the very basic brewers guide - deejay's smoke pit beer is pretty simple, but we always fear the...

Deejays Very Basic

Brewers Guide

DJx2 © 2006

Why this text? Because I think brewing beer is simple and fun and if it were presented in a way that makes it sound simple and fun more people might be willing to try it. Many of the great books published on home brewing are pretty technical in nature and strike fear in the hearts of timid would be home brewers. My theory is this – start simple by brewing a basic ale and see how simple it can be, and once you’ve done it a few times you can get as technical or complicated as you want. Most people I’ve talked to don’t want to get technical they just want to make a good brew that they can enjoy with their friends and families and maybe even save a few bucks. So what is beer? Very basically - beer is a fermented beverage made by introducing yeast to sugar. The yeast eats the sugar so that it may grow and multiply. The bi-product of this consumption is ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well it really is, so let’s get started! The first thing you need to learn before you start brewing your own beer is this …

Sanitize everything!

Brewing beer is pretty simple, but we always fear the unknown don’t we? The most important facet of home brewing is cleanliness! Everything has to be washed thoroughly, and sanitized completely – contamination from surface or air born bacteria is a big problem. That being said, I’m going to introduce you to the simplest form of homebrewing – malt extract brewing. There are numerous local stores and websites throughout the world from which you can purchase your supplies. Putting a little thought into you mail order purchases can save you a lot of money on shipping.

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Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................5

How Do I get Started ? ................................................................................................ 5

Batch Sizes.................................................................................................................. 5

Brewing Methods......................................................................................................... 6 Fermenting Containers ..............................................................................................................7

Mini Homebrew Kits (2.5 gallon Sized) ........................................................................ 7 The Beer Machine.................................................................................................................7 Mr. Beer ................................................................................................................................8

Large Sized Fermenters (3 to 10 Gallon sized) ....................................................... 10 The Simple Food Grade Bucket Fermenter ........................................................................10 Coopers Micro Brew Kit ......................................................................................................12 The Glass / Plastic Carboy Fermenter ................................................................................13

Conical Fermenters................................................................................................................... 14 Stainless Steel Conical Fermenters ....................................................................................14 PVC Conical Fermneters ....................................................................................................15

Other Brewing Equipment....................................................................................................... 17

Basic Brewing Ingredients...................................................................................................... 18

Malts .......................................................................................................................... 18 Malted Grains......................................................................................................................18 Specialty Grains ..................................................................................................................18 Liquid Malt Extracts.............................................................................................................18 Dry Malt Extracts.................................................................................................................19

Hops .......................................................................................................................... 19

Yeast ......................................................................................................................... 19 Hydrometer Readings ............................................................................................................. 20

What is a hydrometer?............................................................................................... 20 How To Use a Hydrometer..................................................................................................20

The Pre-Brewing Steps ........................................................................................................... 21

Sanitizers................................................................................................................... 21

Water Preparation ..................................................................................................... 22 Brewing Your First Extract Beer......................................................................................... 23

Brewing an All Extract Wort ....................................................................................... 23

Brewing Extract with Steeped Grains and Hops ....................................................... 24

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Brewing Your First All-Grain Beer....................................................................................... 25

The Mash................................................................................................................... 25

Back To Extract Brewing ........................................................................................... 26 Calculating % Alcohol .............................................................................................................. 28

% Alcohol by Volume ..........................................................................................................28 % Alcohol by Weight ...........................................................................................................28

Preparing to Bottle Your Beer.............................................................................................. 29

I have a Hydrometer! ................................................................................................. 29

I don’t have a Hydrometer ......................................................................................... 29

What do I need to Bottle my Beer?............................................................................ 29 Priming the Beer ....................................................................................................................... 31

Bottle Priming......................................................................................................................31 Bulk Priming ........................................................................................................................31

It’s Bottling Time! ................................................................................................................... 33

Bottling Your Beer ..................................................................................................... 33 Racking From A Fermenter With A Spigot ........................................................................33 Racking From a Carboy ......................................................................................................33 Bottle Conditioning ..............................................................................................................33 Chilling and Drinking ...........................................................................................................33

Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 34

Grains, Extracts & Sugars ......................................................................................... 35

Hops .......................................................................................................................... 43

Spices, Flavors & Finings .......................................................................................... 46

Yeast Statistics .......................................................................................................... 50

Beer Style Statistics With Commercial Examples...................................................... 54

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Introduction How Do I get Started ? The simplest way to get started is to purchase a Homebrew Starter Kit. There are several types of starter kits available, varying in size and level of simplicity. Some kits include everything but the pot to cook it in and others include almost nothing, so make sure you know what’s included in you kit to avoid disappointment. Don’t worry! I’ll take you through it step by step …

Batch Sizes One of the first things you may want to consider is size. How much beer do you normally drink at a time? Is one case of beer enough? Do you have frequent get-togethers where you may want several cases on hand? Let’s do some basic math first. From the table below you can see just how much beer can be made using the various sized kits available.

Basic Beer Bottling Calculations

Batch Size in Gallons 1 2.5 3 5 5.5 6 10 Beer Produced in Ounces 128 320 384 640 704 768 1280Number of 8 oz. Bottles 16 40 48 80 88 96 160 Number of 12 oz. Bottles 11 27 32 53 59 64 107 Number of 16 oz. Bottles 8 20 24 40 44 48 80 Number of 20 oz. Bottles 6 16 19 32 35 38 64

Keep in mind that in general the bigger the batch size the bigger the equipment necessary to make it and the more space needed to store the equipment and the finished beer. That being said, it also stands to reason that it takes longer to brew larger batches. So if you live in a small apartment, have limited storage or refrigerator space you may want to stick to smaller equipment and brew more frequently. It takes an average of one or two weeks to ferment the beer and one or two weeks to condition the beer before you drink it. Some recipes can take as much as a month just to ferment and several months to condition, but these are exceptional brews and not common very common. Once you get started brewing you may find you need find reasons not to brew!

