There are two big differences between this method and the All Extract method. First, you steep some grains in the brewpot before you add the malt extract. Second, you add fresh hops yourself at key times during the boil. Both of these things are as easy as throwing a bag into a kettle, so no worries.

1) Take your yeast out of the fridge and set it on the counter to let it naturally rise to room temp. If using a Wyeast “smack pack” go ahead and smack it how. If using a dry yeast, sprinkle it into a small bowl of warm (about 90F) water and stir it up. The White Labs vials don’t need any prep, they just need to hang out and get up to room temp.

2) Fill a large stock pot with 2.5 gallons of water and bring up to 150F.

3) If possible, put another 3 gallons of water in a fridge or freezer at this point.

4) While the water is heating up, fill your fermenting vessel (either a plastic bucket or 6 gallon glass carboy) with warm water and stir in a measured amount of sanitizing agent.

5) You also want to sanitize your airlock, stopper (if using), funnel, and anything else that will come into contact with the wort after it is done boiling. You can do this by soaking them in the bucket or in another vessel filled with sanitizing solution.

6) Take your crushed grains and place them in a steeping bag, either a re-usable nylon bag or a disposable muslin bag.

7) Throw the bag of grains into the pot and maintain the tempurature at 150F for 30 minutes. You will see the colors and sugars start to seep out and form a tea.

While the tea is sitting at 150F, measure out the required amount of hops for each addition and place them in hop bags, one for each addition. For example, if your recipe calls for 1oz of Chinook for 60 minutes, .5oz of Cascade for 30 minutes and .5oz of Cascade for the final 15 minutes, you will have 3 hop bags ready to go. Remember which is which.

9) After the tea is done steeping for 30 minutes, take the grain bag out of the pot and discard the spent grains. Crank the heat up and get the tea to a boil. The spent grains make excellent compost and can also be used for bread.

10) When the tea has come to a boil, take it off the heat and slowly pour in the malt extract. Use the spoon to stir it all up good.

11) Return the pot to heat and bring it back up to a boil, stirring constantly.

12) ATTENTION: When the gooey wort comes to a boil it will want to boil over. Stir, stir, stir, and be ready to take it off the heat if a boil-over is eminent. Boil-overs are messy, sticky and nasty, so beware.

13) When the threat of boil-over has subsided (about 5-10 minutes), start your clock for 60 minutes and throw in your first hop addition.

14) While keeping an eye on the boiling wort, empty your fermenting vessel and allow to air dry. Also remove the other items from the sanitizing solution and allow to dry. If you are using a no-rinse sanitizer, great. If not, just rinse lightly with mild water before allowing to dry.

15) Keep stirring the wort to avoid scorching the bottom.

16) Add the remaining hops as called for in the recipe. It is common to add hops at 30 minutes for flavor and at 45 minutes for aroma. Not all recipies call for these additions, so read them carefully.

17) If using, sprinkle in a teaspoon of Irish Moss at the 45 minute mark. This mark is also when you would drop in your immersion wort chiller if you happen to have one.

18) Fill your sink with ice water.

19) After the wort has boiled for 60 minutes cut the heat and submerse the pot in the ice bath. Stir to circulate the energy around and allow it to escape through the ice water, being careful not to get any of the ice water into the pot.

20) Pour 3 gallons of cold water (preferably the water you put in the fridge before) into your fermenter.

21) When the temperature of the wort gets to about 100F, pour it carefully into the fermenter. The temperature should level out to about room temp or cooler, depending on how cold the cold water was.

22) At this point your yeast should also be at about room temp. Shake it up and pour the whole slurry into the fermenter. Stir up the whole thing to mix up the yeast into the wort and to oxygenate it. The important thing to remember here is to make sure the yeast and the wort are at about the same temperature to avoid shocking the yeast.

23) Fill the airlock with water up to the “fill line” or “max” mark and place it on your fermenter.

24) Put the fermenter somewhere out of light and keep it at a constant temperature of around 68F for ales or 55F for lagers.

25) Leave it alone for 24 hours, then sneak a peak. The airlock should be bubbling at this point, indicating that the yeast is munching away on the sugars and creating CO2 and alcohol. After a few days the airlock activity will subside, but fermentation is still going on.

26) Let it sit for 5 days.

27) On the 6th day, fill your 5 gallon glass carboy with warm water and a measured amount of sanitizing solution. Stick your racking cane or auto-siphon and about 4 feet of hose into the carboy, making sure they are filled with sanitizing solution. Let it all hang out for about 15 minutes, then empty the carboy and let everything air dry.

28) While the carboy is drying, take the fermenter out of its hiding spot and place it on an elevated surface, like you kitchen counter. Be careful not to disturb the yeast sediment on the bottom.

29) Take the lid or cap off the fermenter and stick the racking cane/auto-siphon into it. Attach the hose.

30) Place the other end of the hose into the bottom of the 5 gallon carboy, which should be sitting below the fermenter.

31) Start a siphon into the 5 gallon carboy and transfer (or “rack”) the beer to it, leaving behind the yeast sediment layer in the primary fermenter.

32) Seal and airlock the 5 gallon carboy and allow secondary fermentation to finish for about one week.

33) After that week (or about 2 weeks since you brewed), sanitize your bottles either by soaking them in a sanitizing solution or running them through the dishwasher on the “sanitize” cycle. If using the latter option, make sure not to use any detergent or rinsing agents.

34) Also sanitize your 5 gallon bottling bucket by filling with warm water and sanitizing agent. Throw 4 feet of hose, the 5 gallon glass carboy with warm water and a measured amount of sanitizing solution. Stick your bottling wand and your racking cane or auto-siphon into the bucket as well.

35) While things are sanitizing, boil about a pint of water for 5 minutes, then remove from heat. Pour 3 quarters of a cup of corn sugar into the water and dissolve. Allow to cool.

36) Air dry everything.

37) Pour your cooled sugar solution into the bottling bucket.

38) Take your secondary fermenter out of hiding and place it on an elevated surface.

39) Rack the beer just as before, this time from the secondary fermenter into the bottling bucket. Take care to get the hose to the bottom of the bucket as this will help mix the corn sugar into the beer more evenly and will prevent oxygenating the beer. Again, leave any sediment behind.

40) Now attach one end of the hose to the spigot and the other end to the bottling wand.

41) Use the bottling wand to fill each bottle, cap, store for 2 to 3 weeks before chilling and serving.

While you’re waiting for your beer to bottle condition, another brew is calling your name.