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The ‘
3
golden rules of brewing’
Here are a few things to remember before we get started to ensure you get the best possible results the first-time
round. You’ve probably heard horror stories from that one friend who tried home brewing once who’s efforts
resulted in a fermenter full of vomit-
smelling mould? Follow these simple tips to make sure that doesn’t happen!
Sanitation is next to godliness!
Sanitise, sanitise, sanitise!
We can’t stress this point enough: good beer starts
with good sanitation! Bacteria and
germs are the enemy of brewing; just one speck of bacteria can quickly ruin a whole batch and turn your entire brew
sour. You need to rigorously sanitise everything you use in brewing that will touch the beer.
Bacteria and germs are invisible to the naked eye, but fortunately are easy to eliminate by following the sanitation
steps in our instructions below. Remember too: you can only sanitise clean equipment, so make sure your
equipment is sparkling clean before you begin
Great beer takes patience!
All good things take time - including beer. Unfortunately, though, waiting is the hardest part of brewing. Once you
screw the lid of your fermenter on and push it into the corner, the wait begins… Fermentation for your average beer
will take anywhere from 1-3 weeks. In this time,
it’s
important to leave it alone, as hard as that will be.
Each time you open the fermenter to take a peek or have a sniff, you run the risk of introducing wild bacteria and
germs that float around in the outside air into your fermenter. As we learnt above, bacteria are the enemy of beer so
it’s important to avoid this wherever possible
.
The yeast in the beer take time to do their job. It is perfectly normal for this to take up to 3+ weeks! You need to let
the yeast finish fermenting completely. You should also give the yeast another week after your beer stops
fermenting to ‘clean up after themselves’ and remove any of the off
-flavours they may have left behind from
fermentation.
Additionally, once your beer has finished fermenting, the yeast will ‘flocculate’ and settle out of the beer. The longer
you leave the beer, the clearer and less cloudy it will be.
Control your temperatures!
Throughout these instructions you will see us refer to specific temperatures. To get the cleanest, crispest tasting
beer, it is best to make sure you’re as close to these temperatures as possible.
Aside from bad sanitation, bad
control of your brewing temperatures is the second biggest reason people end up disappointed with their home
brewed beer. Controlling your temperatures as tightly as possible sets you up for the best possible beer you can
make.
For example, you want to add the yeast to the wort (aka unfermented beer) when it is below 21c and make sure the
temperature stays within that 17-20c range for the next few weeks while it ferments. This is because yeast are very
temperamental creatures: too low of a temperature (below 15c) and the yeast might go to sleep and not ferment
the beer; too high of a temperature (above 21c) and you will probably start getting undesirable off-flavours from
fermentation going too fast.
Many kit instructions and beginner recipes will say to ferment in the 21-25c range so that you get a speedy ferment.
However, this will come at the cost of increased off-flavours and hangover-causing fusel alcohols.
