G'day there, I have brewing beer and this may sound rather involved but once done a few times becomes extremely easy as I have been making home brewed beer, usually enough for approx. 104 long necks or 208 stubbies (4 fermenters at a time) at a time and been doing this and trying different ways for over 20 years so I thought I'd write the easiest and simple way of making beer and letting you know how...  The idea is to make a good beer not a cheap beer! I always brew in Summer as don't want to pay for a heating mat.

First off, I have found that the simple way to start off is just by buying one of those home brew beer kits you can get from either a home brew shop or supermarket... Forget about reading the whole stupid instructions that come with it and just print this out for keeps sake as some of the ingredients you get also I don't use and found too fiddly and messy to go through all the rigmarole...

So you should already have supplied with the Beer Brewing kit, something like a 

1 x 30ltr plastic fermenter, lid and rubber 'O' ring
1 x tap,washer and sediment reducer
1 x airlock & rubber grommet
1 x little bottler, bottling valve & tube
1 x Brewing Sugar
1 x adhesive digital thermometer
1 x set of instructions
1 x hydrometer1 x finnings
Sodium Metabisulphite - (Sterilizing powder)
A supply of bottles caps
1 x plastic spoon
1 x can Home Brew.  You'll also need a pot to boil water.

I do not use finnings or the sediment reducer  - I'll explain later.

Fermenter: Put together the fermeter kit - the big rubber o-ring in the lid which seals the top, the little o-ring goes in the lid to hold the airlock 'popper' - Handy hint: Always use Sterilizing mixture with water in the popper to save airborn bacteria getting in.
When you add the tap with rubber o-ring another hint is to have it slightly tilted to the left as when bottleing you'll notice it's easier for the air to escape the bottles and less overflow of bubbled froth.

Bottles:
The easiest way to get bottles is buy some already with beer and drink them (whether screw tops or not  - both work fine) In Australia they only come in screw tops these days and then wash them out with hot water once consumed, I have like a draining tree bought from the brewing store which allows me to wash them out immediately after use and hang them upside down on - 30 at a time. Handy when doing bulk brewing.
Hint: You can wash and reuse the screw tops that come with the bottles quite a number of times, especially if you have one of those jar untighteners or tighteners to tighten them up.

If you have a heap of dirty beer bottles simply submerge them in a clean plastic rubbish bin and soak them in boi-degradable nappy san, that's right (Baby nappy wash) as it's bio-degradable has no chemicals and  it cleans the bottles up real good, but rinse with hot water after clean, or just use home brew bottle washing powder as per instructions...

Make sure you give everything your going to use a good clean with Sodium Metabisulphate, at least once when starting including your bottles for the first time, mixing spoon, fermenter, teaspoon, jug,boiling pot, as this stuff really stinks and best not smelled as will give those prone to asthma short of breath real quick. But kills any air born crap which will make your beer go off.

The boiling pot: One approx which holds 7 -8 Litres is good, Mine is 6" inches deep and 11 " inches round with a good lid.

A good 2 litre jug, I have an enamel one for this job.

A good teaspoon.

You will need a good sized pot which you will want to keep for home brewing only, easily obtainable from a secondhand store or raided from the missus kitchen to boil water in and best to get one with a lid that you can close the home brew can in even when open. Make sure you use it for home brew only and never let any dishwashing liquid near any of your brewing utensils including the pot.

Regards Water:   If your on Tank rain water it is the best, and in Australia they add floride to our cities drinking water and in some states like South Australia you wouldn't drink the water, also we have drought area's where town water not the best as dams real low.  So fresh rain tank water is the go.

Sugar, Corn Syrup, Honey, Brown Sugar, or Malt, or Dextrose? ( Basically your choice)

I use just 1 kg of plain white sugar or sometimes malt extract (bought from the brewing shop) or just honey, Only half as much 500gms Honey needed (as makes the beer go down real nice) but found that replacing it with honey is extra good or brown sugar or home brew malt sugar great also...

