Getting Started

Making Beer & Wine At Home

So, you want to get started making wine and beer at home? Well, at we think that is a great idea. The following is an overall outline of the procedures you will have to follow.

Please bear in mind that the procedure for making your own beer and wine at home is not difficult, there are however, rules that must be followed for you to obtain the best results. For the most part, once you experience the things that are taking place with your fermentation the easier the whole process will become. With all things in life you must do something once, ask questions and then the entire task becomes easier. Now lets get going, and remember if you have never done this before, don't be put off with something you are not quite sure of! ASK!

The first thing required is the desire to make your own beer, wine, liquour and liquor at home and you're already there.

Next is the equipment that you will need. At Brew Craft we have two main starter equipment kits: one is specifically for beer, the other is for wine. We recommend the wine making equipment starter kit for beer as well, because the two stage fermentation will result in a beer with less sediment and there is less chance of spoilage in the brewing process. What is a two stage fermentation for beer? Simply put it is starting your beer in one fermenter (bucket) and transferring over to a second fermenter (carboy) to complete the fermentation and to clear. What is fermentation? It is a process whereby yeast reacts with sugar to give you alcohol and CO2.

One thing you must remember all through the brewing and bottling process is that anything that comes in contact with your beer or wine must be clean and sterile. This would include fermenting vessels, all equipment, hoses, bottles etc. These are easy tasks to perform, but they must be done.

Get a container such as a beef bucket or 4 litre ice cream container with a tight fitting lid. I like to use this type of container because I find it easier to pour to and from and allows me to easily drop in my thermometer and hydrometer for sterilizing. Now thoroughly wash all residue and grease from the container and rinse well. Pour in 4 litres of warm tap water and 50g of Sodium Metabisulphite that came with your equipment kit. Mix well. Be careful not to breathe the sulphur dioxide vapours and be sure to keep children and pets away from this container. This container now contains your sterilizing solution and should be marked as such. Always keep this container tightly sealed.

Now that the preliminaries are finished you can actually start to make your beer or wine! As I said, it is essential that everything that comes in contact with you beer or wine be clean and sterile. How do you achieve this? Simple. Place about two inches of hot tap water in your bucket and about ½ tsp. of diversol (the pink coloured powder). Thoroughly wash the bucket, lid, spoon, thermometer, hydrometer air lock and bung. This is all the equipment that will be used to start. Now rinse well with clear water. Your equipment is now clean but it still must be sterilized.

Pour about half of the sterilizing solution you first made into the fermenting bucket. Slosh it around the bucket to coat all interior surfaces. Pour the solution back into the original container. This solution can be re-used up to about four times or until the piercing smell has dissipated. Once the smell has disappeared this solution is no longer effective and must be thrown out. Rinse the bucket with clear water. Your bucket is now sterilized.

Take a paper towel, wet it in the sulphite (sterilizing) solution and wipe the inside of the bucket cover. Rinse with clear water. Place the sterilized bucket cover face up on the counter.

In turn, take the other equipment you previously cleaned, dip them into the sulphite solution, rinse and lay on the already sterilized bucket cover. Now all the equipment you need to start is clean and sterilized. You can now see the advantage of the container I chose for the sulphite solution.

One thing I should mention is that you can clean your equipment in advance but you cannot sterilize in advance. You must sterilize your equipment at the time you are going to use it. Do not think that once the equipment is sterilized, that's it forever. You must sterilize your equipment each time you are going to use it.

Now that you have your equipment clean, sterilized and ready to use, lets proceed. Most of the hard work is done for the time being. The following is a brief description of the procedures to be followed for making beer and wine.

TO MAKE BEER, simply put your malt (the kit you purchased) in a sink of hot water. This will soften the malt and allow it to pour out easier. Pour about a half kettle full of boiling water into the bucket. Pour in the one kilogram of corn sugar and stir thoroughly. Open the can of malt (careful it may be hot) and pour into bucket. Wash out the remaining malt with the rest of the boiled water (use a towel or oven mitts to handle the can). Again give the bucket a good stir. Now fill the bucket to about the 19 litre level with cold water, and stir again. Now you must take the temperature of the mixture, The ideal temperature at the 23 litre level is 75 Deg. F. Adjust the water temperature as required to obtain that requirement and fill the bucket to the 23 litre level. Give the wort one more good stir and sprinkle the yeast on top. Snap down the cover and fit the air-lock in place ¼ filled with water or sulphite solution.

