Beer making for the love of beer

August 15, 2012 by ltackbary 1 Comment

This past weekend was my first time brewing my own beer. I went to a class a few weeks back and finally got around to doing it myself. I am a big fan of DIY, if I could I would be completely self sustaining. I am growing my own hops but it is only 2 years old and it has not budded this year and I feel like it might not bud this year which I am pretty bummed about. Anyway, I really am into hoppy beer and usually go for the IPA’s but wanted to try something different so I went for a indain black ale. Its pretty dark and it was my first time doing it by myself so I really hope it turns out well. I have heard some stories of yeast not being good anymore and the whole batch flopping so I just hope it doesn’t happen to me. Yet I think each batch will be better and better. Here are a few pictures of the fun. So first step is steeping the barley grains in water for about 20 minutes at about 160 degrees. Once that is finished the water should change color depending on the grains you use. Then the next step is starting the boil which is about 210 degrees, for 60 minutes. Once it starts boiling you add the malt and hops. I did 3 addition of hops. The first addition of hops was at the beginning of the boil is called bittering hops since the longer the hops boil the more bitter the taste, the second addition was after 45 minutes of boiling and this is called the flavoring hops. Finally the last addition was 5 minutes before the boil ended and this is called aroma hops. I will also add more hops to the second fermentation which is called dry hopping. More hops the better I say.Then once the boil is done you take the whole pot and put it in a nice ice bath to cool down the wort. I did this in my sink. Let it chill till it gets to about 70 degrees. Then you can pour it into the carboy with a strainer. Make sure everything you use is sterilized. Then add some nice chilled purified water to make it a total of 5 gallons. I added 3 gallons at the end since I had used 2 gallons for boiling. Make sure to cap it allowing the CO2 to escape. Leave it in a dark, cool place, or if you are me, I put a few t-shirts on it to keep the light out.I will post another post about bottling in about a week and a half. Now I just have to sit around and wait. P.S. This is a really basic outline of how to brew at home, just a quick outline. Everyone does it a bit differently but this is how I was taught so that’s what you get. Any tips or comments are totally welcomed.