Ultimate Beer Starter Kit

The Ultimate Starter Kit Contains:

Fermenting Equipment Testing equipment Siphoning Equipment Kegging Equipment Sanitizing and Cleaning Equipment

In addition to the kit, you will also need:

Brewing Overview

The following is an overview of using your starter kit to brew a “typical” batch of beer. The purpose is to demonstrate how all of the equipment can be used to brew, from start to finish. Because every beer recipe is a little bit different, you should always follow the detailed instructions that come with the kit or the recipe.

Before you brew

If you are brewing with a Wyeast “smack pack” (the yeast that comes in our kits), you will need to prepare the yeast in advance. This takes a minimum of 6-8 hours, but can be done 24 hours or more in advance. The preparation of the yeast is quite simple: remove the yeast from the refrigerator, and smack the package. This breaks open the inner seal, and releases yeast food and nutrients into the yeast. Shake the package well, and store it in a moderately warm place (70-80° F).

We recommend marking your carboy with volume markings in advance. Take a one gallon container, and fill it with water. Pour it into the carboy. Make a mark with a permanent marker or a thin strip of electrical tape. Repeat this process five more times.

Brewing the beer

Fill the kettle. On brewing day, start the brewing process by collecting 1 ½ gallons of good-quality drinking water in your boiling kettle. Put the kettle on the burner and start heating it.

Steep the grains. If your kit contains a blend of specialty grains, place them in a mesh bag. Tie one end of this bag into a knot. Put the bag in the heating kettle. Make sure the bag isn't resting directly on the bottom of the kettle. Bob the bag up and down periodically to help extract some flavor from the grains. Remove the bag after 15 minutes or before the water comes to a boil. Do not boil the specialty grains!

Add malt extract. When the water comes to a boil, remove the kettle from the burner. While stirring, mix in the malt extract (both syrup and dried). Once dissolved, return the kettle to the burner and bring it back to a boil. The mixture is now called “wort”, the brewer's term for unfermented beer.

BOIL OVER WARNING: Watch the kettle carefully at this stage. When it returns to a boil, there will be a lot of froth that can very quickly rise up over the kettle and “boil over”. Be prepared to reduce the heat as soon as the boiling begins again. Rapid frothing can also occur whenever you add ingredients to the boil; this is particularly true of the first hop addition.

Boiling the wort. During the boil, hops (and possibly other ingredients) are added at various times. Consult the kit recipe to see when to add the hops and other ingredients.

Recipes normally indicate hop addition times as “minutes before the end of the boil.” For example, if you have a recipe that calls for 1 ounce of Chinook hops at 60 minutes, and 1 ounce of Cascade hops at 10 minutes, then add the Chinook hops right away and set a timer for 60 minutes. When there are 10 minutes left on the boil, add the ounce of Cascade hops.

Chill the wort. Shortly before the end of the boil, fill your sink with about 3-4 inches of cold water. When the boil is finished, cover the kettle and cool the wort by placing the covered container in the water bath. You can cool faster by adding ice to this bath, or by periodically draining and replacing the water. If you can get the temperature down to about 170° F within 20 minutes, you are doing a pretty good job.

Sanitize the primary fermenter. While the kettle is chilling, sanitize the six gallon carboy, plus a stopper, fermentation lock and funnel. Make up a One Step sanitizer solution (1 tablespoon of One Step per gallon of warm water), and make sure all surfaces that will touch the wort remain in contact with the One Step solution for 1-2 minutes. See the section titled "Sanitation" for more details.

Fill the fermenter. Fill the sanitized carboy with 2 1/2 gallons of cold drinking water. Pour the contents of the boiling kettle into the carboy through the funnel. Leave any thick sludge in the bottom of the kettle. Top the fermenter up to 5 1/2 gallons with more cold water. Never pour hot wort into an empty glass carboy!

Pitch yeast. The temperature of the wort should be ideally below 80 degrees when you pitch (add) yeast. You can determine "safe" pitching temperatures without a thermometer. Feel the fermenter with your hands. If the carboy does not feel warm to the touch, it should be safe to pitch the yeast.

Sanitize the outside of the Wyeast package and a pair of scissors. Be sure the sanitizing solution you use for this step is not too hot, as temperatures over 100° F can damage the yeast. Shake the yeast well. Cut a corner off the Wyeast pouch and pour the yeast into the fermenter.

