Many fans of a foamy drink sooner or later become interested in how to make beer at home? Make no mistake, this is a very simple and interesting process that will allow you to enjoy your favorite drink all year long. Pasteurization technologies were excluded from the recipe to make a real “drink of the gods”.
What do we have to do?
How to make beer at home? You need to have only 4 components: water, malt, hops and special yeast. Many people believe that in order to get a quality drink, you definitely need to have professional facilities at your disposal. Announcements about mini-breweries with a ready-made concentrate for a drink are also gaining popularity on the Web, which only needs to be diluted with water. Of course, this requires significant amounts.
Nevertheless, brewing beer at home is by no means a difficult task; you can do everything using items that are in almost every home. Some of them can be easily made with your own hands.
You will need to purchase hops, malt and brewer's yeast. Of course, malt and hops can be grown independently, but with yeast it is better not to risk it. The taste of the future drink depends on their quality.
What ingredients are needed?
We will need the following components:
- 27 liters of quality water;
- 3 kilograms of barley malt ;
- 25 grams of brewer's yeast;
- 45 grams of hop, the acidity of which is 4.5%;
- 8 grams of sugar per liter of drink (this is necessary to enrich it with carbon dioxide).
What equipment will be needed?
- 30-liter container, enameled or stainless steel, inside which will be prepared mash.
- Fermentation tank.
- A thermometer - because for a qualitative result, you must constantly monitor the temperature of the drink.
- A tube to remove excess sediment.
- Glass or plastic bottles.
- Ice water tank or special wort cooler.
- From 3 to 5 meters gauze or a bag of natural material.
- A device to determine the sugar content of the wort (but not required).
- Iodine and a white plate (optional).
Preparation process
Now let's move on to making beer at home. You need to understand that the creation of a quality drink partly resembles a surgical operation: sterility should always be maximum. Before starting the workflow, thoroughly wash all equipment, dry it, wash your hands with soap and dry. With dirt on equipment or hands, you will certainly bring wild yeast into the must, which will turn your drink into a brew.
Water is also a key component. Spring water is the best choice, but if this is not possible, use bottled or tap water. In order for tap water to become acceptable for brewing, it must be defended in an open container for two days. During this period of time, all bleach will disappear, and all excess particles will settle at the bottom. Using a tube, pour all the water into a sterile, clean container.
Before putting the yeast in the wort, they must be diluted with warm water.
Wort making
The next component of a beer recipe at home is a must. If you purchased whole malt, then first you need to carefully grind it to the desired consistency. You can use an electric or mechanical meat grinder. It is important to note that in no case should malt be milled into flour.
Once you get the necessary malt, pour it into a bag of natural fabric. Pour 25 liters of water into a container and heat it to a temperature of 80 ° C.
Place a bag of malt inside and cook for 1.5 hours, keeping the temperature between 61-72 ° . If you want to get beer at home with an increased strength, then it is necessary to brew malt at a temperature of 61-63 ° C, so it gives sugar better. The temperature of 68-72 ° C increases the density of the mash, and the beer will not be too strong. If you maintain the temperature at 65-72 ° C, you will get an excellent result and a drink with a strength of 4%.
If you already have experience on how to brew beer at home, then you can not deal with determining the amount of starch in the wort. However, beginners should carry out this procedure after 90 minutes of cooking.
Drop a few milligrams of malt onto a white plate and add a couple drops of iodine. If he changed his color, then the wort should be cooked for about a quarter of an hour. If the color has not changed, your malt is completely ready!
Once you have determined that the mash has obtained the correct consistency, you need to raise the temperature to the level of 78-80 ° C and cook it for about 5 minutes. Then remove the bag and rinse it with boiled water, brought to a temperature of 78 ° C. The resulting water must be poured into a decoction. The presented component for making beer at home allows you to completely do without filtering the mash, so you do not need to buy expensive filters and transfer the wort from container to container several times. Also remember: the more often you pour the future beer, the worse the final quality will be.
Our beer recipe at home will result in only a tasty and high-quality drink.
We start to boil the mash
Braga must be brought to a boiling state and add the first part of the hop, 15 grams. After half an hour of such a boil, you need to add again 15 grams of hops. In this state, the mash is cooked for the next 40 minutes, after which you need to add another 15 grams of hops and brew the drink for 20 minutes. Of course, there are several methods of how to brew beer at home, and you can choose any one that will be easier for you to use. The process of intensive boiling of mash lasts about 1.5 hours, while it should gurgle, and not just simmer on fire.
We start to cool the mash
The resulting "brew" must be very quickly, not more than 30 minutes, cool to a temperature of 24-26 degrees. The sooner this happens, the less likely it is that the drink will become infected with wild yeast or bacteria that are harmful to fermentation.
To cool the mash in a short period, you can use two methods:
- use a special cooler,
- just put the container in very cold water.
The only thing during this process is to monitor the safety precautions: remove foreign objects that you can trip over from the road, warn all household members about this.
As soon as the wort reaches the required temperature, it must be transferred to a fermentation apparatus. In order for oxygen to form in the wort, which almost all comes out during boiling, it is recommended that the mash be poured 3 times from the tank and back.
Fermentation begins
Special yeast needs to be carefully diluted and slowly added to the brew, constantly mixing the wort at this time. On sale found yeast bottom and top fermentation. The former operate in temperature conditions from 5 to 16 ° C, the latter from 18 to 22 ° C. Our equipment for beer at home should be carefully transferred to a dark place with the necessary temperature conditions, placed a water lock and wait for the wort to ferment for 7-10 days.
