B(rew) Y. O. B. : An affordable guide to brewing your own beer at home

By CHELSEA COOK

Beer prices got you down? Can't stomach another watery silver bullet? Investing in a home-brewing beer kit could not only reduce your monthly alcohol spending, but create a new hobby (and attract some broke, thirsty friends).

What you will need:
These items can be purchased at a brewing store, like Broad Street's Blockader Homebrew Supply.
- 5.5-gallon bucket for fermenting
- 5.5-gallon bottling bucket
- Bottling spigot
- Polyester "Tea Bag"
- Twin handle bottle capper
- Triple scale hydrometer
- Fermentation lock
- Siphon equipment
- Hops
- Yeast
- Grains
- Malt extract
- Sanitizer
- Unused bottle caps

Investing in a beer kit can be expensive, but the price of the ingredients makes the process worthwhile.

Depending on your taste preferences, you can find hops, malt, yeast and grains for as cheap as $25. The amount of hops, malt and yeast that you use will depend on the type of beer you are making. Several recipes and ideas can be found at homebrew supply stores or online for free.

A 5.5-gallon fermenter can make as many as 50 beers.

Do the math: 50 beers/$25.00= 50 cents per beer!

These items most likely can be found in your home:
- 2.5-gallon pot
- Thermometer (any kind will do)
- 50 12-oz. beer bottles (non-twist-off tops)
(Recycle! Empty beer bottles can be used over and over again, but peel off labels and boil first to sanitize them.)

Before we start, a little terminology:
Hops: member of the cannabis family that gives beer its bitterness
Malt: acts as sugar for the alcohol
Yeast: reacts with sugar provided by the malt and grains which, after fermentation, yields alcohol

STEP ONE
Disinfect all your tools with either a sanitizing solution included in a "beer kit" or a mixture of bleach and water. Rinse tools with hot water.

STEP TWO
Take the kit's giant "tea bag" and fill it with mashed grains. This is called mashing.Sink the bag into 2.5 gallons of 150ºF water for 30 minutes. Remove the bag.

STEP THREE
Once the "tea" mixture starts boiling, remove the pot from the stove and stir in malt extract until it is evenly distributed. Make sure to scrape the bottom.

STEP FOUR
Once the mixture begins boiling a second time, add the hops for bitterness.Let it boil for one hour. If desired, add more hops, or a different kind to build flavor. After 45 minutes, strain the hops from the liquid. Do this with a hand-held scooping strainer. It's the liquid we want to keep, not the hops.

STEP FIVE
Put the pot in an ice bath in the kitchen sink. When the mixture cools down to 70ºF, add the yeast. Yeast is a living organism and can only thrive in an environment this cool.

STEP SIX
Once the "wort" (un-fermented beer) reaches 60ºF, siphon it into the fermentation bucket. Make the container airtight by using a fermentation lock. This device prevents bacteria from getting in but allows gas to escape. Allow it to ferment in the bucket for 7 to 13 days.

STEP SEVEN
Once fermentation is complete, measure the quantity of alcohol with a hydrometer. Extract the liquid by siphoning it into another cube for bottling.

STEP EIGHT
Using the bottling spigot, put the brew into bottles and use the bottle capper to seal 'em up. Wait for two weeks before serving.

- Edited by William Moore