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Brewing Methods There are many methods and variations used to brew beer from the simplest extract brewing to the more complicated All-Grain brewing. I’ll explain in more detail later but for now, there are basically 4 types, here’s a brief run down of what they are and what each means:

Extract Brewing – Kind of like making condensed soup. Put water in the pot, pour in the concentrated beer malt and away you go. You still have the option of adding additional ingredients, to make a special recipe but that’s basically it. When you purchase a beer extract kit you usually get a can of condensed malt syrup in the style or your choice with the hops already added, maybe a can of plain malt syrup and sometimes the yeast. * Note the concentrate may be in the form of a powder.

Extracts with Steeped Grains - Same as the extract above but you add a few ounces of crushed malt grains you steep in a small muslin bag like making tea. Not a whole lot more effort but a big difference in taste for some beer styles. Partial Mash – In one pot boil water. Put specialty grains in a muslin bag, place in a second small pot of water, bring water up to 170°F turn off heat and let it steep like tea for about 20 minutes then remove the bag. When the water in the big pot boils add extracts and the “tea” from the small pot. Add hops as needed. All-Grain – This is the most complicated of the four and takes some extra equipment. This is how beer has been made for thousands of years. You need a mash tun to soak to grains in and two large pots, one to add the water to the mash tun and one to collect the water from the mash tun. The basic process is to add the grains to the mash tun, allow the water to be filtered through the grains to extract the sugars and boil the collected sugar water down to make an extract – then it’s just like extract brewing.

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Fermenting Containers Mini Homebrew Kits (2.5 gallon Sized) There are several types of beer brewing kits available from the more traditional bucket and carboy to the newer self contained keg fermenters. If you not sure about how much you’ll like brewing, you are short on space or you don’t expect to make more than a few gallons at a time, I recommend the self contained fermenting kits such as Mr. Beer or Beer Machine. I’ll go over several types to give you an idea of what’s available and to help you choose the one that’s right for you. I’ll try to list an average price per unit you can use these information for comparison purposes.

The Beer Machine The simplest type of Mini Brew system is the Beer Machine. This is a self- contained single step unit which allows you to brew 2.6 gallon batches of beer. I have seen this unit at Wal-Mart at Christmas time and I believe it can be purchased at the As Seen On TV stores for around $129. A friend of mine who just return from Iraq said they had these in the

barracks. I have not personally used this unit, but I do know people who do and they seem happy with it. According to the instructions you just pour water into the airtight Beer Machine cask, pour in one of the prepackaged Beer Mixes, seal the cask, leave the Beer Machine out at room temperature for 3 to 5 days, then move it into your refrigerator for 4 to 5 days. It uses small CO2 cartridges (like the ones used in paintball) to add carbonation to the beer in the cask. Beer may be dispensed from the cask. There are four different casks available and 18 different beer mixes to try. To see the available products for the Beer Machine go to: http://www.beermachine.com/index.html Other Equipment Needed for The Beer Machine Fermenter The Brewery Upgrade Kit

If you want to bottle your beer you’ll need this kit it comes with a Bottling Platform, Filler, and Nineteen re-usable 500ml bottles and caps. $25 I don’t see why you can’t just buy a short length of tubing for this…

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http://www.beermachine.com/index.html

Mr. Beer A more traditional yet small sized brewing system. I actually got started brewing with the Mr. Beer brew system. I love the little keg fermenters! They are easy to use and easy to clean. It’s just a little PVC container with a spigot and a cap. The cap threads have little cuts down them to let excess CO2 bleed out if needed, so an airlock is not needed. Each keg produces about 2.5 gallons of beer. This is a

great size for testing the waters or experimenting with different malt extracts, hops, steeped grains and even mini mash recipes. There are a few different packaging variations of this kit. The Deluxe Kit comes with the keg, the ingredients in make one batch of beer sanitizer and plastic bottle caps for $30 . The Premium Kit also comes with eight, one liter PET bottles as well $40. Mr. Beer sold replacement kegs a while back online for only $15 and I bought three more of them for a total of 5 kegs. A 2.5 gallon batch of extract based beer only takes about two hours to brew start to finish. With 5 kegs I can try a new recipe every other night if I am so inclined. I did say I love them right? The Mr. Beer company also sells ingredients sized just for the kegs which allow you to make all sorts of beers, ciders and even rootbeer, but you are not limited to buying just their products. They even have a monthly brewing club. If you go to their website you can find look over products and over 200 easy to brew recipes. http://www.mrbeer.com How Do I brew Using Mr. Beer? The basic Mr. Beer recipes goes like this. Set a pot on the stove with about 2 gallons of water and boil it. Set one gallon aside to cool and save it for later. If you are using a Mr. Beer product called “Booster” add it to the water pot before the boil and dissolve it, then bring the water to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the can of extract and stir until completely mixed. This is called wort. Cool the wort down to 130º F before putting it into the keg. Add water until the water level reaches the 8.5 quart mark on the keg and stir vigorously. If you have a wire whisk whip it up to a good froth – air at this point is good for the yeast, it is called aerating the wort. When temperature is down to 70º to 90º F sprinkle yeast on top of wort in keg and wait for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes mix it in well making sure NOT to cause a lot of bubbles. Once the yeast is in the wort aeration is not a good thing. Place the cover on the keg and let it sit in a cool (68º to 76º F) dark place for 7 to 10 days (or more) until bubbles stop forming. It may take as much as a full day before you start to see bubbles forming on top of the wort. These bubbles/foam are called krausen. Do Not open the keg again until it’s time to bottle!

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http://www.mrbeer.com/

This was a simple Mr. Beer extract brew. You can also do mini mash brew and small batch All-Grain brews – just make sure the wort is down to 130º F before putting it into the keg. Other Equipment Needed for Mr. Beer Fermenter Adhesive Thermometer

Sticks on the side of your fermenter so you can watch your temperature. $2

Tubing Although not required a short length of tubing for bottling is helpful and keeps from introducing air to your brew.

