Beer in Brief

If you take a trip to your local grocery store and peruse the cold drink aisle, it's sometimes surprising how many brands and kinds of beer are available to the general consumer. Even in remote country stores you can usually find two or three different kinds of beer to quaff on a hot summer day, and major outlets can carry dozens of varieties.

Beer production itself is nothing new; Egyptian, Chinese and Mesopotamian cultures concocted their own varieties as far back as 3000 B.C.E., and beer as we know it was brewed in monasteries throughout the Middle Ages as a safe substitute for questionable drinking water. But the multitude of varieties available today represents only a fraction of the possibilities when you alter the amount and type of any of the four main ingredients: water, grain, yeast and hops.

At its most basic, beer is really just a fermented tea; flavorful plant matter and complex sugars are steeped in boiling water, then cooled and placed in a vessel where yeast is added to convert those sugars into alcohol. The simplicity of this formula allows for an almost infinite variety of flavors, but the two main branches of the beer family tree are lagers and ales.

Lagers are made from "bottom-fermenting" yeasts, which (as the name would suggest) settle at the bottom of the brew and work at cooler temperatures over a longer period of time. The beer that results from using this yeast is often lighter in color and flavor, and examples include pilsners, bocks and dunkels. Germans have a long tradition of brewing world-class lagers, and many of the most popular American beers (Coors, Miller and Budweiser to name a few) are technically lagers, but through mass production, they have lost much of the character that makes lagers so appealing.

Ales on the other hand are made from "top-fermenting" yeasts, which thrive at warmer temperatures (55-75 degrees F) and produce beers that are darker, richer and more full-bodied. Most British beers are classified as ales, and some of the most common include bitters, stouts, porters and blondes. Ales are usually more forgiving than lagers in terms of timeline and temperature, so this how-to will focus on the production of a smooth, mildly-flavored amber ale, but with a little practice and experimentation you can make nearly any kind of beer you want in the comfort of your own home.

Getting started

Before you begin, you will need to gather some hardware and ingredients. If you don't have any pots, strainers, bottles or the like, you might have to shell out between 80 and 150 dollars on the hardware alone, but this is a one-time expense that will begin to pay off as you brew future batches of beer. The ingredients themselves should amount to no more than about 25 dollars for 5 gallons (or about 55 12 ounce bottles) of homebrew. It may be tempting to spend a little less on a "beer in a bag" kit, but even though its price may be lower, the equipment can rarely be reused and the product is usually sub par due to the limited shelf-life of the ingredients. You'll be better off in the long run to invest in a few key pieces of equipment that will last you for many batches to come.

A quick search in the phone book or on the Internet is all it should take to find a nearby brew shop. Pick one and stop by to chat with the staff. If the shop is clean and the staff is enthusiastic about the prospect of a new homebrewer, chances are you've found a good shop. It's always better to have local access to your supplies for last-minute acquisitions and friendly advice, so avoid buying your supplies online or by mail order unless you absolutely have to and you are certain you know what you are getting.

Equipment

Items to gather or purchase include:

A stainless steel 5-gallon boiling pot – This will be used to cook the beer before fermentation and should be clean before beginning. Canning pots that feature an enamel on steel construction are acceptable to use, but watch for any chips or cracks on the interior as these imperfections can give the beer a metallic taste.

Long handled stirring spoon – This should be metal and capable of reaching the bottom of the pot without submerging the handle. Wire mesh kitchen strainer – Make sure your strainer is clean and free of rust and made of a fine mesh capable of straining small particles. It will also need to rest stably on the rim of your bucket.

A 7-gallon food-grade plastic bucket (fermenter) with sealing lid and airlock hole – This will be the home for your beer as it ferments over the next 1-3 weeks, so make sure the interior surface is clean and free of scratches or other blemishes that could harbor bacteria.

Food-grade plastic is designed to stand up to cleanings and prevent any strange flavors, so unless you have one already, it's wise to get a new bucket for the project. DO NOT use a utility or paint bucket as the plastic can lead to odd flavors no matter how clean the bucket may be.

Stick-on thermometer – This is a time saver available at your brew shop that can also protect your beer from contamination. All you have to do is stick it to the side of your bucket about halfway down the exterior and you will have a quick and easy way to tell the temperature of your fermenting beer.

A glass carboy (or second food-grade fermenter) – For a secondary fermentation chamber, glass or plastic can be used. I prefer glass because I can see the progress of the yeast sediment and watch for any contamination developing on the surface of the beer, but if you're concerned about cost, a second plastic bucket will be a cheaper solution.

