How to make beer at home. How to make beer at home

10.01.2024 Healthy eating

Many people believe that to make quality beer at home you need to buy a mini-brewery, but this statement is wrong. By and large, expensive equipment is imposed on people directly by manufacturers; this is a marketing ploy, nothing more. Along with the equipment, the sales manager will be happy to “sniff” you with a ready-made concentrate for dilution and fermentation. To avoid this, let's consider important aspects and the classic recipe for making beer.

Ingredients of homemade beer

To make beer at home, the first thing you need to do is familiarize yourself with the main ingredients you will need. Each component has its own characteristics and must meet certain requirements.

Malt
Ideally, a good quality product does not sink in water, emits a pleasant aroma, has a sweetish taste and a whipped form. When cut, the inside of quality malt is whitish in color, not brown or red.

To be able to use the product as the main component of beer, it must first be soaked and grown at a temperature of 14 to 27 degrees, then removed and dried.

The last point is the most important; the color of the future foamy drink depends on proper drying of the malt. If you want a darker beer, dry the malt in the oven, lightly toasting it. If you want to make a light-colored beer, dry the malt naturally.

After drying, it is necessary to grind the product in a convenient way until grains (not dust) are formed. All of the above steps will take you from 4 to 6 days.

Water
To prepare beer, only clean water from the Artesian well is used. The main advantage of purchased water is considered to be thorough processing and bacteriological control. If it is not possible to purchase it, first filter the liquid and let it stand for two days. Water should not have a strange taste, smell, and especially color.

Hop
The density and taste of the future beer depends on the right choice. Carefully examine the raw materials, give preference to cones of yellow-green or red shades, which have yellow-beige dust under the scales. It is important to know that the buds should not be dirty green or brown.

Yeast
Everything is much simpler here. Live brewer's yeast is used to make foamy beer. If you can't get beer ones, buy regular ones.

Sugar
The product serves to naturally saturate beer with carbon dioxide. It is preferable to use brown (cane) sugar. To accurately calculate the quantity, you must be guided by the proportions: 1 liter of beer accounts for 9 grams. granulated sugar.

Let us present you with a classic recipe, thanks to which you can get both dark and light beer. As mentioned above, it all depends on the malt drying technique.

Required ingredients:

  • hop cones - 50 gr.
  • clean water - 27 l.
  • barley malt - 3.5 kg.
  • live brewer's yeast - 30 gr.
  • sugar - 210 gr.

Required tools:

  1. Dark plastic bottles for bottling the finished product.
  2. 7-8 meters of gauze. Enameled pan for 27-30 liters for boiling wort.
  3. A container for fermenting the composition with a tight-fitting lid (preferably a water seal).
  4. Thermometer for precise temperature control. Rubber or silicone hose with a diameter of 1-1.5 cm for pouring the drink.
  5. A bath filled with cold water and ice cubes is necessary to thoroughly cool the wort.
  6. White container and iodine to determine the presence of starch. A hydrometer, as well as a wooden spatula with a long handle for mixing the composition.

Stage No. 1. Sterilization of instruments
An important point in preparing beer at home is complete sterility. Otherwise, you will not get beer, but mash. Wash your tools in advance, rinse them with hot water, wipe them dry and dry until the moisture evaporates. Do not pour boiling water over the thermometer; wipe it with a wet sponge.

Stage No. 2. Wort preparation
As stated earlier, prepare the wort for subsequent processing (soaking, growing, drying, grinding). Pour 24 liters of clean water into the pan (leave 3 liters), bring the mixture to a boil, keep the temperature at 80 degrees.

To prevent the wort from burning, make a bag of gauze measuring 1 * 1 meter (fold it in 3 layers). After this, transfer the malt into a bag and immerse it in a pan of boiling water. Cover the container with a lid, reduce the heat, cook the mixture for 1.5 hours, constantly monitor the temperature, it should be between 62 and 73 degrees.

Important!
If you want a stronger drink, stick to 62 degrees, but if the goal is to make beer with an intense flavor, keep the temperature at 71-72 degrees. The best option is to boil the wort at 65-66 degrees. In this case, the beer will be 4% ABV with a fairly rich and moderate flavor.

Stage No. 3. Checking for starch
After 1.5 hours, it is necessary to check the wort for the presence of starch, or rather, for its absence. For these purposes, take a white saucer and scoop out 20 ml. wort and pour into a container.

