This is Revision A of my compiled annotated recipe/instructions for the first time brewer. There are a few changes recommended by the experts that make it more-correct. Remember, Brewing is supposed to be fun! How to Brew Your First Beer Rev A --------------------------- compiled by John Palmer 12/93 These instructions are designed for the first-time Brewer. What follows can be considered an annotated recipe for a fool-proof Ale beer. Why an Ale beer? Because Ales are the simplest to brew. Brewing Beer is simple and complicated, easy and hard. Compare it to fishing - Sit on the end of the dock with a can of worms and a cane pole and you will catch fish. Going after a specific kind of fish is when fishing gets complicated. Brewing the specific kind of beer you want is the same thing. There are many different styles of beer and many techniques to brew them. Brewing a beer is a combination of several general processes. First is the Mixing of ingredients and bringing the solution (wort) to a Boil. Second is the cooling of the wort to the Fermentation temperature. Next the wort is transferred to the Fermenter and the yeast is added. After fermentation, the raw beer is siphoned off the yeast sediment and bottled with a little extra sugar to provide the carbonation. But there are three important things to keep in mind every time you brew: Cleanliness, Preparation and Good Record Keeping. Cleanliness ----------- Cleanliness is the foremost concern of the brewer. After all, Fermentation is the manipulation of living organisms, the yeast. Providing good growing conditions for the yeast in the beer also provides good growing conditions for other micro-organisms, including bacteria. Cleanliness must be maintained throughout every stage of the brewing process. Preparation ----------- Take the time to prepare your brewing area. Have the ingredients ready on the counter. Prepare your brewing water. Have the ice on- hand to cool the wort when its done boiling. Is the Fermenter clean and sanitized? Make sure that all equipment is clean and ready to go before starting. Patience and planning are necessities. Record Keeping -------------- Always keep good notes on what ingredients, amounts and times were used in the brewing process. The brewer needs to be able to repeat good batches and learn from poor ones. Brewing Terms: -------------- The following terms will be used throughout these instructions. Many of the terms come from German and appropriate pronunciations are given. On the other hand, German pronunciation is optional. Ale - A beer brewed from a top-fermenting yeast, with a relatively short, warm fermentation. Alpha Acid Units (AAU) - A homebrewing measurement of Hops. Equal to the weight in ounces multiplied by the percent of Alpha Acids. Beer - Any beverage made by fermenting malted barley and seasoning with Hops. Cold Break - Proteins that coagulate and fall out of solution when the wort is rapidly cooled prior to Pitching the yeast. Hops - The flower cone of the Hop vine. Grown in cool climates. Available in Pellets, Plugs, and whole. Hot Break - Proteins that coagulate and fall out of solution during the wort boil. International Bittering Units (IBU) - A more precise method of measuring Hops. Equal to the AAU multiplied by factors for percent utilization, wort volume and wort gravity. Krausen (kroy-zen) - Used to refer to the foamy head that builds on top of the beer during fermentation. Also an advanced method of priming. Lager - A beer brewed from a bottom-fermenting yeast, and given a long cool fermentation. Pitching - Term for adding the yeast to the fermenter. Priming - The method of adding a small amount of fermentable sugar prior to bottling to give the beer carbonation. Racking - Careful siphoning of the beer away from the Trub. Trub (trub or troob) - The sediment at the bottom of the fermenter consisting of Hot and Cold Break material and dead yeast. Wort - The malt-sugar solution that is boiled prior to fermentation. Zymurgy - The science of Brewing and Fermentation. Required Equipment ------------------ Airlock - Any of several styles, fill only to the water line with bleach water (1T per gallon) and cap it (if it has one). Boiling Pot - Must be able to comfortably hold 3 gallons minimum, bigger is better. Use only Stainless Steel or Ceramic-coated Steel. Aluminum and plain steel may give off-flavors. Bottles - Two cases of recappable 12 oz bottles. Use Corona or heavier glass import bottles. Twist-offs do not work well. Used champagne bottles are ideal if you can find them. Bottle Capper - Either Hand Capper or Bench Capper. Bench Cappers are more versatile, and are needed for the champagne bottles, but are more expensive. Bottle Filler - Rigid plastic (or metal) tube with spring loaded valve at the tip for filling bottles. Bottle Brush - Necessary