Simple Brewing Instructions from People Like You

The following is a list of  instructions provided from users on the web. If you have simple instructions you would like to add please send them to Contact Me.

This is what I give to people that want to try brewing but are leary of it. I also will lend them a 2 gallon fermenter to try a batch or two. First some simple directions to read a beer recipe. The ingredients are broken up into 4 types: Malt extracts (liquid or dry, light, amber, dark) The basis of the beer, added to the boiling kettle Specialty grains, (crystal, caramel, and chocolate malts) Steeped in a small amount of liquid and removed prior to boiling. Adjuncts (Honey, sugar, rice extract) Used to uncrease the alcohol content but not increase the body of the beer. Added to the boiling kettle Hops Add bitterness, aromas, and flavor. Added to the boiling kettle. The numbers next to them state the number of  minutes the hops should be in contact with the boiling liquid. (60 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes, 0 minutes) If a time of zero (0) is stated you should add the hops and immediately remove the kettle from the burner.  To start making beer assemble the fermenter by attaching the spigot to the fermenter, the washer goes on the outside of the  fermenter. Add 1floz of chlorine bleach to the bucket and fill with COLD tap water. Place the gasket and airlock into the chlorine solution and set the lid on the top. Tighten the spigot just enough to not leak around the seal. In a two quart sauce pan add 1 quart of cold water and any specialty grains the recipe calls for. Heat this to 155 -160 degF and hold for 30 minutes. Transfer the liquid to the 12 quart stock pot, use a strainer to remove the grains.Add enough water to reach 2 gallons. Heat this to a boiling. Remove from heat, and add the malt extract syrup. Stir well and return to the heat. Bring to a boil. Skim off any foam  that will start to form. Boil for 10 minutes and make your first hop addition. Make additional hop additions so that each will be in contact with the boiling wort for the stated amount of time.2 minutes prior to completing the boil, fill your sink with cold tap water. Place the boiling kettle in this cold water bath. Change the water twice, every ten minutes. At the end of 30 minutes the wort should be around 80 degF.Empty the chlorine solution from the fermenter and rinse 3 times  with hot water. Rinse a final time with cold water.Pour the contents of the boiling kettle into the fermenter, using a fine strainer to filter out any trub (pronounced troob).Add enough cold water to the fermenter to reach 1 pint greater than the volume of the recipe. If the wort temperature is below 80 degF, sprinkle 1 packet of  yeast on top of the wort. If the temperature is above 80 degF,cover the wort and wait until it is below 80 degF and the sprnkle the yeast onto the wort. Afix cover, fill airlock with enough water to reach half way up the stem inside the airlock. Place the airlock in the lid of the fermenter. Place the fermenter somewhere in a dark, draft free area that maintains a temperature between 65 and 75 deg F.In 6 to 12 hours the airlock should begin to expel CO2. Wait 10-12 days. Activity in the airlock may stop anywhere from2 to 7 days later.Move fermenter to where you will bottle the beer. Clean 8 16oz bottles per gallon in the recipe. Rinse well.To each bottle add 1/2tsp of sugar. Remove the airlock from the lid of the fermenter.Open the spigot and collect the first 3 to 6 ounces in a glass. This gets rid of any yeast that settled there. Save this until later.Insert the other end of the tubing into a beer bottle, so that the end is about 1/4" from the bottom. Open the spigot and fill the bottle. Repeat this until the beer is gone. You can tilt the fermenter to get every last drop, but try to avoid any of the yeast sediment that will be in the bottom of the fermenter. After filling each bottle place a bottle cap on each bottle, but do not tighten yet. After all the bottles are full, tighten the caps in the order you filled them. Sip the beer from the glass that you first started with, avoid the majority of the yeast. This will give you an idea what you beer will taste like.Store for 7-14 days at fermentation temperature to allow the beer to carbonate, then chill for 24 hours. To serve pour into a glass. Carefully stop pouring when the sediment starts to leave the bottle, you will leave behind about 1/2floz of beer per bottle. Immediately rinse out the bottle. Then sample the beer.

