Guide to Brewing Beer

Start drinking your home brewed beer in about two weeks.

You can brew beer from home, and reduce your beer budget by almost 75 percent. Once you've obtained the brewing equipment, a beer-making kit and the sugar, you can brew the equivalent of 60 to 70 bottles of beer in 2 weeks. The process begins by introducing yeast to a concentrated solution of malt sugar extract. The yeast will begin to convert the sugar to alcohol, within a day or two. The beer can be primed with sugar, and bottled within a week. It can be ready for consumption the following week.

Things You'll Need

• Malt extract kit, any flavor, includes 40 oz. can of malt extract and yeast packet
• White Sugar, 8 cups
• Soap
• Household bleach
• Small bowl
• Large cooking pot
• Plastic bucket and lid, 7 to 10 gallons, food grade quality
• Measuring cup
• Measuring teaspoon
• Plastic siphon hose, 5 feet long
• Long wooden spoon
• 12 plastic bottles, 2 liters

Instructions

1. Wash the plastic bucket, measuring cup and cooking pot with soap and warm water. Sanitize the plastic bucket using a 5 percent bleach solution.

2. Boil 1 3/4 gallons or 30 cups of cold water in a large pot. Separate 1 cup of boiled water into a small bowl. Add the can of malt extract to the large pot, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in 7 cups of sugar. Allow the liquid to cool.

3. Pour 4 1/4 gallons or 66 cups of boiled water, cooled to room temperature, into the plastic bucket. Pour the malt extract solution into the plastic bucket. Allow the 6 gallons of liquid to cool to room temperature.

4. Open the yeast packet, included with the kit, and stir the contents into the bowl containing 1 cup of water. Do not hydrate the yeast until the water has cooled to room temperature.

5. Add the hydrated yeast to the plastic bucket, and stir the liquid thoroughly. Place the lid on the bucket. Allow the malt extract solution to ferment at room temperature for 7 days.

6. Wash the plastic siphon hose and the twelve 2-liter bottles with soap and warm water. Sanitize the hose and bottles with a 5 percent bleach solution. Rinse thoroughly.

7. Add two teaspoons of sugar to each 2-liter bottle. Siphon the beer from the plastic bucket into the twelve 2-liter bottles. Avoid vacuuming the yeast sediment from the bottom of the bucket. Shake each bottle to dissolve the sugar.

8. Cap the bottles tightly. Place the bottles in a cool, dark place to clarify. Refrigerate the beer after 7 days, and consume.

References

• Eartheasy: Simplest Homemade Beer
• Lemis.com: Greg's Quick and Easy Beer