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Large Sized Fermenters (3 to 10 Gallon sized)

The Simple Food Grade Bucket Fermenter

This is the simplest of the traditional brew fermenters. They can be purchased completely assembled for about $20 or you can do it yourself. It’s not hard to make and you may already have the parts laying around the house. Do you have a restaurant you frequent? Maybe you could ask them it they throw away their white food buckets? A lot of stuff comes in these buckets, pickles, pancake mixes, iced tea mixes, sea food you name it! They come in sizes from about 55 gallons to 1 gallon. You’ll want at least one (two is

better) 5 gallon size. Don’t forget the lids! Look around you might get them for free. I got one free from a lunch counter at work. Then one day I went by one by favorite Chinese Supermarket and they had at least 50 of these things sitting out back. I asked the woman in the store if I could have one and she sold me one for$3. I would have paid at least $6.50 just for the shipping so I was still ahead. Other Equipment Needed for Bucket Fermenter Air Locks

The next thing we need to do to convert this bucket into a beer fermenter is to add an airlock. What’s an airlock? An airlock is just a simple little device which allows excess gas to escape the bucket but doesn’t let any germ carrying air back in. How does it do that? I did say it was simple right? Inside the main body that looks like a pill bottle there is a little tube which is inserted into the bucket with a bit still

3-piece Airlock

extended into the body. The little bottle is partly filled with water and a small cap is placed on top. As the gas from the bucket tries to escape it lifts the cap and goes out the top making bubbles in the airlock. $1 Another type of air lock is the “S” type. It’s called this because it’s shaped like the letter “S”. It work like the drain trap in your sink. $1 They both work fine which one you chose is up to you. I prefer the 3 piece air lock because on occasion you might need a blow-off tube and one can easily be inserted into the cap of the 3-piece unit.

bucket lidpurpose. n but not push

Airlock Gr

S type airlock

ommet or Rubber Stopper The Airlocks slip into a hole drilled into the using a airlock grommet which is a rubber stopper made for this

. Make sure the hole in the lid is small enough to slip the grommet i through. $2

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Blow-Off Tube Some brews will be extra active fermenters and blow off the top of you airlock. When this happens you simply add an extra length of tubing either into you bucket or into you airlock and place that in another bucket or container to catch the foam and gases that escape. Just remember to cover the end of the tubing with water so germs and bacteria won’t enter your brew! Spigots

As with everything else there are many spigot types available. It can be plastic, brass or stainless steel. The cheapest and simplest is shown on the right. They go for about $3. I like this style best because it has a tapered spout making it easy to slip hoses on and off and doesn’t required you hold it to pour the liquid out. Turn it and it stays on until you turn it off. Here is what the completed fermenting bucket looks like. That was easy now wasn’t it?

Adhesive Thermometer Sticks on the side of your fermenter so you can watch your temperature.

Pail Opening Tool

Buckets are a pain to open, make it easier with this tool

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Coopers Micro Brew Kit

Coopers Micro Brew Kit consists of: A plastic 30 litre ( makes up to 6 gallons) fermenter with lid , 1 1 kg CSR Brewing Sugar, a Hydrometer, Sediment Reducer, Plastic Spoon, "Little Bottler" tube and bottling valve, a Tap, an Airlock, Airlock grommet, Thermometer, 30 740ml PET bottles and caps, 1 Bag of Carbonation drops an Instruction booklet an Instructional Video, 1 1.7kg Coopers Home Brew Lager Concentrate - pretty complete package! I can not attest

to the quality of the components but it is certainly all you need to get stated except the pot to boil water in - I have not personally used this kit but it looks like a nice kit. $70 Coopers Brewery of Australia has been around since 1862. They have sixteen beer kits that come with malt, hops and yeast all you add is an additional (2.2 lb) of fermentable to produce 5 gallons of really good beer. I can recommend the Brewmaster Series beer kits – the IPA was really very good! Other Equipment Needed for Coopers Micro Brew Nothing

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The Glass / Plastic Carboy Fermenter

Glass carboys are the most tradition method of fermenting beer or wine. Today they are also made of plastic. They come in sizes from 3.5 gallons ($16) to 6.5 gallons ($25). They are very popular but very slippery and heavy (especially when full) and explode when dropped! Carboy Handle – This is slipped over the mouth of the carboy to give you a better grip for moving or lifting. I do not consider this an option. These things really explode when dropped! $5

Carboy cap – Used to attach hoses, airlocks and blow-off tubes or racking canes to the carboy. $3 You can also just use a drilled rubber stopper but this is more convenient.

You will also need one of the airlocks shown earlier in the bucket fermenter section of the guide. Other Equipment Needed for Carboy Fermenter Adhesive Thermometer

Sticks on the side of your fermenter so you can watch your temperature.

Tubing

Food grade tubing, used for transferring the wort or beer from one container to another.

Siphon This is used to get the beer out of the fermenter and into your bottles or kegs Carboy Brush A necessity for cleaning inside of carboys Racking Cane, Tubing and Bottle Filler For Moving Wort from carboy to Brew Bucket

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Conical Fermenters Commercial breweries and micro breweries generally use huge conical fermenters. Conical fermenters make brewing amazingly easy (especially on your back). No lifting heavy buckets or carboys, no need to transfer to a secondary fermenter to clarify your beer. One container does it all! The most common conical fermenters are made of stainless steel or copper, needless to say they are VERY expensive but they also come in PVC The steeply angled bottom (about 60 degrees) allows all of the trub and spent yeast fall to the bottom. The trub can be dumped out using the lower ball valves for cleaner, clearer beer. It is also good for capturing the yeast for reuse later. The upper ball valve is used to remove your beer above the trub line so you could simply leave the old yeast in there and add new wort to start a whole new batch of beer! Stainless Steel Conical Fermenters

A 7 gallon stainless steel conical fermenter like the one the left by Blichmann goes for about $500. Not exactly in the beginners price range. Leg extensions to get the fermenter off the floor go for around $65.

Other Equipment Needed for the Stainless Steel Conical Fermenter Adhesive Thermometer


Tubing


Carboy Brush A necessity for cleaning inside of fermenter

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PVC Conical Fermneters The V-Vessel

Another style of conical fermenter and one that I use is called the V-Vessel. The V-Vessel System consist of the unit itself (looks like a big light bulb) with the collection capsule, bracket and mounting accessories, cleaning brush, rubber bung and airlock, an extra female coupler with a tubing adapter and 5 ft of tubing. The picture on the left shows how It’s designed to hang on a wall but I have mine setup on a stand made of some scrap angle iron and rebar (right picture). I use the “extra female coupler and tubing adapter for r(it’s hanging over the stand).

acking

The collection capsule is used for removing trub and yeast – I use a jar.

