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