how to make beer cheaply

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How to Make Beer (Cheaply, Simply): Step-By-Step Guideby tyghe on August 28, 2009

Table of Contents

License: No license (full copyright) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Intro: How to Make Beer (Cheaply, Simply): Step-By-Step Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2step 1: Make the Starter Wort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 2: Make the Mash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 3: Straining and Sparging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

step 4: The Boil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

step 5: Cool the Beer and Pitch the Yeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

step 6: Bottling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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License: No license (full copyright)Intro: How to Make Beer (Cheaply, Simply): Step-By-Step GuideThis instructables was first published in Popular Mechanics.

When it comes to beer, there's no lack of selectiondespite Bud and Coorsfor most beer-selling stores in the U.S. About 8.6 million barrels of craft beer were sold in2008, and the number of artisanal beer suppliers in the U.S. is growing. With all this choice, you'd think fewer people would be brewing at home, right? Not exactly.Instead, the opposite seems to be trueestimates show that home brewing is on the rise in the U.S. And with good reason. DIY home brewing (after you get theequipment) is cheap. More than that, brewing your own is more satisfying than paying for another round. Next time you crack open a cold onestrained, heated andbrewed by your own hand you'll understand. In this story, we walk through the steps to make a Belgian white ale. Ingredients and steps vary for different kinds of beer,but the basics are all here. Cheers.

step 1: Make the Starter WortThis instructables was first published in Popular Mechanics.

Yeast is an essential part of the beer process. These fungi feast on sugars, making alcohol as they go. The more yeast cells at work, the better the job they do at makingalcohol. In this first step of the beer-making process, the yeast cells get a head start, hungrily dividing and populating as they feast on dry malt extract.

Ingredients:2 quarts water6 ounces dry malt extract1 package instant starter wort

First, heat the water and malt to a boil for 10 minutes and then cool to 60 degrees F. You can check the temperature with a thermometer or by rule of thumb (it should beabout room temperature).Sanitize the gallon container with a no-rinse sterilizer or by following the manufacturer's instructions. Then, pitch the yeast by tossing in around 33 billion yeast cells(numbers depend on your starter kit) into the 60-degree wort. Cover the starter wort and put aside. Make sure the container is not airtight (aluminum foil will do the job).


Image Notes1. One package of yeast propagate with over 33 billion active cells.

Image Notes1. Adding the yeast to the wort.


Image Notes1. Sealed, but not air tight.

step 2: Make the MashThis instructables was first published in Popular Mechanics.

Making a mash is not always necessaryyou can brew a perfectly good lager or ale with prepackaged malt extract. But for this recipe, we're going all out, with an all-grainbeer we extract the sugars from the grain ourselves. The recipe we're following is for a beer in the Belgian white or "wit" sytle. It's called "Wit Ginger, Not Mary Ann," andwas published by the esteemed beer-brewing magazine, Zymurgy.

Ingredients:11 pounds of grain11 quarts of water

Our grains include 5 pounds Belgian pilsner malt, 4.5 pounds of German wheat malt, 1.0 pound of flaked oats, and 0.5 pounds of caramel pils malt.

Take the mash (all the ingredients above in a pot) and bring it up to 150 degrees F, keeping it at that exact temperature for 1 hour.Test the mash: The point of mashing is to turn starches in the grain into sugars and extract them into a sweet liquor. After 1 hour, you want to make sure this process hastaken place. Take out a spoonful of the water and grain mix and place a drop of iodine in it. The murky brown iodine will change to black in the presence of starchthismeans you need to do some more mashing. If there's enough sugar, the color will remain the same.


Image Notes1. Grain for the mash.

Image Notes1. One brand of no-rinse sanitizer.

step 3: Straining and SpargingThis instructables was first published in Popular Mechanics

Step 3: Straining and SpargingPour the mash into a lauter tun, a big strainer used for separation of the extracted wort, to drain the sweet liquor from the grain. For our budget lauter tun, we drilled 1/8-inch holes into one 5-gallon bucket and placed this strainer on top of another 5-gallon bucket.

