{"id":1868,"date":"2024-01-25T15:02:09","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T15:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.borkedcode.com\/wp2\/?p=1868"},"modified":"2024-01-25T15:02:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T15:02:09","slug":"brewing-basics-what-you-need-to-start-homebrewing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.borkedcode.com\/wp2\/2024\/01\/25\/brewing-basics-what-you-need-to-start-homebrewing\/","title":{"rendered":"Brewing Basics \u2013 what you need to start homebrewing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

First item!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Charlie Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Home Brewing” – The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Fourth Edition: Fully Revised and Updated : Papazian, Charlie: Amazon.de: B\u00fccher<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s a great book, full of good recipes and even better advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m going to assume something here – that your average batch will be about 20-25 liters in size.\u00a0 There are some kits out there which do 5-liter batches, but given the amount of work that goes into making a batch of beer, it seems trivial to brew only ten bottles of beer.\u00a0 That’ll be gone in a day or two if you do it right :).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next up:\u00a0 a basic brewing kit.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wherever you get it, this should include at least the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– a decent sized fermenter (20-30 liters or so)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– a bottling bucket of about the same size as the fermenter (could be a second fermenter, they can do double duty), ported towards the bottom of its side with a spigot\/faucet \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– an airlock for the fermenter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– some kind of capper (usually comes with 50-100 caps)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– stirring paddle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– cleaning compound (some brand of Oxi cleaner)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– a siphon for moving finished beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket.  Bonus points if it can be started without sucking on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– thermometer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– hydrometer (measures specific gravity of the beer before and after fermenting) with testing tube<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should cost between 50-75 euros.  Really fancy ones might go to a hundred. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually starter kits will come with a mix of additional stuff, but this is where you\u2019ll be glad you bought the more expensive one.  This one appears to be pretty much perfect:  https:\/\/braumarkt.com\/Starter-kit-beer-brewing-PREMIUM<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next:\u00a0 a kettle to boil your ingredients on the stove.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This should be a solid metal vessel of 20-30 liters capacity, with a lid, and make sure it’s compatible with your stove top (i.e., if you have an induction stove, make sure it has a steel bottom).  It doesn’t have to be exactly your fermenter’s capacity, but you want to make sure you have plenty of room in there to avoid boil-overs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of which, boil-overs will happen.  They just will.  It’s going to be a hot, sticky mess.  But it’s a rite of passage.  Consider it that you’re making an offering to whichever god rules over alcohol in your pantheon of choice.  Relax, have a beer, and laugh it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A kettle is probably going to be your most expensive item on the list here.  Even a 12-liter one runs fifty bucks here in the EU, and the larger, heavier-sides varieties will get up into several hundred Euros if you\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the plus side, your brew kettle can also serve for making soups and stews for large parties, so you can use that as an explanation for your spouse.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a good one at a pretty reasonable price:\u00a0 Easybrew Brewkettle 36 liter with tap – buy cheap at Braumarkt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Item:\u00a0 Bottles!<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This part is going to be easy.  Since it takes 1-2 weeks for beer to ferment out, you have some time to buy some beer and empty the bottles, saving them for re-use at home.  If you prefer a crown-capped bottle, that\u2019s fine, but I like the swing-top ceramic caps with the little gasket.  They make the effort of bottling a LOT easier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, you\u2019ll need 45-50 clean and empty bottles to receive your first batch.  If you decide to go with swing-tops like me, I have found that the brand \u201cM\u00f6nchshof<\/strong><\/a>\u201c uses a glue which is very soluble in water, and that means the labels will just slide right off in the dishwasher.  If you\u2019re going to do another batch before the first one is finished, you\u2019ll need more bottles \u2013 which means emptying more bottles :).  Maybe have some friends over to help you free up some bottles while you watch a game or something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have also found it very useful to buy beer in 11-bottle cases for carrying the brew around.  The 20-bottle ones are workable, but they\u2019re very clunky and hard to manage if you have stairs in your house.  Easier to carry two 11-bottle cases, one in each hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best part of this, is that when a bottle gets old (the gasket starts to develop cracks, etc.) you can simply return it and get a new one from the market.\u00a0 You also are basically paying fifteen cents a bottle and four or five Euro for a case, whereas you\u2019d pay over a Euro per bottle and eight to fifteen for a case if you purchase them new.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next:\u00a0 A clean, empty book.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Preferably hardcover with a glossy finish, because it might get splashed.\u00a0 This is going to be your recipe book.\u00a0 You write down everything<\/em><\/strong> in here.\u00a0 Ingredient list, timing when you added what, the original gravity \/ finishing gravity, tasting notes, etc.\u00a0 There\u2019s going to come a day when you hit on a really, really good recipe and you\u2019re going to want to make it again.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t write everything down, you risk forgetting a critical step.\u00a0 I still have my original book, goes back to 1992, and I\u2019m really <\/em>glad I kept it around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Item:\u00a0 A pre-boxed beer extract kit.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to steer you towards extracts as a starting point, because they\u2019re easier to deal with, you\u2019ll have a greater success rate with them, and the beer you get from these is a great jumping-off point.  If you end up enjoying the hobby a lot, I can give you some pointers on what sort of equipment you\u2019ll need for doing a grain mash, but that sort of complication is for when you really want to dig in and start getting nerdy about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we\u2019ll start with a good solid extract kit to give you the best chances for a great kick-off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many extracts come pre-hopped, which is also a good place to start, but I think you\u2019ll want to start buying hops and hopping your beer on your own almost immediately.  We\u2019ll start with an all-in-one kit, but your second batch of beer is likely to be the place where you want to buy hops and hop it yourself.  I\u2019ll mention that in my \u201coptionals\u201d category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the hopped kits, good brands include \u201cMangrove Jack\u2019s\u201d, \u201cMunton\u2019s\u201d, and you\u2019ll quickly start to see some common names.  Here\u2019s a good example of a starter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mangrove Jack’s Craft Series Irish Red Ale (braumarkt.com)<\/a>

That\u2019ll make 20L of a nice red ale, and everything you need is in the package.  For now you want to stick with ales, as lagers require a cold-storage space for your fermenter.  Unless you have access to a walk-in fridge or you have a separate kuhlschrank that can fit your fermenter, a lager will be\u2026difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re ready to brew your first batch of beer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the timeline I follow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday night or Saturday: clean and rinse my fermenter, get my ingredients lined up, get the kettle ready.  Cleaned gear dries overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday:\u00a0 brew day \u2013 you can expect a brew to take 2-4 hours from start to finish, depending on how fast you can get your kettle to boil all that volume.\u00a0 When you start working with all- or partial-grain mashes, that\u2019s going to add another 2-3 hours to your timeline.\u00a0 With a wort chiller I\u2019ll pitch the yeast as soon as I\u2019ve cooled things down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday night or Monday morning:  If I didn\u2019t use a wort chiller, by now the wort has cooled enough that I can pitch the yeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fermentation takes 1-2 weeks.  Longer if I do a secondary ferment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\u2019m ready to bottle\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday night or Saturday:  Bring the bottles out of storage, make sure the gaskets aren\u2019t cracked, and that there isn\u2019t any gunk in the bottle (PBW if there is).  Make sure I have enough bottles for the volume in the fermenter.  Wash them all with Oxi and park them to dry overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday: bottling day.  Transfer the brew from the fermenter into bottles.  Set aside three bottles and store the rest in a cool, dry place (Kellar). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next three weeks, I open one bottle each week to test how the carbonation is coming along and see how the beer looks.  Usually it\u2019s ready by week 2, but week 3 is guaranteed to be finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick advice:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n