How to brew beer at home without equipment is a simple recipe. The basics of home brewing

19.10.2019

“Beer is another proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!” Words by Benjamin Franklin. American father-founder, politician, inventor, scientist, writer, diplomat, musician and talented businessman.

In a word, he can be trusted!” Beer is another proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!” Words by Benjamin Franklin. The American father is a founder, politician, inventor, scientist, writer, diplomat, musician, and talented businessman. In a word, you can trust him!

Beer is a unique drink with a rich history. This drink is loved everywhere. AT different countries The world has its own unique recipes for its preparation. There is reason to believe that beer is the most ancient alcoholic beverage in the history of mankind. The first mention of it is ten thousand years old.

It is truly known that the Sumerians and Babylonians drank beer. This drink has gone through history, and in our time has only become more popular.

Equipment

enamel saucepan at least 30 liters
thermometer
5 meters of gauze
grain mill
iodine and white plate
special container for fermentation with a water seal
hydrometer (device for measuring sugar levels)
glass or plastic bottles from opaque material with stoppers for the finished product

Real live beer is a substance that is constantly in the fermentation stage, as soon as it ends, the beer dies. The initial stage of fermentation takes place in the same way as with any other alcoholic beverages, it is during this period that beer is “born”, its aroma and taste qualities are laid down.

At this stage, care must be taken ideal conditions, in which the characteristics of the drink will be laid down, the fundamental one is temperature. Ideal indicators + 18-20 ° С. With a warmer room atmosphere, intensive fermentation will not allow the beer to ripen properly, and at a temperature exceeding +36 °, yeast cultures (and beer with them) die.

Traditional recipe with malt and hops

Training

The first step is to thoroughly wash all equipment.

IMPORTANT! If we approach the issue of sterilization through the sleeves, the whole further work will simply go down the drain, since the so-called “wild yeast” or other pathogenic organisms can get into the wort. In the end, instead of a divine drink, you get a tasteless mash.

Then you need to prepare dry yeast. To activate the fungus, it is necessary to pour the entire volume of the package into a large number of water with a temperature of 25-28 degrees for 15-30 minutes. Different manufacturers press and pack yeast in different ways, so it's best to stick to the information on the package.

Malt crushing

The crushing of malt grains is a very important step in the brewing process. Ideally, the grain should be divided into 5-7 pieces. It is important that the pieces retain particles of the peel. Malt, ground into flour, is simply not possible to filter.

For the correct grinding process, it is best to use a special grain mill, with which you can get the malt of the desired grinding. You can use a simple meat grinder, but there is a risk that the grains will be crushed too much, or simply crushed.
You can buy ready-made crushed malt in the store, but often unscrupulous manufacturers add flour or starch to it to increase the volume.

Brewing preparation and mashing

It is necessary to prepare a bag made of 3-4 layers of clean gauze. You will need pieces no smaller than a meter by a meter. The grated malt is placed in a bag in such a way that it does not spill out.

Pour into a saucepan with a volume of 25 liters, put on fire, heat to 80 degrees.
We put a bag of malt in the pan, close the lid.
The water temperature during the brewing process should be 67 degrees - it is at this temperature that a beer with a strength of about 4% is obtained, quite dense, with a mild taste.
After an hour and a half of continuous cooking, you need to make an iodine test.
It is necessary to determine whether starch remains in the wort.
We take a few tablespoons of the wort, put them on a clean white plate.
Add a couple of drops of iodine. If the color has not changed, then the malt is ready for the next step.
If the malt turns blue, continue to boil for another 15 minutes.
After the additional time, no further testing is necessary.

Brewing malt is necessary in order to start the natural processes of fermentation of the ingredients. After the breakdown of all the starch, this process must be stopped. To do this, raise the temperature of the water in the pan to 80 degrees and cook for another 5 minutes.

Then we take out the bag with malt from the pan and thoroughly wash it in 2 liters of water at a temperature of 78 degrees. Rinse water is added to the wort. Thus, the remains of extractive substances are washed out of the malt.

The described method of mashing the wort is called "in the bag". When using it, there is no need to use a complex system of filtration and multiple transfusions.

Boiling the wort

We put the pan with the wort on the fire, bring to a boil, add 15 grams of the wort. Cook for 30 minutes over high heat. Next, add another 15 grams of hops, continue to actively boil for another 40 minutes, and then add the remaining 15 grams of hops and boil for 20 minutes. In total, the entire boiling process lasts an hour and a half.

IMPORTANT! During this time, it should boil quite actively.

Cooling

At this stage, you need to try to cool the beer wort as quickly as possible to a temperature of 24-26 degrees. If the cooling is slow, there is a risk of contamination of the wort with bacteria or wild yeast. The ideal option is cooling in 15-30 minutes. You can use a special immersion cooler, consisting of a hollow tube, twisted into a spiral, and two plastic hoses at the ends. Cold water is passed through the cooler for 15 minutes.

If a cooler is not available, the pot of wort can be placed in a tub of very cold water. It is best to pour ice into the bath. This method is easier, but there is a risk of overturning a heavy container, resulting in serious burns.

Adding yeast

Depending on the type of yeast, fermentation can be top or bottom. You must carefully read the instructions on the package. Top fermentation occurs at a temperature of 18-22 degrees. For bottom fermentation, it is necessary to cool the wort to 5-10 degrees.

Add diluted yeast to the wort, mix well.
We put the container in a dark, cool place, install a water seal.
It is necessary in order to avoid the intake of excess oxygen.
It is necessary to follow the temperature recommendations indicated on the packaging of the yeast.
For different cultures conditions may vary.

Within 8-12 hours, an active fermentation process begins, which lasts 2-3 days. Then the process slows down a bit. After another 5-7 days, you need to check the beer preparation - if everything goes as it should, the beer should become light. Using a hydrometer, we measure the level of sugar: we measure, and after 12 hours we repeat the measurement. If the difference in readings differs by hundredths, you can proceed to the next step. In case of a large difference, let the liquid stand for another day, and then repeat the measurement procedure.

Carbonization is the process of saturating the future drink with carbon dioxide. In addition, this process improves the palatability of the product and guarantees a thick foam. Add sugar to the prepared bottles at the rate of 8 grams per 1 liter. During the transfusion, yeast must not be disturbed, which, depending on the type of culture, can accumulate either from below or from above. It is convenient to pour using a plastic tube, one end of which is placed in the middle of the container, and the other - at the bottom of the bottle.

