Equipment for beer. Equipment and tools for home brewing
Malt. Hop. We brew beer.
The preparation of beer takes place in several stages and in industrial scale, of course, is almost completely automated. A person can only control the equipment. When brewing beer at home, the situation is quite different.
Of course, a lot of good and convenient equipment for brewing beer at home is being sold now, but the price of this equipment can surprise, and sometimes even scare. If you decide to try to brew beer at home, then I would advise you not to rush to spend money. The stages of brewing beer are the same as in industrial preparation, and when making beer at home, but the approaches to these stages and the equipment are significantly different.
What do you need to brew beer at home?
Almost everyone has the most minimal set - a wooden spoon and an enameled or stainless steel saucepan. You will also need an electronic kitchen scale and, as well as an ordinary sieve. This is the minimum kit for brewing beer at home.
What would be nice to have?
If you're brewing beer for the first time, then you don't have to worry about a bunch of equipment. In general, you will also need a fermentation tank with a water seal, a malt mill and much more that you can do without. Since this article is aimed at those who first decided to brew beer with their own hands, I will try to get by minimum set tools and equipment.
Stages of brewing beer at home.
As I wrote above, the preparation of beer consists of several stages. Each stage has its purpose and pursues a specific goal, so it cannot be said that one or another stage is more important than others - they are all needed, otherwise the beer simply will not work.
Stage one: Preparation.
At the preparation stage, our task is to find all necessary equipment and wash it well. Next, you need to measure and grind the malt (you can buy ground), calculate right amount mash water and heat it up.
Naturally, all proportions of malts, hops and water should be taken based on the recipe. You can choose any from our site. All of them are verified and tested in practice.
Also, do not be afraid of small deviations from the recipe in the amount of malt or water. However, with hops, you should not deviate much from the recipe.
When everything is prepared and washed, and the malt is ground, you can proceed to the second stage.
Second stage: Mashing.
At the stage of mashing, fermentation and saccharification of starch occurs. Since various enzymes work at various temperatures, then when mashing malt, temperature pauses should be maintained in accordance with the recipe.
So, you have poured the right amount of water into the pan - this is mash water. We heat the mash water to the temperature of the first temperature pause and pour in the ground malt (). At the same time, mix everything well with a wooden spoon to avoid clumping.
During the temperature pause, it is important to monitor the temperature of the mash, it should not rise, but also should not fall, so the heating should be reduced or turned off altogether. At the same time, it is necessary to periodically mix the mash and control its temperature.
After the time allotted for a pause, the heating is turned on again to the maximum and cooking home beer continues. When the next temperature pause is reached, everything repeats again.
Usually, after a pause of 72 degrees, it is done, after which the temperature rises to the last pause and at this the mashing stage ends.
The third stage of brewing home beer: Removing from the sediment and boiling the wort.
Now that the mashing is complete, the wort is drained into another container - this can be done through a simple sieve. The malt left after mashing is called grain. The grain is washed to extract maximum number sugars. At this stage, the amount of wort removed will be greater than the planned amount of finished beer.
Now we need to measure the density of the wort. If you don't have a hydrometer and you followed the recipe, you can skip this, this measurement is not critical when brewing homemade beer, it will still be delicious. To measure density, take a small amount of wort and be sure to cool to 20 degrees. After that, freezing is done. The rest of the wort is put on fire and brought to a boil. It is important that the boiling process occurs quite rapidly and without a lid. Otherwise, your beer will have a vegetable flavor.
During cooking, hops are added in accordance with the recipe. After the end of the boil, the loss of wort will be about 20% -30%, so you can add hot water during the boil. It is important to control the density.
When cooking is completed, we move on to the next step.
Stage 4: filtration, cooling, adding yeast.
Hot wort must be cooled as soon as possible. To do this, you can use, and if it is not there, then just put the pan in the bath with cold water or in the snow. Stir the wort to cool it down quickly. In the process of cooling the wort, it can also be removed from the sediment by filtering through a sieve, gauze or other filters.
When the temperature of the wort is 20-24 degrees, you should select 10% of the wort for the primer and put it in the refrigerator. You also need to take a small amount of wort to rehydrate the yeast (how to do this, read here)
After adding the yeast, the wort is poured into the fermentation tank and sent for fermentation.
