Guide to Making Great Beer
Me Buddy’s Brew Shop Inc.
786-5488 or 1-888-290-3311
Making beer in not a complicated process. All it
takes is a few minutes to get your equipment and ingredients together. I will
give you a general guideline to follow. 1 can of Quality Malt (like Coopers or Muntons (yeast included) and 1 kg. of corn sugar will make
about 66 bottles of beer at 5% alc/vol.
Equipment needed can be
bought separately or as a kit.
Equipment recommended includes:
•
6 ˝ gallon Primary Fermenter (large bucket)
with lid and a hole for a bung and airlock.
•
23 liter Carboy
•
Syphon Hose and Racking Tube
(J-tube)
•
Bottle Filler
•
#6.5 Rubber Bung
•
Airlock
•
Hydrometer and Test Jar
•
Floating Thermometer
•
Carboy Brush
•
Long Stirring Spoon
Cleaners needed:
Sodium Metabisulfite or Pink Chlorinated Cleaner to sanitize your
brewing equipment. Mix according to instruction on package.
Ingredients needed:
1 Can Malt (Coopers, Muntons or similar quality malt)
1.2 kg. Corn Sugar (do not use
regular table sugar, it adds a fruity cidery taste to
the beer)
1 Bottle Isinglass Fining or other
fining agent
Bottling Day:
About 66 Standard Beer Bottles
Bottle Caps
Bottle Capper
•
Day 1
Mixing Day
After
mixing your sanitizing solution according to instructions on package clean your
bucket and lid, stirring spoon, thermometer, hydrometer and test jar, bung and
airlock, then rinse with warm tap water.
We
are ready to mix your ingredients. We will use about 1 kg. of
corn sugar with our malt, so we need to remove 1 1/4 cups of sugar from the 1.2
kg. bag (this is the amount of sugar we will use on bottling day to prime our
beer for carbonation. 1 1/4 cups of corn sugar will carbonate 66 bottles about
the same as commercial beers. If you like more carbonation remove about 1 1/3
cups of sugar for priming) put this sugar aside for bottling day.
Note: Adding too much sugar on
bottling day will cause bottles to overflow when opened or even explode.
In
the Primary Fermenter (large plastic pail) we need to
add about 2 liters of hot tap water, next pour the can of malt into the bucket.
To get all the malt from the can fill it with hot tap water and stir to
dissolve, then add to bucket. Stir until all the malt
in the bucket is dissolved. Next thing to add is the 1 kg. of
corn sugar, stir to dissolve this. Once malt and sugar has been dissolved we
need to add some cold water and check the temperature. We want to end up with
23 liters and a temperature of about 20-25 C. or 70-80 F. A couple of degrees outside of this range
will still be ok. If the temperature is much hotter than this it could kill the
yeast, you will need to wait for the temperature to drop before pitching yeast.
If it’s too cool it will warm up to room temperature in a few hours and will
just cause the fermentation to be slower starting. The next thing we want to do
is take a sample of our wort (Brew). Remove enough
liquid to fill the hydrometer test jar about half way or enough to float the
hydrometer. To get a accurate reading with your hydrometer the liquid needs to
at 15 C or 60 F (place test jar in the fridge for a few minutes if necessary)
Float your hydrometer in the test jar and give it a little spin to release any
air bubbles clinging to it, your reading should be showing a potential alcohol
of between 5% and 6%. Once fermentation is complete the reading on the
hydrometer should be down to about 1% potential, leaving your beer at about 5% alc/vol in total. For info and
details on your hydrometer reading there should be further instructions that
came with it.
Now
that we have the malt and sugar mixed, wort level at
23 liters, hydrometer reading taken, and temperature correct we can now pitch
(add) the yeast. Just tear open package and sprinkle over the top, stirring not
necessary.
We
don’t want any oxygen getting at our brew from now on so we need to snap on the
cover of the primary fermenter tight and put the bung
and airlock into the hole in the lid, half fill the
airlock with water. That’s it for now, just place the brew in an area where the
temperature will be constant at about 20 C or 70 F. Leave the beer for 10 days
in the primary fermenter. Fermentation will most
likely be finished in less than 10 days but we want some of the heavy sediment
to settle out before we move on to the next step.
Note: If you have a problem or a
question call Me Buddy’s Brew Shop 786-5488
•
Day 10
Racking Day
Clean the following equipment for
today.
