A Toast to Homebrewing

Thirsty days hath September,

April, June and November;

All the rest are thirsty too,

Except for him that hath homebrew.

-Author Unknown ~ (this toast was written during Prohibition)

Make your own Aerator Yeast needs three basic ingredients for life: the correct temperature, food, and oxygen. Temperature is fairly easy to regulate and there should be plenty of food available in your wort. Aeration is a great way to ensure your yeast has enough oxygen to do its job. This simple system adds clean filtered air to your wort. It is inexpensive and easy to make. You should aerate your wort just before you pitch the yeast. You will need an inexpensive air pump, a mason jar, some tubing, a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide, and a couple of aeration stones. All of these items can be found at your local X-Mart or pet store. Follow the pattern on the left to make the aerator. The hydrogen peroxide purifies the air as it passes through the liquid. The idea is to force air into the Mason Jar below the level of Hydrogen Peroxide and push it out of the top of the jar into your carboy of wort. This system works amazingly well.

ALL GRAIN BREWING

Step Mash Procedure:

• Bring temp of water and grain to 122 Degrees F and keep there for 30 Minutes.
• Stir every 5 Minutes
• Raise temp to 150-158 Degrees for 20-30 Minutes.
  Note below for the style of beer you want to achieve:
  Higher temp (158 F) = Fuller Body & Lower Alcohol Content
  Lower temp (150 F) = Lighter Body & More Alcohol Content 150 Degree for 10 Minutes (Temperature Rest) & Boost to 158 Degrees for 10-15 Minutes will produce a Medium Bodied Beer.

  NOTE: to make sure you have converted, do a Starch Conversion Test:

  • Remove 1 Tablespoon of mash and place it on a cool white saucer.
  • Add a drop of Tincture of Iodine onto mash.
  • If it turns black or purple continue the mashing process.
  • If it does not turn color starch conversion has been reached.

Lautering Procedure:

Lautering is a simply the process of washing all of the remaining fermentable sugars from the grains. I use a double bucket method where one bucket is filled with tiny holes in the bottom. This bucket sits in another bucket with a spigot in the bottom if it. The grain is "floated" in 170 to 180 degree water and flushed.

• Sparge with 170-180 Degree water
• Float grains and SLOWLY drain off wort.

Boiling Procedure:

• Bring wort to a boil
• Add Hops per recipe instructions
• From this point simply follow directions as you would an Extract Kit

Note from DaBoozer. Suppliers are your greatest asset, if you run into trouble with a batch of beer, use them, they are the experts. At the same time do them the COMMON COURTESY of purchasing your supplies and equipment from them. Don't expect them to spend 15-20 minutes with you on the phone on their 800 number if you did not even purchase the ingredients from their establishment. I have purchased many of my kits from Beer at Home in Denver, CO. Andy and the crew have always treated me right!

Some Great Beer Links

Check out "The Beer Hunter" for a great page.

• Cats Meow - GREAT beer recipes (lots of them).
• Brewing Techniques - Everything you ever wanted to know about Making Beer.
• Beer and Homebrewing - Another great About.com Page. Rob will be your Guide.

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I answer my E-mail. If you have comments, questions,
or concerns please let me know.

Email: Kevin White

The last time I enjoyed a homebrew and worked on this page was: 12/01/02