Check the ingredients against yourrecipe sheettomake sure you have everything
listed. Place the yeastin the refrigerator.
Early on the brew day, remove the yeast from the fridge and allow it to come to
room temperature. Activate your yeast package. If using Wyeast’s “smack pack”
follow their directions.
Clean your brewing equipment so that it is clean to your eye, dust free, and then
sanitize all equipment that will be used during brewing with a no wash sanitizer.
In a 3+ gallon stockpot, begin heating 2.5 gallons of water and bring to 150-170°
F. While the water is heating, place the crushed grains in your bag and tie it
off. Make sure to have the grains loose in the back, don’t pack them. Check
the temperature of your water with the thermometer and make sure the
water is between 150-170° F. Remove bag, drain over the brew pot, and
discard the grains.
Bring the resulting liquid (now called wort) to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn
off the heat and add the first extract in your recipe. Stir well and make sure it
doesn’t burn or scorch on the bottom, then return the heat.
Bring to a boil. Keep the lid off of the pot during this period, allowing
steam to escape. Try to keep a consistent rolling boil.
Once the wort is boiling set your timer for 60 minutes and add bittering hops to
your recipe. These are the first hops listed as “60 minutes” on your recipe.
The times listed in a recipe always state how long the hops or other ingredients
should be boiled.
As the timer hits 0, turn off the heat and add the rest of the malt extract or
any 0 minute hops your recipe calls for. After your 60 minute boil the total
volume of your wort will be 10-20% less than your original volume.
Chill your wort immediately. You can use a wort chiller, or place your kettle
in an ice bath in the sink. When your wort is under 90 degrees, pour into
your fermenter (using a funnel if you have a carboy), or use your sanitized
auto-siphon.
While the wort is chilling, gather your already cleaned and sanitized
equipment: the hydrometer and tube, thermometer, fermenter, lid, airlock,
and carboy cap if using a carboy. Anything that touches the wort after the
boil should be sanitized and placed on a clean counter or paper towel.
Top up with cool water to the 5.25 gallon mark on your fermenter. Stir well, or
agitate the wort to provide aeration. Take a sample out of the fermenter using a
wine theif or racking cane, and place the hydrometer in your test tube. Float the
hydrometer in the wort, spinning gently to keep it from touching the sides. This
reading is your “Original Gravity” or OG for short.
Using sanitized scissors to open a corner of your yeast package, or open
the vial (depending on the brand of yeast you have), and add it to your
wort.
Coverwith the sanitized lid or bung, and fillthe airlock up to the linewith
cleanwater. Place the airlock in the hole, and keep in a dark place, ideally at
65-66° Fahrenheit, unless yourrecipe states otherwise.
Cover with a sanitized lid or bung and fill the airlock up to the marked line
with clean water or sanitizer. Place the airlock in the hole of your bung or
bucked, place the fermenter in a dark space (ideally at 65-66°F), and let
your homebrew ferment.
Signs of activity should start within 24 – 48 hours, and continue for
several days finally completing after 10 – 14 days provided the
fermentation has stopped. One the foam (also known as krausen) has
fallen back down allow the beer to sit and clear for a few more days. You
can now take another reading with your hydrometer by extracting some
of the beer with a sanitized wine theif or racking cane. This reading will
be your “Final Gravity”, also known as FG. In at least two days check it
again, if it is the same then your beer can now be bottled. If your beer
calls for dryhops then this is the stage in which they will be added.