How do you do all-grain brewing?

Brew all-grain beer by crushing the grains, rinsing them of the sugars, adding hops to the mixture, cooling the wort and fermenting it. A simple recipe contains water, malt, hops and yeast.

1. Mash the grains

   Start by cleaning and assembling the lauter tun. Add 1 quart of water for every pound of grain. Allow the temperature of the water to reach 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the lid, and mash the grains for 1 hour.

2. Check the conversion level

   To check the level of conversion of starch to sugar, pour a small amount of wort in a bowl. Add a drop of iodine tincture to it. If the tincture remains red, the conversion is complete. Continue mashing if the iodine turns black.

3. Sparge the grains

   Batch sparge the mixture by draining the tun quickly, then adding more water to the mix and draining again. Continue the process for around 1 hour.

4. Add the hops

   Bring the mix to a boil. Add hops to the mixture at the rate mentioned in the recipe. Adding hops early into the boil makes the beer bitter. To enhance the hop flavor, add the hops later.

5. Chill and ferment the wort

   Chill the wort quickly. Pour the mixture into a clean fermenter. Aerate the mix and add yeast. Ferment for about 7 days.