EDIT. If the yeast does get into the bottle, it will make the beer cloudy, change the taste a little, but in general will not spoil the drink.

We fill the bottles so that there is a distance of 2 centimeters between the liquid and the cork. Sugar starts the process of additional fermentation in beer, so we put the bottles in a dark, dry place for 3 weeks. The temperature should not be higher than 24 degrees. Shake the bottles well once a week.

After 3 weeks the beer is ready! When closed in the refrigerator, the drink is stored for 6-9 months, depending on the temperature settings of the refrigerator. After opening the bottle, the beer is stored for up to 3 days.

REFERENCE. During the first 30 days of storage, the taste of the drink improves significantly, so it makes sense to let the beer rest for another month.

A simple recipe without equipment for a home brewery

In addition to the rather long traditional technology of beer brewing, there are many simple and quick recipes cooking.

For the simplest you will need:

barley malt - 6 kilograms
water - 22-24 liters
hops - 6 cups
molasses or jam - 1.5 cups, or sugar - 200 grams
salt - 1 teaspoon

Pour cold water into a clean large saucepan and add crushed malt. We leave for 12-16 hours. We put the mixture on fire, add salt, boil for 2 hours. Add hops, cook for another half hour. Carefully pass the beer through cheesecloth, add diluted brewer's yeast, molasses, jam or sugar, mix. The beer should stand for 6-9 hours, then we bottle the drink and leave it for another 8 hours - the beer is ready!

The drink should be stored in the refrigerator.

Homemade dark beer

For its preparation take:

Grains of rye, barley, wheat, oats - 0.5 kg (total).
Chicory - 30-50 gr.
Dry hop cones - 50 gr.
Purified water - 10 liters.
Lemon zest - from 1 fruit.

Before cooking, the mixture of grains is fried in a dry frying pan until the cereals turn brown, then crushed.

Boil 3 liters of water in a large bowl, throw the prepared grain and chicory into it.
Add all the remaining water, add hops, sugar, zest and remove from heat, this is the wort of beer.
After 4-5 hours, it will ferment, for this the room should be warm, not colder than 20 ° C, but you should not put it near the radiator so that the yeast does not die from the heat.
The liquid is filtered through 2-3 layers of gauze and bottled, which are cleaned in the cold for at least 3-4 weeks.

After the specified time, you can conduct a tasting, if necessary, dark beer is given additional time to infuse. In the refrigerator, such a drink is stored sealed for up to six months, an open bottle is not more than a week

honey beer recipe

Compound:

Ripe strawberries - 2 kg.
Dry hop cones - 25 gr.
Purified water - 25 liters.
Natural honey -5 kg.

Cooking technology:

Dissolve honey completely in water.
Add hop cones and berries
Mix everything thoroughly.
Tie the neck of the dish with gauze or a thin cloth (to allow air to circulate easily) and leave to ferment for 4-7 days.
After this period, the container is closed with a lid and the drink ferments for another 30-40 days, it should be stirred daily.
At the end of the second week, the beer is tasted for sweetness; if necessary, or if fermentation is weak, another kilogram of honey is added.
The fact that the beer has fermented is signaled by the berries that have fallen down. You need to wait another week, strain the liquid through 2-3 layers of gauze and pour into 3-liter jars, which escape into a cold room for 1-2 months.
During this time, a precipitate forms in them, from which the beer is carefully poured into bottles, corked and stored in a cellar or refrigerator.

Berries should not be washed before cooking. On their surface are natural yeast, without which the fermentation process will not begin.

The best snacks

In different countries, they prefer beer varieties with their own characteristics, and therefore snacks for it also differ. For example, the Germans have a special love for strong, rich types of beer, which are wonderfully combined with hearty and fatty meals:

Veal sausages with lard and spices.
Salted pretzels.
Baked shank.
Various types of cheese and crackers.
Stewed on duck fat, sauerkraut.
Obazza (a spicy mixture of cheese, butter, onion and paprika).

In our country, it is customary to serve beer with:

Croutons from rye, white bread, long loaf with various sauces, garlic, salt.
Crayfish, shrimp.
Various types of croutons.
Salted fish (dried, smoked, dried).
Salted varieties of hard cheese.
Raw smoked sausage, salmon.
Salted nuts (peanuts, pistachios)
Smoked pig ears.

Beer experts are astounded by our habit of drinking beer with a ram, which they consider to be the least palatable appetizer to this drink. However, this tradition dates back to Soviet time when salted-dried fish was the most accessible due to the fact that it was cooked by themselves from their own fishing catch. Other, more refined beer products were scarce and expensive.

Among Americans, “junk” food is popular as an addition to an intoxicating drink:

Crisps.
Packaged crackers.
French fries with sauces.
Fried chicken wings.
Nuggets.

Experts consider such an assortment to be the most unsuccessful, firstly, because high content preservatives, calories and hidden fats in snacks, and, secondly, that too spicy spices and an abundance of enhancers do not allow you to feel the taste of the beer itself, not to mention successfully emphasizing the products

Of course, to make beer at home, you have to tinker. It is necessary to carefully approach the issue of choosing ingredients, you will have to buy additional equipment. But the result is worth it! Indeed, in the end result, instead of purchased store-bought beer with preservatives and dyes, you will get high-quality natural product. Real handmade craft beer!

Video cooking recipe

Check out a simple step by step recipe for making beer at home:

In any store you can buy beer from the most different manufacturers(both dark and light). But what makes some fans master the technology of making this drink. Some want to experience new flavors, others find interest in the very process of brewing at home.

Contrary to popular belief, not an easy task. There are many recipes, but not all of them will lead you to success. It is important to be able to choose the right ingredients, inventory and follow the technology exactly. Any mistake can lead to the fact that instead of what you want, you get mash or some other alcoholic drink.

Which products to choose?

Home Brewing Equipment

The dishes must be taken larger in volume than the intended beer. Is there one important condition? All equipment must be sterile. To do this, treat the items with boiling water and dry them with a clean towel.

Before making beer at home, be sure to wash and dry your hands cleanly.

Detailed traditional technology

So, at home you have all the necessary ingredients and equipment ready. Let's start a difficult but interesting process.

