h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi there,

while subbing the homebrew article on http://www.h2g2.com/A419113 (I'm preparing this article for inclusion in the edited guide), I've stumbled over your comments in the article's conversation forum. It seems to me that you have sort of deeper knowlegde about homebrewing and know what you are talking about.

Just as you, I think that this article needs some help. What is missing in my opinion is personal experience and a validation of the requirements and methods explained in the article.

Would you like to make some contributions to enhance the article? If you want to, just answer to this posting and give your opinion on how particular sentences should read to explain things better and possibly your own personal perspective on homebrewing. I would really appreciate contributions of you - that would make the article a great collaborative guide entry and you would of course be credited in the article.

Hope to hear from you soon,

SchrEck Inc.

I'm glad to help, but where to start... I've put the entire article in, with my comments noted --
-- like this. Most of my tips come from "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian, which is an excellent reference.

Basic Requirements:
One five gallon Brewbin
-- I use two bins. One is a five gallon bottle, which is easy to cork. The other is a bucket, which is easy to siphon into and add priming malt to.

One long handled spatula
-- or other thing to stir with.

One pack sterilising powder (or liquid)
-- Diluted chlorine bleach will do quite nicely, roughly one teaspoon per gallon of water.

Syphoning kit
-- which consists of plastic tubing and a filter cap. All brew stores sell these, but in a pinch, you can get the tubing at a hardware store too.


Optional thermostatically controlled heater
Optional thermometer
Optional hydrometer


Homebrew Kit
-- which usually consists of 6.6 pounds (2 kg) malt extract, hops, yeast, and any other ingredients that go in the beer. If you pick your own ingredients, you have more control over the beer.

Sugar.
-- or powdered malt extract. This will produce a more tasty beer.

20 strong, glass, screwtop 1 litre bottles
-- or regular beer bottles will do, but only if you have a bottle capper.

Method.
Sterilise THOROUGHLY the Brewbin and spatula. If care is not taken to do this, 5 gallons of vinegar will result, which defeats the point of the excersise completely.
-- This is worth emphasizing. Unsterilized beer won't kill you, but it won't taste good.

Rinse out the Brewbin thoroughly. Failure to do this will kill the yeast, and fermentation will not take place.
Boil one gallon of water (in batches if necessary) and pour into the Brewbin.
-- I boil all my ingredients, and three gallons are necessary to dissolve the lot. This fits nicely into two pots.

Add one kilo of sugar (more if a stronger brew is required, but no more than two kilos, as too sweet a wort will also kill the yeast)
Stir thoroughly until all the sugar is dissolved.
Add the contents of the tin of Homebrew malt extract, and stir again until all the malt has dissolved. Rinse out the can with more boiling water, add this to the Brewbin and stir again.
-- I recommend boiling all the ingredients too, to sterilize them. The only exception is the fruit for a fruit beer: boiling that will make the beer cloudy. Add that to the wort when boiling is over.

Take the Brewbin to the place where fermentation is to take place.
(It is easier to carry one gallon of liquid than five!!) This MUST be at a temperature of roughly 68 - 72 degrees Farenheit. If not, then the heater must be used.
Fill the Brewbin to the five gallon mark with cold water, and stir again thoroughly.
It will now be possible to predict the strength of the beer! Sterilise and rinse the hydrometer, and drop it into the Brewbin. Check the reading when it comes to rest. A reading of 1.050 will indicate a beer strength of 5% by volume; one of 1.060, a strength of 6% by volume. Remove the hydrometer.
Add the contents of the yeast sachet, put the lid on the Brewbin and close tightly.
-- If you've boiled all your ingredients, wait for it to cool down first.
-- If you use a bottle instead of a bucket, put a pipe in the top to carry the runoff (there will be a lot for the first two days) into a bucket full of water. After the runoff dies down, you can put a fermentation lock (a curvy bit of piping, filled with water) in the top instead.

LEAVE IT ALONE FOR TWO WEEKS!!!


DO NOT DISTURB!!!!


At the end of this waiting period (patience, patience) examine the Brewbin to see if fermentation is complete.
If no bubbles are rising to the top of the liquid (BEER), then fermentation is complete. Optionally, the hydrometer could be used. A reading of 1.002 or below will indicate fermentation is complete. Full instructions for use will be enclosed with the box the hydrometer came in.
If fermentation is not complete, leave for another few days, and check again.


Fermentation complete? Now it is ready for bottling!!!!


Thoroughly sterilise bottles and syphoning kit and rinse (Sorry to go on about this sterilising thing, but it is MOST important!)


Put one teaspoon of sugar into each bottle. This will promote secondary fermentation, and give the beer a little sparkle and fizz.
-- It's much more effective to add all the sugar (or priming malt) at once. If you use sugar, it's 3/4 cup per 5 gallons; if malt extract, it's one and 1/4 cup.

CAREFULLY, making sure that the sediment at the bottom of the brewbin is NOT disturbed, syphon the beer into the bottles.
Close tightly, and shake to dissolve the sugar.
-- If you've stirred the sugar in first, shaking's not necessary.

Place the bottles in a dark, COOL place for two weeks to settle.

When the beer is bright and clear, it is ready for drinking.
-- Some beer (e.g. stout, certain wheat beers) never gets bright or clear. Drink it anyway.

Open the bottle and decant into a large jug,
-- or straight into your beer glass.

taking care not to disturb the sediment that will have formed at the bottom of the bottle.
-- The sediment at the bottom is spent yeast, which is one of the best sources of Vitamin B on the planet. Vitamin B helps prevent hangovers. Experienced beerdrinkers and homebrewers go to extra effort to disturb and drink all the sediment too.

Pour from the jug into a glass/mug and quietly get drunk!!
-- And save some for your friends too.

One more comment: If you must use sugar, corn sugar is best, since it adds the least non-malt flavor. I've broken this rule by using cane sugar, but only when I explicitly want the sugar flavor - the less processing on the sugar, the more flavor.

Thank you for your instant, quite comprehensive answer. That helps a lot; look forward to have an edited guide entry with your name on it...

You're quite welcome. And I have a typo correction for you.

6.6 pounds is 3 kg, not 2.

Uh oh, one more comment. I neglected to answer your question about personal perspective, i.e. "Why homebrew?"

I started homebrewing because I wanted to drink something at home like what I could get in brewpubs. At the time (the early 1990s), you couldn't find anything like that in stores.

Things have changed since then, at least in the United States. "Microbrews" (beer from minor breweries) have proliferated. Even the major breweries (like Anheiser-Busch, makers of Budweiser) have started making specialty beers.

I like to think that homebrewers kicked this trend off, by discovering an alternative to bland watery beer. It probably hasn't hurt the English campaign for Real Ale either.