By Tim Dennis – Co-Host of the Beer Guys Radio Show
Beginners Guide to Homebrewing
If you’re a beer geek you’ve probably thought about brewing your own beer but maybe you haven’t taken the plunge yet. Perhaps you’re thinking, “But Tim D, there’s already a lot of great beer out there!” Yes, there sure is. “Plus, it’s really expensive to get started.” Not really. “Also, my wife said if I take up another hobby and buy more stuff she’s taking the kids and moving in with her parents.” That’s a personal problem, I can’t help you with that one.
However, I can share some advice on the other show-stoppers and show you it’s relatively simple to get started homebrewing your own beer. We recently sat down with homebrewers Nate Watkins and Jim Walker to drink some homebrews and talk about what it takes to get started in the hobby. You can listen to the show below for an in-depth discussion or read on for info on the gear you’ll need as well as some tips and tricks to make getting started easier.
Why start homebrewing?
There’s a ton of great beer available commercially today and this alone keeps some people from starting homebrewing. However, even with the variety of beer available there are still many reasons you might want to brew your own beer as a hobby.
- Fun | What’s not to love about brewing your own beer?
- Creative | The options are pretty unlimited for what homebrewers can do and for many people it’s an artistic outlet. You can carefully select from a huge list of ingredients to craft a beer that has the exact taste, look, and feel that you want.
- SCIENCE! | Brewing is part art, part science, and part Voodoo. Learning how different ingredients interact with each other as well as the science behind why that happens is a lot of fun.
- Social | For many people brewing is a social activity. You can have a few friends over to brew or join a homebrew club to be around many others with similar interests to learn from. I met many of my close friends through homebrewing.
- Because beer | I mean, come on… you get beer out of the deal!
I took my very first batch of homebrew to a local homebrew club meeting and shared it with the group. Through straight faces and puzzled looks the best comment I got was, “Well, it tastes like beer.” I guess that’s a good start? Since then I’ve read a lot, asked a ton of questions, sampled and shared homebrew with others, and I’ve brewed a lot of beer. Now, most of my beers are pretty good, and some are really good, and I continue to learn new things about brewing all the time.
What you need to get started
Even if you live in a small apartment you can brew your own beer. You don’t have to start with 5+ gallon batches and many “apartment brewers” do 1-3 gallon batches right in their kitchen. The process and science behind a large batch is the same as your small batch so if you start small you can easily scale up as room allows.
Here’s a list of what you’ll need to get started. This assumes a typical 5 gallon extract batch, but as I mentioned above you can easily scale this to your preferred size. It may look like a long list but you likely have many of the items around the house already.
- A pot / kettle | For a partial boil (a batch where you boil a portion of the wort then top off with water) you’ll want around a 5 gallon pot
- Large spoon for stirring | You’ll want something long enough to reach the bottom of your kettle.
- Heat source | Most homebrewers brew outside or in their garage and typically use a propane burner like you would for a turkey fryer, smaller batches can be done on your stovetop.
- Measuring spoons, cups, pitchers | You’ll need to be able to measure from teaspoons up to 5 gallons so get some items that will make that easy.
- Thermometer | Get a good thermometer that is splash proof and is digital or goes up to about 220°F.
- Recipe and ingredients | For your first batch I recommend starting with a kit. Your local homebrew store or online shop can help you with this
- Cleaner and Sanitizer |IMPORTANT! Make sure you have some good cleaner and sanitizer. Many homebrewers use a cleaner called PBW or OxyClean (make sure there are no dyes or perfumes in your cleaner) and a no-rinse sanitizer called Star San.
- Buckets / spray bottle | Have buckets available with cleaner and sanitizer, you can also use a spray bottle for sanitizer
- Fermentation vessel and airlock | This could be a food-grade bucket with a lid or a carboy.
- Auto-siphon and tubing | This will help you transfer your wort/beer to your fermenter and later to your bottling bucket
- Quality water source | IMPORTANT! A big pitfall new homebrewers make is using their garden hose for brewing water, never do this as it will impart a rubber hose taste in your beer. Either get a drinking water hose, fill straight from the tap, or purchase clean water. Don’t use RO or distilled water as they are stripped of some of the minerals you need for a healthy beer.
Additional recommended equipment
These items aren’t 100% necessary but will make your brew day easier / better.
