Good Food with Evan Kleiman: Brewing Beer at Home

All you need to brew beer is yeast, grain, hops, and water. The first three ingredients can be bought online or through local stores specializing in home brewing. Balandran advises using water that is a bit hard (as opposed to soft water) because there are flavors in the beer that cling to the minerals in the water.

In terms of brewing equipment, you can very easily buy everything you need for around $70. Balandran says the essentials are a food-grade bucket with an airtight lid, a 5-gallon stainless steel pot, a strainer, an airlock, and a burner to cook over.

Bottling is a fairly straight-forward process of siphoning the fermented beer from the bucket into individual bottles. Add a cap using a $15 capping device, let a bottles sit for a week, and you've got homebrew!

One of the best parts about homebrewing is having control over exactly how the beer is made and what goes into the mix. Like any kind of cooking, there are easy recipes and more challenging ones. Balandran encourages new brewers to add a bit of flair to their brew, like some blood orange juice in a hefeweizen or cardamom steeped into the brew along with the other ingredients.

Excited to give homebrewing a try? We certainly are!

• Listen to Evan Kleiman's full interview with Nathalie Balandran, and the rest of the episode, on the Good Food website.

(Image: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)

I brew beer! It's true, it's really not that hard. At first it seemed overwhelming, but once I did it it was fairly straightforward. I can't say it's much cheaper than buying beer, but it's a lot more fun. Each batch of beer costs $25 to $50 for ~50 bottles (not including cost of equipment).

I use Northern Brewer (www.northernbrewer.com) for my ingredients since there's no place reasonably close to me. They have a great selection. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazain is an excellent book to get started with.

I love the idea of adding some blood orange juice to a hefeweizen. Mmmmmm I may have to try that while I can still get blood oranges.

posted by ilovebutter on March 31st 2009 at 8:41am
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"Relax! Have a home-brew!"

I am a home-brewer as well!

I jumped head first into beer brewing and fermentation (kombucha, ginger beer, lacto-fermented soda).

My first beer was a hefeweizen and it did not disappoint. I have started a collection of brewing photos if anyone would like to see the process:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_chel/sets/72157613135166906/

posted by art on March 31st 2009 at 10:38am
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What a coincidence! I have a blood orange hefeweizen carbonating in my keg right now. Tonight will be my first taste.

posted by rtclauss on March 31st 2009 at 11:19am
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I have a similiar Flickr set too! It was a project for my food science class -- I had to give a presentation and scientific breakdown of beer making:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdickert/sets/72157604283613846/

posted by ilovebutter on March 31st 2009 at 11:31am
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My husband and I are looking to start brewing soon. I gave him an IOU for his birthday last month for the equipment, so it's about time we get started!

posted by jamiealyse on March 31st 2009 at 12:19pm
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HA art! I have said 'relax, have a homebrew' so many times over the course of various bad brews...I don't like beer myself, so we ferment wine for me while making beer for the DH. Mine takes longer, but we get all the ingredients from local fruits, so it's worth it.

posted by TannerAdair on March 31st 2009 at 12:50pm
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Would love to learn some of your fruit wine secrets TannerAdair!

posted by art on March 31st 2009 at 12:55pm
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It's true - homebrewing is not that hard. My boyfriend and I have been doing it for a couple years now.

Many homebrew suppliers have a kit with everything you need for a reasonable price. I live in NYC, and there isn't a convenient supplier near me, so I get mine from Strange Brew (www.home-brew.com).

Other than that, I think starting out with a recipe book was a good idea. Look for one with a variety of difficulty-levels. We started out with simpler beers and now have moved on to more complicated ones, including making up our own recipes.

We are brewing a honey amber ale right now for entry into the annual Sam Adams homebrew contest.

posted by ScienceandtheCity on March 31st 2009 at 2:39pm
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