Home Brew E-Book

Keith Thomas

• Herausgeber: The Crowood Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 302

Beschreibung

Home brewing has become increasingly popular, as a way to both make your own unique beer and develop a valuable skill to be proud of. Home Brew – A Guide to Brewing Beer offers a complete overview, from the basics of kit brewing, through to a full-scale mash brew, covering various types of beer, such as ale, bitter, stout, lager, porters, wheat beers and IPA . Combining eighty years of collective knowledge in the brewing industry, this valuable resource describes each stage of production, explaining basic concepts and exploring the key ingredients – malt, hops and yeast. The importance of hygiene is detailed with simple guidelines to ensure that your brew has long-lasting quality. Featuring a wide list of recipes to follow, with suggestions to vary ingredients and processing techniques, Home Brew will inspire and equip readers to create beers of their own imagination, providing an up-to-date view of contemporary brewing technology and ideas for the future.

Leseprobe

First published in 2022 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

[email protected]

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2022

© Keith Thomas, Brian Yorston and Julio Romero Johnson 2022

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7198 4130 9

Cover design by Blue Sunflower Creative

CONTENTS

1Introduction to Brewing Beer

2A First Brew

3Moving on from Kits to Grain Brewing

4Managing Malts

5Hops and Boiling

6Yeast and Fermentation

7Brewing to a Theme

8Testing and Maintaining Beer Quality

9Recipes

10Glossary of Brewing Terms

Appendices

Appendix I Hammond’s Brewery, 1903 XXXX RECIPE

Appendix II F-Factor Table

Appendix III Storage of Raw Materials

Appendix IV Home-Brew Suppliers

Appendix V Home-Brew Clubs and Associations

Index

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO BREWING BEER

Welcome to Home Brew: A Guide to Brewing Beer, a manual that will take you from a basic kit brew to the full production of professional quality beers. Whether your interest is in the technology of brewing, its microbiology, or just the flavours of beer, you will find guidance and examples to direct your brewing activities. A wide range of recipes are provided, covering many different styles, but also as inspiration to draft your own ideas and trials. Home brewing can be a craft activity with a creative element that results in a desirable product. This is a great combination where you can taste the efforts of your labour and enjoy beers of many different characteristics.

Home brewing does have some theoretical background and this guide will outline basic principles and concepts that you can apply to your activities. This will help to develop your knowledge and understanding and allow practical skills to be perfected.

Home brewing today is not a solitary activity, but should be set in the context of a dynamic beer scene of both amateur and commercial producers, illustrating example trends and sharing the areas of expertise involved. Many acclaimed brewers began their brewing at home. As a brewer, you can join the worldwide fraternity of craft brewers, brewing communities and their support networks. This guide will help you to become a creditable brewer – and provide you with some tasteful results to savour along the way.

WHY BE A HOME BREWER?

Answers to the question ‘Why are you a home brewer?’ often cite the satisfaction of making a product to be proud of. Being able to pour a pint of your own beer is an achievement with many strands of skill, management, judgement and creativity. Moreover, it is a product you can share with family and friends.

As with any craft, there are increasing levels of complexity and technology, but these need not stop a good beer being produced at your first attempt. With time, it is possible to gain experience and knowledge, allowing innovations to develop and a wider range of beers to be achieved, but initially a basic understanding of the process backed up with a simple recipe and instructions will provide the basis for future success.

The counter question is often asked:‘Why are you not a home brewer?’, or, more commonly phrased,‘Have you ever tried home brewing?’ Common answers are: ‘Yes, once, but it tasted so bad I poured it away before anyone else could try it.’ Or, perhaps worse,‘Yes, and no one came to my parties again.’ Perhaps not so much the last response, but a poor initial experience has certainly stopped many hopeful brewers in their tracks.

This is not because brewing is particularly difficult. Many crafts are more difficult to start, knitting perhaps as an example. However, beer is easily spoilt by some simple mistakes and, most pertinently, is very easily faulted when compared to the commercial brands we regularly drink. One bad home brew becomes a perpetual embarrassment when drinking with friends and family.

Fig. 1.1 An enjoyable taste of a first home brew.

However, a good home brew, appreciated in a suitable social setting, is a subject of pride and acclaim. This is what home brewers aim for and what these pages will support. Like any craft, you are producing something tangible, something you can hold, admire and, of course, taste and savour. It is possible to be both objective and subjective about your creations: objective because you wish to gauge the beer’s character against your recipe and expectations; subjective because you wish to enjoy it sensorily.

