Even in a city full of bars and local breweries like Madison, sometimes a nice cold beer at home does the trick. Thanks to local wine and hop shops, it is possible to drink beer that tastes as good specialty brews yet is more reasonably priced: home brewing. Yes, brew your own beer—and it is not a tough process. Beer contains only four ingredients—water, malted barley, hops and yeast. It simply requires patience and a few bucks up front.
Home brewing is definitely worth the time and effort because it is cost-effective, entertaining and customizable. Michael Fay, a brewer at the Great Dane, 123 E. Doty St., said with home brewing ""You get to make beer however you want and it's a fun hobby.""
For approximately $25 in ingredient costs, you can home brew the equivalent of two cases and a six pack, a great deal when many specialty brews cost over a dollar apiece. You can imitate favorite beers from liquor stores, or you can create your own specific brew.
""If you take it seriously, you can get a good beer tailored to what you like"" said Ben Feifarek a home brewer and clerk at The Wine and Hop Shop, 1931 Monroe St.
Best of all, Chris Habeck, a UW-Madison Ph. D candidate and home brewer for 15 years, said there are advantages for heavy drinkers. Since unfiltered home brew contains yeast sediment high in vitamin B complex, ""the more home brew you drink the less likely you'll have a hangover.""
The process contains many steps, so find a partner to help you with the brewing. Ingredient kits to brew five gallons of beer (approximately 52 12oz. bottles) cost approximately $25 and can be found at wine and hop shops across town.
""Go to your home brew shop and have them guide you toward your first recipe,"" Habeck said.
You will need corn sugar, sugar, a five-gallon PVC bucket with cover (and an airlock on top to allow for fermentation), tubing for a siphon, a plastic capper, glass bottles and bottle caps.
Start by sanitizing all the equipment thoroughly.
""If you're good with sanitation, I think it's hard to make a bad beer,"" Feifarek said.
Heat 2.5 gallons of water in a big lobster pot on a stove. Once simmering, take the pot off the burner and add the malt extract (malt extract is the concentrated sugars from malted barley). Place the pot on the burner.
When the mixture starts boiling, add the hops. Boil for about an hour (time varies for different types of hops). Maintain a rolling boil. The pot will rapidly boil for five to 20 minutes. Make sure no residue spills out of pan.
In the meantime, prepare the yeast. Put 1 cup boiled water into a sterile jar. Stir in yeast and cover jar with Saran wrap. Wait 10 minutes, then stir in one teaspoon of sugar. Cover and place in a warm area out of sunlight.
After 30 minutes the yeast will be foaming and churning. After the mixture has boiled an hour, cool by placing it in a sink of ice or cold water.
After approximately 20 minutes, pour it into a 5-gallon PVC bucket, which should contain 2.5 gallons of cold water. When 5-gallon mixture has cooled to 75 to 80 degrees, add the yeast. Since yeast are living organisms, if you introduce them to the mixture while it is more than 100 degrees, they will die. Place cover on the fermenting bucket.
Fill airlock halfway with water and put on the cap. Place the bucket in a dark location at room temperature and let it ferment for 10 to 14 days.
Then, pop off the lid. There should be few, if any, bubbles in the fermentation bucket. Boil one cup of corn sugar for five minutes and pour it into the beer. Then gently stir to carbonate the beer.
Then siphon the contents from the bucket into glass bottles. Start slowly, and press the siphon against the bottom of the bottle to create less foam. Fill your bottles about three-quarters of an inch from the top.
After filling all bottles, cap and crimp pop-tops, For best results, do not use twist offs. Wait seven to 10 days for the beer to develop carbonation in the bottle. Store bottles in a dark location at room temperature.
According to Habeck, ""You can start trying it in about a week, but you're better off letting it set for about two weeks."" Then enjoy!
