Beer Making at Home - Is it Legal?

Did you know that brewing beer at home for personal use was illegal until 1979. In 1920 brewing beer was made illegal, period. There was a "mistake" in the laws the repealed Prohibition and that mistake allowed wine to made at home but not beer. One of the better actions by President Jimmy Carter was to repeal the federal restrictions on home brewing in February 1979.

So now adults over twenty one years of age are permitted to brew "not more than one hundred gallons of beer in a year". The beer brewed must be for personal use and it is illegal to sell home brew.

Making Beer - Step 6

We've waited another anxious week or two and now all the bubbling has completed.

We are new ready to bottle the beer. First, we transfer flat beer from the carboy to another container. Of course, all of the equipment and bottles must be sterilized.

John Gundry removing the bottles from the dishwasher.

Carl Fisher ready to bottle.

We next add priming sugar to the mixture. This sugar will be eaten by the remaining yeast to create carbonation in the bottles.

Now for a warning. Don't use too much sugar when you bottle. Charlie and I did just that making root beer a few weeks ago. About four days after bottling the root beer I woke up late one night on heard a "popping" sound that woke me from my sleep. I searched the house and found nothing amiss and no boggie man. Well.... the next morning I went into our mud room (hadn't done that at night) and there was glass everywhere. Seven of the 24 bottles had exploded. What a mess. Don't uses too much bottling sugar!

Then the beer must be transferred to the bottles. We use a mix of 12 oz, 16 oz, 1/2 litre, full litre, and 1 gallon kegs to hold the beer. Most of the bottles have been given to us by friends or we have helped drink the beer ourselves! Screw top bottles can not be used because it is not possible to get a good seal with our bottle caps. I especially like the "swing top" bottles.

Chris Elliott and his son filling the bottles.

Chris' son crimping the bottle cap onto a bottle (with a little assistance).

Charlie Spry filling a keg (the flash light is to see when the keg is full).

A swing top bottle. The easiest to cap and to open!

Beer Trivia: Beer was considered so vital a nutritional staple for British soldiers that when the British army and navy couldn't supply their own beer, they provided their troops with cash allowances to purchase it. The high concentration of B vitamins from the grain and yeast were vital to good health on long overseas missions. British soldiers in Upper Canada were given a daily beer allowance of a penny, sufficient to purchase six pints of ale from a local pub.

Making Beer - Step 5

Now we have to wait a few days to a week for the bubbling out of the fermentation lock to slow down. This indicates that a majority of the sugar has been consumed by the yeast and that the wort will be cloudy with dead yeast as well as a bunch on the bottom of the container.

At this point a decision must be made - use a single or double fermentation process. We generally use a double fermentation process. This means that once the fermentation slows down we transfer the mixture from the initial container to another 5 gallon, glass carboy. The syphon we use leaves a small amount of liquid and most of the dead yeast behind, resulting in a clearer beer.

Now we need to wait another week or so for the fermentation to completely finish.

This is the carboy used in the secondary fermentation process.

Beer Trivia: The word carboy is from the Persian qarabah, which means "big jug". Carboy's are also referred to as "demijohns" and in the southern US they are known as "jimmyjohns".

Making Beer - Step 4

While the wort is cooling down we take the important step of sterilizing our equipment, again to keep harmful bacteria and other germs from entering the fermentation process and ruining our beer. We use a sterilizing powder purchased from House of Home Brew. I've also read on-line that a weak solution of bleach and water can also be used.

Now it's time to transfer the chilled wort to the fermentation container and to then add the yeast. This process is called "pitching".

Charlie and Chris transferring the chilled wort.

Straining the wort to remove hops before fermentation.

Installing the fermentation lock to allow fermentation bubbles to escape and not allow air in.

Beer Trivia: Spent yeast at the bottom of the beer bottle is full of vitamin B and won't hurt you.

Making Beer - Step 3

We now move on to the next step - Cool the Wort. This is a very unglamorous step but one that is critical. We need to very quickly reduce the temperature of the boiling wort to below 75 degrees. This is critical for two reasons. First, to stop to cooking process and stabilize the wort and second, to keep bad bacteria from getting into it. We do this by putting the pot with the wort into the kitchen sink and then surrounding it with cold water and ice cubes.

Chris Elliott checking the temperature of the cold water to chill the wort.

Beer Trivia: Alcohol provides an unfriendly environment for microbial action, and the isohumulone content of the hops inhibited the growth of Lactobacillus. Thus, high alcohol content and high hopping rates could protect beer from the souring associated with long storage times.

Note: We have since purchased a wort chiller which makes this a quicker and less messy process. It is coiled copper tubing that is placed into the hot wort and then cold water is run through the tubing which removes the heat. The wort chiller cost an additional $60 or so.

Making Beer - Step 2

OK, now that we've cracked open a couple of beers from a previous batch (you know, checking quality control) it is time to move on to Step 2 - Make the Wort. Wort is simply all of the beer ingredients mixed together without the yeast, essentially it's flat beer. We have used kits that have already "mashed" the grains into malt and are now starting to do our own mashing. The mashing process adds about 2 hours to the brewing effort, a small price to pay for extra drinking time!

Here's are the actions for Step 2:

Fill pot with water from the tap and bring to boil.
Add cans of malt or mashed grains.
Add hops.
Let the pot boil for 45 to 60 minutes.

Beer Trivia: A pint of beer has the same energy giving value as four eggs or more than half a pound of meat!

Chris Elliott adding hops to the wort during the boil.

Making Beer - Step 1

About 2 years ago I began brewing beer with a friend. Charlie Spry is really the brew master and I'm just the go-fer (you know, I do whatever he tells me to do). Over the time we have been brewing several friends have joined us to brew and bottle and, of course, to drink it. Over the next several blogs I'm going to describe the beer making process, provide some beer trivia, and include some photos.

Beer Trivia - There are no known pathogens or deadly microorganisms that can live in beer. - you won't die from drinking our beer.

Beer Making Step 1. Open a home brew to sample from a previous batch. In my opinion this is the most important step.

Charlie starting the process!