Thread: Step by step homebrew instructions

These are the basic steps
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1.Clean and sterilise all equipment.
2.Add 1 premixed kit and 1kg sugars dissolving with boiling water.
3.Top up with cold to 23 litres
4.Add yeast once temp is under 30°
5.Seal and wait for fermentation to complete 1 – 2 weeks
6.Bottle
Additional steps can be added.
Hops can be added at steps 2 or 3

More detail.............
GATHER INGREDIENTS
PREMIXED KIT. Most kits give reasonable results.
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1KG SUGARS.

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Can be cane sugar, although preferable to use Dextrose (Glucose) or malt.
In this case I am using 500g dextrose 500g of light malt.
The dextrose ferments almost completely leaving no identifiable taste.
The light malt doesn’t ferment fully, leaving a slightly sweeter maltier taste. Also gives the beer more body and a better head.
I have also added 100 g of Corn Syrup(powder) It has no taste and doesn’t ferment much, giving a better body and head.

Empty contents of can into fermenter, away from tap so it doesn’t fill up. Warming the can in hot water makes it pour easier. II then fill the can with boiling water and stir the can to get the last out.Attachment 119087
All up add 2-3 litres of boiling water and stir in the syrup. I then add the sugars again stirring to dissolve. Top up with cold water to the 23litre mark.

YEAST either the one supplied with the kit or a better one.
Most yeast kits yeasts are Ale yeast, even those used in lager beers. There are some exceptions. Coopers European Lager uses Lager yeast. This can been seen on the batch number followed by P (Pilsener) The other way to identify Lager yeast is the lower recommended brew temp is around 15°, as opposed to 20+
I like to dissolve the yeast and one teaspoon of sugar in glass of warm water while mixing the wort. This gives the yeast a little head start and it foams up indicating that it is alive.
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HOPS
These add bitterness, flavour and aroma. They are available as
·loose flowers,
·Plugs (Compressed flowers, as in the photo)
·Pellets. Which look like chook pellets.
Bitterness Boil for 20-45 minutes in a small amount of water to extract bitterness, then strained and discarded
Flavour Boil for about 5 minutes
Aroma steep in hot water like tea.
Strain and discard hops
Or for aroma/flavour dry hop.” Throwing them in dry into the wort. Either in a hop bag as pictured or loosely. They will settle out before bottling.
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Take a original gravity reading. I just throw the hydrometer into the wort and leave it there.
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FERMENTATION COMPLETED.
After a week or 2 the beer has fully fermented. This is indicated by the airlock no longer bubbling an occasional bubble can be caused by changes in temp. The airlock may not bubble if the seal is not perfect.
This can be double checked by taking another SG reading. The same result over 2 days indicates the end. Leaving the beer for a week or so won’t harm it and allows it to clear better.

BOTTLING
Priming either add 1 teaspoon per 750ml bottle or use carbonation drops or Bulk Prime. Do not alter the amount of priming sugar as its only purpose is to add gas to the bottle. Too much and the bottles explode, not enough and the beer is flat. I do use slightly less on dark beers and stouts, to make it a bit less gassy.
I prefer to bulk prime, dissolving 180g dextrose in boiling water and put into a 2nd fermenter. Then using a hose attached to the 1st fermenter and looped into the bottom of the second fermenter transfer the wort, leaving the sediment behind. Avoid aerating the wort at this stage.
I like to use a 1m hose attached to the tap to the bottler and then move this from bottle to bottle. This makes it quicker, saves having to lift bottle after bottle and the extra height gives it more pressure.Attachment 119090
Let the beer sit somewhere warm for a week or so for the secondary fermentation to occur (make the beer gassy)