Sometime in the past few years, I became very interested in brewing our own beer. I think it’s a natural progression for someone who enjoys beer and loves cooking – why wouldn’t I want to make my own?
We have a friend (Doug!) who brews great beer that had us over to participate a few years ago and I knew we had to do it. But the initial investment in equipment (we’re cheap) delayed our start for longer than it should have. Luckily, there was a Groupon that showed up (about a year ago) for a beginner kit that helped us make the leap.
If anyone tells you brewing beer is hard, those people are lying through their teeth! ;)
From our experience over the last year or so – it’s all about having the right equipment and keeping it clean. And time. It does take about 3-4 hours, although most of that time is inactive. And it’s best if you have a gas stove or gas burner (like a turkey fryer) for accurate temperature control.
The last two weekends, we’ve brewed a batch of beer on Sundays. Last weekend it was a double IPA. This week, it was a Belgian Grand Cru. These were also the first two batches of all-grain brewing, which Kirk and I both enjoyed even more!
Step 1: Get all equipment together, make sure it’s clean, and ready to use.
For all-grain brewing, we use: the burner, propane tank & connector, 9 gallon stainless steel pot, grain, 4 gallon pot, converted igloo (mash tun), sauce pan (for transferring hot water), 7.5 gallons filtered water, colander & paper towels, beer recipe ingredients (hops, etc.), wort chiller & plastic tubing, sterilizer, plastic slotted spoon, bucket, bubbler, & yeast.
Step 2: Heat water to 160- 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Notice the awesome Georgia Dawgs propane cover in the background. :)
Step 3: Put crushed grains in mash tun – which in our case is a converted igloo beverage container. This had been sitting in the garage for way too long, don’t you love when you can re-use something?!
Step 4: Transfer hot water to the mash tun, covering the grains.
Step 5: Put top on container & hold temperature at around 155 degrees for an hour. Relax and enjoy a nice break…and hopefully beautiful temperatures outdoors!
Step 6A: Heat 3.5 to 4 gallons of water to 165 degrees.
Steps 6B: While water is heating, drain the wort into large stainless steel pot.
Step 7: Transfer hot water slowly into mash tun over grains. This time, we use a colander with paper towels in the base to help “filter” the water as it is poured into the container – so it doesn’t go into all one area.
Step 8: After all liquid is drained into pot, move the collected wort to the heat & bring to a boil.
As the temperature gets close, watch it – you don’t want this to boil over and lose good beer!
Step 8: Add hops (whatever your recipe calls for) and allow to boil for an hour (or so, whatever your recipe calls for).
Take pictures and be silly while allowing to boil. :)
Step 9: Cool liquid as quickly as possible. We used to do this in the kitchen sink with ice & water, but the shiny copper wort chiller makes this SO easy and well worth it.
Step 9: Transfer to Bucket & add yeast. I’ve been loving this Wyeast brand and we’ve used it for the last 3 or 4 beers (at least) – very consistent. Once yeast is added it’s time to agitate and get everything mixed together! Either put the top on REALLY shake the bucket or sanitize a spoon and mix the heck out of it!
Step 10: Store it somewhere with a cool, consistent temp. We put ours in our front coat closet.
And that’s it for a while…it sits in the closet until fermentation slows down. Typically this is one week, but it has been up to 3 weeks. At that point, we transfer to the carboy (the glass container on the right in the photo above) and let it sit for another 1 – 3 weeks (depended on what we are brewing). Finally we transfer to the bottle.
The best part, is when you get to crack open that bottle of beer YOU made and enjoy!
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Questions for you:
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Have you brewed your own beer before?
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What is your favorite kind of beer?
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
I like dark beers and recently started drinking sours – LOVE those.
I love the smell of hops, but don’t enjoy a hoppy (bitter end) beer… Jason loves those. We brew beer quite often, I love the process.
Another great use for carboys? Fill them with your spare change (silver only – no pennies!), I filled one in college and it was more than $1700!
YUM – I’m with you on sours – delicious! I haven’t had one in a while, I wonder if we could make on…
And $1700 in change – holy moley girl! :)
You call that easy? LOL! I did enjoy the one you have me though! I’ll leave the brewing up to you . Hee hee!