for first, hard-core cleaning of used beer bottles. Fermenter(s) - The 6 gallon food-grade plastic pail is recommended for beginners. These are very easy to work with. Glass carboys are also available, in 5, 6, and 7.5 gallon sizes. Racking Cane - Rigid plastic tube with sediment stand-off. Siphon/Hose - Available in several configurations, consisting of clear plastic tubing with optional Racking Cane and Bottle Filler. Stirring Paddle - Food grade plastic paddle (spoon) for stirring the wort during boiling. Thermometer - Obtain a thermometer that can be safely immersed in the wort and has a range of 40F to 150F at least. The floating dairy thermometers are great. Optional but Highly Recommended ------------------------------- Bottling Bucket - A 6 gallon food-grade plastic pail with optional spigot and fill-tube. The finished beer is racked into this for priming prior to bottling. Racking into the bottling bucket allows clearer beer with less sediment in the bottle. The spigot set-up is used instead of the Bottle Filler above, allowing greater control of the fill level and no hassles with a siphon during bottling. Ingredients ----------- Commercial beer kits always provide 3-4 pounds of malt extract and instructions to add a couple pounds of sugar. Don't Do It! The resultant beer will have an unpleasant cidery taste. The following is a basic beer recipe: 5-7 pounds of Hopped Pale Malt Extract syrup. 5 gallons of water. 1-2 ounces of Hops (if desired for more hop character) 1 packet of dry Ale yeast, plus 1 packet for back-up. 3/4 cup corn sugar for Priming. This is a basic Ale beer and quite tasty. You will be amazed. Further descriptions of the ingredients follow. Malt Extract: ------------- Malt Extract is the concentrated sugars extracted from malted barley. It is sold in both the liquid and powdered forms. The syrups are approximately 20 percent water, so 4 pounds of dry Malt Extract (DME) is roughly equal to 5 pounds of Malt Extract syrup. Malt Extract is available in both the Hopped and Unhopped varieties. Munton & Fison, Alexanders, Coopers, Edme and Premier are all good brands. Screen the ingredients to avoid corn sugar. Using Unhopped means adding 1-2 ounces of Hops during the boil for bittering and flavor. Hops may also be added to the Hopped Extracts towards the end of the boil for more Hop character in the final beer. A rule of thumb is 1 pound of malt extract per gallon of water for a light bodied beer. One and a half pounds per gallon produces a rich full bodied beer. Malt extract is available in Pale, Amber and Dark varieties, and can be mixed depending on the style of beer desired. Malt Extract is what makes first time brewing simple. When the brewer starts extracting the malt sugars from the grain himself, All-Grain Brewing, then the brewer has found one half of the complex heart of brewing. The other half is the Yeast. Water ----- The water is very important to the resulting beer. After all, beer is mostly water. If your tap water tastes good at room temperature, it should make good beer. It will just need to be boiled for a few minutes to remove the chlorine and kill any bacteria. If the water has a metallic taste, let it cool before using to let the excess minerals settle out. Do not use water from a salt based water softener. Do not use Distilled (De-ionized) water. Beer, and Ale particularly, needs the minerals for flavor. The yeast needs the minerals for proper growth. A good bet for your first batch of beer is the bottled water available in most supermarkets as Drinking Water. Use the 2.5 gallon containers. Put one in the refrigerator and use the other for boiling the malt extract. Hops ---- This is another involved subject. There are many varieties of Hops, but they are divided into two main categories: Bittering and Aroma. Bittering Hops are high in Alpha Acids (the main bittering agent), typically around 10 percent. Aroma Hops are lower, around 5 percent. Several Hop varieties are in between and are used for both purposes. Bittering Hops are added at the start of the boil and usually boiled for an hour. Aroma Hops are added towards the end of the boil and are typically boiled for 15 minutes or less (Finishing). Hops can also be added to the fermenter, called Dry Hopping, but this is an advanced practice used during longer fermentations and will not be discussed here. Published beer recipes often include a Hops schedule, with amounts and boil times specified. Other recipes specify the Hops in terms of AAUs and IBUs. AAUs are a convenient unit for specifying Hops when discussing Hop additions because it allows for variation in the Alpha Acid percentages between Hop varieties. For the purposes of this recipe, 7 AAUs are recommended for the Boil (60 minutes) and 4 AAUs for Finishing (15 minutes). This is assuming the use