Stage 1. Mashing malt

First you need to achieve a certain temperature regime. Put water on the stove and heat it up to 61 to 72°. In the future, you will have to maintain a stable temperature within this limit. The strength of the beer and its aroma will depend on this.

To get a higher degree of alcohol, choose the lower temperature limit. If you leave the value at 70?72°, then you will get not very strong, but aromatic beer. Optimum temperature it is considered 65 °, at which the future fortress will be 4 °.

It is better to place the malt first in a cloth bag (preferably made of linen), and then in hot water.

Boil the mixture for 1-1.5 hours. Then check it for the presence of starch. How to do it at home? Take a white saucer and pour some malt into it, and then add a drop of iodine. If the mixture turns blue, then starch is present in the malt. And it shouldn't be there. In this case, boiling
continue for another 15 minutes.

Stage 2. Filtering

An ordinary colander and gauze, which were described above, are suitable as a filter. Slowly pass the resulting liquid with malt and squeeze a linen bag into the filter.

Step 3: Add Hops

10-15 g of hops are added to 10 liters of hot wort. Then the liquid must be boiled for another hour.

Stage 4. Wort cooling

You can simply leave the dishes with the wort to cool at room temperature. However, at this point, there is a high probability of contamination of the future beer with foreign microorganisms. How to speed up the process? To do this, the wort is placed in a bath of cold water for 30 minutes. Make sure that the temperature does not fall below room temperature.

After cooling the wort, repeat the filtration procedure. Pour the liquid into the fermentation container.

Step 5: Adding Yeast

In 1 l warm water dilute 0.25 g of yeast. Wait 15 minutes, and then add them to a large container and mix with the wort.

Stage 6. Waiting

Now you just have to put the pan in a dark place at home and wait 1-1.5 weeks. A live drink needs time to ferment. Therefore, it is kept for another 1 week in the refrigerator.

Stage 7. Bottling

Prepare some clean bottles and add some granulated sugar to the bottom. Use the silicone hose to pour the beer from the fermentation tank into the bottles. It is important that the hose does not touch the surfaces and the bottom of the pan. Otherwise, sediments may get into the beer.

First, the beer is kept warm for several days (so that the sugar saturates the beer with carbon dioxide), and then? in the cold. As you can see, the described technology has a lot of nuances and takes a lot of time. Is it possible to make everything easier?

Today you can find many recipes that will help you make your favorite drink at home in an easier way.

Very simple recipe

For those who are not ready to spend a lot of time and effort at home, but want to try home-made beer, we recommend the following recipe.

Water? 5 l.
Hop cones? 16
Sugar? 250 g.
Dry yeast? 10 y.

Make beer in the following way. Boil the cones in water for an hour and a half. Dissolve sugar in water and add to liquid. Boil the resulting mixture for 20 minutes. Then we filter the beer, cool to room temperature and add the yeast. It remains only to bottle the beer and stand for 5 days.

Bavarian beer recipe

This recipe, on the contrary, is very complex. If you correctly fulfill all the conditions, the result will be a beer that is unique in taste and aroma.

You will need the following ingredients:

Sweet and sour custard bread? 4 pounds.
Rye malt? 2 pounds.
Salt? 0.25 tsp
Yeast? 15 y.
Pepper? 10 grains.
Hop? 1.5 lbs.
Sugar? 1 lb.
Water.

They do everything in this order. Bread should be finely chopped, pepper? crush and grind, hops? scald with boiling water. Dissolve yeast in a glass of warm water. Put all the ingredients in a cast iron cauldron (sugar is taken in the amount of 0.5 pounds). Pour the mixture with water until the consistency of thick sour cream is obtained, cover with a thick cloth and put in a warm place for a day.

The next day, add the remaining sugar, diluted with boiling water, and boiled water (15 liters) to the cauldron. Cover and place in preheated oven for 2 days.

Remove the cauldron from the oven, cool the mixture. Pour it into a ceramic dish, and pour 3 liters of boiling water into the cauldron. Pour the liquid from the boiler into the previously drained mixture.

Mix everything thoroughly, pour into a large container (for example, an enamel pan) and bring to a boil. Remove the resulting foam, filter the resulting liquid and bottle. Close them tightly with corks and put them in a cold place for 15 days.

Any connoisseur of a hoppy foamy drink dreams of brewing his own beer at home - as practice shows, this dream is available to everyone. And you don’t need to purchase expensive equipment at all: cooking home beer quite possible without any mini-breweries. You just have to master the process of making yeast, mashing malt and boiling the wort, as well as learn how the processes of fermentation and fermentation proceed.

Real beer is certainly brewed with malt and hops, which are the necessary ingredients of the classic version of this wonderful drink. Malt is necessary to saturate the beer with enzymes, starch and proteins that make up its basis, while giving the drink a sweetish taste, richness and characteristic color. Hops in homemade beer have a beneficial effect on the formation and persistence of foam, and also distinguish beer from other drinks with a specific bitterness. When making beer at home, in order to preserve the original taste, as a rule, they do not resort to such laborious processes as filtration and pasteurization. Such a drink has a richer taste and a dense foam cap. It also contains no harmful preservatives.

For some reason, many people believe that before making homemade beer, it is necessary to purchase a mini-brewery or other expensive special equipment. Such a delusion belongs to the category of myth-making. You can brew beer at home by having such improvised tools as a large saucepan (boiling out), a fermentation tank (made of glass or food-grade plastic), bottles, a small-diameter silicone hose (for removing beer from sediment), a thermometer (for controlling the required temperatures) and a bath of ice water to serve as a cooler.

In this article, you will learn how to brew homemade beer without equipment and get valuable tips for beginner brewers.

Ingredients for the recipe for making beer at home: malt and hops

So, the main ingredients for a simple homemade beer recipe will be malt, hops, yeast and water. Let's consider each of them separately.

