How to make beer from beer concentrate at home

Beer concentrates began to appear in Russia in the mid-90s. For novice brewers, they, without exaggeration, have become manna from heaven – no dancing with a thermometer, filter system and other intricacies of making beer according to the “philosophy” of All Grain. Yes, not so interesting, without a flight of fancy, but reliable, simple and, as a rule, tastier than store-bought.

If you still think that making beer at home is extremely difficult and generally not for you, then read this manual. By strictly following the instructions, you will easily prepare an original live drink, which, in the end, will be an order of magnitude tastier and cheaper than store-bought beer. To begin with, I advise you to read the ultimate guide to brewing beer from malt and hops, which describes in more detail the basic technology for making foam, and also briefly describes the principle of making beer extracts.

This step-by-step recipe describes the recipe for wheat beer (Weissbier, Weizen, “white beer”), a traditional German style that is characterized by a light, fruity, spicy taste. This beer is also characterized by a high beer head, as wheat has more protein than other grains. Weissbier was on the verge of extinction several times due to the purity law of the German Reinheitsgebot beer of 1516, but love for its unusual taste revived production and popularization around the world.

There are three types of weissbier: Hefeweizen (“yeasty wheat”), Kristallweizen (“crystal clear wheat”) and Dunkelweizen (“dark wheat”). We will cook Hefeweizen, as the most famous type of weissbier. It is an unfiltered wheat beer, a traditional summer drink usually served at 8-10^оC. Brewing it from beer concentrate is very simple.

Recipe for wheat beer (Weissbier) from extract

To prepare 19-20 liters of beer:

• 2 cans of 3 kg wheat beer extract
• 30 g hop pellets
• ~22 l of water
• 1 package White Labs WLP300 or Wyeast 3068* brewer’s yeast

*Note: if you prefer the milder taste of the American school of brewing, choose Wlp 320 or 1010 over Wyeast.

Before you start cooking, carefully read all the material and note the most important aspects for yourself. Pay special attention to the equipment that you will need for all production cycles.

Step 1. Equipment preparation

Make sure you have everything you need to brew beer. This is a must: 2 fermenters, a wort kettle (large pot), a tube for removing beer from sediment, a disinfectant (can be replaced with iodine), a thermometer. It is advisable to have a hydrometer, crown capper, beer bottles, etc.

Step 2. Disinfection of all equipment

A very important stage, because any third-party microorganism can easily spoil the entire batch of the drink. Use non-fragrant detergents, you can use a weak solution of iodine. Here, funds that are sold in shops for brewers will be relevant.

Step 3. Heating water for the extract

Boil about 4 liters of water in the wort kettle. Before adding the extract, it is advisable to hold it in hot water – so it will flow out of the container better.

Step 4: Add Malt Concentrate

Remove the pot from the heat and add the wheat malt extract to the hot water. Stir well until it is completely dissolved so that no solid particles remain at the bottom. Remove the pan from the heat so that the extract does not burn before dissolving in water.

Step 5 Brewing Beer

Put the pot with the dissolved concentrate on the fire and boil the wort. After it boils, add bittering hops (if the extract is not hopped). Recipes usually indicate when hops should be added for bitterness, flavor, and aroma. This is marked with the time until the end of cooking. In this case, you need to boil the wort with hops for 30 minutes.

Step 6. Wort cooling

Fill the sterile fermenter halfway with cold, clean water. Wait another 5 minutes and pour the hot wort into the fermenter. Add more cold water to bring the total volume of wort to 19 liters and let it cool down to 21-24°C. If using a glass fermenter, chill the wort in a saucepan to at least 37,8°C (either in a chiller or in an ice bath) – the glass may break from the heat.

Step 7. Adding Yeast to the Wort

When the wort temperature is 21-24°C, add the yeast. Of course, it is better to prepare the yeast in advance, about 2-3 hours before boiling the wort.

Step 8. Setting the wort for fermentation

Close the fermenter with a lid and install a water seal. Do not forget about sanitation – beer wort is a very nutrient medium for various microorganisms. It is better to pour strong alcohol into the water seal, for example, alcohol or vodka. After installing the water seal, the fermenter should be shaken vigorously for 1-2 minutes.

Step 9. Beer fermentation

Wheat beer according to this recipe should ferment within two weeks. Keep the wort fermenter out of direct sunlight and keep it at a constant temperature between 18,3-23,9°C. A sign of the end of fermentation will be the absence of bubbles in the water seal. It is recommended to hold the wort for another 1-2 weeks, so that a dense sediment falls out.

Step 10: Making Sugar Syrup

Sugar is needed so that completely fermented beer after bottling is saturated with carbon dioxide (carbonized). To do this, you need to take about 450-500 ml of water, boil it and add 140-150 g of sugar (dextrose, fructose), then boil the syrup for 10 minutes. As a rule, about 7-9 g of sugar, more often dextrose, is used to carbonate beer, per 1 liter of beer (sugar can also be added directly to bottles or special candies can be used).

Step 11. Adding syrup, removing from the sediment

Pour the cooled syrup into a clean fermenter, from where the beer will already be bottled. Pour the finished beer from the malt extract using a silicone hose into the syrup fermenter. Try not to catch yeast sediment with the hose. It is also recommended to place the hose as close as possible to the bottom of the syrup fermenter so that the drink does not become oxygenated during pouring.

Step 12. Beer bottling, capping

The beer is ready and can be bottled. You can use plastic containers, but glass is always preferred. Of course, bottles, faucet, hose and everything that will come into contact with beer must be disinfected. Beer should be poured just under the neck of the bottle, leaving about 2,5 cm for excess carbon dioxide, which will be released by the yeast during the processing of fresh food – sugar syrup.

Step 13. Storage, tasting beer from the extract

Store bottled wheat beer at around 21,1°C. Within 2-3 weeks it will carbonize, become balanced – you can start tasting or wait another 2-3 weeks. After carbonation, it is better to put the bottles in a dark, cool place.

Upgrade your level

When you get a little tired of making beer from malt concentrate, try working with malt, which can be boiled in a bag before extract is added. For example, you can take 300 grams of regular wheat malt and boil it before step 4 in this recipe at a temperature of 65.6-76.7 ° C for 30 minutes.

You can improve indefinitely. For example, you can buy a chiller and cool the wort according to science. To give the drink an original taste, you can add unmalted grains – wheat, rice, rye, etc. to it. For example, the Belgians put up to 60% unmalted wheat in their beer. You can also add spices, fruit juices, honey and other additives to your wort, but you should only do this when you fully understand the brewing process and have mastered all its basic wisdom.

In the end, when the extracts no longer please you, switch to the classic technology of making beer, using only malt. This process is very painstaking and not easy, but the result, although not always successful, is worth it. This instruction for making wheat beer from malt extract is universal and is suitable for making beer from concentrate of any kind with minor amendments. Good luck!