Homebrewing, the basics

2010-06-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

WHY?

Imbibing is fun. For many, it is a social lubricant. For some, self-inflicted memory loss. Whatever the reason, making it yourself requires time, dedication, and responsibility (if just a little bit), and that is something to be proud of.

A Lesson you say?

I will try my best to put brewing into layman context, whether it be making beer, mead, wine, hard-cider, etc. it does not matter. The basics of making alcohol through fermentation is pretty straightforward.

I can only lead by example, thus I will reference the making of beer and hard-cider. I started making beer, but now have progressed into making cider (hard) because it is delicious and much easier.

Some Basics

Beer, wine, cider, mead, etc. all have three basics ingredients in common in order to make alcohol. They are:

1). Water 2). Ferment-able sugars 3). Yeast

Just in case you didn't know, the fermentable sugar source for each basic drink are:

wine == grape juice

mead == honey

hard cider == apple juice

beer == malted barley

Learn the simple chemistry behind the flavors in beer. This book greatly simplifies what is going on and is not a long read. I have a few books and this one is the constant companion.

Brewing kit

Yeast, the personality of the drink to be

When I started making beer, I was surprised to discover the wide variety of yeast available. The different kinds of yeast (or at least labeled as such) is more numerous than any of the other basic ingredients. It is a sad misnomer to think that bread yeast you buy in a store is comparable to yeast used to make beer or wine. I have had a few people describe this as part of their process and can only think "have you heard of the internet?" Because there you will quickly discover (if your end result wasn't obvious enough) that using bread yeast is a great way to make terrible alcohol.

I find describing the importance of yeast to people easiest by comparing yeast . . .to people. The most important quality of a person is their personality. The way a person acts/behaves is the best way at really describing someone. This is akin to describing different yeasts and the flavors they have on the solutions they ferment. There is a reason why, at any reputable homebrew supply store, you will find 40 - 50+ different kinds of yeasts. Usually, you will find a yeast for almost every single style of beer. The majority of my homebrewed beers were belgian ales, and whenever I went to get a belgian type yeast, I had at least 6 to choose from. And belgian ales are a fraction of the styles of beer available.

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (somewhat pronounced as Sack-arow-my-seas Ser-vee-see-ay): Yeast responsible for making most of the beer and wine we drink today. And yes, beer yeast and wine yeast are the same thing(for the most part). The biggest difference is that wine yeast can not break down maltotriose ( a trisacharide of glucose)

Alcohol tolerances are also vast. Wine yeasts and a good amount of belgian yeasts are good at fermenting up to 10%-15%. But at the same time, saison yeasts (another belgian-ish yeast) is only good up to 5% or so.

Common yeast package types (and how to use them)

Yeast will come in two forms, dry or wet. The dry kind is cheap, simple, and the most idiot proof. There are at least 2 different kinds of wet yeast packets.

-Dry yeast packets: looks like bread yeast (tiny little pellets of dormant yeast). Simply sprinkle this on top of the liquid.

-Wet yeast (from White Labs): This wet yeast comes in a vial and is stored cold. Make sure this vial is able to come up to room temperature before it is pitched (fancy term for pour the yeast into the liquid). It would not be a bad idea to just submerge this vial in sanitizing solution. Don't ever microwave it or allow it to get warmer than 90-100'F. So with it clean and ready, shake the vial to loosen the settled yeast and pitch into the liquid.

: White Labs Yeast Vile

-Wet Yeast(Wyeast): This yeast comes in a pouch. This pouch is special, because it includes an internal yeast nutrient pack that you bust 6 hours before you pitch. This is akin to proofing the yeast to wake it, make sure its alive, and get it rolling before you pitch it. Again, let the pouch soak in sanitizer, or wipe the part to be torn with rubbing alcohol. I've heard the most convenient way to go about using this pouch is to leave it out over-night so it will come up to room temperature and burst the internal nutrient pack when you wake up. If you tried to do it all in one day (wake up, take pouch out of refrigerator, wait for it to warm up, burst nutrient pack, wait another 6 hours for the pouch to swell), it would take all day. So if you were using Wyeast, by the time you have your juice cooled, you should also have a swelled pouch waiting to be opened. Go to the Wyeast website to see a quick tutorial on their pouches.

BASICALLY, YEAST WILL GREATLY DETERMINE THE END FLAVOR OF YOUR BEVERAGE, choose wisely. .

Fermentable Sugar

Let me try to keep this as simple as possible. The great majority of fermentable sugars are glucose and fructose. These are the most basic sugars, period. Sucrose is just a combination of one glucose and one fructose. Galactose is another monosaccharide, but one only used when combined with a glucose molecule to form lactose (used in cream ales). Maltose is the main constituent sugar in making beer, but maltose is just the combination of two glucose molecules (a dissacharide) and maltotriose (three glucose molecules == trisacharide), which the yeast will break down into single glucose molecules.