It is – REALLY! Lots of rest time and as much as we try to make it a 2-person job, it’s usually only one. :)
Thank you for sharing your foray into all grain brewing! My husband and I have almost a dozen batches under our belt, but to date it’s only been extract brewing. We’ll probably baby step up to partial mash before going all grain, but I’ve heard once you start, you never go back to extract brewing! We currently have a coffee stout (a personal favorite), an american rye, a scottish wee heavy and a dunkleweizen in process. Plans for a honey kolsch, raspberry wheat and a belgian blonde are underway. Crazy, I know! I’d love to see your Belgian Grand Cru recipe, if you are willing to share! Prost!
We started with partial mash and I was surprised that the all-grain transition was so easy. It’s really just an investment in more equipemtn.
Dunkleweizen sounds delicious!! The Grand Cru recipe is not our own, it’s from Midwest Brewing – so I’m VERY happy to share. :) http://www.midwestsupplies.com/grand-cru.html
We made the partial mash version first, this one is the all-grain. I can’t wait to compare!
Such a cool process! My Dad used to make his own beer when I was little. It’s kinda neat, but I’m such a wine-o. I could totally see myself making my own wine someday ;) Cool post, Heather!
Cool process that makes things smell amazing too – that’s my kind of fun! I’m not sure if I could make good enough wine to please my picky pallet, unless we lived in a different climate. :)
Awesome! We just brewed our fourth batch of beer yesterday, a knockoff of Bell’s Two Hearted Ale. I think Jeff is finally ready to start experimenting with his own recipes and then later this summer we’ll try our hand at all-grain. The best part of brew day is standing around drinking beer from the previous brew day!
We are going to start creating our own recipes now, wanted to get the hang of the all-grain brewing with predictable kits first. Have you seen the beersmith program? It’s a great tool for creating your recipes!
This makes me want to start a brewery.
I want to come to the next brew for sure. (Please :) )
I think we have the makings of a brewpub here – beer + delicious food! And you’re welcome to any brew session, it’s very relaxing. :)
yay! love it. my hubby brews his own beer and wrote a guest post about it for me a while ago. we were just at the store buying grain this weekend!
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What are you making next?! I love brewing beer! :)
I totally made Travis read this…he’s VERY intrigued! Might have to start our own little brewing company!
Do it, Lindsay! You’re in the land of craft breweries now!
Yes!! So cool! My husband and I brewed beer for the first time on my birthday back in February. We went to a facility that has all of the equipment and has someone to guide you through. I was amazed at how easy it is- kind of like cooking! We made an IPA and have a TON of it to enjoy for a while now. He’s dying to make a set-up at home and become a habitual home-brewer. I’m not opposed!
I’ve heard of those places, I think it’s great way to get started if you don’t know anyone who brews! I think you should encourage his new endeavor – it makes the house smell wonderful (when brewing indoors).
Interesting! I hope I see a Groupon for a beer kit sometime soon. I could go for silliness, pictures, and of course, my own good beer!
I drink seasonally, so I don’t have a favorite beer style. I guess I’m currently on an American IPA kick, but I see hefes in my future.
Keep your eyes open, you never know what you’ll find on Groupon! :)
I drink fairly seasonally (that’s actually why the last batch was an IPA), although I love me some dark beer year-round too. Next up is probably a hefe, so we’ll be ready for summer.
I have brewed my own beer before, although I had a little help as we chose to do it at a ‘U Brew’ place. The great thing was we didn’t have to worry about making a mess or sterilizing equipment; it was all done for us! We showed up on a week night, added all the ingredients, sampled some beer that was ready for bottling then came back and bottled when ours was ready!
Cheating? Perhaps, but it was great beer!
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Not cheating at all – it sounds like a great way to learn! The sterilizing & cleanup is the no-fun part of any activity like this, but it’s worth the effort. :) Do you think you’ll try again some day?
Not sure. I don’t drink very much these days. I prefer to eat my calories, rather than drink them!
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Haha – fair point! ;)
I’m a big fan of dark heavy beers – porters, stouts, etc. I like something I can sink my teeth into.
My husband used to brew back before we had kids. I’m hoping we can get back into brewing again in the near future.
Me too!! We could definately go drinking together – dark, thick, and wonderful is my favorite. Now that we have a huge pot, I want to try our hand at another one of those as it gets a little later in the year.
Think of getting back into brewing as saving money – it’s cheaper per bottle than buying! :)
i’ve always wondered about home brewing…looks delicious!
Delicious and satisfying to drink your own homemade brew! :)
Y’all are pros now! I can’t wait for a taste!