Homebrewing guides
From brewing water to the finished bottle: every step of brew day explained on its own, with temperatures, amounts and the right calculators.
Adjusting brewing water
Hard tap water works well for dark beers but hardly for a pale Pils. By diluting, adding salts and a little lactic acid you can match your water to any beer style.
Mashing
In the mash, enzymes turn the starch in the malt into sugar. The temperatures you choose decide whether your beer turns out lean and dry or full-bodied.
Lautering and sparging
After mashing you separate the sweet wort from the spent grain. With the sparge water you rinse the remaining sugar out of the malt.
Boiling and hopping the wort
The boil sterilises the wort, the hops release bitterness and aroma, and unwanted compounds evaporate. The boil usually lasts 60 to 90 minutes.
Chilling the wort
After the boil the wort has to reach pitching temperature as quickly as possible. The faster it goes, the less time germs have and the clearer the beer will be.
Pitching yeast and fermentation
During fermentation the yeast turns sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide and shapes the flavour. The most important thing is the right temperature.
Measuring original and final gravity
With the original gravity before fermentation and the final gravity afterwards you know how much alcohol your beer has and whether fermentation is finished.
Dry hopping
In dry hopping, hops go into the cold beer. They give lots of aroma but hardly any bitterness. It is typical of IPA, pale ale and hazy IPA.
Bottling and bottle conditioning
For bottle conditioning you add a weighed amount of sugar to the beer before bottling. The yeast ferments it in the bottle and creates the carbonation.
Cleaning and sanitising
Everything that touches the wort before the boil has to be clean. Whatever touches the chilled wort and the beer also has to be sanitised.
New to brewing? The “First beer” guide walks you through your first brew day. Your first beer