Homebrew Starter Kit Instructions!

BREW DAY

Getting Ready

• Ingredients from your Recipe kit*
• Yeast (if using liquid brewer’s yeast, remove it from the fridge at the start of your brew day)*
• Brewing Kettle (3-5 gallons (12-19 L) for Partial Boil, or 6-8 gallons (23-30 L) for Full Boil)*
• Mesh Bags for steeping grain and (optionally) hop additions
• Thermometer
• Wort Chiller or About 10 lb Ice*
• Fermentation Bucket and lid
• Airlock w/ Stopper
• Large Mixing Spoon*
• Vinyl Transfer Tubing
• Sanitizer
• Scissors*
• Hydrometer & Hydrometer Jar
• 6 gal bucket for sanitizer

SANITATION IS THE KEY TO GREAT BEER!

Making & Using Sanitizer:

1. Fill your sanitizer bucket with water to the 5 gallon mark. Measure 1 oz (30 mL) of Star San concentrate and add it to the bucket, stirring it up with your mixing spoon. The sanitizer will foam up some, which is completely normal.
    
2. Star San requires 1 minute of contact time to effectively kill any bacteria or yeast present.
    
3. You cannot sanitize dirt! Be sure your equipment is clean prior to sanitizing.
    
4. If agitated (shaken, for example) Star San will foam up. This foam has the same sanitizing power as the liquid form.
    
5. There’s no need to rinse the sanitizer off of any of the equipment before use. (It’s 100% safe, we promise!)

LET’S BREW!

1. Collect Water
   Fill your kettle with 2.5-3 gal (9.5-11.5 L) of water for the Partial Boil method, or 5.5-6 gal (21-23 L) for Full Boil. Use clean, good-tasting water. If you buy bottled water to drink, that’s what you should use for brewing. Place the filled kettle on your heat source and turn it to HIGH.
    
2. Add the Steeping Grains
   Pour the steeping grains from your recipe (if included) into one of the 8”x15” mesh bags. Tie the bag closed and place it in the heating water. It’s wise to tie one end of the bag’s drawstring to the kettle’s handle or to a wooden spoon resting on one side of the kettle’s rim.
    
3. Steep Grains
   Steep the grains for 30 minutes. During this time, use your thermometer to monitor the temperature of the water as it heats. If the water reaches 170° F (76° C) before the grains have been steeping for 30 minutes, turn off the heat and allow them to finish the steeping period. Once done, remove the mesh bag. You can let the absorbed liquid drain out but do not squeeze the bag. Continue heating the water until it reaches boiling.
    
4. Add Malt Extract
   Once the water boils, turn off the heat and add the malt extract included with your recipe. Whether it is powdered or syrup extract, add it slowly, taking care to stir enough to dissolve it completely. Any extract that does not get stirred in can burn on the bottom of the kettle and impact your beer’s flavor. Once all the extract is dissolved into your brewing water, turn the heat back on and bring the water to a boil once again.
   **Note:** If your recipe kit included a small bag of corn sugar for bottling, do not add that at this time.
    
5. The Hot Break
   As the liquid nears boiling again, you will start to see a lot of foam forming on the surface. It will start slowly and then just before you reach boiling temps a large volume of foam will form very rapidly. This is called the hot break, and is caused by proteins from the grain and extract coagulating and coming out of solution. To keep from boiling over and making a mess, be prepared to turn the heat down or even off if necessary when the foam starts building rapidly. Once the foaming subsides take note of the time and begin your boil timer. Adjust the heat so that you have a gently rolling boil. DO NOT cover the kettle.
    
6. Add Bittering Hops
   Most beer recipes call for a 1 hour boil, starting at the end of the hot break, and the hops that will give your beer its bitterness are added at the beginning of this 60 minute period. Some recipes differ from this, so refer to your recipe sheet to verify the total boil time and when the bittering hops should be added. Traditionally, all kettle addition times are given in terms of minutes remaining in the boil, and your recipe should say so specifically if it differs from this.
    
7. Make Some Sanitizer
   At this point you should have some down time while the liquid is boiling and before the next kettle addition. It’s a great opportunity to get your sanitizer made and the equipment you’ll need at the end of the boil all sanitized and ready to be in contact with the wort. Mix a batch of sanitizer as directed in the Sanitation sidebar. Place your fermenter’s spigot in the sanitizer for 1 minute, then install it in the bottom of the fermenter (with the sediment blocker in the “down” position (open portion upwards).) Pour some of the sanitizer into your fermenter and swirl it around, taking care to wet the entire interior of the fermenter, and set it aside to let the sanitizer work for 1 minute. Place the rest of the equipment that you’ll use today, except the Hydrometer and Hydrometer Jar, in the sanitizer to let it soak until you need it. Finally, drain the fermenter back into the sanitizer bucket and allow it to rest upside down in the mouth of the bucket until after you’ve cooled the wort.
    
