How to make beer from concentrate at home: features, best recipes and recommendations

Home brewing in recent years is becoming more popular in Russia. The quality of the store beer has long left much to be desired. Fans of the foam drink often prefer live draft beer. And true connoisseurs are ready to spend their time and energy to cook it at home - according to their own wishes and preferences.

Traditions of home brewing

The customs to prepare beer at home appeared in Russia. Initially, it was a drink that everyone cooked for themselves. More often beer was brewed on holidays in the big house of the village headman. On all components of the money collected in a fold. Also, the beer was prepared in Orthodox monasteries or in the manors of landlords, but also by domestic means.

The production of beer for mass consumption, the so-called factory consumption, arose only in the eighteenth century, during the reign of Peter I. Beer was brewed in large volumes for the army and navy - this was an indispensable attribute of their diet. In the XIX century, the first breweries began to appear. They already resembled modern, and some are still working today.

Production technology

Despite its popularity and availability, beer is considered one of the most difficult in the production of alcoholic beverages. The main stages are as follows. First you need to get malt. To do this, soak and germinate the cereal, as a rule, barley. At this time, they have enzymes that can turn into sugar, which consumes yeast, so they produce alcohol and carbon dioxide.

In the second stage, the malt is crushed and dissolved in water. For this process, special temperatures are needed, so this process is very complex and time-consuming. After the starch has turned into sugar, the resulting wort is filtered. At the last stage it is boiled with hops, giving the necessary flavor and taking care that the proteins contained in the grain precipitate. After the beer is sent to fermentation.

Many production processes take a lot of time and resources, so people often prefer to make beer from concentrate at home. Concentrate is obtained by evaporating water from the wort, the formed powder allows to pass many technological processes.

In our modern world, the way to prepare beer from concentrate at home came from the USA. Now there are about one million fans who produce a foamy drink in their kitchen. Before Russia beer concentrates reached the middle of the 90s of the last century.

What will be required for the production of home beer?

First, the pan. It is needed to dilute the concentrate for beer at home. Secondly, utensils for fermentation. It is best to use horse yeast, which roam at room temperature for about a week. After that, pour beer into bottles, adding a small amount of sugar. So the fermentation process will continue, and the beer will be saturated with the necessary carbonic acid.

Myths about home beer

There are several myths about home beer, very common among fans of a foamy drink, but they have nothing to do with reality.

Firstly, many people think that in factories beer is brewed from powder, and at home, only natural ingredients are used. In fact, everything is exactly the opposite. Large companies use centuries-old beer production technologies, while private brewers usually skip many technological stages of production and make beer from concentrate at home.

Secondly, there is a misconception that live beer is not stored for a long time. However, even as you prepare beer from kvass concentrate at home, it gradually grows in the bottle. In this case, the shelf life of light varieties is calculated in months, and strong - for years. Of course, ideally, if you plan to store beer, and do not consume immediately, use glass bottles.

Ingredients of homemade beer

For a long time, only a limited number of beer concentrates existed on the territory of Russia. These were the most common - for light, dark and amber ale. The situation has radically changed only in recent years. Now you can cook almost any beer from the concentrate at home. Recipes of different varieties can master everyone. As a rule, it is the easiest to get a concentrate on the Internet, there are shops in large cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm. In them you can find and sets for a home brewer, including all the necessary adaptations.

At a certain stage, true connoisseurs of beer decide to abandon powder concentrates and try to cook natural beer, as they do at large enterprises. For this, it is not necessary to purchase specialized equipment (although it will be easier with it), but it will take a very long time.

True, almost nobody grows malt, it's not a problem to buy and grind it with a meat grinder or a coffee grinder.

The mashing step is carried out in a large saucepan. At the same time, the mixture must be stirred with a sugar pan and monitor the temperature. The wort is filtered through a sieve for flour. If desired, you can purchase a special filter in which the wort will be filtered through a layer of pellets, as in the factory.

Welding the must with hops, you can cool the drink by placing the vessel in a tub of icy water. Protein and hops at home are separated, filtering the wort through the usual gauze.

How to become a home brewer?

Today, in the age of modern technology, home brewers began to unite in communities in social networks. Therefore, to find an experienced associate who will give good advice to a beginning beer connoisseur is not a problem. These groups are actively discussing how to make beer from the beer concentrate at home, where to buy everything necessary, how to solve the most common problems.

The oldest such community (the Club of Home Brewers) appeared during the monopoly in this market of the company "Teddy Beer", specializing in the production of powder concentrate.

What kind of beer is produced at home?

This question is asked by the majority of those who want to get beer from concentrate at home. The testimonials of experienced brewers speak of one thing: a light, filtered camp, well-known to us from the store's beer, is almost impossible to get in your kitchen. At home, it is much easier to weld beer brands, popular in the middle of the century before last.

After the American hops began to be sold in large quantities in Russia, the British or Indian light elites became popular. And also classic German wheat, white Belgian. Most of these species can hardly be attributed to any specific varieties, so the scope for creativity in a home brewer is very wide. You can experiment with all the ingredients until you figure out how to make beer at home, the recipe of which you will most like.

Of course, novice brewers are best to start with concentrates and only then go to a more complex level - to do grain brewing.

Step-by-step instruction

In order to get beer from concentrate at home, there is nothing complicated. However, you must strictly follow all the recommendations, and most importantly - be patient.

About a week will go to wort fermentation at room temperature using special brewer's yeast. At the same time, alcohol and carbon dioxide are produced.

The resulting product should be poured into sealed containers and added sugar syrup. Thus, the process of secondary fermentation begins. At this stage, natural carbon dioxide is formed. This will take another week, the temperature should also be at room temperature.

Then the drink should be infused in a cool place for two weeks. This is all - you can try the beer, treat your friends and enjoy the taste together with them.

Remember that beer should not be canned, boiled or pasteurized, the safety of the final product will be provided by brewer's yeast.

The best recipes

Having tried popular powders necessary to weld beer from concentrate at home, you will soon want to try something really unusual and unique. So, for example, there are technologies for making beer without malt. Such recipes are used just at home.

There are many original beer recipes. So, you can dissolve honey in water, mix with hops and cook for one hour. After fermentation and aging in the warmth, a drink that closely resembles a classic mead is obtained.

Gourmets should try beetroot beer. To do this, cut beets into small pieces and boil in salt water. Then add the hop cones and juniper berries. Cook again. After two weeks of fermentation, the original beetroot beer is ready.

Finally it is worth recalling: the main thing - do not be afraid to experiment, and then you will get the glory of a home brewer.