Fermentation stage of home beer.
When we brew beer at home, it happens that fermentation takes place in 2 days, and it happens that it starts only on the second day - do not be alarmed. usually fermentation is on 3-4 days. After the yeast cap has settled, fermentation is complete and can be bottled.
The final stage of brewing homemade beer.
A primer is added to the fermentation tank, the young beer is well mixed, left for 30-40 minutes and bottled. Try to minimize the amount of sediment in your bottles. Then the bottles are sent for fermentation for 2-3 weeks.
After fermentation, your homemade beer, hand-brewed with malt and hops, is ready.
Reads: 1 987
Beer brewed from grain ("all grain") has an incredibly full taste and absolutely will not leave you indifferent. The process of brewing such beer is not as complicated as it might seem, but it requires a responsible approach.
There are several stages in the brewing process:
- Malt grinding;
- Mashing ground malt;
- Congestion filtration;
- Boiling the wort;
- Wort cooling;
- beer fermentation;
- Bottling;
- Storage.
At the end of the article you will find a list of equipment that will be needed during the preparation of grain beer.
1. Let's start grinding the grain. The amount and type of malt is determined by the recipe you are brewing. At the output, you need to get a minimum of flour, a malt shell and grits (so that the shell of each grain remains intact and the internal contents are ground). This will give the malt all the flavor. There are different grinders on the market. The “Corona” mill is distinguished by its availability. The quality of its grinding is quite enough for brewing. However, more experienced brewers will prefer a double roller mill. It is designed specifically for grinding malt - it retains more whole shells.
Please note: for those who wish to skip the malt grinding step, we offer ready-made grain kits containing the right amount of all beer ingredients, including ground malt.
2. Let's move on to mashing the malt. The result of mashing will be the production of wort from grain and water. The ground malt is poured into hot water - this mixture is called mash. As a rule, water takes 4 times more than malt. The mash is kept for a certain time at different temperatures - the so-called temperature pauses. At each temperature pause, enzymes act on the substances contained in the malt. The taste of beer is formed, among other things, depending on the temperature and the duration of the pauses. The purpose of mashing is to get the largest number extract (substances passed into the wort from the malt).
The following can serve as a mash tank: a wort kettle, a plastic container (if the plastic is food grade and is intended for high temperatures), specialized containers and devices.
3. Filtering. After mashing, the resulting wort must be filtered from the malt grains. Filtration consists of two phases: filtration of the first wort and washing of the grains. For filtering it is convenient to use a system with a false bottom. The liquid drains through the spent grain, which serves as a filtration layer, and the bottom prevents the grain from entering the filtered wort.
If you mashed in a nylon bag, then you just need to remove it from the mash tank, allowing the beer wort to drain into the tank.
After filtration, the grain still contains a lot of must. To extract it, the pellet is washed with water at a temperature of 75-78 °C.
4. Boiling the wort. At this stage, the wort in the digester is brought to a boil. Right now, hops are being added to the future of beer. Its dosage and time of addition depends on the type of hops and the type of beer we are brewing. When boiling, the wort is disinfected, coagulation (coagulation) of some of the dissolved proteins, and hops give off bitter and aromatic substances. Boiling the wort lasts at least 1 hour.
The following can act as a brew kettle: a mash tank (if it is made of stainless steel); stainless steel pot or enamel pan sufficient volume; brew kettle SsBrew Kettle, automated breweries Braumeister or Grainfather.
Attention! All brewing equipment must be clean, and everything that comes into contact with beer after it has been boiled must be disinfected. There are different disinfectants: Star San, Coopers, Chemipro OXI, Deo-Chlor.
5. Cooling the wort. After boiling, the wort needs to be quickly cooled down to the yeast pitching temperature. With slow cooling, there is a danger of reproduction harmful organisms. For rapid cooling, an immersion cooler, counterflow cooler or plate cooler is used. In the absence of a chiller, the temperature of the wort can be lowered by lowering the cauldron into a bath of ice water.
