How to Improve Your Home Brew Beer

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There are several different ways to brew your own beer at home. Malt, partial grain, or all grain methods are the most common, and each of these methods are usually intended to be boiled for extended periods. The idea in this article is not to change the methods; rather, it's an idea to improve on existing methods because shortening the brewing times can improve the flavor and aroma.


  1. Boil the mash for shorter times. Many recipes call for a 60 minute boil. After the 60 minute boil, the standard recipe will call for a 10 minute flavoring simmer. Boil the wort for whatever time that gives you the desired mix of aroma, flavor, and bitterness.
    • Hop characteristics are dictated by boiling times.[1] According to the Brewmasters at Brew Supplies, the peak aroma is achieved at about 7 minutes after the start of the boil, and is almost completely lost at 15 minutes.
    • Peak flavor is about 20 minutes into the boil, and is almost completely lost at 40 minutes. All that is left is bitterness, which is fully achieved at approximately 60 minutes. Beer is not intended to have only one of these characteristics. Aroma, flavor, and bitterness are all necessary in their proportion to make the pallet desired.
  2. Put 2 gallons (7.56 liters) of water into a large stock-pot. Bring the water to 155ºF/68.3ºC. Add the malt (this is assuming that you are using the prepared liquid malt, or LME) into the hot water and mix well. Add the aroma hops and bring the mash up to a boil.
  3. After a 7 minute boil, add the flavoring hops and turn down the heat to low for 5 minutes.
  4. Remove the pot from the heat.
  5. Pour 3 gallons of bottled water plus 1 7Lb (3.1 kg) bag of ice into the fermenter bucket.
  6. Pour the mash, through a strainer (sparge), into the fermenter bucket.
  7. Check the temperature of the wort. It should be approximately 70-80ºF/21ºC-26.6ºC, but no higher than 85ºF/29.6ºC.
  8. Pitch in the yeast. Cover the fermenter, and if necessary, install the airlock.


  • Boiling hops longer than 12 minutes will reduce the aroma by half.
  • Boiling hops longer than 30 minutes will reduce the flavor by half.
  • Boiling hops longer than 30 minutes will increase the bitterness to the point where it will overwhelm the remaining flavor.
  • Bitterness will achieve 95% at 60 minutes, gradually increasing to its near maximum at about 100 minutes.
  • Flavoring is actually a 5 minute simmering process. The flavoring hops is put in after the boil.


  • Sanitation is the most important thing to remember. If you have sanitizing solution, or can make it, everything needs to be soaked for 10 minutes. If you don't have that, put 2 tablespoons of Clorox® into 5 gallons (18.9 liters) of cool water. Everything needs to soak for at least 30 minutes, including a plate where you set your tools.

Things You'll Need

  • Saucepan or stockpot. For a 5 gallon batch, figure on a 14-Qt. (13.2 liter) pot
  • Fermenter. A 7 gallon (26.4 liter) plastic bucket with a lid and hole to accommodate an airlock and spigot
  • A second fermenter for priming and bottling makes things easier
  • Bottles. Divide the number of ounces in the batch by the number the ounces in the bottle to find the number of bottles needed

Sources and Citations


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