{"id":85,"date":"2026-08-07T01:08:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T00:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/?p=85"},"modified":"2026-08-07T19:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T18:01:05","slug":"the-farnbrewer-9-step-beer-kit-making-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/07\/the-farnbrewer-9-step-beer-kit-making-process\/","title":{"rendered":"The Farnbrewer 9 step beer kit making process"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

These are the steps involved when I make a standard beer kit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1 – cleaning and sanatising<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Clean all of the equipment. I use ChemClean to remove any organic matter accumulated in previous use. Once cleaned and rinsed, I use ChemSan to sanitise everything. This will include the fermenting bucket used for mixing, hydrometer, iSpindel <\/a>, Fermzilla Fermenter used as the actual fermentation vessel, mixing paddle. Basically anything the beer touches, needs to be sanitised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2 – creating the wort<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I warm the can(s) of concentrated malt extract so that it flows better out of the can. I also boil about 3 litres of RO (Reverse Osmosis) water in a pan. To this I add minerals to get the required water profile for the style of beer I’m making. The softened malt extract is then poured into the fermenting bucket along with the boiled water. At this stage it is really important to get plenty of oxygen into the wort. I use long paddle, which looks just like a food mixing paddle but much bigger. This goes in my electric drill and does a great job of mixing and oxygenating. Next I add cold RO water (the minerals for the whole batch were already added to the pan earlier) to make he wort up the the desired volume. This is commonly 9, 19, 20 or 23 litres. Another mix with the paddle makes sure the whole volume is adequately oxygenated. Next I transfer the mixed and much cooler wort to the Fermzilla fermenter. I pop in an iSpindel<\/a> for live temperature and gravity readings. When the wort is below 23c, it’s time to check and record the original\/starting gravity with the hydrometer. Now I add the yeast and move the fermenter to the Fermentation Enclosure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3 – fermentation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Fermentation Enclosure? What’s that? Well, it’s just a repurposed refrigerator. It has an separate external controller that can be set to any temperature between about 2 and 30 degrees Celsius. The higher temperatures are achieved by using a small heater placed in the bottom of the fridge. It’s really only needed in winter when the area the fridge lives in is too cold. The heater is also controlled by the external controller. (this will be moved to it’s own article in time).
I set the temperature of the Fermentation Enclosure (FE) to 20.5C +\/- 0.5C. A steady and consistent temperature is best for a good fermentation. I now fit a spunding valve set to 10 psi to the fermenter, the purpose of this device is explained in detail #here (insert link) Now it’s just a waiting game. Different yeasts have a wide range of fermentation temperature requirements. They can also require varying amounts of time to do their job. In my experience, this can be a quick as five days or sometimes as slow as three weeks. On average I’d say it’s normally around ten days. The way I check to see if fermentation is over is by checking the live data from the iSpindel and looking for at least two consecutive days where the gravity does not change. I also check that there are no more bubbles from the “blow-off” tube attached to the spunding valve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 4 – the cold crash<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As soon as I’m happy the fermentation is complete it’s time to start the so called cold-crash. This just involves attaching a CO2 line in place of the spunding to keep the fermenter at 10 psi. And then reducing the temperature in the FE to around 3 Celsius. The purpose of this is to help any yeast and particulates to settle out and drop to the bottom of the fermenter. This really helps to minimise anything other than beer being transferred in the next step. It can take 24 hours to hit 3C and the cold crash normally takes three days unless I have dry hopped the beer. In that case I add another day. So in total the whole process can take four or five days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 5 – Kegging<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The method I use to keg the beer is called a closed loop transfer. It takes a bit of preparation but it ensures that the beer is not exposed oxygen as I fill the key. This hopefully eliminates the risk of the beer becoming oxidised and extends the shelf life from weeks to months. The first part of the process is to take a cleaned keg and fill it completely with sanitiser. Next I flush a gas line with CO2 and attach it the this keg. Now I grab a second cleaned and sanitised empty keg and connect a beer line from the first keg to this keg. Now I push all of the sanitiser from the first keg to the second keg using CO2. Once this is done I have a keg full of CO2. Now I’m ready to do the transfer of beer from the fermenter to the keg. I use gravity for this so the keg has to be below the fermenter. A CO2 flushed beer line is connect from the liquid post of the fermenter to the liquid post of the keg with the inline tap closed. A little CO2 can be then vented from the keg using the Pressure Relief Valve (PRV) to ensure the fermenter is at a very slightly higher pressure tan the keg. The inline tap can then be opened, the beer should then flow until the pressure has equalised. Now we can attached the gas line between the fermenter and the keg. As the beer line is already full, gravity will now take over and the transfer will commence. This can a long time. If the keg completely fills, beer will be seen going up the gas line. This is fine and is normal for batches greater that 19 litres. I’ve normally prepared for this by having a four litre keg flushed with CO2 on standby (same process as above). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 6 – Cleaning and Sanitising (again)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It’s time to strip down and clean the fermenter. This involves removing the yeast cake (not all cake should be eaten btw) then rinsing with water. Then on to soaking with ChemClean to remove any organic matter, then another rinse before reassembling the Fermzilla and sanitising with ChemSan. Then leave some ChemSan in there to keep it fresh until next use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 7 – Conditioning and Carbonating<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

