Tips on Brewing Beer at Home and How Much it Costs
Fermented beverages have been made for as long as a millennium. Beer production dates back to 5000 years ago. When making homemade beer, one requires a few cheap tools and a little bit of patience. Brewing beer at home gives one the chance to experiment with various flavors that they can only get in a craft of beer pack.
For those considering to brew beer at home, they should consider investing on some brewing equipment’s. One equipment one should invest in is a carboy which is used for fermenting and storing beer. An auto-siphon is the other equipment to buy, and it is used to transfer beer out of carboys and into bottles. A bottle capper, bottling tip, and empty bottles are the other equipment’s needed and they are used for bottling beer well. A hydrometer is the other equipment needed, and it is used for testing the content of alcohol in ones brew. The other equipment’s needed are a pot that can hold gallons of liquid, a large spoon for stirring and a thermometer.
Four main ingredients are needed for brewing homemade beer. One important ingredient used is hops, and it is used for adding bitterness to the brew during boiling. If you want to add fragrance to your brew, you can use hops at the end of the boiling process. The other ingredients used are grains, and they are important for adding aroma, color and flavor to a brew. The other ingredient is malt extracted, and it is sugar extracted from malt. You will be able to brew beer conveniently at home if you use malt extract. Another ingredient needed is yeast, and it is important during the fermentation process. After fermentation has occurred, one can use priming sugar to finish off their brew. 90% of beer is water, therefore water is an essential ingredient.
Cleaning and sanitization of equipment is the essential step when brewing beer at home.
The first step is steeping the grains. Boiling water and steeping of grains is the first step when brewing beer at home. Once the water boils, you should drop the grain bag and allow it to step before removing it.
Adding malt is the second step when brewing beer at home. Immediately you remove your grain bag, take your wort to a rolling boil then remove it from the source of heat. Add the malt extract and the hops and stir till it dissolves.
The third step to be followed when brewing beer at home is cooling down the wort and transferring it. It is important to cool down the wort to 70 degrees after boiling. You can use your thermometer to check if the wort is cool enough afterward you siphon it to your carboy.
The next step is to add the yeast and top your carboy with a bubbler.
The fifth step is to let it ferment for about two weeks. For more info on how to measure the attenuation of a brew, you can visit this site, White Labs.
When brewing beer at home, the final step is to add the final touch which is priming sugar. One should add two cups of priming sugar to boiling water then they let it dissolve. If you add this solution to your beer, you will be able to enjoy your drink within no time.
One will incur approximately $150-200 when brewing beer at home.