Objective:

To ensure you have the necessary equipment and ingredients to proceed with brewing.

You'll Need:

A list or knowledge of your home brewing equipment, ingredients, and some sanitizer.

Directions:

Success, so the saying goes, is 90% preparation and 10% inspiration, and so it is with beer. This guide will teach you how to make beer at home. Brewing beer involves boiling malt, hops, and water to create a grainy, sugary liquid.

Next, we add a fungus - yeast - to the wort, allow for time to pass, and we have flat, warm beer.

Finally, we mix this warm, flat beer with a bit of sugar and bottle it, which will result in carbonated beer after a week or two.

But, let’s step back a moment. We add a fungus? Sure. Yeast is a fungus, a very special fungus. It is the crucial element in the creation of beer as it converts sugars into alcohol. To create an environment where yeast thrives, it's important to clean and sanitize all equipment that will come into contact with the beer.

There are many sanitizing solutions available on the market. Most are quick and easy to use. For example, Easy Clean: 1 tablespoon cleanser per 1 gallon warm water and 2 minutes of contact time. No rinsing required.

Below is a full list of equipment you'll need for your first brew day. A beer making kit from Northern Brewer will include everything you need to successfully brew your first batch of homebrew.

Equipment:

• Sanitizer: Sanitizer keeps your equipment clean and prevents infection.
• Brew Kettles: Used for boiling your wort.
• Fermentation Vessel: A container used to ferment your beer.
• Fermentation Lock: Keeps your beer from being oxidized during fermentation.
• Spoon: Used for whirlpooling and helps prevent boilovers.
• Hydrometer: Use the hydrometer to figure out your original and final gravity.
• Bottles: Once your beer has fermented, bottle it for serving.
• Auto Siphon: The auto siphon transfers beer between fermentation vessels.
• Bottle Cappers: An essential piece of equipment that fastens caps to the bottle.
• Bottle Caps: We have a variety of closures that work with many different bottles.
• Starter Kits: Choose a variety of Starter Kits to begin brewing!

Ingredients:

All Northern Brewer Recipe Kits and nearly all beers have four basic ingredients: Malt, Hops, Yeast, and water. Specialty grains, sugars, or spices may also be included in some recipes. Water chemistry can make a difference in your beer, so ensure your water tastes good before brewing.

Malt:

Beer is brewed by fermenting the sugars of malted barley and other cereal grains. Liquid and dry malt extracts are concentrated forms of malt sugars that have been produced by mashing and are packaged for later use.

Hops:

Hops are cone-shaped flowers that add bitterness, flavors, and aromas to beer. Different hop varieties contribute different qualities to the beer.

Yeast:

Yeast is a type of fungus that converts sugars into alcohol during fermentation. There are top-fermenting and bottom-fermenting yeasts used in brewing, each associated with specific beer styles.

Back to: Homebrewing 101

Proceed to: Preparing Your Wort