How to Prepare Beer at Home

Nowadays, people have become so attached to their jobs that they forget to take a break and appreciate their bodies. Your body might need a rest from the stress and hustle at your place of work. There is nothing more relaxing than drinking a perfectly brewed bottle of beer after a long day at work. If you have been a big fan of beer, then you would probably tell a beer that has been brewed to perfection and the one that has not, and the latter sometimes can be so annoying.

However, with the developments in science and technology, you can now be able to have your own micro-brewery at home. Yes, you can now make your beer right from your kitchen. The process is very easy to understand.  This article will take you through the steps required to make your beer so you will not have to complain about drinking beer which has not been correctly brewed.

1. The ingredients required.

Yeast is an essential ingredient for making beer. The fungi in the yeast feed on sugars which in turn produce alcohol to be used in the beer. The more yeast you have, the more alcohol you will get. In this step, you will need

  • 6 ounces of dry malt extract
  • 2 quarts of water
  • A starter wort

The first thing to do is to boil the water and malt for around ten minutes, then cool the mixture to sixty degrees.

Sanitize the wort with a sterilizer then pitch the yeast into it.

Cover the wort but make sure that it is not too airtight.

 

2. Preparing the mash.

The next step is making a mash, this step might not be necessary, but for the recipe we are following( wit style) it is needed.

  • Eleven quarts of water
  • Eleven pounds of grain

Take the grain, add five pounds of Belgian malt. Add 4.5 pounds of wheat malt, a pound of flaked oats, lastly add 0.5 pounds of caramel malt.

Put the mixture above in a pot and heat it to a temperature of 150 degrees.

After about an hour, stir the mixture and add a drop of iodine. If the color of the iodine changes from brown to black, there is still some starch, add more mash.

3. Sparging and straining

Take the mixture you had made and pour it in a big lauter tun to drain the liquor from the grain. Collect the runoff alcohol in a brewing pot. This alcohol is referred to as the first runnings. Then you should heat the remaining water over the grain in the lauter tun at 180 degrees. Capture the runoff alcohol or second runnings in the brew pot. The second runnings in the brew pot is now ready for the next step.

4. Heat the mixture

The next step involves boiling the mixture; this is important since it releases DMS and kills any bacteria in the mixture. You need to be watchful when boiling since the mixture may start to foam which can be hard to clean. After about thirty minutes, add hops to the mixture and let it continue boiling to form beer.

5. Cooling the beer

This step should be quick because it is at this stage that the beer is most vulnerable to the microorganisms surrounding the air. Cool the beer to 68 degrees then let it start fermenting. Check on the beer after one week, if the fermentation is complete, siphon the wort to a container that is sterilized. After about two weeks after you siphoned the wort, your beer will be ready to be bottled.

Conclusion

In making beer, it is important that you observe complete cleanliness, make sure you sterilize everything the beer passes through, even the mugs you will use.  Soon, you will experience the pride and satisfaction of tasting your very own beer.  The instructions above are fairly straightforward and we know you may be intimidated to be able to do this on your own.  Thankfully, there are great tutorials abound on the Internet and some great products like from the folks at Northshire Brewery to help you fully enjoy your beer hobby.