The North State Brewers' Cooperative

Contact: 315 N. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
nsbc@umich.edu

established 1997

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Homebrewing 101 - the Basics

Brewing Equipment:

In order to brew your first batch, you'll need the following equipment:

4 or 5 gallon stainless steel pot
5 or 6 gallon glass carboy (plastic bucket can also suffice, but will require more slender plastic hose)
3-4 ft length of 1 inch diameter clear plastic hose
fermentation lock
rubber stopper with hole for fermentation lock insertion
large plastic funnel
thermometer
hydrometer
sack to boil hops in/steep grain in
large spoon (wood, plastic, or metal)
plastic wrap
sanitizing product like iodine or bleach (iodine is far preferable)
a means of cooling your 3 gallons of boiling wort (pronounced "wert") quickly (wort chiller, ice bath, or sanitary ice cube).

Brewing Ingredients:

There are four basic ingredients in beer and they are as follows:

Malt

handful of grain Provides the bulk of flavor and is the sugar source from which the yeast creates CO2, alcohol, and other flavor and mouthfeel components. There are three forms of malt: 1) grain, 2) liquid extract, and 3) dry extract. The difference between a grain and an extract is that a grain requires more processing than does an extract in order to fully develop fermentables for yeast. Dry extract also contains a small percentage more fermentables than liquid does due to the water content of the liquid malt.

Hops (Humulus lupulus)

hop bag Provides the bittering flavor, important portions of the aroma and bouquet, and also serves as a natural preservative. There are five forms of hops: 1) whole leaf, 2) pellets, 3) plugs, 4) extracts, and 5) oils (whole leaf and pellet hops are, by far, the most common and all you need to consider).

Yeast

Means of creating alcohol and natural carbonation; drives fermentation process (these little ones are your new best friends, make them happy!). There are two forms of yeast: 1) dry and 2) liquid. Either will work, but many purists shy away from dry yeast as the varieties are more limited and the freeze-drying process can damage the cells.

Water

Water is 85-95% of beer and is partially responsible for general taste and quality. This should be free of major impurities that can hurt the quality of your product.

Sanitizer

Sanitation is a rather important element to brewing beer. It can easily make or break your effort. Commonly used sanitizers are: Iodophor, strong alcohol, or bleach.

Brewing Process:

The following is the brewing process for a simple malt extract brew: boiling pot

Combine & dissolve malt extracts and hops in ~2 gal water and boil 60 minutes (hop schedules vary and boil times can too).
Cool wort as much as possible (a wort chiller is preferable, but you can simply place the hot brewpot in an ice/cold water bath in your sink or add a sanitary ice cube).
Sanitize fermenter (carboy or bucket).
Add ~3 gallons clean cold water to fermenter.
Add warm malt extracts and water to fermenter.
With temperature below 80F, measure specific gravity (with hydrometer) and pitch yeast.
Attach fermentation hose, and, after initial fermentation (about 1 week), attach lock.
Ferment 8 to 14 days total (longer for higher gravity beers).
Bottle and cap.
Age for 10+ days (to allow beer to self-carbonate).
DRINK THE BEER!

Conclusion:

The first beer was created through a fortunate accident, in a Mediterranean culture, some 6,000 years ago. Since that time, brewing processes and equipment have continued to advance and innovate, while still using the same four ingredients to produce beer: malt, hops, yeast, and water. Remember, though, that beer is only one of many different beverages one can create using a sugar source, water, and yeast. Examples include making mead from honey, hard cider from apples, and wine from grapes.

The Bottom Line:

By far, the best way to get into this hobby and to expand your brewing knowledge and techniques is to join a homebrew club. Clubs provide you with a network of people who are passionate about the hobby and will go out of their way to help you in any way they can. You can find many of these listed on the AHA website and other beer pages or you can inquire at your local homebrew shop (if you are lucky enough to have one). Brew on good beer lovers, brew on!