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Interested in doing things yourself? Check out more articles in our Make-Your-Own Guide.

Learn about canning with Grow and Make's Green Kitchen Guide.

If you like to drink beer or are looking for an alternative gift to give to your friends and family, consider brewing a batch of your own. Doing so is a great sustainable living practice and can reduce the cost of your beer -drinking habit.

This is a recipe for a simple Ale which are fairly easy in comparison with other types of beer.

The first thing you're going to have to do is find a supplier in your area who sells beer making kits and supplies. Some of the items are suggestions and some are required to brew beer. There is a recipe to follow and some simple chemistry which we will guide you through.

This recipe will make a 5 gallon batch.

You will need to pick up at your local brew store or order online:

6.25 lbs of Dry Malt Extract
4.5 ounces of hop pellets
1.0 lb of Crystal 15L malt
0.6 oz of Chocolate malt
Dry Yeast Package

Once you have your ingredients picked it it's time to establish the hop schedule or at what points during the boil you are going to add hops. Some beers have you add all the hops at once when the beer starts boiling but the majority of beer recipes have you add hops at various intervals. You'll want to experiment and learn which works best with each batch you brew.

The reason for this is that the longer hops are boiled the more bitterness they impart to the beer and the less aroma. That is why you frequently hear people talking about bittering hops and aroma hops.

We will be adding the hops according to this schedule.

1.5 oz at 60 minutes 1.5 oz at 10 minutes 1.5 oz at 1 minute

The times are notated as time remaining so you will add 1.5 oz at the start of the boil, 1.5 oz when there is 10 minutes left in the boil, and 1.5 oz for the last minute of boiling.

You must be sure to sanitize everything that the beer comes in contact with. Failing to be methodical about this will lead to failure for your brew. Your supply store will have sanitizer iodine or products which can help. This is a critical step.

The next step is to crush your specialty grains. You can use a rolling pin or a mortar and pestle if you wish to crush your own. If you picked up a grain bag you can just place all your grains in the bag, tie it off, and crush with your preferred method. After you have the grains crushed place into your brewing kettle or stock pot.

Since we are doing a partial boil we need to fill our four gallon stock pot about 3/4 of the way with clean water. Put the pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and add the dry malt extract.

Stir really well and when the extract is dissolved bring the pot back to a boil.

Once boiling, add the first hops batch to the kettle and set a timer for 60 minutes. After 10 minute add the second batch of hops to the kettle. After the 60 minutes have elapsed add remaining hops.

You will need to stir constantly to prevent a boil over. As you add the hops you'll see a reaction and a smelly green foam will emerge.

After the last hops is added you'll want to cool the beer down to 70 degrees as fast as possible. You can do this by placing the kettle into a sink with ice water or if it's cool (under 50 degrees) outside, cover and place it outside.

Use your thermometer to monitor the temperature and after the beer reaches 70 degrees pour it into the fermenter. At this stage we want to aerate the beer as much as we can to help fermentation to start. I prefer to whisk the beer to aerate and some advanced brewers use an aquarium pump to pump air into the beer. Once your thermometer registers 70 degrees pour the beer into the fermenter. You now need to aerate the beer, which can be done by vigorously stir it with a whisk or hand blender.

Now you'll need to measure the gravity. Take a hyrdometer sample and get your reading, which you should write down on the fermenter.

Sprinkle the yeast on top of the beer in the fermenter and stir until it is dissolved. Set your airlock.

Place the fermenter in a dark location with an average temperature of 66 to 70 degrees.

Now you need to test the gravity until your beer is ready
Original Gravity: 1.032 - 1.040 - Gravity when you begin fermentation

Final Gravity: 1.007 - 1.011 - Gravity when your beer is ready to consume

IBUs: 25 - 35 - Measurement of the beer bitterness (higher the number the more bitter it will taste)

You'll want to sample your beer and take notes. Be sure to document your steps and what you might change for next time. Related Articles:

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