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Page 1 of 2 Here's the simple way to make beer from extract!
Are you ready to make some beer? Here is the simplest way to start brewing your own beer. This method assumes you have never brewed beer before. You will need to get some equipment. You can find this equipment online, or at your favorite homebrew store. They usually will sell this equipment in one kit. Depending on what is in the kit, it should cost somewhere between $40 USD and $70 USD.  Large Brew Pot - You can use a smaller pot too Minimum Equipment needed
Pot large enough to hold 5 gallons
Large metal spoon
Grain Bag (if using specialty grains)
Funnel with a Strainer
Bucket
Fermenter with airlock
Sanitizer
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Lots of ice (does NOT go in the beer)
Tub large enough to hold the pot and icewater
Extract Beer Kit
3-4 gallons of spring water
Siphon
Bottling Bucket
Bottle caps
Bottle Capper
Beer Bottles Setup
The most important step for homebrewing is the first one. You must start by cleaning and sanitizing everything! We are creating a food product and adding micro-organisms (yeast). If we are not careful about cleaning, other unwanted micro-organisms might move in too. The resulting beer would not be toxic, it would just taste that way. There are no known pathogens that can live in alcohol, but we don't want to ruin the beer. Make sure everything is very clean. If you are using a plastic fermenter, make sure you use a very soft sponge. Do not use the abrasive side of the sponge, because this will scratch the fermenter and give bacteria a good place to hide. Once everything is clean, you will need to sanitize your equipment. Sanitizing is not sterilizing. Sterilizing the equipment would likely require an autoclave, and it really isn't necessary. We are not trying to kill every micro-organism. That is a very difficult task. We are just trying to create an environment where our good yeast can easily out-compete any other micro-organism. Too many other bad micro-organisms can create off-flavors.  Star San Sanitizer The best sanitizer to use is a one-step sanitizer like Star San. Star San is a blend of phosphoric acid and dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid. It is a weak acid that with 2 minutes of contact will kill most micro-organisms. It is odorless and tasteless. It does not matter if you use the foam sanitizer or the non-foam sanitizer (Sani Clean), both are very effective. Make sure the solution touches every part of your equipment that will touch the wort after the boil. Wort is the unfermented sweet liquid which is created from the mashing and boiling process. It becomes beer once it is feremented. Make sure the funnel, strainer, fermenter, airlock, hydrometer, and thermometer are all sanitized. Keep the items in the solution until you are ready to use them. Do not rinse anything! The foam is ok, and will not affect the flavor of your beer. Remove your yeast from the refrigerator at this time, and store it somewhere at room temperature (75F, 25C). Most likely your kit came with some form of liquid yeast, usually in a vial or an unfortunately named "smack pack". If you have a "smack pack", do not smack the pack. Smacking the pack can result in an explosion of yeast and nutrient covering everything in the room. If you have a "smack pack", now would be a good time to get it started. Lay the package down on a firm surface. Feel around inside the package. There will be another smaller package inside the larger package. When you find it, gently apply pressure to the inner package with your knuckles until you hear a pop. Specialty Grains  Specialty Grains in Grain Bag
If your beer kit came with specialty grains, you will need to add them to a grain (steeping) bag. With the specialty grains we are going to make "grain tea". This "grain tea" will help to give the beer more complex flavors and a better mouth feel. This also converts any starches in the grains to sugars for the yeast. Heat a gallon of water per instructions. This is usually between 150F (65C) and 180F (82C). Your beer kit should include instructions for the specialty grains.  Soaking The Specialty Grains Soak the grains in the water, keeping the temperature as close as possible to the temperature given in the instructions. Occasionally stir the "tea" to saturate the grains as much as possible. After thirty minutes, remove the grain bag from the "wort".
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