How to Brew Homemade Beer

Making your own beer is a simple and fun process. All you need are a few basic tools and supplies that you can find easily in most cities. There are numerous recipes for beer online (see Resources for links) so get ready to experiment after you learn the basics.

Things You'll Need

• Tools:
• A large pot for boiling (one that holds about 3 gallons is ideal)
• A large bucket (10 gallons; must be sterile)
• Vinyl tubing (for siphoning into bottles. Must be sterile. One-quarter inch to 1/2 inch is a good size.)
• Kitchen thermometer
• Long spoon for stirring
• Containers for the beer (see Resources):
• Bottles
• Caps
• Capper
• -or-
• Self-capping bottles
• Supplies:
• Water (tap is fine but distilled is better)
• 40 oz. Malt extract (use more for a richer beer)
• Yeast (1 packet)
• Sugar (7 cups)

Instructions

Making the Beer

1. 

   Wash the pot, bucket and a large spoon in the hottest water possible. If they will fit in your dishwasher, use the hottest setting to sterilize.

2. Put 3 gallons of fresh, clean water in the bucket. Make sure the bucket is in a place it can sit for several days as you will not want to move it once you add the brew mix. Make sure the room it is in will stay at around 68 degrees F (20 degrees C). It should be placed so it will not be knocked or agitated during fermentation.

3. Bring 2 gallons of fresh, clean water to a boil in the large pot. Add the malt extract and stir for 20 minutes.

4. Add the sugar and stir until all the sugar is dissolved.

5. When the sugar is dissolved, pour the brew mixture QUICKLY into the bucket. The faster and more violently you can do this, the more air bubbles will be trapped. The air bubbles aid the fermentation process, so you definitely want to be quick about this. A splash is good (as long as it doesn't tip things over or make a big mess).

6. Add enough cold, fresh water to cool the mixture to room temperature (about 70 degrees F). Once the water is cool enough, sprinkle the yeast over the top and stir well. Cover the bucket with tin foil or a loose-fitting lid. Leave it alone for 10 to 12 days to ferment. Don't mess with it. You don't want to stir up the sediment that will form, or your beer will be cloudy. Just leave it alone.

7. After 10 to 12 days, taste the beer. It should not taste sweet. If it does, leave it for a few more days until it no longer tastes sweet.

Bottling the Beer

1. Wash all the bottles and caps and the tubing in your dishwasher or hot water to sterilize. Put them in a large pot of simmering water to keep them sterile until you are ready to use them.

2. Add 2 tsp. sugar to each bottle before filling.

3. Using the tubing, siphon the beer into the bottles. Make sure the tubing does not reach all the way to the bottom of the bucket or you will get sediment in the beer. Also be careful that you don't disturb the sediment.

4. To siphon, submerge the tubing in the beer so it fills up with beer. Cap one end of the tubing with your thumb, move the capped end over the first bottle, as close as you can get, and release. The beer should start flowing into the bottle.

5. Fill the bottle, leaving at least 1 inch of air space. Be careful not to overfill, because the beer will continue to ferment and needs space to do this. When the bottle is full, cap the tubing with your thumb and move on to the next bottle.

6. Cap the bottles. Self-capping bottles with rubber rings are the easiest to use and can be reused. If you have a capping tool, use that to cap regular bottles.

7. Shake the bottles to dissolve the sugar. Place in a warm place for a few days to continue the fermentation. After three days or so, move the bottles to a cool, dark place for storage.

8. Wait a few more days. At this point, you can taste your beer. The longer you let it sit before drinking, the better it will taste, but it is ready for sampling now. Enjoy!

Tips & Warnings

• This is a very simple and basic recipe. See Resources section for more recipes when you have the basics down. Most brewing supplies are available in large cities and the food ingredients (yeast, malt extract and sugar should be available at most grocery stores. If you can't find bottles and other supplies locally, they are easily available on the Internet.

Resources

• Self-capping and traditionally capped bottles
• Huge database of beer recipes
• More beer recipes and supplies