BREW FOR YOU

Money was worth the paper it was printed on, but beer was worth its weight in gold in the snowy Alaskan wilderness. \n"Hell, if you took a $100 bill to one of those trading posts, they would say great, we can use this to start up a fire," said Floyd Rosenbaum, Bloomington Brewing Co.'s master brewer.\nAs an Alaskan army firefighter in the early 1970s, money was worthless, but one thing readily tradable for goods was home-brewed beer. \n"The Eskimos and Indians used the naturally brewed beers for both nutrition and trading," Rosenbaum said. "They would trade the beer for food, ammo and flints."\nThe importance of beer in Alaska sparked a lifelong interest in brewing for Rosenbaum. It began as a home brewing hobby, but making the fermented beverage is now his career. Brewing is an activity that's easy to start, and provides a tastier final product than making model airplanes. Anyone with $100 can begin fermenting in days, with the process from buying ingredients to bottling taking from three weeks to three months, depending on the beer. \nSimple Supplies\nFirst-time brewers should start simple, but after mastering the process, they can try more experimental and complex suds using different supplies, said Amy Butler, who works at Butler Winery, 1022 N. College Ave. The Winery offers all the supplies and ingredients to start a home brewing haven.\nButler sells a basic fermentation kit for $46, or the more adventurous can compile the necessary hardware online. The kit includes a 7.9 gallon fermenter with a lid, a Red Baron double lever capper, a dual-purpose hydrometer, six-feet of siphon tubing, an extra large pinch clamp, a fermentation lock, a bottle brush, a gross of crown caps, B-Brite Cleanser and "The True Brew Handbook." A bottling bucket, sold at all home brewing stores for about $11, will also come in handy for bottling. Bottles to store the beer can be purchased, or to save a buck, cleaning out the empties in the recycling bin works just fine, Butler said. Hardware is all reusable, so the price to make beer is cheaper after the first time. \nFor rookies to the brewing game, it's probably best to buy a kit containing all the ingredients and instructions to make the brew of your choice, Butler said. Kits sold at the winery include the "Brewer's Best" kits which include the malt extract, dry malt extract, yeast hops, priming sugar and the brewing additives necessary to create the beer. Kits run around $30 at the store, and can also be ordered online, and will yield about five gallons. \nKeep it Clean\nBefore ingredients can magically transform from grains to a tasty drink, everything needs to be scrubbed clean.\n"If everything isn't sanitized, you can get flavors like Band-Aids and dirty socks in your beer," Butler said. "That's what can happen if weird bacteria gets into it." \nSanitizing the equipment takes more than just scrubbing the dirt off. Mix up a solution using two ounces of chlorine bleach per five gallons of water in the fermenting bucket, and completely immerse all the smaller pieces in the solution for 30 minutes. Next rinse everything thoroughly, and you can let the fermenting begin.\nMakin' Wort\nWith cleaning out of the way, the process can begin. These steps were found on www.soyouwanna.com, which has a section on brewing for beginners. \n1. Crank on the burners and heat up two quarts of water to 160-180 degrees, which is steaming, not boiling.\n2. Throw in the contents of the beer kit, according to the directions provided in the box. \n3. Stir the mixture hard, making sure all ingredients dissolve, then put a lid on the pot and let it sit for 10-15 minutes on the lowest heat setting to ensure sanitation.\n4. Fill the primary fermenter bucket with four gallons of cold water, then dump in the pot with the mixed ingredients. Mix the ingredients thoroughly for a minute or two in order to add oxygen for the yeast. As soon as the side of the bucket cools down, sprinkle the yeast on top of the solution.\nThe stuff in the bucket is called wort, or unfermented beer. It's been used for centuries for its nutritional properties in South America, Rosenbaum said.\nLet the Fermenting begin\nNow snap the top of the fermenting bucket tight, and put the fermentation lock in place. The byproducts of fermentation are alcohol and carbon dioxide, and the lock allows the carbon dioxide out of the bucket without letting oxygen inside.\nThe bucket should be stored in a cool, dark place such as a basement, because light can damage the fermentation process, Butler said. Check the kit to estimate the amount of time it'll take for the fermentation to end. Some take a week, while others may last longer. The Web site recommends checking the bucket everyday after five days to see if fermentation has ended. \nBubbles of carbon dioxide will flow through the water-filled fermentation lock, showing the process is still going. When bubbling stops or significantly slows, the first fermentation is done.\nBottling the Brew\nThe beer now faces one final step before it can be sucked down; bottling the beer, which produces carbonation. Start the process by thoroughly sanitizing the bottles and the bottling bucket, using the bottle brush to get those hard to reach places. \nThe beer is now flat, but adding some sugar to the mix before bottling will create some carbonation. Take a saucepan and mix two or three cups of water with ¾ a cup of the dextrose, according to the Web site. Bring it to a boil, then cover it, and let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes. \nNext put the primary fermenter on a chair, make sure not to shake up sentiment on the bottom. Put the plastic hose on the spigot of the primary fermenter and put the other end of the hose in the bottom of the bottling bucket. Pour the solution you just cooked into the bottling bucket and open the spigot on the fermenter to send the beer into the bottling bucket with the solution.\nFinally, hook the hose to the bottling bucket's spigot, and fill the empty, clean bottles. Quickly cap the bottles using the bottle capper, follow the directions on the box. Put the bottles in a cool dry place, around 60 or 70 degrees, and leave them for one to two weeks. After a week, check to see if the beer has lost its cloudy appearance from the yeast -- if the beer looks clear, stick it in the fridge. It's ready to drink.\nThis is a crash course in home brewing, so those looking to perfect their techniques should check out widely available home brewing literature, or ask experts at home brew stores.\nBefore you begin the brewing process, just remember the advice from an experienced homebrewer.\n"It's all about the beer, man," Rosenbaum said.