Homemade beer: recipe, ingredients, preparation technology. Learning to brew beer at home

“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 occurs in the same way as in any other alcoholic beverages, it is during this period that beer is “born”, its aroma is laid and taste qualities.

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 small amount 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 packaging.

Malt crushing

Crushing malt grains - very milestone cooking 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.

  1. Pour into a saucepan with a volume of 25 liters, put on fire, heat to 80 degrees.
  2. We put a bag of malt in the pan, close the lid.
  3. 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.
  4. After an hour and a half of continuous cooking, you need to make an iodine test.
  5. It is necessary to determine whether starch remains in the wort.
  6. We take a few tablespoons of wort, put them on a clean white plate.
  7. Add a couple of drops of iodine. If the color has not changed, then the malt is ready for the next step.
  8. If the malt turns blue, continue to boil for another 15 minutes.
  9. 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 settings. temperature regime 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.

  1. Boil 3 liters of water in a large bowl, throw the prepared grain and chicory into it.
  2. Add all the remaining water, add hops, sugar, zest and remove from heat, this is the wort of beer.
  3. 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.
  4. 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:

  1. Dissolve honey completely in water.
  2. Add hop cones and berries
  3. Mix everything thoroughly.
  4. 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.
  5. After this period, the container is closed with a lid and the drink ferments for another 30-40 days, it should be stirred daily.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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 dishes:

  • 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:

  • Rye croutons, 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 a high-quality natural product. Real handmade craft beer!

Video cooking recipe

look simple step by step recipe making beer at home:

Beer has been a very popular drink for centuries. It is made from malt, which in turn is made from grains of various cereals. That is why beer is sometimes called liquid bread. With a little use, beer is even very useful, due to the content of proteins, amino acids, carbon dioxide, salts and sugar in it.

Beer is light and dark. Dark beer, sometimes referred to as black, has a light taste of roasted barley. Black beer is prepared at a fairly low temperature (7-10 degrees), and due to this, it takes from 15 to 100 days to prepare it.

If you do not have pre-harvested malt or you do not have the opportunity to buy it, then you can prepare this necessary ingredient yourself.

1. First you need to get the grain, spread it in one layer and cover it with water so that the grain sprouts.

2. After the grain has sprouted, it must be dried. This can be done in the oven or in a skillet.

3. Now it's time to grind the beans. To do this, the grains must be ground in a coffee grinder or meat grinder.

5. Pour 3 liters of water into a container with a mixture and bring to a boil.

6. Dilute sugar in liquid, pour another 7 liters of water, add hops and lemon zest.

7. Remove the container from the fire and let it cool for 3 hours.

8. Pour the wort into the fermentation tank, which should be doubled more space than the volume of the wort.

9. We put the wort for fermentation at a temperature of no more than 25 degrees. If after a couple of days the fermentation has not started, then diluted brewer's yeast should be added to the container.

10. After the beer has fermented, it must be filtered with gauze.

11. Filtered beer should be poured into sterilized bottles and closed tightly with lids.

12. We put the beer for 3 weeks in a dark, cool place to saturate with gases.

13. After this period, you can start tasting beer.

The shelf life of this beer in the refrigerator is half a year.


CHATEAU CARA GOLD (CARA 120) 120 EBC - 500 gr;
CHATEAU CHOCOLATE (CHOCOLATE) 900 EBC - 300 gr;
CHATEAU ROUSTED BARLEY 1050-1350 EBC - 110 gr;
Willamette hops - 35 g at the beginning of the boil;
Hops centennial - 35 g. 15 minutes before the end of the boil.

1. First, pour 3 liters of water into the brewing kettle and heat them up to 72 degrees.

2. At the same time, we heat 15 liters of water in another container to the same temperature. Shake the pan a little so that its walls are heated from hot water.

3. Pour malt into the heated water, and then pour the remaining 15 liters of water evenly.

4. We heat the wort to 67 degrees, and then leave it for 1.5 hours, after closing the brewing vat with a lid.

5. At the same time, the temperature must be constantly maintained, for this we sometimes add hot water to the wort.

6. Then we drain the wort using a tap on the brewing vat, and pour the first 2 wort ladles back into the vat, because there are particles of malt in it.

