Home Brew Hints
I would break down brewing beer into 9 steps. Doing these steps takes a total of about 3 to 5 weeks and the finished product is a delicious beer that you can take pride in. Although it may seem hard, the brewing process is actually quite simple after you have done it a couple times. It is a lot like cooking but with precise instructions; waiting too long on one step could be the determining factor on whether or not your beer will succeed. Bottling is an essential part of the brewing process. After bottling your beer needs to sit for at least of week to finish reacting with the yeast and create carbonation. The most used bottling is done with capped glass bottles, but there are other options. Each option has its own benefits. Understanding these benefits will help you choose the type of bottling that is best for you.
Home Brew Hints – Steps to Brewing Beer
I would break down brewing beer into 9 steps. Doing these steps takes a total of about 3 to 5 weeks and the finished product is a delicious beer that you can take pride in. Although it may seem hard, the brewing process is actually quite simple after you have done it a couple times. It is a lot like cooking but with precise instructions; waiting too long on one step could be the determining factor on whether or not your beer will succeed.
Step 1: Add the Grain
During this step you put grain into a bag and place the bag in water. The amount of grain needed depends on the beer that you are brewing.
Step 2: Heat
This is necessary to get some of the flavor of the grains into the liquid. This step only requires you to heat the mixture to a certain temperature, not to boil. You will boil later on in the process.
Step 3: Add Extract
For the beginning brewer this extract comes in a syrup form. It, along with the grain, is one of the three ingredients that give your beer a flavor.
Step 4: Add Hops
Hops is the last thing that gives your beer flavor. It is usually added multiple times during the brewing process. The time that the hops are added along with the type of hops all are factors that determine the taste of your beer.
Step 5: Boil
Bringing the liquid to a boil will release the flavor of the hops and some of the trapped flavors within the grains.
Step 6: Quickly Cool
After you have reached a boil and held it there for a while, you will need to take the wort and quickly cool it. I recommend doing this in a nearby sink or bathtub filled with ice.
Step 7: Transfer to Fermenter
Once your wort has cooled in the ice bath, transfer it to a container where it will sit for a couple days to a couple weeks. After it is all transferred you will probably add some water to top it off.
Step 8: Add Yeast
The yeast will react during the next week to make your beer alcoholic. During this time a lot of foam will form. Add the yeast (either liquid or powder) and cover the fermenter.
Step 9: Wait
It takes a couple of days to a couple of weeks for the yeast to fully react. After the reactions have stopped, you are ready to bottle.
Although the list may seem long and incomplete, these basic steps are present in almost any homebrew. You will probably learn the order of these steps after completing your first batch of beer.
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Pat McLoughlin is a avid homebrewer and enjoys writing about it on his website homebrewhints.com. Home Brew Hints gives step by step instructions on how to brew beer at home as well as a collection of helpful hints that can assist you in your homebrewing process. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pat_McLoughlin Home Brew Hints – Bottling Options Bottling is an essential part of the brewing process. After bottling your beer needs to sit for at least of week to finish reacting with the yeast and create carbonation. The most used bottling is done with capped glass bottles, but there are other options. Each option has its own benefits. Understanding these benefits will help you choose the type of bottling that is best for you. Plastic Bottles Plastic bottling is fairly new. One benefit of plastic is that you can take it more places, for example the beach, and you never have to worry about the bottle breaking. Although in many ways they are just as effective as glass, they are more likely to let oxygen leak through the bottle. Over time, the threads by the lid will wear away creating a path for air to reach the beer. Also, if you are planning on storing your beer for more than a couple months, oxygen will start to penetrate the plastic PET bottles. Glass Bottles This is the most common and most traditional way of bottling your homebrew. Since you can reuse glass bottles over and over, this method is a reasonable cheap way to bottle. You need to invest in a capper, but other than that the only cost is buying caps for every batch. Because you can reuse bottles, you can also use old bottles from beer that you purchased. One benefit of this is that there are a variety of different types of bottles. You can gather different shaped or colored bottles for different brews. In my opinion this is really cool for creating a variety pack for friends. Also, I feel that beer tastes a little better if bottled in glass rather than plastic. Keg If you are going to keg your beer, you are going to lose the convenience factor, but in return you will gain the quickness factor. When you keg you force-carbonate your beer rather than letting the yeast react with the excess sugar in the brew. This method can be completed in 24 hours unlike the week or two that you would be waiting for the other bottling options. Unfortunately, kegging your beer does require equipment that the traditional bottling does not use. So in order to keg your beer for the first time you will have to purchase a couple hundred dollars worth of equipment such as a keg, carbon dioxide pressurized tank, several fittings, and a tap. Also, if you want to have a cold keg at all times, a kegerator is something you might want to invest in.
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Filed under home brewing, home brewing storage by jamesjohn
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