Malt- this is a sprouted bread grain (barley, rye, wheat, etc.). best time spring and autumn are considered for its germination, although this process is available almost at any time of the year. The main thing is that the grain is of high quality and sprouts quickly. It is customary to give preference for homemade malt beer to light grains with a yellowish tint. At the same time, attention should be paid to the fact that the outer shell of the grain has a slightly wrinkled configuration, and the grain itself is white, powdery and has a specific smell. In order to determine the quality of grain suitable for making malt, you need to fill a ten-liter container with it. If its weight exceeds 7 kg, then this is what you need. As the main ingredient in homemade beer recipes, malt determines the most characteristic features of the drink, such as color, taste and smell. There are several types of malt: Vienna, Munich, peat, toasted, caramel, black, etc. Dark malt, which has a light brown color, gives the beer a golden hue; caramel malt, sweetish in taste, improves foam stability and enhances the fullness of taste; roasted malt having a very dark color, is used to enhance the color of the intoxicating drink. Ready-made malt can be ordered through online stores, but you can also prepare it yourself according to the following old recipe.

Before brewing homemade beer, the grain must be sorted out, washed in cold water, covered with a damp cloth and placed in warm place. If there is not enough moisture, then additionally sprinkle it with water. After a few days, the grain will begin to germinate. Sprouted grains should be scattered in a thin layer on a sheet and dried in the oven, then ground in a manual mill or coffee grinder.

How the malt is germinated and dried largely determines the color, taste and fullness of the taste of the beer. Proper processing of malt for beer at home is of great importance. Therefore, the purified malt must be cooled, weighed and placed in a special malt storage for a period of at least 30 days.

Hop- this heterosexual plant grows everywhere, often being a malicious weed in vegetable gardens. In brewing, only hops are used for homemade beer recipes. female flowers, which are large dark yellow heads with a specific intense odor. If you rub such a head, a bitter substance similar to flour dust will appear. Hops usually ripen in mid-August. Uniform closed buds of medium size, green or yellow-green in color indicate good quality hops. The petals of such cones are rich in hop flour, have a delicate texture and a pleasant aroma. Garlic-smelling buds are of poor quality and unsuitable for use in hop and malt homebrew recipes.

Hops, like malt, can be ordered through online stores, but it is not difficult to prepare them yourself. Ripe cones to collect and dry under a canopy. For this purpose, you should prepare in advance a square-shaped wooden box without a bottom with dimensions of 50 cm in height and width, attaching a linen bag to its inner walls. Pour the collected hops into this bag in parts, carefully tamping each bookmark. After the container is completely filled, remove the bag of hops from the box, sew up and store in a dry place.

Do-it-yourself water and yeast for brewing beer at home

Yeast. For home beer recipes, special top- and bottom-fermenting yeasts are used, giving preference to the latter, since their flakes quickly settle to the bottom in a dense layer at the end of the fermentation process. Best result hop yeast is produced when brewing beer, but regular baker's yeast can also be used.

Water. Quality water is essential to making good home-brewed beer. It is better to use soft water. To test it for softness, you should lower a piece of soap into it: in soft water it quickly dissolves and foams well. If the water is hard, then it must be boiled for at least 30 minutes. It is best to use water taken from a spring. But it is suitable only if the spring does not freeze in winter, if the water in it is very cold in summer, if the water is very clean and has no smell or taste, and if grass grows well around the source.

All the necessary ingredients for homemade beer are shown in these photos:

How to make beer yeast at home: simple recipes

In online stores, you can order special yeast for making beer (beer yeast from a pharmacy is not suitable for this purpose), but you can make your own yeast fungus. Making yeast for homemade beer, as practice shows, is not difficult at all.

1st recipe. Dilute 1 cup of rye flour with warm water and leave for 5-6 hours at room temperature. Then pour in 1 glass of any beer, add 1 tbsp. l. granulated sugar, mix thoroughly, put again in a warm place and keep until the fermentation process begins. Pour ready-made yeast for simple home-brewed beer into a resealable container and store in a cool place.

2nd recipe. Pour dry hops with hot water (take 2 parts of water for 1 part of hops) and boil until half of the liquid has evaporated. Strain the warm broth, add sugar and wheat flour (for 1 glass of liquid - 1 tablespoon of sugar and 0.5 cups of flour), cover with a napkin or cloth and put in a warm place for 1.5-2 days. Pour ready yeast into bottles, close and keep in a cool place.

3rd recipe. Fresh hop cones for a simple homemade beer recipe should be washed with cold water and put in an enamel bowl. Then pour hot water (so that it covers the hops), stir and put on a slow fire for 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat, cool a little, mix well, squeezing the cones with your hands, and strain through a sieve or gauze. What remains on the sieve, carefully wring out with your hands and strain again. Put as much flour (rye or wheat) into the filtered hops as needed to obtain a mass of creamy consistency, and ferment in a warm place for 2-3 days. Finished yeast close tightly and store in a cool place.

4th recipe. Pour 1 kg of fresh hops into an enamel pan or clay pot, pour 2 liters of hot water, close tightly with a lid, bring to a boil, cook for 1 hour and strain. Then add 2 tbsp. l. flour, 1 tbsp. l. sugar, 1 tbsp. l. salt, mix well and put in a warm place for two days. Then add 2 pureed boiled potatoes, mix and leave warm for another day. Pour ready-made yeast for brewing beer at home into bottles and store in a cool place.

5th recipe. Pour a large handful of dry hops with half a glass of hot water, add 1 tsp. honey, put on fire, cook for about 3 minutes and strain. In a chilled infusion add 1 tbsp. l. flour, mix it all well and keep for two days in a warm place. Pour the finished yeast into a tightly closed container and store in a cool place.

The following sections of the article are devoted directly to how to brew beer at home.

How to brew beer at home: mashing malt

The technological process of making beer at home comes down to four main stages: mashing malt, wort boiling, fermentation and maturation of beer. Let's try to consider each of them in more detail.

Mashing malt- This is a very important stage, which should be taken seriously. In Dahl's dictionary, you can read the following: "Mash kvass, beer, knead flour and malt, set." To make homemade beer, you need to mix the malt with water, crushing it first with a coffee grinder or hand mill. It is necessary to ensure that the malt does not turn into a homogeneous mass, it must be crushed into small pieces. Ideally, it should contain both coarse grains with the preservation of particles of grain peel, and flour. When malt is combined with hot water, the starch contained in the grains will be split into sugar (maltose) and soluble substances(dextrins). Before crushing the malt to brew beer at home, it is recommended to lightly sprinkle it with water so that the skin of the grains acquires greater elasticity and is less damaged during grinding. After the malt is crushed, you can proceed to the preparation of the mash, i.e. kneading for brewing beer.

