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STEP 1 |
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If you are using liquid yeast it could necessary to start your yeast a day to several days before you start to brew. see the package for instructions. |
STEP 13 |
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At the end of your one hour of boiling, remove the pot and place it in a sink full of water. This will start cooling your wort. |
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STEP 2 |
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About 2 hours before brewing put 4 gallons of good quality water in your freezer (allow enough time to get very cold but not quite frozen) |
STEP 14 |
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fill the fermenter with 2 gallons of near freezing water. |
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STEP 3 |
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Wash, rinse and sanitize all equipment that will touch your beer.(for sanitizing you may use household bleach at one teaspoon per gallon or Amberdyne at 1/2 tsp. per gallon.) |
STEP 15 |
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Strain the wort through the colander and large funnel with filter screen into the carboy. (If you are using pellet hops do not strain with colander and screen. Just pour right in carboy using funnel alone.) |
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STEP 4 |
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Bring one gallon of good quality water to 160 F in your brew pot. Add gypsum if required. Pour this water into the insulated cooler and add your cracked grains. Put the lid on the cooler and let it steep for 60 minutes. If a cooler is not available leave in your brew pot, add grains and cover |
STEP 16 |
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Screw on the Mason Jar and open the valve.. |
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STEP 5 |
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In another pot, 15 minutes before the grains are done steeping, bring one gallon of good quality drinking water to 170 F. |
STEP 17 |
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Add enough water to fermenter to fill it to the 5 gallon fill line . (At this point you may notice some solids forming in your beer. this is called "cold break". These are proteins that fall out of solution and settle to the bottom as your beer comes to an even temperature. This helps prevent "chill haze" and should give you a nice, clear beer. |
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STEP 6 |
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Place funnel on top of priming bucket, insert filter and place a colander on top of funnel. |
STEP 18 |
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If your beer temperature is below 80 f, pitch (add) your yeast. (DO NOT add your yeast until temperature is below 80 f!) |
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STEP 7 |
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Pour grain and water (now called wort) through the colander and funnel extracting the wort from your grain. You will notice the liquid backs up in the funnel due to fine particles that clog the filter. |
STEP 19 |
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Insert end of blowoff tube into the fermenter. Place the end of the flexible tubing
about a 1/2 inch into the hole of the rubber stopper and the other end in a bucket of water (end should be under water 1 inch). Put fermenter, tube and bucket in a cool dark place. |
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STEP 8 |
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Lift one side of the colander and using your brew spoon, gently scrape the filter until all the liquid has drained. |
STEP 20 |
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Fermentation should begin within a day and eventually "Barm" or the froth on top of your fermenting beer will blow off through the tube leaving a little behind. When stops flowing through the tube, remove the tube replace with the airlock. This should happen after 3 or 4 days. |
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STEP 9 |
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Remove the clogged filter and dump the sediment off it. Replace the filter and lower the colander back into place. |
STEP 21 |
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• You may need to dump your 16 oz. mason jar more than once to
remove the sediment (trub) during fermentation. After 5-10 days of
active fermentation if the jar is nearly full, close the valve, remove
the jar, rinse, reattach then slowly open the valve again.
• Have a plate under the jar to catch any excess beer overflow during
the jar change.
• Many beers will require a 24 oz. jar to catch all of the sediment
(trub) during fermentation. |
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STEP 10 |
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Take the 170 F water and pour it slowly over the grain in the colander to sparge (wash) all the wort trapped in the grain. |
STEP 22 |
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You can test for complete fermentation in one of two ways. When time between bubbles in the airlock is 2 minutes or greater, you can take a hydrometer reading. Take another 24 hours later. if the two readings are the same, fermentation is complete. The alternative is to assume that when the time between bubbles is 2 minutes or greater, fermentation is complete. This reduces the risk of infection from multiple hydrometer readings. |
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STEP 11 |
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Pour the strained wort out of the priming bucket into your brew pot. |
STEP 23 |
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If you are bottling: Add priming solution (3/4 cup of corn sugar dissolved in a small cup of hot water) right into the fermented and stir gently.
Then attach the tubing to the bottling funnel and the bottle filler at the
end of the tubing. Close the valve, take off the mason jar, set aside
and screw on the bottling funnel. There may be some spilling that occurs
when removing the mason jar so be sure to have a plate under it to catch
any liquid. Fill the bottles using the bottle filler to the very top. When you neck starts,
cap and repeat.
If you choose to keg: You can just fill the keg directly from the hose. (be sure to fill the keg from the bottom up... The hose end should be at the bottom. (prevents splashing and getting air in the beer which could oxidize it)
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STEP 12 |
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Add your malt extract and stir well until it is completely dissolved. Place pot on burner and bring the dissolved extract and liquid to a boil . Boil for one hour adding hops, as your recipe requires. During the boil your recipe may call for the addition of other adjuncts  and/or additives such as Irish Moss, Gypsum, specialty sugars, as well other hopping. Just add at the times the recipe requires. |