While bearing in mind personal preferences, it is also good to be aware of the tastes of others with whom you would share your beers. Quite possibly, you will have different preferences and so respond differently to any specific beer. This is perfectly natural; no one wishes to be force-fed a beer they dislike, whatever its acclaim or quality. So, a question to bear in mind is how much will you brew for yourself and how much for friends, family and, possibly, judges in competitions? In many cases, the answer is to brew for all options and, indeed, the mark of a good brewer is to be able to craft a beer to specification, even if it is not to their own taste, or one they would drink regularly.

Drinking your beers regularly is a reward of home brewing – bearing in mind, of course, the need for healthy moderation. Drinking with colleagues, family and friends brings your beers into the social community. Like many craft activities, home brewing has its own communities, both informal and formal. Some are simply having friends taste your beers at home and as part of general sociability. An interesting assessment of this is the assertion that a good beer does not distract from other activities, either by being the focus of praise or an object of concern; it simply becomes part of the activity. At other times, you may savour a beer, or even organize a tasting of a particularly unique brew, perhaps produced for a specific function.

In these cases, commentary is invited and discussion promoted. In an informal setting, you will receive impressions from colleagues, perhaps other home brewers, thereby obtaining valuable feedback on character and quality. It is not hard for informal sessions to become routine if you are brewing regularly and not uncommon to hear of brewing circles developing, with weekly meetings rotating around each other’s houses, or even in brew sheds with fully professional dispense and bar-room facilities. (A list of brewing circles and contacts is available in the Appendix.)

Many formal brewing circles have developed in the house past thirty years, often linked to regional, national or international organizations. These are large enough to organize meetings, competitions and even major technical symposia. Gaining acclaim from such events is a worthy achievement and feedback is always valuable for future improvements. Such circles have further value in arranging bulk purchase of materials, sharing expertise, evaluating specialist equipment and assessing problems.

Fig. 1.2a Traditional bar.

Fig. 1.2b Beer listing on a pub menu. Could yours be included?

At this point, home brewing becomes serious brewing and easily interlinks with commercial brewing. Many successful home brewers have developed into a commercial enterprise, either intentionally as a career choice, or incidentally when asked to supply a local bar. From the authors’ experience at Brewlab, this has contributed to the rapid growth of the microbrewery movement. As such, it has generated extensive employment and rewards, particularly in local provision, even if only a few generate extensive financial returns. Be aware, however, that the market for new breweries is increasingly difficult, particularly for wholesale sales. Moreover, being a competent brewer with extensive technical knowledge and skills does not guarantee success. Good business abilities are also essential.

There is a halfway house that has satisfied many home brewers seeking to see their beers in a commercial bar – a collaboration with a licensed outlet. Brewing for a bar, or often a community organization, limits risk while providing opportunity. Many large bars, pubs, tourist venues, museums and so on have function facilities that can provide an outlet for low-volume or occasional brewing. Such establishments often have space for production and in-house services of power, water and drainage that can be appropriated. Financial returns may be limited, but the opportunity for getting your beers into the community are often a welcome reward.

Selling beer is, nevertheless, not the primary intent of home brewing and in fact would be illegal without the relevant licences. The main aims are to produce beers you can be proud of, which you enjoy drinking, and to take pride in the skills you have perfected. The chapters that follow will help you to achieve these aims.

BEFORE YOU START: HOME BREWING AND SAFETY

Home brewing is not without its safety issues and these should be taken seriously to avoid any accidents.

Chemicals

Chemicals are needed by the home brewer, either in processing or as a method of keeping equipment clean and sterile. The requirements below should always be followed.

•Use food-grade chemicals when used in brewing and buy them from a reputable home-brew supplier.

•Wear suitable hand and eye protection when handling chemicals.

•Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions before using any chemicals.

•If diluting a chemical, always add the chemical to the water and never the other way round. Chemicals when diluted will give off heat. Adding water to a chemical can cause spitting due to localized heat and steam.

•Never mix chemicals. As an example, bleach and acid will release deadly chlorine.

•Store chemicals away safely – certainly where children cannot reach them.

•Never use caustic soda to clean aluminium pans. The caustic reacts with the aluminium to release explosive hydrogen.