In the practice of brewers, two methods of making mash for homemade beer with their own hands have been fixed: English and Bavarian (Munich).

With the English method, cool the water brought to a boil to such a state that you can hold your hand in it (about 55 ° C), pour it into a large container with a double bottom (mash tun), add crushed malt there and knead until until all the flour dissolves in the water. Considering that after the introduction of malt, the temperature will drop, you need to add boiling water to the mixture to raise it to 60 ° C. Then mix everything well, let stand for 1-1.5 hours, strain to get the first (main) wort, and pour into the digester. And pour the second portion of boiling water into the container with the remaining malt, let it brew a little and pour it into a common cauldron. After the second must, you can make a third. After that, all the resulting wort is boiled together. Every brewer needs to learn how to calculate how much malt and mash water to use. The main thing to remember is that the volume of water provided for a certain amount of malt includes all the water needed.

Using the old Bavarian method, before brewing beer at home, you need to soak the malt in cold water before mashing. To do this, all the malt provided for in the recipe should be mixed with half the norm of the required water and kept for several hours (the malt should dissolve well and release as much of its enzymes as possible into the solution). At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the temperature of the mash does not exceed 20 ° C, so that the malt does not turn sour and does not deteriorate. The “brewing” operation for homemade hop and malt beers is best done in the evening so that the main work can begin the next day. In the morning, bring the remaining water (second half) to a boil and pour, stirring constantly, boiling water (or part of it) into the mash tun, bringing the temperature of the malt to 37-40 ° C. After that, place a third of the volume of the mash in a container in which the water was heated, bring to a boil, making sure that the mixture does not burn (the darkening of the wort and the burnt taste cannot be eliminated), and again pour into the mash tun, bringing the temperature in it to 50 ° FROM. After thorough kneading, the third part of the mash (it is better to take it from the bottom, where it is thicker) is poured into a container again, heated to 60-62 ° C and returned to the mash tun again. Finally, for the third time, pour a third of the mash (already thinner) into a container, bring to a boil, simmer over low heat for no more than 30 minutes, stirring continuously, and return everything to the mash tun, raising the temperature total weight up to 70-75 °С.

Mixing the mash for making beer at home in last time, you need to let it stand for 1 hour and strain.

See how to mash malt for making beer at home in these photos:

How to make beer at home: wort brewing

For making beer classic recipe, the wort obtained after mashing the malt must be boiled and brought to the required concentration by boiling, evaporating the excess liquid. During this process at high temperature, the following happens: the remaining enzymes are destroyed and pathogenic microorganisms are destroyed, as a result of which the wort is sterilized, and the beer is clarified after the precipitation of proteins. Before you make beer at home according to this recipe, before you start brewing the wort, you must perform an iodine test. You need to do it this way: take a drop of mash liquid from the boiler, transfer it to a saucer, and place a drop of iodine alcohol tincture next to it. Once the wort has cooled to room temperature, mix the droplets. If the drop immediately turns blue, then starch is present in the wort. To remove it, the wort must be kept at a temperature of 70-75 ° C for some time. Now you can move on to hopping the wort.

When to add hops to the wort to brew this homebrew beer, and how to do it, are controversial questions. Someone puts part of the necessary hops immediately after boiling the wort, others introduce it 1 hour before draining the finished wort, while others first insist the hops in hot water(50-75 °C) under the lid for 1-1.5 hours and only then lay it in the wort. In some cases, hop cones are torn and crushed, and in others they are mashed together with malt. Hops should be removed from the wort during straining. The total duration of wort brewing is 1.5-2 hours. When brewing the wort without hops, it should be allowed to boil “key”, when hopping, switch to a moderate boil, and shortly before draining the wort, reduce it to a minimum. The amount of hops added to the wort depends on many factors. This is the quality of the hop itself, and the type of beer, and the concentration of the wort, and the composition drinking water and other reasons. You can focus on the following data: for 100 kg of malt for light varieties with a density of 10-12% is 0.4-0.6 kg of hops, for dark varieties with a density of 12-13% - 0.3-0.4 kg of hops.

Well-brewed and clarified beer must be filtered through a fine mesh to separate hops and other impurities that have settled to the bottom. To brew delicious beer at home according to this recipe, it should be borne in mind that a lot of wort is retained in wet hops, so the hop residues formed during the decanting process must be squeezed out well. The wort filtered from hops should be cooled as soon as possible to a temperature of 4-6 ° C. Hopped wort can be cooled by placing it in any container in a draft or in a cellar, as well as with the help of ice (fill some thin-walled vessel with ice and let it float on the surface of the wort). Homemade beer according to this recipe should be kept chilled until the haze settles. To speed up this process, the wort mixing procedure has proven itself.

Home beer fermentation

The stage of fermentation of beer from hops at home is associated with the introduction of yeast and the regulation of the fermentation process. To do this, add yeast (beer is better) to the boiled wort and mix everything thoroughly. Practice shows that in brewing more wide application received bottom-fermenting yeast. From the moment the yeast is introduced into the fermentation tank, the main fermentation begins, as a result of which young beer is formed. There are 4 distinct stages in this process.

1st stage ("zabel"). At this stage of making beer at home, carbon dioxide begins to be released in the wort, rising in bubbles to the surface, as a result of which, after 12-20 hours, a dense white foam forms. By the end of the "zabela" bubbles of carbon dioxide are collected near the walls of the fermentation tank and shift the film formed on the surface to the center. This means that the start of the wort fermentation proceeds normally. After 24 hours, the temperature in the fermentation tank should rise by 0.2-0.3 °C. To make beer at home on this simple recipe, the 1st stage of fermentation will take 1-2 days.

2nd stage ("stage of low (white) curls"). Here, the yeast becomes more active, contributing to increased fermentation, which is characterized by a large formation of carbon dioxide. Its bubbles form a foam in the form of white roses, called curls. The temperature in the mash tun rises from 0.5°C to 0.8°C in 24 hours. The duration of this stage is 2-3 days.