Take a hydrometer reading. Take a hydrometer reading and record it. See the section titled "Using a hydrometer".

Seal the fermenter. After you pitch yeast into the wort, fill the s-shaped fermentation lock with a small amount of water (about a tablespoon), and insert it into the rubber stopper. The fermentation lock is a one-way valve, which allows gas to escape, but does not allow air back in. Seal the ferementer with the bung. Do not apply excessive pressure to the bung, as you will force the bung into the carboy! Instead, take the fermentation lock/stopper assembly out of the carboy, and let it air dry. Place the fermenter in a appropriate place – most ale yeast ferments best at 60-75° F.

Fermentation Overview

Beginning of Fermentation

Fermentation should begin within 48 hours. The more fresh, healthy yeast you add to the fermenter, the shorter the “lag phase” (the amount of time before fermentation begins). During the most active stage of fermentation, you may see the fermentation lock bubble.

Blow off

Blow off occurs when there is so much kraeusen that it can not be contained by the fermenter. Certain strains of yeast, described in yeast profiles by the phrase “top cropping”, are prone to blow off. High temperature and other enviornmental factors can also cause a fermentation to blow off.

Kraeusen is filled with sugars, proteins and spent hops, and it can be quite messy. On rare occasions, it can plug up the stopper causing the carboy to explode! That's why it is extremely important to deal with blow off when you notice it occurring.

We have included a large-diameter blow off tube that you can use if you experience blow off. To use this tube, remove the stopper, and insert the blow off tube directly into the neck of the carboy -- no stopper is needed. Place the other end of the tube into a bucket of water. This prevents anything from entering the fermenter, and is functionally equivalent to your fermentation lock. The kraeusen is expelled into the bucket.

When blow off stops, replace the stopper and fermentation lock.

End of Fermentation

During the fermentation, the specific gravity will steadily drop until the fermentation ends, at which point it will remain the same. After the beer has been in the primary fermenter for one week, you should start taking hydrometer readings to see if it has completed fermentation. It's okay to open the fermenter to get a sample with the thief. When you take two identical readings on consecutive days, then the fermentation is complete.

One of the advantages of using a glass carboy as your fermenter is that you may omit the hydrometer readings, if desired. The primary fermentation is finished when the thick, yeasty head (called “kraeusen”) that forms on the beer falls back. You will also notice the beer starting to clairify, and particles settling out. There will be little or no activity in the fermentation lock.

See the section titled "Using a hydrometer" for more details.

Secondary Fermentation

Secondary fermentation takes place after primary fermentation. It is a conditioning period that improves clarity and flavor before the beer is packaged in bottles or kegs. This extra step is necessary when brewing strong, high-gravity ales or any kind of lager, although any beer will benefit from a secondary fermentation.

How it works

Once primary fermentation subsides, the beer must be transferred to the secondary fermenter to separate it from the large amount of yeast and precipitated solids that have collected in the bottom of the primary - prolonged exposure to this material (called "trub") can lead to rubbery, soapy, or sulfury flavors and aromas. During secondary fermentation there will be little to no visible yeast activity. The beer will look still and quiet as yeast cells and protein molecules gradually settle out of suspension - this creates a layer of fine sediment at the bottom of the carboy and leaves the beer much clearer than before (and means less solids in the bottom of each bottle once the finished beer is packaged). On a microscopic level, the yeast cells, which have metabolized all or almost all of the wort sugars, reabsorb some of the volatile compounds they produced in the primary and begin to go dormant. This reduction of "fermentation character" results in cleaner, smoother flavor and aroma in the finished beer.

The Right Vessel for the Job

During the secondary fermentation, it's critical to protect the beer from exposure to oxygen. This kit contains a five-gallon glass carboy for the secondary fermenter. When sealed with a rubber stopper and an airlock, glass carboys are airtight and non-permeable to keep beer fresh; using a carboy of the same volume as your batch size minimizes air in the headspace.

When to do it

Beer is ready for secondary fermentation as soon as the primary fermentation subsides. The beer should be at or near final gravity (refer to the section on Using a Hydrometer for more on final gravity readings). If you are using a glass primary fermenter, monitoring the krauesen is usually accurate enough for ale brewing: transfer the ale to the secondary any time after the krauesen starts to fall back into the beer. For lagers, it's best to check the gravity with a hydrometer.

