If you’re wondering how to make a simple beer at home, then scheduling time for the brewing process is likely also on your mind. To help you plan out your home brewing days, we’ll be going over timelines and how using a beer making kit can help you get the most out of your time.

How Long Does It Take To Make Home-Made Beer?

It takes an average of two to four weeks to make beer at home, from when you boil the beer-making mix to when you can pop a top and enjoy your hard work. Here’s how to make beer from start to finish:

Brewing (One Day)

Brewing Day is all about creating the perfect mixture of ingredients and preparing your brew for fermentation.

1. Set up equipment. You’ll need:
   • Fermenter
   • Airlock
   • Brew Pot
   • Heat Source
   • Siphon
   • Cleaning and Sanitation Supplies
   • Hydrometer
   • Stirring Spoon
   • Measuring Cup
   • Thermometer
2. Gather ingredients. You’ll need:
   • Water
   • Yeast
   • Malted Grains or Barley
   • Hops
   • Additional Flavors
3. Sanitize and clean everything. Keep all of your beer brewing equipment squeaky clean to minimize the risk of contamination.
4. Boil ingredients. Grab your water, malts, hops, and flavors, and stick ‘em in a stew (also called wort)!
5. Cool and ferment the mixture (wort). Cool your wort off with an ice bath or with a home brew chiller down to 75-80 degrees. Transfer the mixture to your fermenter, add yeast, then seal your fermenter with an airlock and VOILA!

Fermenting (One to Two Weeks)

There’s not much to do during the fermentation period as your wort turns into beer. However, some recipes call for an optional second fermentation. Adding a second fermentation can impact the flavor of your beer, and it involves transferring your beer to a second fermentation container.

Bottling (One Day)

With your wort turned into beer, it’s time to bottle it.

1. Set up equipment. You’ll need:
   • Bottling Container
   • Bottles
   • Caps
   • Siphon
   • Capper
   • Cleaning and Sanitation Supplies
2. Gather ingredients. You’ll need:
   • Priming Sugar
3. Sanitize everything. Contamination is still a risk at this point, so clean diligently!
4. Transfer the beer to the bottling container. Use a siphon to reduce spills.
5. Prime bottles with priming sugar. This will help with the carbonation process later on.
6. Fill bottles. Use a siphon and keep towels handy to reduce messes.
7. Cap and store bottles. Use a capper to ensure a tight seal.

Carbonation (At Least Two Weeks)

Similar to fermentation, there’s not much to do now except wait. Just make sure to do so at room temperature and wait to refrigerate the beer until after they are carbonated. Then, call up some friends, family, and grab a bottle opener!

How Long To Leave Your Home Brew Before Bottling?

You should typically allow home-brewed beer to ferment for one to two weeks before bottling. During this time, the yeast breaks down sugars and starches into alcohol. To remove sediment and clarify the flavor of your brew, you may opt for a second fermentation. 

How Long Before You Can Drink Your Home Brew Beer?

After bottling your beer, you should typically wait two to three weeks for the beer to carbonate before drinking. Don’t rush this process. Even though the main part of brewing is done with, allowing your beer to carbonate will give it the texture that you and fellow tasters expect from beer.

How Long Does It Take To Brew Beer From A Kit?

Making a brew from a kit takes less time than brewing without one. Even though these two processes are mostly the same, using a beer-making kit saves you time in two ways:

• Less Time Spent Gathering Ingredients
• Helpful Recipes That Guide You Through the Brewing Process

With a beer-making kit, you’re more likely to stay within that two to four-week brewing period because you can get started more quickly, and you’re less likely to need to start over. Beer kits tell you exactly how much of each ingredient you need, come with pre-portioned ingredients, and tell you boiling times, temperatures, fermentation times, and more.

Can You Make Good Beer from a Kit?

Hell yeah! The best beer-making kits for beginners make it easy for newcomers to access a wide variety of flavors. At Great Fermentations, you can choose from the following beer kits, among so many others:

• Lunar Crushable Thiolized Light Lager Extract Beer Kit
• Dark Inception Imperial Porter Extract Beer Kit
• All Saints Irish Red Ale Extract Beer Kit
• Charisma Cream Ale Extract Kit
• Oktoberfester Extract Beer Kit

How Much Beer Does a Kit Make?

Beer kits are typically designed for five-gallon batches, although there are options for one-gallon batches, too. Five-gallon batches produce about 48 12 oz bottles of beer. One-gallon batches produce about 8 12 oz bottles of beer.

Take the Guesswork out of Home Brewing with Great Fermentations!

Beer-making kits help you spend more time actually brewing and less time pacing shop aisles, measuring ingredients, and following the wrong instructions for your recipe. If you’re ready to jump into brewing, then check out our selection of five-gallon and one-gallon kits.

If you’re in the Indianapolis area, stop by! If not, give us a call. Our team lives and breathes home brewing, and we’re hoppy to help you with your next brew!