3rd stage (“stage of high (brown) curls”). Yeast activity becomes even more active and reaches a maximum. The curls increase and change from white to brown due to the fact that carbon dioxide bubbles raise all kinds of suspensions, chemical compounds and other substances from the bottom, which quickly oxidize and darken in air. The temperature of the wort increases so much that to maintain the required temperature regime of fermentation (6-7 ° C), it is just right to cool it. By the end of the stage, in a solution that is neither wort nor beer, the amount of nutrients and oxygen decreases, as a result of which further reproduction of the yeast stops. The carbon dioxide accumulated in the wort and ethanol. The third stage usually lasts 3 days or more.

4th stage (deca formation stage). Deca is the film that forms on the surface of the must. Once the yeast and fermentation stops, the curls of foam begin to fall off, forming a low, thick deck. Yeast settles to the bottom, and the surface of the solution gradually acquires a dark brown hue. Young beer should be clarified, and only after that it can be pumped into a tank for after-fermentation. True, when making beer at home according to the classic recipe, in some cases they also put “green beer” (cloudy due to the yeast it contains) for fermentation, but it’s still better if it is settled and clarified. Completion of this stage takes place in 1-2 days.

Thus, the main fermentation proceeds from 7 to 14 days, depending on the temperature, quality and concentration of the must. Depending on the maximum increase in the temperature of the wort, two methods of main fermentation are distinguished: cold (up to 9 ° C) and warm (up to 14 ° C). As a rule, the temperature of the must fermentation ranges from 8 to 10 ° C, however, raising it to 14-15 ° C is acceptable (at this temperature, greatest intensity fermentation). Further heating of the wort according to the classic recipe for brewing beer should not be allowed. It should be cooled with a vessel of ice.

The maturation of home-brewed beer (with photo and video)

After going through all the stages of the main fermentation, the yeast settles to the bottom, and the surface of the wort is covered with a uniform layer of foam about a finger thick.

Now it is necessary to determine whether the young beer is ready in order to send it to the fermentation tank. In this respect, there are centuries-old recommendations that have been successfully used by brewers in many countries. The easiest way is to inflate the so-called tire (foam on the surface of the fermented wort). If the wort under it has a black shiny color, and the foam itself in the place of “bloat” does not immediately close, then the necessary condition has been reached and the resulting semi-beer can be put on for further fermentation. At home, after-fermentation is more convenient to carry out in wooden barrels (preferably oak) under a slight pressure resulting from the carbon dioxide released in the beer. The duration of this process can last from several days to several months, which depends on the type of intended beer and on the temperature at which the beer will be fermented.

As you can see in the photo, barrels for homemade beer according to this recipe can be installed in a cellar or other room where the temperature ranges from 2 to 4 ° C:

In this case, it is necessary to ensure that it does not fall below 1 ° C. It should also not allow its sharp fluctuations. From the fermentation tanks it is necessary to drain the beer into barrels very carefully, trying not to damage the sediment. For this purpose it is good to use a siphon. The tight deck must be carefully removed before lowering the beer. Barrels with half-beer poured into them must be tongue-and-groove (i.e. tightly closed) to avoid contact with air. Carbon dioxide, under pressure, formed in barrels, thanks to it, dissolves in beer, saturating the drink with this necessary component. Ripened beer must be cleaned again, filtered through a sieve, bottled (glass or plastic), tightly corked, cooled and stored in a dark, cool place.

Watch the video "Beer at home" to better understand how to prepare this drink:

Note to the brewer:

Water for beer should be fresh, clean and soft. The best option- filtered or boiled water, even better - from natural sources. On bad water, beer turns out to be tasteless. For brewing beer, it is better to purchase not food, but special brewer's yeast.
For brewing beer, both malt obtained by sprouting grains of barley, rye or wheat, and malt extract are used. In addition to traditional varieties - wheat, barley and rye - there are other varieties of malt. Caramel malt gives the beer a sweet tinge, roasted malt gives a hint of honey, smoked concentrate gives a drink with a campfire aroma, roasted malt gives coffee and chocolate flavor.
Beer wort is a favorable environment for the reproduction of microorganisms, therefore, all utensils used for brewing beer must be sterilized beforehand.
Beer during brewing must be saturated with oxygen, this requires intensive stirring and pouring the wort into a pan with high altitude. However, during and after fermentation, aeration will only hurt, so while the beer is fermenting, it should not be disturbed - carried, stirred and opened the lid unnecessarily. The only thing that can be done is to remove the foam, which can later be used as yeast.
Many recipes contain large quantities of beer ingredients, such as 30 liters of water and 3 kg of malt. You can reduce the proportions depending on how much beer you need to brew.
Properly prepared beer, bottled in plastic bottles, has a shelf life of 2 to 6 months, depending on its strength. In glass bottles with corks, the drink stays fresh for up to a year, and better ways storage of home-made beer - in the cellar and refrigerator.

Foamy intoxicating drink came to us from Ancient Egypt. For brewing people with African continent took malt, hops and water. The Egyptians did not brew beer for the sake of intoxication - they saw it as medicine and bread. Over time, in the process of improving production, recipes began to be supplemented with various additives, sometimes useless and even harmful to the body. They are included in the composition of beer for the sake of a unique taste. But what if you want a natural, environmentally friendly drink? We will answer this question by telling you how to brew beer at home.

Preparation of the base for beer

The main components of the foamy drink are:

Water is free from impurities, does not leave a strange aftertaste and is absolutely transparent. In the absence of artesian water, it is replaced with filtered water. Store-bought water is also allowed. Its advantage is the passage of bacteriological control.
Yeast. Recipes suggest taking beer. If there are problems with the purchase, you can put the usual "live".
Hop. This phyto product gives the beer the necessary density and taste. The best drinks are obtained from reddish or yellow-green cones with yellowish pollen under the scales. Green and cloudy fruits are not suitable for brewing.
Malt. The good quality of this ingredient is confirmed by the white color, pleasant smell and sweet taste. He must not drown in water. Before making homemade beer, the malt should be soaked and germinated at a temperature of 10-30°C. Then the component is dried and ground to obtain grains. The drying conditions of the malt determine the color of the beer. A light drink is obtained from barley, dried natural way, dark - from raw materials fried and steamed in the oven.

Equipment for making beer at home

For convenient work with the ingredients you will need:

enameled container, the capacity of which allows you to boil 30 liters of wort;
dishes for the fermentation process;
glass or plastic containers for pouring finished beer;
thermometer to control temperature conditions;
a piece of gauze (about 5 m);
narrow silicone hose for easy bottling;
hydrometer - a determinant of the level of sugar content;
bath with ice water to cool the wort;
iodine tincture and a large white plate.

