How to Brew Beer at Home – Everything You Need to Know
Until now, brewing beer at home was not common. But, these days, home brewing is on the verge of becoming a mainstream activity.
If you are someone who has decided to make your beer at home, this beginners guide is for you. It talks about everything you need to know, including the home brewing equipment that you’ll need, along with the whole process of brewing your beer at home. So, shall we get started?
Beer Basics – All You Need to Know
It is essential to understand the fundamentals, especially if you’re a beginner. Start with getting some insight into different types and styles of beer. This will inspire you and allow you to get more creative at brewing your own beer.
Beer Ingredients
How do you brew beer? To answer this question, let’s start with the list of ingredients you’ll need. There are four main ingredients in beer:
- Water – This is the main ingredient as 95% of your final product will be water. The quality of water that you use will have a great impact on the quality of the final product.
- Yeast – This single-cell organism will eat sugar and convert it into alcohol and carbon dioxide. It will help in fermentation and will turn your sweet brown tea into beer.
- Grains or Malt Extract – The most common type of grain used for brewing beer is barley. However, you can also use alternatives like wheat, corn, rice or sorghum. So, in case you are using the All Grain method, consider purchasing barley in its whole form. If you are using the Malt Extract method, get barley malt. It is a soup of sugar and soluble starches that is ready for fermentation.
- Hops – You will need this to give flavor and aroma to your homemade beer. Additionally, hops will work as a bacterial inhibitor and help you in counteracting the sweetness that is leftover from the fermentation process. You’ll find that different kinds of hops have different flavors.