************* Recipes ************

 

Basic Beer (5 quarts)

1.6lbs Light Malt Extract Syrup

1/2oz Cascade hops (45)

1/8oz Cascade hops ( 5)

Porter (5 quarts)

1.6lbs Light Malt Extract Syrup

1/4lb 40L Caramel Malt

1/4lb Chocolate malt

1/2oz Northern Brewer hops (45)

Stout (5 quarts)

1.6lbs Light Malt extract Syrup

1/4lb 40L Caramel Malt

1/4lb Chocolate Malt

1/4lb Roasted Barley

1/2oz Northen Brewer hops (45)

For these recipes purchase:

3 - 1.6lb bags of Light malt extract syrup

1 - 1.0lb 40L caramel malt

1 - 1.0lb Chocolate malt

1 - 1.0lb Roasted Barley

1 - 1.0oz Cascade hop pellets

1 - 1.0oz Northern Brewer hop pellets

3 - 7gm pkts Whitbread Ale yeast

Moi

There are many ways to brew involving varying levels of investment in time, equipment, and materials. The best way to start would be to go to a homebrew supply store (or mail order source) and procure a basic kit and at least one book. I'd recommend Charlie Papazian's "New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" for starters, although Dave Miller, Ray Daniels, and others have also produced some excellent books (the more you read, the better). It's also an excellent idea to join a homebrew club in your area as well as the American Homebrewers Association (check out their website at www.aob.org for more info including local club locations and recipes).The basic brewing procedures are simple, but for best results, you need to have more background than can be included in one page. However, in a nutshell, this basic procedure should give great results even for a beginner: A few days before brewing, follow instructions on liquid yeast package (you can use dried but much better results can be expected withliquid). A starter culture is recommended. On brewing day, put 2 gallons of cold water into a 5-gallon stock pot. Add crushed specialty grains (e.g. crystal malt, roasted malts) in a grain bag according to recipe and bring nearly to boil (or just steep at around 180°F/82°C) for about 30 min.). Remove grains (you can dry them in the oven, grind them and add them to bread) and add liquid and/or dried malt extract (or better yet, mash runnings--but this is a bit more advanced) and bring to boil (you may also want to add gypsum or Burton salts). Add bittering hops, boil for at least 50 minutes. Add flavor hops, boil for ten more minutes. Remove from heat and add aroma hops (if appropriate for style). Steep a few minutes, while filling SANITIZED fermenter with two of gallons of cold (previously boiled is better) water. Strain wort (the stuff you just boiled) into fermenter (5-gal. glass carboy or 7-gal. plastic are popular) and add enough cold water to bring level to around 5 1/4 gallons. Check temperature and if necessary cool to yeast-friendly level. Aerate well, pitch yeast, and affix airlock. Primary fermentation should be complete within a week at which point you should siphon the beer into another carboy for at least a couple of weeks at a cool (cellar) temp to condition the beer (develop flavor andbalance). You can also add additional hops at this point ("dryhopping") to get more aroma. Sanitize enough bottles to accommodate roughly five gallons. Boil 1 1/4 cups of dried malt extract in 16 oz. of water for 10 minutes and cool to room temp. Siphon beer into bucket, add DME solution and stir. Siphon into bottels and cap. It will generally take several days to get sufficient carbonation for the beer to be ready to drink, although at least a couple of months bottle-conditioning will greatly improve most beers (the waiting is the hardest part).The preceeding has been simplified (although you can get even more basic) and there are infinite variations--use your imagination and gather as much knowledge and experience as you can. Good brewing!

Mike: How to brew

• In a stainless steel pot, bring 4 quarts of water to 155 degrees F. Add grain for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally (this is called steeping the grain).
• While grains are steeping, in a larger stainless steel pot, bring 1-½ gallons of water to a boil.
• Take large pot off heat, add malt extract, and stir well.
• Strain grain extract into the large pot using a stainless steel strainer. Then use hot water (apx. 150`) to rinse the grain, releasing more fermentable sugars. (this is called sparging the grain).
• Put stock pot back on heat and bring to a boil. (Use caution here, boilovers are nasty).
• When mixture (now called wort) comes to a boil, add the bittering hops. Set timer for 60 minutes.
• Monitor boil and stir occasionally.
• At 45 minutes, add flavor hops. (If recipe requires).
• At 5 minutes, add aroma hops. (If recipe requires).
• Remove wort from heat.
• Cool wort. We use a wort chiller.
• When wort is at 75-80 degrees F, transfer to sanitized fermentation container (we use food-grade plastic buckets).
• Add yeast (pitch yeast).
• Add water to bring volume to 5 gallons.
• Store in a cool place for one week. Then transfer wort to a secondary fermenter.
• Dry hop (if recipe requires).
• Allow transferred wort to sit in secondary fermenter for one week.
• Bottle or keg (we keg except for beers we plan to give away or age longer)
• Condition beer 1-2 weeks, if you can.
• Throw a home brew party!! (if you live in Southern California, email us..heh heh.)
• Go back to home brew shop for another recipe!

  For more detailed help on how to brew five gallons of beer.... Roy or myself would be more than happy to help. E-mail us! For Stein Fillers' instructions on how to brew five gallons of beer, click here.

American Homebrewers Association  

           "The Beer Basics"