How to make beer at home: instructions

To get high-quality homemade beer, you need to do some preparatory work.

Equipment must be washed, sterilized and dried. Hydrometer and thermometer should not be doused with boiling water. After preparing the malt in the manner described above, the yeast is activated. Before being introduced into the wort, they are diluted with boiled, not hot water.
The second stage is grouting the wort, that is, mixing the wort with hot water. 25 liters of prepared liquid are heated in a saucepan to 80 degrees. Then the grainy malt is poured into water or put first in a gauze bag and in this form is lowered into a container. The bag will prevent the mixture from burning and will save you from excavating the remaining malt. As soon as the malt is in the water, the pan is closed and set on low heat. The contents should be slowly cooked for 90 minutes, and its temperature should fall within the range of 61 - 72 degrees. If you want to do strong drink keep the temperature around 61 degrees. If you need a weak product with a pronounced aftertaste, increase the temperature to 70 degrees. The optimum thermometer reading is 65 °. Compliance with this condition allows you to get a bright taste and a standard strength of 4%. After an hour and a half, a little wort is placed on a clean white plate and iodine is dripped onto it (1 - 2 drops). Blue colour wort indicates the presence of starchy particles, which must be removed by an additional 15-minute boil. The initial shade of the mixture indicates the absence of starch and suggests the transition to the next stage of brewing.
The temperature of the contents of the pan is increased to 78 - 80 degrees and detected for 5 minutes, after which the bag of malt is removed. It is washed in the remaining water, heated to 80 °. The liquid with extracts is poured into a common container.
Boiling the wort important point in the preparation of beer. After filtering, it is brought to a boil and combined with 15 g of hops. After 30 minutes of boiling the composition, a second portion of hops is introduced into it, and after another 40 minutes, a third 15-gram share. Boiling is extended by 20 minutes. In total, the wort is boiled for 90 minutes, and it must constantly gurgle - this is how the recipe prescribes.
Cooling of the wort brewing technology requires to be carried out quickly, avoiding the ingress of foreign microorganisms into the composition. The pan is carried to the bathroom and placed in cold water. Within 15 - 30 minutes, the wort should cool to 25 degrees. The mixture is passed through a piece of gauze over the dishes in which the subsequent fermentation will take place. To enrich the wort with oxygen, it is poured twice from container to container, but without gauze.
To ferment the wort, it is combined with activated yeast and mixed. The product of top fermentation can be introduced into the wort at a temperature of 18 - 22 °. Bottom fermenting yeasts require conditions of 5 - 16°. A variety of yeast allows you to make two types of beer. Dishes for fermentation with all ingredients should be transferred to a dark room. Temperature regime should be as required by the type of yeast. A lid with a water seal is placed on the container and the mixture is kept for 7-10 days. Gradually, fermentation will become regressive, and the intoxicating liquid will clear up by the last day. Its readiness is determined by a water seal or a hydrometer. In the first case, understanding is facilitated by bubbles, in the second - by the same indicators taken at intervals of 12 hours.
The preparation of the drink is completed by corking and carbonization. To obtain foam and excellent taste, sugar is poured into opaque sterilized bottles at the rate of 8 g per liter of hop liquid. A silicone tube allows you to carefully pour the beer, it also prevents sediment from getting into the beer. During the pouring process, it is important to ensure that the tube remains in the middle of the contents of the pan and does not touch its surfaces, on which the yeast has remained. When filling the bottles, leave 2 cm from the top and cork the container. Homemade beer is saturated with carbonic acid in sugar, which gives the effect of light fermentation. For the course of this process, the drink requires placement in a dark place and a temperature in the range of 20 - 24 °. The container with beer should stand for 3 weeks, but from the 8th day it is recommended to shake it weekly. At the beginning of the 4th week, the bottles are transferred to the cellar or refrigerator.

Chilled beer is completely ready to drink. But an additional month's exposure in a cool place will significantly increase its taste. We invite you to watch the brewing process in the video below.

An old recipe for homemade honey beer

You can prepare this delicious drink from the following ingredients:

live pressed yeast - 100 g;
natural flower honey - 4 kg;
red or yellow-green hop cones - 65 pcs.;
purified cold water- 20 l.

How to brew beer at home? Hops are added to a pot of water and the raw materials are boiled over low heat for 2 hours. The broth is cooled to 70 degrees and honey is gradually introduced. The sweet liquid is brought to 25 ° and stirred with yeast. The container is left ajar and kept in a room at room temperature for 6 days. On the 7th day, the beer is bottled and put back in a cold place. After 24 hours, the container is sealed. After 2 days start tasting. How to brew a honey intoxicating drink, the video clearly shows.

Easy recipe with molasses

For a change, you can make beer with molasses. 45 g of hops are boiled in 10 liters of water and, after straining, added to 1 kg of molasses. The mixture is boiled again, after which it is poured into a barrel and removed for cooling. The wort is prepared from 260 g of diluted yeast and wheat flour (the recipe can be taken from the literature on baking pies). Noisy volumetric wort is poured into the cool contents of the barrel and mixed well. Next, the barrel is sealed and transferred to heat for 6 hours. After the time has elapsed, the container is moved to a cool place and kept for 3 days. The preparation is completed by pouring the drink into bottles and corking with corks filled with wax, resin or sealing wax.

Recipe for homemade table beer

You can make table beer yourself from the following components:

hops - 50 g;
wine - 50 ml;
water - 100 ml;
malt - 1.5 kg;
raisins - 50 g;
sugar - 1 kg 250 g;
yeast - 1/10 cup.

Prepare table beer by mixing wine, water and sugar in a saucepan. The composition is supplemented with hops and raisins, they wait for it to boil and boil for 35 minutes, stirring constantly. Malt and 9 liters of water are added to the liquid filtered through gauze. The mass is re-boiled, cooled to 30 degrees and combined with yeast. Then she is allowed to stand for 8 days, but periodically visit the vessel and remove the foam. Finally, homemade beer is bottled and put away in the cool. It turns out 10 - 15 servings, which are recommended to be consumed in 2 weeks. With a longer shelf life, the beer becomes cloudy and loses its taste.