Carboy
Syphon Hose
Stirring Spoon
Hydrometer and Test Jar
Thermometer
Today we transfer the beer from our
Primary Fermenter to the Carboy (Secondary). Before
we disturb the beer too much we can take a sample of our beer and drop the
hydrometer into it, then give it a little twist to make it spin, this will let
it release any bubbles that cling to it. Check the reading on the scale and it
should be down to about a potential of 1% or 1.005 on the Specific Gravity
Scale. You may need to chill your sample a few minutes to lower the temperature
to the 60 F for a true reading. You will notice a ring of yeast sediment around
your bucket, this is normal. When beer is fermenting it has a frothy head on it
until fermentation is finished. The next thing we need to do is syphon the beer to the carboy. Place the primary with the
beer up onto a table or counter and place the carboy underneath it. Now we need
to start the syphon hose, there are many ways to do
this, here are two. Make sure the red anti-sediment
tip is fitted on the bottom of the racking tube and attach the hose to the
other end. One way of starting the syphon hose is
putting the racking tube into the beer and sucking on the end of the hose until
it’s filled with beer, then putting the hose down into the carboy, this really
isn’t very sanitary. The cleanest way to start the syphon
hose is by first filling it with water, then stick the racking tube into the
beer, clamp off the hose using the white hose clamp, then put the hose end into
a container and release the clamp to draw off about a cup or so, this will get
rid of the water in the hose, then clamp off the hose again. Now that the hose
is full of beer now we can push it into the carboy all the way to the bottom
and release the white clamp, we want the beer to transfer from one container to
another without aerating it and causing oxidation. Note: (Oxidation turns
beer or wine darker and will cause off flavors) To Rack (transfer by syphon hose) the 5 gallons of beer it will take about 10
minutes or so. When the beer is almost completely racked you may tip the
primary a little to get as much as possible from it, a little of the heavy
sediment won’t cause any harm should it end up in the carboy, it will settle
out again in the second stage.
Once
all the beer is racked we can add some fining agent to settle the beer out,
this isn’t completely necessary, but it will eliminate more of the sediment
from the beer bottles.
Isinglass
is suitable for fining beer. If using liquid isinglass just pour the 25ml
bottle into the carboy and using the handle of your long spoon, stir the beer
gently for 1-2 minutes, this will mix the fining with the beer and also release
carbon dioxide gas allowing the beer to settle out easier. Once the fining has
been added and stirred, top up the carboy to the small part of the carboy neck
with some water that was boiled and cooled down, this will minimize the amount
of airspace coming into contact with the beer reducing chances of oxidation,
replace airlock and bung, leave for another 7 days to settle out the sediment.
Note: If you have a question or
problem call Me Buddy’s Brew Shop 786-5488
•
DAY 17
Bottling Day
Clean the following
Primary Fermenter
Syphon Hose
and Racking Tube
66-68 Standard Beer Bottles and
Bottle Caps
Bottle Filler
Bottle Capper needed (can be rented
or bought)
Today we bottle our beer. With all
the equipment cleaned we will start by lifting the carboy to a table or counter
and placing the primary fermenter underneath it.
Start the syphon by filling with water same as
explained earlier. While the beer is being syphoned
to the primary fermenter we can dissolve our priming
sugar. Take your 1 1/4 cups of corn sugar or 1 1/3 (depending how much
carbonation you prefer as explained earlier) put it into a container and pour
about 1 cup of boiling water over it and stir until it dissolves. Once all the
beer has been racked to the primary fermenter add the
sugar solution to it and stir gently without splashing for about 1 minute to
mix it well with the beer. Place the beer on a table or counter preferably
close to a sink. Starting the syphon hose in the
usual way, then clamping off the hose so we can attach the bottle filler to the
hose. Place some bottles in the sink (which is lower than the primary fermenter) put the bottle filler into the bottle and
release the white hose clamp, beer should now start flowing into the bottle
from the bottom up without splashing and oxidizing our beer. Once the bottle
fills flush with the bottle top, lift it up and the beer flow should stop
allowing you to move to the next bottle doing the same until all the bottles
have been filled. Once all the bottles are filled they need to be capped, using
a proper bottle capper. Place filled beer bottles in an area with room
temperature (about 20 C or 70 F) for 7-10 day to carbonate, then you may store
Notes:
Attaching the hose to the Racking
Tube or Bottle Filler is easier if you run hot water over it to soften it.
Make sure fermentation is complete
before bottling, bottles could break.
Don’t add too much sugar for
priming your bottles this could cause bottles to break. 1 1/4 cups will
carbonate 66 bottles to about the same carbonation as commercial beer, if more carbonation is desired try 1 1/3 cups
If possible cap the bottles as you
go to prevent the contamination.
Instructions by
Mike Porter “Me Buddy’s Brew Shop Inc.”
Bay Roberts 786-5488 or 1-888-290-3311
Monday - Saturday 10:00 am to 5:30 pm
Thursday and Friday nights until 9:00 pm