Step by step home brewing for beginners
Home brewing for beginners can be quite a daunting task if you do not know how to go about it. However if you are a home brewing enthusiast, there are plenty of books and information that will give you the entire knowhow that will enable you to produce an excellent, high quality, great tasting beer right at home.
It is important to get as much information as you can on the subject of home brewing. This means that you should know how the yeast works, how different hops can be used, how the barley turns into beer etc. Apart from this you should also know all about the home brewing equipment you will need to produce beer.
Beginners should know that barley, yeast, hops as well as water are the main four ingredients you need to produce beer. The hops is added for bitterness and the barley yields a sugar extract. This sugar is then converted into alcohol by the yeast. Basic equipment needed to homebrew is a starter kit for home brewing beginners that is available in supermarkets or homebrew stores. These kits have a fermenter, caps, hand capper, bottle brush, sterilizer, hydrometer, spoon and a funnel.
A large pan in which you can dissolve ingredients is good enough for simple brews. A dedicated boiler or many saucepans will be needed if you want to boil your malt and hops with wort. Stainless steel boilers with a tap are ideal. Plastic fermenters that hold around 25 litres are ideal. You have to remember to leave enough room for the foam on top. Never use a rubbish bin that is made of plastic because it could leech toxins into the brew that could be very dangerous. Fermenters that have taps close to the bottom will allow you to bottle your beer more conveniently and easily. Moreover, the sediment of yeast will settle way below the tap and will not flow out, leaving only the clear beer to flow through.
Home brewing for beginners is fairly easy if you follow the instructions that are provided along with most starter kits. Once you have been successful in the fermentation stage, you have to make sure that the bottling is done well. This is one of the difficult stages so if you use large bottles it will be easier to sterilize and prime them. Moreover, you will also have to fill less bottles. The bottles that have crown seals and made of glass that is heavy are better than the new ones that are of thinner glass and break easily during the bottling process. In fact, a PET soft drink plastic bottle are light, can be sealed easily, unbreakable and perfect if you want to store your beer in plastic!
Home brewing for beginners tips will tell you that you should never skimp and opt for cheap caps. If you do you might end up with flat beer because of the poor seals. This is worse than having no beer at all! Rinsing your bottles thoroughly is important and a funnel to get the priming sugar in the bottles and a long plastic spoon is easy to keep clean and sterile.
