World's Easiest Brewing Instructions – Extract Brews! *(Perhaps…)*
Fill a stock pot (brewing kettle) with about 3 gallons of water. Place your crushed grains in a grain bag, tie-off and place in the water.
Bring your water to a steaming temperature (around 155°F), but not to boiling. You are now steeping your grains and creating the brewer’s wort! After about 25 minutes, remove the grain bag (don’t squeeze it, just let the juice drain out naturally through your grain bag).
Place your container(s) of liquid malt extract (LME) in a separate pot of water & heat it up on a very low temperature. This will allow it to pour easier in the next step (4).
After steeping your grain for around 25 minutes, remove the pot from the heat temporarily and add both canisters of liquid malt extract (LME).
Place back on the burner and bring to a gentle boil. You are now starting a 60-minute boil of the wort.
- If your kit has 3 packs of hops, add the first hop
now, packet #1 (60).
- At 30 minutes, add the 2nd packet, #2
(30).
- With 15 minutes left in the boil (i.e. at minute
45), add the last pack, #3 (15 or
10).
- If using two hop types, add #1 at the beginning
(60) and #2 with 15 minutes
left.
- If your kit has Maltodextrine, Lactose, Candi sugar, or Spices, add with 5 minutes left in the boil.
- If your kit has 3 packs of hops, add the first hop
now, packet #1 (60).
After your 60-minute boil, remove the pot from the stove and chill in a sink full of ice water or use a wort-chilling system.
- Keep your wort clear of dripping faucets or anything else that could
contaminate the batch.
- Important: Your wort must be chilled to below 80°F before pitching your yeast.
- Keep your wort clear of dripping faucets or anything else that could
contaminate the batch.
Pour the chilled wort (between 70–75°F), through a strainer or filtered funnel into your sanitized primary fermenting bucket or carboy.
- Top off the fermenter to just beyond the 5-gallon mark with cold
water. On a 6-gallon brew bucket, this is the bottom-most lip.
- Optionally use a sanitized hydrometer to check original
gravity.
- Use a sanitized or stick-on floating thermometer to ensure the wort
is below 80°F.
- Stir the mixture with a sterilized spoon and pour in your reconstituted yeast (pitching).
- Top off the fermenter to just beyond the 5-gallon mark with cold
water. On a 6-gallon brew bucket, this is the bottom-most lip.
Cover the fermenter with a sanitized sealed/grommeted lid (or drilled stopper with carboy) and move to a dark storage area.
- (Option #1) Insert a section of clear tubing (¼” ID x ⅜”
OD) into the lid’s hole and submerge the other end in a small container
partially filled with water (blow-off tube).
- After 2–3 days, remove the tubing and replace with a
sterilized airlock.
- (Option #2) If not using a blow-off tube, use an
airlock filled to the line with water from the start.
- Cover your container with a towel or blanket to maintain temperature
and keep out light.
- Soon your beer will start burping! Woohoo!
- (Option #1) Insert a section of clear tubing (¼” ID x ⅜”
OD) into the lid’s hole and submerge the other end in a small container
partially filled with water (blow-off tube).
After 7 to 10 days, the brewer may:
- Leave the beer in the container for 2 more weeks
- Or transfer it to a glass carboy (secondary
fermentation).
- Secondary fermentation adds clarity and sometimes “quality.”
- Use a sanitized siphon or tubing to transfer beer carefully.
- Place a drilled stopper in the carboy lid and insert a sanitized airlock filled with water.
- Secondary fermentation adds clarity and sometimes “quality.”
- Leave the beer in the container for 2 more weeks
After two weeks in the secondary fermenter, or one month in the primary, it’s time to bottle.
- Take a final gravity reading with your hydrometer (optional).
- Write it down and go to step 11.
- Take a final gravity reading with your hydrometer (optional).
Sterilize all your bottles, bottling bucket, bottle filler, spigot, and tubing using no-rinse sanitizer. Sanitize your bottle caps too.
Dissolve 5 oz of priming sugar in a small amount of boiling water and pour into the bottom of the bottling bucket.
- You can adjust the amount of sugar based on desired carbonation.
Transfer your beer into the bottling bucket.
- Attach one end of clear tubing to your spigot and the other to a bottle filler.
Turn on the spigot and fill each bottle, then cap, and store the beer in a cool, dark place.
- Conditioning will take about 10–14 days.
🍺 Pro Tips
- One of the best choices you can make to ensure success: sterilize everything that touches your beer!
- Patience produces the best brews!
⚠️ Warning: Brewing your own beer may lead to increased happiness, a larger social network, and overall life satisfaction.
BALD BREWER – LONGMONT, CO
www.baldbrewer.com (Now
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