of Unhopped malt extract; if using Hopped, then only add the 4 AAUs for finishing. In this recipe, these amounts correspond to 22 IBUs for the boil, and 1.25 IBU for the finish. IBUs allow for variation in brewing practices between brewers, yet provide for nearly identical final Hop bitterness levels in the beers. This recipe is not very bitter. For more information, see the Recommended Reading section. Yeast ----- There are several aspects to yeast; as stated earlier, it is the other half of the complex heart of brewing. It is available both wet and dry, and for Ale and Lager, et cetera. For the first-time brewer, a dry Ale yeast is highly recommended. There are several brands available, Coopers, Edme, Nottingham, and Red Star. All of these listed will produce good results. Ale yeast are referred to as top-fermenting because much of the fermentation action takes place at the top of the fermenter, while Lager yeasts would seem to prefer the bottom. While many of today's strains like to confound this generalization, there is one important difference, and that is temperature. Ale yeasts like warmer temperatures, going dormant below 55F (12C), Lager yeasts will happily work at 40F. Using Lager yeast at Ale temperatures 65-70F (18-20C) produces Steam Beer, or what is now termed California Common Beer. Anchor Steam Beer (tm) was the founder of this unique style. Yeast Starter ------------- Liquid yeast must be and all yeast should be, pitched to a Starter before pitching to the beer in the fermenter. Using a starter gives yeast a head start and prevents weak fermentations from underpitching. Dry Yeast should be re-hydrated before pitching. Re-Hydrating Dry yeast is simple. 1. Put 1 cup of warm (90F, 35C) boiled water into a sterile jar and stir in the yeast. Cover with Saran Wrap and wait 10 minutes. 2. Stir in one teaspoon of sugar. 3. Cover and place in a warm area out of direct sunlight. 4. After 30 minutes or so the yeast should be actively churning and foaming. This is now ready to pitch. Liquid yeast is regarded as superior to Dry yeast because of the refinement of yeast strains present and little risk of bacterial contamination during manufacture. Liquid yeast allows for greater tailoring of the beer to a particular style. The amount of yeast in a liquid packet is much less than the amount in the dry, however. For best results, it too needs a starter. The packet must be warmed to 80F at least two days before brewing. One day before, it should be pitched to a wort starter made from 1/4 cup of DME and a pint of water that has been boiled and cooled to 75F (25C). Adding a quarter teaspoon of yeast nutrient is also advisable. Let this sit in the same warm place until brewing time the next day. Some foaming should be evident. Aeration of yeast is very important. When the yeast has first been pitched, whether to the starter or the beer, it needs oxygen to reproduce. Aeration of the wort can be accomplished several ways: shaking the container, pouring the wort into the fermenter so it splashes or even hooking up an airstone to an aquarium air pump and letting that bubble for an hour. For the latter method, (which is popular) everything must be sanitized! Otherwise, Infection City. These instructions recommend shaking the starter, and pouring the wort. More on this later. Sanitization ------------ So far, sanitization of ingredients and equipment has been discussed but not much has been said about how to do this. The Starter solution, Wort and Priming solutions will all be boiled, so those are not a problem (usually). One note - Do Not Boil the Yeast! You need them to be alive. The easiest sanitizing solution is made be adding 1 tablespoon of bleach to 1 gallon of water (4 ml per liter). This can be prepared in the Fermenting Bucket. Immerse all of equipment - airlock, hoses, paddles, rubber stopper, fermenter lid and anything else contacting the beer. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Rinsing is not really necessary at this concentration, but rinsing with boiled water can be done. Clean all equipment as soon as possible. This means rinsing out the fermenter, tubing, etc. as soon as they are used. It is very easy to get distracted and come back to find the syrup or yeast has dried hard as a rock and the equipment is stained. Keep a large container with chlorine water handy and just toss things in, clean later. Rinsing bottles after each use eliminates the need to scrub bottles. If your bottles should be dirty, moldy or whatever, soaking and washing in a mild solution of chlorine bleach water for a day or two will soften most residue and even remove some of the labels. Brushing with a bottle brush is a necessity to remove stuck residue. Dish washers are great for cleaning the outside of bottles and heat sterilizing but will not clean the