For a single stage beer fermentation let the wort stand in the bucket for about 10 days, then the SG should be below 1.010 and all activity should have been stopped for a number of days. Thoroughly wash and sterilize about 5 1/2 dozen bottles and have your caps boiled and the capper ready. You now have two ways to prepare your beer for bottling. Either:

1. Place 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in each bottle, fill bottles with the beer and cap. Shake each bottle to make sure the sugar has dissolved. Store bottled beer in a WARM place for at least two weeks to carbonate and mature. OR 2 (Bulk Priming) Rack you beer into a second clean and sterilized bucket. Boil a cup of water and dissolve 1 cups of sugar. Slowly pour sugar mixture into bucket. Gently stir the beer to thoroughly mix the sugar with the beer. Bottle beer, cap and store in a WARM place for at least two weeks to carbonate and mature.

For a two stage beer fermentation, follow the first step for a single stage fermentation but, after five days in the bucket rack the beer into a clean and sterilized 23 litre carboy, fit the air-lock and let stand for another 10 days, at which time the SG should be below 1.010 and all action should have been stopped for a number of days and the beer should be clearing. Now follow the same instructions as per 2 above (bulk priming).

TO MAKE WINE, start by pouring about two litres of hot water in your clean and sterilized bucket, add the pouch of bentonote slowly (slowly is the secret) and stir thoroughly. Next pour in the grape concentrate. Rinse out the concentrate bag twice with warm water. Fill the bucket to the 23 litre level insuring that the temperature at that level is 75 deg F. Thoroughly stir the wort, sprinkle the yeast on top and fix the cover and air-lock ¼ filled with water or sulphite solution.

Allow to ferment for about 6 days. When the SG reaches about 1.010, carefully rack the wort to a clean and sterilized carboy leaving all sediment in the bucket. Top up if required. Re-attach air lock and let stand about 11 more days until all fermentation has stopped. The SG will now be down to about 0.996.

You now add your sulphite (sterilizing agent) and sorbate (stabilizer) to this carboy or, rack the wine to another carboy, in order to get rid of the built-up sediment, and add these two chemicals. Pour the isinglass in a small amount of warm water, stir to dissolve thoroughly, and add to the carboy.

Stir the carboy about three times a day for the next three days to get rid of all the residual gas in the wine. When finished top up and let the carboy stand, undisturbed, for about 7 days until it has fully cleared. A cool temperature will aide in clearing. You may now filter your wine and add oaking agent and/or conditioner of desired.

Wash and sterilize 30 bottles, rack wine into them and cork.

Chill and enjoy your home made beer and wine!

To clear up a few questions you may have.

Primary fermenter - 30 litre bucket with solid cover. At Brew Craft we only recommend this oversize bucket in order to prevent the spillage of fermentation foam that can spill out of smaller buckets.

Carboy - Secondary fermenter. 23 litre glass or plastic bottle. Must be topped up at all times to prevent oxidation.

Oxidation - A process of spoilage of your beer or wine when oxygen from the air or air space in the bucket or carboy (when not full) goes into the beer or wine.

Malt - The concentrate in your beer kit can.

Alcohol level - The 1 kg corn sugar will give you about 5% alcohol in your finished beer. Less sugar = less alcohol, more sugar = more alcohol.

Racking- The procedure for transferring your beer or wine from one container to another. Syphoning. You should always rack directly to the bottom of whatever you are racking into. Do not allow the wine or beer to splash from the neck of the vessel to the bottom. This will cause oxidation in your finished product. To make this easier pick up a second syphon rod and use it in the vessel you are transferring into. The syphon rod is easy to sterilize and will deliver your beer or wine to the bottom of the vessel.

When racking from your bucket or carboy, gently lift one side of the vessel and place a book or small block of wood under the raised edge. Place your racking tube, with sediment tip attached, to the lower edge of the bucket or carboy. Stop the racking as soon as any sediment travels up the syphon tube. This procedure will allow you to get all the wine or beer you can out of the bucket or carboy.

Sediment - The lees that settle out on the bottom of the primary or secondary fermenters. It consists of dead yeast cells and sediment from the concentrate used.

Oaking - The addition of oak flavouring to your wine. It gives the flavour of oak aged wine.

Conditioner - A sweetening additive to sweeten your wine and to aide the ageing process.

Filter - A method of removing all residual yeast. Used to polish your wine, if desired. You can only filter a clear wine.

How do you cap your beer or cork your wine? You can rent cappers or corkers at or purchase your own to be there whenever you need it.

Now, that wasn't all that bad after all, was it? All it takes is a little patience and you can be making your very own delicious beer and wine at home in your spare time. A rewarding and inexpensive hobby!

If you have any questions or if there is something you are not too sure of give us a call at and we will do our best to answer your concerns.

Have fun and Happy Brewing.