The way to brew:

Put your brewing pot on the stove with approx only 2 litres of cold water in it, with a can opener open up your home brew lager tin till just about fully open but not all the way off and lift the lid slightly and place the tin in the pot, (to me doesn't matter if it's got a paper surround on the tin as it stays there anyway) then add another 3-4 liters or until approx. 3/4 the way up the tin. 

Put the lid on and wait until water boiling... Once boiled take out the lager tin using the can opener as you would to grip and open the lid as hot and place it on a sink or bench. Now add sugar, malt or honey to boiling water and stir in and re-boil.

Now dip your jug into the boiled water and sugar and making sure you have the tap closed on the fermenter. Pour the one jug full or whatever you can get out of a dip of boiling water/sugar into the fermenter, then using a dishcloth poor in the lager tin, (remember it's hot) and pick the whole fermenter up and shake it around in a circular motion until all mixed in together. As you now left the tin not fully open it allows you to pull the lid back and between the fermenters opening balance the tin upside down and drain th contents fully out. I now get the jug and dip into the pot again but this time pour it into the lager tin which the hot water/sugar mixes the last of the lager. Pour the rest of the boiling water/sugar mixture into the fermenter.

Now with your jug start filling up the fermenter until about 1/2 full and open and pour the contents of the 'Yeast' in, then run a little water into the yeast packet and also empty it in the fermenter.. Now fill up the fermenter with cold water to therequired level. Not too much as when it starts frothing it will go everywhere, but I have a trick to this: read on....

Now screw the lid on with the 'airlock in the rubber O-ring' and all depending how hot it is to when it starts to bubble. If you want to use a heating matt I believe it defeats the purpose as your paying for electricity and might as well buy your beer.

Please note: I do not screw my lid down tight at first actually I keep it quite lose as at this stage as you may find as the yeast mixes in it will froth up and in and around your 'airlock' if fermenter lid screwed up tight, instead make sure you put a mixture of 'Sodium Metabisulphate' Sterilizing mixture in the 'Airlock' this will keep your beer from going off even with a lose lid. You don't want airborn bacteria in your mix!

Okay, so your beer fermenter is ready to go, place it in a warm spot (not in the direct sun) and depending on the weather it will not start to bubble now for a few hours/day or two and a little trick here I've learnt is, keep an eye on it, when it starts to bubble fine, when it slows down then screw the lid on tighter and adjust accordingly so the froth doesn't get into the airlock.

Okay, now as stated depending on the weather and how warm you have been able to keep the fermenter, Say it's been a few weeks and the airlock bubble has stopped popping, now give the fermenter a big hug and shake it around in a circular motion like when mixing the contents in and you will find the airlock will again begin to bubble. Leave for approx another 2-3 weeks and all the crap will have gone to the bottom. (No need for the sediment reducer) Finnings is something you add to the mix after it's fermented to make the sediment etc go to the bottom but if left a little longer does that anyway.

With your clean bottles, if a full size bottle add 1 LEVEL teaspoon of plain white sugar, if stubbies (half size bottle) half a teaspoon.    Too much sugar and they'll explode, too little and no head on your beer. Fill your bottles with beer leaving approx 1" from the top and cap them.   They will never explode if enough room left between the beer and the lid, usually fill just half way up the neck. As I do so many it's best to pay for a proper bottle capper which you put the bottle on and leaver the lid on, bashing a bottle topper with a hammer doesn't work that great. Also if you can gently hold the fermenter forwards buy something like a small block of wood at the back you will find you can get about another 8 bottles without sediment. Leave for a good month if you can and try..

As stated at one time I had that much home brew the cops raided me and wanted to charge me with having too much beer, I think at the time I had over 58 dozen of big bottles.

Handy Hints: If you've finished brewing and wish to leave your fermenter for some time, clean it out and add a good solution of Sterilizing mixed with water in the bottom, enough so it won't evaporate and make sure you add heaps in the airlock - This will make sure your fermenter rather clean when you next wish to use it.

You also do not need to take out the fermenters tap, simply when cleaning rinse the whole fermenter and run warm/hottish water through the tap.

Please vote below if you found this helpful..

Regards Gary Palmer - (Possum)