Make your own beer

2016-12-23

Here are CBJ we always encourage people to support their local brewers. Next time you visit a brewery take a friend who may not be familiar with craft beer. And to broaden your own experience you should try making your own beer. When a Home Brewer walks into a brewery they can deeply appreciate the amount of work and skill that goes into brewing one of those stouts or specialty ales. Every Brewer we know wishes their customers could walk a mile in their boots.

It's not difficult to brew batch of beer. Read that sentence again. I didn't say it's easy to brew delicious craft beer, but it is easy to brew a batch. Think of it like making fine furniture. With a little instruction almost anyone can make a wood stool or box. But it takes years of practice and refined skill to make a rocking chair or to build custom kitchen cabinets. A Master Brewer is much like a master carpenter. Here are some tips on how to get started making your first batch of beer.

SUPPLIERS

See if there is a local brew shop in your area. They will be your best source for supplies. they will be happy to connect you with other local brewers, brew clubs, and brew events. But if you aren't fortunate enough to have access to a local brew shop there are plenty of online sources who can ship you everything from brew pots, hops, grain and everything you need. <>Here is a list of online brew suppliers we keep for our own reference:

ONLINE BREW SUPPLIERS
• Northern Brewer
• Brew Your Own
• Williams Brewing
• Keg Works
• Home Brew Supply
• More Beer
• Atlantic Brew Supply
• Adventures In Homebrewing
• Home Brew Talk

SUPPLIES

Take it slow. To brew your first batch of beer you will need a beer kit with the ingredients, a 5 gallon pot to boil your water, a 5 gallon container to condition your beer, two cases of empty beer bottles and a $20 bottle capper. Here's a breakdown of costs:
• 5gal Brew Kit ($30-$55)
• 5gal Brew Pot ($20-$35)
• 5Gal Carboy ($10-$35)
• Bottle Capper ($20)
• Starsan Sanitizer ($16)
• TOTAL = $100
This will make (2) cases of your own home brew. To make is as easy as possible you can find the items at walmart, a 5gal Bayou classic pot, 5gal plastic water jug and Five Star Star San 16oz. sanitizer.
After you enjoy your experience you can invest in higher quality equipment to help make higher quality beer. Select a beer kit to make your favorite brew. There are kits available that contain all the ingredients you will need. You only need to add water. The kits come with step-by-step recipes and some even have extras like bottle caps.

BREW STEPS

After you have your supplies ready then you'll need about 3 hours to brew. Invite some friends and make it a party. In 30 days you can invite them back to taste the results of your work. Home brewing is a very social activity. We often share beer from our previous brewing or we have bottles of our favorite craft beer we hope to make some day, while we stand around the fire and tend to our brew. Here are the basic steps for brewing.


BASIC BREW STEPS

• CLEAN: clean everything you are going to use. Use the Star San to disinfect your pot, spoons, bottle, etc.
• MASH: steep the grains in water for 60 minutes.
• BOIL: remove the grains and boil your mash for 60-90 minutes while adding in hops and specialty ingredients.
• COOL: after the boil cool the wart as fast as possible and transfer to the fermenting jug.
• AERATE AND PITCH: aerate your wart by rocking and shaking your jug for a couple minutes to create a good environment for your yeast then pitch the yeast into the jug. Now you have beer!
• FERMENTATION: place the fermenting jug in a cooler to maintain 74 degrees (F) for about 6 days. Google how to make a "swamp cooler" which is a cooler with ice water and using a towel to wick water over the jug.
• CLEAN: clean your bottles an bottle caps using Star San.
• TRANSFER & BOTTLE: after the fermentation process stops you are ready to bottle your beer. Your recipe will probably contain priming sugar. Follow the instructions and add the sugar to your beer to reactivate your yeast to produce C02. This is called bottle conditioning.
• BOTTLE: transfer your beer from the fermenter into your clean bottles. Keep the bottles near 74-80 degrees (F) for 2 weeks while they carbonate.
• ENJOY: after 2 weeks your beer should be carbonated. Cool off a bottle and get ready to sample your first home brew.
Your results may vary, The most important aspects of making beer as: cleanliness, temperature, time and ingredients. It's all in the details. Cleanliness will prevent foreign strains of yeast from getting into your beer. Yeast is all around us, in the air, on your hands, it's on everything. Maintain your temperatures as accurate as possible because the grains release sugar and enzymes at just the right temperature and time and you want to extract all their goodness. Yeast will thrive at the proper temperature and those 1billion minions will work magic if they are happy. Yeast is a living breathing organism that will breakdown (eat) the sugars and produce alcohol and CO2 for a certain length of time. You want to use good, fresh ingredients.
DON'T WORRY. TRY IT. The worst thing that can happen is you will make an awful tasting bottle of sourness. If you are careful and lucky you will be amazed and it will seem like absolute magic when you pop the top off your first bottle and you hear that release of pressure. With practice and care you can make the best beer as good as any brewery. After you make a few batches you will appreciate the skill and effort of your local breweries. Most people don't understand the skill required to make great tasting beer - now you know.
Don't forget the last step - invite your friends over and share you home brew. Don't give it all away, it goes quickly.