Brewing beer is a fun hobby and you will be able to make many types of great tasting drinks for you and your friends to enjoy. To start brewing you will need to acquire some special equipment. All of this can be purchased for about $100 from a brewer’s store. Here is a list of the equipment you will need.

• 5 Gallon brew bucket with lid
• 5 Gallon glass Carboy
• 2.5 Gallon boiling pot
• 5 Gallon boiling pot
• Floating brewers thermometer
• Siphon
• 50-60 12oz beer bottles (not the screw cap kind)
• bottle capping tool
• 50-60 bottle caps
• Food safe sanitizer.
• Cheese cloth or fine mesh bag.

Here is a list of ingredients you will need to purchase from a brewers store to make your beer. There are many types of beer so this is a general list that can be adapted depending on the type of beer you want to make. You can get recipe cards from a brew store or online.

• Grain blend (see note 1)
• Malt (see note 1)
• Hops (see note 2)
• Yeast (see note 3)
• Sugar
• 5 gallons water

*** Note 1 Different grains can be blended to make different types of beer. As a general rule, darker and toasted grains will be used with dark malts to make darker ales and stouts. Lighter grains and lighter malts will make light or amber ales. A 5-gallon beer recipe will normally use 2-3 pounds of grain made up of a blend of 3-6 types of grain. You will typically use about 8-9 pounds of Malt.

*** Note 2 There are many different types of hops giving your beer unique flavors, speak to staff at the brew store or consult the recipe card to select the correct hops. Typically each beer will use three types of hops.

*** Note 3 There are many choices of yeast, which will all flavor your beer differently. English yeasts tend to be used for darker ales European yeasts tend to be more appropriate for lighter ales, but this is not a hard and fast rule. Check your recipe or speak to staff at the brewer store to select the appropriate yeast for the beer you are making. Also some yeast will come in a smack pack which you will need to break the seal and allow to cultivate for up to five hours before adding to your brew. Other yeasts come in powder form that you will simply sprinkle into you mixture at the correct time.

Before you begin clean your kitchen thoroughly, using kitchen cleaners. This is important as yeast can easily be contaminated. Wipe clean every surface that you will be using to make your beer. As beer making is a process that will take several days, each time you are going to anything with your beer, clean the area first. Follow these step by step instructions.

1. Heat 1.5 gallon of water in your 2.5 gallon boiling pot to 165F
2. Place your grain blend in the net bag or wrap in cheesecloth.
3. Turn off the heat and steep grains in the water for 45mins turning the grain bag occasionally. (It is like steeping a huge tea bag)
4. Remove and discard the grains.
5. Skim off any foam from the surface of the water, which is now flavored and colored from the grain steeping.
6. Transfer the contents of the 2.5 gallon pot into your 5 Gallon pot.
7. Add 2 more gallons of water into the boiling pot and start to bring the temperature up to a gentle rolling boil.
8. Whilst the mixture is still heating slowly stir in and dissolve the malt, making sure that it doesn’t congeal on the bottom of the pot. You don’t want it to burn and caramelize.
9. Once you are at a rolling boil turn off the heat. Add the first of your three hops
10. Set a timer for 20 minutes and restart the rolling boil.
11. At the 20 minute mark turn off the heat and stir in your second hop
12. Restart the boil for a further 40 minutes. And then turn off and add the third hop.
13. Allow to cool. (you can speed up the process by running cold water around the pot)
14. Sanitize the brew bucket, siphon, and bubble valve in food safe sanitizer
15. Siphon the mixture into the brew bucket
16. Add the yeast and top off the water up to the 5 gallon mark.
17. Seal the bucket and insert the bubble valve into the hole in the lid of the bucket.
18. Put the brew bucket in a cool place. After about two days you will see bubbling in the bubble valve, after about five the bubbles will almost stop.
19. Sanitize the glass carboy, siphon, bubble valve and bung.
20. Siphon the mixture from the brew bucket into the glass carboy leaving behind any sludge. Seal with the bung and insert the bubble valve
21. Place the carboy into a cool place and leave for about four days or until all bubbling in the mixture ceases.
22. Sanitize your brew bucket, bottles, capping tool and bottle caps.
23. Dissolve 1 cup of sugar in a small pan of lukewarm water.
24. Siphon the beer from the carboy into the brew bucket
25. Add the sugar water to the brew bucket.
26. Siphon the beer into the bottles and cap using the capping tools
27. Allow 2 weeks to carbonate before serving. (See note 4) Note 4 After 2 weeks the beer should be ready to drink, but the flavor will continue to develop over the next few weeks. It will reach its prime six to eight weeks after bottling and should be good for about a year before it begins to deteriorate.

So, if you follow the above steps on how to brew beer at home, you will end up with a nice brew to share with family and friends. Few things can be as satisfying as serving your own homemade beer into a frosty mug on a hot sumer dat. Good luck.

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