After this, add 2 drops of iodine solution and evaluate the result. If the color of the composition changes to blue, increase the cooking time by another quarter of an hour. If the shade remains the same, there is no starch, so proceed to the next step.

Turn up the heat and bring the temperature of the wort to 80 degrees. Boil the mixture in this mode for about 5 minutes, then remove the bag with the composition.

Pour the remaining 3 liters of filtered water into a separate pan and bring it to a boil at 80 degrees. Next, rinse the bag of malt in this water and pour the liquid into the first pan.

Stage No. 4. Mixing wort with hops
Bring the wort to a boil, or rather, until the first bubbles appear. Next, add exactly 17 grams. hop cones, boil the composition for half an hour, then add another 15 grams. hops Continue boiling for 45 minutes, then add the remaining buds. Cook the mixture over medium heat for about 20 minutes, a total of at least 95 minutes.

Stage No. 5. Cooling the composition
At this stage, there is a risk of bactericidal neoplasms in the composition of the drink, so follow the instructions strictly and do not hesitate.

Carefully take the pan and take it to the bathroom, place it in ice water and cool to a temperature of 25 degrees. This step will take about 20-25 minutes, keep checking the temperature with a thermometer.

After you have reached the desired mode, prepare a second container, which is intended for fermentation. Fold gauze over it in 5 layers, then carefully pour the wort the first time. In order for the composition to become saturated with oxygen, it is necessary to repeat the transfusion 3 more times from the first container to the second and back.

Stage No. 6. Fermentation process
Before mixing yeast with wort, dilute it with warm boiled water and leave for a quarter of an hour to activate (the exact holding time is indicated in the instructions). At the end of time, pour them into the wort and mix well with a wooden spatula.

In order to accurately maintain the temperature regime, which is so important for making homemade beer, you need to familiarize yourself with the type of yeast in advance.

If the label indicates that top-fermenting yeast is added to the wort at a temperature of 19 to 23 degrees.

As for bottom-fermenting yeast, they must be added to the wort at a temperature of 7-15 degrees.

After mixing the wort with yeast, close the container with a lid and take it to a dark room. Leave for 1.5 weeks, while it is necessary to constantly maintain the temperature at which the yeast works. After 10 days, the yeast moves from the active phase to the passive phase, by which time the beer will become light.

To determine the readiness of the drink, use a hydrometer. Take readings in 2 stages, in which the second is carried out 12 hours after the first. If the difference in samples is insignificant (hundredths), feel free to proceed with further manipulations. In cases where the indicators fluctuate significantly, extend the fermentation process for another 2 days.

Stage No. 7. Spilling and carbonation
This stage involves saturating the drink with carbon dioxide; this must be done for the appearance of foam and the corresponding taste sensations.

Sterilize the bottles into which you will fill, dry them and add granulated sugar at the rate of 9 grams. per 1 liter of composition. Due to the sugar, light fermentation will begin, as a result of which the beer will be saturated with carbon dioxide.

Place the hose in the pan so that it does not touch the bottom, walls or surface of the drink. Keep the handset level in the middle. Place the other end of the hose into the bottle and fill it, retreating 2 cm from the neck.

At the end of bottling, close the lids tightly and place in a dark place for 3 weeks. It is important that the temperature in the room/cabinet is constantly maintained at 21-23 degrees. In this case, for the last two weeks you need to shake the drink daily. When carbonation is complete, move the bottles to the refrigerator or cellar.

The process is complete, but you can improve the taste by leaving the beer for another 3 weeks in a cold place. Ultimately, thanks to your efforts, the output will be 23 liters of high-quality, and most importantly, real beer with a strength of 4-4.5%.

Store the product in the cellar or refrigerator for no longer than 8 months, unopened. Once you open the bottle, the shelf life will be reduced to 2 days. If the bottles are transparent, you should wrap them in dark bags.

Pure filtered water - 11 l., molasses - 0.55 l., live brewer's yeast - 150 ml., hops - 50 ml.

  1. Pour 11 liters of water into an enamel pan, boil for 10 minutes, then add water. Reduce heat and simmer until the characteristic molasses aroma disappears.
  2. Sew a small bag out of gauze, place the hops there and put it in water, simmer over medium heat for a quarter of an hour. Turn off the stove, remove the hop cones, and wait for the mixture to cool completely.
  3. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth, slowly pour in the yeast, stirring at the same time.
  4. Fill the bottles, but do not cap them. Wait until foam appears in the neck area.
  5. Next, remove the foam, close the bottles with caps, and put the beer in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.

