How To Make Homemade Beer

Want to learn how to make homemade beer? You can make your own beer—you just need the supplies and some directions. Nothing tastes better than your own homemade beer—and you can show off to your friends by offering them some homemade brew. Read on to find out the basic process for how to make homemade beer. You can find most items at a beer making store or your hardware store.

What you need to make homemade beer:

• 10 gallon plastic pail that has a lid—this should be a food grade pail as you will be consuming the contents  
• very large pot
• hydrometer
• thermometer
• yeast
• sugar
• malt extract
• water
• bottled water

1. Sanitize all equipment. Having sanitary equipment is of the utmost importance when making homemade beer. You can use soap and warm water and then sanitize with a bleach and water solution as well.
2. Put water in pail. Pour your cold, clean water into the pail—about ten liters. The amount will be listed on the particular beer recipe you are following.
3. Boil water. In a different pot, the largest one you have, you boil water—about seven liters. Again, the amount will be according to your beer recipe.
4. Add extract. Pour the malt extract into the boiling water, stir, and continue to simmer for twenty minutes.
5. Add sugar. Put the sugar into the brew and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved in the mixture.
6. Pour into pail. Put the mixture into the carboy (the pail) and splash it to put air into the beer.
7. Add bottled water. Top off the mixture with bottled water until the temperature is neutral (use the thermometer). Pail will be just over half full at this point.  
8. Add yeast. Sprinkle in the yeast, stir the mixture again and cover loosely. You can't have the cover tight or the process could cause an explosion.
9. Let it process. People normally brew for about six to ten days.
10. Test the beer. Use the hydrometer to determine the readiness of the beer. Different readings are required for light and dark beer.
11. Taste test your beer. Taste the beer to ensure it is ready and to your liking.

This is the basic process of making homemade beer. Different recipes call for different amounts of sugar, different amounts of water, and so on. So, if you'd like to give it a shot, you should. There are also homemade beer making kits that can make the process easier for a beginner. These include carboy, beer making tools and directions. You can also by beer making ingredient kits with yeast and the other necessary ingredients.