Beer Making 101
Home Brewing itself has been around for many thousands of years. Before the mass manufacturing of beer and alcohol began around the time of the industrial revolution in the 1700’s. Many ancient civilizations have records and depictions of various homemade concoctions being consumed at celebrations, festivals, political events, and other important occasions. Home brewing supplies are many and can be tricky to buy so let’s talk a little about what you’re going to need. The supplies you purchase will determine the outcome of your product so you’ll want to be sure you are purchasing all of the right things.
Yeast is the catalyst which makes it all happen. Yeast needs magnesium in a small amount, but if your water has too much, you will get a mineral taste in your beer, which is very harsh. Sodium can help accentuate the sweetness in small amounts (just like table salt), but can taste salty in higher amounts. Yeast is the catalyst that makes it all happen. In short, yeast is a living organism that feeds off of the sugars in the malt.
Kits, instructions and supplies are available for all stages of a brewer’s development. Kits will tell you to use ordinary sugar to make up the alcohol content, but a better brew can be produced by adding dried or tinned malt extract (including pre-hopped tins). Adding another tin of the same kit, or even a different one, can create a wonderful beer. Kits also include a small bag of caps, two buckets, a siphon, a hydrometer, and an airlock. That’s a lot of stuff for the price of a PS3 game and you will never have to purchase it again.
Beer making takes a long time, usually around ten to twelve hours for brewing and over a month for the beer to age. Beer making is as easy as cooking, provided you know how to cook. Different ingredients and techniques are used for different recipes.
Brewing beer inexpensively is one thing, but what about the time commitment?
The first step: boiling the beer, cooling it and setting it aside for fermentation will take about three hours. Brewing was not possible in the warm months because wild yeasts prevalent in the warmer weather of summertime would sour the beer.
Brewers discovered that brewing in the cold months and storing the beer in caves in the nearby Alps impacted stability to the beer and enhanced it with a cleaner taste, although they did not know why. Brewing is all about converting starch to fermentable sugar, so when the process really gets rolling it needs to be monitored closely.
Bottles and bottle caps are needed for each batch of beer. These can be purchased in cases and can be relatively inexpensive. Bottling takes about 45 minutes. Your beer will be ready to drink a week or two after you bottle it. Bottled beer can last about 3 months on a shelf. Also, the beer will keep longer if it comes in a brown bottle.
There are many cool posts here on this blog along with some great resource links and products to help make your hobby a happy tasting one.
