How to Brew Your First Batch of Beer
As a child, I was obsessed with Root Beer. I loved reading the ingredients labels, rating Root Beers in a little notebook, and for my birthday someone would always give me a kit to make Root Beer with. It was all very simple and rudimentary, but the process fascinated me. How did they get those flavors in the extract? How did yeast make it fizzy? Why did this batch sour but the last did not? For a kid like me, it was a wonderful process.
Years removed from my Root Beer-obsessed days, I started thinking about brewing beer. And like when I was a child, a gift from my wife made it so.
Unlike the Root Beer, this process was not so simple or rudimentary. More of an “Oh, I guess I should have read to the end before I started this process,” even with a kit. The first time can be a challenge, and the beer often isn’t very good, but we’ve been brewing for years now, and we’re here to help and to add what tips and tricks we can to the seasoned brewing argument.
Where to Start
Our first bit of advice: Buy a starter kit. Particularly one that comes with a recipe ingredient kit, a fermenter, an airlock, a siphon, tubing (silicone is best) and hose clamp, a thermometer, a large kitchen strainer, a funnel, and a bottler and caps if choosing to bottle your beer. You’ll also need two large pots if brewing a one-gallon batch, which is the best way to dip your toes in before you spend big bucks on a hobby you might only like a little.
We use more items than this, but this is roughly what we started with, and what comes in numerous and conventional starter kits nowadays. But not all kits are the same. So what should you look for in a recipe kit?
Well, for starters, you should expect grain, hops, and yeast. Don’t buy a kit that doesn’t have at least these things in them, or you’ll be scrambling on brew day. You’ll also want sanitizer (2 doses—one for brewing and one for bottling) and priming sugar. Some additional things to consider are a muslin bag for steeping grains and Irish moss which adds clarity to your beer. These last two are not necessary (we didn’t use them for years), but the previous items are.
So, you have everything to begin, now what?
What about Water?
As you might have guessed, water is a pretty important component in beer. But it’s even more important than you think.
Brewing takes a ton of water, even more than I would have guessed. Each one-gallon batch we make takes about two gallons of water, and that’s not including the water needed for clean-up afterwards.
The best advice I can give to a new brewer is to use water you think tastes nice. This isn’t always the best method, but if you’re just brewing a one-gallon batch, fussing over the water can be unnecessary. Pick a bottled water you like, or if you like the water from your tap, give it a try. What I can say is, the higher quality we go in water the better and, especially when working with a one-gallon batch, the best tasting water is a solid method for water selection. When you get to brewing larger (5 gallon, 10 gallon, and beyond!) batches, that’s the time to call in the chemists and buy the tablets to balance the water chemistry. For now, go with the flow.
Brewer Tip: If you know your tap water is chlorinated, pull how much you’ll need twenty-four hours before brewing and let it sit out. Chlorine is not great for beer but it is quite volatile. If you let it sit out before brewing the chlorine levels in the water will reduce due to evaporation.
Now, with the water selected, it’s time to start with the crucial first steps of the brewing process: Malts and Mashing.
Malts and Mashing
Malt selection is important but, of course, if you buy a kit someone else has done this for you. Some common base malts are American 2-row, Maris Otter, Pilsner, and Munich malts, to name a few. These are the most common you’ll find with 2-row being your usual go-to in America.
Malt selection is important, but it is not detrimental. We know this by how many craft brewers use the SMaSH technique, as in Single Malt and Single Hop. After we started venturing away from kits, this is where we went, using only 2-row barley in our beer. The results are good, and using this technique will help you develop your palate for ingredients you like. You’ll then discover how to add secondary malts (caramel, crystal, roasted, etc.) by looking at other recipes or by trial and error. And always get your malt milled if you don’t have a mill yourself.
After the malt has been selected, it’s time to mash.
Mashing is the process in which the sugars are pulled from the malt and broken down by enzymes so that when the yeast get at it, we get some great alcohol production and flavor. This starts, as you might imagine, with water, temperature, and time.