Yeast make enzymes which break down sugars and turn it into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. Just take it for granted and move along.

Unfermentable Sugar
These are generally complex sugars or dextrins. I don't know how many types of complex unfermentable sugars exist in beer, but I am just going to assume there are several. What is important to keep in mind is, they will not turn into alcohol, they are still moderately sweet, and when it comes to beer, they provide body and a "thickness" to the mouthfeel.

The best way I had someone put into physical context of what a complex sugar might be, in relation to beer, was this:

Imagine the starch in barley looking like a tree, with trunk and branches of glucose molecules. And say that a chain saw would be the enzyme that is going to chop this tree up into separate glucose molecules which can be fermented (starch by itself cannot ferment). Well if you've ever chopped up a tree with a chain-saw, then you know that trying to chop up the areas of the tree where the branches leave the trunk is quite difficult. The inherent shape of these areas makes it difficult for the chain-saw to get in cut off something manageable and substantial. Well it is relatively the same (apparently) at the molecular level. Since the shape is inherently awkward, the enzymes are like "f ' this" and move onto other areas.

Water

When it comes choosing water to brew beer(for example) with, if it tastes fine, then chances are it is more than suitable for brewing. Some beer styles work better with soft water, some with hard water. What is NOT OK to use is distilled water. Never use distilled water. Yeast require the dissolved minerals in water to function. And if your tap water has a heavy chlorine taste, then maybe you should go with bottled water. I used to go buy the 2.5 gallon containers of ozarka water, or gallon jugs of grocery store water (which came from a certain aquifer).

*Note: I am pretty sure that water sold is suppose to say where it came from. For instance, HEB (grocery store in Texas) gets its bottled water from a certain aquifer (I forgot the name). And that water, in particular, was recommended to me by the people that worked at the homebrew supply shop (in Austin, Tx).

*Another Note: Pre-boiling tap water before using it for anything can help get rid of chlorine.

Clean, Sanitize, Rinse, Lather, Repeat. . .

Anyone who knows anything about brewing will tell you the most important aspect in the entire process is keeping things clean, and not because it is generally good practice. Cleanliness and sanitation are absolutely imperative! Friends of mine have been slightly put off when I tell them that the beer I am serving: " yes, this was the stuff in the bucket fermenting in my closet." So the process might seem shoddy, I assure you it is not, UNLESS you short-cut sanitation. The whole process, from a conceptually stand point, is very very simple. Focus all of your practices around making the yeast "happy", because they do all the work. By not carrying out a strict cleaning regimen, you could introduce yeast "terrorists", which will hijack your brew, introduce off-flavors, and possibly spoil the whole thing all together.

The difference between cleaning and sanitizing. Cleaning is simply washing, getting rid of crud, basically make it safe to eat with. Sanitizing is beyond cleaning in that you have to ensure you remove as much foreign bacteria and yeast as possible, by using a sanitizing solution and/or heat.

So what are you suppose to clean and sanitize? Well, CLEAN EVERYTHING! Period. Not everything has to be sanitized though. Here is a list of things which need to be sanitized: Fermenting bucket, fermenting bucket lid, Bottling bucket (if you use one), racking cane, any tubes used, hydrometer, airlock, bottle filler, and whatever it is bottled in. Here is the easiest way to think about it. Anything which comes into contact with the liquid (to be fermented) AFTER it is pasteurized/boiled needs to be sanitized. Even after it has fermented, it can still go bad.

A quick tutorial: Making Hard Cider

Ingredients needed:

-Good apple juice (apple cider even better): Actually, just go with apple cider. The organic section of your grocery store will have better quality juices if you can't find cider or can't get it fresh. Don't use Welch's or anything like that. I try to avoid clear (filtered) apple juice. *Whatever you use, it can not contain preservatives!!!!

-Yeast: I like to use belgian beer yeasts to make hard cider. I like the results. People mostly use a neutral flavor yeast called "Champagne Yeast" (good for mead too)

-Yeast Nutrient: optional, apple juice may not contain enough necessary "stuff" to support the yeast. So usually its better to be on the safe side and use it (but not 100% necessary).

-Extra Sugar: If you are like me and want to make it stronger, then you'll have to supplement the naturally present sugar from the apples with more sugar in the form of either white sugar (table sugar), brown sugar, or honey. I usually stick with honey and brown sugar. Keep in mind though, the stronger you make it, the more stress that will be put on the yeast and the more risk you will have of a stalled fermentation. *Note: Don't add enough sugar to make your cider, say 10% ABV, when the yeast is only good up to 7-8%. This is also where some belgian yeasts come in handy, because they have high alcohol tolerances

Equipment

-Stainless Steel Pot: capable of holding a couple gallons at least. And a long spoon or something to stir the solution with.