When I reclaim the yeast I use mason jars to store it in so why wash an extra container? This thing is great! I wish I had more than one! I bought this on sale for $99 at Christmas time the regular price is $149. Other Equipment Needed for the V-Vessel Conical Fermenter Adhesive Thermometer


Tubing



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MiniBrew Conical Fermenter Similar to the V-Vessels are the MiniBrew polyethylene plastic conical fermenters. They come in 6.5 gallon, 8 gallon, 15 gallon, 25 gallon and 40 gallon sizes. WOW! One of the things I wished the V-vessel had was a bigger mouth opening so I could actually stick my arm in it for cleaning. The MiniBrew has it! What is also has is a second valve port for draining your brew from above the yeast and trub. I have not used this product however I have got to say I’ve had to convince myself more than once that I really don’t have room for another conical. The price of the 6.5 gallon unit is $120.

Other Equipment Needed for the MiniBrew Conical Fermenter

Adhesive Thermometer Sticks on the side of your fermenter so you can watch your temperature.

Tubing



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Other Brewing Equipment There are several other things you need for brewing besides a fermenting vessel! I will mention some of them here: Bottle Brush Used to scrub out beer bottles. Hydrometer Used for testing the specific gravity of the wort. Here is a close up of hydrometer scale.

Funnel Funnels come in all shapes and sizes – get one with a large mouth to make pouring easy. Large Pot For brewing wort in. See page 5 for sizes. It’s really handy to have one with a spigot on it. Aluminum pots are acceptable. Stainless steel is best. This is easy to make by adding a ½” brass ball valve, gasket and a nutted nipple. I also have a nylon barbed fitting which threads into the ball valve on the outside to add tubing for racking the wort. Musslin bags or Cheese Cloth Used for addig grains or hops to the wort. Maybe be reused until they self destruct. Some people use nylon stockings for this purpose. All-Grain Equipment Mash Tun Made from a 10 Gallon Rubbermaid cooler - $30

Replace spigot Added nylon threaded “T” Added nylon threaded barb fittings at ends of “T” Added Stainless Steel braid to barbed fittings Added Stainless steel hose clamps to hold braid on Tubing for the end of the spigot

Turkey Fryer Kit If your stove is not commercial grade you will need a turkey cooker and propane tank to cook wort over about 3 gallons.

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Basic Brewing Ingredients To get a better idea of what you will use to brew beer I think now is a good time to talk about some of the ingredients. Because there is little difference between “Extract Brewing” and “Extract with Steeped Grain Brewing” I will add the specialty grain ingredients here.

Malts Beer is a malted beverage – so let’s take a minute to talk a bit about what malts are. Malts come in three basic forms:

Malted Grains Malted grain is made from barley, wheat or rye. It is soaked until it sprouts then it is drained and dried. This process harnesses natural enzymes – a process that releases fermentable sugars, and develops the flavors in beer. It is then kiln dried using hot air. Different temperatures and combinations of air or lack of it produce different styles of grains. Malted grains come in over a hundred varieties.

Specialty Grains Specialty grains are grains which do not have to be mashed. The starches have been converted to sugars in the kilning process so they can be steeped in a bag like a tea. They control the color, body and flavor of our beer.All Crystal Malts, Chocolate Malt, Black Patent Malt, Cara-Pils® or Dextrin Malt, Roasted Barley Malt, Victory (Biscuit) Malt, Belgian Aromatic, Belgian Biscuit Malt, Belgian Caramunich, Belgian Caravienne , Belgian Special B, Canadian Honey Malt, German Rauch (Smoked) Malt, German Karaffe Malt, Scottish Peat Smoked Malt, Special Roast are specialty grains.

Liquid Malt Extracts Known as LME’s - made from mashing the grains then boiling the liquid into a concentrated syrup. LME’s come in two forms Unhopped and Hopped. LME’s usually come in cans or plastic jars if purchased in bulk.

Unhopped liquid Malt Extracts - are a concentrate made from a base malt grain with no other flavors or hops added. Some companes refer to this form as UME’s or ULME’s. They usually come in Extra Light, Light, Pale, Amber, Dark and Wheat. Hopped liquid Malt Extracts – also called HME’s. HLME’s or beer mixes, are LME’s which have hops added and sometimes other grains for flavor. They come in every style of beer that can be made. You usually have to buy at least one can of UME and one can of HME per batch of extract beer.

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Dry Malt Extracts Known as DME’s a dry malt powder or spray. Same as LME’s but in powdered form. DME’s weighs less, lasts longer and is easier to handle. Come in Extra Light, Light, Amber, Dark, Extra Dark, Wheat, barley and wheat, Rice, and Barley and Rice.

Hops Hops are actually a flower, green in color with yellow lupulin glands down between the petals. Hops are used for preserving the beer and the essential oils also add flavor and aroma to balance the sweetness of the malt. Come in two forms: Leaf hops and palletized hops. Hops come in Cascade, Willamette, Northern Brewer, Fuggles, Horizon, Kent Goldings, Chinook, Tettnanger, Perle, Hallertaur, Centennial, Columbus, Brewers Gold, Mount Hood, Nugget, Saaz, Sterling, German Spalt, Cluster, Challenger, Cyrstal, Eroica, Liberty, Styrian Goldings, Galena, Bullion, Amarillo, Olympic, Magnum, Target, and Hersbrucker varieties to name a few.

Yeast The yeast cells consume simple sugars and produce a bi-product of carbon dioxide and alcohol. There are two main types of yeast, ale and lager. Ale yeasts like the warmer temperatures between 60-70°F, while lager yeasts work best at temperatures of 50°- 65°F even as low as 40°F. Yeast also come in two forms Liquid and dry. The liquid yeasts come in any variety of beer styles and is said to be superior by the brewing experts. They average between $5 and $7. Dry yeast is more limited in styles but I’ve had great luck with several dry yeast brands and inconsistent results with the expensive liquid yeasts. One of the best yeasts I’ve ever used is the “Superior Dry Lager” yeast which sells for around $1.25. It always works perfectly no matter what the brew or temperature whether I am making ale or lager! Other good dry yeast is Coopers Ale Yeast $1.25 and Nottingham Ale yeast $1.75.

