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Home Brew Instructions
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Beer and WineMakers of America
755 E. Brokaw Rd, San Jose, CA
408-441-0880
www.beerandwinemakers.com
BeerMakers Homebrew Instructions
1. First step - open a beer and read through this instruction sheet.
2. Clean all brewing equipment. Use a cleanser that does not leave a soap residue; PBW is a good cleanser. Next you must sterilize anything that will come into contact with the wort after the boil. (Wort is the name for beer before you add the yeast.) Below 180 degrees, sterilization is important to prevent bacterial and wild yeast contamination. To sterilize your equipment, use 1 tablespoon of Iodophor in 5 gallons of water. Allow a few minutes contact time to sterilize your equipment. Drain the iodophor solution out of the equipment; it is now sterilized. Do not rinse with water. Don't forget to remove and sterilize the spigot on the primary fermenter bucket.
3. Use a stainless steel or enamel coated pot. All of the water must be boiled. If your brewpot holds less than 8 gallons you will not be able to boil everything at once. You can boil part of the water for 20 minutes and pour it into the sterilized fermenter, then boil the remaining water with the beer ingredients to make a total volume of 5 gallons.
4. Put the grains into the mesh bag. Place the bag of grains into 6 gallons of water. Heat to 155 degrees F for the specified time for your recipe. Lift the mesh bag of grains out of the brew pot and remove the brewpot from the heat. Add the malt extract and stir. Bring the wort to a boil and watch for boil over. Next stir in the bittering hops and boil for one hour. Add Servomyces 30 minutes before the end of the boil. After boiling for an hour add the finishing hops and remove the brewpot from the heat. When hops are boiled, bitterness is extracted to balance the sweetness from the malt. The final hop addition is not boiled and will contribute hop aroma to the wort. Cool the wort as quickly as possible with the lid on the brewpot; use a wort chiller, or use ice water outside of the brewpot to speed the cooling process. Now you are ready to pour the wort into the sterilized fermenter. Collect a sample of the wort, float your hydrometer in the sample and record the specific gravity. This is the original gravity. Pitch the yeast after the wort has dropped below 75 degrees F. After pitching the yeast you should aerate the beer using an oxygenator or by splashing it into the sterilized primary fermenter and vigorously rocking the fermenter for several minutes. This aeration will contribute to a good fermentation. I recommend using a White Labs liquid yeast culture. The liquid yeasts will give you clean consistent results and unique flavorful beers.
5. Use vodka in the airlock. Allow to ferment for several days, you will notice gas bubbling through the airlock during fermentation. Fermentation rate will vary due to temperature, original gravity, and yeast strain used. When you notice that the rate of bubbling through the airlock has slowed to 1 or 2 bubbles per minute you should siphon the beer into the secondary fermenter (the glass carboy). Carefully siphon into the carboy to avoid splashing the beer. You don't want to aerate the beer at this stage of the fermentation; it could lead to oxidation, which will result in off-flavors. Usually after a week in the secondary fermenter, fermentation is complete. This can be verified by taking a hydrometer reading of the sample. Wait three days and take another hydrometer reading, if there is no change in the specific gravity during this three day period the beer is ready to be bottled. This is the final gravity.
6. To determine the percent of alcohol in the beer, subtract the final gravity from the original gravity and multiply by 105 to calculate the percent alcohol by weight. To convert percent alcohol by weight to percent alcohol by volume, multiply by 1.25
Example: Original Gravity 1.050
Final Gravity 1.015
1.050 - 1.015 = 0.035
0.035 x 105 = 3.67 % Alcohol by weight
3.67 x 1.25 = 4.59 % Alcohol by volume
7. To carbonate the beer you will add priming sugar (Corn sugar). Siphon the beer from the carboy to the primary fermenter bucket. Dissolve 3/4 cup of corn sugar into 2 or 3 cups of water and boil for five minutes. Cool the sugar solution to room temperature with the pot covered and then very gently stir this into the beer. Avoid splashing the beer to prevent oxidation. Have ready 50 sterilized 12 oz. bottles or the equivalent capacity in other size bottles. Fill the bottles using the bottle filler and siphon hose connected to the spigot on the bucket. Cap the bottles and store at room temperature (60-75 degrees) for 2 weeks. Always store beer out of direct light; this also applies to the fermenters. It will age well for several months or even longer for some styles of beer. If the beer has any off-flavors or problems bring one to the store, I can usually determine the cause and help you make better beer.
Enjoy your beer!
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