-Thermometer: Very important!! Like a meat thermometer or something you can submerge. The kind that can clip unto the upper lip of a pot are the most convenient. This is something you should get from the brew supply store since it will be tailored for exactly what you need.

-Fermentation Vessel: This can be many things. I use a 7 gallon food-grade plastic bucket w/ a sealing lid (has an in-set o-ring in the lid). I have also used a glass carboy (giant glass jug) sealed with a stopper. ( You will need to have a funnel to use a carboy)

-Some clear plastic tubing & Racking cane: these will be used to transfer liquid.

-Hydrometer: Essential! This is another piece that you should get from your brew supply store as the graduations of the meter will be tailored to common brewing gravities.

-Sanitizing Solution: I used this no-rinse sanitizer white powder stuff (looks like oxi-clean). Another thing to pick up from the homebrew supply. Bleach is good at sanitizing, but requires lots of rinsing to get the bleach tinge off the material it was against (especially plastic)

-Bottles or some kind of seal-able containers: When everything is said and done, you'll want to store your creation in bottles or some kind of container. I don't recommend storing it is plastics of any kind (I'm sure there are exceptions, I just wouldn't re-use aquafina water bottles). If you bottle the booze (e.g. with beer bottles) you'll need a bottle capper and caps. Or you can pick up growlers or flip-top bottles.

Let's get started

The apple juice is going to end up fermenting in the carboy or fermenting bucket. Before any of the juice touches it, the bucket needs to be sanitized. Everything that is going to be touching the pasteurized juice needs to be cleaned before you actually start making any alcohol. Again, I can not stress how important it is to keep your equipment clean.

Assuming that the necessary equipment is sanitized and the fermenting bucket is ready to receive the juice to be fermented, NOW you can start actually concocting your creation.

The first step in preparing the apple juice is very simple. Pasteurize it. This means that you basically heat it up until it reaches 185 'F or so and hold that temperature for at least 20 minutes. Somewhere online you can find a chart that has pasteurization temperature and times required. Do no boil the apply juice but this will cause pectin (proteins) to set. I believe this will leave your brew hazy, I am not sure how this will affect the flavor. So we don't want to boil it, but we need to be certain that we kill any remnants of foreign yeast and bacteria. The idea is to control which microorganisms are introduced. We do not want our yeast competing with bad yeast.

If you want to add extra sugar to boast the alcohol, now would be the time to do it so it dissolves easily. I usually try to make my ciders pretty strong and I usually try to push the original gravity (OG) reading up to around the 1.08 range. The higher you go, you acquire more risk of it not finishing or the flavor actually not coming out so stellar. I pushed the OG up to 1.1 on two occasions with mixed results (I won't be doing it again any time soon). And just for the record, the one brew with an OG of 1.08-ish eventually finished at a final gravity (FG) of 0.995, which gave me an ABV of 12-13%. So there is no need to push a cider past 1.08 (unless you like really strong combined with really sweet). Apple juice/cider (by itself) has an initial gravity around 1.04~1.05, which if it ferments by itself, with no added sugar, you can expect to achieve 3.5%-5% ABV, I would be surprised to see 6%.

If you can fit all the apple juice into the pot at once and still have room to work, then do so. If not, pasteurize the juice in separate batches. I currently have to do this because of my living space constraints.

Once the juice has been sitting at pasteurization temperature for the time required, now it has to be cooled off. You obviously can't add the yeast yet because the hot temperature would kill that too. There are several ways to cool this down (be creative even). If its a small pot, place it in the sink filled with cold water. You will have to change the water out a few times. Or if you have a big pot you can but it in your bath tub, filled with cold water (add ice to cool faster). You can spend money and get fancy with a wort chiller, which is basically a long coil of copper tubing. This is submerged in the pasteurized juice and has cold tap water running though it. This copper coil can be sanitized before hand, or put into the hot liquid while being pasteurized (thus killing bacteria on the coil too). I usually just sanitize it before hand as well.

*note: if you are making beer, which can be slightly acidic, leaving copper in the boiling wort might leach out some of the copper into the beer, which will be noticeable later.

You can divide the cooling steps if you choose by cooling it down halfway in the pot and the other half while in the fermenting bucket or carboy. This would be useful if you have to pasteurize in batches because your pot won't fit all the liquid at once.

Cooling down the liquid and getting it transferred to the bucket is the time which would need to be extremely careful. Now is an extremely easy moment to ruin your batch by contamination. With it cooled down and lifeless, you basically have a giant petri-dish waiting for microbes to claim it for themselves. Some notes:

-Don't let it sit around too long with the lid/cover off, there are microbes in the air.