•Rinse away cleaning chemicals after use with clean water.

Heat

You must boil or heat liquids in home brewing, as this not only sterilizes the wort (an important term referring to the liquid produced when the extract is dissolved), but also allows the extraction of malt by the grain brewer and the extraction of the hop bittering compounds. It is a process that cannot be avoided. The requirements below should therefore always be followed.

•Never overfill vessels when heating them up, as boiling wort will produce foam.

•Stand pans on firm surfaces so that there is no opportunity to knock over a pan containing hot liquids.

•When handling hot liquids, wear gloves and keep children away from the activity.

Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a by-product of the fermentation process. It is a gas which can asphyxiate and in its pure state is odourless. However, during the fermentation process, the carbon dioxide combines with water and produces a pungent carbonic-acid smell. This can easily be detected in high concentrations. The levels of carbon dioxide produced in the smaller home-brew process are low, but please ensure the following:

•that you have good ventilation when fermenting beer

•that you do not ferment beer near the sleeping area of small pets.

Bottles and Other Containers

Potentially one of the largest issues to the home brewer is the danger of excess build-up of pressure in any beer storage vessels due to secondary fermentation or infection caused by a non-brewing yeast. Too much build-up may cause the container to rupture and if this container is glass it may send dangerous shards in all directions. Yeast will produce carbon dioxide because of fermentation. As a home brewer, you may store your beer in bottles and use the live yeast to carbonate your beer. A separate section of this book will cover how to do this. Here are a few tips to avoid accidents.

•Use the correct container to store your beer. Beer bottles used in home brewing are stronger than those used by commercial brewers, who have greater control of their carbonation process.

•Ensure that all bottles are sound, without cracks or chips, before you fill them.

•A week after filling, check one of your bottles to see if it does indeed have excess carbonation and so warn you that careful handling is needed.

•If one of the bottles of a particular batch has exploded, treat all of that batch as a potential ‘bomb’ and take the following precautions:

– handle each bottle as a hazard and wrap it in a towel when moving it

– wear heavy-duty gloves, a protective heavy jacket and a full-face visor

– chill down the beer as much as possible, as this will allow the carbon dioxide to dissolve in the beer

– above a sink or outside in a safe place release the pressure from the bottle, slowly to release the gas. You may have to do this again later, if there is too much pressure.

If you find a flavour fault in the beer, the issue may be caused by contamination rather than excess fermentable sugar. You may want to destroy this beer. Also note that screw- and swing-top bottles have an advantage of failing at the top, rather than the glass shattering.

Electrics

Ensure that any electrical equipment is protected by a circuit breaker and always use a qualified electrician when making repairs and installing new kit.

Alcohol

Please be mindful of the following important aspects of home brewing.

•Alcohol consumption will impair your judgement, so do not to drink when making your beer. Leave this for afterwards.

•Home-brew beer is often stronger than commercial beer. Be aware of this when thinking of using machinery or driving – even on the day after consumption.

•The long-term consequences of drinking are well documented, so please follow government guidelines.

CHAPTER 2

A FIRST BREW

So how can you achieve a successful first brew? Simplicity is the key here, using basic ingredients, a simple brew kit and careful control of hygiene. In fact, hygiene is one of the most common causes of a spoilt beer, so it is vital to develop good hygiene practice from the start and ensure that spoilage is minimized throughout. Safety is another general issue to be aware of while you brew. A list of safety concerns and precautions is detailed in Chapter 1.

Now is not the time to look at the details of brewing biochemistry, engineering or ingredient analysis. These can be assessed later when you can apply them to your increasing knowledge and advanced applications. For now, have a look at a basic malt-extract kit suitable to brew a standard bitter ale.

Later chapters will develop your skills progressively. These will outline a full-grain mash brew using malt and once confident with handling a full brew, you will be able to look at selecting specific malts followed by selecting specific hop varieties. After this, you can try producing specialist beers using different yeast strains and finally more challenging beers, including seasonal ales, herb and fruit beers, and diet beers.

At this point, however, it is important to distinguish what is meant by a malt-extract brew and a full-grain brew. The simplest way to make beer at home is to dissolve some concentrated malt-extract syrup and sugar, add yeast and allow the mixture to ferment into beer. Hops are dissolved in the malt extract so there is no need to boil, although boiling does give a better and longer lasting beer. Malt extract is available from many suppliers as a kit, typically in a 1kg can accompanied by a packet of dried yeast. Not all kits contain hops dissolved in the extract. Some provide a hop extract that can be added, but you also have the option of adding your own hops. Check the sidebar on ‘Extract Sources for Brewing’ for a detailed background.

