20 Surprising Facts about Homebrewing
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Top 20 Frequently Asked Homebrewing Questions Like anything complex and worth doing, what stops most people from getting into homebrewing are some common misconceptions and confusion. Many people think that homebrewing is too complicated or scientific for them to be good at. But nothing could be further from the truth. So what I ve done is collected the Top 20 Questions and Objections about Homebrewing that I ve received over the years, as well as some insider tips from my own experience on getting started. I m sure you ll find you have many of the same questions, so hopefully these answers will help you realize just how easy it is to get started right away with brewing your own beer. Let s jump right into it
Is Homebrewing Legal? Let s be very clear here, YES! In 1979 President Carter signed the bill that made homebrewing legal. However, each individual state makes the final determination. Only a handful of states have not clearly stated that homebrewing is 100% legal, however, no one has been arrested for homebrewing in well over 20 years. Homebrew shops exist in every state (including those states that still haven t declared homebrewing 100% legal) and continue to spread as the craft beer movement has gained more popularity and momentum. Each individual is allowed to legally brew 100 gallons of homebrew per year, or up to 200 gallons per household (which is quite a lot of beer considering the average batch size is 5 gallons!) for personal consumption. So in a nutshell, you can make just about all the beer you want at home to share with friends and family just don t sell it and the government really doesn t care.
Don t I Need A Bunch Of Big, Bulky Equipment? Nope. All the equipment you need to make great beer at home can fit in a small closet or pantry. You can get away with using just a 3-4 gallon kettle for the actual brewing, and your fermentation vessels (usually plastic buckets or brewing carboys ) will be 5 6.5 gallons in size. Keep in mind how big a 1-gallon jug of milk from the grocery store is and you ll have an idea of how big we re talking. You will need to get a few other pieces of equipment such as hoses and a strainer, but these items are inexpensive and don t take up much storage space at all.
Homebrewing You Mean Like That Mr. Beer Thing? Well, technically, you can make beer with the Mr. Beer kits. The only drawback with such a system is that there s little if any room for creativity or producing really great beer. Everything has already been done for you, so while it makes you beer, it s as basic and boring as it gets and only produces 2-Gallon batches. The kind of brewing we re talking about is REAL brewing. You re doing all the boiling, adding your own specialty grains, base malts, hops and anything else you want to throw in. You re in charge of taking good care of your yeast and making sure it has everything it needs to turn your creation into great beer. It s your careful touch that ensures all the beer is bottled and carbonated properly, so when your buddies crack that beer and their eyes light up with amazement, you can take pride knowing that YOU made this beer, not some guy in a factory!
Isn t It Expensive To Brew Beer At Home? Not at all. Most basic brewing kits that include everything you need to get started cost less than $100. However, most don t include your brew kettle, which is just a large pot with handles that can be purchased in brew shops or basic house ware stores for under $50. If you already own a large stock pot big enough to boil lobster, you re probably good. The sky is the limit for upgrading your equipment of course, but it s certainly not necessary to make great beer. All in all you can get started with sufficient equipment for well under $200. Years later I m still using some of the initial equipment that came with my first starter kit and have only upgraded a few key items.
How Long Does It Take To Make Beer? Most basic styles of ale take just 3-4 weeks to be ready, carbonated and drinkable. Some styles benefit from being able to condition longer to attain better flavors and complexity (much like wine), but six weeks is long enough for most beer styles to be as tasty as possible. Lagers, on the other hand, can take months of aging at very cold temperatures before they are ready. But don t sweat it; we ll get into all these details down the road.
Is Homebrewing Safe? Absolutely. Brewing beer at home is no more dangerous than boiling pasta. If you can safely use a can opener, operate a thermometer, and boil water, then you my friend are ready to make some homebrew. When brewing beer you re not in any danger of blowing up your kitchen or house. You re simply boiling liquids and then letting them sit around for a number of weeks. How Big Is A Normal Batch Of Beer? 5-gallons is the standard batch size for homebrew, though the sky is the limit if you want bigger equipment. 5-gallon batches yield roughly 50-55 12oz.beers, and that s the batch size we use in our teachings. If you someday graduate to kegging your beer, there are 5-gallon kegs available that are perfect for homebrewing.
How Much Does It Cost To Make A Batch Of Beer? Most basic styles of beer can be made in 5-Gallon batches for under $25 in ingredients. Of course, the sky is the limit with the types of exotic and high-quality ingredients available to today s homebrewers. I spent close to $75 on my most expensive batch of homebrew, a complex Chocolate Porter that included some rare cocoa and many specialty grains from all around the world but mother of all creatures was it good! I even served it at my wedding.
