Brewing

Regardless of what kind of fermented beverage you are thinking of doing, there are a few basic principles that apply to all of them. Before you wish to begin you should read through them so you have a good foundation before you start looking at what you wish to brew. You can make it as simple as you wish or as complicated as you want to, my advice is to start simple and move on from there. But it really isn't that difficult, it is a whole lot of fun!

What are the components?
You need three things to make it ferment: Water, yeast and nourishment for the yeast. That's it! For mead this would be: water, honey and yeast. The rest is spicing to give it different flavours and normally you would add more things but that is according to your own ideas.

What to brew in?
There are many different kinds of containers that you can brew it, what you need to be certain of is that they are approved for having food in them. When you start I would suggest that you start small, 5 liters or such. If things go bad you don't have to pour away that much. You also need a water lock for your container. This keeps bacteria away but it also allows the pressure to escape so you will know that things are actually fermenting, when it starts and when it stops.

What happens when things start to ferment?
The yeast will eat up the nourishment which in almost all of the cases is sugar (they eat different things as well but if they have sugar they will produce alcohol). They use this to multiply and to produce alcohol. The yeast can do this with and without oxygen, most alcohol is produced when there is no alcohol present and most of the reproduction of more yeast cells occur when there is oxygen. This means that when you pour things into your container that you are going to ferment, make sure that you splash around the liquid so it gets a lot of oxygen. When making beer you don't want to do this when pouring it into bottles or racking (more on this later) since it can cause odd flavours. Most of the yeast that we use today are of the kind that goes down to the bottom when they are done, some heavier particles will go there as well when the beverage is standing still so when you are done fermenting you will want to rack it (i.e. move it to another container) but not the stuff from the bottom. Sometimes you need to do this twice before putting it on bottles. This will make it nice and clear and taste a lot better.

Where can I buy the stuff?
I know only of Swedish companies but the two I've bought most of my things from are www.humle.se and www.maltmagnus.se

What can I do to make sure things actually start to ferment?
Clean, clean, clean. Make sure that everything is cleaned properly before you start using it. Make sure you have enough yeast cells (if you buy a package that includes a starter you need not worry about this). Check the temperature, some yeasts like it cold while others prefer warmth. Look at what options you have and go from there.

What more do I need to buy?
Bottles so that when your beverage is done you can pour it into nice looking containers. Equipment to measure the amount of sugar before and after fermentation to determine the amount of alcohol. A siphon to be able to move the liquid without getting all the stuff from the bottom (the yeast and other not so good tasting things ends up there).

Are there more things I need to consider?
Document, document, document! Write down every single step you make, when something goes wrong you will want to be able to go through what you did in order to fix it next time. If you make something that tastes incredibly good you will want to make it again. Without notes, none of this is possible.

What is the difference between brewing beer and mead?
In beer you get the sugar from malt, in mead you get it from honey. They differ a lot in taste, both are fun to make. Mead is usually easier to begin with but takes a longer time to ferment.

There are some boxes with all the ingredients, are they any good?
They might be good to start with for the first time, however I would not recommend them since they don't give you as much control over what you are doing and that means you can't really add your personal touch to things.

I think I'm ready to start brewing, what do I do now?
Consider either beer or mead and then move on to Basic beer brewing or Basic mead brewing to get more detailed information on what to do!