Typically for mashing you would use one-half of the water you’re using for the whole recipe, which will be around 3 quarts to one-gallon, with 3 quarts for lower malt recipes and one-gallon for larger malt or longer boil recipes—more on that later.
The right temperature of water is necessary to kickstart the enzymes that will break down the malt sugars. This temperature is around 150℉, give or take 2℉. This is the optimal environment for sugar breakdown which is vital for the fermentation process.
Mashing takes one-hour, and can be a little tedious trying to maintain the temperature, so stick around for tips and tricks on doing so efficiently.
But first, Hops!
Hop Selection and Boil
Like malt selection, hop selection is vital for the final product and, in our case, completely overthought. It’s true. It’s easy to get caught up in complex recipes put out by professional brewers, but these are places with much more efficient equipment and hand-selected ingredients. Their beers are great because they're great. But like selecting malts, you can make a completely effective and wonderful beer with one hop, and many of your favorite beers likely use only one or two hops anyway.
Again, if using a kit, someone has already done this for you, and this will give you a great idea about hop timing and selection. You’ll then go on to research more recipes, fail a few times, and then get the product you want, which is the real treat.
Brewer Tip: If using a kit, weigh out the ingredients they gave you, from malt, to hops, to yeast. This will give you an idea of what ingredients you liked and in what quantity. And if you don’t know what ingredients they sent you specifically, reach out. In our experience, people who make beer kits are eager to tell more about their product. They’re as passionate as you are.
If freestyling, though, try and go for something common or traditional to the style. If brewing an American ale, try something that starts with a C (Cascade, Citra, Centennial, and so on). If brewing a German beer use German hops. An English ale, English hops. This will help you develop what flavors and aromas you like and it will also help you identify hop flavors and aromas in other beers you like to drink.
With the hops selected, the boil typically has three hop addition times, with a fourth reserved for dry-hopping: Bittering at the start of the boil; Flavor at around fifteen minutes left; Aroma around flameout (end of boil) and during dry-hopping. The final effects of bittering, flavor, and aroma result from how the hops and their oils are broken down, and that translates to your final beer. So, timing is key, and a boil typically takes one hour, with additional time added for different styles. But just starting out, go for one hour, just like your mashing time, and you’ll have a great product.
Brewer Tip: If trying a SMaSH IPA, divide one ounce of your hop into three parts, and add one at the start of the boil, one with fifteen minutes left, and one at the end of the boil. With these additions in place, you can see how your beer is affected by the same amount of hops applied at the bittering, flavor, and aroma additions. You’ll get to know the hop and then balance your additions to your liking from there.
After the boil, you’ll want to cool your beer down to 70-75℉ to pitch your yeast. Then the magic happens.
Yeast and Fermentation
Many parts of brewing are complex, or at least seem so, and the yeast is no different. But while yeast selection is a head-scratching affair, adding it is easy. Again, if you ordered a kit, they’ll send you yeast of the correct type and dose for the style. Then you just pitch it in, shake it up, and let it ferment.
Yeast selection is challenging, and worth its own article, but for beginners, use a kit, or go with a yeast that supports your style. If it’s American, use American yeast; British, British yeast; Belgian, Belgian yeast, and so on. If you’re not sure which is which, go into your local brew shop and they will help you, or go to a trusted site like morebeer.com (we’re not affiliated, use whoever you trust) and simply type in the strain of yeast you want, then read the characteristics of the yeast.
Yeast sold in an 11.5 or 12 gram package is designed for five gallon batches. When brewing a one gallon batch, simply pitch (throw in) one-third of the yeast.
Brewer Tip: You can pre-activate your yeast by letting it sit in 95-100℉ tap water that is 10 times the quantity of yeast you are using. For example, if you’re using 4 grams of yeast, pre-activate it in 40 grams of water. This helps reduce the amount of yeast that is killed on contact with the beer, and we’ve found we can often sneak in an additional brew by only using around 3 grams of pre-activated yeast, and the product turns out just as good.