Procedure

  1. Sanitize siphoning equipment, five gallon glass carboy, rubber stopper, and an airlock.
  2. Carefully siphon the beer from the primary fermenter into the sanitized five gallon carboy, being careful to disturb the sediment at the bottom of the primary as little as possible. Refer to the siphoning section for detailed instructions on siphoning.
  3. Fill the airlock with a small amount of water (about a tablespoon), insert it into the rubber stopper, and seal the carboy.
  4. Place the carboy in a dark, quiet spot where it will be out of the way. There may be renewed yeast activity for a day or two, but after that it should be quiet and still.

How long does secondary fermentation last?

"As long as it needs to." Yeast selection, temperature, and the beer itself are some of the variables that determine this. Use the following rules of thumb:

Ales: Three to seven days for every .010 points of original gravity. Subtract 1.000 from the OG reading before attempting this calculation. For example, for an ale with an OG of 1.040, the secondary fermentation should last between 12 and 28 days. 

[(1.040 - 1.000) / 10] x 7 days
[.040 / .010] x 7 days
4 x 7 days = 28 days
[(1.040 - 1.000) / .010] x 3 days
[.040 / .010] x 3 days
4 x 3 days = 12 days

High-gravity ales: seven to ten days for every 0.010 points of original gravity.

Lagers: seven to fourteen days for every 0.010 points of original gravity. Note that temperature plays a very important role in secondary fermentation for lagers; refer to www.northernbrewer.com for detailed lagering instructions.

Secondary Fermentation

Secondary fermentation takes place after primary fermentation. It is a conditioning period that improves clarity and flavor before the beer is packaged in bottles or kegs. This extra step is necessary when brewing strong, high-gravity ales or any kind of lager, although any beer will benefit from a secondary fermentation.

How it works

Once primary fermentation subsides, the beer must be transferred to the secondary fermenter to separate it from the large amount of yeast and precipitated solids that have collected in the bottom of the primary - prolonged exposure to this material (called "trub") can lead to rubbery, soapy, or sulfury flavors and aromas. During secondary fermentation there will be little to no visible yeast activity. The beer will look still and quiet as yeast cells and protein molecules gradually settle out of suspension - this creates a layer of fine sediment at the bottom of the carboy and leaves the beer much clearer than before (and means less solids in the bottom of each bottle once the finished beer is packaged). On a microscopic level, the yeast cells, which have metabolized all or almost all of the wort sugars, reabsorb some of the volatile compounds they produced in the primary and begin to go dormant. This reduction of "fermentation character" results in cleaner, smoother flavor and aroma in the finished beer.

The Right Vessel for the Job

During the secondary fermentation, it's critical to protect the beer from exposure to oxygen. This kit contains a five-gallon glass carboy for the secondary fermenter. When sealed with a rubber stopper and an airlock, glass carboys are airtight and non-permeable to keep beer fresh; using a carboy of the same volume as your batch size minimizes air in the headspace.

When to do it

Beer is ready for secondary fermentation as soon as the primary fermentation subsides. The beer should be at or near final gravity (refer to the section on Using a Hydrometer for more on final gravity readings). If you are using a glass primary fermenter, monitoring the krauesen is usually accurate enough for ale brewing: transfer the ale to the secondary any time after the krauesen starts to fall back into the beer. For lagers, it's best to check the gravity with a hydrometer.

Procedure

  1. Sanitize siphoning equipment, five gallon glass carboy, rubber stopper, and an airlock.
  2. Carefully siphon the beer from the primary fermenter into the sanitized five gallon carboy, being careful to disturb the sediment at the bottom of the primary as little as possible. Refer to the siphoning section for detailed instructions on siphoning.
  3. Fill the airlock with a small amount of water (about a tablespoon), insert it into the rubber stopper, and seal the carboy.
  4. Place the carboy in a dark, quiet spot where it will be out of the way. There may be renewed yeast activity for a day or two, but after that it should be quiet and still.

How long does secondary fermentation last?

"As long as it needs to." Yeast selection, temperature, and the beer itself are some of the variables that determine this. Use the following rules of thumb:

Ales: Three to seven days for every .010 points of original gravity. Subtract 1.000 from the OG reading before attempting this calculation. For example, for an ale with an OG of 1.040, the secondary fermentation should last between 12 and 28 days. 

