Brewing an India Pale Ale (IPA) is not rocket science. All you need are some equipment, hops, water, malt, yeast and about two to five weeks of patience until you can enjoy your home-brewed beer in cool conditions. yourbrandedbeer.de tells you what you need and how to brew your IPA in seven steps.
Step 1: Equipment& Registration
For brewing your own beer you will need some equipment and accessories. You can buy these on the net. There are some websites that specialize in beer brewing and offer everything related to making your own beer. You will need the following equipment:
- Canning machine with thermometer
- Lauter tun with tap
- Strainer inside the vat
- Fermentation bucket
- Cooking Spoon
- Spice spindle
Now it can almost start. Because of the beer tax, each brew and the corresponding brewery must be declared to customs. But up to 200 liters of home-brewed beer per year are tax-free.
Step 2: Ingredients
To brew 20 liters of the craft beer classic IPA, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- 24 liters of water
- 2.5 kilograms of pale ale malt
- 1 kilogram of caramel malt
- 0.8 kilograms of melanoid malt
- 50 grams of Centennial hops
- 100 grams of Cascade hops
- 11.5 grams of dry yeast of the variety Safale US-05
Tip: Grinded malt saves grinding with the malt mill.
Step 3: Mashing
Now it’s time for the preserves. In the canning machine, heat the water to 64 °C, add the ground malt and hold the temperature for 60 minutes. Afterwards the resting begins. At different temperatures, the starch in the malt is converted to sugar and the different ingredients are washed out of the malt. For an IPA, after the first hour, it is recommended to hold 73 °C for about 5 minutes for the second rest and 78 °C for the third rest, also for another 5 minutes. The resulting mash is a sticky mixture and the basis for fermentation in step 6.
Step 4: Purge& Cooking
You now need to sift out the malt residue – the spent grain. To do this, pour the mash into the lauter tun with the strainer in place. Through the strainer, the so-called wort settles at the bottom, a sweet liquid without solid components. You boil these for 80 minutes with the addition of the different types of hops. After about 10 minutes, add 25 grams of Centennial, after another 10 minutes add the remaining 25 grams. After about 40 minutes, add 40 grams of the Cascade hops, and another 30 grams toward the end of the cooking time.
With the wort spindle you can measure during the boiling time the percentage of solutes, which is called original wort. The level of original gravity is measured in degrees Plato. For the IPA, the original gravity should be between 13 to 15 °P. To measure, draw a small amount of wort from the lauter tun, let it cool in a tube, and dip the wort spindle into it. The original gravity can be adjusted during boiling. When water evaporates, the original wort increases. Pouring in hot water lowers the original gravity.
Step 5: Whipping
The protein precipitated by boiling and the hop residues in the wort have to come out. Take the wooden spoon and stir the whole thing in a circle so that a whirlpool is formed. After about 10 minutes, most of the suspended solids have settled on the surface. Now dump the clean wort into the fermentation bucket – adding the remaining 30 grams of Cascade hops – and let it all sit overnight. Since the wort is delicate and germs should not enter, close the fermentation bucket with the lid. Ca. Draw off 5 percent of the wort and freeze this so-called dish.
Step 6: Allow to ferment
In the sixth step, the wort finally becomes beer. Draw off some wort for this and stir the yeast into it until the mixture foams. Stir this mixture into the wort, put the lid on and the main fermentation will start. The fermentation tube in the lid allows the carbon dioxide to escape, while at the same time ensuring that no air gets inside. The end of the fermentation process is reached when hardly any bubbles are left and there is no more foam in the bucket. Bring the food to room temperature and put it in the fermentation bucket, which allows the yeast to do its work once again.
The young beer is now filled into bottles that have been thoroughly rinsed and sterilized in the oven. Ideal for this purpose are swing-top bottles, which also look chic. These let her ca. To be left at room temperature for 1 week to 10 days, during which the yeast converts the sugars from the food into CO2, thus adding carbon dioxide to the beer.
Step 7: Wait& Enjoy
Soon the time will come and your patience will no longer be tested. Your home-brewed beer has to be refrigerated for 2 to 4 weeks and then you can finally enjoy it. Summer tip: The fruity spice of a well chilled India Pale Ale goes perfectly with hot summer days and barbecues.