Brewing Beer

Notes to Brewing Workshop October 9, 2023
This brew is an Pale Ale recipe selected by John Morrisey

Materials & Ingredients – all ingredients are available at the Lebanon Health Food Store.

Hydrometer
Hops
Barley Malt
Yeast
3 gallon stainless steel pot
large stainless steel stirring spoon
measuring cup
fermentor – plastic pail or glass carboy
airlock
sanitizer – ¾ teaspoon bleach per gallon of water
racking cane and 5 ft clear vinyl tubing (blowoff tube)
55 beer bottles
55 new caps

The Process to Begin Partial Boil– takes about 1.5 hours

Place 2 gallons of water in a 3 gallon pot made of stainless steel or porcelain enamel steel on stove with medium high heat. The bigger the pot (up to 5 gallons) the better. Do not use Aluminum because it reacts with Hops.

Dip ½ lb of 60 degree barley malt in the water in a nylon or muslin bag. Barley malt is barley grains that have been harvested from a field, then the grains are sprouted, roasted and cracked. The type and degree of grains that you add at this time are based on what type or taste of beer you are making. Steep the grains like a tea.

Rehydrate the yeast. In a separate container, add warm water 100 degrees F to 1 packet of coopers brewer's yeast. Stir until the yeast is dissolved in the water and let sit at least 30 minutes.

When the water has reached 160-170 degrees, drain the fluid from the barley malt by lifting it out of the water, then dip it back in and let it drain out again. Repeat this process (called sparging) a few times to get as much of the barley water into the pot. The grains can then be used for baking or given to farm animals.

When the water is boiling, turn off the stove and add 5lbs of malt extract. Turn the heat back on and stir the liquid (called the wort) continuously as it returns to a boil so that it does not burn on the bottom of the pot.

As the liquid comes to a boil, be very careful not to let it overflow onto the stove. Either increase the rate of stirring or turn down the heat if the foam starts to rise – it is very difficult to clean up properly and leaves a terrible stain. This is called Hot Break. Break the surface tension by stirring. Prepare simmer for one hour. Crack a home brew.

Add ¾ oz hops. The timing and amount of hops added will influence the flavor of the brew dependent on recipe. Hops introduced into the wort early produce a bitter effect, hops introduced later produce an aroma. This latter effect was first achieved by sailors traveling to India. Hops were added to the top of casks to preserve the beer for the long trip.

When the casks arrived in India, beer drinkers took delight in the aroma that the late introduced hops had created. Thus was born India Pale Ale. Adding hops pellets will induce a Hot Break reaction so be cautious.

Sterilize the primary fermentor (the container that the beer will go into for its first week) using bleach or alternatives.

30 minutes after adding first hops, add another 1/2 oz hops.

15 minutes later add another ½ oz hops.

After a total of one hour of boiling time, the cool down phase begins. Put the entire pot in a cold water/ice bath.

Add 2 gallons of cold water to your primary fermentor (we used a 5 gallon food grade plastic pail, but you could also use a 6 gallon glass carboy), then add the wort. Do not allow the traub (residue on the bottom) to go in. The traub is a mixture of yeast and hops which should not be drunk. Fill the primary fermentor up to the 5 gallon mark with water.

Slosh the water into the primary fermentor aggressively so that the oxygen gets into the mix. Stir vigorously.

When the temperature has come down to 65-90 degrees, use a hydrometer to measure the relative specific gravity between pure water and the water with sugar dissolved in it.

The measurement you get at this time will be compared with one taken when the beer has finished fermenting. That difference will represent the % of alcohol of the beer you have made. Using a recipe from a book, you can verify that the measurement from the hydrometer is where it should be for the recipe you are making. Record the specific gravity.

Add the yeast. Stir vigorously!

Seal the plastic pail or carboy with an air lock bubbler on top. Store in a secure location at 65-70 degrees. Do not open for 1 week. The air bubbler will be active 2-4 days afterward.

The alcohol, carbon dioxide and alpha acids (the natural preservative found in hops) will prevent bad bacteria from growing.

After 1 week, sterilize tubes and a five gallon carboy that will be used for the secondary fermentation. Be very careful moving the primary fermentor so that you do not disrupt the sediment at the bottom.

Siphon off the material from the primary fermentor to the secondary fermentor. To siphon: Make sure that the top of the secondary fermentor is below the bottom of the primary fermentor. Do not use your mouth to siphon, sterilization is key at this point. Fill the tube with water. Place one end of the tube in the primary fermentor. Let the siphon run into the sink until beer starts to come out. Plug up the tube with your thumb. Place the end of the tube inside the secondary fermentor. Let the liquid siphon off into the secondary fermentor until the majority of the liquid is out, leaving the sediment (yeast, bits of hops, grains, husks, etc.) in the bottom of the primary fermentor. Seal with an air lock bubbler on top and store for 10-14 days.

10-14 days later add 6 oz. of corn sugar to your secondary fermentor, and then follow the siphoning process from step 18 to transfer your beer into sanitized bottles (around 55 8.5 oz bottles). Place caps on top of bottles and use bottle capper to attach. Store for 1 week in a warm part of your home, then store for 2 weeks in a room temperature area. (FYI…Contaminated bottles will have a stained ring around the neck ) After this the beer is ready for consumption. Enjoy!

Reference:

How to Brew by John J. Palmer