They say beer is good for you: it contains certain healthful nutrients, it helps flush the kidneys and may even improve brain and heart health according to some claims. Besides that ball game never looked so good without the accompaniment of a good beer – and if you decide to brew your own beer, you will make quite a splash at your next barbeque, won’t you! Reasons enough to brew your own beer; wouldn’t you say?
More and more hobbyists are now brewing their own beer – an activity full or fun, and thrifty as well! There are a lot of beer making kits out there which have all of the ingredients neatly measured for you. The rank beginner may well use the kit, but for the slightly experienced beer brewer, there are other methods of brewing your own beer – there is extract brewing or the full mash – pick any that suits your level of expertise.
Extract brewing
This method of beer brewing is for the intermediate brewer – it lets you vary the taste so that you get a closer approximation of what you like. Start with sterile equipment so that you don’t end up with vinegary beer. Typically you would get the malt extract in a tin which one would then boil up with hops and water. First the malt extract is added to boiling water and left to boil for 15 minutes or so. Many suggest adding corn syrup to this concoction – so this while continuing to stir.
It is important to cool down the mixture quickly as the next stage of the brewing process. Cold water is added to the brew after you remove it from the heat. In the alternative you could dunk the pot in ice. You then add yeast to begin the fermenting process. You will need to close the lid on the mixture and let it sit for 6 to 7 days without opening or stirring. When your beer is ready, you decant it into bottles which (don’t fill it completely to allow space for air). Hobbyists recommend storing the air tight bottles somewhere dark and warm for a couple of days before using.
The full mash
This method is better for the more seasoned brewer because a lot of things can go wrong if you’re doing your beer from scratch as this method requires you to. All ingredients are obtained in raw form so the margin of error is rather high here. Making your extract requires you to sprout barley, dry it, cook it, liquidize it and strain it – a complex process so you want to ask yourself if you’re up to this.