8. Set Up the Wort Chiller (Full Boil Method Only)
   Place the wort chiller into your kettle with 20 minutes remaining in the boil. Be sure to connect the chiller’s hose to your water source and direct the open end somewhere safe, as if there is any water left inside the chiller from a previous batch it will soon boil and escape. If you’re using a sink for the water source, un-thread the faucet’s aerator and install the Sink Faucet Adapter in it’s place, converting the sink’s outlet to garden hose threads which will connect to the chiller’s inlet hose.
    
9. Other Boil Additions
   Whirfloc, Irish Moss, or Kick tablets are all seaweed-derived clarifiers that are commonly used in homebrewing. If your recipe calls for any of them, they should be added with 5 minutes remaining in the boil.
   **Note:** Your recipe may have other ingredients that it calls for adding late in the boil or at the end (called flameout additions)--make these additions as instructed.
    
10. Chill the Wort
    Once you reach the end of the boil, you will need to cool the liquid (now called wort) to a temperature where it will be safe to add the yeast. Start by turning off the heat and covering the kettle.
     
11. For Partial Boil Method
    First, add 2 gal of cold water to your fermenter. Next, plug the drain in your kitchen sink and add fill it to about 1/3 full. Transfer your kettle from the stove to the sink, and add 6-10 lb of ice to the water--as much as will fit while keeping the water line below the rim of your kettle. Once the wort reaches 130F (55C) it is ready to transfer to the fermenter, where the cold water will equalize the temperature of the wort so that the yeast can be safely added.
     
12. For Full Boil Method
    Once you have turned off the heat, slowly turn on the water supply to the wort chiller until you reach a slow but steady stream coming out of the chiller. Be very careful! For the first 10 minutes or so the water exiting the chiller will be extremely hot and can easily burn you. Run the chiller until the hottest part of the kettle’s exterior (usually right at the top) is pleasantly warm to the touch, and not hot.
    **Reminder, from this point on everything that touches your wort or beer MUST be sanitized**
     
13. Transfer Wort to Your Fermenter
    Install the vinyl transfer tubing from your kit to the spigot on the kettle and direct the open end into your bucket fermenter. Ensure the bucket’s spigot is closed, then open the kettle’s valve and transfer your wort. If necessary, add water to bring the total wort volume to 5 gal (Partial Boil). Fill the airlock about halfway with sanitizer and insert it into the rubber stopper, and insert this whole assembly into the fermenter’s lid. Place the lid onto the bucket to seal it.
     
14. Measure the Sugars
    Open the spigot valve at the bottom of the fermenter and transfer a small amount of the wort to your Hydrometer Jar, and re-seal the fermenter. Holding the hydrometer jar over your sink, gently drop the hydrometer into the jar. Let it come to rest and then note the Specific Gravity on the recipe sheet or in your beer log.
    **Tip:** If this is the first time you’ve taken a hydrometer sample, start by filling the jar to within 1/2“ of the top, and after you’ve taken the measurement gently remove the hydrometer, leaving the wort in the jar. Mark the level of the wort in your jar with a Sharpie and now you have a fill line for future use!
15.  
16. Add the Yeast
    Use the sanitized scissors to cut open the yeast packet, then open the fermenter and pour the yeast into the wort, observing any instructions on the yeast’s packaging. In brewing, adding the yeast is called pitching. Place the fermenter somewhere out of direct light and with as steady as possible of a temperature around 68° F (20° C) for fermentation.

Fermentation

Fermentation is the process by which the yeast consume the sugars present in the wort and convert them to alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO₂). The presence of the alcohol is what turns your wort into beer and the CO2 being released will make your airlock dance the whole time!

Fermentation Starts

You should see the first signs of fermentation within a day or two… or three. It varies because yeast is a living organism and doesn’t behave exactly the same every time.

Fermentation Continues

As the yeast begin to work you’ll see bubbles form on the surface of the wort, and soon afterwards you’ll start to see the airlock bouncing up and down as CO2 is released. Over the next 2-3 days a lot of thick foam, called krausen (croy-zen) will form before it falls back into the beer.

Fermentation Ends

About 7-10 days after the point of high krausen your beer will be done fermenting. You’re ready to bottle when there’s been no activity in the airlock for 3 days. Optionally, as soon as you see activity in the airlock die down, you take a sample of beer from the fermenter’s spigot and use your hydrometer to check and record the current Specific Gravity. Then wait 3 days and check the Gravity of a fresh sample--if there’s been no change then you are ready to move on to bottling!

Bottling Day