subject: The Process of Brewing Beer - A Step By Step Guide [print this page] The Process of Brewing Beer - A Step By Step Guide
Before Brewing Day
First of all you need to determine what type of beer you want to brew. There are plenty of beer types to choose from! I suggest you start out with an easy an uncomplicated beer for your first brew. A simple pale ale is very easy to brew, and you do not need to add many types of malts and hops. You can find plenty of beer recipes on the internet, so you know what ingerdients to buy. Some online shops sell complete beers with all the ingredients and a recipe. You can always make your own recipes as you get more experienced.
Before you start to brew beer at home, you need to make sure you have the equipment needed to brew beer. You can either buy a beer brewer kit, or you can put together your own preferred equipment - depending on the volume you want to brew.
The Process of Brewing
Getting ready: Make sure you have all ingredients and equipment ready
Mashing: Add your malt and stir - according to the recipe
Lautering: Remove the malt and get rid of excess water
Sparging: Rinse the malt in the strainer with hot water to get the last sugars out
Adding hops: Add the hops and stir- according to the recipe
Chilling: Chill the wort to fermentation temperature
Sanitizing equipment: Sanitize the fermenters to avoid infection of the wort
Fermentation: Add the wort and yeast to the fermenter and let the wort ferment into beer for a couple of weeks
Sanitizing your Bottles: Sanitize the bottles and equipment for bottling
Carbonation: Carbonate the beer, by adding sugar, to get the desired co2 pressure
Bottling: Use your bottlefiller to get the beer into the bottles and then cap them. Leave them for a couple of weeks - and then CHEERS!
Hints for the Process of Brewing Beer
As you can see, it is actually easy to brew beers at home. However, I think you need to know these things before you start. If you brew a larger quantity of beer, it will take about five to seven hours from beginning to the end. So make sure you have plenty of time! Do not rush into it, to make the day without stress - as any hobby should be.
The process can not go wrong but in one thing - how clean and sanitized your equipment is! This is by far the most important and delicate issue when brewing beer. When the wort has been chilled, it is very vulnerable - even a hair or a fly in the wort can infect it, and that way destroy the beer and make it undrinkable. So make sure to sanitize ALL the equipment and your hands and arms, when you are dealing with chilled wort.
Hopefully this will help you on the way to make a great homemade beer!