Full-scale brewing is more complex than kit brewing and involves the following stages:

1. Extracting sugars from malt grains (germinated barley seeds) in a temperature-controlled mash, which digests the grain starch into fermentable sugars.

2. The liquid from this extract (called wort) is then boiled with hops to extract bitterness and flavour.

3. This mixture is then cooled.

4. Finally, it is fermented with yeast. The yeast ferments sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide, leaving you with beer.

Fig. 2.2 Diagram of stages of the brewing process.

Fig. 2.3 Diagram of kit and mash brewing stages showing differences.

Figure 2.2 shows the stages of the full brewing process, while Figure 2.3 shows how kit brewing differs from this. The sidebars on mashing, boiling and fermentation provide a summary of each of these stages.

EXTRACT SOURCES FOR BREWING

Yeast needs simple sugars to produce alcohol. In theory, common granulated sugar can be used to produce alcohol, but the yeast will not thrive due to the lack of vital nutrients and the drink will taste quite bland. Traditionally, cereal grains and in particular malted barley are used to make beer, as they provide the sugar for alcohol production and nutrients for yeast growth and of course flavour, body and colour. The advanced home brewer may indeed use grains to brew, but for the novice there are several alternatives.

Fig. 2.1 Dried powdered malt extract.

Malt extract is made by a brewing process using grains. The wort is then concentrated by an evaporation process. When about 80 per cent of the water has been removed, it becomes a thick syrup that can be packaged in a tin ready for the home brewer. This malt-extract syrup can be tailored for a particular beer style, or even to replicate a well-known brand of beer, and can also be already hopped. Dried malt extract, as in Figure 2.1, is further processed from syrup by spray drying until it becomes a fine powder. Extracts eliminate the need to purchase expensive equipment, whilst supplying a well-formulated beer ingredient for the home brewer to use directly as instructed, or even to experiment with.

The grain brewer can use a whole variety of different malts in their recipes and hence produce a much greater range of beers. Other sources of sugars can be found by using different grains such as flaked maize or flaked rice. These are called adjuncts and act as an alternative, often cheaper, source of sugar. Adjuncts are used together with malted barley as this provides enzymes to extract the fermentable sugars from the starch in the adjuncts.

Special brewing sugars can be used and these are tailored for a particular need. Common sugars are invert sugar, which is a mixture of glucose and fructose, and corn or wheat syrups, which can be used to increase the strength of the beer. Brewers’ dextrose is simply glucose, but it produces a cleaner, crisper beer. Flavoured sugars provide both extra sugar and a unique flavour. Examples are fruit syrups, molasses, treacle and caramel. This list is virtually inexhaustible as mixtures are possible. Fruit can be used as a sugar source, although the possibility of introducing a non-brewing yeast strain must be taken into account.

The crucial points about these ingredients are that they provide a source of fermentable sugars for the yeast to manufacture alcohol, but they also contribute to beer flavours, either directly through their characteristics, or indirectly via the brewing process.

MASHING

Mashing is the heart of brewing, whereby sugars are extracted from the starch in malts. This extraction requires the starch to liquify (gelatinize), to dissolve and then be digested by enzymes into sugars. The mashing process is typically conducted at a temperature that is optimal for enzyme action, generally between 60 and 70°C. The level of acidity and the thickness of the mash are also important factors that the brewer must manage for an efficient extraction of sugars. More extensive details of how to set up and manage a mash are covered in Chapter 3, along with some of the biochemistry and concepts involved.

BOILING

Boiling wort is a process the brewer would rather not do. It is expensive in time and energy, and therefore cost. However, it is vital for several reasons. The boiling process sterilizes the wort and presents a pristine environment for the brewing yeast to be dominant during the subsequent fermentation. It allows the reactions of malt-derived tannins and proteins to form large particles and then be removed from the wort. If these particles were not separated, the beer would eventually go hazy.

The boiling process will evaporate some undesirable flavours. It will also increase the colour, as well as slightly increase acidity. The boiling process is essential for bitterness, as the hop alpha acids are changed to the bitter anti-microbial compound of iso-alpha acid by the process of isomerization. Hop oils and resins are extracted during the boil, although some are lost in the steam.