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Hydrometer Readings

What is a hydrometer? According to Wikipedia: A hydrometer is an instrument used for determining the specific gravity of liquids. It is usually made of glass and consists of a cylindrical stem and a bulb weighted with mercury or shot to make it float upright. The liquid is poured into a tall jar, and the hydrometer is gently lowered into the liquid until it floats freely.

The point where the surface of the liquid touches the stem of the hydrometer is noted. Hydrometers usually contain a paper scale inside the stem, so that the specific gravity (or density) can be read directly in grams per cubic centimeter.

How To Use a Hydrometer

1. Fill the glass cylinder with a wort sample.

2. Put the hydrometer with the bulb end down. It will bob up and down in the sample. Note that the sample may overflow from the cylinder.

3. Assure that the hydrometer is not in contact with the sides of the cylinder and take the reading. Note temperature of the wort sample.

4. We need to correct for temperature by using the chart on the right.

The original gravity will be higher because of the sugar in it. The final gravity will be lower because most of the sugars have fermented out and been converted to alcohol!

Hydrometer Temperature Corrections

Example: The temperature of our wort is: 100 °F, your specific gravity reading (SG) Is 1.040, the Delta G value from the chart

is .0061. Round this number off to the same number of decimal places or .006 add that number to the original reading of

1.40 Your corrected specific gravity reading would be 1.046. T °C Delta G T °F T °C Delta G T °F

0 -0.0007 32 25 0.0021 77 1 -0.0008 33.8 26 0.0023 78.8 2 -0.0008 35.6 27 0.0026 80.6 3 -0.0009 37.4 28 0.0029 82.4 4 -0.0009 39.2 29 0.0032 84.2 5 -0.0009 41 30 0.0035 86 6 -0.0008 42.8 31 0.0038 87.8 7 -0.0008 44.6 32 0.0041 89.6 8 -0.0007 46.4 33 0.0044 91.4 9 -0.0007 48.2 34 0.0047 93.2

10 -0.0006 50 35 0.0051 95 11 -0.0005 51.8 36 0.0054 96.8 12 -0.0004 53.6 37 0.0058 98.6 13 -0.0003 55.4 38 0.0061 100.4 14 -0.0001 57.2 39 0.0065 102.2 15 0 59 40 0.0069 104 16 0.0002 60.8 41 0.0073 105.8 17 0.0003 62.6 42 0.0077 107.6 18 0.0005 64.4 43 0.0081 109.4 19 0.0007 66.2 44 0.0085 111.2 20 0.0009 68 45 0.0089 113 21 0.0011 69.8 46 0.0093 114.8 22 0.0013 71.6 47 0.0097 116.6 23 0.0016 73.4 48 0.0102 118.4 24 0.0018 75.2 49 0.0106 120.2

Ta eOn the lower part

ke reading her

of the liquid.

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The Pre-Brewing Steps

Sanitizers Wash and sanitize everything before you start! What is everything? The kegs, the covers, the bottles, the spoons you use stir, mix and measure with, the caps, the thermometer, the hydrometer, the counter top, the stove top anything that is used to make or that comes in contact with your brew or brew equipment! It will be handy to have a plate or something sanitized to lay your tools down on and keep a small container of sanitizer available for use as you go along. I have an old pretzel container I keep full of sanitizer and after using anything I rinse it in the sink and throw it back in the sanitizer jug.

There are many types of sanitizer available just be sure to use them according to the directions provided on the label of the sanitizer you are using . Here is an alphabetical list of what’s available:

B-Brite It removes unwanted contaminates on contact and will not transfer contamination. A rinse with cool water is required. One eight ounce tub will make 20 gallons of sanitizing solution (one tablespoon per gallon of water). C-Brite A no rinse sanitizer in an easy to use pack that is sufficient for producing a 2 gallons of sanitizing solution. Ideal if on well water or if rinsing is not desired. Iodophor An excellent no-rinse sanitizer. Great for bottling, or any time a rinse is impractical. Requires 2 minute contact time. The most popular sanitizer among brewpubs & microbreweries. Iodine base sanitizers can cause stains. Star San An excellent no-rinse sanitizer. Lacks the odor normally associated with iodine based sanitizers. Great for bottling, or any time a rinse is impractical. Requires 2 minute contact time. Iodine base sanitizers can cause stains. One Step Oxygen based with a favorable cleaning powder and sanitizes on contact. Environmentally friendly. No rinsing required. Eight ounce bag will make 20 gallons of sanitizing solution (one tablespoon per gallon of water). I use One Step sanitizer all of the time it’s easy to use goes a long way is inexpensive and doe not contain iodine so there is no staining. Note: if you have iodine sensitivities or allergies or are sensitive or allergic to shellfish (which is generally an indication of an iodine sensitivity or allergy) do not use iodine based sanitizers!

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Water Preparation If you have chlorinated water, boil the water you are going to use in your brewing, this is will help get rid of the of the chlorine taste. Many people will only use well water, bottled water or filtered water when brewing. I’ve tried bottled, filtered and tap water. As long as I boil the water before I brew I don’t taste a difference when using tap water in the final product. Some people don’t pre-boil their water – it’s not required. I really love to brew! Sometimes To save time I will boil the water I will be using on the day before I brew if I plan on brewing a 5 gallon all-grain brew during the work week. Dial Thermometer

Monitor the temperature of you wort. The metal clip to attaches to the lip of the kettle. Should read from 0 to 220ºF Collect all your ingredients and lets get brewing!

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Brewing Your First Extract Beer Okay … Everything’s cleaned, sanitized and gathered up for your first extract brewing session way to go! These instruction will work no matter which fermenter type you choose. What size batch are you brewing? Select the pot size according to the batch size you will be brewing from the table below.

Pot Sizes (in quarts) Batch Size in Gallons 1 2.5 3 5 5.5 6 10

Minimum Pot Size 4 10 12 20 24 24 40

Brewing an All Extract Wort For our example we will produce a 5 gallon batch of beer, for a 2.5 gallon batch just reduce the ingredients by half. 1. Boil 2 gallons of water set it aside and let it cool to room temperature covered. 2. Place 3 gallons of water in a pot turn on the heat. 3. When the water begins to boil turn off the heat and add all extracts and stir well to dissolve - you don’t want it to stick to the bottom – this mixture is called Wort. 4. Once the extracts are dissolved turn the heat back on to boil the wort for 30 minutes. Stir frequently. NOTE: Once wort begins to foam (Hot Break) watch carefully to prevent boiling over! If it looks like it’s going to boil over turn off heat briefly or blow on the foam.

