Hey there. I recently received a Mr. Beer homebrew kit. In a little bit I will be bottling my first batch for carbonation. (Fingers crossed)
The Mr. Beer kit really generalizes everything. There is a can of wort, a yeast packet, and something they call “booster” that contains dextrose and maltodextrins. All I have to do is add water, heat and dissolve the booster, add to the wort, then add yeast and ferment. And while this is all well and good to get me started….I am very quickly realizing that I want to be at the level of most of you here are at: discussing hop/yeast strains, specific gravity and such. So I have alot of questions as it seems that alot of the discussion here seems to be a bit advanced. And with your help I hope to be the brewer I know I want to be. So anyways here goes:
Dear BrewBoard,
Preparation:
1. My homekit has a pack of sanitizer that is basically “just add water”. What can you recommend to sanitize my equipment in the future?
2. I understand how important keeping everything sanitized is. But do you have any tips or lessons learned so that I might avoid any common pitfalls?
Malts:
1. I have no idea where I would get malted cereal grains. I mean, are we talking frosted mini wheats here? Is there an online resource where you order them? Do you make your own from ingredients found at the supermarket?
2. How do I know when the malts have germinated properly? Are there any guidelines to modifying the malts?
2. How do I know how much to get? What is the ratio of quantity of malts to quantity of beer produced? How does the quantity of malt affect the outcome of the beer?
3. What is the relationship between malts/drying method/and modification? Are there some general guidlines?
Hops:
1. What are hops exactly?
2. Where do I get hops?
3. I understand that there are two different kinds of hops (aroma hops and bittering hops) but how do I know which is which?
Yeast:
I think there are enough threads here that I can find stuff on my own.
The Overall Process
Creating Wort
So once I have found my malts what next? I understand that malts need to transformed into malt extract but I do not understand what that exactly entails or what I would need for it.
Then I add hops and other various ingredients (honey, blueberries, etc.) and I boil them all together. How do I know what the ratio of malt to hops is to be? How do I know how long to boil it together? Do you have any tips/suggestions/resources you can recommend?
Fermentation
I am interested in higher alcohol content beers. I understand that there is a balancing act when it comes to adding fermentable sugars but how do I know? And, I am sure this is one of those experience things but do you have any suggestions?
And I guess this is it for now. I hope to tap the wealth of knowledge here and someday soon I will be able to join the monthly beer pass. Happy brewing and thank you in advance.
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