The Boil

When making beer, the ingredients are typically boiled together in a pot that holds 1/3 or more of the batch size. In this process the ingredients are dissolved into water, forming the unfermented beer - called wort (pronounced wert.)

If you're like most college students, then you don't have a huge stock pot sitting around. The enamel stock pot I use is from target, and it only cost me $15. You'll want a pot that is at least 3 gallons although larger would be better, and stainless steel would be better.

Although the particular recipe you are using will dictate the exact details of the process, typically any grains you have will be soaked like a giant tea-bag in water that is around 160 degrees. Then it will be brought to a boil, extract will be added - either dry or as a syrup along with bittering hops. After about 30 minutes, more hops will be added, the heat will be removed and the wort will be cooled.

The wort needs to be cooled to about 70 or 80 degrees before the yeast can be added. Placing the wort in a refrigerator or in a sink with icewater will help cool it. The faster the wort cools, the better, as this will lead to a clearer end product and decrease the chance of contamination.

Once the wort is done boiling, it is diluted to the final volume, the yeast is pitched, the top with airlock is added and the whole thing is set to the side to ferment for a 10 - 14 days.

The yeast

Lets Fuckin' Make Some Beer ~ Extract batch ingredients

Beer ingredients consist of Fermentables, Hops and Yeast.

Fermentables
Fermentables are anything that contributes to the sugars available for fermentation. This includes malted grains (typically barley), sugars (table sugar, corn sugar, honey etc). Malted grains are grains that have been allowed to partially sprout, as in this process, many of the grains starches are converted into sugars. When brewing, malted grains can either be added to the brew as an extract (a concentrated syrup solution), a powdered extract, or as whole grains, which are steeped to release their natural sugars.

Hops
Hops are the ingredient that gives the beer a more bitter flavor (necessary to balance the sweetness of the malts,) as well as adds complex flavors to the beer. Hops are typically either deemed aroma hops or bittering hops, and are added at different times in the boil to either add bitterness or add aroma to the beer. A description of the many types of hops is well beyond the scope of this blog, but this hop profile chart from designer Zeke Shore will give you a good idea of the variety of hops available.

Yeast

Yeast is the unicellular organisms responsible for converting sugars to the lovely alcohol. Literally billions of yeast cells in each batch "ferment" the sugars, releasing Carbon Dioxide as a byproduct - creating the carbonation.

There are literally thousands of recipes for various beers. Check out

TastyBrew.com for ideas.

Also, most homebrewing supply stores will offer pre-prepared kits for a 5-gallon batch.

Autumn Ale

Made from the Autumn ale kit from Midwest Supplies

Heres a picture of a pour, all in all, a great first effort - better than anything in a can/cheap keg.

An Introduction of sorts

"Sentiment without action is the ruin of the Soul."

-Edward Abbey

Lets Fuckin' Do It  is the rambling of a seasoned schemer and an aspiring engineer. A collection of projects, adventures and etc that I have personally found worthwhile.

So buckle up, motherfuckers, because life is a roller coaster.