[(1.040 - 1.000) / 10] x 7 days
[.040 / .010] x 7 days
4 x 7 days = 28 days
[(1.040 - 1.000) / .010] x 3 days
[.040 / .010] x 3 days
4 x 3 days = 12 days

High-gravity ales: seven to ten days for every 0.010 points of original gravity.

Lagers: seven to fourteen days for every 0.010 points of original gravity. Note that temperature plays a very important role in secondary fermentation for lagers; refer to www.northernbrewer.com for detailed lagering instructions.

Kegging your homebrew

Warning

Working with carbon dioxide is potentially very dangerous. CO2 cylinders are under very high pressure. If the valve were to break off of the cylinder, it would become an unguided missile, possibly causing injury or death. For this reason it is important that you immobilize CO2 cylinders by securing them with chains, bungee cords, etc.

Additionally, a CO2 gas leak in an enclosed area could displace oxygen and cause asphyxiation. Always test gas handling systems for leaks.

The CO2 cylinder

A filled CO2 cylinder contains carbon dioxide in a liquid state. This liquid CO2 exerts vapor pressure, filling the head space of the cylinder with gaseous CO2. At room temperature, the vapor pressure of carbon dioxide is about 800 pounds per square inch (PSI). If you put your CO2 cylinder in the refrigerator, you may notice the vapor pressure drop as low as 400 PSI. As you draw CO2 gas from the cylinder's head space, the liquid CO2 evaporates to maintain a constant vapor pressure. If you monitor the pressure inside the CO2 cylinder, you will notice that the pressure remains constant even as you draw off CO2. The pressure in the cylinder will not drop until until the liquid CO2 is depleted, at which point the pressure will drop rapidly. Because of this phenomenon, the best way to measure CO2 usage is to weigh the cylinder, and subtract the cylinder's tare weight, or the weight of the empty cylinder. The tare weight is usually stamped into the cylinder and is prefixed by the letters "TW". An experienced brewer will known when the cylinder needs more gas just by lifting the cylinder and assessing its weight.

A shutoff valve is located at the top of the cylinder. Keep this valve closed until you attach a regulator to the cylinder. To open this valve, you need only crack it open 1/2 turn.

The Regulator

As you might expect, CO2 pressures in your keg system are regulated by a CO2 regulator, pictured in Figure 1. The regulator is attached to the high-pressure CO2 cylinder by the cylinder coupling nut. The regulator is attached to the keg through a low-pressure port; our regulators have a shutoff valve installed in this port, which allows the brewer to conveniently, quickly, and absolutely shut off CO2 flow to the keg. When the valve's lever is perpendicular to the valve stem, the shutoff valve is closed; it is open when the lever is parallel to the stem. The regulator has two pressure gauges. The high pressure gauge, opposite the coupling nut, measures the pressure inside the CO2 cylinder in pounds per square inch. The low pressure gauge, located on the top of the regulator body, measures the internal regulator pressure. If this pressure is greater than the pressure inside the keg, the regulator will deliver gas to the keg until the regulator pressure and the keg pressure are equal. You can simultaneously increase the regulator's internal pressure and the pressure in the keg by turning the regulator's adjusting screw clockwise. You can decrease the regulator's internal pressure (but not the keg pressure) by turning the adjusting screw counterclockwise.

The regulator also contains a pressure relief valve that will help to protect the regulator from damage if the internal regulator pressure gets too high.

The Keg

A Cornelius-style keg is a cylindrical tank made of stainless steel. On the top of the keg are two male posts for attaching quick disconnect couplings, which allow you to quickly and easily attach fluid lines, such as gas or beverage tubing.

Underneath the post labeled "IN" is a very small gas down tube which is used to deliver CO2 gas into the head-space of the keg. When filling a keg, you should make sure that this down tube is never immersed in liquid, or else liquid could get forced into the gas hose.

The post labeled "OUT" is attached to a much longer liquid down tube, which extends to the bottom of the keg. This tube remains immersed in liquid until all the liquid has been dispensed from the keg.

When cleaning or siphoning beer into the keg, access to the inside is provided via the oval lid. A rubber o-ring provides a positive seal between the lid and tank. The lid contains a pressure relief valve, which can be manually opened to vent excess CO2 pressure from the keg. This pressure relief valve also serves as an emergency overpressure valve, automatically venting CO2 if the pressure exceeds the maximum safe pressure of 130 PSI.

