It's frustrating to have to run out to a liquor store to grab more beer for a party. It's much easier and more fun to create your own brew at home. And making your own beer doesn't have to be expensive. Most of the equipment can be found at your local hardware store.
Instructions
1. Clean all of your equipment using warm soapy water. Be sure to rinse everything thoroughly to avoid a soap taste in your beer. Then sanitize everything with acid sanitizer.
2. Use the pot to brew your starter, and then pour it into the food-grade plastic pail. Include enough drinking water to come to the top of pail. Add 1 tsp. brewer's yeast and cover it loosely with the lid.
3. Set the room temperature to 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the beer ferment for 7 to 10 days. Use the hydrometer to test when it's ready. Spin the hydrometer once to make sure the reading is accurate. Test often near the end of the 7 to 10 days until it reads 1.010 to 1.015 for light beers or 1.008 for dark beers.
4. Move the pail to a table and place your 12 soda bottles on the floor. Put 2 tsp. sugar in each bottle and transfer the beer into the bottles. To transfer the beer, use food-grade vinyl tubing as a siphon. Don't displace any sediment forming along the bottom of the plastic pail, if possible. Avoid the mess associated with frothing by holding the tube along the bottom of the bottles.
5. Leave an air space at the top of each bottle, and shake the bottles once you're done filling with beer. Leave them in a warm area for several days, and then move them to a cool, dry space.
6. Drink your home-brewed beer any time after the first couple of days they've sat. The longer they sit, the more they improve.
Tags: along bottom, each bottle, plastic pail, transfer beer, your beer