When the temperature of the wort drops below 60°C, cold wort is suspended in the wort and becomes cloudy. If these suspensions are removed, the quality of the beer will improve significantly. The whirlpool technique is used to separate the suspensions from the wort.
Also, to stimulate the reproduction of yeast, the already chilled wort should be aerated - saturated with oxygen. Aeration promotes intensive mixing wort and its transfusion from a great height.
6. Fermentation. If there is no drain tap on the wort brewery, you can pour the beer into the fermentation tank (fermenter) using a siphon. The fermentation process will take approximately 2 weeks. At this time, the fermentation tank should be in a dark place, and the air temperature should be between 15 - 25 ° C (depending on the yeast).
As a fermentation container, there can be: an inexpensive plastic container with a water seal in the lid of a Home Brewery Kit or Beer Zavodik; plastic conical fermenter BrewDemon; high quality container of stainless steel: BrewMaster Bucket , Chronical 7 , Chronical 14 , Chronical Half Barrel .
7. Bottling. For bottling beer can be used:
- PET bottles;
- glass bottles with crown caps;
- glass bottles with corks.
8. Storage. About 1 week after bottling, the beer will carbonate (become carbonated) and be ready to drink. closed bottle will last a very long time, up to six months. However open bottle it will not work to store - the beer will quickly deteriorate, so all the contents must be drunk immediately. The beer must be chilled before refrigeration.
December 16th, 2015
Home brewing in Russia has been actively developing since the late 90s, when beer concentrates and simple fermentation equipment first appeared on the market. Although a real breakthrough in the business of brewing beer at home occurred a few years ago (and perhaps coincided with the "craft" revolution ;-) In addition to a significant range of beer blends, a wide variety of malts, hops, yeast (in Lately, including liquid), more serious equipment for brewing beer at home began to appear - up to ready-made microbreweries for 30-50 liters and CCT of the same capacity. But such brewers, which are very expensive and also have some limitations, are much cheaper and in some ways more versatile, is to purchase a mash kettle with a false bottom. Here is such a 35-liter boiler (as well as a chiller and a fermentation tank of a comparable volume) that fell into the hands of the Union of South Moscow Brewers thanks to MirBir - undisputed leader among the shops for home brewing.
What is a similar boiler? It is made of stainless steel, with a very thick bottom (so that the pellet does not burn when heated), a threaded pin is welded to the bottom, to which the mesh is attached with a nut (it can be easily removed for washing), occupying only part of the bottom area, a silicone tube comes out from under the mesh connected to a faucet. Another silicone tube is attached to this tap from the outside, through which the filtered wort will be poured into another container. Such a system allows the mash to be filtered through the grains, just as it is done in large breweries. There is a built-in thermometer to control the temperature. For heating - you can use gas and electric stoves(instead of electric, it is better to use more powerful induction). You can not heat the boiler at all, but simply add hot water, while keeping the temperature pause due to the thermal jacket, which can be put on top of the boiler and the lid. At first glance, it seemed to me that this thermal jacket was superfluous, but as it turned out, there is double benefit(read below). Mash-boiler.Mesh false bottom.Thermal shirt.
So, on Monday, beer brewing took place on new equipment, which was held at Oleg Fomin's home brewery NakhBir, Mikhail Venevtsev (Zdechly vrabec) and I (Ch2DP2E) were also present from SYUMP, Igor Osanov also took part in the brewing ( home brewery Outfield Brewery. The NakhBir brewery is located on Nakhimovsky Prospekt and Oleg has long wanted to brew beer with the name of Nakhimov, so the beer is tentatively called "Nakhimov APL", where Nakhimov can be deciphered either as "nuclear submarine" or as "American pale lager". It will indeed be a lager (bottom and cold fermented beer), quite dense, dark amber or even red (only pale malts were used, although some of them are quite high in color - Vienna and two types of Munich), hopped with American hops (as in the brew , and on "dry" hopping).
Mikhail Venevtsev, Igor Osanov, Oleg Fomin.Oleg Fomin.Mikhail Venevtsev.Igor Osanov.Pavel Egorov.Malt, yeast and part of the hops were also from Mirbeer. I also bought a malt crusher there, but for a long time, it grinds malt perfectly, although for mashing in a new mash, a roller crusher is probably the best solution, it preserves grain shells better, which means filtration will be better. Malt grinding.
