So a good friend of mine recently moved back home and he needed a place to stay. I had a spare room and figured he could crash out there for a while. Well, he and I both are deeply interested in chemistry and biology and we like beer so we figured it would be interesting to explore all these areas and brew our own beer. I had read quite a bit of documents on the subject when it first perked my interest some years ago, and I was somewhat discouraged by the seeming complexity that these materials described. This being the case I didn’t explore the subject much further. Once my friend returned to the city between the two of us and his formal background as a chemist I felt tackling brewing might become a little easier. He and I made a trip to a local brew show where we purchased a starter kit. This kit included several key items that make the process far simpler than what I had read about so many years before.

This being said you will need the following equipment: a 5+ gallon plastic bucket, with a spigot at the bottom if possible. A glass carboy — this is the fermenting vessel typically made of glass with a capacity of over 6 gallons. You need bottlecaps and a capping tool. A hydrometer, thermometer, and a whole mess of brushes for cleaning everything. In addition, for the most simple of brewing you will want to identify a large stock pot for boiling. The key to successful brewing is strong attention to cleanliness. Above all, else keep everything clean, clean, clean.

The process of brewing is simple: Get sugar, let yeast feed on this sugar, and drink!

Next article will be about how we made our first beer.

[tags]Brown Ale, home brew, homebrew[/tags]