The Beer Brewing Basics

You need a few things to brew beer: brewing equipment, brewing ingredients, a kitchen in which to brew it, and somewhere to store it.

You can look at any brewing website for the basic brewing equipment.  I think we only paid around $150 for the original brewing kit.  You’ll want to add a bottle washer that screws onto your faucet (sanitizing bottles is a big part of this process, unless you’re going to put your beer in kegs).  And you’ll want a big, high quality 8 gallon brewing pot (trust me, this makes it easier when you move up to boiling the whole five gallons).  You’ll want to invest in the copper coiled cooling device that attaches to your faucet (cooling your beer from boiling down to 75 degrees or so for the yeast pitching will take forever if you don’t).  And you’ll find by trial and error that you need a variety of sanitizers and bottles, funnels, sieves, strainers, brushes for cleaning all these oddly shaped containers, etc.  You’ll also need bottles and caps two weeks later when you bottle it.  Most of this process happens in pretty basic 5 gallon plastic buckets.  So finding a strainer that sits tightly over that bucket is a big win.  You’ll break a thermometer constantly, so buy cheap ones, or buy more than one at a time.  You do need to know the temperature of the beer at all times.

Each time you brew you’ll need some ingredients to brew with.  You either order these ingredients online and it comes with everything you need (you just order an “IPA” kit or a “summer ale” kit or whatever).  Or you go to a local brew store if you’re lucky enough to have one nearby, and they’ll help you get what you need.  This kit will cost you between $30 and $40 (buying ingredients wholesale is on down the road).  You need the grains or malt (this is what you boil to extract the flavor, sweetness, and sugars you’ll need).  Then you’ll add some kind of hops along the way, either a little or a lot (hops make the beer bitter).  Then you’ll add yeast after you cool the whole shebang down, at the very end, just before you tuck it away for a couple of weeks.  

Basically, you’re creating a sugary, tasty “wort”.  Then you’re adding yeast to that wort, which, as long as everything has gone ok (as long as the yeast is alive, as long as you have the wort at the right temp and keep it there, and as long as no foreign bacteria have snuck in to wreck the whole thing), will eat the sugars and produce alcohol (yaaa!) and carbon dioxide (fizzzzz!).  If you haven’t sanitized everything properly, try to move too quickly, measure incorrectly, get too much sugar or too much yeast or both, the whole thing will be an exercise in futility.  Have a sense of humor, and a long term outlook.  

We brew beer in our small apartment kitchens.  This isn’t ideal.  Small spaces are hard to work in because you have quite a bit of equipment.  More importantly, this is a really messy process, even if you do it well.  Some nights, when things go wrong, hands slip, someone grabs something hot, it can become a real mess.  Like “this will take a half hour to clean up” mess.  So if you have an industrial kitchen, or a basement kitchen, you’re golden.  You need access to water and a couple of burners and plenty of counter space.

That’s all just the brewing part.  You brew the wort and then store it for about two weeks, letting it ferment and bubble away.  Then you bottle it, adding a little more sugar water for the yeast to continue the fermentation process in the bottles.  Then after a couple of weeks, they should be ready to drink.  Storing the beer along the way isn’t exactly thought free.  You need to store it in a place where the temperature is right for the yeast you’re using (your directions will tell you).  And you need to store it away from light (throwing a towel over it suffices).

Note: Be sure and store it in a place that’s covered and safe.  When you’re starting to brew, you’ll miss the ratios.  When you get them off the wrong way, your bottles, yes, your glass bottles, will explode.  This is problem enough if they’re stored away in a corner and tightly sealed in boxes.  If they’re out in the open, you may lose an eye.  To avoid this, learn to get the ratios right.  This will take awhile.  In the meantime, don’t overfill your bottles.  Leave plenty of room in the neck of the bottle.  That will minimize explosions.  But cover them up, and plan on mopping up some ruined beer and broken glass.