The mash kettle took up exactly 2 burners gas stove, so that the heating was carried out quite quickly. We didn’t have a normal stirrer (spar ;-) we’ll have to look for the largest table scoop on sale, but for now we’ve limited ourselves to connecting two wooden spoons together ;-) The built-in thermometer shows the temperature correctly, but has a lot of inertia, so catch the desired temperature the pause was difficult (besides, we had heating from the side, almost under the thermometer inlet, this also affected the accuracy). It will still be necessary to additionally use a conventional thermometer to more accurately control the temperature. A thermal jacket turned out to be not superfluous, having caught the necessary temperature pause, they turned off the heating and wrapped the mash, the temperature still fell, but not so quickly. The malt was German (Wiermann) and everything was wiped out very quickly - after 50 minutes iodine test was normal (for 8 kg of malt, we added 25 liters of water and the mash was not very thick). Wort.
After saccharification, filtration began. Filtered into a fermentation tank that can withstand this temperature. The first cloudy liter of wort was returned back to the mash, the filtration itself went very quickly and the wort was quite transparent. True, we only had light malts, with dark ones it might not be so chic, but we’ll check. After draining the first wort, 12.5 liters of hot water were added to the mash, mixed, allowed to settle and filtering of the second wort began (the first drained liter was also returned to the mash). In order not to lose heat, they now wrapped the fermentation tank into which the wort was poured into a thermal jacket. Fermentation capacity.Wort filtration.At the same time, we heat water for washing the pellets.Drobina.
As a result, we got about 28 liters of wort, which was returned back to the mash (after removing the grains from it and washing). We put the boiler to boil, turned on two burners to the maximum, from 50 to 100 degrees the heating went on for about an hour. They boiled for an hour, hops were added in three doses of 25 grams - immediately, after half an hour and 5 minutes before the end of boiling (also at the end - they added a little juniper berries, for "zest").
A beautiful shot, but it is better to pour the wort by taking it from above with a jug.Cooking log.Hop task.Cooled with a chiller. The chiller went down to the bottom of the kettle and quickly cooled the bottom of the wort, but the top remained hot, so I had to lift it and fix it higher (you will need to make some kind of hook for this). They decided to pour the cooled wort into the fermentation tank through a tap, just in case they put a nylon sock on it (to hold hop particles), the wort flowed very transparent (much more transparent than usual with us). Saflager W34/70 lager yeast was dissolved in water and added to the wort.
A total of 25 liters came out. wort with a density of almost 17% (calculated at 14-15%)! The efficiency of mashing is of course noticeably higher than with the method that we used before, which means that you can save on raw materials, achieving the same density with less malt. In total, they spent 8 hours cooking (with breaks for drinking beer ;-)
In a few days, when the main fermentation subsides a bit, we will add more hops to the dry hop maker, after that we will hold for another week and a half and bottle it (we have a lot of American hops, we will make some kind of killer mix ;-) . Bottled fermentation will go in the refrigerator (of course, a lager, for home brewing - a very difficult style).
From the noticed shortcomings of the equipment - the fermenter tap barely leaks and, during filtration, it leaks at the place of external attachment to the mash tap silicone tube. And there is a wish - to make the lid of the fermenter transparent (or at least with a transparent insert) in order to see the processes occurring in the tank during fermentation ;-) But in general the impression is purely positive - the mash-boiler is really a convenient and practical thing at a completely humane cost! The mashing and filtering of 17% of the beer was exceptionally fast, which means that you can try to brew even denser beers (and dense beers are real headache for brewers). In the meantime, we are waiting for our beer to ferment ...
Shot: Canon EOS 5d markII, Canon EF 24-105/4.0L lens, Canon Speedlite 430EX flash.
For the preparation of the wort - wooden (oak) mash tun in the form of a tub with legs, shown in Fig. 1m.