Therefore, if you did not boil wort, you would produce a hazy, contamination-flavoured beer with no bitterness. The beverage would simply not look, smell or taste of beer.

FERMENTATION

Yeast is a microorganism that can produce energy from sugar using two types of metabolism. In the presence of oxygen, yeast can use a biochemical system called the Krebs cycle, which is common to that used by plants and animals. This system is very efficient in providing energy for life and so allows the yeast to reproduce quickly.

When the oxygen is depleted, an alternative biochemical system called the fermentation process is utilized to generate energy. As a by-product of this fermentation process, both ethanol and carbon dioxide are produced. The fermentation process generates many by-products that have an impact on flavour. Some are desirable, whilst others are not. These include acetaldehyde (‘green apples’), diacetyl (‘butterscotch’) and esters (fruity flavours). The degree of the flavours produced depends on the yeast strain, the wort composition and whether the beer has any contaminant organisms present.

THE STAGES OF BREWING

As can be seen from the diagrams of the brewing process, there are some specific stages as well as some major control steps. Brewing differs considerably from winemaking, in which fermentable sugars are already available in the fruits used. To make wine, it is possible simply to extract the juice, add yeast and manage the fermentation. You can imagine that winemakers will object to this simplification as it ignores many subtle elements of winemaking, but it is valid for comparison purposes.

In your first brew, you will use concentrated malt extract from a pre-prepared wort and so avoid the complexity of the mashing process (this will be encountered in detail later). Instead of mashing grains, a kit will allow you to use malt extract, either as a dried powder or a syrup supplemented with a kilogram of granulated sugar. This will provide much of the fermentable sugars already digested from barley starch. As such, you can simply dissolve the malt extract and sugar into a fermenting vessel and ferment with yeast.

Fig. 2.4 Diagram of brewing processes using basic kit dissolving and boiling processes.

Fig. 2.5 All the materials – malt-extract kit, boiler, fermenter, bottles, tubing, capper.

As an alternative, you could choose a kit that requires boiling and add hops. Boiling provides greater stability to beer by reducing possible contamination and so gives a longer shelf life, although, of course, you will require a boiler as well as a fermenter. A comparison of the two approaches to kit brewing is shown in Figure 2.5.

This outline of kit brewing provides the basis of brewing, but allows you to make additions in the boil and in fermentation for extra flavours. By using kits initially, you can extend your experience while gaining confidence and skills in managing the operations.

What is Needed for a Basic Brew

Before making a start, some further questions arise. Where should I brew? What equipment will I need? What is the sequence to follow and, equally important, what can go wrong?

Check the illustrations and in the checklist (Table 2.1) for what you will need for a basic initial brew. Most suppliers will carry many options, so look at the listings available. Also check the sidebar on suitable materials for brewing vessels, as some can react with wort and beer.

Table 2.1 Essentials Checklist

Materials

Ingredients

Services

Mixing pot/boiler

Beer kit

Water

Kettle and jug

Sugar (generally 1kg)

Power to heat water

Stirrer/long spoon

Detergent

Drainage

Thermometer

Sanitizer

Power to keep fermenter warm

Fermenter

Bottles and caps

Tubing and tap

Capper

Fig. 2.6 Example brew kits.

For this first brew, a simple kit, such as one from the range shown in Figure 2.6, will use prepared malt extract and sugar as the raw materials. Many such home-brew kits are available from suppliers and hardware stores – some use powder, others syrups. All of these contain a stable extract from a cereal mash, sometimes with added hop extract and a packet of powdered yeast.

A major starting requirement is a large vessel, generally 25ltr capacity, in order to dissolve and sterilize the malt extract. You can use your fermenter, but a large boiling pan is ideal as you will be able to heat all of the liquid. The type of materials used in brewing vessels is important to consider, partly for expense but also to manage hygiene. Stainless steel is preferred, although plastic is possible. Check details in the sidebar ‘Suitable Materials for Brewing Vessels’ for further guidance.

The preparation of the wort will take a couple of hours and the fermentation five to seven days. After this, the beer requires checking before bottling to be sure it is stable. Once bottled, your beer should ferment slowly as it matures for a further seven to ten days. This will generate carbon dioxide in the bottle and the beer will become conditioned and effervescent when opened. After this, your beer is ready for you to taste.

