Okay, so you have produced a few batches of homemade beer using standard brewing kits purchased at your local brewing supply shop. You made a few mistakes along the way, but you considered them learning experiences. You now want to graduate to the next level and advance your homebrewing skills. What is next in the homebrewing scheme?
Intermediate home brewing can involve several different changes to the home brewing process, and that includes changes to both the ingredients and even the equipment. At the intermediate level, home brewers often:
Add extra ingredients to previous recipes: This can include additional malt, different types of hops, or even other ingredients such as honey, mollasses, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, etc. The imagination is all that limits the homebrewer at this level and most any ingredient can be tried and tested.
Purchase intermediate homebrewing kits: Most homebrewing ingredient kits contain cans of malt extract syrup, a couple small bags of hops, and some dry yeast. There are intermediate kits available that include liquid yeast, dry malt extract, and other ingredients to produce better tasting beer.
Upgrade to better equipment: Much like the improvements made with ingredients, it is also common for the intermediate homebrewer to exchange some of his/her equipment for that which is better in quality, more durable, and more likely to produce a quality product. One obvious change is with the fermenting bucket. Many beginners start out with a plastic bucket, but a glass carboy is the best way to ferment. Switching to glass will often improve the taste of the beer because many plastic fermenting buckets tend to transfer the plastic taste to the beer itself.
Other equipment changes can also help make the process smoother, and these might include a table- top mounted capping device, faucet- mounted bottle cleaner, cooling device, etc.
Brewing beer at the intermediate level can present some new challenges, but also many new opportunities. Many home brewers become bored with the simple homebrewing kit and their curiosity leads them to seek out new and better ways to brew their product. The sky is the limit when it comes to potential ingredients to use in beer, but it can also present some problems. For example, if more dry ingredients are added to the brew, there is a greater chance for burning, and this can adversely affect the finished product. One has to be prepared to stir the boil constantly. Also, with certain ingredients, it is possible to go too far and ruin a batch of brew in the process. A good example is with the use of spices. A little spice goes much further than you might first think and overuse of a specific spice can lead to a final product that tastes more like a dessert drink than a glass of malt beverage.
There is no easy way to define intermediate homebrewing because what is considered intermediate to one home brewer may be considered beginning level to another. Thus, intermediate homebrewing is partially up to the individual to define. But at minimum, intermediate brewing should include changes to the ingredients, processes, and equipment. It takes time and patience, but with the right choices and with some TLC, your intermediate batch of home brew can easily rank among your finest.
Leave a Reply