5. Turn off the heat – cool down to 70° - 90°F as quickly as possible by placing pot in a sink or tub filled with cold water, or a snow bank stirring constantly or if you have one use a wort chiller.

6. When the temperature is down to 70° - 90°F aerate the wort by stirring up quickly or using a wire whisk. Yeast needs oxygen in the wort before it’s added. 7. Take a hydrometer reading if you have one and record this number correcting for temperature. Drink the wort from the hydrometer test tube. Never pour this back into the beer. Make notes on your readings and what you’ve tasted for later. It will be really sweet! 8. When there are plenty of bubbles in the wort add the yeast now stir gently you don’t want to add air to the wort once the yeast has been added. Let it sit for 10 minutes. 9. Transfer wort to your fermenter of choice being careful to leave as much of the sediment and trub behind as you can. 10. Place Air lock on ferementer (if there is one) 11. Place fermenter in a place where it will be out of the sunlight and undisturbed for several days to a few weeks depending on the recipe. In about 24 hours you should see bubbling in the airlock. Keep an eye on the temperatures! 12. Clean up!

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Brewing Extract with Steeped Grains and Hops For our example we will produce a 5 gallon batch of beer, for a 2.5 gallon batch just reduce the ingredients by half. 1. Boil 2 gallons of water set it aside and let it cool to room temperature covered. 2. Place 3 gallons of water in a pot turn on the heat. 3. Place grains in the muslin bag tie a knot in it and steep the grains swirling them around until the temperature reaches 165°F. Do not let water get above 170°F before removing grains or it will leave an off taste in your beer! 4. Remove grains 5. When the water begins to boil turn off the heat and add all extracts and stir well to dissolve - you don’t want it to stick to the bottom – this mixture is called Wort. 6. Once the extracts are dissolved turn the heat back on to boil the wort. Stir frequently. NOTE: Once wort begins to foam (Hot Break) watch carefully to prevent boiling over! If it looks like it’s going to boil over turn off heat briefly or blow on the foam.

7. If you have bittering hops place them in a clean muslin bag tie a knot in it and add them now. Boil Bittering hops for 55 minutes. 8. If you have aroma or finishing hops add for the last 5 minutes of the boil.

9. Turn off the heat – cool down to 70° - 90°F as quickly as possible by placing pot in a sink or tub filled with cold water, or a snow bank stirring constantly. If you have one use a wort chiller.

10. When the temperature is down to 70° - 90°F aerate the wort by stirring up quickly or whip it using a wire whisk. Yeast needs oxygen in the wort before it’s added. 11. Take a hydrometer reading if you have one and record this number correcting for temperature. Drink the wort from the hydrometer test tube. Never pour this back into the beer. Make notes on your readings and what you’ve tasted for later. It will be really sweet! 13. When there are plenty of bubbles in the wort add the yeast now stir gently you don’t want to add air to the wort once the yeast has been added. Let it sit for 10 minutes. 12. Transfer wort to your fermenter of choice being careful to leave as much of the sediment and trub behind as you can. 13. Place Air lock on ferementer (if there is one) 14. Place fermenter in a place where it will be out of the sunlight and undisturbed for several days to a few weeks depending on the recipe. In about 24 hours you should see bubbling in the airlock. Keep an eye on the temperatures! 15. Clean up!

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Brewing Your First All-Grain Beer All-Grain. The term sends shivers down the spines of those who are unaware of how simple it really is. You’ve probably read dozens of texts on the subject only to find it still remains shrouded in mystery. If your like me when I first got started all the information available spoke of this wizardry and how difficult it is - and for that reason I did not start brewing for many years after I got the urge to try. Then I found Mr. Beer, which introduced me to extract brewing in small batches. My second batch of beer was a Coopers Brew Master Select kit with “steeped grains.” I just followed the recipe everything was in the kit! Okay let’s get rid of the fear – this is easy, a bit more time consuming but easy! Here we go! This will be for 5 gallons of beer assuming a few different grains and hops - so get out all you equipment wash and sanitize everything! If you don’t have a grain mill order your grain pre-crushed. To make it easy on your back place the boiling pot (HLT) on the stove with tubing attached long enough to go into the Mash Tun, place the Mash tun on a high chair or stool with tubing long enough to reach the bottom of the collection pot and a collection pot for the Mash tun on a chair or the floor. It should look something like this if possible:

Stove

StoolChair

Pot

Mash Tun

HLT Let’s Get Started!

The Mash 1. Bring about 4 gallons of water up to about 160°F

NOTE: Lets say we have a total of 8 pounds of grain we need about 1 ½ quarts of water per pound of grain to put into the Mash Tun with the grain so that’s 12 quarts of water (the 4 gallons from step 1).

2. Pour a few gallons of hot tap water into you Mash Tun to warm it up and let it sit with the lid on for about 5 minutes then dump it and put the lid back on.

3. Place all of the crushed grains into the Mash Tun.

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4. Slowly add the water to the grains to cover them by about an inch and stir them up to make sure they aren’t stuck together and let them sit covered for one hour. The temperature in the grain bed should be about 150°F. This is called the Mash.

NOTE: Place a saucer or colander over the grain bed to keep from stirring up the grains.

5. Add about 4 more gallons of water to the HLT and bring this temperature up to about 170° F.

6. After an hour run about 2 quarts of water out of the Mash Tun into the collection pot. This water will have a lot of grain particles in it. That’s normal! This is called the first runnings. Slowly pout this back into the Mash Tun.

7. Pour another 2 quarts of water out from the Mash tun into the collection pot. This should be cleaner than the first. Again slowly pour this back into the Mash Tun.

8. Continue to pour a few quarts Mash water at a time into the collection pot until it runs clear. This may take only be once or could take 3 or 4 tries.

9. Once the Mash water runs fairly free of particles open the spigot a tiny bit to let the mash water slowly drip into the collection pot … at the same time slowly open the spigot of the HLT and let it run into the Mash Tun. This should take about an hour to complete – so just a trickle will do!

