In a piece for this week’s Maine Switch, Karen Beaudoin gives a brief, if somewhat flawed, introduction to the art of brewing your own beer. Beaudoin’s piece gives a nice 10,000 foot view of what goes into making your own English pale ale, but a few of the scant details she gives are off the mark.
For anyone reading this who is interested in making his or her own beer, I’d recommend heading of to HomeBrewTalk.com for a thorough discussion of all things homebrewing. For the new brewer, the Beginners Beer Brewing Forum is invaluable. I know I spent (and still spend) a whole lot of time browsing through it while working on improving my own brewing. Discussions on HBT range from basic topics like blow-off tubes and sanitation to more advanced things like yeast culturing and building your own immersion chiller.
For the impatient who’ve already headed over to see Rob at Maine Brewing Supply and want to get to brewing already, a few comments on Beaudoin’s directions. Though probably not a real problem, 1.5 gal of water for steeping 1# of crystal malts is a bit much. According to Palmer and others, the ratio of water to grains while steeping should be less than 1 gal per pound for best results. A bigger problem, though, is the suggestion that you boil the water before adding the grains to steep. Get the water to about 170°F and then start your steep (after removing heat). And for goodness sakes, don’t squeeze your grain bag! Tannins are good in red wine; beer, not so much. Also, after steeping, you’ll want to increase the amount of water in your pot as much as you can without risking boil-overs. The less water you have to add to your fermenter to make 5 gal., the better.
Beaudoin leaves out several other details, such as cooling the wort, aerating it, and yeast pitching, but these are not so much errors as omissions. I’m sure editorial concerns were at play here, as some of the pics included in the piece definitely show later stages of the process. I’ve not doubt that whoever you buy your kit from will give you a set of directions that covers all of the basics. Anything that brings brewing to a wider audience is a good thing, in my opinion (as long as that doesn’t mean I can’t get some hops last minute when I need them). And Ms. Beaudoin, welcome to the wonderful world of brewing!