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={{BrewWiki Title|name=Brewing Your First Beer==}}Brewing at home for the first time? This simple guide takes you through your first batch of beer including what's needed, how to brew and how to bottle. A short guide for the new homebrewer on how to brew your first [[Extract|extract ]] beer! Author's Note: John Palmer and Brad Smith have a new [http://beersmith.com/dvd "How to Brew with Malt Extract"] video/DVD which walks you through step by step brewing your first batch of beer, and is highly recommended for beginners.<table align=right><td></td></table>

* '''Tubing & Clamp''' - to siphon the beer - most common is 3/8" ID food grade plastic tubing. Clamps are available at your brew store.* '''An Airtight FermenterFermentor''' - a 5 gal plastic bucket with lid, or a glass carboy. If you can afford it, purchase a glass carboy as they are easier to clean and don't leak. If you get a carboy you may need a large brush to clean it* '''An Air Lock and Stopper''' - sized to fit your fermenterfermentor

The list below assumes you want to brew 5 gallons of a simple ale. You can use [http://www.beersmith.com BeerSmith ] to formulate your own recipe or download recipes from our recipe page if you are looking for a different style.

* '''6 -7 lbs of Unhopped Pale Malt Extract''' - Usually this comes in cans that are 3-3.3 lbs each. Malt provides the sweet base that the yeast will feed on to make alcohol. Available from various manufacturers.* '''2.25 Oz of East Kent Goldings Hops''' - Hops add bitterness to your beer. Pellets are most common and easy to store.* '''1 Package of Wyeast American Ale liquid Yeast (#1056)''' [ or White Labs California Ale #WLP001 or Safbrew US-56 dry yeast]

[[Extract Brewing |Extract brewing]] consists of five simple stages.:

# Brewing the Beer - The pale malt [[Extract|extract ]] and [[Hops|hops ]] are boiled together with water for about an hour to sterilize the extract and release the bittering qualities of the hops. Frequently grains are steeped in the mixture prior to the boil to add additional color and flavor complexity.# Cooling and Fermenting - The hot mixture (called [[wort]]) is cooled to room temperature and siphoned or transferred to a fermenter fermentor where it is combined with additional water to achieve the desired 5 gallon batch size. Once the mixture drops to room temperature, yeast is added to start the fermentation process. Cleanliness and sterilization are very important since the wort can be easily infected by bacteria while in this state. An airlock is used to keep the fermenter fermentor sealed during fermentation. Your beer will ferment for 1-2 weeks.# Priming and Bottling - Once the beer is fully fermented, it is usually siphoned to another container to prepare for bottling. Here priming sugars such as corn sugar sugar are mixed with the beer, and then it is siphoned into bottles and each bottle is capped with a bottle capping device.# Aging - Once the beer has been bottled it needs to age for 2-6 weeks. During aging the yeast will ferment the remaining sugar you added and create carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide will naturally carbonate your beer so it is nice an and bubbly. In addition, undesirable sediments such as excess yeast and proteins will drop out of the beer during aging and this will enhance the flavor of your beer. In some cases it may take several months to reach peak flavor, though it is usually drinkable after a month.

Once you achieve a steady boil it is time to add the hops. Weigh the proper amount and drop it in the hot wort. Some brewers use a mesh hops bag to reduce the mess later, but if you can cool your beer quickly most of the hops will drop out after the boil. Stir occasionally during the boil to reduce the chance of extract settling to the bottom and carmelizing. I recommend you boil for 30-60 minutes. Boil time will affect your hop utilization and beer bitterness, so it but this particular batch is sized for a good idea to use a tool like BeerSmith to balance your hops and 60 minute boil time before you brew.

Once your boil has finished, you want to cool the hot wort to room temperature as quickly as possible to reduce the chance of infection. Many beginning brewers immerse their pot in a cold ice bath. Adding very cold water to the wort to bring it up to your target batch size (usually 5 gallons) will also help. More advanced brewers will use a chiller such as an immersion coil that runs cold water through a coil of copper tubing to quickly cool the beer. If needed , add water to the wort when you transfer it to your fermenter fermentor to achieve the target volume of 5 gallons.

The wort at this stage is very vulnerable to infection so you need to make sure that your fermenterfermentor, airlock, siphon tubes and anything else that touches the wort or yeast are thouroughly thoroughly sterilized. I use a solution of 5 gallons of water and small amount of household bleach to sterilize my equipment. However if you use bleach you must carefully rinse everything with hot water or you risk leaving your beer with a chlorine taste.

Your wort must be fully cooled to room temperature (72 F or so) and siphoned or dumped into your fermenter fermentor before you add (pitch) your yeast. Don't worry too much about all of the gunk (hops and proteins) in the wort - most of it will fall to the bottom during fermentation. Pitching yeast in hot wort will probably kill it off, so wait until your wort has fully cooled before adding yeast. I highly recommend the use of liquid yeast as it is far superior in quality to dry yeast. Liquid yeast comes in either a plastic tube or smack pack. The plastic tube type can be added directly to the wort. The foil smack-packs require you to pop an internal pouch containing the yeast several hours before pitching it to allow the yeast to grow in a self contained starter. Follow the instructions on your yeast pack to prepare it and then carefully add it to your fermenterfermentor. Once the yeast has been added and mixed in, close the top, fit your airlock (which needs a little water in it) and set your beer in a dark cool place where the temperature is steady.

Your airlock should begin bubbling within 12-36 hours, and continue fermenting for about a week. If you see no bubbles from the airlock, check the fit on your plastic pail and airlock. Often plastic fermenters fermentors have a poor seal on the lid that leaks. The bubbles in the airlock are CO2 produced by the fermentation, and will slowly tail off as fermentation nears completion. Assuming you have a good seal, the bubbles should slow to one every minute or two before you consider bottling. As a minimum I would ferment for a week before considering bottling a beer.

The blessed day has finally arrived to sample your creation. During the aging process excess yeast, tannins and proteins will settle to the bottom of your bottle. Get a clean glass, open your brew, and gently poor pour most of your beer into the glass leaving only the sediment and a small amount of beer in your bottle. Don't worry if you take a little sediment into the glass - it won't hurt you though it may not improve the taste of your brew. Smell the fresh beer, admire the frothy head, and then sip (don't guzzle) your first homebrew and enjoy! As always, please drink responsibly.