the most from the bittering potential of your hops. Submerse your kitchen strainer in the boil for the last 15 minutes to sanitize it for later use. At the end of 60 minutes turn off the heat and add the remainder of the hop pellets. Cover and let the newly added hops steep for 10 minutes. Hops added at this point will contribute some hop flavor and aroma to your finished beer.

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.

[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.

[herr_twiggie]

I would recommend against adding the last of the hops and covering the kettle at flame out, there's a chance that diacetyl could accumulate in the wort and give the beer a buttery flavor. Add the hops 10 minutes before flame out and keep that cover off.

[DouglasLaw]

It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. the closer to flame out you add the hops the more aromatics from the hops you retain. According to the AHA HomeBrewoPedia...

dry hopping.

1. The addition of loose dry hops to the primary fermenter (when the wort has cooled down to 75 °F, 24 °C), the secondary fermenter, or to casked beer to increase the aroma and hop character of the finished beer without significantly affecting its bitterness. Homebrewers usually add 50-60 grams of aroma hops or hop pellets per 5-gallon batch during primary or, more often, secondary fermentation. Hop extracts are not recommended for dry hopping because they may contain traces of the organic solvents used for their extraction. 2. In England, dry hopping more specifically refers to the addition of fresh hops to a cask of draft beer when it is racked from the primary fermenter.

Some people carry it to extremes... do a web search on "Hops" + Randall" and you'll see what I mean.

The diacetyl comment is well taken.