Juniper based beer

To prepare you will need: live brewer's yeast - 100 gr., juniper berries - 800 gr., clean water - 8 l., liquid honey - 180 gr.

  1. Pour water into an enamel pan, cover with a lid and boil for 15 minutes. At the end of the period, add the juniper and cook for another 45 minutes over medium heat.
  2. Strain the mixture several times through 4 layers of gauze, cool the mixture to room temperature.
  3. Pour in liquid honey, stir thoroughly with a wooden spoon, add brewer's yeast. Stir and cover tightly. Place the drink in a dark cabinet to ferment.
  4. After raising the yeast, mix the composition, pour into bottles and immediately close the lids. Leave for about 7-10 days in a dark, cool place.

Making homemade beer is not difficult if you make sure you have the necessary ingredients and tools in advance. Do not neglect the preparatory stage, it sets the direction for further brewing. Sterilize containers thoroughly and be sure to maintain temperature conditions. Dry the malt naturally or roast it in the oven to achieve the desired color of beer.

Video: brewing real grain beer at home

In any store you can buy beer from a variety of manufacturers (both dark and light). But what makes some fans master the technology of preparing this drink at home? Some people want to experience new flavors, while others find interest in the process of brewing beer at home.

Contrary to popular belief, making quality beer yourself? not an easy task. You can find many recipes, but not all of them will lead you to success. It is important to be able to choose the right ingredients, equipment and follow the technology exactly. Any mistake can lead to you getting mash or some other alcoholic drink instead of what you want.

Which products to choose?

Home brewing equipment


You need to take a container larger in volume than the intended beer. Is there one important condition? all equipment must be sterile. To do this, treat the items with boiling water and dry them with a clean towel.

Before preparing beer at home, take the time to wash and dry your hands thoroughly.

Detailed traditional technology

So, you have all the necessary ingredients and equipment ready at home. Let's begin a complex but interesting process.

Stage 1. Mashing the malt

First you need to achieve a certain temperature regime. Place water on the stove and heat it to a temperature of 61 to 72°. In the future, you will have to maintain a stable temperature within this limit. The strength of the beer and its aroma will depend on this.

To get a higher degree of alcohol, choose the lower temperature limit. If you leave the value at 70–72°, you will get a not very strong, but aromatic beer. The optimal temperature is considered to be 65°, at which the future strength will be 4°.

It is better to place the malt first in a fabric bag (preferably made of flax), and then in hot water.

Boil the mixture for 1–1.5 hours. Then they check it for the presence of starch. How to do this at home? Take a white saucer and pour a little malt into it, and then add a drop of iodine. If the mixture turns blue, it means there is starch in the malt. And he shouldn't be there. In this case, boiling is necessary
continue for another 15 minutes.

Stage 2. Filtration

An ordinary colander and gauze, which were described above, are suitable as a filter. Slowly pass the resulting liquid with malt and squeeze the linen bag into the filter.

Step 3: Adding hops

For 10 liters of hot wort add 10-15 g of hops. Then the liquid must be boiled for another hour.

Stage 4. Cooling the wort

You can simply leave the container with the wort to cool at room temperature. However, at this moment there is a high probability of contamination of future beer with foreign microorganisms. How can I speed up the procedure? To do this, place the wort in a bath of cold water for 30 minutes. Make sure that the temperature does not drop below room temperature.

After cooling the wort, repeat the filtration procedure. Pour the liquid into a fermentation container.

Step 5: Adding Yeast

0.25 g of yeast is diluted in 1 liter of warm water. Wait 15 minutes and then add them to a large container and stir with the wort.

Stage 6. Waiting

Now all you have to do is put the pan in a dark place at home and wait 1-1.5 weeks. A live drink needs time to ferment. Therefore, it is kept for another 1 week in the refrigerator.

Stage 7. Bottling

Prepare several clean bottles and add a little granulated sugar to the bottom. Use a silicone hose to transfer the beer from the fermentation vessel into the bottles. It is important that the hose does not touch the surfaces and bottom of the pan. Otherwise, sediment may get into the beer.

First, the beer is stored warm for several days (so that the sugar saturates the beer with carbon dioxide), and then? in the cold. As you can see, the described technology has a lot of nuances and takes a lot of time. Is it possible to make everything simpler?