- Kitchen scale | Your brew kit probably comes with pre-measured hops. If not, you’ll need a kitchen scale to measure them and other ingredients
- Hop bags | These help keep your hops together in your kettle and make them easier to discard at the end
- Blowoff tube | A large tube that connect to the airlock port on your fermentor and helps relieve pressure and foam from an active fermentation
- Wort chiller | If you’re not able to get this when you first start it will definitely make a big difference when you do. You can use an ice bath if needed, or with a partial boil your top off water will help cool your wort. Most homebrewers start with an immersion chiller, a 25′-50′ or longer coil that goes into your kettle and circulates cold water to cool things down.
- Wine thief | To pull samples from your fermentor for testing gravity.
- Hydrometer | This is used to measure the gravity of your beer, or how much sugar is in it by comparison to the density of plain water. Taking this reading at the beginning and end of your brew will tell you how much alcohol you have in your beer.
- Timer | To time the length of your boil as well as hop additions
Bottling day equipment
You’ve brewed and fermented your beer and now it’s time to get it in bottles. To do that you’ll need a bit more equipment.
- Cleaner and sanitizer | Again, always important to have these.
- Bottles | If using 12 oz bottles you’ll need about 2 cases / 48 bottles, it never hurts to have a few extras. For 22 oz bottles you’ll need about 24-26.
- Bottle capper | Many homebrewers start with a simple “wing capper” that can be purchased for $15 – $20
- Bottling bucket | This is a bucket with gallon markings on the side and a spigot to dispense your beer
- Auto-siphon and tubing | For transferring from your fermentor to your bottling bucket
- Bottling wand and tubing | For transferring from your bottling bucket to your bottles
- Priming sugar | This is what you’ll add to your beer to carbonate it, many brewers use corn sugar
First batch tips and tricks
I won’t cover the full details of the process but we go into detail in our Homebrewing podcast. Here are some tips and common mistakes new brewers make, if you have any other questions feel free to drop us a line.
- Don’t overlook the importance of cleaning and sanitizing | There are yeasts and bacteria just flying around the air waiting to get into your beer and ruin it. Cleaning and sanitizing will help minimize the risk of this happening. Some brewers say sanitization is over-emphasized, but it’s still a good habit to have no matter the risk.
- Brew with good water | If your water isn’t good to drink it’s not good for brewing. You also want to avoid distilled or RO (reverse osmosis) filtered water as these are stripped of necessary minerals. These waters can be used by advanced brewers who add those minerals back into the water. Clean tap water or spring water is perfect, but make sure not to use a garden hose.
- Take lots of notes | If you mess up a batch of beer (it happens to even the best brewers) then good notes will help you identify the issues. This also helps when you brew an amazing batch of beer and want to brew it again. Take a lot of readings (temp/gravity/weights/time) and make notes of everything you do during the brew day.
- Handle your wort / beer carefully | Before adding the yeast you want to have oxygen in your wort for a healthy fermentation. However, after fermentation is complete you want to minimize oxygen exposure to avoid oxidizing your beer, which can give it a “stale” taste that may manifest as wet newspaper or cardboard, rotten fruit, or leathery. Avoid pouring, splashing, or vigorous stirring after fermentation.
- Taste all along the process | Wort (sweet liquid before fermentation) will taste different from fermented beer, and your finished and carbonated beer will taste different from your fermented beer. Learning the way things should taste at each step will help you identify issues on future batches.
- Don’t expect a world-class beer on your first batch | Although it does happen, it’s not likely your first batch will be the best beer you’ve ever had, don’t let that discourage you. Many brewers spend years to decades honing their skills. With time and patience you can brew beer just as good or better than your favorite breweries.
- Be patient | Don’t rush things. It’s going to take about a month from your brew day until your beer is ready to drink. Especially on your first batch it’s easy to get impatient and try to rush things, but you’ll appreciate waiting for the beer to be ready to drink.
Congrats, you are now a homebrewer!
You’re one of the cool kids now. Part of an elite group men and women that make their own beer, envy of your friends and enemies alike, master of the hangover. Brewing the perfect beer will take time, but getting there is a lot of fun. You’ll have challenges along the way but, as Charlie Papazian says… relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.
Special thanks to Nate Watkins and Jim Walker for sharing their knowledge on our show and helping us put this guide together!
About Tim Dennis
Co-Host of the Beer Guys Radio Show. Georgia beer advocate, all around craft beer fan, homebrewer, and troublemaker.