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.