Home-Brew Beer (Ale)

Real Ale Micro Brewery: Brewing From Grains

For those wishing to jump right into the deep end, and have a few barrels of real-ale in the cellar, brewed from scratch with grain, then things do get more serious. First off you need to buy a few good books on the subject, and read them before committing yourself to quite an expensive outlay, there is also a time and effort commitment you may or may not want to live with. The next thing to do is choose which ale you want to brew (see the different types below) and cost out the ingredients and equipment needed.

No price guides can be really given for setting up a Micro Brewery, as the sky is the limit in this venture, and second-hand equipment is scarce. However, at a basic level you are looking at an initial cost of at least £200 to £300 for some good quality equipment, a £1000 investment for the best equipment, and only around £50 for DIY cobbled together equipment. Start at the cheaper end as it is best to upgrade slowly over time as you go along and know further what you want to achieve.

Equipment: Can be as expensive or cheap as you want.

Traditional Equipment: Use a large electric (brewers) copper ‘mash tun’ with sparger bags, which also multi-tasks as both a boiler to heat your mash to a constant temperature (which you set) and which will also then boil your sieved wort. Also needed is a cooling coil to immerse into the hot wort to rapidly cool it. Use a clean, large wooden bucket to ferment the ale, while store the ale in a small wooden beer barrel made by a cooper or in large glass jars. This is the most expensive option, but you are literally ready to go with purpose built, specialist equipment. (This is what we use).

Home-Brew Equipment: Use cheaper, modern home-brewing equivalents made of plastic etc. and a large saucepan, with an insulated ‘mash tun’ to retain the heated mash from the saucepan at a constant temperature, these are widely available to buy and come in kits.

Home-made Equipment: If you spend any time on line reading home brew forums etc or buy a few books, you will come to realise that all the equipment needed can be DIY things that can be ‘cobbled’ together at hardly any cost e.g. a large coolbox for the mash tun, this will also retain heat because it is insulated, once the mash has been heated in a pan to the right temperature.

Sundries Equipment: Thermometer or Hydrometer, a few large plastic tubs, cleaning equipment, large, small-holed colander and large, fine-sieves, roll of muslin cloth, etc.

Sterilizing your equipment: Clean equipment is essential: and in faithful, historical, re-creations it is worth the effort to sterilize all of the equipment you are going to use in brewing your beer with natural remedies, rather than chemical bleaches etc. Before beginning, sterilize everything with a boiling hot ‘tea’ made with antiseptic, and antibacterial fresh herbs – sage, lavender, and rosemary. Without proper sanitation you can’t brew beer – you brew bacteria.

Note On Real Ale: Real-ales are the true beer from British history, brewed from traditional ingredients (malted barley, hops, water and yeast), and matured by a secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, (note: it is served naturally, without the use of extra pumped in carbon dioxide). Brewers use ingredients which are fresh and natural, resulting in a drink which tastes full of flavour, (and without that chemical blandness associated with some cheap lagers). It is literally ‘living’ as it continues to ferment in the barrel in your home-brew ‘cellar’, developing its flavour as it matures. Real ale is also known as ‘cask-conditioned beer’, ‘real cask ale’, ‘real beer’ and ‘naturally conditioned beer.’

Altering which grains to use, choosing a varied percentage of these different grains to be in the ‘mash’, knowing how much (if any) hops to use, what the level of bitterness is to aim for in the ‘wort’ etc, all these and more control the taste of the beer, and all these differences which can be achieved reflect in the differing regional styles of British ale and the differing tastes and fashions of the periods of food history.

Here is a very brief synopsis of the brewing process:

1. Malted barley is soaked in hot water to release the malt sugars.
2. The malt sugar solution is boiled with Hops for seasoning.
3. The solution is cooled and yeast is added to begin fermentation.
4. The yeast ferments the sugars, releasing CO2 and ethyl alcohol.
5. When the main fermentation is complete, the beer is bottled or casked, with a little bit of added sugar to provide the natural carbonation process.

After deciding to go ahead with brewing your own ale, from grain to the finished cask product, you should consider the following.

Different types of ale: What exactly is bitter, mild, stout, porter etc?

Ale can be broken down into various ‘styles’ – all these ales can be brewed at home, with the right kit and the right ingredients.

• ‘Mild’: low in hop character, these beers may be dark or light. Generally of a lower strength than other ales (less than 4% abv) but some may be stronger.
• ‘Bitter’: the most common beer style. Usually brown, tawny, copper or amber coloured with medium to strong bitterness, a light to medium malt character may also be present. Normally they are less than 4% abv in strength.
• ‘Best Bitter’: these are more robust than ordinary bitters. Brown, tawny, copper or amber coloured with medium to strong bitterness and a more evident maltiness. 4% – 4.6% abv in strength.
• ‘Porter’: these are complex in flavour, and typically black or dark brown in colour. The darkness comes from the use of dark malts, giving it a pronounced ‘finish’ through bitter hopping. 4 – 6.5% abv in strength.
• ‘Stout’: Typically black in colour. Initial malt and caramel flavour with a distinctive dry roast bitterness in the finish. The dry roast character is achieved by the use of roasted barley. 4- 8 % abv in strength.
• ‘Barley Wines’: these range in colour from copper to tawny and dark brown. They may have a high sweetness due to residual sugars, although some barley wines are fermented right out to give a dry finish. They have a strength of between 6.5 – 12% abv.
• ‘Golden Ales’: (A recent innovation). These are pale amber, gold, yellow or straw coloured beers with light to strong bitterness and a strong hop character which create a refreshing taste. Strength less than 5.3% abv.

The list above keeps you on pretty safe ground when choosing which ale to brew. To start brewing, a classic British ‘Bitter’ is recommended.