07-13-2008, 03:20 AM
Some of my beer didn't turn out very well but still tasted better than the bottled "pisswater" the big breweries pawn of on the public[
!] Back in about 1984 a big re-resurgence in home brewing took off and from that the better, farsighted brewers started the "micro-brewery" movement.
Beer isn't that hard to make and the aroma of the boiling "wort" (mash)just as you toss in the hops is fantastic. The hardest part is being sure that all your utensils and bottles are VERY clean or you get beer that has "off" flavors. Other than that you buy a can of malt extract boil it in about 5 gallons of water for about an hour, add the hops for the last 15 minutes of the boil, and cool the wort. When cooled to about 75 degrees, you pitch your yeast and rack off (siphon) the wort into a 5 gallod water jug and put an air-lock on it and let the yeasties do their magic[
] When the air lock quits bubbling the yeast have eaten all the sugars and converted it to co2 and alcohol. At this point you siphon the beer into a clean 5 gallon container so that you don't disturb the trub (sediment) in the bottom of the jug, and stir in about 3/4 cub of corn sugar. This little bit of sugar is food for the yeast to consume in the bottle give the beer the fizz but not so much as to give you a bunch of glass "bombs" in the fridge! Now all you have to do is siphon the beer into your clean bottles, cap, and wait two to three weeks for the yeast to work out the sugar into a wonderful and usually good nectar! With home brew you will have a little sediment in the bottom of the bottle. This is the dead yeast cells that fell when they ran out of sugar to eat. Most people pour the beer into a glass slowly and leave the last of the beer in the bottom with the sediment. Others just drink it down and tell you the dead yeast is good food. I just don't care for "cloudy" beer so I decant into a cold glass!
This is a simple brew but you can get as involved as you want. There are many books out there now on home brewing. Cook a one batch and you'll be hooked on it[
][:p]
Royall
What goes around comes around!
!] Back in about 1984 a big re-resurgence in home brewing took off and from that the better, farsighted brewers started the "micro-brewery" movement. Beer isn't that hard to make and the aroma of the boiling "wort" (mash)just as you toss in the hops is fantastic. The hardest part is being sure that all your utensils and bottles are VERY clean or you get beer that has "off" flavors. Other than that you buy a can of malt extract boil it in about 5 gallons of water for about an hour, add the hops for the last 15 minutes of the boil, and cool the wort. When cooled to about 75 degrees, you pitch your yeast and rack off (siphon) the wort into a 5 gallod water jug and put an air-lock on it and let the yeasties do their magic[
] When the air lock quits bubbling the yeast have eaten all the sugars and converted it to co2 and alcohol. At this point you siphon the beer into a clean 5 gallon container so that you don't disturb the trub (sediment) in the bottom of the jug, and stir in about 3/4 cub of corn sugar. This little bit of sugar is food for the yeast to consume in the bottle give the beer the fizz but not so much as to give you a bunch of glass "bombs" in the fridge! Now all you have to do is siphon the beer into your clean bottles, cap, and wait two to three weeks for the yeast to work out the sugar into a wonderful and usually good nectar! With home brew you will have a little sediment in the bottom of the bottle. This is the dead yeast cells that fell when they ran out of sugar to eat. Most people pour the beer into a glass slowly and leave the last of the beer in the bottom with the sediment. Others just drink it down and tell you the dead yeast is good food. I just don't care for "cloudy" beer so I decant into a cold glass! This is a simple brew but you can get as involved as you want. There are many books out there now on home brewing. Cook a one batch and you'll be hooked on it[
][:p]Royall
What goes around comes around!