How to Make Beer
Brewing beer at home is simpler than you think. If you can follow simple instructions and have common kitchen items, plus a Mr. Beer Kit you easily brew up a batch of the best-tasting beer your palate has ever experienced.
These steps outlined are for brewing our basic ingredients that come with our Mr. Beer Kits.
Step 1: Prepare
Gather your brewing equipment. You'll need:
- Brewing pot for use on your stove (1-gallon capacity)
- 2-Galon fermenter
- Purified refrigerated water
- Mr. Beer No-rinse Sanitizer
- Whisk
- Stir Spoon
- Mr. Beer Hopped Malt extract
- Mr. Beer Brewing yeast (found under the lid of your hopped malt extract)
- Mr. Beer Booster or LME (optional)
- Bottles
- Carb Drops or sugar for bottling
Make sure to check out our Mr. Beer Complete Brewing Kits. They come with everything you need to get started. All you have to supply are common kitchen items.
Step 2: Santize
As a rule of thumb, your brewing equipment can never be “too clean”. Sanitizing is one of the most important steps to having a successful brew! Before you begin brewing, fill your fermenter with one gallon of water and add HALF the packet of included “No-rinse cleanser” to the water. Use this solution on all your brewing equipment including the keg, spoons, scissors, and anything else you may be using during the process. Maintain the other half-packet for your bottling process, later.
Step 3: Brew
1. Place your pot on the stove with the heat off and add 4 cups of water. If your kit contains Booster packets, add them to the cool water and stir to dissolve.
2. Bring water to a boil. Once boiling, remove the pot from the heat.
3. Open the can of brewing extract and pour it into your pot of hot water. Stir with a sanitized spoon to combine. (If your kit includes LME packets, they will also be added in with the can of brewing extract.) This unfermented mixture of beer is called “wort”.
Step 4: Ferment
1. Add cold water to your fermenter to “Line 1”. This is approximately 1-gallon of water.
2. Pour your wort into the fermenter and add more cold water until you reach “line 2” on your fermenter. This will bring your total volume to approximately 2-gallons.
3. Stir with a sanitized whisk and sprinkle in your included packet of yeast. Screw on the lid.
Step 5: Bottle
After fermentation is complete, typically within two weeks, it's time to bottle your beer.
1. Sanitize your Bottles and caps by mixing the remaining portion of the no-rinse cleaner with one gallon of water in a large bowl. Rinse each bottle with sanitizer and empty the excess back into the bowl.
2. Prime your bottles for carbonation by adding carb drops or sugar to each sanitized bottle.
3. Fill each bottle with beer about an inch from the very top of the bottle and cap each bottle as you go.
4. Once bottled, place your bottles in a warm area (72-75 degrees F) to condition for 2-3 weeks.
5. After conditioning, place your beer in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours
That's it! You just made your first batch of beer, congrats! Now sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor, cheers!