Brewing Beer

Off the keyboard of Papa Stetter:

I thought that tonight would be good time to switch things up and post about something different than a Cooper update. So here we go!

It turns out that besides the ability to create a cute little kid, I also have the ability to create beer! My wonderful mother-in-law bought me a beer starter kit for Christmas, so a few weeks ago I invited some friends over to the house to give it a try.

We were making two 5-gallon batches of beer, an Irish Red Ale that came with the brewing kit and a Sierra Nevada IPA clone recipe.

Ingredients and supplies ready

The first step is to lay out all the ingredients and tools necessary. The beer kits contain specialty grains, malt syrup, hops and yeast. The tools needed are a boiling kettle of at least 3.5 gallons, a 6 gallon glass carboy with bung airlock, special sanitizing soap, bottling equipment and bottles.

Steeping the specialty grains

Then put 2.5 gallons of water into the kettle and steep the specialty grains for 20 minutes (or until the water reached 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the grains and bring to a boil and then add the malt syrup. 

Dave's always stirring the pot

Bring the mixture back to a boil and now you have "wort"! Which is a brewers term for unfermented beer. Once it is boiling again, start a timer for one (1) hour and add the different hops at specific times during that hour. Make sure you keep stirring as you add the hops or you'll get a boil over and given all the sugar, it will not be fun to clean up!

Peter helping sanitize the equipment

While the wort is cooling, you need to sanitize everything that is going to come into contact with the beer to prevent your batch from being contaminated by bacteria.

Ice bath to cool the wort

Then you want to bring the hot wort down to 100 degrees Fahrenheit as quickly as possible. An ice bath was a serious pain and increased the risk of contamination, so in the future I will be using a copper coil cooling system. After the wort is cool enough (78 degrees), pour it into the glass carboy and then top off with cold water up to the 5 gallon mark and add the yeast. Then rock the carboy back and forth to help aerate the wort.

Fresh beer ready for fermentation

After all of that, put the glass carboys in a warm, dark, quiet spot with an air lock system filled with a little sanitizing solution. The air lock prevents bacteria from getting into the batch but allows the carbon dioxide build-up from the fermentation process to escape, releasing the pressure.

Fermentation! Yeast hard at work

Then you wait and let the yeast feast on the wort! As the yeast works the carboys will bubble and you can see the fermentation process underway!

Bottling day! More sanitizing...

Depending on the recipe, it will typically be 2-3 weeks before the batch is ready to be bottled. Once again, sanitize everything!

A beer lovers Christmas tree

Beer ready for bottling

 
You will siphon beer into the bottling bucket. You will also add the priming solution (boiled water and sugar). This extra sugar when you bottle is what triggers any remaining yeast to come alive and eat it and creates the carbonation in the bottle!

Siphoning the beer into the bottling bucket

Filling the bottles

 
Once bottled, again move to a warm dark place and wait about 2-3 weeks before the beer is ready to be consumed.

Part of the finished product

 
And there you have it - that's the simple version of how you brew beer! It is a lot of work but it is rewarding and if you have the time, is cost effective. The real joy though will be when I can start to experiment with my own specific recipes! But for now, I'm using kits until I get a little better at the craft. 

Cheers!