Ever tasted a new homebrew and thought “I could make that.” Well, you can. Learning how to brew beer at home isn’t as complicated as you might think.
And if you give yourself time to get the right equipment and learn all the steps, you could be sipping on your very own homemade beer. From there you can find the best way to brew beer for you and your setup and start sharing your best batches with others.
1. Gather and Prep
The first step is to gather all your ingredients and equipment. You will need an auto-siphon, brewing kettle, funnel, fermenter and airlock, stir spoon, and a sanitizer. And that’s just the equipment.
For ingredients, you can get a beer recipe kit to make it easier, or you can hunt down the individual ingredients. The main ingredients you need are water, fermentable sugar, yeast, and hops.
You can use these craft breweries as inspiration and find good guides to help you with the process. When making beer for beginners, be patient with yourself. Your first batch won’t be perfect, but the more you brew the better you’ll get.
2. Brew Time
One of the most important things to remember is to sanitize your equipment, especially anything used during the boiling process. Keep sanitizing in your mind throughout the whole process so your beer is not contaminated.
Next, you need to steep the grains in your kettle with water for about 20 minutes until your water reaches 170 degrees. Then remove the grains and bring that kettle of water to a boil, adding malt extract and then hops at certain intervals.
You now have what is called wort, or sugar water. This should be cooled quickly either using an ice bath or a wort chiller.
3. Ferment It
The first step in the fermenting process is to remember to sanitize everything. Pour your cooled wort into the fermenter and add water. Be sure to splash it around so it gets some air. Then you will add yeast, dry yeast is easiest to add here.
After that, seal the fermenter, add an air lock, and store it in a cool, dark place.
4. Boil and Bottle
Fermenting usually takes about 2 weeks. Once that’s done, sanitize everything and start bottling. You’ll want to boil your priming sugar and add it to the bottling bucket. Then add your beer to the bucket and start putting it in your bottles.
Once you fill and seal your bottles, it’s a good idea to leave them at room temperature for another two weeks to help with the carbonation process. Then you can refrigerate them and pop a cold one open to try.
How to Brew Beer at Home
Learning how to brew beer at home isn’t rocket science. There are plenty of ways to go wrong, but if you keep trying after a failed batch you’re bound to get a working one to try and improve.
Beer can be made differently using different flavors and techniques, so once you have the basics down, try something new. And if this helped you feel more prepared to start brewing your own beer, keep reading for more good tips.
