Home Brew Tips & Recipes

HOPS Tip:

Step 1. For an AROMATIC, BITTER & ZESTY type brew do this; Pour your HOPS into one litre of boiling water and continue to boil for up to 1 hour. (Be careful not to boil the pot dry). Vary the timing of the boil to suit the strength of bitterness. To get it just the way you like your beer to taste you will have to change your boil timing on a few brews in order to find what`s best. Remember to keep a record of your timing for each brew. When the boiling is finished pour the liquid into your wort just before you start your fermentation (adding the yeast) and spread evenly using the brewers spoon.

Step 2. To increase the wonderful Hoppy aroma of your brew pour the contents of another sachet (15 grams) of dry hops directly into the wort a couple of days before bottling.

If you do not want a bittering effect for your brew only follow Step 2.

Benefits of HOPS: Apart from the bittering, aroma and zesty taste, HOPS are amazingly beneficial to beer as it is a natural antibiotic and helps to slow and inhibit bacterial growth in your brew, keeping your beer fresher for a longer time.

It just makes sense to always use HOPS in every brew you make.

TEMPERATURE:

Temperature plays a big part of any brewing process. If the temperature is too high the Yeast can overperform and produce other by products that may alter the taste of your brew. While in most cases it is still drinkable it may not have that “true” beer flavor you come to expect.

Put your Fermenting vessel into a styrofoaM or plastic chiller bin (sometimes called the poor mans freezer) and add soda bottles of frozen water. One 2 litre bottle should be enough for the Fermenting period though you may have to add another depending on the outside temperature at your location.

Periodically measure your temperature inside the chiller and aim for between 20 to 25°C. This works really well.

Try not to let the temperature drop below 20°C as this will make the Yeast sluggish and far less active (even sleepy perhaps).