BREW DAY
Equipment Needed
- 5 gallon pot with lid
- 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket
- Drilled plastic lid for fermentaion bucket
- Airlock
- Beer recipe kit
- 24” Spoon
- No Rinse Cleaner
- Bottling Bucket with Spigot
- Timer
- Thermometer
- Scissors
- Tablespoon measure
- Towels
- Ice (15-20 lbs)
Preparations
- Place the container of liquid malt extract in warm water. This will help when pouring the malt into the boil later.
- Prepare your fermentation area. Ideally, this is a location out of direct light with a steady temperature around 68oF.
- Make sure you know there the 5 gallon mark is on your fermenter. If you don’t have one, put 5 gallons of water in your fermenter and mark with a permanent marker.
Heat Water
If your water is good enough to drink, it is good enough for brewing. Fill the clean pot with 2.5 gallons of cool water. Place on stove, uncovered, over MEDIUM heat. Heat to 170o F (Do not exceed 180o F).
Steeping the Grains
Over a sink, pour the grains into the mesh bag. Tie a knot at the open end of the bag, leaving room for the grains to move freely. Steep the grain bag in the 170o F water (Do not exceed 180o F) for 20 minutes. After steeping, lift the grain bag out the pot. Hold the grain bag over the pot until it drains, but don’t squeeze it. Discard the grain bag, then turn stove to HIGH and heat, uncovered.
Boil
Bring the water to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in malt syrup with the spoon until dissolved. You now have wort, the brewer’s term for unfermented beer. Return the pot to stove over HIGH heat and resume boiling. Actively monitor foam. When foam rises, reduce or remove from heat until foam subsides. Adjust heat as necessary to maintain a slow, rolling boil. Set the time for 60 minutes and add hops. After boiling for 60 minutes, turn off the heat and cover the pot.
Cooling the Wort
Place covered pot in sink. Fill sink with cold water and ice up to the height of the wort in the pot. Stir the wort and replace the ice as needed. Set a timer for 30 minutes. While the wort cools, move to the next step.
Decontaminate
Fill bottling bucket with 1 gallon of hot tap water. Mix in 1 tablespoon of cleaner and stir until dissolved. Pour the cleaning solution into the 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket. Swirl cleaner, ensuring contact with all surfaces, including the lid, for several minutes. Pour cleaning solution back into bottling bucket. Soak airlock and scissors in cleaning solution. Dip yeast packet in cleaner briefly.
Transfer to Fermenter
Add 1 gallon of cold water to the fermenter. When the 30 minute cooling timer goes off, remove the lid from the pot and pour the wort into the fermenting bucket. Top off with cold water until the wort level rises up to the 5 gallon mark on the fermenter.
Oxygenate and Pitch the Yeast
Ideal pitching temperature for most Ale Yeast is 68o F – 72o F, consult the instructions on the yeast packet for more specific temperature requirements. Once the wort reaches pitching temperature, you want to oxygenate the wort (don’t oxygenate wort when it’s hot) by stirring vigorously with a clean slotted spoon for 2-3 minutes. Now, cut open the yeast packet with clean scissors. Sprinkle the contents on the surface of the wort. Secure the bucket lid to the fermenter by firmly pushing down on all edges of the lid. Fill the airlock with the cleaning solution to the fill line. Insert airlock in the rubber grommet in the lid of the fermenting bucket.
Clean Up
Using your cleansing solution, wash all used equipment and allow to dry fully before storing. Do not use abrasive brushes that may scratch your equipment. Discard used cleaner.
Ferment Your Wort
Move the fermenting bucket to your prepared fermentation area. Within 24-48 hours, bubbles may start forming in the airlock or a thick foam (called krausen) may rise from the surface of the wort. This is a normal part of the fermentation process. Allow the process 14 days to complete, then move on to bottling day.
BOTTLING DAY
Equipment Needed
- Bottling bucket
- Auto-Siphon with tubing
- Bottle brush
- Bottle filler
- Bottle capper
- Bottle caps
- Priming sugar
- No Rinse Cleaner
- 12 oz or 22 oz clean, empty, pry-off bottles
- Small saucepan with lid
- Timer
- Towel
Preparations
- About a half hour before starting the process, carefully move your fermenter to an elevated position, like the edge of a counter or table.
- Test the bottling bucket for leaks by filling the bucket with water until the spigot is fully submerged.
- Soak one end of the siphon tubing in HOT tap water for 30 seconds to soften. Push softened end of tubing over the cane portion of the auto-siphon about ½”.
Decontaminate
Fill the bottling bucket with 1 gallon of hot tap water. Mix in 1 tablespoon of cleaner until dissolved. Soak bottles in cleaning solution, ensuring contact with all surfaces. Place bottles upside down in dish rack to drain and dry. Soak caps and bottle filler in the cleaning solution, again ensuring contact with all surfaces for several minutes.
Note: If using Oxygen Absorbing bottle caps, water will activate the bottle caps. Only clean as many caps as you intend to use.
Place the tip of the auto-siphon and the disconnected end of the auto-siphon tubing in the cleaning solution. Pump the cane a few times to force cleaner through the inside of the siphon and tubing. Rinse the outside of the siphon and tubing with cleaning solution. Move all items from bottling bucket to a clean surface. Empty solution into the stoppered sink for final clean up.
Make Priming Solution
In a small saucepan, mix the entire pack of priming sugar in 16 ounces of water. Turn the stove to MEDIUM and heat the solution to a boil. Once the solution is boiling, set the timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, turn off the stove, place the lid on the pan and set the timer for 10 more minutes to give the solution time to cool. When the timer goes off, pour the solution into the bottling bucket.
Transfer Beer to Bottling Bucket
Place the bottling bucket on the floor or a stable chair below the fermenter. The top of bottling bucket should be below the bottom of the fermenter, but not so low that the tubing won’t reach the bottling bucket. Place the auto-siphon in the fermenter and the open end of the tubing in the bottling bucket with the priming solution. Gently pump the auto-siphon until the beer flows. Let gravity fill the bottling bucket, taking care not to splash and not to transfer the trub/sediment to the bottling bucket.
Bottle Your Beer
Gently move the full bottling bucket to an elevated position. Attach vinyl tubing to the spigot on the bottling bucket and attach the other end to the bottle filler. Open the spigot on the bottling bucket. Press the tip of the bottle filler to the inside bottom of the first bottle. Fill the bottle to the top, leaving about 1 inch of headspace in the neck of the bottle. Remove the filler, place a cap on top of the bottle and set aside. Continue bottling until there is no beer left in the bottling bucket.
Cap Your Bottles
Center the bottle capper over the cap on a bottle. Press straight down firmly on the capper’s handles to seal the cap onto the bottle. Wipe the bottle with a dry towel. Repeat capping until all bottles have been sealed.
Clean Up
Use cleansing solution to wash all used equipment and allow to fully dry before storing in a dry location until the next brew day.
Conditioning Your Beer
Store the bottles in a dark cool (65-75 degrees F) for at least 2-4 weeks to carbonate. After carbonating, the bottles can be stored in the fridge.
Share and Enjoy!
When chilled, your beer is ready to drink and enjoy. Pour gently into a glass, taking care to leave the layer of sediment at the bottom of the bottle.