Home Brewing Beer

Home beer brewing has been around since approximately 9000 BC. For getting into home beer brewing yourself, you will need a basic home brewing kit, a stainless steel or enameled pot large enough to boil two to three gallons, and a long stirring spoon.

The pot can be a stockpot, lobster pot, or canning kettle. Do not use aluminum, as this will flavor the beer in an unsavory way. A basic brewing book is helpful, too. There are a few different methods to home brewing.

In the Single Stage method, the beer goes through the entire fermentation cycle in one bucket. It should be brewed at room temperature (65-75F), take about five to seven days, and be bottled as soon as it is finished fermenting.

Sediment forms as beer brews, and if the beer sits on this sediment too long, it will absorb some unsavory flavors, although it will be harmless. The sediment consists of spent yeast, used hop pellets, and the by-products of boiling.

In the Two Stage method, the beer starts out in a primary fermenter (usually a bucket). The initial fermentation is very active, and forms a head just like on a freshly poured glass of beer.

This lasts approximately three days; then the head falls off and the fermenting slows down. This happens when the gravity has fallen by about half.

At this point, the beer should be siphoned to a secondary fermenter (usually glass). The liquid should come to within an inch or so of the stopper.

The beer completes its fermenting in this second container. The advantage to Two Stage brewing is that the beer can remain in the fermenter until it is clear and you are ready to bottle.

The sediment on the bottom of the secondary is not as harmful to your beer as the sediment on the bottom of the primary. Two Stage brewing must be used when lagering beer, as the secondary fermentation is done at a lower temperature.

In the Blow by Blow method, a glass carboy (fermenter) is used, and a three or four foot long hose that is one inch in diameter.

The beer is put into the carboy, and the hose is fit into the neck of the carboy instead of a stopper and airlock. The other end of the hose goes into a smaller bucket filled with water, forming a kind of airlock.

The active fermentation goes out through the hose and into the bucket. (This is not to be saved nor added back in.)

When the head falls and the fermentation has settled down, remove the hose and attach a stopper and airlock and proceed as you would for the Single Stage method.