7. Pour 15 liters of hot water into the remaining malt, mix everything thoroughly and leave for 15 minutes.

8. Then we drain the resulting second wort according to the same scheme into a container with the first wort.

9. We clean the brewing vat from malt and pour the wort into it.

10. We put the wort on the fire, and when it boils, remove the lid from the vat and add willamette hops to the wort and let the wort boil for 1 hour.

11. With 15 minutes left in the boil, add centennial hops and Irish moss.

12. We also put the chiller in the liquid 15 minutes before the end of cooking.

13. Dilute dry yeast with a glass of warm water, stir and let stand for 15-20 minutes, while closing the glass with yeast with foil.

14. When the wort is cooled down, remove the chiller from it and drain the wort into another container, having previously lubricated the wort outlet with alcohol for disinfection.

15. Pour the dissolved yeast into the drained wort, stir and put it under a water seal for 9 days.

16. Drain the beer into another container and put it on secondary fermentation for 10 days.

17. Fermented beer is bottled and put on carbonization first for 2 weeks at room temperature, and then 2 weeks in a dark, cool place!

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 everything ready. necessary ingredients and inventory. 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 gets Blue colour This means there is starch 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

0.25 g of yeast is diluted in 1 liter of warm water. 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 place in 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.

The history of brewing exists from the time of ancient egypt . Now this popular drink is ubiquitous, sold in large quantities in grocery stores and bars in many varieties.

Its quite can be cooked at home, using only natural products and common stock. In this regard, a simple recipe can give best result than in production.

There are many beer recipes with interesting ingredients. In the traditional case, it consists of the following components:

  1. Malt– barley grains, a natural filter during production. The raw material should be white, have a pleasant smell, and not sink when lowered into water. It is ground, leaving the husk intact.
  2. Hop divided into varieties. Aromatic and bitter types are used, which are combined in the preferred proportion: either the beer will be bitter or hoppy.
  3. Yeast it is preferable to choose beer. Ordinary ones are also suitable if the required type could not be found.
  4. Spring, filtered or (worse) boiled water.
  5. A little Sahara for carbonization improves palatability and makes dense foam. Recipes home beer also available with honey.

All products for making beer at home are easy to purchase. The requirement for yeast (as well as for all other ingredients) is the best quality.

Interesting! Light beer recipe uses with normal drying. And in dark varieties add 10% caramel, dried in the oven with light roasting.

Equipment for home brewery

All cooking recipes require only. Namely:

  • pan 30 liters (preferably enameled);
  • fermentation;
  • thermometer for temperature control;
  • gauze up to 5 meters;
  • silicone hose to pour the drink from the sediment;
  • chiller - a device for cooling the wort or a cold water bath;
  • hydrometer measuring sugar content (optional);
  • bottles for the finished product.

Attention! Sometimes a faucet is installed at the bottom of the pan, through which the liquid is drained. How to brew homemade beer is outlined below.

Classic cooking recipe

To implement the traditional method of brewing beer at home, you first need wash, dry, sterilize all utensils. Composition of products:

  • water - 32 l;
  • barley malt - 5 kg;
  • hops - 45 g;
  • brewer's yeast - 25 g;
  • sugar (sand) 8 g / l.

Brewing beer at home is possible according to step by step instructions:

  1. 25 liters of water are poured into the pan, heated to 80 ° C. Ground malt is immersed in a gauze bag, covering the container with a lid. Keep the composition for 1.5 hours at a temperature of about 72 ° C, periodically turning on the fire under the pan.
  2. Increase the temperature to 80 degrees and keep it for 5 minutes. After that, the bag of malt is taken out, washed with 7 liters of remaining water, which is added to the wort in a large pot. Now all the malt sugars have been used.
  3. Boil the wort, remove the foam and add 15 g of hops. Boil for 30 minutes, then add the second portion of hops - 15 grams. After brewing for another 50 minutes, add the last hops and boil for up to 15 minutes, then turn off.
  4. The wort must be cooled quickly (for a period of no more than 30 minutes). The purity of the drink depends on this. The pan can be lowered into a bath with the coldest possible water. After that, the contents are poured into a new container through cheesecloth.
  5. Brewer's yeast is diluted according to the instructions on the package and poured into the wort with stirring. The container is transferred to a dark place, where the contents ferment for a week (up to 10 days) with a water seal at a temperature of about 22°C.
  6. After 12 hours, fermentation will become intense, lasting up to 3 days. Bubbles should come out of the water seal. As carbon dioxide escapes, the drink will lighten. The absence of bubbles for a whole day is a sign of readiness.
  7. Carbonization (saturation with carbon dioxide) improves the taste, creates a dense foam. Sugar (8 grams per liter) is poured into bottles and beer is poured using a narrow hose, eliminating sediment. Leave about 2 cm near the throat (for "breathing") and clog. After this, secondary fermentation begins.
  8. Bottles are stored for up to 3 weeks at t up to 23°C in the dark, after which they are transferred to the refrigerator.

