Expert: Dave Nyce - 8/12/2004

Question
Hello,
we have made some wine and are now keen to try making some beer. Can you tell me what basics I need and how to do it roughly?
Thank you,

Lucy  

Answer
I also started out by making wine.

To make beer, you'll need to visit your local brewing supplies store. To start out, I suggest that you get a can of hopped malt. Add this and a package of amber malt to 4 quarts of boiling water. This is called brewing. Use a wooden or plastic spoon to stir it so it doesn't burn. Add a half ounce of hopps and boil lightly for another 10 minutes.

Have a 7 gallon fermentation container ready with enough cool water so it will be a total of 5 gallons when you add what you have brewed. Pour the hot brew into the water. Now the temperature should be no higher than 95 degrees F. This mixture is called the wort. Add some hopps (just toss it in, no stirring needed). Add the yeast in the same way (this is called pitching the yeast). Put the cover onto the fermentation vessel and add the fermentation trap. There should be some sterilizer in the water in the fermentation trap.

After the bubbling has stopped (about a week or two) you can bottle it or you can rack it and wait another two weeks before bottling. Racking will yield a more clear beer.

To bottle, sterilize the bottles, add 3/4 cup of corn sugar to the wort, then bottle using fresh sterilized caps and a capper. Then wait at least three weeks before drinking.

You can get all of the materials at the brewing supply store. You can also get a set of instructions there that will be more detailed than this short note.

Hope this helps!

Dave