Don t I Need A Bunch Of Extra Space Like A Garage Or Shed To Brew And Store Everything? Nope. I ve been brewing great beer in my tiny 20 th floor Chicago apartment for years. I don t have propane tanks and burners or anything fancy like that. I simply brew using our 15-year old electric stove and my brewing equipment which I store in our living room closet. So you don t need a garage, backyard, or dedicated room with industrial sinks and stainless steel floors to brew. If you have a sink and a stove, or even just a hot plate, you re good to go!
Does Homebrew Taste Good? Hell yes! Making great beer at home these days is very easy. The homebrewing revolution of the past 20 years has resulted in hundreds of companies worldwide producing high-quality equipment and ingredients specifically for homebrewers. Homebrewers now have access to the same hops, malts and specialty grains that professional breweries use. It s as easy as going online or to your local homebrew shop and buying those new super hops from Oregon, that special Pilsner malt extract from Germany, or that rare Belgian beer yeast. Let s hear it for technology and globalization!
What Kind Of Beer Can I Make? Anything you d like. Seriously. Pilsners, IPAs, lagers, bocks, hefeweizens, stouts, porters, lambics, bitters, Belgian beers, smoked beers, barleywine, witbier, or any other style you dream up. As a homebrewer you can add anything you d like to your beer. Chocolate, fruit, spices, juices, candy, nuts, vegetables, part of your Christmas tree, leftover pizza just some things might not end up making great beer. But don t worry; we ll help you understand what sorts of ingredients make fun creative additions and still taste good. You can also experiment with making hard cider, apple wine and mead (fermented from honey) with the same equipment you use to make beer.
Can I Make Beer Like Dogfish Head, Guiness Or Other Famous Breweries? Absolutely! This is one of the best parts of being a homebrewer, trying to recreate your favorite commercial beers at home. There are countless clone beer recipes out there, and many breweries are happy to share their recipes with homebrewers as they often started out as homebrewers themselves. We will be providing you with clone beer recipes so you too can make your favorites at home. And of course, we ll have videos showing you EXACTLY step-by-step how to produce these beers at home!
Can I Accidentally Brew Something Deadly? Not unless you actually add poison to your beer! There are no known pathogens (toxic microorganisms) that can survive in beer, so rest assured there s no risk of getting anyone sick or worse. To make great beer you have to be mindful of cleanliness and sanitation during the process to minimize any bacteria or wild yeast getting into your batch. Even if your batch does become contaminated with bacteria or other microorganisms, the only consequences are off-flavors, souring, and perhaps some overcarbonation. But even then all is not lost! Some very popular styles of beers, sours, gueze and lambics for example, include specific bacteria strains to produce such flavors.
How Difficult Is Homebrewing? I HATE Chemistry! If you can make one of those Betty Crocker cakes from the grocery store, you can brew great beer at home. It really is as simple as following directions. All of the hard work has already been done by brewers and scientists long before us how much malt and hops to add, how long to boil, how to bottle your beer, etc. Of course, HomeBrewVideos.com makes it even easier with our instructional homebrewing videos that you will be able to watch on demand. The beauty of homebrewing, however, is that there is a lot of room for creativity. The only recipe I ve stuck to 100% was my very first homebrew, a Czech-style Pilsner kit I bought from my local homebrew store. Since then I ve made my own personal tweaks to traditional recipes and these days design all of my beers using my own recipes. It s all up to you!
How Strong Of A Beer Can I Make? Really the only thing limiting how strong a beer you can make is chemistry. Using very basic and beginner homebrewing techniques, it s extremely easy to make beers in the 10% ABV range. If you want to go higher than that you simply need to do a few extra steps along the way and buy very particular ingredients, but it s all very straightforward and easy. Our Members Area shows you how to brew 6 different beers from start to finish, including a Double IPA that tops out at 8% ABV, and an Imperial Amber Ale that ended up around 9% ABV. Strong and delicious!
