Boiling pot that can comfortly boil at least one and a half litres of liquid
Siphon tube (about 6 feet)
Primary fermenter (Usually just a large, food grade bucket)
Another clean bucket for bottling.*
Bottles (and lids/caps and capper)/or Pressure Keg for draught beer.
Stiring spoon
Hydrommeter.* (determins gravity of a liquid and shows how much sugar or alcohol is present.)
All equipment must be cleaned and sterilised before use. I leave it all in a tub of water and bleech over night, but make sure it is well rinsed out before use.
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(* - not absolutely necessary but it makes things easier.)
-500g (1 lb) Malt extract (can be bought from a supermarket or health food shop or homebrew shop.)
-Hops:
21g (three quatres oz) Goldings/Wye Challenger hops for bitters,
15g (half oz) Goldings/Wye Challenger hops for mild ales,
21g (three quatres oz) Fuggle/Wye Northdown/Bullion/Cascasde hops for stouts/porters/brown ales, or
15g (half oz) Hallertau/Saaz/Chinook (used in all US lagers)/Cluster hops for lagers.
(For more information on hops click here)
-5 litres (1 gallon) water (tap water should be ok unless yours is contaminated or foul-tasting.)
-1 tsp yeast (if you really can't get proper beer yeast, use baker's, it still works.)
-Add syrup to make a smoother beer.(Add somewhere between 2-3 table spoons.)
-Sugar to make up SG to 1.035 (white sugar works but brown sugar adds flavour and colour)
-Egg shells added at the start of fermentation helps clear the beer and improves the flavour.
-Sterilize all equipment and anything which will come into contact with the brew.
-Boil 1 litre of water in your brew pot.
-After 5 mins boiling, add most of the hops and stir well. Cover and boil for another 50 mins.
-After a total of 55 mins boiling, add the remaining few hops to the 'wort'(unfermented beer).
-Put lid on pot and leave for 5 mins.
-Remove pot from heat but keep covered. It should have boiled for a total of about 60 mins by now. This will help mix the ingredients and to sterilize everything. Leave covered for 10 mins. Then strain out hops.
-Mix yeast (1 pkt or 1 tsp) with a tsp of sugar in a cup of lukewarm water. When it starts bubbling or frothing, the yeast starter is ready.
-Add malt extract and syrup to your fermenter with 1 litre warm pre-boiled warm water. Stir well to dissolve.
-Add the hop water to your primary fermenter and top up to the 5 litres (1 gallon) mark with cold pre-boiled water.
-If you have a hydrometer, check the gravity it should be near enough 1.035 but don't worry if its slightly higher. The higher the SG then the stronger the alcohol content will be. If it is less than 1.035, then dissolve sugar into the 'wort' until it reaches more or less 1.035.
-Once the temperature is about 20C, add yeast, cover well enough to keep out dust but loose enough so the gas can escape, and leave in a fairly warm (18-20 C) and dark place for about 5 days, or until it stops bubbling. Skim off froth and yeast ring on 2nd and 3rd days. Add egg shells for finings and for flavour.
-When it stops bubbling check the SG it should be about 1.006 or below. This is your Finished Gravity.
-When the beer clears, siphon into bottling bucket with half a cup of sugar. Stir but try not to splash as this will add oxygen to your beer (which is BAD at this stage.)
-Siphon into bottles and fit lid/cap.
-Leave for a week or two (some beers especially lagers need a few months). The leftover yeast will convert the added sugar into Carbon dioxide which will make your beer more fizzy and full of life.
-When clear, drink however you normally do. (For best results serve lagers cold, bitters just below room temperature and stouts, porters and brown ales at room temperature.)
VARIATIONS:
-Keep a handful of hops spare and add to fermenting beer on the 3rd day.
-Use different types of hops and malts and mix different types together.
-Try using malt flour, glucose or flaked rice or maize (often used in lagers) in addition to the malt extract (use them sparingly and never let the quantity exceed 20% of the malt.) These should be boiled.
-Use a lager yeast that ferments at cold temperatures (10 C) to get a lager instead of an ale. (The lager must be fermented under airlock like wine though.)
-Use brown sugar for improved flavour and colour.
-Siphon into a keg for a draught beer.
-Instead of priming with sugar, inject CO2 with a Soda Stream bottle to fizz the beer (this gets rid of the leftover yeast at the bottom of the bottle and is how beer is primed commercially.)
TAKE YOUR ORIGINAL HYDROMETER READING AND SUBTRACT THE READING YOU GOT AFTER FERMENTATION. MULTIPLY THIS NUMBER BY 131.25 AND THAT WILL BE YOUR APPORX. ALCOHOL CONTENT %.
EXAMPLE:
IF your original reading was 1.040, and your end reading was 1.000:
1.035
-1.000
0.035 multiply by 131.25=4.6
So that brew is 4.6 % alcohol