Vilna beer recipe

In order to make delicious Vilna beer, the hostess must put the following components in the container:

rye malt - 1 kg 200 g;
linden honey - 200 g;
kishmish - 400 g;
scalded hops - 900 g;
mashed crackers - 400 g;
salt - a pinch;
yeast combined with a glass of warm boiled water.

Production begins with the dilution of the created mass with water to a thick creamy consistency. The container is covered with a thick cloth and cleaned for a day in a warm room. The next day, the mixture is diluted with 3.2 liters of boiled water, and after thorough mixing, 10 grains of grated bitter almonds are placed in it. And again, the container is covered and cleaned for a day in heat.

Further, the recipe prescribes adding 6.5 liters of boiled water to the composition and pouring it into a cast iron, which will languish all night on a hot stove. In the morning, pour 50 g into the mass baking soda and after a couple of hours the infusion is drained, passing through a canvas. Filled bottles are corked with corks and the top is reinforced with wire. First, the container is placed in a warm place, and after 6 days it is transferred to the cold. The drink will be ready in 10 days.

Now you know how to brew beer at home in many ways. Having mastered these simple recipes, you will be able to please your loved ones with a delicious drink without the content of additives harmful to the body. We hope our selection of videos will teach you the art of brewing.

Dark beer- an alcoholic drink that is produced by alcoholic fermentation of wort from barley malt, hops, water. Unlike light beer, it is made from dark, or caramel, malt. Thanks to this technology, a drink of a pleasant color with a pronounced smell and a bitter aftertaste is obtained.

It is believed that dark beer is always stronger than light beer, but this is not entirely true. Everyone who is familiar with the technology of beer production knows that the strength of this drink is related to the amount of malt used, and its color. The so-called “live beer” is very popular; this name often means unpasteurized beer.

Varieties and types

Dark beer has several varieties that arose a very long time ago. True, there is no strict classification in brewing. So, in some countries, the intoxicating drink is divided into light and dark, in others it is classified according to the degree of fermentation.

by the most famous varieties dark beer are:

El- beer produced in Great Britain and Belgium. Most types of modern beer are classified as ales.

Porter- dark beer, belongs to strong varieties (4.5-4.9%), has a characteristic wine flavor. Porter has a rich taste, as well as a pronounced aroma of malt. In the production of this beer, burnt sugar and dark malt are used. It is believed that porter is always a strong beer, although the strength of English-made drinks is only 5%.

Porter was first obtained by the English brewer Ralph Harwood (18th century). Initially, they planned to produce porter as a substitute for ale, which was so loved in the UK. Porter was conceived as a drink for working people, as it is very nutritious. Even the name "porter" is translated from English as a loader.

It is believed that what is now considered the hallmarks of porter, in fact, was a kind of disguise in order to reduce the cost of the drink.

So, its dark color made it possible to hide the turbidity, and the bitterness of the malt hid the imperfect taste of black beer. Porter got its trademark sourness thanks to the addition of sour ale to it. The strength of the porter was more a tribute to the times than a whim of the brewers who produced it. Beer was supplied to all the colonies of England, which means that it had to not deteriorate during transportation. The strength of the drink just contributed to this.

Porter has several types:

stout- an intoxicating drink derived from porter. It began to be brewed in Ireland as the darkest and strongest type of porter. The name "stout" is translated from English as "proud". For the first time this type was described by the brewer Arthur Guinness, after which all strong beers began to be called stout. Over time, he stood out in a separate variety. Today, stout is produced much less strong than porter, it has a burnt flavor and aroma of coffee. The British began to add oats in the production of this drink, which had a positive effect on the taste of beer: it became softer, with a nutty aroma.

Composition and useful properties

The beneficial properties of beer are due to its composition. Spanish scientists have concluded that dark beer contains large quantity free iron than light iron. This is due to the fact that malt and hop extracts contain a certain amount of iron, which are necessary for the production of a hop drink. Studies have shown that the highest amount of iron is found in Spanish and Mexican-made dark beers.

Now scientists agree that it is much more beneficial to drink a moderate amount of dark beer than light or non-alcoholic beer.

How and with what to drink?

In order to feel the true taste of this intoxicating drink, you must follow some rules. So, it is better to cool the beer not too much, as this will negatively affect its palatability. The optimum temperature for the perception of beer is 12 degrees Celsius.

This drink goes well with potato chips, shrimp, meat dishes, fish.

How to cook at home?

Dark beer can not only be bought in the store, but also prepared at home. To do this, we need very few ingredients: 2 kg of malt, 1.5 kg of rye flour, 100 yeast, 200 g of hops and 3 tbsp. l. Sahara.

To begin with, the flour is mixed with malt and diluted with warm water to a homogeneous consistency. Beer is brewed in a saucepan, at the bottom of which it is necessary to drill a hole to drain the wort. This hole is closed with gauze, and the mass, which is the result of mixing malt and flour, is carefully transferred to a saucepan and put in the oven. The dough should be well fried. The next day, it is doused with boiling water and the resulting wort is drained. The wort is poured into a saucepan.

The yeast is diluted in advance with sugar and water and added to the wort with hops. The liquid is left to ferment overnight, then the beer is bottled and corked. Dark beer will be ready to drink in a week.

Use in cooking

In cooking, dark beer is used to prepare some dishes.

For example, you can make pork in dark beer. To prepare it, you will need 1 kg of pork, a bottle of dark beer, onions, herbs, spices, starch. Pork is boiled in water with spices, then the meat is taken out and beer is poured into the broth, boiled for 1 hour over high heat. Starch is diluted in a small amount of water and carefully introduced into the broth with beer, sugar, citric acid are added. The resulting sauce is poured over boiled pork.

Pork is served with potatoes, beans and rice.

The benefits of dark beer and treatment

The benefits of beer have long been known folk medicine. This intoxicating drink is often used as a natural digestive stimulant.

A glass of beer, like any other alcohol, causes an increase in appetite.

Many avoid drinking beer because of the risk of putting on a few extra pounds. It's not exactly like that, because calorie content of dark beer is only 48 kilocalories per 100 g. If you do not eat it with fatty meals or other high-calorie foods, then you can not worry about weight gain.

Harm of dark beer and contraindications

A drink can cause harm to the body with individual intolerance and excessive use. Beer is contraindicated for pregnant women, children, people with chronic diseases.