NOTE: As the water passes through the grains it takes with it the sugars which will become the wort. The more water that passes through the lighter the color of the run off. 10. Once all the water has passed through the grain checkthe specific gravity of the final

runoff .It should be between 1.010 and 1.000. If you don’t have a hydrometer just look to see that it’s really light compared to the earlier runnings.

NOTE: Now the Mashing is done and all the sugars (extracts) are collected. The rest is just extract brewing.

Back To Extract Brewing 1. Bring the wort to a boil. You should have collected about 6

gallons of extract. You will lose about a gallon during the boil. If you don’t have 5 gallons add water to bringit up to 5 gallons.

2. If you have bittering hops place them in a clean muslin bag tie a knot in it and add them now. Boil Bittering hops for 55 minutes.

3. If you have aroma or finishing hops add for the last 5 minutes of the boil.

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4. Turn off the heat – cool down to 70° - 90°F as quickly as possible by placing pot in a sink or tub filled with cold water, or a snow bank stirring constantly. If you have one use a wort chiller.

5. When the temperature is down to 70° - 90°F aerate the wort by stirring up quickly or whip it using a wire whisk. Yeast needs oxygen in the wort before it’s added.

6. Take a hydrometer reading if you have one and record this number correcting for temperature. Drink the wort from the hydrometer test tube. Never pour this back into the beer. Make notes on your readings and what you’ve tasted for later. It will be really sweet!

7. When there are plenty of bubbles in the wort add the yeast now stir gently you don’t want to add air to the wort once the yeast has been added. Let it sit for 10 minutes.

8. Transfer wort to your fermenter of choice being careful to leave as much of the sediment and trub behind as you can.

9. Place Air lock on ferementer (if there is one) 10. Place fermenter in a place where it will be out of the sunlight and undisturbed for

several days to a few weeks depending on the recipe. In about 24 hours you should see bubbling in the airlock. Keep an eye on the temperatures!

11. Clean up! Now that wasn’t to hard was it?

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Calculating % Alcohol So why do we want to know this? Who cares anyway? We can use these numbers to caculate how much alcohol is in our beer! Most states regulate how much alcohol is allowed to be present in the beer within it’s boarders. That’s why in one state the same brand of beer maybe be higher or lower in alcohol content or not available at all. That stinks but that’s the law, however these laws do not apply to Homebrewed beer! Yippie! Here are two basic methods for calculating % alcohol in beer, the percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV) and the percentage of alcohol by weight (ABW). We need to retrieve the note we made of the original gravity (O.G.) when we finished brewing. Then just before we bottle we take another reading the final gravity (F.G.). Some people call this the terminal gravity (T.G.).

% Alcohol by Volume To calculate the percentage of alcohol by volume we take our original gravity and subtract our final gravity, multiple that by 1.333, then multiply that by 100.

Calculating % Alcohol by Volume (%ABV)

(O.G. – F.G.) x 1.333 x 100

% Alcohol by Weight To calculate the percentage of alcohol by weight we take our original gravity and subtract our final gravity, multiply that by 105.

Calculating % Alcohol by Weight (%ABW)

(O.G. – F.G.) x 105

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Preparing to Bottle Your Beer How do you know when the beer is ready to bottle? There are a few ways depending on whether or not you have a hydrometer.

I have a Hydrometer! If you have a hydrometer you can take a specific gravity reading and compare it to the recipe readings. Most recipes will list the original gravity and the final gravity that was achieved when the recipe was designed. If it is not listed you can go to this website, type in the ingredients and it will calculate it for you. http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/ Use this to determine your final gravity. After about a week, maybe two, depending on your recipe, your beer will be ready to bottle. The beer will nearly stop fermenting, you won’t see anyor very few bubbles in the airlock. Note: Recipes that have a lot of fermentables or fruit can take up to a month so be patient. If the airlock is happily bubbling away let it sit for a few more days. Just watch it. As long as something is happening in there it’s still working. The alcohol acts like a preservative so don’t worry if you gone over by a few days. I know a guy that had a good batch of brew that forgot it for over a month! I wouldn’t push it though.

I don’t have a Hydrometer If the air lock hasn’t bubbled up more than once every few minutes you could taste it. Does it taste really sweet? Compare the flavors from the day you brewed it until now. If it’s really sweet wait a few more days. If it taste about right but flat (don’t panic it’s not carbonated yet) it’s probably ready to bottle.

What do I need to Bottle my Beer? Well first you need bottles and lots of them! Before bottling collect the number of bottles and caps you will need (see chart on page 5) . Wash thoroughly and scrub with a bottle brush, then sanitize them. Place metal caps in boiling water, but not plastic caps used for PET bottles. Turn the heat off first before adding PET bottle caps so you don’t melt them. When the cap is hot it seals better. You can use PET bottles with re-useable plastic caps or glass crown top bottles with a capper. I’ve heard several people claim that PET bottles won’t keep long because they leak air and your beer will loose carbonation. I have some beer bottled in PET bottles that have been bottled over a year and they are fine. Hot caps seal better!

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http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/

What is a PET Bottle? PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic resin and a form of polyester. Basically any bottle that at one time held a carbonated beverage can be washed, sanitized and re-used along with the caps. They can also be purchased in brown colored bottles like the one on the right, which is better for you beer because it blocks UV light which can ruin your beer. I don’t usually leave my beer in the sun do you? Some people claim clear and green glass bottles leave a funny taste in your beer, I’ve never found this to be true. I bottle at least two beers from every batch in clear glass bottles so I can evaluate what I have. I evaluate it’s color, clarity, yeast remnants etc. These I save in brown paper lined boxes and drink it on it’s anniversary date a year after I brewed it. If you think it was good a few weeks after you brewed it let one sit a year! What’s a Crown Top Bottle? Unfortunately, many of our beers today come in twist off caps. You can not re-use these with a hand capper. The old style bottle that require a bottle opener are crown tops. You can get them from a recycler or your local beverage store or get your friends to save them for you. See photo on right.

For glass bottles you need a capper and lots of caps. I use the one on the left. It’s called a universal capper and costs about $12.