Bottles, caps and capper – If you're an avid beer drinker, there's one easy way to save a little money, and that's by saving your bottles. Beer bottles you buy at the grocery store can be easily reused provided you rinse them thoroughly after emptying them and ensure they have pop-top, not twist-off caps. Gather as many bottles as you can, and even though a full batch of beer can yield 55 12-ounce bottles, it's good to have at least 60 bottles ready just in case you somehow wind up with extra beer or you happen to have an accident. If you need to buy more or you want to start fresh, your brew shop will have a variety of bottles available along with the caps and capping device.

Sterilizing agent – Sanitation is the key to a successful brew, and bacteria or other foreign microorganisms can infiltrate and ruin your fermenting beer if the proper precautions are not taken. Some recipes swear by the use of diluted bleach to keep your equipment and brewing environment sterile, but due to environmental concerns about using bleach and the possibility that it can taint the flavor of your beer, I recommend the use of BTF, an odorless and tasteless iodophor sanitizer used to clean dishes and utensils in large-scale eating establishments.

Clear rubber tubing – About six to ten feet of clear rubber tubing with an internal diameter of ½ inch is enough to smoothly siphon your beer from vessel to vessel. This can be found at a hardware store if you can't find it at your brew shop, and because of its direct contact with the beer, it is wise to purchase this new and use it only for making beer.

A racking cane – This is a specialized piece of equipment that can be found at your brew shop. It is a device used to aseptically prime your siphon for transferring your beer between vessels. Bubbling airlock (with stopper) – Also found at your brew shop, this is a gauge used to monitor the activity taking place in the fermentation chamber.

Bottling tube – Available at your brew shop, this simple device is a plastic tube about 8 inches in length with a spring-release nozzle that can stop the flow of beer when released. It will be a key component of the bottling process.

Hydrometers, wort chillers and other specialized equipment – There are of course many other devices that have been devised to fine-tune the beermaking process, and while they are useful, they are by no means necessary. I'm going to ignore their use for the sake of this tutorial and leave them for your future explorations in the realm of brewing.

Ingredients

Water – 4 gallons plus 1 pint of spring water and a 7 pound bag of ice. It is conceivable to use tap water, but as mentioned before, there are so many variables that affect flavor, it's best to eliminate as many as possible if you are going to produce a decent product, and cutting the unpredictability of tap water out of the equation is a great way to control your flavor, especially since your beer will be composed mostly of water in the end.

Hops – 2 ounces of Cascade hops, dried and refrigerated. Hops are the dried flowers of the genus Humulus. Rich in acids and essential oils, hops give beer its distinctive flavor (in the form of aroma and bitterness) and act as a preservative. There are a staggering variety of hops available for use, but for this recipe, Cascades will do nicely.

Yeast – These little fellas do all the work involved in converting your starchy tea to a frothy, bubbling brew. There are many different kinds that can be used, but a simple ale yeast is all you need for this recipe. The yeast can be in either dry or liquid (i.e. "pitchable") form, but if you are gathering ingredients more than a few days before you plan to brew, it is best to buy active, dry yeast.

Malt – 7 pounds of amber or crystal malt extract. The yeast in your beer will need something to convert into alcohol, and a complex sugar is exactly the substance for the job. Grains offer a great deal for yeast to chew on, but only after they have been through a process called "malting", whereby the grains are submerged in water just long enough to stimulate germination, at which point the grains are dried. Malting brings a number of fermentable sugars and starches to the surface of the grain, and cracking and heating those grains in water—a process called "mashing"—releases enzymes which further convert the starches to sugars that the yeast can break down.

There are many sources of starch that will provide the necessary fuel for fermentation, but barley is the grain of choice for most brewers. You can make your own mash with a little more time and attention to water temperature, but modern brew shops have taken some of the guess work and experimentation out of the beermaking process by creating malt extracts, a simple way to supply your beer with the necessary sugars for yeast activity without having to make your own mash. For the sake of this first recipe, malt extract will be simplest to use, but if on future batches you decide to amp up the character of your beer, combining cracked malted barley with an extract can yield excellent results.

Corn sugar – 1 cup. This fine, simple sugar will be used during the bottling process to trigger a secondary fermentation that creates carbonation.

Cooking the wort (estimated time: 2 hours)

Take your 5-gallon boiling pot and bring 3 gallons of spring water to a rolling boil. While the water is heating, take all of equipment that will come into contact with the beer (bucket, carboy, tubing, strainer, lids, stoppers, racking cane and airlocks) and sterilize it thoroughly according to the directions on your agent of choice. BTF is handy because it does not require a secondary rinse, but whatever you use, make sure your equipment is sterilized for at least 5 minutes and then air-dried and untouched until it is time for use.