Today you can find many recipes that will help you make your favorite drink at home in an easier way.

Very simple recipe

For those who are not ready to spend a lot of time and effort at home, but want to try beer prepared at home, we recommend the following recipe.

  • Water? 5 l.
  • Hop cones? 16
  • Sugar? 250 g.
  • Dry yeast? 10 g.

Beer is made as follows. We boil the cones in water for an hour and a half. Dissolve sugar in water and add to liquid. Cook the resulting mixture for 20 minutes. Then strain the beer, cool to room temperature and add yeast. All that remains is to bottle the beer and let it sit for 5 days.

Bavarian beer recipe

This recipe, on the contrary, is very complex. If you fulfill all the conditions correctly, the result will be a beer with a unique taste and aroma.

You will need the following ingredients:

  • Sweet and sour custard bread? 4 lbs.
  • Rye malt? 2 pounds.
  • Salt? 0.25 tsp
  • Yeast? 15
  • Pepper? 10 grains.
  • Hop? 1.5 lbs.
  • Sugar? 1 lb.
  • Water.

They do everything in this order. Should the bread be finely chopped, pepper? crush and grind, hops? scald with boiling water. Dissolve the yeast in a glass of warm water. Place all ingredients in a cast iron pot (use 0.5 lb. of sugar). Pour the mixture with water until it reaches the consistency of thick sour cream, cover with a thick cloth and place in a warm place for a day.

The next day, add the remaining sugar, diluted with boiling water, and boiled water (15 liters) to the cauldron. Cover with a lid and place in a preheated oven for 2 days.

Remove the kettle from the oven and cool the mixture. Drain it into a ceramic bowl, and pour 3 liters of boiling water into the cauldron. Pour the liquid from the boiler into the previously drained mixture.

Mix everything thoroughly, pour into a large container (for example, an enamel pan) and bring to a boil. Remove the resulting foam, filter the resulting liquid and bottle. Seal them tightly with corks and place them in a cool place for 15 days.

Classic brewing technology is quite complex, requiring special equipment and strict adherence to brewing temperature. But having hops and malt (preferably), you can prepare a drink according to a simplified scheme, which will resemble the original in taste and color. We will look at the simplest homemade beer recipes.

The easiest way to buy hops and malt is online. Ideally, it is good to also have a mini-brewery, but due to the high cost, not everyone can afford this device. The proposed recipes do not require additional equipment, just a saucepan and a fermentation container.

Beer made from hops and malt

Ingredients:

  • barley malt – 5 kg;
  • water – 20 liters;
  • fresh hop cones – 5 glasses;
  • brewer's yeast – 50 grams;
  • sugar – 150 grams;
  • salt – 1 tablespoon.

1. Dissolve barley malt in water and leave for a day.

2. The next morning, pour the mixture into a cooking container and add salt.

3. Boil the dissolved malt for 2 hours.

4. Add hops and cook for another 20 minutes.

5. Strain through a sieve, then cool the wort to room temperature (necessarily below 30 degrees).

6. Add brewer's yeast with sugar, stir and leave to ferment for 12-18 hours in a dark, warm place.

7. Pour the drink into bottles. After 12-14 hours the beer will be ready.

Hops and malt recipe

The result is a natural, home-made product that is close to traditional technology. If 20 liters of beer are not immediately needed, the proportions can be reduced several times. Some home brewers don't even use special containers, making do with a regular bucket.

Recipe for beer without yeast (honey or fruit)

Ingredients:

  • overripe strawberries or wild strawberries – 2 kg;
  • honey or candied jam – 4-5 kg;
  • hops - 25 grams;
  • water – 25 liters.

1. Pour 25 liters of warm water into a container, add honey (jam), stir until the honey dissolves in the water.

2. Add pre-prepared strawberries (the berries cannot be washed so that wild yeast remains on the surface), which is used as a starter, replacing brewer's yeast. Add hops and mix again.

3. Leave in a warm place for fermentation for 5-7 days, tying the neck with gauze.

4. Close the container with a lid and leave to ferment for 30-40 days. Fermentation will end when the berries sink to the bottom of the container. At this stage, the wort needs to be stirred every day.

After 14 days, try the taste; if the drink is not sweet enough, add another 1 kg of honey to resume fermentation.

5. 5-7 days after the end of fermentation, filter the wort through cheesecloth and pour into three-liter jars.

