The joy, and art, of U-Brew: how to make your own beer

BURNABY, B.C. (CUP) -- “Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.” —Benjamin Franklin

The big beer companies may make you think that the art of beer-making is some of kind of advanced science that requires a PhD. Well, they are wrong. Home beer-making is a task that can be learned in an afternoon and one which only takes several weeks of patience to enjoy the fruits of your efforts. So, here, for you brewing pleasure, are the basics.

Is there anything more wonderful than a cold beer in the summer? I doubt it! Beer has been enjoyed since ancient times — apparently first invented by the Mesopotamians. Some scholars have even suggested that it pre-dates bread as a grain food staple. History also tells us that beer-making is not just a macho exercise. Ale making was a chore that women usually took care of in the great days of the Middle Ages.

When it comes to beer-making you have two major options, just like sex — you can either do it at home, or you can do it somewhere else! Somewhere else means a U-Brew place, which has some advantages to making beer at home. They clean the mess for you, you have less work to do, and if you are short on clean bottles or other supplies they generally have some handy.

U-Brews are also good if you are planning a party in two weeks and need a keg. The disadvantage is that they are more expensive than making beer at home and the batches are larger and thus less economical (most batches cost over $100). Bottles from U-Brews cost an arm and a leg. And you have to transport the beer back home!

If you are doing things truly DIY and making the beer at home, you need to get yourself some supplies. Dan's Homebrewing Supply Shop has an excellent starter kit, which includes your primary, glass carboy, a big-ass spoon, siphon and siphon rod, airlock/bung, sanitiser, and hydrometer (more on these later). This starter kit costs about $55 and pays for itself with your first batch. Your first batch of beer (23 litres or 66 small bottles) will cost between $20 and $30.

A bottle capper will cost you less than $20 and a pack of caps — three bucks.

Bottles are a difficult thing for beginners to amass in a large enough quantity through routine drinking. Luckily, I have a secret that I must share with you. Japanese restaurants sell beer like Sapporo and Kirin and will gladly sell you the used bottles for the deposit (10 cents each).

The bottles are around 650 ml capacity, thus a better size to use for DIY beer making, because you use less caps, less energy, and generally people drink more than a beer a night anyway. When you retrieve the bottles they will likely smell bad and vinegary, but it is not impossible to clean them.

In either situation you have five major ingredients: malted barley (usually in a syrup form known as “extract”), a shit-load of water, grains (sometimes optional), hops (a perennial plant related to marihuana that offsets the maltiness of the barley), and yeast. You have to either boil it in a copper tank at the U-Brew place or in a large 15-litre stock pot at home.

During this stage of beer-making, the sweet beer-like non-alcoholic substance that you are stirring is called “wort.” This is the stage when you mix most of the ingredients together, and make a substance that will be most fulfilling in a couple of weeks. Exact times when you add the hops and extra grains vary by recipe. After you cook your wort, you are ready for the next stage.

If you are making wort at home, you have to cool it down — a time-consuming process that takes an extra half hour before you can put the wort into your primary (details provided in most beer recipes). Once cool, you have to put the wort into a big plastic bucket called a “primary.”

At the U-Brew place the wort will be of sufficient amount that you add yeast shortly after, but at home you have to top it up with extra cold water. Then add yeast to the batch. How you add it depends on the brand, and all varieties have instructions on the packet.

Once you are done, you have to seal the bucket with the lid and fill a small little thing called an “airlock” with water so Co2 gas can escape and no nasty dust or mold can get in. At U-Brew places this is the last step that you engage in until bottling in two weeks; if you're doing this at home, you're not so lucky.

Within 24 hours the airlock will start to make bubbles as the Co2 gas escapes from what is slowly becoming beer.

After two to four days, when the movement in your airlock has died down you have to “rack” (to siphon it down) the beer into your secondary (aka “carboy”). This procedure takes less than 15 minutes, and the only extra work usually involves adding water to top up the carboy to a sufficient quantity. In a week, the beer should be ready to bottle.

Cleaning bottles is not fun. It's a lot of work and time consuming. When first cleaning bottles, it is recommended that you soak them in a water/bleach solution of one part bleach to 20 parts very warm water. Make sure that the solution gets into the bottles and soaks all around it. Let sit for at least half an hour, you'll notice that much of the labels come off and are easy to peel.

Be sure to wear rubber gloves when handling bleach and rinse all the bottles out. Look inside to make sure nothing is stuck to the glass (you may need a cleaning brush). After the initial bleaching, a simple rinsing and sanitising process should suffice.

If you are bottling at home you need to add a small amount of dextrose (corn sugar) or malt extract to your beer before bottling. The best way to do this is to measure a cup of either ingredient, diluted with an equal amount of boiled water, and stir it back into your beer as you rack it into your primary. Adding this to your beer as you bottle is called “priming.” This allows the remaining yeast to react with the extra sucrose to make your beer carbonated.


Carbonation takes another week inside the bottles. At the U-Brew shops they pre-carbonate the beer for you with ultra-fancy keg technology. You can do this yourself at home too, but it is not recommended for the beginner because it will cost you a shitload of money.

Now that you know how much work is involved you can make an informed decision. U-Brew places will save you 50 per cent of the cost of beer at the booze store. Home-brewing gives you 23 litres (66 12-ounce bottles) for the cost of a 15-pack — home-brewing is more work, but saves you the cost of buying a car to transport your booze home. The choice is yours.