This recipe contains step by step guide: how to brew beer at home. Product you can try right now, but if you hold it for a month in the cold, the taste will improve due to exposure.

Based on this cooking method for beginners (and not only), you can come up with other recipes.

Other DIY cooking recipes

Beer at home is prepared using recipes based on a variety of components.

It is made from grain, berries, bread or crackers, with or without yeast. The following methods will help you make homemade beer with original ingredients.

Cherry

Beer, the recipe of which includes cherries, has long been made in Belgium under the name cry (kriek). This is not the only kind of cherry beer drink, but the most traditional.

In fact 30% liquid from which it is made is the juice. The recipe for cherry beer includes the following products:

  • Pilsen lager malt - 4 kg;
  • Crystal malt - 0.3 kg;
  • chocolate malt - 135 g;
  • corn flakes -700 g;
  • barley popcorn (air) -700 g;
  • 20 g each of Whitbread Golding and Tettnang hops;
  • Saaz hops - 10 g;
  • Irish moss - 10 g;
  • water - 28 l;
  • ripe cherries - 4.5 kg.

The preparation steps are as follows:

  1. The wort is boiled for 1.5 hours, at the beginning of the process laying the hops of the first two varieties. And 15 minutes before the end of the boil, Saaz is added. Irish moss is laid 10 minutes before the end.
  2. Cool down to 22°C.
  3. This is a yeast-free beer. It is poured into barrels, where it is stored for up to 4 months, after which cherries are added.
  4. Maturation lasts up to 8 weeks, while the fortress increases.

Cherry beer can be brewed with yeast, but this method preferred.

How to make rye?

Rye beer happens dark and light depending on the type of malt. The shade can be copper-orange or dark red.

Making light beer at home involves reduction in the share of rye malt up to 50%, replacing it with barley or wheat, and also eliminates the light roasting of this ingredient.

  • rye malt - 3 cups;
  • honey - 2 cups;
  • hops - 100 g;
  • yeast - 1.5 sticks;
  • sugar - 1 tbsp. l;
  • water (boiling) - 10 liters.

You need a container with the possibility of liquid flowing out at the bottom like a samovar.

The steps are:

  1. Grind hops and malt, place in a linen bag. Mix yeast with a tablespoon of sugar and leave to come up.
  2. Put honey in a saucepan, boil the samovar and pour water from it through a bag into a large container. Mix malt.
  3. When there is enough water in the pan with honey, you need to mix the contents, let it cool and add the yeast.
  4. The yeast will descend, after which it is required to pour the liquid into bottles and keep in a dark place for up to 4 days. The drink is ready.

There are many other similar methods for making grain beer.

Based on bread

Bread beer is also produced, including the brewing, fermentation and maturation steps. Compound:

  • malt - 400 g;
  • sugar - 200 g;
  • hops - 200 g;
  • crackers - 800 g;
  • yeast - 35 g;
  • pepper - peas;
  • water - 13 liters.

The homemade bread beer recipe is implemented in the following steps:

  1. In a large saucepan, mix half the sugar, malt and crackers. Add pepper to the hops scalded with boiling water.
  2. Dilute the yeast in 6 liters of warm water, combine them with hops and pepper, mix. Put in a dark place for a day, without covering. Pour the remaining sugar and pour in warm water, 4 liters. On low heat, without bringing to a boil, cook for 4 hours.
  3. Boil the next day, then drain the liquid. Add 3 liters to porridge boiled water. After an hour, drain the liquid, combining with the previous portion.
  4. Boil the wort, remove the foam and filter. Fill the bottles with the product, close tightly, place in a cool place for a two-week period until ready.

