Extract Brew Instructions - Extract Instructions (cont.)
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11. Cooling hot wort if using a 7.5 gallon, or larger, kettle, doing a Full- Boil: Hook up wort chiller to tap water and turn on. As the pot is cooling, feel the out side of it with your hand. You will feel an inversion layer of cold wort on the bottom and hot wort on top. When the inversion layer reaches the top and the entire exterior of the kettle is a cool uniform temperature you can be assured the wort temperature if very close to the tap water temperature and you are ready to transfer wort into fermenter. Do not attempt to strain the wort during this transfer.

12. Once the wort is into the fermenter cover the opening with lid (plastic bucket) or solid stopper (carboy). When the temperature drops to between 70-80 degrees, proceed to step 13, if not perform additional cooling.

13. At this time take a hydrometer reading and mark it down on the recipe sheet. If using buckets utilize the spigot to get a sample. If using a carboy utilize the sample-taker to get a sample. Do not return your sample to the rest of the wort. You take a hydrometer reading to determine how much sugar is in the sweet wort. Skip this step if you do not have a hydrometer. While not necessary to the beginner you will eventually want to get one of these.

14. Add the yeast and agitate your fermenter for a few minutes to give the yeast oxygen. Use a solid stopper with glass carboys. Attach the 3-piece airlock and stopper, filling the airlock approximately half full of water.

15. If brewing an ale keep your fermenter in a dark spot and at a room temperature between 65-70 degrees, ideally. Fermentation varies with individual conditions, but normally it starts in about 1-2 days and finishes in about 3- 7 days. I recommend that the beginning brewer start with ales because they are much easier to make. Lagers require a consistent temperature range of 48-60 degrees and a 3-week fermenta­tion time however, with some experience and additional reading they can be successfully brewed at home.

16. Allow seven days for fermentation and seven days for settling for a total of two weeks before you bottle or keg your beer.

Bottling:

17. You will need to sanitize about 50 non-twist-off bottles. Either wash your bottles with a sanitizing solution and drain them upside down (a bottle tree works great) or run previously cleaned bottles through your dishwasher on hot wash and dry with no soap. If you are using dirty bottles, you must scrub the inside with a bottle brush first.

18. If you need to move your fermenter to be able to siphon, try to do so a few hours, or even a day ahead of time.

19. Sanitize your bottling bucket, siphon hose, racking tube (w/carboys only), bottle filler, spoon, hydrometer, and bottle caps with a sanitizing solution.

20. In one small pot, put 4 oz, or 3/4 cup, corn sugar and one to two cups of water. Boil for 5 minutes.

21. Take a final gravity hydrometer reading and record it on the recipe/log sheet.

22. Siphon your beer from the fermenting vessel into the bottling bucket being careful not to splash. Allowing air into the beer at this point causes premature staling via oxidation. After there is about 2" of beer in the bottom, add the boiled corn sugar into the bottling bucket. The dissolved sugar will provide natural carbonation in the bottle.

23. To prevent airborne bacteria from falling in, cover the bottling bucket. Covering with aluminum foil or loose fitting saran wrap is perfect.

24. Take the 4' of 3/8'siphoning hose and attach one end to the spigot on the bottling bucket and one end to the bottle filler. Fill the bottles as close to the top as possible (l" of head space usually) and place a cap on top of each one. When you have filled every bottle, go back and cap the bottles starting with the first ones you filled.

25. Leave the bottles at room temperature for at least 2 weeks to carbonate. Colder tem­peratures, 65 degrees or below, will require additional time for carbonation. You can drink the beer after 2 weeks, or when carbonation is present, however your beer will improve sig­nificantly with additional aging in either the refrigerator (ideal) or at room temperature. The refrigerator, or a cool spot, is really beneficial for long-term aging (months). Beers with higher alcohol contents and higher bittering rates will need to age longer.


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