Your water will likely still be heating by the time your equipment is sterilized, so take this time to warm the malt extract and loosen up the thick mixture. Grab a small saucepan and a put a folded dishtowel on the bottom, then fill it about ¼ full with tap water and place it over medium to low heat. Set the closed malt container in the pan so it is protected from direct heat by the towel but still sitting in the water, and within about five to ten minutes the syrupy malt extract should pour much easier.

At this time your 3 gallons of water should be just about boiling. Take the malt out of the sauce pan and grab your spoon. As the water reaches a boil, pour the malt steadily and carefully into the water, stirring thoroughly as you go to ensure none of the syrup rests on the bottom and burns.

Continue stirring as the water returns to a boil. You may notice a great deal of foam emerging quickly from the mixture as the boiling resumes. This is normal, but can cause a sticky mess if it spills over the side, so if you see it start, remove the pot from heat and stir until the foam subsides, then return it to the burner.

You may have to do this quite a few times, and you may need to drop the heat or stir to prevent it from happening (or it may not happen at all), but you will eventually reach a stable rolling boil.

Once you do, add the first ounce of your hops and stir them in thoroughly. You are going to boil your wort (pronounced "vert", a term for young, unfermented beer) for 60 minutes, and you'll also want to add another half ounce at both the 40 and 50-minute marks, so set those amounts aside now, then set your timer.

At the completion of the 60-minute boil (and three-time addition of hops for varying degrees of aroma and flavor), remove the pot from heat and cap it with a lid. Take your fermenter and add your 7 pounds of ice and final gallon of spring water. Sanitize the metal spoon and set it aside in a clean place.

Take your sanitized strainer and rest it on the rim of your fermenter, then pour the hot wort through the strainer (to remove the hops) into the ice water. Briefly stir the ice and hot wort together and place the lid on the fermenter until the temperature stabilizes to around 80 degrees, then slide the lid aside, add (or "pitch") your yeast into the mixture and firmly seal the lid onto the fermenter, complete with airlock and rubber stopper

(NOTE: remember to add water to your airlock to ensure one-way airflow).

Move your fermenter to a nice temperate area out of direct sunlight (a closet or spare bathtub is an excellent place) and let time take the wheel.

Primary fermentation (estimated time: 3-10 days)

As your yeast settles into its warm and sugary new home, it will begin to feed, converting sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide (among other trace compounds that contribute to beer's flavor and body). This production of gas requires an outlet lest the fermenter should blow its lid, and as fermentation kicks into high gear, the gas will escape through the bubbling airlock. This is a handy way of viewing the progress of your beer's fermentation, and you should check the airlock daily to see the rate at which bubbles are escaping.

When the rate slows to one bubble every 90 seconds or so, which can happen in as few as three days (in warm temperatures) or as many as ten days (in cooler temperatures), fermentation is just about complete and your yeast will begin to autolyze or feed off one another (producing odd flavors) if you do not transfer your beer to your secondary fermenter within 2-3 days.

Racking your beer (estimated time: 45 minutes)

Recklessly exposing your beer to air is an easy way to cause contamination, especially if the beer is agitated to the point where it sloshes or produces bubbles. How then should one transfer 5 gallons of maturing beer from one vessel to another, and without transferring dead yeast or other sediment? The answer is a process called racking. When you are ready to move your beer from one fermenter to another, sterilize and air-dry your rubber tubing and racking cane. Connect the tubing to the end of the racking cane's elbow joint.

Take your primary fermenter and, taking care not to slosh you beer, place it on a counter or other stable, high surface, and place your secondary fermenter (whether glass carboy or second plastic fermenter) on the floor. Carefully open the fermenter and slide the lid just enough to provide space for your racking cane, and slide the cane into the beer so that it is well below the surface but not sitting in the yeast sediment at the bottom.

It is important to keep your beer as covered as possible at all times to prevent contamination by air particles. Rest the other end of the tubing at the bottom of the secondary fermenter and pump the racking cane a few times to get the beer flowing through the tube.

Continue pumping until you have a continuous stream of beer with no bubbles, then gravity will do the rest. Tip the primary fermenter as the level drops to ensure the nose of the racking cane never dips into the yeast, and once you have transferred all you can, pull the racking cane out of the beer, remove the tube from the secondary fermenter and transfer your airlock from one vessel to the other (if you are using a second plastic fermenter, you'll want to firmly affix the lid on before moving the airlock).