Capture the runoff liquor in your brewpot. This liquor is called the first runnings. Once all the liquor has run off, heat the rest of the water1/2 gallon per pound of grain at180 degrees F (according to this recipe)over the grain in the lauter tun. Again capture the runoff (second runnings) in the brewpot.The sweet liquor in the brewpot is now what's known as a wort, and it's ready to boil.


Image Notes1. We used rice hulls on the bottom of our DIY straineras well as mixed into themashto make sure that the grains didn't gum up the works.

Image Notes1. First runnings.


step 4: The BoilThis instructables was first published in Popular Mechanics

Step 4: The Boil

Ingredients:1 ounce 4.8 percent alpha-acid Styrian Goldings hops1/2 teaspoon of ginger1 cinnamon stick

It's time to raise the wort to a vigorous boil. The boil kills offending bacteria or wild yeast and releases DMS, a chemical byproduct of heating that gives a flavor akin tosweet corn. During this process, watch carefully, as the wort is prone to boil over, resulting in a sticky mess that makes for a tough cleanup.

As soon as a boil is reached add the hops to the wort and continue to boil for 60 minutes. Hops added at this point in the process give beer its bitterness, because of thealpha acids that are extracted. Since Belgian wits aren't terribly bitter, our recipe called for just 1 ounce of 4.8 percent alpha-acid Styrian Goldings hops (the higher thepercentage of alpha acids the more bitter the hops). In most beer recipes another addition of hops is made 2 to 5 minutes from before the end of the boil to give flavorand aroma. Our recipe forgoes these additionswheat beers are light on the hop flavorbut it does call for an addition of 1/2 teaspoon of ginger and a cinnamon stick 5minutes before the end of the boil.

Image Notes1. Adding hops during the boil.

Image Notes1. Adding a cinnamon stick, a special touch of flavor called for in this recipe, in thelast 5 minutes of the boil.

step 5: Cool the Beer and Pitch the YeastThis instructables was first published in Popular Mechanics

Step 5: Cool the Beer and Pitch the Yeast

Boiling wort should be cooled as quickly as possible since the cooling period is the time when the beer is most vulnerable to microorganisms present in the air. Coolingcan be achieved with a wort chiller, like the one pictured here, or by dipping the brewpot into a sink full of ice water. Do not add ice directly to the beer.

The beer should be cooled to 68 degrees F, strained and transferred to a sanitized carboy, where the beer will stay through its first few days of fermentation.

Affix a blowoff tube to the top of the carboythe other end of it should be placed under a couple inches of water to seal it from the outside environment while the carbondioxide escapes. You'll start to see a vigorous fermentation at anywhere from 8 to 26 hours into the process.

After one week, visible fermentation will have subsided and the wort should be transferred (via a siphon) to another sanitized container. Our recipe called for the additionof a vanilla bean at this stage. Two weeks after this transfer the beer should be bottled.


Image Notes1. The wort chiller, pictured here, is attached to the sink and runs cold waterthrough copper tubing to quickly cool down the boil.

Image Notes1. Here, we are straining and transferring the beer to a sanitized carboy. Noticethe bubbles in the bottlethose are the product of the no-rinse sterilizer.

Image Notes1. Straining the beer. After two days this murky brown beer cleared up, lookingmore like a proper Belgian Wheat.

Image Notes1. Halfway through straining, we pitch the yeast.


step 6: BottlingThis instructables was first published in Popular Mechanics

Step 6: Bottling

First things first, everything the beer touches (bucket, siphon, bottling wand, bottles) should be sanitized before you begin the bottling process. Don't slack off here, elseyour beer could pick up flavors you don't want.