Rice. 1. Oak mash tun with legs
The tub can, of course, be without legs; but it must be provided with a second (inner) perforated bottom, 2 or 3 inches above the solid bottom. The perforated bottom may be wooden, consisting of three detachable parts, tightly adjacent to each other (Fig. 2nd) and supported by a cruciform stand lying on the solid bottom of the tub (Fig. 3rd), 2-3 inches high. If the wooden perforated bottom is replaced by a metal one with thin slots or holes, such as shown in Fig. 4th (also detachable), then such a bottom may be sufficient in itself for the proper straining of the finished wort.
Rice. 2nd. Composite perforated wooden bottom for mash or strainer tun
Rice. 3rd. Wooden cruciform support under a perforated bottom.
Rice. 4th. Composite metal perforated bottom of 8 detachable parts: A - all parts are put together; B is one of the parts.
Ordinary wooden perforated bottom fig. 2nd, for straining the wort, it should be covered with washed straw and on top of it with a flannel or hair cloth, because its relatively large openings, without such a cover, are not able to fully retain the pellets. Instead of washed straw and flannel, the bottom can be covered with a round piece of clean matting. To prevent straw, flannel and matting from moving, pieces of cobblestone or a wooden cross, such as shown in fig. 3rd, but less high (see below -). But since the introduction of straw and flannel into the vat after mixing the mash is not very convenient, and covering the perforated bottom with them before mashing should make mixing difficult, then mashing and straining in such cases is best done separately, i.e., instead of one, have two vats: one mash- without perforated bottom, for mashing, and other filter- with a perforated bottom, for straining the finished wort and leaching the grains; both can be similar to that shown in Fig. 1, but the strainer is usually made somewhat lower and correspondingly wider than the mash tun.
For stirring the mash - wooden agitators one of the samples shown in Fig. 5th, 6th and 7th.
Rice. 5th, 6th and 7th. Wooden stirrers of various shapes.
At homemade brew beer, the strained wort is usually not transferred directly to the boiler for boiling with hops, and therefore, in a mash or filter tun, it should have one or two descent vats, into which the wort is filtered before entering the boiler. The vats are also wooden and of the same shape as the mash or strainer (Fig. 1st), but usually with a narrower upper opening (to reduce the evaporation surface of the wort) and on legs of such a height that they can easily be substituted under the mash tap or filter vat. Descent, like other vats, of course, can be without legs.
For spraying water during leaching, ordinary garden watering can with perforated tip.
To boil the wort with or without hops (as well as water), any boiler suitable sizes; but where brewing is not an accidental phenomenon, but belongs to the number of permanent economic productions, it is better to arrange boilers according to the model shown in fig. 8th, since in such a boiler the operation of boiling the wort can be performed much more carefully. This boiler A (copper, tinned inside) is barrel-shaped, with a removable lid. Its bottom, for a large concentration of heating, is concave. He is smeared into the oven to the level o o': Approximately ¾ deep. In B is a firebox and in E an ashpit, with a grate above it; A And A'- the top edges of a copper bent outside; To- a tube (with a tap) for discharging boiled wort; in the figure, this tube, for clarity, is shown open, but in fact it must be smeared into the brickwork of the furnace throughout its entire length, from the boiler to its outlet. To stir the wort in the boiler, the same agitators, as for the mash tun: fig. 5th, 6th or 7th.
Rice. 8th. Boiler for boiling beer wort.
The wort boiled with hops, before lowering it into cooling vats, is filtered from hops through finely woven wooden baskets.
Cooling tanks or plates, for proper cooling of the wort before fermentation, flat wooden (oak) tubs with legs (or without legs, 4-5 inches deep, such as shown in Fig. 9-m) can be used. In order to accelerate and enhance the cooling of the wort in cooling vats, ice-filled flat metal (for example, tin) floats(Fig. 10th), which should float on the surface of the wort; if there are no floats and the ice is clean, then pieces of it are thrown directly into the wort.
Rice. 9th. Wooden refrigeration vat.
Rice. 10th. A flat ice float to speed up the cooling of the wort in the cold vat.
Fermentation tanks, for home brewing, tubs like the one shown in fig. 1st, with legs or without legs, but relatively narrower in diameter and larger in height - deeper. Metal floats with ice, but no longer flat, but in the form shown in fig. 11th, may also be necessary when fermentation tanks- to prevent too much heating of the must during fermentation.
barrels And kegs the same as those used in factories: the difference is only in size.