Vienna

The recipe for Viennese beer will require the following composition:

  • Vienna malt - 3.8 kg;
  • Pilsen malt - 1 kg;
  • hop "Istra" - 28 g;
  • hop "Early Moscow" - 20 g;
  • yeast (S-33);
  • 2 oranges - zest.

Beer is prepared in the following steps:

  1. Wort is made: malt is mashed and water is added. Cooking lasts 75 minutes at 65°C.
    First, "Istra" hops are added, and after 20 minutes - "Early Moscow". The beer is brewed for an hour, then cooled to 22°C.
  2. Yeast is added, everything is mixed and left to ferment for up to 10 days. The temperature is from 18 to 25 degrees.
  3. The composition is filtered, orange peel is added. The beer is left to mature for 2 weeks.
  4. The composition is filtered. It is ready, but you can withstand another month. The total storage period is up to six months.


Velvet

Noteworthy recipe for making velvet beer with honey and cinnamon. Compound:

  • rye malt - 12 kg;
  • wheat malt - 1.2 kg;
  • black bread - 4.8 kg;
  • yeast - 100 g;
  • cinnamon - 1 g;
  • molasses - 1 kg;
  • honey - 200 g;
  • raisins - 600 g;
  • hops - 140 g;
  • water.

Prepare it in the following steps:

  1. Dry, grind bread, mix with other ingredients except water. Hops are scalded with boiling water.
  2. Water is added, the mixture is brought to a state of porridge, after which it ferments for 6 hours.
  3. Pour in 26 liters of boiled water. In a tightly closed form, the composition settles for a day in warmth.
  4. The liquid is drained, water is added, 6 liters. The container is left for another 6 hours.
  5. Drain again, mix the drained liquids and bottle with stoppers.
  6. Ripening is carried out cold 12 days.

But such a result, which will be obtained with the use of home technology, will not work. That is why it is recommended to learn the secrets of brewing.

Steve Koenig wrote an article for Craft Beer & Brewing magazine with ten tips to help beginners home brewers..

Photo: Jon Van Dalen

My first purchase for homebrewing was a book. Before I brew even a drop of beer, I read Charlie Papazian's The Complete Enjoyment of Home Brewing. (in Russian translation it came out as "The Big Book of the Brewer. How to brew the perfect beer yourself" - ed.) fully. Looking back, I realize that only a small part of the information from this valuable tome actually stuck in my memory the first time. I have reread this book more than once, and each time I paid attention to new details for myself, and Charlie's passionate and encouraging style was a real pleasure. I would also recommend reading Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher and The Art of Homebrewing by John Palmer - these are outstanding books for anyone, no matter how long you've been brewing. But there are some things that the books won't tell you, but which will be extremely important for the beginning brewer. Here are ten tips that will help you.

1. Buy a big cauldron

Like most brewers I know, my first major purchase was a newbie kit. Once I had it, all I needed was a brew kettle and ingredients. So I bought a 5 gallon (20 liter) stainless steel kettle for $35. Fool. After two weeks of my brewing, I spent another $70 to buy a 7.5 gallon kettle. If you ever plan to get into grain brewing or want to reduce the chance of your wort constantly boiling over, shell out for a big pot now. You will save money in the long run.


Copper submersible chiller for home brewing. Photo: the babbling botanist

2. Chiller is the most important

One of better ways reduce the chance of contamination of your beer - cool the wort as quickly as possible. Many beginner homebrewers achieve this by immersing the brew kettle in an ice or cold water bath. Depending on how many bags of ice you bought (which is an additional cost), this procedure can take from 40 minutes to an hour or more. You can save a lot of time, hassle and reduce the risk of infection by purchasing a chiller. They are different forms and dimensions, but the most common is the copper or stainless steel immersion chiller. Immersion chillers typically cost $50-$70 and can cool a 20-litre boiler in 20 minutes or less. You just connect the source cold water to the chiller, put it in the cauldron 10 minutes before the end of the wort boil to sanitize it, and then run the water after turning off the cauldron. Chiller will do the rest. There are also plate chillers, but they are a little more difficult to use and are significantly more expensive.

