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Homebrew Beer

Step-by-step guide to brewing your first 5-gallon batch of extract beer at home.

Homebrew Beer
Yield 5 gallonsPrep 120 minDifficulty hardCuisine BeerElapsed 3–6 weeks
drink
Batch size: 5 gallons

Ingredients & equipment

Instructions

  1. Activate liquid yeast according to its package directions; dry yeast needs no advance preparation.
  2. Heat the brewing water. Place crushed specialty grains in a mesh bag and steep for 20 minutes, then remove and discard the grains.
  3. Bring the liquid to a boil. Remove from the heat while stirring in the malt extract, then return it to a controlled boil.
  4. Add hops and any other boil additions at the times specified by the recipe kit.
  5. Cool the wort to 60–70°F (16–21°C).
  6. Sanitize the fermenter, lid or stopper, funnel, auto siphon, hose, airlock, scissors, and yeast package.
  7. Transfer the cooled wort to cold water in the fermenter and top up with clean water to reach 5 gallons.
  8. Cover the fermenter and gently rock it to aerate the wort.
  9. Open the yeast package with sanitized scissors and pitch the yeast into the wort.
  10. Attach the sanitized lid or stopper and airlock, then move the fermenter to a dark, quiet place.
  11. *Fermentation begins — Within 1–2 days, active fermentation starts (foam/CO₂ activity).
  12. *Fermentation ends — Typically completes in 1–2 weeks.
  13. Sanitize Auto Siphon, hose, 5-gallon carboy, airlock and stopper.
  14. Siphon beer from primary to secondary fermentor.
  15. Let rest 1–2 weeks or as specified by recipe.
  16. Sanitize all siphoning equipment.
  17. Mix priming solution: 2/3 cup priming sugar in 16 oz water, boil a few minutes.
  18. Add priming solution to bottling bucket, then transfer beer.
  19. Connect filler & hose to spigot.
  20. Fill and cap bottles immediately.
  21. Store at room temperature 1–2 weeks to carbonate, then refrigerate.

Notes