Initial Assembly and Leak Test

  1. Use a wrench to tighten the connections on the gas connector kit and the faucet tubing kit. The swivel nut should be snug, but do not over-tighten.
  2. Attach the gas connector kit to the regulator's shutoff valve and tighten with a wrench.
  3. Attach the regulator to the CO2 tank. Make sure to place the nylon washer between the cylinder and the regulator. Tighten firmly with a wrench. Make sure the regulator's shutoff valve is closed, and the adjusting screw is backed all the way out. Crack open the valve at the top of the CO2 cylinder. There should be no hissing or other signs of leaks and regulator gauge readings should remain steady.
  4. Attach the disconnects to the keg's posts. The black liquid disconnect attaches to the keg's liquid/out post. The gray gas disconnect to the keg's gas/in post.
  5. Open the regulator's shutoff valve. Pressurize the keg to 10-15 PSI by turning the adjusting screw clockwise. Test all threaded connections, quick disconnects and pressure relief valves with soapy water or gas leak detector (available at any hardware store). Even a small leak will drain your CO2 cylinder, and in some cases it could even be dangerous.

Sample Kegging procedure

When fermentation is complete, you are ready to keg. Thoroughly clean and sanitize your equipment: Remove the oval tank lid by lifting upward on the metal locking bars. Fill tank with 2 1/2 gallons of the sanitizing solution of your choice. We recommend using Star San, as it requires no rinsing. Do not use chlorine, as it reacts with stainless steel and may cause 'pitting' of the surface. Flip the keg upside down once to ensure that all surfaces remain in contact with the sanitizer. Attach gas line (gray disconnect) to "In" post of tank. Attach liquid line (black disconnect, with faucet) to "out" post. Crack open the valve on the CO2 cylinder. Adjust gas regulator to a low pressure (1 to 5 PSI). Open the regulator shutoff valve (located at the base of the regulator) by turning it down in line with the tubing. Depress the faucet head to begin liquid flow. After running the sanitizing solution through the system, release pressure by, first, turning regulator shutoff valve to the off position; second, release pressure in tank by pulling upward on the pressure relief valve in the keg lid. If you are not using a no-rinse sanitizer, finish with a sterile water rinse.

Carbonation

There are two options to carbonate using the Cornelius kegging system: sugar priming as you do with bottles or force carbonating using the CO2 from your tank.

Sugar priming

  1. Dissolve 1/3 cup corn sugar in a cup of water and boil for at least five minutes. Add to an empty, sanitized keg.
  2. To reduce oxidation during transfer, you may wish to purge the air out of the keg. Attach the gas/in line. With the lid off, adjust the regulator to a low pressure (less than 5 PSI) and run CO2 into the open keg for several seconds. CO2 is heavier than air and will displace it.
  3. Siphon beer from the secondary fermenter into the keg.
  4. Attach the lid and pressurize to about 10 PSI to seat the lid.
  5. Keep keg in an area with temperatures equal to or above that of fermentation temperature to finish carbonating. Expect carbonation to be complete after a few weeks.

Forced carbonation

When beer is stored under CO2 pressure, it will gradually absorb the carbon dioxide gas until it reaches a state of equilibrium. There are two factors that determine how much CO2 will become dissolved in beer: temperature, and pressure.

Temperature's effect on CO2 solubility is very straightforward. It is easier to dissolve CO2 in cold beer than warm beer.

There is an equally simple rule pertaining to pressure: the higher the CO2 pressure, the more readily CO2 gets dissolved in beer.

Brewers express the amount of carbonation in a beer in volumes. A volume is defined as the volume the CO2 in beer would occupy at 0° F and atmospheric pressure, relative to the volume of the beer itself. For example, the CO2 in one pint of British Ale carbonated to 2 volumes of CO2 would occupy two pints of space.

For reference, here is a list of beer styles and the corresponding amount of carbonation:

  1. British Ale: 1.8 to 2.2 volumes
  2. German Lager: 2.5 volumes
  3. American Lagers and Ale: 2.6 to 2.8 volumes
  4. Wheat Beers: 3.0 volumes

With the assistance of Table 1, it is possible to precisely carbonate a beer to any arbitrary level of carbonation. The carbonation chart shows the relationship of CO2 solubility in beer at various temperatures and pressures. The top row contains the pressure in pounds per square inch. The first column lists beer temperatures. The numbers in the center represent the volumes of CO2 that will be dissolved in the beer at equilibrium.

