Beermaking is the process of controlling the interactions between water, grain, hops and yeast to yield a quality batch of beer. Water is the key ingredient, and its quality and temperature are important to beer brewing.
Brewing is a time intensive hobby that requires close attention to detail during mashing, boiling and fermentation. Proper cleaning and sanitizing are also essential.
Brew
Beer is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages on the planet, and brewing can be as easy or as difficult as you choose to make it. It requires a lot of direct, focused attention from the brewer for an extended period of time, so it is important to understand and follow the process correctly.
The key to good beer is in the grain. The grains (or malt) give the beer its flavor and color, as well as the sugar that yeast needs to produce alcohol. The addition of hops helps balance the sweetness and adds aroma and bitterness. Other grains can also be used in the brewing process such as Rye, Corn, Spelt and Sorghum to create low gluten or gluten free options.
The wort is then cooled by using an ice bath or simply dumping the wort into a sink filled with ice. After the wort has been cooled, it is ready to be pitched to the yeast.
Fermentation
Yeast feed on the sugars in wort and convert them to alcohol. Yeast also produce CO2 and other byproducts during this process.
After the yeast is added, aerate your mixture by stirring vigorously with a sanitized spoon or shaking and sealing the vessel. This reintroduces oxygen back into the wort that was removed during the boil and is necessary for yeast growth.
Fermentation should begin within 12 hours. Once active fermentation begins you will notice a foamy head forming on the top of your wort and the bubbling action will start to slow down as the yeast consumes all the simple sugars.
Once your yeast has consumed all the sugars and your gravity reading is stable you can declare that your beer is finished fermenting and it is ready to bottle. Fermentation can take anywhere from a few days to several months depending on the style of beer and your fermentation temperature. The warmer your fermentation the faster it will complete.
Cooling
Cooling the beer is an important step in the brewing process. It helps to prevent infection by lowering the temperature and eliminating bacteria. There are several ways to cool your beer. The most basic method is to place the wort in a bucket filled with ice water. The combination of ice and water will cool the wort faster than just ice alone due to increased surface contact. There are also more advanced methods of cooling wort, such as immersion chillers and counterflow or plate chillers, which are more effective in reducing temperature. These are usually more expensive but are worth the investment for breweries wanting to produce high quality beer.
Bottleing
After the fermentation process is complete, it’s time to bottle your beer. Before bottling it’s important to make sure that everything that will come into contact with your beer is clean and sanitized. This includes a sanitized bottling bucket with spigot, bottles, a capper, and a bottle filler.
Once everything is ready to go, add a bit of priming sugar to the beer. This will provide the “food” needed for the dormant yeast in your beer to secondary ferment and carbonate it in a bottle.
It’s best to do this while the beer is still warm. This will help keep the bottles from getting too cold during the bottling process. It’s also a good idea to have a few friends around to help with this process – it will go much faster and be more fun. Once the beer is in the bottles it’s time to cap them and store them. Most home brewers will let the beer sit for a few weeks to allow it to fully condition and carbonate.
