Dear readers,

During my trip to Australia a few months back, I purchased a Cooper Microbrewery Kit after being inspired by Solidghost when he shared his home brewing experience. In many countries, home brewing is very common. Singapore however, has a small community of home brewers, probably because of the higher temperature that makes it a challenge to home brew.

Being a beer lover trapped in a country where alcohol is heavily taxed. Home brewing seemed like the perfect solution. In Singapore, individuals are allowed to brew any form of “fermentable” alcohol such as beer, alcohol, cider, sake, etc. legally for home consumption. The limit is 23 litres per month for beer, and another 23 litres for other forms of alcohol.

In case you’re curious what the Cooper Microbrewery Kit contains, here a list of what you can find inside the box:

1. Fermenter (brewing bucket/carboy with airlock and spigot)

2. Can Opener (for opening up the can of beer ingredient kit)

3. Stir spoon

4. Bottler

5. Bottles and the necessary caps (enough to fill 23 litres)

6. Thermometer

7. Kettle (for boiling water)

8. Hydrometer (for measuring the gravity or alcohol content)

9. Manual and CD guide

Separately, I’ve bought 3 Tap-a-draft (TAD) bottles with a TAD valve and cooler box for easily bottling (no interest in washing 30 bottles) and to hold 18 litres of water needed for the brew. I’ve also bought the Nottingham Ale Yeast which is supposed to be a neutral yeast, not adding flavours to the beer while creating a clearer beer. I also bought a larger cooler box to contain the fermenter as the temperature needs to be brought down to around 20 degrees celcius in order for fermentation to take place.

Over the weekend, I made my first home brew with the Tooheys Special Lager kit that I bought in Australia. Beer kits, as well as microbrewery kits are readily available in departmental stores unlike Singapore where there are a very niche group of sellers.

I apologise that I did not take any pictures of my brewing process as I was too focused in brewing forgot to prepare my camera. For this brews, my aim is to use the simplest processes to achieve the fundamentals in home brewing before exploring new ideas.

Here are the steps in home brewing:

Night before actual brewing day

1. Chill 18 litres of water the night before the actual brewing process (The chilled water helps to bring down the temperature of the wort in order to pitch the yeast).

Actual brewing day

1. Sanitise all equipments that will come in contact with the wort content a.k.a. soon-to-beer beer (I used Iodophor to sanitise everything before running them through a kettle of boiling water just in case).

2. Place the can of beer kit in a pot of hot water for 10 minutes to soften the beer concentrate in order to pour them out easily later.

3. After 10 minutes, open and pour the can of beer concentrate into the fermenter, followed by brewing sugar and hot water (around 2-4 litres, I use a kettle full of hot water).

4. Mix all the contents (now termed wort) and make sure everything is will dissolved, especially the sugar. By now, the thermometer reads 40 degrees celcius.

5. Pour in the 18 litres of chilled water into the fermenter to add the volume to 23 litres. The temperature is brought down to around 20 degrees celcius which is good enough to pitch the yeast.

6. Pitch the yeast into the wort, allow it to settle for a few minutes before stirring into the wort.

7. Cover the fermenter with the lid and air-lock.

8. Place the fermenter in the cooler box with two ice packs and cover it up.

9. Leave the wort to ferment for a week (or until bubbling in the airlock stops).

So there you have it, you get your very own home brewed beer in 9 simple steps with no bells and whistles.