In order to duplicate the carbonation of a German Lager, for example, you would need to force 2.5 volumes of CO2 into the beer. If you know your refrigerator is set at 45° F, you can consult Table 1 to determine that 2.5 volumes of CO2 is achieved at 15 PSI. If you were to lower the temperature of the refrigerator to 35° F, you would need just 10 PSI of pressure to achieve the same level of carbonation.

Table 1. Carbonation Chart
Temp 5 PSI 10 PSI 15 PSI 20 PSI 25 PSI 30 PSI
30° F 2.23 2.82
35° F 2.02 2.52 3.02
40° F 1.83 2.30 2.75 3.19
45° F 1.66 2.08 2.51 2.94
50° F 1.50 1.90 2.30 2.70 3.10
55° F 1.75 2.12 2.47 2.83 3.18
60° F 1.62 1.95 2.27 2.60 2.92

Simply setting the regulator pressure to the proper level will cause the beer to become carbonated. However, it may take many days for the beer to reach equilibrium with this method. Many brewers speed up the carbonation process by shaking the keg back and forth, which drastically increases the surface area of beer in direct contact with CO2. As you do this, you will hear the regulator delivering CO2 as it is being rapidly dissolved into the beer. You should shake the keg until it becomes increasingly difficult to get CO2 to dissolve into the beer. When you are finished, leave the CO2 line attached to the beer so it may complete the process.

You can further speed up the carbonation process by over-pressurizing the keg during the shaking process. By setting the regulator to a very high pressure, say 30 PSI, it will be easier to force CO2 into the beer. There is a possibility that you can over-carbonate the beer with this method, however. Be sure to lower the regulator pressure to the proper pressure when you are finished shaking.

If the beer becomes over-carbonated, it is possible to decarbonate the beer. You should periodically pull the pressure relief valve on the keg, de-pressurizing the head space. This will cause CO2 to come out of solution and re-pressurize the head space, at which point you can repeat the process. In extreme cases of over-carbonation, or very full kegs, you may find it advantageous to leave the keg open to the atmosphere by attaching a gas disconnect to the "IN" post.

Dispensing beer

In order to dispense a nice glass of beer (as opposed to a glass of foam), the beer needs to be gradually transitioned from the relatively high pressures inside the keg to the low (atmospheric) pressures outside of the keg. Foaming is caused when the beer experiences a rapid drop in pressure, and also when the beer splashes into a glass at excessive velocity.

In general, there are two ways to pour a good beer from a draft system. You can constantly manipulate the pressures inside the keg, or you can build a well-balanced system which requires no manipulation.

Constantly manipulating pressures

  1. When you wish to begin dispensing beer, reduce the regulator pressure to a low pressure, between 3 and 5 PSI.
  2. Reduce the head pressure by opening the pressure relief valve on the keg.
  3. Dispense beer.
  4. Over time, the head space will re-pressurize, and you may need to relieve the keg pressure prior to dispensing again.
  5. Restore the keg pressure to proper carbonation pressures for storage.

A balanced system

The optimal dispensing scenario is that you dispense beer at the same pressure at which it is carbonated, and you never modify the pressure inside the keg. In order to accomplish this you need to balance the applied pressure, or the pressure in the keg's head space, and the total restriction of the beverage system.

Nearly all of the restriction in a beverage system comes from the beverage tubing. It is harder to push beer through a long length of tubing than a short length because of the frictional resistance of the tubing's surface. The frictional resistance generated by tubing is called flow resistance.

The actual flow resistance of a tube is influenced by many factors, such as material, inner diameter and the degree to which it bent or coiled. The most dramatic effect is tubing diameter. All other things being equal, it is much harder to force beer through a narrow diameter tube than a large diameter one. The approximate flow resistance of 1/4" vinyl beverage tubing is 0.65-0.85 pounds/foot. Compare that to narrower 3/16" beverage tubing at approximately 2.2-3.0 pounds/foot. In practical terms, if you carbonate beer at 15 PSI, this means you will need 13-23 feet of 1/4" beverage tubing to have a balanced system. In comparison, you will need just 5-7 feet of 3/16" tubing to achieve the same result.