Rice. 11th Float for ice cooling the wort in the fermentation tank.
All vessels must, of course, be kept completely clean; wooden, before each use, are thoroughly steamed and washed with boiling water, and if possible, they are also tarred or varnished inside. Since the tarnishing operation, with ordinary home remedies, is rather difficult, it can be replaced fumigation with sulfur: wood shavings or ribbons soaked in molten sulfur are ignited inside a barrel or barrel with a red-hot iron rod.
Thermometer And saccharometer For home brewer just as necessary as for the factory. Saccharometer, if necessary, can be replaced Baumé hydrometer, the readings of which are easily converted into degrees of a saccharometer, using the table placed at the end of the book. But the saccharometer (namely the saccharometer ballinga) is much more convenient.
Farms engaged in beer brewing regularly and in relatively large quantities, for example, even those preparing at least 40 buckets of beer for one brew, it is necessary to have separate, specially adapted rooms for this purpose, arranged on the basis general rules. It goes without saying that the devices of such home breweries should be less primitive and somewhat approach the factory ones; this applies chiefly to the mash tun, the boiler, and the cooling vats. The mash tun, although wooden, is made according to the pattern shown in fig. 25th. The wooden perforated bottom, for straining the wort from the grains, must be replaced by a metal one, such as shown in fig. 4th, adapted to the mash or straining tun, depending on which of them is used to strain the wort. The boiler of the sample described above and shown in fig. 8th. Cooling tanks made of metal, for example, made of white iron, since the wort is cooled faster in them, and cleanliness is easier to maintain; better than an elongated oval or quadrangular shape.
Basis for calculation instrument dimensions necessary for brewing, serves as a mash tun. In the samples of beer brewing at home given below, we have adopted a mash of 8 pounds of malt. For a mash of this size, we will make a calculation of the size of the mash tun and other devices here. The capacity of the mash tun should be approximately 3½ times the volume of the malt being mashed. With an average weight of 1 hectoliter or 8.13 buckets of malt of 51.3 kilograms or 125.275 Russian pounds, the volume of 1 pood or 40 pounds of malt should be equal to 2.6 buckets - x: 8.13 = 40: 125.275, whence x == 2.596 or, round number, 2.6 buckets), and the volume is 8 pounds of malt = 2.6 × 8 = 20.8 buckets. Therefore, the capacity of the mash tun for a mash of 8 pounds of malt should be equal to 20.8 × 3.5 = 72.8 buckets; take a round number 75 buckets. At the same time, the diameter of the vat (below) is 3 times greater than its height or depth. The strainer is of the same shape, but somewhat lower and wider and, in volume, approximately larger, i.e. about 87½ buckets(add to 75 buckets of mash tun; get 75+= 87.5 buckets). The capacity of the kettle for boiling wort with hops is more than the capacity of the mash tun, i.e. about 82.5 pails (75+= 82.5 buckets). With a mash of 8 pounds of malt, the wort can be fed into the cooling vats up to 50 buckets, the volume of which is 37.535 cubic inches. Beer from 8 poods of malt is boiled in an average of about 40 buckets; of course, more wort should go into cold vats. The internal volume of 1 bucket is 750.7 cubic meters. inches; therefore, the volume of 50 buckets \u003d 750.7 × 50 \u003d 37.535 cu. inches. Since the cold vats are filled with wort on average to a depth of 3 inches, dividing 37.535 by 3 gives us exactly the size of the area that the cold vats must have to be sufficient for 50 buckets of wort, namely: = 1 2.767 square inches. Dividing these 12,767 square inches, for convenience, into four
chan, we will have for each chan = 3 192 square inches. To have an area of 3192 square inches, an elongated quadrangular vat, with length V 84 inches(3 arshins), must have a width = = 38 inches(1 arshin 5 ¾ vershoks). If the cooling tub is round, then its diameter should be about 64 inches or 2 arshins 43/5 inches. It is known from geometry that the area of a circle is equal to πr2, where π is a constant value of 3.14, and r is the radius of the required circle. Thus the radius of a circular area containing 3192 square inches can be determined from the equation: 3192 = πr2; substituting for π 3.14, we will have 3192 = 3.14 × r2 whence r (i.e. radius) = = 32 inches. Multiplying the radius 32 by 2, we get the diameter = 64 inches or 2 arshins 43/5 vershoks. A fermentation tank, with a mash of 8 poods of malt, should have a capacity of about 60 buckets, and the height of the tank should be related to the diameter of its lower bottom approximately as ¾ to 1.
