In a nutshell, homebrewing relies on yeast doing what yeast does. In simple terms yeast consumes sugar, and produces alcohol and CO2 (carbon dioxide). This gives you hooch and bubbles, you just have to bring the sweets to the party. You can go crazy with kits, tools, specialty Items, etc. but in truth you need just a few items, some of which you may already have. - A stock pot or kettle large enough to hold about two or three gallons of liquid.
- A big spoon/paddle to mix stuff up. Metal can be bad as it can scar or scratch your bucket (below) and let bacteria grow.
- A food grade bucket with an "airlock" (a little bubbler that will let CO2 out, while not letting air back in) these are about 13 bucks at you local homebrew supply shop (LHS).
- A second food grade bucket (a bottling bucket) no need for lid or airlock.
- A thermometer. (Measures the temperature of your various liquids.)
- A hydrometer. (This measures how much fermentable stuff (sugars) are in the liquid) about 8 bucks at your LHS. Looks like an odd thermometer.
- A filling mechanism (a racking cane, or a bottling spigot) some way to get beer from your bottling bucket to your bottles
- Bottles and caps and a capper, if needed (there a a ton of options here, lust make sure that you can get a tight seal. This means that most screw-off tops are right out.)
- Ingredients. (Remember, GIGO - garbage in, garbage out.)
- Patience.
There are a ton of websites that will run you down on the details that may make the whole process seem pretty daunting. It isn't. Just remember a few simple things. - Beer is a living thing. Sanitize *everything*. Wild (unwanted) yeast and bacteria will kill your beer, so practice anal cleanliness. This is the simplest thing that you can do to ensure a good brew.
- Don't mess around with table sugar, if you keep brewing, you will move to other fermentables (liquid/dried malt and corn sugar) so just skip that step in your evolution.
- Take notes. Really. If its good you want to be able to redo it, right? Keeping good notes can let you know where you went wrong, and where you went right. If you are looking for help, this is nice stuff to have.
- Patience. Don't make the standard mistake of checking your beer in three days and running to the internet or your LHS and crying "my beer is ruined!!!!!". Give it some time. Like a week or two. I have had stuff that tasted like hell in the first month, but cleaned up and smoothed out 2 months later. Remember, this isn't the dead stuff you buy at the mega-mart, there are living yeast that continue to do their stuff, and can make your toxic sludge in to some pretty decent stuff.
- Brew what you like to drink, not what sounds/looks neat. If you arent going to drink what you made, why should anyone else?
Getting started is easy, talk to your LHS, see if they have classes. Talk to a local club, and see if anyone is brewing. For the most part homebrewers are a social bunch, and are happy to help. |
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