Take 3/4 cup of corn sugar and boil it for 15 minutes in a pint of water. Cool the sugar water and add it to the bottom of a bottling bucket. Then transfer the beer to thisbucket. The sugar water gives the yeast something to eat while inside the sealed bottle for a final stage of fermentation, where the beer gets its characteristic bubbles.After two weeks at room temperature, the beer should be fully carbonated and ready to be drink.

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Comments39 comments Add Comment

mikeread says: Oct 26, 2009. 6:35 PM REPLYIf i make a batch of this how much will it cost (per quart if you could)?

discontinuuity says: Oct 27, 2009. 10:01 AM REPLYWhen I make homebrew it usually costs about $1 US per 12 ounce beer. You can spend more or less depending on what kind of quality you want.

teradon says: Oct 27, 2009. 1:52 PM REPLYIf you can't make your beer for less that buying it (about $.83/bottle), then it is not cheap beer. I would like to see a way to make it from cheap bulkingredients, rather than buying high priced ingredients from brewing shops. Wheat and barley grain can be gotten very cheaply from feed stores.

Also I would like to see the price per bottle cited in this article, and a source for the "cheap" beer ingredients. I would like to see 20-30 cents perbottle as a goal.

Yes, I know it is "better" beer, but I want it cheap.

Terry.


beavercleaver says: Dec 18, 2010. 10:24 AM REPLYThe only way to accomplish that goal is through bulk purchasing of ingredients. Search for brewing clubs that are near your home, or even online,ingredients could be bought in large quantities and then shipped to a central location for division.

uglymike says: Oct 29, 2009. 1:29 PM REPLYI've been brewing for about 10 years, but I brew using malt extracts (skipping the first three steps of this instructable) and I usually spend from$30 - $40 for a 5 gallon batch (good for about 2 cases of finished beer) so about $15 - $20 a case. Local prices vary, but this places it at a veryreasonable cost, and considerable less than buying a 6-pack of a decent microbrew. The hardest part is a month or more to enjoy your beer.

tashiandmo says: Oct 28, 2009. 6:10 PM REPLYBrewing requires malted grains, not just regular grains from the feedstore. I've heard of some feedstores being able to order malted barley fromtheir suppliers, but very few if any carry it. Unless you're willing to buy more than 2000 lbs at a time, the cheapest you're going to find maltedbarley is about $30/ 50lb bag. Unless you live close enough to a malt distributor to be able to pick it up, the shipping costs can be a real killer. Some homebrewing clubs have enough members that they get low rates and cheap freight by buying full pallets of malt.

If you drink mass produced lagers, brewing your own beer won't save you any money. If you drink craft beers at $6-$10 per sixpack, or $3-$10per 22oz bomber, then brewing could save you a little money. I buy my grains and hops in bulk, and re-pitch my yeast 7-8 times. Most of thebeers I brew are higher gravity and highly hopped, so even buying in bulk it costs about $0.75 -$0.95 per 12 oz beer. The rare times I brew morestandard beers, it runs about $0.55 per bottle. I really think that's close to as cheap as it gets for brewing at home. It also took me a long timeand many batches before I found suppliers and developed a system that allows me to be this cost effective.

If cost is your main concern, the mass produced swill at your local liquor store is cheaper and much less work. The amazing beers and great funto be had brewing at home are worth the cost and effort for me, but probably not for someone just looking to save some money.

beavercleaver says: Dec 18, 2010. 10:28 AM REPLYI agree, brewing your own is about the fun of doing it. If you want a cheap buzz, wine is probably the easiest and cheapest to make byvolume. I even believe there is an instructable for stove top schnapps that only involves 1 big pot with a wok filled with ice that collects thealcohol as it boils and drips off the bottom into a waiting jar.

driesyo says: Oct 26, 2009. 10:09 AM REPLYbeer need to be yeasting for 3 weeks not 2 that expresions the flaver and extands the life

cygyfish says: Nov 11, 2009. 1:13 PM REPLYNeed is pretty subjective. Fermentation times are dependent upon a multitude of factors including beer style, tempature, yeast strain, gravity, etc.One of my beers ferments for 1 week only and is bottled. It has a LOT of flavor and extending the life is no big deal around my house.

