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So, you want to brew beer at home but you don’t know where to start? Maybe you’re making the move from extract brewing or diving right in with all grain. Either way, there’s an overwhelming amount of information out there and it can get confusing.
We’ve listened to what you’ve said on social, spoken with the newbies and pulled in the expertise of our resident brewers. Now we’re proud to share with you All Grain Brewing 101: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Beer at Home.
Read on for a step by step guide of everything you need to know to get started. If you want to know more about a topic, just follow the links provided to access an in-depth article or video.
We raise a glass to your journey and welcome you to the community of homebrewers across the globe.
Beer doesn’t just taste great; it has a fascinating history too. Brewing, in some form or other, has been around for thousands of years, with evidence of recipes dating back nearly as far as 2000BC. Beer quickly became the most popular alcoholic beverage in the world, with currently around 2 billion hectolitres being brewed worldwide, per year.
We want everyone to enjoy making beer at home, so let’s get started with the guide and get you up and brewing in no time.
Hops are what makes beer beer. They provide a flavour and aroma and help keep the beer fresher for longer. In most brewing situations, some number of hops are boiled in wort for 1-1.5 hours, and it is during this time that the ‘alpha acids’ provide the main bitter and preservative element of beer. We have compiled everything you need to know about hops in this great article.
Yeast is the most important element of brewing. It’s what converts the sugar to alcohol. Most yeast manufacturers indicate the ‘style’ of beer the yeast is most suited to, in order to help you in the beginning. This article walks you through how to pitch the correct quantity of healthy yeast.
Systems like ours have been created to make the hobby more accessible to everyone as they combine multiple pieces of the equipment into a single cohesive device. Don’t panic if you don’t have an all grain system yet, the essential bits of gear you will need to acquire to begin brewing are based on the same fundamentals. Our resident brewer walks you through the equipment essentials in this video.
If you are proceeding to all-grain brewing from extract, then you may also need to get your hands on a mash tun for the additional mashing process. While many systems including the Grainfather G30 combine both the kettle and the mash tun into a single piece, it is possible to use a separate mash tun from your kettle.
Mashing refers to the process where enzymes in the grain convert complex starches into sugars which can be turned into alcohol. Using a ‘Mash Tun’ the grains are steeped in warm water usually between 65°C – 68°C (149°F – 154°F) for an hour.
Once the mashing is complete the grains are ‘rinsed’ with new warm water to extract all the sugars from the grains.
To begin the fermentation process, you transfer cooled wort to a fermenting vessel and add the yeast. During this process, the yeast converts the sugar in the wort to alcohol and CO2. Important flavour compounds are also being created at this stage.
While we do not have complete control over our fermenting time, controlling the temperature is important to the outcome of the fermentation time and the quality of the finished product.
We have compiled an in-depth guide to fermentation to help you avoid any mistakes.
When it comes to packaging your beer at the end of the process there are several options available to homebrewers. The most popular of these choices is bottling or kegging.
Bottling beer
Bottling is generally the cheaper and simple option for those starting out. It also makes it easier to turn up to a BBQ with your latest homebrew in hand.
Just like everything in brewing, bottles need to be clean and sanitised. Fortunately, this can be as easy as running them through a hot wash in a clean dishwasher. Bottles can be glass or plastic and can be reused to make the hobby even more sustainable.
If you’re planning on bottling your homebrew, take a read of our guide to bottling beer.
Kegging
Kegging beer is a more consistent alternative to bottling – it also takes less time.
Kegs can be hooked up to a tap and served just like your local brewery. It’s more of an investment but as well as ease of process, it comes with the ultimate bragging rights. Picture your next hangout, sharing your latest brew from your home bar set up. If you think kegging is the way to package up your brew, you can find some great tips in our guide to kegging.
We recommend following brew day videos on YouTube to see the process in action. You can subscribe to our channel here.
A great way to save money is by creating a yeast starter. Yeast will happily reproduce under the right conditions. This means that you can multiply the number of yeast cells from one packet. The process is straightforward and it takes less than an hour to set up.
The bitterness, flavour and aroma in hoppy beers like IPA’s, mostly come from essential oils in hops. Hops in the boil is essential to the production of iso-alpha acids which determine the bitterness of the beer, but you will want to add your hops towards the end of the boil if you want some delicious notes (as most of the flavour and aroma oils are easily boiled off.)
Dry hopping is the process of adding the hops back into the beer to steep towards, or at the end of fermentation.
This technique preserves as much flavour and aroma in the final beer which is great for hoppy beer styles like pale ales and IPAs.
Through trial and error, we have compiled the best techniques, backed by prominent breweries on dry hopping. You can get the article here.
As you develop your skills, you may wish to experiment with different techniques like step mashing. Step mashing is where the temperature is progressively increased through a series of rests. It’s a great technique for producing more variety and more distinctive beers. If you want to learn more about this technique, you can watch our instructional video here.
New and seasoned homebrewers alike often experience different off flavours in beer at some stage of the journey. This can be quite disappointing, so if you want to learn more about recognising, remedying and avoiding common off flavours, read our article here.
The clarity of homebrew goes through phases, currently, we are in the phase of hazy is fine, but many beer styles call for brilliant clarity. Here is how and what to do when clarity is needed: The number one cause of a murky brew is called the chill haze which comes primarily from the malt you use. You will know if it’s a chill haze as it will subside when the beer warms up. You can minimise or reduce chill haze by:
If you are worried about the look of your beer, a permanent haze will be the bane of tasting day. As the name suggests, it’s a haze that doesn’t go away. It could also suggest a serious problem in the brewing process. A permanent haze can be due to biological contamination. You will easily be able to identify a biological haze as it’s not just the look that will be off. There’s little that can be done to fix the problem but it will be a learning curve to tighten your sanitation process to prevent it happening in your next batch.
We are working on bringing you a more extensive blog of homebrewers tips and tricks so watch this space!
Now for the fun stuff!
Choosing your recipe may reflect your choice in beer or perhaps you want to start off with a blonde ale to ease yourself in. Whatever tickles your fancy, we have you covered along with a whole bunch of creative inspiration.
If you haven’t already, join our community of craft brewers and gain free access to a catalogue of recipes.
If you’re really serious about homebrewing, we recommend further reading. Or listening! Here are our recommendations for brewing books and podcasts.
Congratulations, you’ve graduated from homebrew wannabe to a well-informed crafter. Now you just need to get started. Don’t forget to follow our social channels to stay up to date with even more great content.
