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• Home Brew Beer Instructions

  WB6BMN

   

   

   

  

   

   

  Our group brews beer differently from the tradition way of using a brewing kettle, a

  plastic fermenting and a bottling buckets. We use only a special brewing, fermenting

  and bottling stainless steel kettle, all-in-one. This greatly reduces the chance of

  contaminating the beer and also reduces the amount of clean-up work.

  We generally brew on a Saturday. We start by collecting 7 gallons of RO water over

  three days. One of the gallons is place in the refrigerator a day before brewing.

  This chilled water is use to bring the Wart, beer before fermenting, down to about 70

  degrees F.

  A week or so before brewing we either purchase an Ale kit from Doc’s Cellar, Moor

  Beer, which contains most of the ingredients and a receipt. We have only made Ale

  using liquid or dry malt extract, LME, DME. We have not tried all grain yet. No Lager,

  takes too long to make.

  On brewing day we set up the propane burner and place our 7.5 gallon kettle on it

  and add 5 gallons of RO water to the kettle. We then add the follow to the water.

  1. 1/2 table spoon of Calcium Chloride

  2. 1 teaspoon 5 Square ph Stabilizer

  3. Specialty grains placed in a nylon stocking.

  We then turn on the burner and heat the water to 160 degree F. When the water

  reaches 160 degree F, we remove the kettle from the burner and turn the burner flame

  down to a minimum. The total time the specialty grains are steeped in kettle is 30

  minutes then it is remove and discarded. The liquid is now called Wart.

  Some receipts calls for removing the kettle from the burner when the temperature

  reaches 160 degrees F and then adding the specialty grain bag and allowed to steep for

  30 minutes.

  The kettle is then returned to the burner, flame turned up. When the temperature

  reaches 200 degrees F, add 1/8 teaspoon of FermCap to the Wart and bring it to a boil.

  The FermCap will help keep the foam to a minimum and prevent boil over. Again the

  kettle is removed from the burner and flame turned down to a minimum.
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• At this point the extract, LME or DME, is added slowly to the Wart and stirred in

  using a whisk attached to a battery drill. Some recipes may also call for adding

  dextrose, sugar, to the Wart. Make sure the ingredients are stirred in totally and not

  allowed to lay on the bottom, which will cause it to burn.

  Next return the kettle to the burned and turn up the flame and bring the Wart to a

  medium boil. Do not cover the kettle. Set a timer for 60 minutes. Add the 60 minute

  bitterness hops to the Wart and start the timer. Add the flavoring hops at the times the

  recipe calls for.

   

   

   

  Attach the tap water and drain hoes to the Wart chiller

  At the 15 minute point, place the Wart chiller into the kettle to sterilize. Place a small

  wet towel over the Wart chiller handle which will get very hot if not. At the 10 minute

  mark add one Whirlfloc tablet and ½ table spoon of Yeast Nutrient to the kettle. At the 0

  minute point remove the kettle from the burner and place it on the stool and turn off the

  burner.

  From now on everything that can come in contact with the Wart must be sanitized

  using a solution of Star-San.

  Turn the tap water to the Wart chiller on and bring the Wart temperature down to

  about 75 degrees F or so by moving the Wart chiller up and down. Remove the Wart

  chiller from the kettle when temperature is reached and turn the tap water off.

  Remove the chilled RO water from the refrigerator and add some to the Wart to bring

  the level to about 5 ¼ gallons and stir. The Wart temperature should now be about 68

  to 70 degrees F.

   

   

   

   

  

   

   

  Take an original gravity reading of the Wart using a Reflectometer.

  Sanitize the yeast bag, scissors, whisk and your hands. Open the yeast bag with the

  scissors, add it to the Wart and stir in the yeast.

  Clean and sanitize the kettle cover, rubber air lock grommet, kettle lid gasket and

  kettle lip. Install the grommet into the kettle lid.

  Place the cover onto the kettle and install the kettle lid gasket. Sanitize the air-lock,

  fill it with Star-San and install it into the lid’s rubber grommet.

  Place the closed kettle into the refrigerator, attach the thermometer probe to the

  kettle and close refrigerator. Fermentation will take two weeks. Some recipes call for

  dry hopping after a week which requires you to opening the kettle and dropping the

  hops in. Before dropping the hops, the nylon stocking bag, open lid and lid gasket must

  be sanitize with Star-San
• Now is the time to gather up all the items that need to be washed, sanitized and put

  away for the next brew.

  After two week fermenting in the kettle the now beer, but flat, is ready to bottle. The

  day before bottling the kettle is removed from the refrigerator and place on the table

  with a block of wood under it on the spigot side to allow the turb to collect on the

  opposite side.

  A concentrated solution of dextrose, sugar water, is prepared before hand.

  On bottling day, usually on a Saturday, we sanitize forty-one 16 ounce bottles and its

  rubber seals with Star-San and let the bottles drain on the bottling tree with the rubber

  seals left soaking in the Star-San Once the bottles are drained and laid out on the

  table and rubber seal placed onto the cap we add a measured amount of concentrated

  dextrose water to each bottle.

  Using a bottling wand and spigot that has been sanitized, attach the wand to the

  spigot. Add beer to the bottles. The top of the bottles and rubber seals are cleaned,

  sanitized and the bottles sealed. The bottles are then rinsed and dried.

  After half the bottles are filled a final gravity reading is taken using a hydrometer,

  then finish bottling the rest of the beer.

  The original gravity and final gravity numbers are used to calculate the alcohol

  content of the beer.

  OG - FG X 131.25 = Alcohol by volume

  Again, now is the time to gather up all the items used. Remove the spigot from the

  kettle, disassemble the spigot, clean and wash all kettle parts in a dishwasher

  When the bottles are dried attach the labels to the bottles and place in a cool dry

  place to carbonate for 3 weeks. Beer is now ready to drink.

  After we are done bottling we sit down and sample different beers with a pupu

  platter, either from a previous batch or from a micro brewery. If anyone wants to attend,

  there is a entry fee of one bottle of micro brewed beer

CCARG

Central Coast Amateur Radio Group