For most home brewers' draft systems, it is impractical to use anything but 3/16" beverage tubing. In most cases 5-7 feet will give good results, however you may need to modify the length if your conditions are unusual.

Cleaning

The most rigorous way to keep kegs clean and sanitary is to completely disassemble them after each use. You will need a ratchet with deep sockets to remove ball lock posts. Underneath the ball lock posts are down-tubes: a short gas down tube and a much longer liquid down tube. Each down tube has an o-ring attached to it. With the post removed, apply pressure to the top of the poppet valve with a small screwdriver. Even the disconnects can be disassembled and fully cleaned. Use a stainless strainer to rinse all the small parts, and then clean them in a solution of Powdered Brewery Wash (PBW). Clean the keg shell with any non-abrasive cleaner. Chlorine can pit stainless steel if left for more than a few minutes and is not recommended.

Sanitation

Sanitation is one of the most important steps in beer brewing. Most flaws in home made beer can be traced back to improper sanitation. There are a wide range of bacteria and wild yeast that can cause off-flavors in beer. It is a big disappointment to discover that your work, time, skill, and money have been wasted producing a bad batch just because you did not spend the few extra minutes and cents that it takes to sanitize properly.

Sanitation vs. Sterilization

Sanitation is not sterilization. If something is sterile, it is 100% free from any contamination by microorganisms. Sterilization is prohibitively expensive, and is not a goal of most brewers. Brewers seek a more attainable goal: sanitation. Sanitation is the reduction of the number of organisms down to a level where they can no longer have an impact on your beer. You will never be able to eliminate all of the contaminating organisms from your beer, but proper sanitation will reduce the exposure to a point where a real infection can not take hold and spoil your final product.

Sanitation vs. Cleaning

It is not possible to sanitize a surface that is not clean. A surface is clean when it is free of organic deposits, films, etc. Visual inspection is the best way to determine if a surface is cleaned. We make a distinction between cleaning and sanitizing chemicals. Cleaning chemicals are very powerful, often alkaline, chemicals which effectively remove organic deposits. Cleaning chemicals need to be thoroughly rinsed after use. Examples of these chemicals include B-Brite and Powdered Brewery Wash (PBW).

Contact Time

All sanitizing solutions need to be in contact with a surface for a certain amount of time to effectively reduce the number of microorganisms on that surface. This is called the “contact time” of the sanitizer. During this time the surface should be fully immersed in the sanitizing solution, not just wiped down with it.

Rinsing

All tap water, even chlorinated tap water, contains bacteria. This bacteria is normally not harmful to people who drink it, however it can be a potential source of contamination in brewing. The best way to combat the bacteria in tap water is to not rinse your equipment after sanitizing it. This can be accomplished by using a no-rinse sanitizer. These sanitizers are very effective against bacteria, but harmless to beer and people when used as directed. One Step and Star San are examples of no-rinse sanitizers.

What needs to be sanitized?

Everything that comes into contact with beer should be sanitized. This includes fermenters, tubing, spoons, rubber stoppers, fermentation locks and bottles. There is one exception to the above rule: it is not necessary to sanitize prior to boiling beer wort. Part of the purpose of boiling is to ensure the sanitation of the wort. Kettles, spoons, etc. will not need a separate sanitation step.

Procedure for using One Step

All of Northern Brewer's starter kits come with One-Step sanitizer. We choose to include One Step with our starter kits because it is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and also because it can be used as both a cleaner and a sanitizer. It does not require rinsing.

Siphoning

Siphoning is an important skill for any homebrewer to master. Siphoning allows you to transfer beer from one container to another without disturbing the sediment, and with minimal oxidation. This starter kit contains the Auto-Siphon, which is the easiest and most sanitary way to start a siphon.

To siphon, place the container you are siphoning from at a higher level than the receiving container. Connect the 5 foot length of 5/16” I.D. tubing to the Auto-Siphon. One stroke of the racking cane will normally be sufficient to pump beer all the way to the highest point in the siphon assembly. Once the column of beer gets past this highest point, gravity will do the rest of the work. All the beer in the top container will drain into the receiving container.

