Published January 19, 2006

For some, there is nothing more satisfying that a tall, cold beer — especially when that beer was made, and bottled, at home.

Since its legalization in 1978, homebrewing is becoming a popular hobby among beer enthusiasts and the average beer drinker alike.

Not only is homebrewing relatively inexpensive, if you only consider the dollars and cents, but it is also a way to create a drink as good as, or often better than, what is commercially available.

For about a $100 you can get middle-of-the-line equipment and enough ingredients to make your first batch. Two cases of homebrewed ale can be made for about $25. That’s beer that would stand up to most of the commercial microbrews out there, and perhaps be better than some. If you drink micros, count on paying about $48 for two cases.

Brewing beer at home was made illegal in the United States with Prohibition. And while Prohibition ended in 1933, it continued to be a crime to brew at home until 1978, when then-president Jimmy Carter signed into law a bill that legalized the hobby. The bill was brought forth by California Senator Alan Cranston, who told Congress that home brewers “brew home beer because domestic beer lacks the rich, malty taste they like.”

A typical batch of homebrewed beer is five gallons in volume, which is about two cases — or 48 12-ounce (355 mL) bottles — of beer. It is produced by boiling water, malted barley or malt extract, and hops together in a large kettle, and then cooling the resulting wort and adding yeast for fermenting. Advanced homebrewers make malt by extracting the fermentable sugars from malted barley by mashing the crushed grain in hot water. Either way, the wort is cooled down to pitching temperature (70-75 °F). Often, cooling is aided by a variety of wort chillers consisting of copper tubing through which cold water flows. Because a chiller can cool the wort quickly, it is the preferred method. This quick cooling prevents the potential for early bacterial contamination or oxidation of the wort.

Primary fermentation takes place in a bucket or carboy, sometimes left open but often stoppered, with the carbon dioxide gas produced venting through a fermentation lock. During this time, temperatures should be kept at optimum temperature for the fermentation process. For ale this temperature is usually 65-75°F / 18-24°C, and for lager it is usually much colder, around 50°F / 10°C. Starting within 12 hours and continuing over the next few days, a vigorous fermentation takes place. During this stage the simple sugar maltose in the wort is consumed by the yeast. A layer of sediment, the trub, appears at the bottom of the fermenter. Trub is composed of heavy fats, proteins and inactive yeast. A sure sign that primary fermentation has finished is that the head of foam (krausen), built by bubbling of CO2, falls.

Often, the beer is then siphoned into another container, usually a glass carboy, for aging or secondary fermentation. The siphoning is done to separate the batch from the layer of sediment so that it is not used as food by the yeast, giving the beer an off-flavor.
During secondary fermentation the heavier, more complex sugars and impurities are digested. Secondary fermentation can take from two to four weeks, sometimes longer, depending on the type of beer. Some homebrewers will keep the batch in the primary fermenter (called single-stage fermentation) for secondary fermentation and simply put up with any off flavors. This eliminates the need for a second container, reduces labor, and reduces the likelihood of contaminating the batch with bacteria, or oxidizing it, during transfer to the second container.

Once this secondary fermentation is finished, the beer is ready for carbonation. There are two methods of carbonation. The first method does not require much capital expenditure per batch but is more time consuming. About 3/4 cup of corn sugar (dextrose) or other fermentable sugar is added to the beer, which is then transferred to bottles and then capped, or placed in a keg. The fermentation of the priming sugar with left-over yeast suspended in the beer causes the carbon dioxide to be forced into solution in the beer. This takes 1-2 weeks. The second method involves pressurizing carbon dioxide into the beer in a keg. Typically a soda pop — the kind that was once used in restaurants — is used in this process.

There are homebrewing kits available that eliminate the need of the first stage — boiling. These kits, sometimes known as “beer in a bag” or “beer in a box,” contain wort (sometimes concentrated) and yeast, so all the homebrewer has to do is the fermentation. Generally, the quality of beer from these kits is not on par with beer made from all-grain or even malt extracts. Sediment remains at the base of the bottle, even after secondary fermentation. Some wheat beers, however, demand the sediment be rotated through the beer before it is served.

There are several books available, some more detailed than others, but homebrewing can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. The basic process does not require a great deal of technical knowledge, but attention to cleanliness is essential.

Patience is required in homebrewing. The whole brewing process can take from two weeks to several months or even years, depending on the style of beer. Some enthusiasts brew beer in far larger quantities than the typical five-gallon batch, sometimes as a prelude to commercial production. It is not unusual for a homebrewer to have several batches in different stages of completion to permit the dispensing of quality homebrew at short notice.

Advanced homebrewers often prefer to brew “all-grain” batches of beer, by mashing the grain themselves to reduce starch into sugars needed by the yeast. Such techniques allow a greater control over the final quality of the beer than malt-extract brewing. A large vessel called a mash tun holds the water at various temperatures to break the starch in malt into fermentable sugars which become alcohol and dextrines (unfermentable carbohydrates) which give the beer body. The spent grain is removed in a perforated container called a lauter tun and brewing proceeds as normal. Often, homebrewers use one vessel with a perforated false bottom for both mashing and lautering. A hybrid called grain extract, or partial mash uses both home-mashed malt and malt extract. This method is preferable to those who do not want to invest in larger equipment required for all-grain brewing, but would like to experiment with mashing grain.

People homebrew for a variety of reasons. Homebrewed beer can be cheaper than commercially equivalent brews, however most homebrewers customize their recipes to their own tastes, which tends to be more expensive. For instance, “hopheads,” or fans of bitter beer, can hop their beer far beyond what would normally be considered excessive. Dark beer enthusiasts can create beers that are the antithesis of the commercially dominant paler style. Some homebrewers strive for perfection of specific styles of beer and enter their products in competitions. Others simply brew to have styles of beer on hand to drink and share that are otherwise commercially unavailable, or in an unacceptably poor state when they are available.

For more information about brewing beer at home, visit a homebrew shop. Shops nearby include The Beverage People at 840 Piner Road #14 in Santa Rosa, and Napa Fermentation Supplies, 575 Third Street, Building A (in the Napa Fairgrounds), Napa. Both stores offer classes on homebrewing on a regular basis.

photo:Rick Bolen/Special to FineLife