Homebrew Beer Brewing Guide

Homebrew Beer making from Kits 

Thinking of Brewing your own Beer? Making 40 pints of excellent beer is not as difficult as you might expect! Once you have the basic equipment, which costs approx £50, the cost of a pint will normally work out at about 30p to 40p. The following notes take you through the basics.

What you will need:

1. 5 Gallon Bucket/Bin
2. 5 Gallon Pressure Barrel
3. Beer Paddle or Long Spoon
4. Thermometer  
5. Beer Hydrometer
6. Syphon Tubing
7. Sterilising Powder 
8. Sugar/Glucose
9. And of course the Beer Kit

Sterilising

1. Mix up 5 gallons of sterilising solution in the bin using warm water and leave for about 20 minutes.
2. Pour the solution into the pressure barrel and rinse out the bin with cold water.
3. After a further 20 minutes tip the solution away and rinse out the barrel.
4. Sterilising is now complete.

Water Treatment

1. Depending on the quality of your water, it is advisable to de-chlorinate the water before you start.
2. Fill your bin with cold water and leave to stand overnight covered with a tea towel.
3. This enables the chlorine to escape.
4. After this transfer the de-chlorinated water into the barrel for later.

Brewing up

Follow the instructions on the tin or adopt the following procedure:

1. Stand the tin unopened in a pan of boiling water for about 5 minutes.
2. Open the can carefully and pour the contents into the clean bin.
3. Rinse out the can with approx 0.5 litres of hot water and add to the bin.
4. Add the recommended amount of sugar or glucose and 2 litres of boiling water to help dissolve the malt and sugar.
5. Stir thoroughly and make up to the 5 gallon mark on the bin with the treated water from the barrel. Check that the resultant temperature of the mixture (the wort) is between 18 and 25 deg C. The remaining water can be tipped away.
6. Give a brisk stir and then sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the wort
7. Clip the lid on loosely and leave in a warm place (18-24 deg.C ) until the fermentation is complete after about 7-10 days.
8. Check that bubbles have stopped rising to the surface.

Specific Gravity

1. Remove the lid after fermentation and float the hydrometer freely.
2. Take a reading at the surface of the beer.
3. A specific gravity reading of 1.006 is the recommended value for barrelling.
4. If it is not ready clip the lid back on and wait another two days and test again.

Barrelling

1. First check that the tap and the valve are screwed on tight.
2. Dissolve the recommended amount of sugar (usually about 85gms) in a little hot water and pour into the empty barrel.
3. Place the barrel at a lower level than the bin.
4. Using the tubing, carefully syphon the semi-clear beer into the barrel leaving the sediment at the bottom of the bin.
5. Smear petroleum jelly on the seal liberally and then screw the cap onto the barrel by hand.

Secondary Fermentation

1. Leave the barrel in a warm place for about two days so that the carbon dioxide produced by secondary fermentation is dissolved into the beer.
2. The barrel becomes pressurised and the safety valve will prevent over pressurising.

Clearing and Conditioning

1. Carefully move the barrel to a cool place to allow clearing to take place.
2. After about 10-14 days draw off a sample to check the beer for taste and clarity. If the beer is still cloudy or tastes ‘yeasty’, leave for another 7 days.

Gassing Up

1. You should be able to draw off between 15 and 20 pints before you run out of pressure.
2. There are several ways of gassing up a flat barrel - the simplest way is to replace your cap with a CO2 Injector which uses 8 gm syphon bulbs.
3. Adding the gas will avoid any air entering the barrel when beer is drawn off as well as improving the head on the beer.
4. Larger gas cylinders are also available. These can be screwed directly onto the appropriate valve connection on the barrel so that you can control the amount of gas required more easily.
5. Last resort is to unscrew the cap add about 85gms of sugar and reseal the cap again