6. Place the jars in a cold place for 1-1.5 months. During this time, sediment forms at the bottom.

7. Pour the beer into bottles for storage. It is very important that sediment does not get into the bottles, so the container should not be shaken before pouring.
Store sealed bottles of honey beer in the cellar.

Strawberry beer without yeast

The classic technology for making honey beer is shown in the video.

The easiest homemade beer recipe

If you need to quickly prepare beer, I advise you to familiarize yourself with the following method:

1. Boil 15 grams of hop cones in 5 liters of water for 90 minutes.

2. Dissolve 250 grams of sugar in a glass of water.

3. Add sugar syrup to the hop decoction and cook for another 20 minutes.

4. Strain the liquid, cool to room temperature, add dry yeast (10 grams).

5. After fermentation is complete, pour the beer into bottles, seal and incubate for three days. After this, the drink is ready to drink.


Fast beer

“Beer is another proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!” Words by Benjamin Franklin. American Founding Father, politician, inventor, scientist, writer, diplomat, musician and talented businessman.

In a word, you can trust him!” Beer is another proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!” Words by Benjamin Franklin. American Father is a founder, politician, inventor, scientist, writer, diplomat, musician and talented businessman. In a word, you can trust him!

Beer is a unique drink with a rich history. This drink is loved everywhere. Different countries around the world have their own unique recipes for its preparation. There is reason to believe that beer is the oldest alcoholic drink in human history. The first mentions of it go back ten thousand years.

It is truly known that the Sumerians and Babylonians drank beer. This drink has gone through history and has only become more popular in our time.

Equipment

  • enamel saucepan minimum 30 liters
  • thermometer
  • 5 meters of gauze
  • grain mill
  • iodine and white plate
  • special container for fermentation with a water seal
  • hydrometer (device for measuring sugar levels)
  • glass or plastic bottles made of opaque material with stoppers for the finished product

Real living beer is a substance that is constantly in the fermentation stage; as soon as it ends, the beer dies. The initial stage of fermentation occurs in the same way as with any other alcoholic beverages; it is during this period that beer is “born”, its aroma and taste are established.

At this stage, it is necessary to take care of the ideal conditions in which the characteristics of the drink will take place, the fundamental one being temperature. Ideal indicators are +18-20°C. In a warmer room atmosphere, intense fermentation will not allow the beer to mature properly, and at temperatures exceeding +36°, the yeast cultures (and with them the beer) die.

Traditional recipe with malt and hops

Preparation

The first step is to thoroughly wash all equipment.

IMPORTANT! If you approach the issue of sterilization carelessly, all further work will simply go down the drain, since so-called “wild yeast” or other pathogenic organisms may get into the wort. In the end, instead of a divine drink, you will end up with a tasteless mash.

Then you need to prepare dry yeast. To activate the fungus, it is necessary to pour the entire volume of the package into a small amount of water at a temperature of 25-28 degrees for 15-30 minutes. Different manufacturers compress and package yeast differently, so it’s best to stick to the information on the package.

Malt crushing

Crushing the malted grains is a very important step in the brewing process. Ideally, the grain should be divided into 5-7 pieces. It is important that the pieces retain parts of the peel. It is simply not possible to filter malt that has been ground into flour.

For the correct grinding process, it is best to use a special grain mill, with which you can obtain malt of the desired grind. You can use a simple meat grinder, but there is a risk that the grains will be crushed too much, or simply crushed.
You can buy ready-made crushed malt in the store, but often unscrupulous manufacturers add flour or starch to increase the volume.

Preparing for brewing and mashing the wort

It is necessary to prepare a bag made of 3-4 layers of clean gauze. You will need pieces no smaller than one meter by one meter. Place the ground malt in a bag so that it does not spill out.

  1. Pour into a 25 liter pan, place on fire, heat to 80 degrees.
  2. Place the bag of malt in the pan and close the lid.
  3. The water temperature during the brewing process should be 67 degrees - it is at this temperature that beer is obtained with a strength of about 4%, quite dense, with a mild taste.
  4. After an hour and a half of continuous cooking, you need to do an iodine test.
  5. It is necessary to determine whether starch remains in the wort.
  6. Take a few tablespoons of wort and place them on a clean white plate.
  7. Add a couple of drops of iodine. If the color has not changed, then the malt is ready for the next stage.
  8. If the malt turns blue, you need to continue brewing for another 15 minutes.
  9. After additional time, there is no need to test again.