This is a part of the process where cleanliness is king. Sanitize everything post-boil for the best results, including the fermentor, fermentor cap, funnel, scissors you cut the yeast packet with, the yeast package itself, and so on. If it’s going to touch your beer, sanitize it!
After adding the yeast, shake it a minute or two to oxygenate the beer for the yeast, and let it sit in the fermentor for two weeks. This part can be exciting… and scary. All that bubbling worried me the first time I saw it, but it’s all part of the process. The best thing you can do is keep the beer in the temperature suggestions listed on your yeast package. If there are not temp suggestions, we have the greatest success keeping our beers between 65-68℉. This keeps the off-flavors down but allows the process to flourish. This is another place you can experiment as well, especially with yeasts known for adding lots of character, like Belgian yeast. But, again, for your first time, follow the suggestions on the yeast package.
After two weeks, the fun begins… after two more weeks.
Bottling or Kegging
I have no experience with kegging, but I have a lot of experience bottling. If kegging, refer to the pros or to the manufacturer of your keg. If bottling, don’t be afraid. This process is stressful, but stressing won’t make it easier.
First, remember to sanitize everything. And I mean EVERYTHING, or you can add some undesirables to your beer and make it go sour before you even try it.
Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize … and don’t forget the priming sugar.
Priming your beer is where you add sugar to the fermented beer for the yeast to snack on resulting in a carbonated beverage. A kit will come with priming sugar or will instruct you how to prime your beer. Typically, they will use corn sugar (our go-to), or direct you on using honey or corn syrup. I’ve used all three, and found corn sugar to be the most consistent, and it also adds less flavor and sweetness than the other two. But they all work well, just be careful about the quantity you add because you can create an over fizzy beer that will bubble up like champagne when opened or a flat beer that’ll turn you off the sauce forever.
Brewer Tip: If not given a specific quantity of priming sugar in a kit, use a priming sugar calculator like the one offered by Northern Brewer. It’s worth the effort.
When the quantity and type of sugar is selected, you’ll want to boil it for five minutes in a cup of water to sanitize it and dissolve the sugars. Then it’s ready to go into your beer. It’s all very exciting, and all very quick, so make sure everything’s ready for the next steps.
Make sure your bottles are cleaned and sanitized; make sure your racking cane and tubing are sanitized; make sure your bottle caps and capper are sanitized. And after all that’s done, sanitize yourself (or at least your hands), put your boiled priming sugar in a sanitized pot, and get ready to add your beer to the priming sugar.
The addition of oxygen at this point in the game is bad news, so try to reduce exposure as much as possible. Cover the top of the pot you’re using with plastic wrap, don’t let the beer gurgle in but flow in smoothly to mix well with the priming sugar, and reduce bubbling or sloshing anywhere.
As important as this is, don’t lose sleep over it. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago when they were brewing beer over fires in open pots. You’ll be alright, just move slow and stay focused.
After the beer is mixed (and not sloshed) with the priming sugar, proceed to bottling. Of which your bottles are already sanitized and lined up, of course. Using the syphon, start filling your bottles to within 1 inch from the lip below the cap. This is another place where oxygen can get introduced, so go slow and use enough (sanitized) hose to let it touch the bottom of the bottle before filling.
With your bottles filled, start capping.
Our first capper was essentially a flat ice cream scooper that you beat with a hammer to get the cap on. While that experience was interesting and educational, it was also a little terrifying. Look for a bottle capper with levers and a magnet to hold the cap in place. It’s quick, easy, efficient, and much safer. Better yet, buy a kit that comes with a bottle capper of that style.
Beer priming in bottles takes two additional weeks, and if you have the opportunity to control the temperature during this time, you should. As in, don’t put the beer in a crazy hot or cold garage. Too hot, and you might get off-flavors; too cold and your yeast might go dormant and you’ll have no fizz. Honestly, now’s the best time to almost forget about the beer so that it’ll be a pleasant surprise for you when the two weeks are over.
