After about a month of fermenting, carbonating, and conditioning, I can now officially say I have brewed my own beer. And (if I may be so bold), it was pretty damn good.
A good buddy of mine bought me the Mr. Beer home brew system for Christmas this year. I like beer and I like cooking; good idea right?
I have to say, Mr. Beer pretty much streamlines the home brew process giving you everything you need to brew 256 oz (16 16oz bottles) of the great Friday night pass time. But, there are some WIdTOTs that will help You out on Your first batch.
The Ingredients:1 Mr. Beer Home Brew Bottling Kit, which includes:
- 1 Mr. Beer Little Brown Keg - This is the fermenter where Your ingredients will work to make that frosty beverage that will be the big hit of Your next get together.
- 1 can Hopped Malt Extract (in various flavors; Mine was West Coast Pale Ale) - This is syrupy, good smelling, liquid condensed beer goodness. Smell the can when You get it open! So good!
- 1 pouch sanitizer - For ridding the fermenter of nasty, bad tasting bacteria lurking in forgotten recesses like the booger guys from the Mucinex commercials.
- 1 pouch Booster - As far as I can tell this is a combination of different types of sugars that yeast will eat during the fermenting process, which leads Us to Our next ingredient:
- 1 packet of ale yeast - This is not regular baking yeast. I'm told (by Mr. Beer and those who would know these things) that there are hundreds of strains of yeast out there and some of them are better for doing different things. Baking yeast doesn't give the same taste as ale yeast, etc.
The Process:The instructions for brewing and sanitizing are in the kit and don't need to be repeated here. But, the process of making beer is actually really interesting. Start with
malt, sugar, and water and cook it down for several hours. Then add
hops and cook that down to a syrup. Guess what? You now have hopped malt; condense it further and You get Hopped Malt Extract. Then add basically any kind of sugar You want to get any kind of flavor that You want. Once sugar is added, the mixture is called a
wort. Get close to it and inhale that sweet beery goodness. The wort is then transferred to a
fermenter, where water is added. Yeast goes in last and a vigorous mixing will have beer bubbles pouring out of the top of the fermenter. Now, the lid goes on and the fermenter sits in a cool dark place while the yeast eats the sugars from the wort and poops out alcohol, carbonation, and yeast byproduct (called "
trub," pronounced "troob"). After fermentation, the beer is put into bottles with a little more sugar. This step is called
priming; it gives the yeast that's still swimming around new sugar to turn into alcohol and carbonation. The bottles are then stored to carbonate and "condition." The last little remnants of yeast will eat the sugars and turn the mixture into what You and I call beer.
Chill the bottles in the fridge for a few days and voila,
enjoy to Your heart's content.
WIdTOTs: NOTE: These WIdTOTs are for the Mr. Beer brewing process only. I haven't tried to make a wort from scratch yet, but I plan to eventually.
- For Your first batch, try to understand the process before You start experimenting with the flavors - Too many people on the Mr. Beer Community forums decided they wanted more alcohol or more hops or fruit or different sugars, etc. On tasting, most of the time, they ended up pouring the stuff down the drain. ALL of them say they would rather have tried it without any changes. If You still want to make changes, remember this: The Mr. Beer Process is tried and perfected. If You follow the steps, You will NOT make bad beer. Can You say the same about Your process?
- Cool the wort just slightly before you put it in the fermenter - Mr. Beer says you can just put the hot wort in 4 cups of cold water. This is true, but you want the wort/water to be room temperature when you add the yeast. If it's too cold the yeast go dormant for a while, too hot and the yeast die immediately. Cool the wort for about 5-10 minutes before adding it to the keg.
- Stir vigorously once You've added the yeast - When I say stir vigorously, I mean stir until Your arm burns and beer bubbles are roiling. This ensures that the yeast activates and gets to work.
- The temperature of the beer during fermentation and conditioning is the single most important part of the whole beer process - Too cold and the yeast go to sleep, too hot and the yeast turn Your precious beer into stinking sewage water. Haha, okay, so that warning was probably too "end-of-the-world" for the actual process. The temperature range of ale yeast varies from 68-76 degrees Fahrenheit. Most people keep their homes cooled/heated to that temp. If You like Your house warmer or colder try to find a spot in Your house that is dark, but slightly warmer or colder depending on what You need.
- The Kicker - Patience. What? That's not a step. It's not even a tip or a technique. It SHOULD be! When You freak out becasue You can't tell whether your beer is fermenting, take advice from the Hitchhiker's Guide: DON'T PANIC. If Your beer doesn't smell like the bad things your co-worker leaves in the bathroom at 10Am every morning, remember the Mr. Beer Community unofficial motto: Relax. Don't Worry. Have a Home Brew.
The Finished Product:
Yeasty. Hoppy. Malty. Carbonated. Beer! Don't expect Your first batch to taste like Your local craft brewer. It will however, taste at least as good or better than any of the major domestics.
Keep the WIdTOTs above in mind and You'll enjoy the satisfaction of making and drinking Your very own home brew.
-Cade
Props to my Aunt Janie for finding this recipe for me (originally from Something Swanky). What can I say? She's known me since I was born and somethings just don't change. :-)
