Beermaking Steps

How Easy Is It To Make Beer At Home?
It's really easy and what's more, you will discover that the beer you make is very good quality. Here is some information about what you need to make beer and also a description of the process which shows you how very easy it is. It takes 1 to 3 weeks to make a batch & during that time you will spend a couple of hours of your time on the brew.

Once you have your Home Brewery, you are ready to make your first batch. You will be using a canned beer ingredient kit which is easier than making a packet cake.

However, don't think the quality of the beer you make will be poor. You will make great beers this way as long as you remember that it is important to use really good quality ingredients.

• Stage 1 - Preparation
• Stage 2 - Fermentation
• Stage 3 - Bottling
• Stage 4 - Maturation

Stage 1 - Preparation

1. Clean and sterilise your equipment. Instructions are provided.
2. Put the yeast aside for the fermentation stage.
3. Dissolve the contents of the can in 2 to 4 litres of very hot water in a sterilised bucket. Use less hot water in hot weather and more in cold weather. Add 1kg of brew enhancer, malt or dextrose and stir to dissolve. DO NOT USE SUGAR.
4. Add about 10 litres of cold water to your fermenter, transfer the hot mixture from the bucket to your fermenter and mix thoroughly. Top up with cold water to the 22.5 litre mark.

Stage 2 - Fermentation

1. Sprinkle the yeast onto the surface.
2. Seal the fermenter, fit the airlock and half fill it with cool boiled water.
3. Allow the brew to ferment. Try to keep the temperature in the fermenter reasonably constant in the low 20's and try to avoid it falling below about 18ºC. Typically this takes about a week.
4. Fermentation is finished when the airlock stops bubbling and the brew itself begins to clear. A gravity check must be done and it must read the same gravity for two days running before the 48 hour clearing stage and bottling.

Stage 3 - Bottling

1. Sterilise the bottles and rinse with cool boiled water.
2. Use your priming scoop to put a measured amount of castor sugar or priming drops into each bottle.
3. Fill each bottle to within 50mm of the top.
4. Close each bottle with a crown cap and seal it firmly with a capping tool.
5. Shake thoroughly then stand the bottles in a warm spot (say around 20 to 22ºC.) for about a week then store for at least another 2 weeks before sampling.

Stage 4 - Maturation

Homebrew improves greatly with bottle ageing and will not go off in the bottle at all. A six month old beer will be very much better than a one month old beer. So, try to age your beers, you will enjoy them much more. In fact, you will be amazed at how much your aged beers have improved. Don't forget to label and date each batch. Keep samples to try at 3, 6 and 12 months old. Take notes about how they taste then you will see for yourself how this amazing improvement works.

To view and print any of the following small publications, we recommend downloading the latest free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Brewing Basics - an overview of the craft of brewing at home. This sheet describes how easy it is to make really good beer and tells you what you need to make it.

Making Better Beers - Regular kits make good beer. However... if you make some simple changes, you will make beers that are very much better. This 2-page information sheet will explain how you can do it.

Easy Recipes- If you have a favourite commercial beer, we'd like to help you make a similar style. Here are 30 recipes that are easy to drink & even easier to make.