How to Brew Beer

This is the most common form of home brewed beer. You can buy hopped malt extract along with yeast and sugar as a beer making kit.

You will need:

• Malt extract with hops
• Water
• Sugar
• Brewer’s yeast
• Pail fermentor with gas trap
• Hydrometer
• Thermometer
• Bottles, bottle caps and hand capper

Step one: Sterilize EVERYTHING! Use either boiling water or a sterilization agent to sterilize your pots, spoons, the fermentor, hydrometer, bottles, and everything else that will come into contact with your wort. You definitely don’t want any unwelcome microbes growing in your beer.

Step Two: Boil about 10 liters of water in a pot. The amount of water you need will depend on the amount of beer you’re making and the strength you want it to be. The instructions on your beer kit should give you a guide.

Step Three: Add the malt extract and sugar to the boiling water and stir until dissolved. Congratulations, you have now made wort, the sugary liquid that beer is brewed from!

Step Four: Add about 20 litres of cold water to your wort. Again, the instructions on your beer kit should indicate how much water to add.

Step Five: Add the yeast to your cool wort. The strain of yeast you add will depend on the type of beer you’re making.

Step Six: Pour your wort in to the sterilized fermentor.

Step Seven: Screw the lid onto the fermentor to form a tight seal, and insert the gas trap. Attach the thermometer to the outside of the pail with tape.

Step Eight: Leave the wort to ferment into beer. The length of time and temperature required depends on the type of beer you are brewing – a lager requires a longer time and a lower temperature than an ale – but this will usually take a week or two.

Step Nine: Decant your beer into sterilized bottles, adding a teaspoon of sugar to each. Cap the bottles with your hand capper.

Step Ten: Store your bottles for at least two weeks to allow your beer to carbonate.

Step Eleven: Enjoy!

How to Brew Beer From Store-Bought Wort

Many brewing supply stores now sell pre-made wort mixtures, meaning home brewers can skip the process of making wort at home. The resulting beer has less character than most home brew, but the ease of this method and uniform method make it ideal for beginners. The method is exactly the same as the above method for brewing beer from malt extract, except you skip steps two though five. Instead of making wort at home, you simply add store-bought wort to your sterilized fermentor, along with yeast and water, and brew the beer from step seven as above.

How to Brew Wheat Beer

Light, cloudy wheat beer with its refreshing tang is becoming increasingly popular, and is as easy to brew at home as an ale or lager. Simply follow the instructions on how to brew beer from malt extract above, but substitute wheat beer mix for the malt extract.