HOMEBREW 101

How to Get Started Making Your Own Beer

Were going to talk about...

What exactly is beer, anyway?

What kind of beer can you make at

home?

What equipment do you need?

How do you actually make beer?

Cool! How do I get started?

What to do after my first batch?

What is beer, anyway?

What is beer, anyway?

Besides delicious, beer is...

Malted Grains
Contribute
fermentable sugars,
flavors, and color
Typically barley, but
also wheat, oat, rye,
etc
Base and specialty
malts

Hops

Water

Add bitterness,
flavor and aroma
to beer

Cleaner water
leads to better
beer

A natural
preservative

Home brewers
often opt for
bottled drinking
water

Lots of variety in
level of bitterness
and types of
aromas

Yeast
Convert fermentable
sugars to alcohol and
CO2
Two types, ale (top
fermenting) and lager
(bottom fermenting)
Ale yeasts can add
flavors

What is beer, anyway?

In addition to the four main ingredients,

you can brew with... just about anything!

Fruit (raspberries, cherries, watermelon, etc)

Chocolate
Coffee
Spices (vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon zest,
etc)
Sugars (like brown or beet)
Honey
Chili peppers (no really)

What kind of beer can you make

at home?
Answer: Anything but Bud Light

What kind of beer can you make

at home?

Most home brewers start with ales

They ferment best between 65 and 75 degrees

Some common ale styles:

India Pale Ale

(IPA)
Stout
Porter
Barley Wine

Brown / Red / Amber Ales

Wheat Beers
(Hefeweizen)
Belgian Dubbel and
Trippel

What kind of beer can you make

at home?

Sounds a little intimidating... thats a lot of

options

Home brew stores sell recipe kits with

everything you need
As a beginner, just decide what you want to
brew

What kind of beer can you make

at home?

Were going to talk

about making:

An ale recipe kit using

specialty grains
With a single-stage
fermentation
Using a technique
called Extract Brewing
and a Partial Boil

What kind of equipment do

you need?
Hint: Not this much...

What kind of equipment do you need?

Brew Pot

Stainless vs.
Aluminum
$40 - $300+
Lots of sizes (4 to
30+ gal.)

Fermenter

Bucket or Carboy
6 gal. min. capacity
Both require an airlock

What kind of equipment do you need?

Auto-Siphon

6 foot hose
Cheap ($11) and super
easy to start a siphon

Brewing
Accessories

Long Handled
Spoon (plastic or
stainless)
Strainer
Thief (Turkey
Baster)

What kind of equipment do you need?

Bottling Bucket

Plastic bucket with

spigot
Short length of hose
Bottle filler

Bottling Accessories

Bottles New or Used

Caps
Bottle Capper

What kind of equipment do you need?

Measurement
Devices

Thermometer
Hydrometer
Test tube

Cleaning Supplies

Powdery Brew Wash

StarSan Sanitizer
Brushes

How do you actually make

beer?
Made (not so) painstakingly by YOU!

How do you actually make beer?

Step 1: Clean Everything

Mix up a solution of your cleaner, per

instructions
Thoroughly clean everything that will touch
the beer

Step 2: Assemble Equipment and

Ingredients

Youll need the brew pot, fermenter, airlock,

long spoon, strainer, turkey baster,
hydrometer, thermometer
Recipe kit + 6 gallons of bottled drinking

How do you actually make beer?

Step 2: Assemble Equipment and

Ingredients

How do you actually make beer?

Step 3: Soak the Specialty Grains

Bring 2 to 2.5 gal. of water up to approx. 155 o

Once heated, place the grain bag in the water
Typically

steeps for 20
to 30 minutes, per recipe
When finished, lift in and
out like a tea bag
Let it drip, then discard

Return the pot to the heat

and bring to a boil

How do you actually make beer?

Step 4: Add Malt

Extract

Remove the heat

source and slowly
add the extract
Add

slowly, and stir; it

can scorch and needs
to dissolve

Return to heat, bring

to a roiling boil
Watch

it! It contains a
LOT of sugar and can
boil over...

How do you actually make beer?

Step 5: Boil the Wort and Add Hops

Once you get to a roiling boil, reduce heat

and set timer
60

minutes: Add bittering hops

15 minutes: Add flavoring hops
5 minutes: Add aroma hops

While the wort boils, sanitize

the fermentation equipment
Bucket,

airlock, turkey baster, strainer, ladle

Just dont go too far...

How do you actually make beer?

Step 6: Cool the Wort

Need to get the wort below 75o as fast as

possible

Your Kitchen Sink

Wort Chiller

Submerge the brew

pot in an ice bath in
sink or cooler

Passes cold water

through a ring of tubing
for heat exchange

Will need to stir the

wort to circulate

Connects to faucet with

adapter

Replace the cold

water as necessary

Place into wort for last 15

min of boil to sanitize

Ice Cold Top-Off

Water
Put 3 gallons in the
freezer when you start
When youre ready to
ferment, it will be ice
cold
Some brewers frown on
it, and its not entirely
effective

How do you actually make beer?

Step 7: Strain &

Aerate the Wort

Straining remove
grain and hop
fragments
Aerating
introduces O2
which helps start
fermentation
Check specific
gravity with
sanitized

How do you actually make beer?

Step 8: Pitch the

Yeast

Shake the yeast vial

and pour into
fermenter
Give a good stir with
a sanitized spoon
Seal the fermenter
with sanitized lid,
and add airlock

How do you actually make beer?

Step 9: Clean Everything

Take good care of the

equipment, clean after
every use

Step 10: Wait

Beer ferments for between

2
and 3 weeks
In the third week, take
three specific gravity
readings at 24 hour
intervals; stable gravity =
time to bottle

How do you actually make beer?

Step 11: Prep for Bottling

Soak and scrub all bottles the night before

Day of, clean bottling bucket, spigot, bottle
filler, siphon

How do you actually make beer?

Step 12: Prime and

Transfer to Bottling Bucket

Sanitize everything, let

bottles drip dry
Boil and dissolve priming
sugar into 2 cups of water
Add sugar water to bottling
bucket
Using the sanitized autosiphon, transfer the beer
from primary to bottling
bucket

How do you actually make beer?

Step 13: Bottle and

Store

Fill each beer to top

and put sanitized cap
on top
Seal all bottles with
capper
Store in a cool dark
place for 3 weeks

Cool! How do I get started?

Dont take my word for it

Keep reading, theres a ton of info out there

The

Complete Joy of Home Brewing

HomebrewTalk.com (Forums)
TastyBrew.com (Recipe Database)

Purchase an equipment kit and recipe

I buy from AustinHomebrew.com

Tons

of recipes, $7.99 flat rate shipping

What to do after my first

batch?

Get a kegging setup! Its way easier!

Come up with your own recipe

Software available to help build recipes

Mini-Mash and All-Grain brewing

Mini-mash is all-grain technique for a small

amount of grain
All-grain is using nothing but grains