At the bottom of the Auto-Siphon is a black plastic tip. The purpose of this tip is to prevent the siphon from sucking sediment off of the bottom of the carboy. With this tip in place, you can lower the Auto-Siphon almost to the very bottom of the fermenter; just don't submerge the tip in sediment.

To minimize wasted beer, tip the top container slightly by wedging a small object about the size of a hockey puck underneath one end. With the top container tipped slightly, you can siphon out of the low corner, and get nearly every ounce of beer out of the fermenter without transferring sediment.

Beer that is or has recently fermented will often have a lot of carbon dioxide dissolved in it. When exposed to turbulence, the carbon dioxide can come out of solution, forming bubbles. These bubbles can gather into one large bubble, and this can cause the siphon to fail. The bubbles normally form at the juncture of the rigid plastic tube and the flexible siphon tubing because there is a slight change in inner diameter (and thus, turbulence) at this point. If you see bubbles forming there, pinch the flexible tubing where you see the bubbles, and they will be forced down stream.

As with everything else that touches your beer, make sure the siphoning equipment is sanitized.

Using a Hydrometer

The hydrometer is an instrument designed to measure the density of liquids. Because the density of beer wort is closely related to its sugar content, and because its sugar content is closely related to its eventual alcoholic content, the hydrometer can be used to determine the potential strength of beer wort. The hydrometer is also a very important diagnostic tool, because it allows you to monitor the progress of fermentation.

The hydrometer we include in the starter kit has three scales on it. The most commonly used scale is specific gravity. The specific gravity of a liquid is defined as its density relative to the density of water. By definition, water has a specific gravity of 1.000. To get the hang of using a hydrometer, and to make sure it is accurate, try it out. Fill a test jar with enough water to float the hydrometer, and lower the hydrometer into it. (The tube the hydrometer comes in can be used as a test jar.) The stem of the hydrometer will protrude above the surface of the water right at the mark that shows a Specific Gravity of 1.000.

A “typical” beer wort might have a specific gravity of 1.042. This means that the beer is 42% heavier, or denser, than water. If you were to measure the specific gravity of a beer during the course of fermentation, you would see the it continuously decrease. This would last about a week, until the specific gravity didn't change anymore. When the gravity stops decreasing, the beer has finished fermentation. We can say that it has reached its “final gravity”. The final gravity of a beer should be less than 35% of the original gravity reading. Subtract 1.000 from each Specific Gravity reading before attempting this calculation. For example, for a beer with an OG of 1.050, you would expect the final gravity reading to be (at maximum) 1.018. 

(1.050 – 1.000) * 0.35 = (max. final gravity – 1.000)
0.050 *  0.35 = (max. final gravity – 1.000)
0.018 = (max. final gravity – 1.000)
1.018 = max. final gravity

Using a hydrometer is the only fool-proof way to know when the primary fermentation has finished. After one week of fermentation, you should take a hydrometer reading every two days. When you take two consecutive readings that are the same, your beer has reached the end point of fermentation, and is ready to transfer to a secondary fermenter, or bottle.

The hydrometer can also be used to estimate the alcohol content of the beer. To do this, take a reading before the fermentation begins, and another after it ends. For this reading, you should use the “potential alcohol” scale. Subtract the original reading from the final reading.

The easiest way to get a sample for testing is to use a thief. The thief is something like a big drinking straw. Immerse it in the beer, and put your thumb over the hole at the very top of the thief. Withdraw the thief, and position it over your sample jar. Lift up your thumb, and deposit the sample in the jar. Repeat until you have collected an adequate sample.

Tips for getting an accurate measurement

Hydrometers are only accurate at a specific temperature, usually 60º F. The hydrometer includes a temperature correction chart for you to use if your sample is at a different temperature. Unless the sample is very hot or very cold, you will only need to adjust the reading by 1 or 2 points.

When taking a hydrometer reading, make sure the hydrometer is not rubbing up against the side of the sample jar. The friction from the contact with the jar can cause the hydrometer to get “stuck”, causing an inaccurate reading.

Gas bubbles that cling to the hydrometer can distort the reading. This often affects hydrometer readings taken during or after the fermentation, as there is a lot of carbon dioxide dissolved in the beer. Spin the hydrometer to dislodge the bubbles, and take a reading before they form on the hydrometer again. Or, you can de-carbonate the beer by pouring it back and forth between two glasses.