-if you see bugs flying around (like fruit flies), be f'ing careful. They will find your batch, drown in it, and dramatically increase the risk of spoiling it.

-don't let any of your clutter fall into it, and maybe where a hat or bandanna to keep your hair from falling in.

-before you pour the liquid out of the pot and into the bucket, wipe off the outside and bottom of the pot because that is wet from sitting in cooling water (which is probably not sanitary) and will drip in with the pasteurized liquid once poured out.

-this is where you need to be responsible and not solely depend on instructions to get your through. Everyone has a different set of circumstances. You need to be able to pick out the threats your individual environment poses to your batch and avoid them with steps you need to create.

Moving on. .

Assuming you have a bucket full of cool (room temperature) pasteurized liquid, now it is time to add the yeast.

Pitch the yeast into the pasteurized juice. The procedure is different for different types of yeast packages. For instance, if you use a Wyeast pouch, make sure that before you pitch it that the pouch is swollen (letting you know the yeast is ready to go)

Put the lid on the bucket and cover the airlock hole with a sanitized stopper. Try your best to pick up the sealed bucket and shake the hell out of it. If you can't do that, then simply stirring the juice before you lid it should be fine ("rocking the baby" move is easier with a glass carboy instead of a bucket. This really ensures that you agitate the solution and does a good job at aerating the solution).

Set the bucket back down. Insert an airlock into a stopper which has a hole in it, sanitize this, and then replace the stopper already in the bucket lid with the stopper/airlock arrangement. Once the airlock is in place, fill it up halfway to form an air seal. You can use water, but I prefer to use diluted sanitizing solution or vodka (just to be on the safe side).

One style of airlock is superior to the other. I have both, but now use only one kind. The better kind comes in two pieces. One piece can be removed so tubing can be fitted over an insert. This tubing can other end of the tube can thus be submerged in a glass of water or half full gallon jug. This will make an air seal and can handle more CO2 output if your brew has a vigorous fermentation.

: The one on the right is what I prefer to use

With the fermentation vessel sealed and airlock fitted, place the whole thing somewhere cool (room temperature), dark, and stable. For the next couple of days, keep your fingers crossed that you will start to see activity. If after a few days nothing happens, you have a problem and might need to start over with a yeast starter (more on that later).

Once you see bubbles coming through the airlock, you can relax. This could be as soon as 6 hours, or could take a couple days. From my experience, beer tends to produce the quickest and most vigorous ferments, while mead and cider tended to have more lax ferments.

Wait at least a week for the fermenting to totally finish. Fermenting could take 3 weeks, or maybe 4. I made one cider that seemed to never quit. It started with an OG of 1.08 and took a month to get down to 1.01-1.015, and then another month later went down to 0.995.

*Note: Take a whiff of the gas coming out of the airlock (its just CO2) at certain points of the ferment, the smell will change, but will always smell delicious. I highly recommend.

Once you cease to see bubbles making there way through the airlock (less than 1 bubble every 5 minutes or so) , you know that the yeast is pretty much done. So now it is time to test and hopefully bottle. We first want to get a final gravity (FG) reading to make sure we've come close to our target gravity. From here on out, it is preference. If you had a stalled ferment and it didn't finish fermenting all the way, then you'll have to make a yeast starter and re-pitch more healthy yeast to get it going again until there is nothing left to ferment, UNLESS, you like sweet. If you like it, then drink it. Who cares, its your creation.

If you are happy with the end ferment, now you have to consider storing it. When I make beer, I always bottle instead of kegging. I like to make it difficult on myself. With the cider, I would transfer it to another sanitized jar, or jug. If you want carbonation, then you'll have to use beer bottles or a keg. You can get a bottle capping device and bottle caps from your home brew supply store. I reuse left over beet bottles, sanitized of course. To carbonate in the bottle (bottle conditioning), you'll need to add a wee bit of sugar to the batch right before bottling. This will give the yeast a bit more sugar to ferment and make CO2. This CO2 will be trapped in the capped bottle, and will thus pressurize. Let the bottles sit in a dark place for a few weeks to fully condition.

IF YOUR BREW IS STRONG: age it. If it is bottled, leave it alone in a closet or somewhere with reliable temperature control, and out of light. Figure that a 10% ale can age out well in 3-8 months. A 7-8% ale, figure maybe 1-3 months.

How do you know the alcohol level? ABV?

Very simple: (OG - FG)*131 = ABV That is original gravity minus final gravity, then times a conversion factor of 131 will give you ABV.

example from brew above: (1.08 - 1.015) * 131 = (0.065) * 131 = ~8.5% ABV, then the FG kept dropping down from 1.015 to 0.995 adding another ~2.5%. I ended up with a cider at roughly 11% ABV

Electronics and Beer