For bottling, remember to sanitize, keep the oxygen exposure low, and use the right amount and type of sugar. Now you can see why people keg (he laughs to himself). Bottling has always been the most stressful part in our brew routine, but once you get it down, it’s done in a flash, and the beer will be excellent on the other side.
Tips and Tricks
Dry-hopping time and whirlpool temperatures. Dry-hopping in a one-gallon batch is not recommended, but guess what, we still do it, but not without a little experience and even more risk. Dry-hopping lets in oxygen and the possibility of contamination, but oxygen is the real culprit. To mitigate this, we dry-hop a few days into fermentation when the yeast is still slightly active. Since hops are antiseptic, they will likely not have contaminants on them, but they will have oxygen, and when dry-hopping while the yeast is active, the oxygen will be more likely to be used up by the yeast than to contaminate your beer.
Another way to get some great aromas is to add your hops during the whirlpool. This is the time after taking the beer from the boil to cool it for fermentation. At this time, you can add hops to achieve some admirable aromas because as the liquid cools, the more volatile oils (the ones with the best aromas) in the hops are more likely to remain in the beer. At this time you can play with adding your hops at different temperatures, but get your beer covered around 180℉, which is the temperature when the bad things get into your beer and have a chance of sticking around to ruin all your hard work.
You can also dry-hop right when you put the beer into the fermenter and add the yeast. Then you can stop it up and be on your way to pleasant aromas.
Priming sugar types. I never really thought this was important but, just like anything you put into a meal you spent a lot of time on, it is. We started like many by using honey as our priming sugar. It works great, but it can be difficult to know the exact sugar content of honey, creating beers that explode or are too flat. And honey is very sweet, so it will affect your beer’s flavor. If going the honey route (and we did for years) try to stay consistent with the honey you buy (something bear-shaped is usually good) or keep track of carbonation levels so you can tweak them as you go. Honey can be perfect for sweet, malty beers and local honey is a great way to add local flavors into the beer as well.
While honey is accessible, the best priming sugar we know is corn sugar. It’s rather neutral in flavor, and less sticky to use than honey. If you can find some at your local brew shop, use it. We rarely have a problem with it, and one thing I know from homebrewing is that if you can mitigate a problem, you should.
Many sugars are certainly acceptable, and we’ve been known to experiment, like using a dark corn syrup in a dark ale, or brown sugar in stout. Whichever you use, be consistent, and try to find a priming sugar calculator (like the one at Northern Brewer) to help. Then measure, drink, and adjust. Consistency is key.
Equipment. It’s fun to get caught up in all the gear, but don’t hesitate to make the process easy for yourself if you plan on continuing. Like the ice-cream-scoop bottle capper or the racking cane, these things made the process stressful, and the first few times it should be stressful, but if you know you want to continue, buy equipment that will maximize your time and improve your brewing, a.k.a. improve your final product.
Temp control—through bottling. I never thought temperature regulation was that important. What’s a few degrees, right? But after doing this for a few years, the best beers brewed are the beers that are maintained at a consistent temp throughout the whole process, bottling included.
Now, if you’re fortunate enough to live in a cooler or more regulated climate, you don’t need to worry about this much, but here in South Texas, that can be a trick, especially in summer when the house is hovering around 78-80℉.
First off, don’t brew in summer. Just kidding! Stay calm. Try an ice bath, or pick a place where the temperature stays cool and consistent. For us, the ideal temperature range for a typical IPA or ale is 65-68℉ and rarely past 70℉. But don’t forget to check your yeast label for what the yeast producer recommends. This will tell you a lot.
Drink and Repeat
Phew! That’s a lot, and you might not even have started yet. This still is not an exhaustive list, and some things may not be useful to you, but remember what got you brewing. For me, it’s those memories of brewing Root Beer. But even more so now, it’s taking raw ingredients and making them into something I truly love. Some love it, and some don’t.
Homebrewing is tedious, time-consuming, and sometimes wasteful, but that makes that final beer all the better. Try and find out for yourself. I’m betting more than a few of you have found your new favorite hobby.
Cheers!
Mr. Brew