It is necessary to brew malt so that the natural processes of fermentation of the ingredients begin. Once all the starch has been broken down, this process must be stopped. To do this, raise the temperature of the water in the pan to 80 degrees and cook for another 5 minutes.

Then remove the bag of malt from the pan and thoroughly rinse it in 2 liters of water at a temperature of 78 degrees. Add wash water to the wort. In this way, the remaining extractive substances are washed out of the malt.

The described method of mashing wort is called “in the bag.” When using it, there is no need to use a complex filtration system and multiple transfusions.

Boiling the wort

Place the pan with the wort on the fire, bring to a boil, add 15 grams of wort. Cook for 30 minutes over high heat. Next, add another 15 grams of hops, continue to actively boil for another 40 minutes, and then add the remaining 15 grams of hops and cook for 20 minutes. In total, the entire boiling process lasts one and a half hours.

IMPORTANT! Throughout this time it should boil quite actively.

Cooling

At this stage, you need to try to cool the beer wort as quickly as possible to a temperature of 24-26 degrees. If cooling is slow, there is a risk of contamination of the wort with bacteria or wild yeast. The ideal option is to cool for 15-30 minutes. You can use a special immersion cooler consisting of a hollow tube twisted into a spiral and two plastic hoses at the ends. Run cold water through the cooler for 15 minutes.

If there is no cooler, the pan of wort can be placed in a bath of very cold water. It is best to pour ice into the bath. This method is simpler, but there is a risk of overturning a heavy container, resulting in serious burns.

Adding Yeast

Depending on the type of yeast, fermentation can be top or bottom. You must carefully study the instructions on the packaging. Top fermentation occurs at a temperature of 18-22 degrees. For bottom fermentation, it is necessary to cool the wort to 5-10 degrees.

  • Add the diluted yeast to the wort and mix well.
  • Place the container in a cool, dark place and install a water seal.
  • It is necessary in order to avoid the intake of excess oxygen.
  • It is necessary to follow the temperature recommendations indicated on the yeast packaging.
  • Conditions may differ for different crops.

Within 8-12 hours, the active fermentation process begins, which lasts 2-3 days. Then the process slows down a bit. After another 5-7 days, you need to check the beer preparation - if everything goes as it should, the beer should become light. Using a hydrometer, we measure the sugar level: we take a measurement, and after 12 hours we repeat the measurement. If the difference in readings differs by hundredths, you can proceed to the next step. If there is a big difference, let the liquid stand for another day, and then repeat the measurement procedure.

Carbonation is the process of saturating a future drink with carbon dioxide. In addition, this process improves the taste of the product and ensures the presence of thick foam. Add sugar to the prepared bottles at the rate of 8 grams per 1 liter. During the transfusion process, you must not disturb the yeast, which, depending on the type of culture, can accumulate either from below or from above. It is convenient to pour using a plastic tube, one end of which is placed in the middle of the container, and the other at the bottom of the bottle.

EDIT. If yeast does get into the bottle, it will make the beer cloudy, change the taste a little, but overall will not spoil the drink.

Fill the bottles so that there is a distance of 2 centimeters between the liquid and the cork. Sugar starts the process of additional fermentation in beer, so we place the bottles in a dark, dry place for 3 weeks. The temperature should not be higher than 24 degrees. Once a week, bottles should be shaken thoroughly.

After 3 weeks the beer is ready! When sealed in the refrigerator, the drink can be stored for 6-9 months, depending on the temperature settings of the refrigerator. Once the bottle is opened, the beer can be stored for up to 3 days.

REFERENCE. During the first 30 days of storage, the taste of the drink improves significantly, so it makes sense to let the beer rest for another month.

A simple recipe without equipment for home brewing

In addition to the rather lengthy traditional beer brewing technology, there are many simple and quick brewing recipes.

For the simplest things you will need:

  • barley malt – 6 kilograms
  • water - 22-24 liters
  • hops - 6 glasses
  • molasses or jam - 1.5 cups, or sugar - 200 grams
  • salt - 1 teaspoon

Pour cold water into a clean large saucepan and add crushed malt. Leave for 12-16 hours. Put the mixture on the fire, add salt, and boil for 2 hours. Add hops and cook for another half hour. Carefully pass the beer through cheesecloth, add diluted brewer's yeast, molasses, jam or sugar, and mix. The beer should sit for 6-9 hours, then pour the drink into bottles and leave for another 8 hours - the beer is ready!

