|
|
|
|
We know how it is. You can't be bothered to leave your home every
time you want to drink eighteen or twenty beers. Or perhaps you
find the (liquid-waste euphemism) they sell at your local booze
purveyor unpalatable and overly expensive. There has got to be
some answer to these pressing difficulties, hasn't there? Well,
there's one answer that involves twelve steps, but that sounds
way too hard. Here we present an answer with a maximum of five
steps that provides you with good beer, plentiful beer, cheap
beer. Brew your own and send us samples when you're finished.
We're
talking about YOU doing it
There
are actually two ways that you can brew up a batch of beer.
First, you can go to a u-brew
establishment (also known as Brew on Premises, but we call
em "u-brews") which provides you with all the
equipment, ingredients, and instructions, and keeps the beer
for you while it's brewing. Second, you can brew it at
some other location, like, say, your house.
This
SYW is about brewing beer at your house or other agreeable location.
The whole u-brew thing is cool, and we'll tell you a
little bit about it, but because we didn't want to
make this SYW 12 million pages long, we decided to focus on
how to whip up beer within the confines of your own property.
|
The
basic homebrewing equipment is not all that expensive you
can probably get everything you need to start for $100 - $150
and we'll be glad to direct you to it online in our related
products section. Of course, you could also choose to ruin our
fun and buy it from some local brewing supplies store. In order
to start brewing, you will need the following items:
- Brewpot
- Primary
fermenter
- Airlock
and stopper
- Plastic
hose
- Bottling
bucket
- Bottles
- Bottle
brush
- Bottle
capper
(if glass bottles are used)
- Stick-on
thermometer
- Household
items
Now
we will explain what these items are and give you a basic idea
of what you do with them, although the more detailed brewing
instructions come in steps 2,
3, and 4.
Brewpot
A
brewpot is a huge pot made of stainless steel or enamel-coated
metal which is of at least 16-quart capacity. You might have
a huge pot at home already, but it's no good if it's made of
aluminum or if it's a chipped enamelized pot. These will make
the beer taste funny. You use the brewpot to boil up the beer
ingredients or "wort," as described in 3.
Cook up some beer).
Primary
fermenter
The
primary fermenter is where the wort goes after you've boiled
it, and it's where the beer begins to ferment and become that
fabulous stuff that makes you so funny and charming. The primary
fermenter must have a minimum capacity of 7 gallons, and a lid
which seals airtight and accommodates the airlock and rubber
stopper. There's no faking these puppies you've got to
buy one that's made for the purpose. Make sure the one you buy
is made of food-grade plastic, as this kind of plastic doesn't
allow the bad stuff in or let the good stuff out.
Airlock
and stopper
The
airlock is a handy gadget which allows carbon dioxide to escape
from your primary fermenter during fermentation, thus keeping
it from exploding, but doesn't allow any of the bad air from
outside to enter your beer's hygienic little world. It fits
into a rubber stopper which has a hole drilled into it, and
the stopper goes in the top of your primary fermenter. The stoppers
are sized by number, so make sure you figure out what size of
hole you have and what kind of stopper fits it.
Plastic
hose
This
small, wind-powered burrowing machine is . . . no, just kidding,
we're talking about an ordinary five-foot length of food-grade
plastic hose. You need it to transfer beer from place to place,
and you need to keep it clean and free of kinks or leaks.
Bottling
bucket
This
is a large, food-grade plastic bucket with a spigot at the bottom.
It must be at least as big as your primary fermenter, because
you need to pour all the liquid from your primary fermenter
into your bottling bucket prior to bottling your beer.
Bottles
After
primary fermentation, you place the beer in bottles for secondary
fermentation and storage. You need enough bottles to hold all
the beer you're going to make (a 5-gallon batch of beer is about
640 ounces, so if you're using 16-ounce bottles you'll need
40). The best kind of bottles are solid glass ones with smooth
tops (not the twist-off kind) that will accept a cap from a
bottle capper. You can use plastic ones with screw-on lids,
but they look crappy and they're not as good for fermentation.
It's your call, but we recommend you go with the glass ones.
Whether
you use glass or plastic bottles, make sure they are dark-colored.
Light damages beer, so you want your bottles to be as dark as
possible.
Bottle
brush
This
is a thin, curvy brush which you can insert into a bottle in
order to clean it out really well. We haven't even gotten into
how clean everything has to be, but we will, and the bottle
brush is a specialized bit of cleaning gear you will need.
Bottle
capper
If
you take our advice and buy glass bottles, you will need some
sort of bottle capper to secure the caps on them. You'll also
need caps, of course, and you can buy them from any brewing
supplies store. The best sort of bottle capper is one which
can be affixed to a surface and worked with one hand while you
hold the bottle with the other. There are also cheaper ones
which require two hands on the capper, but these can be a pain.
Go where your budget guides you.
Stick-on
thermometer
This
is a thermometer which you can apply to the side of your primary
fermenter. They look like thin strips of plastic and they are
backed with an adhesive. You can purchase them online, from
a brewing supplies store, or from a pet store or aquarium store
(they are also used for aquaria).
Household
items
In
addition to the above specialized equipment, you will need the
following household items:
- Small
bowl
- Saucepan
- Rubber
spatula
- Oven
mitts/pot handlers
- Big
mixing spoon (stainless steel or plastic)
Once
you've got all these things, you're properly armed.
|
Go
on to Step 2: CHOOSE
A RECIPE AND BUY THE INGREDIENTS --> |
|
|