Place your secondary fermenter where your primary used to be, and let fermentation continue for another few days. You may continue to notice very slow bubbles through the airlock, but if you don't, not to worry. The beer can remain in this state for up to a week (depending on temperature), but after about 3-4 days, your beer should be ready for bottling.

Bottling (estimated time: 2 hours)

When you are ready to bottle your beer, sanitize your primary fermenter and set it aside. Gather your clean bottles and caps, corn sugar and pint of water. Sanitize your racking cane, a medium-sized bowl, rubber tubing and bottling tube. Get two saucepans (one wide and filled with 2 inches of water, the other small) and empty your dishwasher. Place your label-free bottles mouth-down on the bottom rack of your dishwasher (preferably on the posts). Run a dishwashing cycle with no soap and the heat-dry turned on. Let the complete cycle run and do not open the door until you are ready to bottle.

When the washing is done and the drying has begun, place your caps into the wide saucepan and make sure they are all submerged. Place the pan on medium-high heat until bubbles begin to form and the caps begin to dance. Let them boil at this rate for exactly one minute and then remove the pan from heat and let it sit undisturbed for at least ten minutes.

Add one pint of spring water to the small sauce pan and bring it to a slow boil. Add the 1 cup of corn sugar and mix vigorously to dissolve. Let this mixture boil for at least ten minutes to kill any bacteria or other organisms in the water, but make sure the water does not boil away completely.

When the dishwasher drying cycle is complete, you will be ready to bottle. Lift your beer onto the counter and set your sanitized fermenter on the ground (with the lid covering as much as possible to prevent contamination). Using your sanitized racking cane and tubing, rack your beer from one vessel to the other using the method prescribed above. This will further reduce sediment in your final product and make bottling much cleaner. When the beer is 1/3 transferred, begin to slowly pour in the sugar solution to mix it into your beer. This will give the leftover yeast something to chew on in your bottles, which will produce carbonation.

Once racking is complete, set both ends of your cane and tubing into the empty fermenter to keep them protected from contamination. Cover your beer and move it to the counter. The next part is easiest to do if you have your beer just above the dishwasher and use the lowered dishwasher door as a work surface, but if that's not possible, you can bottle on the floor instead. Take your pan of caps and set it near your bottles along with your bottle capper.

Transfer your racking cane and tubing to the full fermenter, and attach your sanitized bottling tube to the free end of the tubing. Set your sanitized bowl on the floor and press the end of the bottling tube against the bottom of the bowl. Pump your racking cane to start the beer flowing and when you have a smooth, bubble-free flow, lift the tube off the bowl. The spring-loaded tip will close off the flow without producing bubbles, and you are ready to bottle.

Take a bottle from the rack and slide the tube into the bottle until the tip hits the bottom. Beer will begin to flow in quickly, so watch the level rise and as soon as it reaches the rim, pull the tube out. This will leave the perfect amount of air at the top, so take a clean cap and place it on the mouth of the bottle, then carefully set the bottle aside. Repeat this process for as many bottles as your brew will fill, then go through and crimp your caps one by one with the bottle capper. You should now have about 50 bottles of beer that should be stored in a clean, dark and relatively cool place for at least 2 weeks. The beer will only get better with age, but you'll begin to notice a sharp increase in character by the 3-week mark.

Serving your beer

Ales can always be served at room temperature, but refrigeration will enhance some of the hoppier flavors and help to clarify the beer. Remember that each bottle contains sediment, so try not to agitate them when transporting or opening, and when pouring, pour smoothly and leave the last 1-2 inches of beer in the bottle, else you'll get a sour, yeasty surprise.

Variables/Experimentation

Now that you've got the basics under your belt, you can experiment with all the different ways of tweaking beer's various characteristics. Some of these include:

• Mash malted barley to complement your malt extract. One method involves taking cracked, malted barley in a cheesecloth sock and submerging it in your water as it heats. Remove and squeeze the sock like a teabag when the water reaches 180 degrees, then continue as normal. This provides significant body and richness to your brew.
• Use other adjuncts (rice, potatoes, other starches) to enhance and add to the flavors. These can be done in the same manner as the malted barley above. You can also use coffee, chocolate and fruit at various stages of cooking the wort to achieve unique flavors and effects.
• Try different hop varieties and mixtures thereof. Each has its own character and aroma.

With these tools and methods at your disposal, you'll be brewing like a pro in no time. But remember, even if things go wrong, you've still got beer, and that's always a very good thing.