How to use a beer kit

Making your own beer becomes very simple using a kit. No more thickening, filtering or savant temperature increases: when you start with concentrated malts, you keep the best of the beer.

In concrete terms.
The must
Open the box and place it in a water bath in a saucepan of hot water. The concentrate is thick and it needs to become fluid.
Pour half of the must into the fermenting bucket. Rinse the box with hot water and add.
Important: measure all of the water that you add to the must so that you do not exceed the prescribed recipe dose.
Dilute the amount of sugar required in hot water, add and stir carefully.
Add enough cold water so that you do not have to wait for the overall temperature to fall to around 20°C.


Yeast
A small bag of yeast comes with the must concentrate. These fermenting agents have been chosen depending on the type of beer and the type of fermentation.
Dissolve the yeast in 150 ml of water at 25°C.
Wait for 15 minutes and add to the must at 20°C. Stir.
Important: the temperature of the water must be precise: if it is too hot, then the yeast will die and if it is too cold it will not activate.


First fermentation
Everything is ready. The fermenting agents will now digest the sugars in the malted cereal or those that you have added, to transform them into alcohol and carbonic gas.

Apart from maintaining your brew at the right temperature, you have nothing else to do: the fermenting agents will do all the work for you!
Close the bucket.
Fill the bubbler half full with water and insert it into its place.
Wait for 10 days or so.
Meanwhile, you can observe the bubbles in the bubbler. This is carbonic gas escaping. After around ten days, the sugars have been transformed. No more bubbles will be seen: the fermenting process is over.

Important: fermenting time depends on the temperature. Keep your must at a stable temperature, ideally between 20 and 23 °C.

It is possible, and even preferable to perfect the first fermenting process by performing a second one. After around ten days, when the bubble activity has practically stopped, transfer your beer delicately into a second fermentation bucket (with a bubbler) without disturbing the dregs. Leave it for 10 - 15 more days, always at 20 to 23°C.
During this time, the beer will continue to work and perfect its flavour. You will notice that there are almost no bubbles and the activity is very slow.


Bottling and secondary fermentation
At this stage, you have beer that is flat and does not have much taste.
For the beer to become gassy, you must restart the fermentation process in a bottle or in a watertight keg. This time, the gas cannot escape. It will dissolve in the liquid and the beer will become foamy and bubbly.
To restart the fermentation process, you will need to the amount of sugar specified in the recipe to the beer (generally 7g/litre).
Dilute all the sugar in a small amount of boiling water and leave to cool.
Add the diluted sugar to your beer and stir for one of two minutes to ensure that it spreads evenly.
Fill and cork your bottles with a crimp cap.
Important: depending on whether you use airtight kegs or bottles, the amount of sugar you need to add is different: stick to the recipe.


Storage and conservation
Once the beer is bottled, the fermentation process begins again thanks to the sugar that you have added.
Store your bottles between 20 and 23°C for 2 weeks while the gas is created.
Store the bottles away from the light in a cool place for at least 6 weeks before tasting.
Important: after the fermenting period in the bottles, your beer will develop all its aromas. Your beer is a living thing. Allow it time to develop and reveal all the subtleties of genuine artisanal beer.

Happy tasting everyone...