The novice brewer is just dizzy. abundance new information, a lot of incomprehensible terms and lack of experience confuse the novice master. However, don't worry. Without undue haste, it is worth mastering all the necessary information and then the risk of error will be minimized.
In order to brew beer, you need not only enthusiasm and necessary ingredients. The brewing process needs equipment and tools. Some of them are easily replaced by analogues from the arsenal kitchen utensils, but there are some pretty specific items that every self-respecting brewer should have. Let's take a closer look at what equipment and tools will be required for home brewing. What are the requirements for them and how to choose all the necessary devices.
heating device
If you are brewing beer from malt extract, then you will need a heating source that can bring 4.5-13.5 liters of water to a boil. A stove top in your kitchen will do just fine. When you're brewing beer from grains, you'll need another source of heat. For example, a brazier.
BIAB bag
The ideal BIAB-bag coincides in circumference with the boiler for boiling and does not lag behind its inner surface to the very bottom. This device prevents the mash from burning and allows you to separate most pellets. A ready-made bag can be bought at a specialty store, but seasoned brewers buy fabric and design their own fixture for individual equipment sizes.
mash tun
The mash tun is used for aging temperature pauses in the process of mashing and separating the liquid wort from the grains. This is a fully assembled unit of factory production.
Boiling vessel
The wort is boiled in a special boiler. If you are brewing beer in small batches, then the minimum volume of the container is 7 liters, but there is no need to take a boiler larger than 25 liters either. If you are preparing beer in large volumes, you will need a larger boiler with a volume of 28-36 liters. With a serious approach to this issue, increased attention should be paid to the quality of the material from which the boiling containers are made: it must be strong, wear-resistant and durable.
Stirring spoon
This item will be required to homogenize the mash, thoroughly mixing all the input components. Mandatory requirement - the presence of a long handle. The spoon should reach to the bottom of the working container, and the top of the handle should remain long enough for the safety of the brewer's hands. Usually stainless steel or special plastic spoons are used.
Jug
A small jug or ladle with a handle is needed in order to carry out the process of recirculating the wort through the grain cushion, which the Germans call vorlauf. At its core, this process is the return of the first batch of wort to the filter bed to clarify it before boiling.
Immersion wort cooler
This forced cooling device allows you to quickly cool the wort to the temperature of the task of the yeast. As a rule, the cooler is a coil copper tube, with hoses for cold water supply and waste water outlet connected warm water. Cold water circulates through the immersion cooler system and rapidly lowers the temperature of the wort.
Beaker
A transparent glass with measured divisions will be required for accurate dosing of ingredients. It is better to stock up on several with different volumes and different division prices. It is convenient to measure malt, water, malt extract with large ones, and hop products, yeast, activator and other additives with small ones.
Can-opener
Some ingredients for making beer, such as malt extract or hop products, are packaged in cans. Stock up on a solid can opener so that it does not let you down at the most inopportune moment.
Wash water preparation tank
An additional container will be required for the preparation of wash water, which is added as the mashing process is completed. All wort and collected rinsing water is collected in a boiling tank.
Strainer device
When pouring the wort after boiling into the fermenter (fermentation tank), many brewers prefer to strain it through a sieve. This allows you to separate hop residues and other suspensions from the wort. For these purposes, a fine-mesh colander or sieve is quite suitable.
Thermometer
In the brewing process, it is very important to maintain the temperature at all stages. This will avoid many unwanted moments and damage to raw materials. Therefore, you should not save money and purchase an accurate calibrated thermometer that can measure high temperatures(up to 100˚C will be enough).