The drink should be stored in the refrigerator.

Homemade dark beer

To prepare it take:

  • Grains of rye, barley, wheat, oats - 0.5 kg (total).
  • Chicory – 30-50 gr.
  • Dry hop cones – 50 gr.
  • Purified water – 10 liters.
  • Lemon zest - from 1 fruit.

Before cooking, the mixture of grains is fried in a dry frying pan until the grains turn brown, then crushed.

  1. Boil 3 liters of water in a large bowl, add the prepared grain and chicory.
  2. Add all the remaining water, add hops, sugar, zest and remove from heat; this is the beer wort.
  3. After 4-5 hours it will ferment, for this the room must be warm, no colder than 20°C, but you should not place it near a radiator so that the yeast does not die from the heat.
  4. The liquid is filtered through 2-3 layers of gauze and bottled, which are kept in the cold for at least 3-4 weeks.

After the specified time, you can conduct a tasting; if necessary, the dark beer is given additional time to brew. This drink can be stored sealed in the refrigerator for up to six months; an open bottle can be stored for no more than a week.

Honey beer recipe

Compound:

  • Overripe strawberries – 2 kg.
  • Dry hop cones – 25 gr.
  • Purified water – 25 liters.
  • Natural honey -5 kg.

Cooking technology:

  1. Dissolve honey completely in water.
  2. Add hop cones and berries
  3. Mix everything thoroughly.
  4. Tie the neck of the dish with gauze or a thin cloth (so that air can circulate easily) and leave to ferment for 4-7 days.
  5. After this period, the container is closed with a lid and the drink ferments for another 30-40 days; it should be stirred daily.
  6. At the end of the second week, the beer is tasted for sweetness; if necessary or if fermentation is weak, another kilogram of honey is added.
  7. The fact that the beer has fermented is signaled by the berries falling down. You need to wait another week, strain the liquid through 2-3 layers of gauze and pour into 3-liter jars, which are stored in a cold room for 1-2 months.
  8. During this time, a sediment forms in them, from which the beer is carefully poured into bottles, corked and stored in the basement or refrigerator.

Berries should not be washed before cooking. On their surface there are natural yeasts, without which the fermentation process will not begin.

The best snacks

Different countries prefer beers with their own characteristics, which is why snacks to go with them also differ. For example, the Germans are especially fond of strong, rich types of beer, which go well with hearty and fatty dishes:

  • Veal sausages with lard and spices.
  • Salty pretzels.
  • Baked knuckle.
  • Various types of cheese and crackers.
  • Stewed in duck fat, sauerkraut.
  • Obazza (a spicy mixture of cheese, butter, onion and paprika).

In our country, it is customary to serve beer with:

  • Crackers from rye, white bread, loaf with various sauces, garlic, salt.
  • Crayfish, shrimp.
  • Various types of croutons.
  • Salted fish (dried, smoked, dried).
  • Salty varieties of hard cheese.
  • Raw smoked sausage, balyk.
  • Salted nuts (peanuts, pistachios)
  • Smoked pig ears.

Beer experts are amazed by our habit of drinking beer with ram; they believe that such a snack is the least suitable for this drink in terms of taste. However, this tradition developed back in Soviet times, when salted and dried fish was most accessible due to the fact that they prepared it themselves from their own fishing catch. Other, more refined products for beer were scarce and expensive.

Among Americans, “junk” food is popular as a complement to an intoxicating drink:

  • Chips.
  • Packaged crackers.
  • French fries with sauces.
  • Fried chicken wings.
  • Nuggets.

Experts consider this assortment to be the most unsuccessful, firstly, due to the high content of preservatives, calories and hidden fats in snacks, and, secondly, that too hot spices and an abundance of enhancers do not allow you to feel the taste of the beer itself, not to mention the to successfully highlight with products

Of course, to make beer at home, you will have to tinker. You need to carefully approach the issue of choosing ingredients; you will have to buy additional equipment. But the result is worth it! After all, in the end result, instead of store-bought beer with preservatives and dyes, you will get a high-quality natural product. Real craft beer made with your own hands!

Cooking video recipe

Check out this simple step-by-step recipe for making beer at home:

In addition to the selection of ingredients, it is very important to pay attention to the preparation of equipment for home brewing. If you want to make a really high-quality and tasty drink, then you will need certain equipment.

