Homebrewing Guide for Beginners

Before we discuss the beginning steps to homebrewing, it is best to first understand what beer is and how it is made.
What is Beer Made Out Of?
As explained by Roger Barth in The Chemistry of Beer: The Science in the Suds, beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of remaining sugars. Huh? Simply put, beer is made by the fermentation of grain.
The most common starch used to brew beer is barley; malted barley to be exact. To begin brewing, the brewer takes milled barley and steeps it in hot water, called "mashing," to create a wort. After you have created your wort, you can add additions such as hops to give a variety of flavors to your beer. After you complete the boiling, you rapidly cool your wort and then add yeast to consume the sugar and release alcohol and CO2. After the yeast has finished eating all the sugars in the wort, you can bottle your beer and add additional sugar to create carbonation, which can take another few weeks. Then violà, you have beer.
Homebrewing Guide - Getting Started
Now, there is obviously more to brewing your own beer than that one paragraph could explain, and this knowledge comes with experience and research. However, if you are looking to get started in the world of homebrewing, you will need a few basics to get you started:
- A heat source (a stove will do)
- Boil pot
- Stirring spoon
- Measuring cup
- Can opener (if using malt extract like what is provided in the Mr. Beer kits)
- Fermenting vessel
- Bottles and Caps