How much do you love beer? Do you know that you can make your beer at home? Beer is among the most favorite drinks in the world, competing against coffee, tea, and juice. This ancient drink is consumed equally in most parts of the world and has created a livelihood for barley brewers, manufacturers, distributors, and sellers.
There are various methods you can use to brew your beer at home effectively. The way you choose to brew your beer depends on cost, time, taste preferences, and brewing experience level. This article will highlight three main methods to use to craft a brew of your own. Read on for the details.
Extract Brewing
This is one of the most suitable methods for beginners in brewing. With this method, the extracts to use in brewing beer come in powder or liquid form, depending on the type of beer you want to make. You will also need a beer making kit, which you will use its components at different stages in the brewing process. There is also a hop flavor on top of these extracts, which adds the natural taste of barley to the drink.
First, you will need to select the best extract, depending on the type of beer you want. Secondly, you are required to put the can of extracts in water for at least 20 minutes to let the syrup flow out of the can. While doing this, boil a gallon or more of water in a stockpot. Remove from the heat and put in the extracts. Stir to ensure that everything dissolves and then return to the heat source and boil for another 20 to 30 minutes.
Once it boils, bring the mixture to cool by placing it in water with ice cubes. Once the brewing pot is cool to touch, pour the contents into a fermenter. Add water to the fermenter to make the mixture reach a 5-gallon mark. Cool the mixture to between 65 F and 80F, and then add the yeast.
Leave the yeast to ferment for at least ten days or when the bubbling stops. Siphon the mixture into a bottling bucket, add sugar and bottle. Let the drink sit for two weeks, then serve.
Extract Brewing – With Specialty Grains & Fresh Hops
This process is the same as the extract brewing but has some raw ingredients which help to improve the beer flavor. Here, you add the fresh hops or specialty grains in the process, such as the roasted barley, to make your home brewing into an award-winning beer.
Once you are familiar with the brewing process above, it becomes easier to brew your beer using this process. Therefore, you have to understand the above process before attempting this one. With this process, while the can of extracts is heating up, add the grains in the muslin bags at least half a pound per bag. Ensure to seal the bags to prevent the grains from spilling during the brewing process. Next, soak the bags in the brew kettle with hot (not boiling) for about 30 minutes and rinse several times to get the flavor before discarding them.
Remove the brewing pot from the heat source, stir the extracts and bring it to boil again. At this point, add the muslin bags containing the hops and boil for over an hour. Chill the mixture and ferment as in the first process. Ensure your brewing kit has the best grains, liquid yeast, and hops to give you the best beer.
All Grain Brewing
This step is the last because once you have understood the two above, especially the one with specialty grains and hops, it will be easier to brew your beer with this all-grain method. This method requires you to use natural beer-making ingredients other than powder and liquid extracts. While this method requires extra equipment and time in preparing the ingredients, it leads to a fantastic beer compared with the rest.
Here, all sugars, malt, and colors get extracted from malt through a smashing process. Therefore, as compared to the processes above, you will need a mash rake, mash turn, and wort chiller. You will need to drain wort and sugar from the grain and then use any brewing methods to prepare your beer.
With this method, you will have the ultimate control of the brewing process, and you can personalize the drink to your taste. However, it is an expensive and time-consuming method to use at home.
As highlighted, all three processes depend on your budget, time, and experience in brewing beer. Therefore, it is crucial to choose a method that goes