inside where the beer is going to go. Trisodium Phosphate, B-Brite and Simple Green also work well but MUST be rinsed very carefully. Do not wash with soap. This leaves a residue which you will be able to taste. Never use any scented cleaning agents. Also, dishwasher Rinse Agents will destroy the Head retention on your glassware. If you pour a beer with carbonation and no head, this is a common cause. Beginning the Boil ------------------ Bring 2 1/2 gallons water to a boil in a large pot. Meanwhile, make the yeast starter. When water is boiling, remove from the heat. Add all the malt syrup to the hot water and stir until dissolved. Make sure there is no syrup stuck to the bottom of the pot by scraping the bottom of the pot with the spoon while stirring. It is very important not to burn any malt stuck to the bottom when the pot is returned to the heat. Burned sugar tastes terrible. The following stage is critical. The pot needs to be watched continuously. Return pot to the heat and bring to a rolling boil, stirring frequently. Start timing the hour. If you are adding bittering hops, do so now. The foam may start to rise and form a smooth surface. This is good. If the foam suddenly billows over the side, this is a boil- over (Bad). The liquid is very unstable at this point and remains so until it goes through the hot break (when the wort stops foaming). This may take 5-20 minutes. The foaming can be controlled by lowering the heat and spraying some water on the surface from a spray bottle. The heat control using an electric range is poor. Try to maintain a rolling boil. Boiling 2.5 - 3 gallons can be maintained fairly easily on an electric stove. Boiling the full 5 gallons of water on electric ranges is almost impossible (not enough heat) and dangerous to lift when the boil is over. Continue the rolling boil for the remainder of the hour. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. There may be a change in color and aroma and there may be particles floating in the wort. This is not a concern, its the hot break material. If you are adding the finishing hops, do so during the last fifteen minutes. Add during the last five minutes if more hop aroma is desired. This provides less time for the volatile oils to boil away. Cooling the Wort ---------------- At the end of the boil, cooling the wort is very important. While it is above 130F, bacteria and wild yeasts are inhibited. It is very susceptible to oxygen damage as it cools, though. The objective is to rapidly cool the wort to below 90F before oxidation or contamination can occur. Warm sugar water between 90 and 130F is an ideal bacterial growth medium. Here is one preferred method for cooling the wort. Place the pot in a sink or tub filled with cold/ice water that can be circulated around the hot pot. While the cold water is flowing around the pot, gently stir the wort in a circular pattern so the maximum amount of wort is moving against the sides of the pot. If the water gets warm, replace with cold water. The wort will cool to 130F in about 15-20 minutes. When the pot is still very warm to the touch, the temperature is close enough. It is perfect for the transfer of the wort because the bacteria are kept to a minimum at this temperature. Pour the refrigerated 2.5 gallons of water into the sanitized fermenter. Pour the warm wort into it, allowing vigorous churning and splashing. Oxidation of the wort is minimal at these temperatures and this provides the dissolved oxygen that the yeast need to reproduce. Combining the warm wort with the cold water should bring the mixture to fermentation temperature. It is best for the yeast if the pitching temperature is the same as the fermentation temperature. For Ale yeasts, the fermentation temperature range is 65-75F. (The temperatures mentioned are not absolutely critical and the use of a thermometer is not absolutely necessary, but nice to have.) Note: Do not add commercial ice to the wort to cool. Commercial Ice harbors lots of dormant bacteria that would love a chance to work on the new beer. Any bacteria present in the drinking water will be denied sustenance by the vigorous pitched yeast. Pitching the Yeast ------------------ If the Yeast Starter is not foaming or churning, add the backup yeast. Wait 10 minutes and then pitch the Yeast Starter into the beer, making sure to add it all. Put the lid in place and seal it. Do not put the airlock in quite yet. Place a piece of clean Saran Wrap over the hole in the lid and cover it with your hand. With the fermenter tightly sealed, pick it up, sit in a chair, put the fermenter on your knees and shake it several times to churn it up. This mixes the yeast into the wort and provides more dissolved oxygen that the yeast need to grow. Wipe off any wort around the hole with a paper towel that is wet with