How To Ferment Beer

Posted by admin on September 15, 2009

This is the easier process where you use pre-made malt extract.

Supplies You’ll Need

These items can be picked up at your local brew supply house or online.

Large stock pot that can hold 3 gallons.
One can of Brewer’s malt extract that has been pre-hopped.
One kilogram of Dextrose which is a sugar used for the fermenting process.
High Malt Glucose syrup. About one pint.
Brewers Yeast from your brew supply house. Not from super market.
Sanitizing solution.
Long plastic spoon.
5 gallon fermenting bucket. It has a spigot on the bottom an air tight lid with a hole in the middle.
A ferment lock. This little gadget fits into the hole in the lid with a rubber cork. It allows CO2 to escape and keeps air from getting into your brew.
One medium and one small funnel.
A floating thermometer.
Bottles plastic or glass. It’s up to you. Approximately 45 depending on the size.
Caps for glass bottles or screw caps for plastic bottles. If you use glass you’ll also need a capper to apply the caps to the bottles.
Bottle sanitizer gadget that shoots the solution into the bottles.
A strainer.
A food grade tube with hard plastic tube at one end. It will have a stop valve in one end that is controlled by putting pressure on it to open it. Easy to fill up the bottles.

The Process

Add about 1 gallon of water to your pot. Before it comes to a full boil add 6 cups of dextrose and one container of Glucose Syrup. These sugars are food for your yeast. Save some dextrose for later.
Add malt extract. Make sure you get it all out by scooping out and adding hot water to the can and dumping it into your pot. Don’t worry about the exact measurement of water. Some where between a gallon and 1 ½ gallons.
By now the water should not be boiling yet. Bring it to a boil for a minute.
Now you need to take the pot off the heat and cool it down. You should place it in a cold water bath by filling your sink or tub with cold water and placing the hot pot into the cold water.
Now get your fermenting bucket, sanitizing solution, long spoon and ferment lock ready. You need to sanitize these pieces. The sanitizer needs to touch every surface the beer will touch. Then you need to rinse the solution off with water. You can re-use your solution so while using the fermenting bucket to sanitize your items you cold now use your funnel to place it back into your bottle or open the spigot and drain it that way. Just make sure you run fresh water through the spigot.
Now add your wort into the fermenting bucket. Add cold water and warm water simultaneously until you reach the 5 gallon mark. The liquid should be between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add brewers yeast and stir it in gently with your long spoon.
Seal the lid and place the ferment lock into the hole. Put a small bit of water into your ferment lock. You’ll be ready in about one week to bottle your beer. Once the bubbles stop.
Sanitize all the bottles using the bottle cleaning gadget and rinse with hot water. Sanitize your caps then put them in a strainer and rinse with hot water. Sanitize your tube inside and out and rinse.
Put approximately a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle using your small funnel.
Connect the tube to the spigot on the fermenting bucket. Turn on the spigot and let the beer work it’s way to the end of the tube. Your fermenting bucket should be higher than your bottles to allow the beer to drain freely.
Place the tube into a bottle and press down. It should release the beer and stop when you let go.
Cap each bottle and give each one a little shake.
Let them sit at room temperature for about a week and make sure they don’t get too warm or too cold.