Home Brewing Instrustions and Home Brewing Advice

As a brewer with over 13 years experience in brewing I have picked up a lot of knowledge from the people I have worked with and just from figuring out stuff for myself. The best home brewing instructions I can give you are to always take your time, make sure you keep everything very clean, always sanitize properly and make sure you keep control of temperature and times.

I have always liken brewing to baking a cake. It is very simple as long as you follow the recipe keep and eye on temperatures and keep a tight eye on time (how long every process takes). Lets break down the brewing process to make my home brewing instructions easier to follow.

Home Brewing Instructions -  Mashing Process

If you are using an all mash grain brew then you need to make sure that when you mix the grain and malt that your resultant “porridge” (typically 1 part grain to 2.5-3 parts water) has a temperature of around 155 degrees Fahrenheit (although that can change if you are using some very specialized malts or the German method of decoction mash). You need to leave the mash long enough to make sure you convert all the starch to sugar. The temperature is key because if it is too high or low you make the wrong type of sugars.

Home Brewing Instructions - The Boil

You need to make sure the boil is vigorous to make sure the wort becomes sterile and it also where you add the hops to get bitterness and aroma. If you want a good aroma then put the hops in around five minutes before the end of the boil so that the essential oils don’t get a chance to boil off and stay in the wort.

Home Brewing Instructions - The Fermentation

Depending on the beer you are making and the yeast you are using then make sure that you follow the instructions to the letter. The fermentation has to kept under a certain temperature (see the yeast packet for instruction) otherwise you will end up with undesirable flavors in the finished beer.

Home Brewing Instructions - Maturation

After the beer has been fermented if you are producing an ale you can clarify it and pretty much drink it straight away. If though you are making a lager, wheat beer etc. The you need to mature the beer at just above freezing. Unpleasant flavors to such a phenolic acids become insoluble in cold beer which leads to a much smoother and pleasing beer.

In conclusion

There is a lot to learn and I could give you hundreds of home brewing instructions. The beauty of home brewing though is that you are never the master of the subject. I still learn new things all the time. Brewing is a wonderful hobby and I love it and enjoy it as much as the first day I walked into a brewery and smelled a boil. When you take up brewing it begins a love affair that can last a life time. Of all the home brewing instructions I can give you however though the best is one I learnt was in my first job and that is “cleanliness is next to godliness”.