3. Buy an automatic siphon

If you are transferring wort from the kettle to a fermentation tank or keg, you will need a siphon. Most beginner brewing kits include a 5/16" (8mm) siphon. They usually cost about $10, but if you pay another $4, you can buy an automatic siphon. (with a telescopic system and "auto-suction" - ed.) half an inch (12 mm). It will save you a lot of time when transferring liquids from one container to another.


Yeast starter. Photo: Brulosophy

4. Make a yeast starter

When I ask experienced homebrewers about the most important steps they take to make their beer better, one of the most common responses I hear is “now I pay close attention to yeast and always make a yeast starter.” It doesn't matter if you buy liquid or dry yeast, but by making a yeast starter you can ensure that the fermentation starts and goes faster. Preparing the starter takes only about 20 minutes, but it greatly increases your chances of achieving an active and quality primary fermentation phase. also reduces the chances of infection because the conversion of sugar into alcohol is much faster when the yeast is healthy and plentiful.

5. Aerate the wort

After you have boiled and cooled the wort, there is relatively little oxygen left in it. And yeast needs oxygen in order for active fermentation to begin. There are several ways to oxygenate your wort. For example, you can add water, but this will dilute the mash, reducing the gravity and changing the flavor of your beer. It is better to use a compressor with an aeration stone (the same as you may have seen in an aquarium) or an oxygenation kit. They will cost you between $35 and $50 (without oxygen tank). But trust me, it's a smart waste of money.

6. Buy a bottle holder

Bottle holders seemed like unnecessary accessories to me when I first got into brewing. But since then I have bought them for almost all fermentation tanks. The handles are very handy, especially if you are using large glass bottles. (in the US, many homebrewers prefer glass containers for beer fermentation - ed.). For the ability to easily lift the bottle and move it, it’s not a pity for $6.


Photo: Jeremy Ricketts

7. Use a tube to remove carbon dioxide

Before I started homebrewing, I read a lot of literature about using a blow-off tube instead of water seals. I should have paid attention to it. It doesn't matter if I used plastic or glass containers, fermentation foam often escaped through the water seal. Using a carbon dioxide vent instead of a water seal doesn't mean your beer won't foam, but you can keep your apartment from messing up. Place one end of the tube in upper part plugs, and the other - immerse in a solution with a disinfectant. Some of the actively fermenting beer may overflow through the tube into the solution container, so check it a couple of times a day and change the solution if necessary.

8. Use…a sleeping bag

It is hard to dare to buy a mash tun when you are just starting out in homebrewing, because it is quite an expensive purchase. Some beginners are sure they can't get into grain brewing without a real mash brewer. Not true! If you have a sleeping bag good quality, you can mash the malt in your brew kettle and leave it wrapped in a sleeping bag for 60 minutes. You will be surprised at how well it can keep the temperature. And if after 15 minutes the temperature drops a little, just add hot water.


Usage dishwasher in home brewing. Photo: Beer Syndicate

9. Use the dishwasher

Bottling beer takes a lot of time. The journey from sanitizing the bottles to cleaning the fermenter can take as much time as brewing the beer itself, especially if you're having trouble bottling. (I once poured 15 liters of disinfectant onto the kitchen floor because I didn't notice the end of the tube slip quietly out of the bucket.) The following little trick can help you get rid of the clutter: spill bottled beer on the open door of the dishwasher. Place the beer container on top of the dishwasher and the bottles on the open door. If something spills out, the liquid will not get on the floor, but inside the dishwasher. In addition, you can wash the bottles in it before bottling.

10. Cover the stove with foil

If you've brewed beer on the stove at least once and your wort boiled away, then you know how hard it is to clean the stove afterwards. Of course, it is best to stop the boil, but you may not have time. Then spend a couple of minutes preparing the stove to save a lot of time later while you clean it. Remove the burners and lay a layer of aluminum foil over the entire area of ​​the stove, then put the burners back in place. If your wort boils away, then you just need to remove the foil and throw it away.

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