Homebrewing
Homebrewing typically refers to the brewing of beer on a very small scale, as a hobby.
The Process
A typical batch of homebrewed beer is five US gallons (19 l) in volume, which is roughly enough for two cases — or 48 12-ounce (355 mL) bottles — of beer. It is produced by boiling water, malt extract and hops together in a large kettle and then cooling the wort and adding yeast for fermenting. The concentrated wort is filtered into a fermenter filled partly with cold water to bring the wort to proper concentration, and to cool down to pitching temperature (70-75 °F or 21-24 °C). Often, cooling is aided by a variety of wort chillers consisting of copper tubing through which cold water flows. Primary fermentation takes place in a bucket or large glass container that vents the carbon dioxide gas produced through a small device called a fermentation lock. A layer of sediment appears at the bottom of the fermenter. Often, the beer is siphoned into another fermenter to finish fermentation without the trub lending off flavors.
Once this fermentation subsides, the beer is ready for carbonation. There are two methods of carbonation. The first method does not require much capital expenditure per batch but is more time consuming. A small amount of additional sugar is added and the beer is transferred to bottles that are then capped, or to a keg. The carbon dioxide produced by fermentation of the priming sugar in the bottles remains in the beer causing carbonation over the course of many days. The second method uses compressed carbon dioxide and a pressurized tank for the beer. The carbonization process occurs almost instantaneously, reducing wait time by at least one week and reducing labor time.
Brewing culture
Patience is required in homebrewing. The whole brewing process can take from two weeks to several months, depending on the style of beer. Some enthusiasts brew beer in far larger quantities than the typical 5 gallon batch, sometimes as a prelude to commercial production. It is not unusual for a homebrewer to have several batches in different stages of completion to permit the dispensing of quality homebrew at moment's notice.
Advanced homebrewers often prefer to brew "all-grain" batches of beer, by mashing the grain themselves to reduce starch into sugars needed by the yeast. Such techniques allow a greater control over the final quality of the beer than malt extract brewing. A large vessel called a mash tun holds the water at various temperatures to break the starch in malt into fermentable sugars which become alcohol and dextrines (unfermentable carbohydrates) which give the beer body. The spent grain is removed in a perforated container called a lauter tun and brewing proceeds as normal. Often, homebrewers use one vessel with a perforated false bottom for both mashing and lautering. A hybrid called grain extract, or partial mash uses both home-mashed malt and malt extract. This method is preferable to those who do not want to invest in larger equipment required for all-grain brewing, but would like to experiment with mashing grain.
People homebrew for a variety of reasons. Homebrewed beer can be cheaper than commercially equivalent brews, however most homebrewers customize their recipies to their own tastes, which tends to more expensive. For instance, hopheads can hop their beer far beyond what would normally be considered excessive, or fans of bitter, dark beer can create beers that are the antithesis of the commercially dominant paler style. Some homebrewers strive for perfection of specific styles of beer and enter their products in competitions.
Legality
In 1978, US President Jimmy Carter signed into law a bill explicitly allowing home beer and winemaking in that country. Note that home distillation of alcohol is still illegal in the United States — a situation representing many other countries.