Fig. 2.8a Timings of dissolving – boiling.

Fig. 2.8b Timings of dissolving – method kit brews.

To view how long your brew will take, check with the flow schemes in Figures 2.8a and b showing the example timings of basic no boil and boiling options.

SUITABLE MATERIALS FOR BREWING VESSELS

Plastic when used in home brewing has one property that makes it a liability – it tends be stressed by heat and can deform and lose its strength. Therefore, its use for a grain brewer is best limited to the cold side of the operations, such as fermenters and bottles. Plastic can also be weakened by sunlight, as well as being easily scratched and then contaminated by microorganisms.

Historically, copper was universally used in breweries, as it was the only metal available. It is an excellent conductor of heat and is wettable, so causing small bubbles that help in trub formation. This makes it ideal in areas such as wort kettles using direct heat transfer. The disadvantages of copper are its excessive cost and that it is relatively soft, so is liable to scratches and dints. It will leach copper ions into the wort, which can be beneficial to remove sulphur compounds and supply small amounts of copper for the yeast growth. However, excess copper (above 0.2mg/ltr) can be toxic to humans. Copper tarnishes easily, so needs constant cleaning using acids to keep its inherent beautiful colour.

Fig. 2.7a Traditional copper brewing vessels.

Fig. 2.7b Victorian copper fermenter.

Today, the material of choice is stainless steel. It conducts heat, is strong, durable to cleaning chemicals and does not tarnish. It is easily cleaned and does not taint the product. Although invented in the 1800s, it was not until the 1950s that it became economically viable to use. Stainless steels are an alloy of iron, chromium and nickel. Two types are used in brewing. Type 304 has a composition that includes 18 per cent chromium and 9 per cent nickel. Type 316 has the addition of 2 per cent molybdenum. Type 316 is superior and so more expensive, as it provides greater resistance to acids and corrosion by chloride ions.

Brass, iron and aluminium should be avoided at all costs in brewing, as they may leach metals into the beer. Brass contains small amount of lead, which under acidic conditions can end up in beer. Iron will cause beer flavour and haze issues, whilst aluminium in contact with caustic soda will react to produce explosive hydrogen and dissolve away your vessel. Aluminium coated with an intact inert coating can be used, although is not ideal as the coating may deteriorate.

GETTING STARTED

So, to get started have a look at the preparations needed – and the questions to check in advance.

Space

First, you need a suitable space in which to work, most likely a kitchen. Even brew kits require the liquid to be heated, in order to dissolve the malt extract powder or syrup. Either of these will be sticky once opened. They are easily spilt, so a clean and wipeable surface is essential. You don’t want the extract getting into corners or in the cracks of tables and floors, as this will encourage microbes to grow and potentially spoil your beer. You also don’t want complaints from other kitchen users. A standard laminate kitchen worktop is ideal, although this could be situated in a clean shed, workroom or garage.

Easy access to a sink and water supply is also vital, as you will need to wash your vessels and utensils. You will also need power to heat and dissolve the wort and a means to cool it before adding yeast. Again, a kitchen is a suitable location for these, but it is worth considering the options available in some detail

Water

Water will be the major ingredient in your brew. Often termed liquor by brewers, your water supply needs to be potable (acceptable for drinking). To make it safe and potable, suppliers typically treat water with chlorine – which you can often smell when the tap is running hard. This chlorine is bad news for your brew. Being quite reactive, it readily combines with wort and beer components, producing medicinal off flavours. As a result, it is a sad cause of many rejected beers and a common home-brew fault.

To avoid this, it is sensible to boil the water before starting and leave it standing for some time to cool – for a few hours or overnight – before mixing it with your extract. An alternative is to add Campden tablets (sodium or potassium metabisulphite), which react with the chlorine. Half a tablet will treat 22.7ltr (5gal), but ensure you grind up the tablet so that it dissolves fully.

The sidebar on ‘Liquor or Water Sources’ provides a summary of the features and different sources of brewing water.

LIQUOR OR WATER SOURCES

It can be argued that water, or liquor as termed by brewers, is the main ingredient in beer – beer consists of about 94 per cent water. Sourcing a good water supply is therefore vital for the manufacture of good beer. In most cases, it will come straight from your domestic tap. By law, this is guaranteed by your utility company to be wholesome. There are some issues with tap water, however, as it is often treated with chlorine or chloramine to prevent bacterial contamination. These chemicals can cause beer to have a TCP (trichlorophenol) or medicinal taste. If you want to avoid TCP and medicinal flavour problems:

• Buy your brewing water in a bottle. Although more expensive, it will be guaranteed chlorine or chloramine free. It will also list the mineral content.