Metal Bottle Caps – come in bags either by the pound or the gross. I buy these at $1.20 a gross from Quality Wine and Ale I think they are cute! http://www.homebrewit.com/aisle/2060

Okay I’ve got my bottles and caps washed and sanitized what next? Well priming the beer of course!

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http://www.homebrewit.com/aisle/2060

Priming the Beer Before you can bottle you need to prime the beer. We can do this with just about any sugar but corn sugar is about the best. Some sugars like table sugar are inconsistent and can cause off flavors in your beer. DME can be used as well but it’s more expensive and why not save that for another batch of beer? What is priming? Priming is just adding more sugar to the beer so the yeast will eat it and create CO2 that it will carbonate the beer based on the table below:

Corn Sugar for 5 Gallons = 13 1/2 Tablespoons

Bottle Size Priming Sugar 7 oz. .35 Teaspoon 12 oz. 3/4 Teaspoon each

1 liter/quart 2 1/2 Teaspoons each 16 oz. 1 Teaspoon each 2 liter 1 1/2 Tablespoons each

22 oz. 1 1/2 Teaspoons each

Like everything else there is more than one way to do this.

Bottle Priming To bottle prime you scoop the appropriate amount of sugar into each and every bottle then pour in the beer into the bottle and swish it around a bit.

Bulk Priming To bulk prime you simply measure out the total corn sugar required to prime all of the beer (see chart above) then and 2/3 cups of boiling water priming the whole batch of beer at at one time. To do this follow the instructions below: Boil the water, remove it from the heat and then dissolve the corn sugar in the water.

Cover the pot and let the sugar syrup cool to room temperature. Once this sugar mixture has cooled add it to the fermenter and stir slowly using a sanitized spoon, taking care not to stir it up to much.

NOTE: If you are using a brew bucket to transfer the beer from a carboy to the brew bucket don’t prime until you are ready to rack the beer from the brew bucket to the bottles. The most accurate way to calculate your priming sugar is to use a nomograph. A nomograph eliminates the need to do any calculations you just draw a line or place a straightedge or ruler on the mark for the temperature of your beer, and the volumes of CO2 required for that style of beer. The place where the line crosses the sugar line is how much sugar you need to prime 5 gallons of that specific beer. This method is much more accurate because it

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takes into consideration the temperature, and the style of the beer you have brewed. At lower temperatures, the beer can dissolve more CO2, so the colder the beer the better. Please note: Temperatures are listed in degrees Fahrenheit (°F) and sugar is measured in ounces (oz.).

Volumes of CO2 Required According To Beer Style

Beer Style Volumes CO2 British-Style Ales 1.5 - 2.0 Porter, Stout 1.7 - 2.3 Belgian Ales 1.9 - 2.4 European Lagers 2.2 - 2.7 American Ales & Lagers 2.2 - 2.7 Lambic 2.4 - 2.8 Fruit Lambic 3.0 - 4.5

German Wheat Beer 3.3 - 4.5

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It’s Bottling Time!

Bottling Your Beer Once again you will need to transfer your beer - this is known as racking. This time we will rack into bottles. How you do this depends on the type of fermenter you have.

Racking From A Fermenter With A Spigot If your fermenter has a spigot it’s easy. Just put a bit sanitized tubing on the spigot run the tubing to the bottom of the bottle open the spigot and fill up the bottle trying not to get any air in. Set the cap on top of the bottle but don’t cap it yet. If you let it sit a until you fill all of the bottles it will create CO2 and expel any air out of the bottle keeping your beer fresher longer.

Racking From a Carboy If you are using a carboy you will need a clean, sanitized racking cane, tubing, bottle filler and brew bucket. You place the racking cane in the carboy and place it up on the table, put the bucket on a chair below the carboy and put the tubing in the bucket. Release the clamp on the hose and transfer the beer into the bucket keeping the tubing submerged to prevent splashing. Add the bottle filler to the racking cane and close the clamp. Put the brew bucket on the table and the bottles on the chair. When your ready push the bottle filler into the bottom of the bottle and fill. When you release the pressur on the bottle filler it will stop the flow of beer. Set the cap on top of the bottle but don’t cap it yet. If you let it sit a until you fill all of the bottles it will create CO2 and expel any air out of the bottle keeping your beer fresher longer.

Bottle Conditioning Once all the beer is bottled you need to crimp the caps and let it sit in a cool place out of sunlight to condition for a week to 10 days. For some beers it is suggested that you condition for up to a month so check the recipes instructions on this. In general, the longer you condition the beer better it tastes.

Chilling and Drinking After the necessary conditioning period put your beer in the refrigerator for a few days to a week and enjoy! Congratulations -You’ve made you first homebrewed beer! Now wasn’t that simple?

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Appendix I’ve added a few handy reference tables to aid you in your brewing. Let me explain what these tables can do for you and why I added them.

Grains, Extracts & Sugars This table will help you determine the type of malt, what form in comes in, (I.e. grain, LME or DME), where the malt originates from, the potential color contribution to your beer, whether or not it must be mashed (no means you can steep it) , the average specific gravity it will attain, the maximum amount you should use per batch of beer, and a brief description of what it should be used for.

Hops This table will help you determine the type of Hop, what it’s used for (Aroma or bittering), the percent of alpha acids which may be obtained, what beers it should be used in, emergency substitutions if you run out and a description of it’s flavors.

Spices, Flavors & Finings This table will help you determine the type, quantity per 5 gallon batch of beer, when to add it and for how long, what it’s used for and a brief description of it’s use.

Yeast Statistics This table will help you determine the Brand Name with item number, the type and form it comes in, the flocculation and attenuation which should be achieved, the minimum and maximum temperature for use.

Beer Style Statistics With Commercial Examples There are many different styles given to a beer that describes its overall character and origin. Reading these charts can sometimes be confusing. Maybe you like a particular brand of beer but you don’t know the style – this table is for you. It combines all the specifics of the beer style and includes commercial example of that style to help you decide what you may want to brew.

Clink .. Ahhhhh

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Grains, Extracts & Sugars

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Hops

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Spices, Flavors & Finings

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Yeast Statistics

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Beer Style Statistics With Commercial Examples

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the very basic brewers guide - deejay's smoke pit beer is pretty simple, but we always fear the...

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