I do have other beers that will use a primary, secondary and a tertiary fermentation and will be in fermentors for up to 5 weeks and then many monthsaging.

beavercleaver says: Dec 18, 2010. 10:21 AM REPLYThe only way to extend the life of a beer at my house would be to hide it from me.

Phillip Gross says: Apr 19, 2010. 9:34 AM REPLYDoes anybody know how much water to add to a bushel of malt HAPPY BREWWING EVERYBODY ITS FUN

kempoka8h says: Mar 31, 2010. 1:44 PM REPLYI use hop flavored malt extract, commonly available in the local grocery stores. Out of one $6.75 can, I can usually make about 18 to 20 liters of beer. I fortifyit with a little corn sugar, and use readily available lager yeast. Sometimes, I'll also add a little bulgar wheat, oatmeal or rice... or sometimes a little of all of it,as well as a few raisins! It fermentsfor 8 or 9 days, then I prime the botles with a little sugar (either a cinnamon drop or a lemon drop per bottle), then bottle it.A week or two later, it's ready to chill and drink - and it is fantastic! Paired up with my homemade sourdough bread, it's a really yummy combination!

jolosantana says: Jan 26, 2010. 4:54 PM REPLYI like this page. i am from Puerto Rico and I want to open a new beer company in here. We have just one kind of local beer in here and i want to know whereI can find information to open and buy all the materias that I need. We have a lotsof beers here from the world but we have just one local beer and I want tomake one and open a new company for this industry. Any help is apreciate.......

malexander says: Oct 29, 2009. 10:44 AM REPLYI have a sensitivity to wheat. How easy is it to make/purchase a mash without any wheat products?

cygyfish says: Nov 11, 2009. 1:23 PM REPLYThis style uses wheat in the grain bill but most beer recipes use only barley (and occasionally rice, rye, corn or oats.)


EmmettO says: Oct 30, 2009. 6:39 PM REPLYRedbridge is a beer made from amaranth and is gluten free. You could either buy that or try to make this recipe with amaranth. I was thinking of trying tofollow the recipe with rice. . . just because I'd like to try that. I wonder if without the hops it would be like Sake and what it would taste like with the hops. Ifit would taste like beer at that point. I'd like to try it one day when I get the time both ways.

I could probably just make one big batch until the "add hops" step.Maybe it would be awful, maybe it would be really good. Who knows until you try!

beavercleaver says: Dec 18, 2010. 10:16 AM REPLYBudweiser uses rice in their beer, gives it a clean refreshing flavor.

discontinuuity says: Mar 18, 2010. 12:35 PM REPLYI think amaranth is more commonly called sorghum molasses, and can be found at most homebrew stores.

cygyfish says: Nov 11, 2009. 1:21 PM REPLYNo to be too technical but beer without hops is not beer. Could call it a fermented malt beverage or an Ale but not beer.

A fermented beverage using all or mostly rice with no hops would be rice wine or Sake.

discontinuuity says: Mar 18, 2010. 12:34 PM REPLYLots of herbs and spices were used to make beer before hops were commonplace. Check out http://www.gruitale.com/intro_en.htm for info aboutancient European beers.

But if you're definition of beer is the Reinheitsgebot, then I suppose you're right.

EmmettO says: Nov 11, 2009. 5:09 PM REPLYI understand, I'm just saying I'd like to try it. Right after I finish renovating my house, finish that webapp I've been working on, learn to program myArduino, try glassblowing, improve my wax molding skills for metalcasting, finish building my workshop, make a wood fired pizza oven. . . am Iforgetting anything?

Redbridge is amaranth and hops. Its gluten free because amaranth and hops don't have gluten, it's the wheat or barley that contain the gluten. I'dlike to try fermenting a Sake like substance weather it's beer or not. Just because.

