OnTap Magazine

Essentially, your aim is to extract sugars from grains, adding hops during a sterilising boil, and then fermenting the sugary, hoppy liquid to create that gorgeous beverage known as beer. As you can see above, this seems simple enough, but the devil is often in the details. The below information is intended to give you some guidance as to where to begin. What is important to note is that, in spite of a long list of equipment, there are very many great homebrew stores available these days and they will get you started. This article is not a recipe, instead it is aimed at getting you informed before stepping into the hobby and hopefully inspire you to go do some additional reading. BASIC EQUIPMENT NEEDED (All available from homebrew stores.) 1. Fer mentation vessel. (A simple food grade bucket and a lid with an air trap.) 2. Chiller. (When using Partial Mash or All-Grain methods.) 3. Hydrometer. (To check sugars in wort and calculate ABV post-fermentation.) 4. Bottle capper, caps and glass bottles. (Unless you use plastic bottles with a shorter shelf-life.) 5. Brewer’s sanitiser. (Working clean is essential and household cleaners often contain chlorine or other compounds that harm your yeast and creates off flavours in the finished beer.) 6. A brewing system. (Depending on which method you use.) BASIC STEPS 1. Make wort (Using the system or methods below.) 2. Chill (Depending on the method.) 3. Ferment 4. Package (In bottles, keg or mini-kegs.) There are a few routes you can take to get started and many homebrewers start with what is called an Extract Kit. This is essentially a tin of wort, usually already boiled with hops, which needs some sterile and heated, chlorine- free water to dilute the mixture to the packet instructions. Yeast is pitched when the wort is in the temperature range as stated on the packet instructions. You let the beer ferment and bottle or keg after a few weeks. EXTRACT KITS METHOD With this method, you will use extracts that have not been hopped, but also add specialty grains in a step called, steeping. You would steep specialty grains (grains that are not releasing sugars) in warm (around 68°C) water for around 20 to 30 minutes. This releases flavours and colours, which makes it possible to make different styles of beers. You would then add dried or liquid malt extract and bring the wort to a boil, adding hops as desired, before chilling, transferring and fermenting. Thus, some more equipment will be required. You will also need to get your grain milled by your local homebrew store. PARTIAL MASH METHOD HOW DOYOU MAKE BEER? This is what the purists call “proper brewing,” and what you are doing is making your own malt extract and steeping your specialty malts as in the partial mash method, albeit with a combined method. For this you need some additional equipment and below is a rundown of what you might consider. You will also need to get your grain milled by your local homebrew store. ALL-GRAIN METHOD OLD SCHOOL COOLER BOX MASH TUN URN BREW-IN-A-BAG (BIAB) SYSTEM ALL-GRAIN METHOD 1 ALL-GRAIN METHOD 2 Most homebrew shops will have a version of this available. A cooler box holds the temperature, it will be fitted with a tap and some sort of filter. You would then have a stainless steel or aluminium pot with a volume of about 30 litres (for a 20 litres batch) and a tap at the bottom. You would use a “hop bag” or “hop spider” to add hops so that they stay out of the liquid post-boil. Essentially a giant grain bag in an urn that hold the temperature of the water within mashing range. You place grains in the bag that allows you to easily remove the spent grains when mashing is complete. The benefit is you can then boil in this same pot, so it can be a one-pot system on a budget. ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2024 | 45