In this article, we will, as simply as possible, explain how to brew beer without delving too deeply into advanced techniques. A starter kit for homebrewing would be a smart place to begin. Homebrewing has never been easier.
We will also explain some of the unfamiliar and perhaps slightly difficult terms, so you don't get lost in the jungle of concepts and techniques.
Beer brewing for beginners, simply explained
You can make it as simple as you want, or as advanced as you want. The process is largely the same, regardless of whether you brew beer in a cheap "fårikål" pot, or if you have a professional brewery worth over a million. Often, more advanced, and usually more expensive equipment, will make your brew day easier in several ways. There are many gadgets and gizmos that can simplify the process, or simply make it a bit more fun.
The brew day itself will take you a few hours, so you shouldn't be in a hurry. At least not the first time you brew. Set aside plenty of time at the start, and expect the brewing process to take 4 to 6 hours, including cleaning. Large parts of the brewing process run themselves, which means there will be a lot of waiting. Use the waiting time wisely: clean equipment, measure out hops and additives, and the process will go as smoothly and quickly as possible!
So, what does it take to transform raw ingredients into a refreshing glass of your own beer? The brewing process can be simply summarized in 6 steps.
- Mashing
- Sparging
- Boiling
- Cooling
- Fermentation
- Bottling/Kegging
1. Mashing of wort
Mashing, or to mash, basically means mixing hot water and crushed malt (grain). To make it easy to understand, you can compare mashing to steeping a cup of tea or coffee.
The amount of water varies quite a bit depending on the equipment you brew with and what your recipe looks like (the more malt, the more water is needed). If you brew with a ready-made beer kit, this is usually stated in the brewing instructions for the kit. In principle, there is no single right answer to this, and there is no great danger of making mistakes. A rule of thumb for water quantity is approximately 3 liters of water per kilogram of malt, and it should look like a slightly thin oatmeal.
Temperatures
Temperatures also play an important role. If you follow a beer kit or a recipe, the mash temperature will be given in it. To explain the influence of temperature in a simple way, we can say that it affects how much sugar the yeast will consume.
Low temperatures of around 60 to 63 degrees result in a beer that ferments easily. This will lead to little residual sweetness, and the beer can be perceived as thin and dry. This is desirable for certain styles such as Belgian beers, sours, and light lagers.
Medium temperatures of 64 to 66 degrees result in a balanced beer with some residual sweetness. Most beers, like IPAs and pale ales, fall within this range.
High temperatures of 67 to 70 degrees result in a sweet beer with a lot of body. This is often desired for strong beers such as imperial stout, NEIPA, and bock.
Once the water and malt are well mixed, all that's left is to wait and ensure the temperature is maintained according to the recipe. How long you should wait varies, but around 60 minutes is common. It's also not a problem if it stands for too long. Some brewers even choose to let it stand for hours. During this process, the starches in the grain will be converted into sugars that the yeast will consume, and this is what we want.
Once the mash has steeped for the time indicated in the recipe, we need to separate the sweet liquid from the grain. This liquid is now called wort. How this is done in practice depends on the brewing equipment you use. In most cases, there is a tube that can be lifted up and hooked onto the top of the kettle, allowing the wort to drain out and the malt to remain in the tube. Now we are ready for the next part of the process.
2. Sparging the malt
Once the liquid has drained from the malt, it's time to sparge the malt. This is for two reasons: one is to extract all the sugar from the malt, and the other is to achieve the correct amount of wort in the kettle before the boiling step. For this, you need clean water at around 75 to 80 degrees (never above 80: this can impart some harsh flavors you don't want in your beer).
Simply pour the water over the malt and let it drain into the kettle. Use a measuring cup or similar, pour a little water at a time, and let it drain through before adding more. The keyword here is to take your time. This will extract the most sugar from the mash. How much water you need for this depends on the recipe and equipment, but this will in most cases be specified. Finally, you should be left with a kettle full of wort, and it's time to start the boil.
3. Boiling the wort
Turn the heat up to full blast. Now it needs to boil vigorously! Once you've achieved a "rolling boil," you can start your timer. The boiling time will vary depending on the recipe, but most recipes use 60 or 90 minutes. During the boil, you'll add hops for bitterness and flavor, and potentially other additives. For example, fining agents to avoid hazy beer or yeast nutrient to ensure your yeast thrives well.
There are several reasons why we want to boil the wort:
- To evaporate water, ensuring the correct volume and sugar content.
- To sanitize the wort, removing all bacteria and similar contaminants that could lead to a poor result.
- To boil the hops to extract their bitterness. The longer the hops are boiled, the more bitterness they will impart (a process called hop isomerization).
- Caramelization of the sugar in the wort.
- Boiling off DMS (Dimethyl Sulfide). Simply explained, DMS is an unpleasant off-flavor that forms during the mashing process. The taste can resemble canned corn or boiled cabbage. DMS dissolves and evaporates during boiling, and this is perhaps the most important reason why we boil the wort.