Romanader says: Nov 18, 2009. 7:24 PM REPLYYou sir are a very busy man. You totally belong here at Instructables! It's good to see people with broad horizons.

tashiandmo says: Oct 30, 2009. 7:31 AM REPLYMost beer recipe's only use various barley malts, and no wheat.

WoundedEgo says: Nov 5, 2009. 6:53 AM REPLYMexican Chicha is made with corn.

And, of course, wine is made with fruit.

EmmettO says: Nov 11, 2009. 5:11 PM REPLY Where can I obtain this Chicha?

thejazzer says: Jan 3, 2010. 2:17 PM REPLY Chicha is made by chewing the grain (corn) and spitting it out so the enzyme in human saliva will turn the carbohydrates in to sugar. Are yousure you want to try it?

beavercleaver says: Dec 18, 2010. 10:20 AM REPLYBrewmasters, a new show just out and filmed at the Fish Head Brewery has a episode dedicated to the making of Chicha. I have a weakstomach and could never swallow something made with my own fermented saliva, but they had 30 employees chewing and spitting into abucket to make this stuff.

discontinuuity says: Mar 18, 2010. 12:36 PM REPLYIt's typically cooked afterwards, so there's no bacteria from the spit. Still a little gross.


21bose says: Nov 5, 2009. 1:34 PM REPLYIm not completely sure on this step on what you mean by capturing the first runnings? i thought you just strained all the grain out of the mixture?

richarpo says: Oct 31, 2009. 3:48 PM REPLYThe advantage of brewing your own is that you can put lots of hops in, so that it has plenty of flavour. The mass-market brewers would not do that becausethey are catering to the market that just wants beer to taste like water so you can drink it without noticing anything.

Bartboy says: Oct 31, 2009. 8:15 AM REPLYXDI did this once for a school project, I got 99%

Yerboogieman says: Oct 29, 2009. 1:16 PM REPLYWe just made a bunch of beer. We bottled a case on Sunday.

Rahere says: Oct 29, 2009. 6:03 AM REPLYLiving in Brussels, the home of the geuze beer this aims at, they actually do pretty much the opposite: it's a natural ferment from the local airborne yeasts.Takes a bit longer though, a couple of weeks - naturally, you're better off just downwind from the brewery.

t.rohner says: Oct 29, 2009. 10:14 AM REPLYHello?

The author was talking about wit beer, not geuze. Something like "Hoegaarden Wit", where they add coriander and bitter orange peels.It is fermented with yeast in large amounts and later a lactobacter culture is added. This gives it the refreshing sourness. "Berliner Weisse" is fermentedthe same way.

Geuze is a blend of lambic beers in different states of maturation.And you are right, the lambics are fermented with natural airborne yeast / bacteria in the Senne valley near Brussels. (I wouldn't try this at home, excepti'd live there.)I have brewed some 400 batches (50l / 15gal) in the last 10 years. All made with yeast, like the author suggests. (We are using dry yeasts for somebeers with very good results, but the selection is much smaller.)

driesyo says: Oct 29, 2009. 10:12 AM REPLYits tru i sad it bi4you belgium 4 life (usa to)

EagleScout2007 says: Oct 29, 2009. 5:00 AM REPLYI think some people got up on the wrong side of the bed this week. This man is just giving you ideas and you're picking him to pieces. If you don't like thearticle, go away.Thank you for your hard work showing people that appreciate your work how to brew beer. I have been considering it for my husband.Take care and again, thank you!

Weissensteinburg says: Oct 25, 2009. 9:48 PM REPLYAre you the author of the original version in popular mechanics? If not, have you gotten permission from them?

Just an FYI, it's illegal to copy it over, even though you gave credit.

lemonie says: Oct 26, 2009. 12:24 AM REPLYIf you look at the original article it is credited to Tyghe Trimble and Chris Pagnotta. I'd say that tyghe is one of those people.

L

Weissensteinburg says: Oct 26, 2009. 5:58 PM REPLYAh, good observation! Interesting name, too.

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