Means for cleaning and disinfection of equipment
The cleanliness and sterility of the equipment is the key to the success of the brewer. Therefore, it is necessary to stock up on special means for washing and disinfection.
The cleaning agent should be effective enough and not contain perfume fragrances. These aromatic compounds can settle on the walls of the equipment and add unwanted flavors and odors to the beer. Caustic soda products are optimally suited.
The disinfectant will get rid of beer spoiling microorganisms and make the process and product stable. Ordinary bleach (calcium hypochlorite) is also suitable, it must be diluted in a ratio of 28 g per 4.55 liters of water. Important condition use of such a disinfectant - a thorough rinse with water. If you want an easier way - buy a special disinfectant that does not require rinsing (based on ethanol). Pour it into a container with a sprayer and take possession of the most simple method sanitation.
Fermenter or fermentation tank
In this container, the sacrament of turning wort into beer takes place. Now very popular ready-made kits for brewing, which are completed with a fermenter in the form of a plastic bucket. Experienced brewers prefer to use glass and plastic jugs called bottles. Both types of containers work great and have their own advantages and disadvantages that come to light during the brewing process.
Air valve
This device is inserted into the top of the fermenter and is designed to remove CO2 released during fermentation. The valve is designed to prevent contaminants from entering the fermenter system. The air valve is of great importance, because the tightness of the fermenter can lead to an explosion. This device is fixed to the lid fermentation tank through a bushing or gasket.
Fermentation chamber
To maintain the fermentation temperature at a certain level, a cooling system is required. Most often, brewers modify the refrigerator or freezer for this purpose.
secondary fermenter
If the beer recipe provides for the addition additional ingredients e.g. hop products for dry hopping, the use of a secondary fermenter tank is recommended. It is important that the secondary fermenter be of such a volume that when filling it with beer, there is as little free space as possible. This will help minimize contact with oxygen.
Emergency reset
An emergency dump system is required when there is concern that there will not be enough free space in the fermenter at the time of the beer itself being fermented. An emergency vent tube, connected instead of the air valve at the top of the fermenter, will then serve as a means of releasing curls if the fermenter is filled to the brim.
Hydrometer
A hydrometer or saccharometer is required by a brewer to determine the gravity or sugar content of wort and beer. This is necessary to control the fermentation process and calculate the content of the volume fraction of alcohol. You will also need a container to hold the hydrometer. Be careful, the device is very fragile.
Refractometer
The refractometer device measures the density of the sample, like a hydrometer, only according to a slightly different principle. It only takes a few drops of wort placed on a refractometer to obtain a measurement of the density of the initial wort.
Tube for transferring beer
This device is necessary for transferring beer from the fermenter to another container or to a bottling bucket. There are several varieties, but the simplest and most convenient to use is the autosiphon.
Bucket for bottling beer
This item is similar to a plastic fermenter, only it has an outlet at the bottom. The fermented beer is pumped into the bottling bucket, from which the bottles are filled with beer through a pouring tube connected to the nozzle.
Bottle filling device
This item is a rigid plastic tube with a spring-loaded tip. When the end of the filler is pressed against the bottom of the bottle, the beer flows out of the tube. When the bottle is full, it is enough to squeeze the tip of the filler and the flow stops.
Bottle cleaner
Very important little thing to ensure long-term preservation bottled beer. The brush will help to thoroughly rinse the bottles, removing hard-to-reach dirt that can lead to beer spoilage.
Bottles and crown caps
Glass bottles are needed by the brewer for packaging and storage finished product. It is not necessary to buy new ones every time, you can reuse existing ones after thorough washing and disinfection. Carefully monitor the integrity of the bottles: they should not have cracks or chips. It is not recommended to use bottles with a twist neck due to the difficulty of sealing them.
Crown corks must be properly sized to fit the bottle neck for the best seal.
capper
This device is necessary for the hermetic sealing of bottles with crown corks. A double-lever closure is usually used, but some brewers use a machine tool to speed up and simplify the process.
Keg system
This system allows for more control over the carbonation of the beer and eliminates the need to wash dozens of bottles and wait for the bottle carbonation period. The operation of this system has its own nuances that should be studied before use.
Loading...