4. Cooling and transferring to fermentation vessel
Towards the end of the boiling time, you should sanitize your chiller. If you have an immersion chiller (coil chiller), it can be placed in the boiling wort for the last fifteen minutes, so that any bacteria on its exterior are killed. The same applies if you use a counterflow chiller: you can then pump boiling wort through it for a few minutes to ensure it is sanitized internally. Then cooling can begin. It is important that this is done as quickly as possible, otherwise DMS can form again. Where the temperature should stop, again depends on the recipe, and not least which yeast types are used. This is usually stated in the recipe.
As the wort cools down, it becomes vulnerable to bacteria and other undesirables that can spoil your beer. Therefore, from this point onwards, it is crucial that everything that comes into contact with the wort is clean and sanitized with Star-San or similar sanitizing agent.
It cannot be stressed enough how important cleanliness is for a good product. Here it is important to remember all details, such as fermentation vessels, hoses, stirrers, and taps. Fill the fermentation vessel with 10L of cold water and Star San (15ml per 10L water), put on the lid and shake well. Afterwards, you can throw in the airlock, hoses, etc. After you have emptied the fermentation vessel of disinfectant, and preferably rinsed it with clean water, you should put on the lid so that no bacteria get in while you wait for the wort to be transferred.
A good tip is also to fill a spray bottle with diluted Star-San that you can spray wherever needed. Also, feel free to use protective gloves to protect the wort from bacteria and yourself from chemicals.
Once the wort has cooled to fermentation temperature, you can transfer it to the fermentation vessel. Cover with a lid as much as possible while transferring. If you use a counterflow chiller, you pump the wort to the fermentation vessel while the wort is being cooled.
5. How to ferment beer
You've now gone through the brewing process and have a bucket or fermenter full of wort. Now you need to add yeast (often called pitching yeast), put on the lid and shake the yeast in before attaching a sanitized airlock. Here, the yeast takes over the job of converting wort into alcohol and flavors. Your job from here is to ensure the yeast is as happy as possible. This is where temperature plays a crucial role. Read more about this in our article on temperature control.
The ideal temperature varies from yeast type to yeast type, and will usually be indicated either in the recipe or on the yeast packet. The most important thing here is to keep the temperature as stable as possible throughout the process. For example, avoid a room that is 25 degrees during the day and 15 degrees at night. The yeast doesn't thrive in such conditions, which can lead to some rather unpleasant off-flavors like buttered popcorn, plastic/band-aids, green apples, vomit, and much more. Apart from cleanliness, fermentation temperature is arguably the most important factor you can influence for a good result. Remember, the brewer makes the wort, but the yeast makes the beer.
The time it takes to ferment is also important to respect. Even if the wort might be fully fermented (the yeast has consumed all the sugar it's supposed to), a healthy and happy yeast will also produce off-flavors. It cleans these up itself, as long as it's left long enough. Most beers have a fermentation time of 2 to 4 weeks. After the stated fermentation time is complete, you can take a sample with a hydrometer to check if the correct amount of sugar has been consumed (final gravity measurement). If it matches the recipe, the beer is fully fermented, and you can bottle the beer.
How to measure alcohol in the finished beer?
To measure how much alcohol you have in your finished beer, you need to use a hydrometer to measure the sugar content (gravity) in the beer. This is called an OG measurement (OG stands for Original Gravity). You must also take a measurement of this after fermentation. This measurement is then called FG (Final Gravity). There are several calculators online that can calculate this for you, unless you want to do it manually with the following formula: (OG-FG)/7.6=ABV% or (OG-FG)*131.25=ABV%.
6. Bottling beer
Finally, the process is complete, and there's only one more thing missing to call the result beer: carbonation. This is something we prepare during the bottling of the beer. Get out caps, beer bottles, and any equipment you might need. Sanitize it with Star-San or similar. Here, the cleaning process is just as important as before, and a slip-up here can, in the worst case, ruin the beer that was initially good.
Carbonating beer can be done in several ways. The most common method is to add small amounts of easily fermentable sugar, such as dextrose, so that the yeast has a little more to "chew on" when it's in the bottle. The yeast will then produce CO2, or carbon dioxide. After a couple of weeks at room temperature, this process will be complete. You can then put a bottle in the fridge and enjoy a good craft beer.
If you want to make this even easier, you can use kegs instead of bottles. Then you transfer the beer to a Cornelius keg and carbonate with CO2 gas. With one keg instead of many bottles, you save a lot of time on cleaning. In addition, it is easier to achieve the correct carbonation level with gas instead of sugar. Read more in our article on carbonating beer in kegs.
Further inspiration on how to brew beer yourself
For literature on homebrewing in general, we can recommend the following books:
- Ølbrygging fra hånd til munn, by Thomas Horne and Colin Eick
- Håndbok i ølbrygging, by Gustav Foseid
- How to Brew, by John J. Palmer