From what I’ve experienced so far in the few years I’ve started brewing again, beer tastes better if you give it time to properly condition. It seems pretty common for beer kits to say the beer will be ready to drink after 2 weeks. In my view, this is probably the absolute minimum. They also say the beer will improve with age, very true. In the past I have probably been guilty of not waiting long enough. In fact, it’s very possible that I have finished drinking a batch of beer before it’s reached it’s best. I found this out by brewing more beer than I could reasonably drink or give away, meaning a backlog started to form. The net result was beer sat longer and had time to properly condition. Because I have brewed some of the beers I like more than once, I noticed the same beers were now tasting better than I remembered. Over this time I’ve developed these rough rules of thumb. Always cold crash for at least 3 days. Condition for a minimum of three weeks before trying the beer. The beer with really start singing at 5 to 6 weeks. I’ll be honest, to date, nothing has really lasted beyond 7 weeks but it’s still tasted perfect at that age. I think perhaps, my Hazy IPA is at it’s best starting at 3 weeks and is still very good at 5 weeks.

I hope that covers the “why” conditioning is a good thing. Let’s now look at “how”.

So I have my freshly kegged beer, what happens now? The keg is placed in the Conditioning Cellar (CS). This is just a repurposed chest freezer with an external temperature controller (you soon will realise this is a common theme at Farnbrewer). I like to condition and carbonate at the same time so all my beers and ciders are hooked up to CO2 while conditioning. I do this even it I plan to use “mixed gas” for serving later (I talk about that in the next step).

This is possibly the least exciting step. The keg just sits in the CS until it’s ready. That’s it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 8 – Serving (and sharing)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Once conditioning is complete and there is available space, the keg is moved to the Serving Cellar (SC). Once again the SC is just another repurposed refrigerator with an external temperature controller. I keep my SC at between 3C and 7C depending what is currently being served. I find It’s best to let the keg settle for a couple days after it has been moved to let and sediment settle again. At this point a decision has to be made on which gas to for this keg. Ciders (See the x Steps for making Cider article), it’s always best to use CO2, it’s very difficult to over carbonate cider. Beer on the other hand is pretty easy to over carbonate if left on CO2 for weeks. As my beers can often be on tap for over a month there is a real risk of over carbonation. For these situations mixed gas can be the solution. A 70\/30 Nitrogen\/CO2 mixed allow beers to kept permanently on gas and stay in great condition, even for long period. The smaller bubbles can also enhance beer and stout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 9 – Cleaning and Sanitising (yet again)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Wait, wasn’t that step 1 and 6? Yes, and thanks for making it far enough through this article to notice that, you are awesome! Sadly all good things come to an end, and now all we have left is a dirty keg. When the beer is freshly finished, it’s a great time to rinse the keg before the sediment has a chance to dry. I do this if I can’t immediately give the keg a full wash with ChemClean. Once cleaned and rinsed, I like to sanitise straight away with ChemSan. I then leave some ChemSan in the keg before putting it into storage.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Finally<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Thank you taking the time to read this. I have several other articles covering a multitude of subjects related to home brew beer and cider. Something I need to mention is that there often several “right” ways to do things when home brewing. I do things the way that works for me with my set up. Other brewers may do things differently, in fact I’d be very surprised if they didn’t. If I see or hear of a better way of doing things and it’s something I can implement, I will change my processes. So, any feedback regarding anything you’ve read here will always be gratefully accepted. I thank you.

Graeme a.k.a. Farnbrewer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These are the steps involved when I make a standard beer kit. Step 1 – cleaning and sanatising Clean all of the equipment. I use ChemClean to remove any organic matter accumulated in previous use. Once cleaned and rinsed, I use ChemSan to sanitise everything. This will include the fermenting bucket used for mixing, hydrometer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-processes"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farnbrewer.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}