Beer brewing is something that is definitely a commitment. A month long commitment. However you don't have to be working on it everyday. Most of the part of the process, for almost all types of beers, is completed on the very first day! and then you just have to wait for two weeks, and then bottle the beer and then wait again for 2 weeks and Voila! Relish your creation!
Now just thinking about beer brewing, might daunt you, and overwhelm you. However let me break a news to you. It's not demanding at all. It's so not! Especially right now, when you are quarantined at home, and need a hobby, you can totally do this. All you need is a good equipment kit, a good ingredient kit, and some good music to play in the background. Beer brewing ain't that hard, trust me.
Two major prerequisites :-
A very important and obvious part of this whole process is the beer brewing equipment set. Here is the set that we use
Now after this, you do need an ingredient kit, depending on which beer you want to brew, so here are the ingredient kits we have used so far to make different beers.
This time however, we got the hops and pellets separately and came up with a recipe. I will list down the ingredients we bought for this beer under Step 3 below.
Once you have the equipment kit and the ingredient kit, then we can begin!
Step 1 : Sanitization. So you will get a sanitizer liquid in the equipment set. Fill a plastic bucket with 2 gallons of water and add 1 oz of sanitizer liquid to it. To that mix add :-
The big plastic spoon, which you use will stir the brewing pot,
The thermometer, which you will, from time to time, insert in the brewing pot (the steel pot) to measure it's temperature,
The flask in which you will pour some beer in the end to measure it's specific gravity.
The cloth mesh/muslin bag in which you would put the grains.
The auto siphon
Sanitize the brewing pot also, by pouring little bit of sanitizer liquid in it and swirling it around.
Step 2 : Put 2+1/2 gallons of water in the brewing pot and then put the pot on stove and heat the water, until it is 155 F.
Step 3 : While the water is heating, lay out your ingredients.
Chinook pellets - 3/4 oz
Centennial pellets - 2 oz
Cascade pellets - 1 oz
Biscuit Malt - 8 oz - the muslin bag is kept next to it, so these have to go into the muslin bag.
Plain Light Spray Malt Extract - 3 lbs.
Light Liquid Malt Extract - 1 can - 3.3 lbs.
Safale US.05 - Dry Ale Yeast - 1 packet
2 packets of Ice cubes
Step 4 : Once the water has reached 155 F, take the muslin bag with the Biscuit Malt and immerse this bag in the water.
Step 5 : After 10 - 15 minutes of brewing, the water will start to look like this.
Step 6 : After 10 - 15 minutes, lift the muslin bag, over the pot, and pour water over it (around 3 cups). We will not squeeze the muslin bag but put water over it to get all the flavors. This will add in some extra water in the brewing pot, but that's fine.
Step 7 : Now bring the brewing pot to a boil and add in both the extracts - Plain Light Spray Malt Extract and Light Liquid Malt Extract. Mix well.
Step 8 : Stir everything until dissolved, and bring to a rolling boil.
Step 9 : Now add in Chinook pellets - the bittering hop - mix until the pellets dissolve and let it cook for 35 minutes.
Step 10 : Add in Centennial pellets - 1 oz first - this is a bitter flavoring hop. Mix well and let it cook for 10 minutes.
Step 11 : Add in Centennial pellets, remaining 1 oz and all of the Cascade pellets and mix really well to dissolve both. These two would determine the flavor and aroma respectively. After mixing them nicely, boil for another 15 minutes. Turn off the gas after 15 minutes.
Step 12 : A mixture called "The Wort" is prepared. Now prepare an ice bath in a container or tub, big enough to partially submerge the brewing pot. We made an ice bath in a clean sink, with the drain covered.
This is the trickiest part of the entire process - to make a proper ice bath. Make sure before you begin the entire process that you have an area, big enough, in which you can submerge the brewing pot halfway, and the ice covers the pot from the sides nicely.
We need to cool the brewing pot. Take the brewing pot off the heat, and cover it with a lid to avoid splashing. Place it in the ice bath, until the pot when touched from outside seems to be cool or at room temperature.
Step 13 : Using the auto syphon, pour some beer into the flask and measure the specific gravity using the hydrometer. The correct range should be between 1.052 - 1.06.
Step 14 : In a sanitized carboy, put 2 gallons of water. It is important to do so, to avoid the glass to crack with the hot temperature of the beer. Start the beer transfer using the auto syphon.
Step 15 : After the transfer is complete, immediately add the entire packet of yeast and swirl the carboy to mix the yeast.
Step 16 : Shut the carboy with sanitized air lock with 1/2 full of water. Place the carboy in a moderately cool and dark place.
See you in 15 days!
Step 17 : Alright, we're here!! After 15 days!!
So the next step is to add the homegrown hops. I don't know the variety or the type, but I think it might be Cascade Hops (Humulus lupulus 'Cascade') Rhizome.
Now obviously not everyone can have these and so in that case, just completely omit this step, and skip to Step 22. You can also buy these particular hops on Etsy!
Step 18 : Now we will need the following
Hops
2 muslin bags
2 forks, which we'll tie with the muslin bags, to weigh them down when placed inside the carboy. If you have a better arrangement to weigh down the muslin bags, then use that. But make sure that you use something that doesn't corrode inside the beer or something that doesn't impart its taste to the beer.
The sanitizing liquid
Step 19 : Now sanitize the muslin bags and the forks.
Step 20 : Measure 20 -25 gm of dry hops. This quantity can be reduced as our beer became slightly more hoppy than we wanted!! I personally love hoppy beers, some might not. So, adjust the quantity here accordingly. Then divide the dry hops between the two muslin bags. Also tie the fork at the end of the muslin bags.
Step 21 : Now take out your carboy, and push these muslin bags in it, very carefully, and then place this carboy back in its dark place for another 10 days.
See you in 10 days!
Step 22 : Now we will bottle the beer. It's so much fun and also a two person job! So make sure you have your partner or friend or someone with you, who is not a child. Lol
So put the sugar you'll get with the beer brewing kit on boil with water, and wash all of your beer bottles in the dishwasher. Also make sure you have some bottling caps and a capper machine. Sanitize the caps.
Step 23 : Using an auto siphon, transfer some of the beer into a flask and measure it's specific gravity and alcohol content. Look at its pretty color!! Ahh!! Such a beauty!! The beer at this stage is technically a flat beer. It needs to have the carbonation process completed, before you can actually drink it. That carbonation process is achieved by adding the sugar solution.
Now the alcohol content is measured by using this chart. Our original gravity was between 1.05 - 1.06, and right now the final gravity is around 1.01 and if you map them on this chart, the gravity comes out to 5.8% of alcohol content!! Ahh!! Amazing!! Yayyy!!
Step 24 : Put the sugar solution into a tub, and then transfer the beer into this tub
Step 25 : Using the auto - siphon, start transferring the beer into the bottles, and also start capping them.
Step 26 : Place them into boxes, and let it brew again for 15 days!
See you in 15 days!
Ok now add more hops and wait for fifteen more da... Ok I'm kidding! you can drink it now :) Adding the dry hops has definitely made this beer super hoppy!! and me super happy!! Try this out, it's super rewarding!
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