• Boil your liquor for at least 15 minutes and cool. This will drive off the chlorine, but not any chloramine.

• Filter your water through either an activated carbon or a reverse osmosis filter.

• Add Campden powder as a tablet as in Figure 2.10, following the instructions provided. This will remove both chlorine and chloramine.

For the grain brewer, there is an added dimension in that salts have an influence on the extraction of sugars from the grain. The balance of salts has a huge effect on beer flavour and is linked to beer styles. Therefore, an understanding of the levels of different salts in your water supply and the treatment needed for different beer styles is paramount. The notable salts in brewing are calcium sulphate, calcium chloride and bicarbonates. This is not an issue for the extract brewer.

You may be tempted to use rainwater as a brewing source, as it would have no salts, in theory making their addition easier, as you would be starting from a blank canvas. However, please do not use rainwater, as it may contain harmful contaminants picked up from the environment. The same applies to well or river water, which could be high in undesirable materials such as iron, nitrates, heavy metals or pesticides. The price of domestic water in the UK is a minor cost to the home brewer and well worth using as an insurance to produce good beer.

Power

Wort also needs to boil – or at least be heated. This is partly to dissolve the sugars and other ingredients, but also to kill off microbes and to sterilize it. In fact, it is impossible to kill off all microbes for certain by boiling, though you can get pretty close after 10 minutes at 100°C.

Fig. 2.9a Suitable brewing location with services – worktop.

Fig. 2.9b Another brewing location – sink surface.

Fig. 2.10 Campden tablets to remove chlorine from the liquor.

Fig. 2.11 Boiler with heating element and mesh to retain hops.

Electricity and gas are the most common heating sources in kitchens, so if you choose a kit to boil wort you will need a metal vessel to hold this as it heats. Stainless steel is a good material, being inert and hygienic, and aluminium undesirable. The ideal vessel is one designed for brewing with a tap for the run-off, so that you don’t have to lift a heavy or hot batch of wort to pour into your fermenter. If you can afford it, purchase a dedicated brewing boiler, which will have an internal electric heating element, generally 2–4kW, which you can plug into a mains supply (seeFigure 2.9a). Figure 2.11 shows the internal heating element in a boiler.

Fig. 2.12 Boiling with gas.

Alternatively, a large, solid pot will suffice if it is stable on a cooker ring (either electrical or gas), as in Figure 2.12. An induction ring is ideal, if your pot is suitable. Safety is an issue here, as you may need to move the pot when hot, so make sure that any pot has solid, and well-insulated, handles.

Cooling

Boiled wort must be cooled before the yeast is added for fermentation. This will of course happen naturally over time – certainly overnight. However, leaving the hot, but cooling, wort for an extended time may encourage oxygenation, leading to stale flavours – another common home-brew fault. If you choose this approach, transfer your wort to a container with a sealable top so that it can cool hygienically.

Fig. 2.13 Cooling coils suitable for rapidly chilling the wort.

Forced cooling can be achieved by sitting the boiling pot in cold water. Early home brewers used to stand the pot in a filled bath for hours, inevitably leading to conflict with other bathroom users – a further home-brew fault. An easier option is to insert a cooling coil (seeFigure 2.13) into the wort and run cold water through the coil to remove the heat. Stainless-steel or copper pipe is the most effective for this, as shown in the diagram, and can cool a 25ltr batch of wort within 20 minutes.

One difficulty with a cooling coil is the connection to taps, which in a domestic kitchen lack screw fittings. Garden-hose connectors are available that can overcome this, but check your taps carefully to ensure a tight joint and avoid water spraying around the room – a very undesirable home-brew fault.

Utensils

Steady, confident hands are essential to manage your home brew and avoid spillages. However, a few utensils are worth purloining. A large, solid spoon at least 45cm long is good to remove syrup from a tin and to stir the wort. Stainless steel or plastic is probably better than wood, which can harbour microbes.

A thermometer is desirable to check the temperature of the wort before adding the yeast. A weighing balance is useful if you need to weigh any additional ingredients (see