The first question anyone asks me when I tell them that I brew my own beer is, "How do you do it?" It's a pretty difficult question to answer without launching into a 2 hour lecture that I doubt many will pay attention to. Probably the best short answer to the question is as follows:
"It's like cooking a stew. Except it takes 6-8 hours to cook and then you can't eat the stew for another month, but it is a damn good stew when you do"
Essentially, homebrewing a beer is a small-scale, less precise version of what large breweries do on a regular basis. The process can be broken down into 8 "simple" steps broken up by periods of waiting:
1) The Mash
2) Sparging
3) The Boil
4) Cool off
5) Pitching
Waiting 24-48 hours
6) Fermentation
Waiting 2 weeks
7) Bottling
Waiting 2-4 weeks
8) Drinking
Ingredients: Water, Malted Barley, Hops, Yeast
1) The Mash
After grinding up the malted barley (usually between 7-12 pounds for a 5 gallon batch) to open the grain husks, the barley is mixed with water that has been heated to between 165-175 degrees in a "mashing ton." There are various homebrew versions of "mashing tons," but they all are insulated coolers that maintain temperature and allow liquids to be drained out through a filter or false bottom. The oatmeal-like mixture that is created sits between 145-155 degrees for 1-2 hours. A lot of scientific processes are happening during this period, but just think of the cooler as a giant tea pot. The hot water is soaking up all of the fermentable carbohydrates and flavors from the grain.
2) Sparging
After the mash, the brewer starts to drain the liquid from the "mashing ton" through the filter. The grains are continuously "rinsed" with 170 degree water to drain out all of the good stuff. Once around 6 gallons of liquid are collected, it is transferred to the boiling pot.
3) The Boil
The "grain juice"collected from the mash is then brought to a boil in a large brewing pot. The goal is to maintain the liquid at a full boil for 1-2 hours (depending on the recipe). Once it reaches a boil, hops are added at different intervals. The first hops to be added are "bittering" hops, which contribute the most to the bitter taste that is perceived in a particular beer. Other hops are added at different intervals to contribute taste and aroma.
4) Cool down
After boiling for 1-2 hours (depending on the recipe), the wort (funny word, means unfermented beer) needs to be rapidly cooled. There are various methods for achieving this feat, but the wort needs to be brought from 212 to about 70.
5) Pitching
Adding yeast to the cooled wort is referred to as "pitching the yeast." Not sure how good of a description that is, because it takes a very, very minimal amount of physical effort, contrary to the implication of its name. It literally involves taking a glass tube of yeast and pouring it into the giant glass jug that contains your beer.
Waiting 24-48 hours
Depending on the type of yeast, fermentation conditions, and a variety of other factors, the beer will start fermenting if you've done everything right. Yeast is a living bacteria, but it is relatively weak. After pitching the yeast, an airlock is applied to the top of the container, which allows gas to escape but not to enter. The airlock minimizes the amount of outside bacteria that can "contaminate" the beer and kill the yeast.
Fermentation
Fermentation is another very scientific/magical process that is a lot of fun to watch. As the yeast cells multiply, they start "eating" the fermentable carbohydrates in the beer, producing alcohol and CO2 as waste products. A nice head of white foam appears on the top of the beer, and the airlock starts bubbling as CO2 is released.
Waiting 2 weeks
Depending on the yeast and fermentation conditions, visible fermentation will be done in 1-1.5 weeks, but usually brewers transfer the beer to another fermenter to be completely sure the beer is done fermenting.
Bottling
Unless you have the equipment to keg your own beer, you have to bottle it. Around 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of corn sugar are boiled with water and added to the beer before it is dispensed into bottles. Caps are folded over the tops of bottles to seal them. At this point, the yeast is still alive. As I stated earlier, yeast cells "eat" carbohydrates and produce CO2 as a waste product. During the 2-4 weeks before you drink the beer, the yeast eats away at the added sugar and produces CO2, which dissolves into the liquid. This is how beer becomes carbonated (at least homebrew.....not necessarily true for big breweries).
Waiting 2-4 weeks
DRINKING!
Easily the best part of the brewing process. Get out your favorite beer consuming glassware, pop open a bottle, and punish your liver with your magical, homemade, alcoholic creation.
Congrats if you made if through that novel. I told you it was a difficult question to answer in fewer than 50 sentences.
Todd
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