bleach water and place the sanitized airlock and rubber stopper in the lid. The airlock should be filled to the line with the bleach water solution. Active fermentation should start within 12 hours. It can be longer for liquid yeasts because of lower cell counts, about 24 hours. Fermentation ------------ Put the fermenter in a protected area like the bathtub. If foam escapes it will run down the drain and is easy to clean. The temperature here is usually about the most stable in the house. Animals and small children are fascinated by the smell and noises from the airlock so keep them away. The airlock should be bubbling in twelve hours. Maintain a consistent temperature if possible. Fluctuating temperature strains the yeast and could impair fermentation. On the other hand, if the temperature drops overnight and the bubbling stops, simply move it to a warmer room and it should pick up again. The yeast does not die, it merely goes dormant. It is not necessary to heat it up quickly, it is not a matter of frostbite. The beer should gradually begin bubbling again. In summary, if the temperature deviates too much and goes above 80F the fermentation becomes overactive, affecting the flavor. If it goes too low, the ale yeast goes into hibernation. The fermentation process can be very vigorous or slow. Either is fine. The secret is in providing enough active yeast. Fermentation time is a big variable with no logical reason. It is very common for an ale with an active ferment to be done in a short time. It could last a few days, a week, maybe longer. Any of the above is acceptable. Three days at 70F may be regarded as typical for the simple ale being described here. But fermentation is more than a bubbling airlock. The yeast is imparting and cleansing other flavors in the beer. It is still susceptible to infections, particularly Lacto-bacillus - found in your mouth, so do not open the lid and peek. It will do just fine if left alone for a minimum of 2 weeks. Also, leaving the beer in the fermentation vessel will allow extra time for more sediment to settle out of the beer. Many books tell you to transfer to a secondary fermenter but they never explain when or why to do this transfer. Using a two stage fermentation requires a good understanding of the fermentation process. Racking the beer at the wrong time can adversely affect the beer because of the oxygen to which it is being exposed and there is a contamination risk. Simple extract ales do not need secondary fermentation. Wait until the second or third beer when you have more experience with the brewing processes. The reason for Racking to a Secondary Fermenter is to prevent a yeast breakdown called autolysis, and the resulting bad taste imparted to the beer. This will not be a problem for these short fermentation-time ale beers. Other beer types, like Lagers and some high gravity beers, need to be racked to a secondary because these sit on the yeast for a longer period of time. See the Recommended Reading section for further information. A Word About Hydrometers ------------------------ A hydrometer measures the relative specific gravity between pure water and water with sugar dissolved in it. The hydrometer is used to gauge the fermentation by measuring one aspect of it, attenuation. Attenuation is the conversion of sugar to ethanol by the yeast. Many books talk about using a hydrometer but they never tell how or why to use it. They only say to stick the hydrometer into the beer and take a reading at the beginning and the end. Some books say when the hydrometer stays the same for three days the beer is done. Others say that when the beer gets to the red line it's time to bottle. And some of the helpful ones say to bottle when it reads a certain number. None of these instructions are incorrect in the hands of the experienced brewer who knows what these mean to him. Hydrometers are necessary when making beer from scratch (all-grain brewing) or making special brews. But, the first-time brewer using extracts simply does not need one. Period. Priming & Bottling ------------------ This ale beer will be ready to bottle after two weeks when it has completely stopped fermenting. There should be few, if any, bubbles in the airlock. The flavor won't improve by bottling any earlier. Some books recommend bottling after the bubbling stops or in about 1 week. It is not uncommon for fermentation to stop after 3-4 days and begin again 4-6 days later. If the beer is bottled too soon, the beer will be over-carbonated and the pressure may exceed the bottle strength. Exploding bottles are a disaster. After the bottles have been cleaned with a brush, rinse with the sanitization solution or run in the dishwasher with the heat on to sanitize. If using bleach solution, allow to drain upside down in the six-pack holders 20-30 