Necessary equipment for home brewing

Professional brewers use:

  • Scales and measuring cup for weighing;
  • Container for preparing wort with a capacity of 5-10 liters;
  • A meat grinder or hand mill for grinding malt;
  • Sieve or gauze for filtering;
  • Wooden spoon with a long handle;
  • Large saucepan with a capacity of 20-25 liters;
  • A fermentation container with a tight-fitting lid or water seal of at least 20 liters;
  • Glass bottles of 0.5 liters, preferably dark glass;

How to make homemade beer - basic ingredients

The main ingredients without which you cannot make this drink: malt, hops and brewer's yeast.

Malt

Before you brew homemade beer, you must prepare the malt. The main ingredient that affects not only the taste and aroma of the drink, but also its quality. That is why malt preparation is a very important and responsible stage. It is prepared from grain crops - barley, wheat, rye and other grains. Some of them need to be pre-germinated, for example, barley and wheat. Corn and rice are used without sprouting.

Hop

Every homemade beer recipe contains hops. This plant is added to the drink not only to give it a special taste and aroma. It is hops that contribute to the formation of traditional beer foam. For brewing beer, only female inflorescences are used - cones collected at the end of August.

Brewer's yeast

Even the simplest homemade beer recipe is rarely complete without this ingredient. Brewer's yeast is added to the wort for better fermentation. It should be noted that only pure yeast cultures are used in brewing, which belong to the Saccharomycetaceae family and the genus Saccharomyces. The unique aroma and original taste of the drink largely depend on their quality.

Homemade Beer Recipes

You can purchase a ready-made kit with which you can try out several simple recipes.

Homemade

Knowing the basic recipe for making homemade beer, you can experiment and prepare a variety of variations of this drink. By adding new ingredients and changing proportions, you can get your own unique signature recipe.

Fry the mixture of grains in a dry frying pan until brown; you can use a regular baking sheet and fry in the oven. Grind the fried grains into flour in a meat grinder and mix with chicory. Pour the resulting malt into a large saucepan, add three liters of water and bring the mixture to a boil.

Brewing homemade beer is a very important process, which will determine the taste of the finished drink. This is why it is very important to stir the mixture all the time with a wooden spoon so that it does not burn.

Remove the pan from the heat, add sugar, zest from one lemon and hops, stir and leave in a warm place for several hours. When the infusion has cooled to room temperature, it must be strained through several layers of gauze and poured into a fermentation container. After three days, pour the drink into bottles, close tightly and place in a cool cellar or refrigerator.

This recipe for making beer at home is one of the simplest and most accessible. It is perfect for those brewers who don’t like to wait a long time - the drink will be ready in two weeks.

Tsarskoe Beer

Tsar's beer is prepared on the basis of a ready-made drink. Homemade beer prepared according to a simple recipe, which has already infused sufficiently and is ready for use, is poured into a large saucepan.

Pour sugar into a frying pan and fry over medium heat. The sugar should not only dissolve, it should turn into caramel. Since the sugar should acquire a burnt taste, it must be stirred all the time with a wooden spoon, preventing combustion. Before the caramel hardens, pour boiling water over it and mix very well.

Pour some water into a small saucepan, add ginger, coriander, chopped lemons and cinnamon, bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. While still hot, this broth needs to be filtered and mixed with burnt sugar dissolved in water. Separately, boil the hops - add water, bring to a boil and cook for half an hour.

Strain the hop decoction, mix with the previously prepared aromatic starter and pour into the finished cold beer. Mix everything well, cover with a lid and place in a cool place. To prepare this drink, use a homemade beer recipe. If the beer has already been aged for two weeks, then the Tsar’s drink can be tasted the very next day. If the beer is fresh, it will need to sit for 10-14 days.

Watch the video on how to brew homemade beer - the recipe is quite simple and accessible. But you must understand that the brewing process still requires attention and strict adherence to all rules and technologies.

Even to prepare a small amount of this drink, you will need a lot of free space - try to brew it in a separate, well-ventilated room. Before making homemade beer, make sure you have all the necessary ingredients. In addition, you will need to free up space in the refrigerator or shelves in the cellar. You may also need additional equipment for beer at home: a funnel for filling bottles, a brush for washing dishes, and more.

Don’t rush to try the finished drink - the longer it sits in a cool place, the more aromatic and tastier it will be. Serve well chilled in large glasses.