​

STEP 1 - Sanitize 

The Most important thing you can do is Sanitize all of your equipment! 

 Brewing Kettle, Fermenter, Air Lock, Auto-Siphon and Stir spoon. 

 

For cleaning we recommend PBW and for sanitizing Star San- both are sold in store. 

 

STEP 2 - Prepare the “Wort” 

When making a 5 gallon batch fill your brew kettle with 2.75-3 gallons of strike water. 

Mashing temperatures range from 148-160F

**be so careful not to go over this as it will effect your mash sugar levels and not ferment properly. 

 

Once the water reaches this consistent temperature add your Brew in a Bag of milled grain. Dunk it like a tea bag to make sure all areas are submerged and even. 

 

Allow it to steep in the hot strike water for 1hr. *never boil grain. keep on eye on your temperature. 

 

STEP 3 - Lautering

So now you’re going to either get a colander or a few large sticks/spoons to create a way to hold your brew in a bag of grain over your kettle water. 

 

You’re going to allow all the drips to fall back into the pot from the mash. (keeping the grains inside the mesh bag, just the water to drip off and back into the pot) Do Not Squeeze. 

 

STEP 4 - Sparging

Using an additional pot fill with an additional 2.5 gallons of water for your sparge water. Heat to 165F, do not go over 170. 

 

Dunk the spent grains from the mash bag into the new pot to wash off the residual sugars for 5 minutes. 

 

Remove bag of spent grains from the pot and discard, they are no longer needed. 

 

Blend your sparge water to your main wort kettle, combining the two. 

 

STEP 5 - Boil 

Now you’ll be removing the hovering brew in a bag completely and allowing the newly made “wort” to come to a boil. Set the timer for 60 minutes. 

*** This is a gentle rolling- not an active one. Be so careful not to boil over. The sugars are sticky and once they’re scorched on the stove top its an afternoon cleanup. trust us when we recommend that you keep an eye on it at this point. 

 

 

STEP 6  -Hop Addition 

During this one hour boil you get to do your hop additions. 

Depending on your recipe the hop addition times will be different but an average brew will be the following times: 

 

Bittering Hops - at the very beginning of your boil, in the first couple minutes of boiling sprinkle your first hops in and give them a gentle stir, splashing occasionally along the sides of the pot so nothing gets stuck above the water line. 

 

Aroma Hops - near the end of the boil, around the 50 mins of boil, sprinkle the hops in and give a gentle stir here and there. 

 

• If you’re going for a more bitter beer, the longer you boil them the stronger it will be. Making an IPA generally takes a 3rd addition right in the middle around the 30 minute mark. 

• You may also add a 4th addition called a “dry hop” you save this one until 2-4 days before you bottle your beer. You put it directly into your carboy and shake your container to mix it - you don’t want to stir because it will oxidize your fermenting process. Simply remove the airlock momentarily to add them in and re-seal it as soon as you can. 

 

STEP  7 -Cooling it down. 

A critical and crucial step before adding the yeast is making sure its within the temperature range your yeast can be pitched at (sprinkled on top) Generally 68F/20C

*****If it’s too hot it will kill the yeast, and too cold will stunt it. 

 

Theres lots of ways you can do this step but one of the easiest is to put your brew kettle in a cold water bath. This will help it decrease quickly.

 

Make sure you keep the lid on at this point so nothing unsanitary effects your brew. 

 

STEP 8. -Transferring 

Sanitize your auto-siphon. You’re now ready to transfer your wort into your fermenter. -optional to leave the gunk in bottom.

 

STEP 9  - Specific Gravity Reading 

At this stage you can take a sample and put it in your hydrometer jar and use your Hydrometer to get your first reading -Original Gravity. Make sure you write this number down because you will need that number and a second reading to give you the alcohol % after fermentation. 

 

STEP 10 - Pitch the yeast 

Sprinkle the yeast evenly across the top of the fermenter. There is no need to stir it in.

 

STEP 11 - Airlock 

Seal your fermenter! This can be done a number of ways. If you have enough top space in your bucket you may seal the lid shut. Monitor it daily to see if the bucket or lid is expanding in any way. You can “burp” it to release built up pressure to prevent it from exploding and making a mess.

 

Another way is to put on your airlock. *Remember the water is inside is how it works. When the gas is being released from your fermenter it will try to escape and is only able to do so through bubbles. It’s able to be released while in return no air can get into the wort. 

 

Another option, especially with liquid yeast or more powerful pitches is to create a “chimney” blow off tube with your air lock. There will be too much actively for a petite airlock to handle so you may remove the lid on the airlock, attach a hose to the device and create a blow off system in a tubberware container with water instead. 

 

STEP 12 -Ferment 

Now you need to place your fermenter in a space that matches the temperature requirements for the yeast you used. Ales and Lagers ferment at different temperatures. 

After 24 hours, be sure to check on the temperature of that space and make sure your airlock doesn’t have clogged blow off. And check for any bucket expansion. Your first few days will be the most active. Thats when it needs the most attention. 

 

STEP 13 *optional step 

After 10-14 days of fermenting and you’re getting ready to bottle or do a dry hop, if you have a bucket as a your primary fermenter, at this stage you can transfer the beer into your carboy. This will allow you to clear quite a bit of fallen sediment and assists in filtering it. The gunk in the bottom is called “trub” and its all the grain particles, hop particles and dead yeast cells. These aren’t always wanted in your beer so its helpful to do the secondary fermenter to remove it from the bottom, making your beer clearer and less hazy. 

*make sure your fermenter is sanitized before using. 

 

STEP 14 - Testing 

After the 10-14 days before bottling you can sample it and see how it is. *remember there will be no carbonation at this point, you’re just tasting flavours and aromas. During this sampling you can do you final hydrometer test, by taking a sample of the beer into your hydrometer jar and putting your hydrometer in for the next measurement.  

 

STEP15 -Carbonation 

 

There are any ways you can carbonate your beer. 

1. Using forced carbonation with a C02 Tank and regulator in kegs. 

2. Using DME/Dextrose-Corn sugar and mixing it into your wort before bottling

3. Pre-measuring DME/Dextrose-Corn sugar into each bottle for even distribution 

4. carbonation drops in each bottle 

 

By adding DME/Dextrose to the wort it’s reactivating the yeast and feeding it sugar again. This will create C02 and needs to be released, but by trapping it in the bottle it carbonates your beer. Once the beer is sealed in your bottle this step takes approx. 7 days of wait time. 

 

So you choose which way you’d like to carbonate your beer, put your beer in the bottles/keg and then wait approx. one week. Forced carbonation is drinkable right away! 

 

 

Step 16 

ENJOY IT!!! YAY You did it!! CHEERS!