How Does The Whole Process Work? To make a long story short, you boil a sweet mix of malted barley and other ingredients (called wort), cool it, and add yeast. The yeast pretty much takes over from there, eating up the sugars in the wort and converting them to alcohol and carbon dioxide. This process is fermentation and takes anywhere from a few days to a few months for some lagers. Once fermentation is complete, you have made beer, but now you need to carbonate it. One way to carbonate is to keg the beer with a tank of carbon dioxide. Otherwise you add a priming sugar such as corn sugar to your beer and bottle it. The remaining yeast eats the corn sugar producing carbon dioxide, which carbonates your beer in the bottle. This process is called bottle-conditioning or bottlerefermentation, and it s what many craft and old school breweries still do. That was the 2-paragraph version of how to make beer. Don t worry, our step-by-step instructional videos show you how to do everything from start to finish.
Where Do I Get All Of The Equipment And Supplies That I Need? The craft beer movement has inspired millions of beer lovers just like you to try their hand at making homebrew. As a result, most decent sized cities have at least a few homebrew shops, and countless great shops can be found online. I prefer to order my supplies online the more stock they move through, the better the chances are that your malt extract, hops and yeast are nice and fresh. The only time you may shop elsewhere is when looking for a brew kettle. You can often find great kettles at large department stores or house ware stores. Homebrew shops will sell them too but usually lack much of a selection. We cover all of this stuff, including discussing what equipment you need and which upgrades we recommend, as well as detailed guides on ingredients and how to design your own recipes in our Members Area. Does Homebrew Spoil Quickly? Nope. As long as you re careful with being clean and sanitary during your brewing and bottling, homebrew can stay tasty for over a year. However, most homebrews taste their best within the first few months, especially very hoppy beers or beers with a lot of spice or aroma. The general rule of thumb is the stronger the beer, the longer it will stay fresh due to its higher alcohol content. Professional breweries do things like pasteurize their beer to increase the shelf life, but it s really not a necessary step for homebrewers to worry about since we re not selling it.
Does Brewing Beer Make A Big Stink Or Foul Smell That My Neighbors Will Hate? Quite the contrary Brewing beer smells like a mix of baking bread and cookies. It s pretty much the greatest smell ever! Even my wife loves the smell and always insists on being around on brew day. Some of the best smelling brews I ve made include a coffee stout, chocolate porter, and a pumpkin ale that included pumpkin pie spices and fresh roasted pumpkin. It was as if a giant pumpkin pie bomb went off in kitchen for days which was awesome. I brew in my 20 th floor apartment in Chicago and my neighbors have never once complained about any of the brewing smells coming from my apartment. I m guessing they think we re just weirdos who bake a lot of cookies.
How Long Does It Take To Get Good At Homebrewing? The learning curve is different for everyone, but after just a few batches you ll be surprised at how much easier it is. When starting out it s best to follow all directions and measurements as closely as possible, and then start branching out and creating your own recipes once you feel comfortable. Starting off with malt extract brewing you will be able to make tasty beer right away with your first batch if you just follow our directions and pay close attention to sanitation. Nine times out of ten when a batch goes bad it s due to bacteria getting into your beer at some point. We show you very easy ways to prevent this in our step-by-step instructional videos.
Introducing LotsOfHead.com This Isn t Amateur Night You may have seen homebrewing videos on YouTube, but I wanted to crank out high-quality stuff that wasn t painful to watch. My first videos were pretty good (figuring out lighting and editing is tough!), but after a few years of practice and upgrading equipment I ve finally figured out how to shoot and edit some pretty sharp HD videos. It all started with 6 different beers brewed with malt extract from start to finish, and these days I m doing only all grain beers and adding them to the collection. This guide is just the tip of the iceberg. LotsOfHead.com allows homebrewers and beer lovers of all experience levels a free place to share their homebrewing and beer-related videos, photos, recipes, news, stories, jokes and tips. To help the newbies get started, I ve also made all 180+ pages of my Homebrew Guides, Checklists, Cheat Sheets and Recipes completely free. All you have to do is register at LotsOfHead.com and verify your email address for instant access. The videos are now hosted on YouTube which means they can be streamed online on pretty much any computer, tablet or mobile device.
Who s Doing The Teaching? My name is Steve Pavilanis and I ve been an avid homebrewer for 7+ years. I ve brewed countless batches, served my beer at more than a few weddings and while I m not big on contests I did win my first big award in 2013 for my Imperial Stout (only my 2 nd all-grain batch). Since then I ve completed Professional Brewing Technology coursework at the prestigious Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago and have earned my Certified Beer Server designation from Cicerone and I m studying to take the Certified Cicerone exam in 2014. These days I m volunteering at professional breweries to gain more professional brewing experience.