minutes. This will evaporate any bleach residue. Do not rinse out with tap water unless it has been boiled. (Rinsing should not be necessary.) Also sanitize priming container, siphon unit, stirring spoon and bottle caps. But do not heat the bottle caps, as this may ruin the gaskets or tarnish them. Boil 3/4 cup of corn sugar or 1 and 1/4 cup Dry malt extract in at least a cup of water. Here are two methods of Priming: 1. Pour this into the sanitized Bottling Bucket. Using your sanitized siphon unit transfer the beer into the sanitized bottling bucket. Place the outlet beneath the surface of the priming solution. Do not allow the beer to splash as you don't want to add oxygen to your beer at this point. Keep the intake end of the racking tube an inch off the bottom of the fermenter to leave the yeast and sediment behind. 2. Opening the fermenter, gently pour the priming solution into the beer. Stir the beer gently with the sanitized paddle, trying to mix it in evenly while being careful not to stir up the sediment. Wait a half hour for the sediment to settle back down and to allow more diffusion of the priming solution to take place. Then siphon to your bottles. Some books recommend 1 tsp. sugar per bottle. This is not recommended because it is time consuming and not precise. Bottles may carbonate unevenly. Fill the sanitized bottles from the bottom with the siphon unit or from the bottling pail. Fill slowly at first to prevent gurgling and keep the fill tube below the waterline to prevent aeration. Fill to about 3/4 inch from the top of the bottles. Place a sanitized cap on the bottle and cap. Inspect every bottle to make sure the cap is secure. Age the capped bottles at room temperature for two weeks, out of direct sunlight. Aging up to two months will improve the flavor considerably, but one week will do the job of carbonation for the impatient. It is not necessary to store the beer cool. Room temperature is fine. It will keep for several months. Cool before serving, of course. Some beers will exhibit chill haze. It is caused by proteins left over from the initial cold break. It is nothing to worry about. Some Things to Watch out for: ----------------------------- Contamination of beer can happen at any stage of the brewing process. Some are not readily apparent. But, any problem that can be easily drank will not cause much physical harm. A few infections that may cause severe gastric distress will first be noted by their appalling smell. Here are some warning signs: 1. Mold floating on top of the fermenting beer. Toss it. 2. The beer has slimy strands in it. This is a sure sign of Lacto infection. Toss it. 3. The bottled beer has a milky layer at the top and/or small residue bumps clinging to the sides of the bottle neck in the airspace. This is a micro-derm infection. The beer will smell rotten and taste nasty. Do not confuse this with the dew that condenses near the bottle cap; the dew is normal. Also, Priming with DME will leave a protein ring around the top of the bottle, just like what is left on the sides of the fermenter. This is also normal. 4. The bottled beer has a very sweet smell, like molasses. This is another sign of a Lacto infection. The beer is on its way to turning into malt vinegar. Malt vinegar is good, but not what was intended. 5. The bottled beers are getting worse with time, a stale, cardboard-like flavor is becoming noticeable. This is a symptom of oxidation. Drink the beers sooner and try to avoid splashing next time. 6. A skunk-like or cat-musk smell. The beer is light struck. Always store beer in a dark or shaded area. Recommended Reading: -------------------- Periodicals: Zymurgy - The magazine for the Homebrewer. They also publish Special Issues which provide in-depth information on various subjects, including Hops, Malts, Styles, Equipment, etc. Brewing Techniques - A magazine for more advanced home and microbrewing. It explores the science of Brewing. The HomeBrew Digest - the computer zine available online by sending the word SUBSCRIBE to homebrew-request@hpfcmi.hp.fc.com It is worth its weight in platinum. Homebrew FAQ - FTP from sierra.stanford.edu Yeast FAQ - FTP from sierra.stanford.edu Hops FAQ - FTP from sierra.stanford.edu Books: The Complete Handbook of Homebrewing - by Dave Miller A great book for all the basics, highly recommended for beginning and intermediate brewers. Brewing Lager Beer - by Greg Noonan A more technical book for the brewer who wants to know Why... The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing - by Charlie Papazian Not recommended for beginning brewers because it contains some poor practices. Good info in the later pages, though applicable to more advanced brewers who know what to look for. Some People to listen to: Dr. George Fix Fred Eckhardt Byron Burch Dave Miller Greg Noonan