Home Brew Shop Guide in San Diego: How to Brew

Are you such a fan of small batch beers that you decided to try to brew some on your own? Home brewing is so much fun! If you’re an aspiring San Diego home brewer, Bear Roots Brewing Co. can serve as your home-brew home base. We’ve been in this industry for many years now, and we have a lot to share with our customers!

The Love of Home Brewing

It is estimated that there are about 6,000 craft beer breweries and as many as a million homebrewers in America. About 90 percent of those craft breweries were established by brewers who started as homebrewers. Though brewing has been around for centuries, it was just in the last few decades that it has become legal again after prohibition. Successful home breweries continue to rise to this day all thanks to accessibility of equipment. 

Home Brew Shop Guide for Home Brewing

Making a successful beer the first time you try may have an element of luck, but it sure is possible. With proper knowledge, you can brew a delicious beer at home without a lot of experience.

Here are the broad strokes of how to brew your own suds:

• Clean and sanitize

After you have collected all the needed equipment and ingredients, it’s important to clean and sanitize first. That includes all of the equipment you’re going to use in your brewing process. Everything that comes in contact with your beer in the process should be thoroughly cleaned using the right detergent, then sanitized using an approved sanitation solution. Remember that sanitation is a crucial step that you should never skip. Once you are done properly cleaning and sanitizing, it’s time to get brewing.

• Brew

Brewing needs close attention over a long period of time. It is critical that you follow strict time schedules to monitor the process as you move forward. Brewing includes three sub-processes, mashing, lautering, and boiling. Skipping or making a mistake in any one of these processes can impact your beer significantly.

• Cool down

Now that the brewing phase is complete, you can now begin preparing your wort for the fermentation process. This process is where you reduce the wort’s temperature, add water, take beer gravity, and add yeast. Once boiling is over, begin cooling your wort as soon as possible (less than 20 minutes) to avoid infection. Then you can move it into large storage for the primary fermentation. 

After that,once you have the needed volume of liquid, read the gravity. This process is about finding the density of the wort in relation to the density of the water. You do this to ensure that your fermentation is successful, which allows you to calculate the alcohol content of your beer. Add the yeast in the end.

• Ferment

The sole purpose of proceeding to primary fermentation is to let the yeast convert sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol. This process also allows unnecessary particles to sink below the container, therefore separating them from the beer. Commonly known as the trub, this collection of particles includes dead yeast cells, irrelevant proteins, and hops. Fermentation usually takes a week, depending on the kind of beer you are brewing. However, the active fermentation process only begins after only about 12 hours of respiration. 

• Bottle it up

Bottling is inexpensive compared to putting it in kegs, making it the number one choice for most homebrewers. Most equipment comes with bottling materials. Once all the beer is in bottles, store them in a cool, dark place for about two weeks. This storage allows beer conditioning and makes the yeast ferment the sugar to create more CO2 for a carbonated drink. If you plan to have a home brew shop, you can store your beer in kegs. However, this is an investment because you need to have equipment for storage, carbonating, and serving.

Bear Roots Brewing Co.: The Best Home Brew Shop

If you’re looking for the best home brew shop in San Diego County, go to Bear Roots Brewing Co. Come on by to get your equipment, test our best brews, and talk shop with our brewing experts. Visit our site to make a pickup request at http://bearrootsbrewing.com/pickup/. Call (760) 726-4204 for more info.