In just a few hours, you can see the process of active fermentation, which will last about 3 days. During this time, gases will actively exit the mash through the water trap, and after a little slower carbon dioxide will escape. At the very end, the drink will get a light shade. Readiness can be checked using a water seal or a sugar meter.
Not everyone has a sugar meter at home, so you can navigate by the water seal. If for 18-24 hours you do not notice traces of bubbles in the wort, then you can proceed to the next stage of a simple beer recipe at home.
Cork the drink
As mentioned earlier, each step in creating a drink is extremely important. Even such a simple process as blocking beer can damage the quality of the product. According to our simple beer recipe at home, you need to add 8 grams of sugar per liter to each bottle. This saturates the beer with carbon dioxide, which forms a foam and makes the taste of the drink much better.
Next, you need to drain the product from the precipitate using a tube. It is important to understand that the second end of the tube should be placed directly on the bottom of the bottle so that the beer minimally comes in contact with air. Also, do not touch the tube with yeast at the bottom, so as not to spoil the shade of the drink. Do not add beer to the bottle about 2 centimeters to the neck of the bottle, after which you need to tightly plug the hole.
The easiest way is to pour beer into plastic containers, because they are the easiest to clog. Nevertheless, in a glass container, the drink will have a better taste. But in this case, you will need to acquire special plugs so that the air does not penetrate inside, and carbon dioxide does not come out.
Almost finished beer at home should be placed in a dark and cool place with a temperature in the range of 20-24 ° C for 15-20 days. Once every 7 days, you need to take a bottle and shake it vigorously. After the specified period, the beer will be completely ready for consumption. You need to store it in a cool place.
You can already drink beer. However, if you wait another month, the drink will become more pleasant to the taste. Beer is stored at home in a cool place for 8 months. And open capacity - no more than 3 days.
Beer snacks at home
Most often, beer is drunk in a large company, and purchased chips or crackers last for a short time. If a simple beer is already ready at home, then why not try to make a snack for it. Moreover, it will be more delicious and economical. It will turn out a very large portion, which means that the whole company will be enough. You can cook a wide variety of treats: meat, cheese and even vegetables. All that is required is some free time and imagination.
It is also worth considering that for the preparation of certain snacks you need several days, especially if you decide to pickle something. Therefore, it is worth taking care of the table in advance.
Slow Cooker Chips
This is a very simple and quick recipe, according to which you can cook your favorite potato chips with your own hands.
We will need the following components:
- 500 grams of potatoes;
- 100 ml of soy sauce;
- cooking oil for frying;
- spices to taste.
We start to cook:
- Potatoes need to be cut into thin slices. To make everything faster, you can use a special peeler.
- Put chopped potatoes in water so that it does not begin to blacken.
- Pour potatoes with clean water and soy sauce. Add your favorite spices whatever you want.
- Oil is poured into the slow cooker and the “Deep Fry” program is selected. Wait for the device to heat up.
- Dry the potatoes with a paper towel at this time. Throw the chips inside. Cooking time - 4 minutes.
- Remove the chips and sprinkle them while they are hot.
Chicken Chips
Such a delicacy is very popular among many beer lovers. To cook it at home is not difficult.
We need the following components:
- 300 grams of chicken;
- 100 ml of soy sauce;
- white pepper and coriander to taste;
- any selected spices.
- Chicken fillet is cut into thin strips. The whole chip of this recipe is precisely in the cut. The pieces should be the same size. Only in this way all slices are cooked at the same time.
- Transfer pieces of chicken inside a deep bowl and fill it with soy sauce.
- Add spices to the meat, then put the chicken in the refrigerator for a quarter of an hour. Paste each chicken slice on a stick.
- Now you can put the sticks on the grill. Baking tray with foil should be placed down the oven. Place the grate on the top shelf. The dish should be cooked for 4-5 hours.
Salmon Appetizer
The fish was always good friends with beer, so this appetizer will not hurt.
We will need:
- 1 kilogram of salmon;
- 50 ml of brandy;
- 10 grams of sugar;
- 50 ml of lemon juice;
- spices as per discretion.
Salmon is cut into small pieces. Mixed with cognac, sugar and spices. Lemon juice is added and thoroughly mixed again. Now you need to set the fish aside so that it insists for a quarter of an hour.
Cheese treat
The presented recipe is popular in many pubs and bars, so you can repeat it at home.
Ingredients for Snacks:
- 300 grams of cheese;
- egg;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 100 grams of breadcrumbs.
Cheese should be cut into small sticks, beat the egg with a whisk or a fork. Dip cheese in batter, and then dip in breadcrumbs. Fry the cheese in a pan, 2 minutes on each side.
Dried squid
This is another popular fish appetizer, without which almost no feast is complete.
- 1 kilogram of squid;
- 10 grams of seasoning for fish;
- 10 grams of sugar;
- 10 grams of chicken seasoning;
- 10 grams of black pepper;
- 40 ml of vinegar.
The squid is cleaned and chopped. Now you need to steam the meat, pouring it with boiling water, covering it with a lid and leaving it for 3 minutes. After adding vinegar, salt and other seasonings to it. Stir the mixture thoroughly. Set her aside overnight. After spreading the squid on a home dryer, after 4-6 hours, the dish is ready!