You should definitly go through the John Palmer book at Howtobrew.com. I have been compiling a brewing 101 for people that ask me this questions so I have attached a "Word" document and I will paste it below for those that don;t have "Word". This is by no means all inclusive but just a starting point.
Definitions
Malt- Barley that has been soaked in water long enough to germinate, developing sugars, soluble starches and other desirable elements in the barley. After the sprout appears the barley is quickly kiln dried. The longer and hotter the kiln dry the darker the malt and the darker the beer. The longer the barley is cooked the more sugar and starch is destroyed so you cant use all dark malts to brew beer. A base malt of a very light color is use to provide most of the sugar and then darker malts are added to provide color and taste. Malted barley is where the bulk of the sugars come from that the yeast eats to make alcohol.
Hops- Hops are green cone like flowers that grow on vines and have been used in beer making for about 200 years. Hops impart a degree of bitterness and floral flavor that balances the sweetness of the malt. The addition of hops helps prevent spoilage and enhances head retention.
Yeast- are responsible for converting the bittersweet tea of fermentable sugars and hops to the bubbly, alcoholic beverage that we call beer. They are living microorganisms that use sugar as food resulting in the byproducts alcohol, and CO2. There are thousands of yeasts and most are wild existing all around us. You do not want to get these wild yeasts in you brew or it will result in nasty tasting stuff (that is why you use an airlock). The kind used for beer making is known as Beer yeast and there are two types, ale yeast and lager yeast.
Irish Moss- use to clear the beer in the last 10-15 minutes of boiling by attracting the positively charges proteins and causing them both to settle to the bottom.
Mashing- The process of mixing the malted barley in hot water and allowing the malt to steep for a given period of time. The steep time is usually 60 min but varies according to the recipe. The water and malt together is called mash. Note: 140°-160° F is the temp range required to produce the proper enzymes and sugars. In that range there are 2 separate ranges to keep in mind 140°-150° F is dry (higher alcohol) 150°-160° F is sweet. For a Balanced beer use water about 150° F.
Mash Tun- The container used for mashing. The cheapest mash tun is a regular ice chest with the addition of a screen and ball valve. Some brew pots can also be used but one must keep a close eye on the temperature and turn the flame on and off to maintain it in the range.
Wort- The tea like liquid that is drained off the mash to which hops and yeast are added to make beer.
Hydrometer- A measurement instrument that measures the density of the wort using the specific gravity scale (based on water at 60° being 1). It is important to take the specific gravity of your beer at 60° or you need to do the conversion so that you have an accurate reading. You take a reading before you pitch the yeast and record it for comparison later. After about 5-7 days of fermentation, start taking hydrometer readings daily (by taking a small amount of beer out to test. Drink or throughout DO NOT put it back into your fermenter). When you readings are the same 3 days in a row you beer is ready to bottle.
Website
HowToBrew.com- An online book by John Palmer that is free to read. Covers everything you need to know.
Homebrewtalk.com
Tastybrew.com- A great site to get recipes.
Helpful Apps (Android devices):
Brewzer Calculator I use this app on brew day for most of my mash calculations.
Homebrew calculator the bottle packaging part is helpful to know how many bottles you need.
Brewers Friend brew day and bottling help
BrewR recipe app
Supplies
1. Buckets- 2 to 4 preferably food grade but if you dont use them for a fermenter then its not required. It helps to have a spigot in the bottom for easier transfer but it is not necessary. If no spigot then you will need a racking cane/Auto-syphon.
2. Fermenter- One of the two below
a. Carboy- Can be made glass or PEX (plastic). You will also need a Carboy plug/topper- they are orange with 2 tubes out the top and available from brew supply.
b. Food grade bucket, 5-7 gal capacity with tight sealing lid. You will need to drill a hole and insert a grommet that will hold the Air lock. Plastic fermenters from a brew supply store usually come predrilled and have a spigot for transfer. I recommend a plastic fermenter with a spigot because it makes life much easier and then you dont need a siphon.
3. Air Lock- Fits in the plug/topper at the top of the Carboy/bucket during fermentation.to keep air and pollutants out but allow CO2 to escape.
4. 1 gallon plastic pitcher. With volume marks is better.
5. Oxy clean Free- For cleaning kegs and carboys. Fill with water and Oxy Clean and let sit for 10 min and then scrub. Make sure you dont use detergents that contain fragrance or it might spoil your beer.
6. Sanitizer-
a. Star-San Brand is s no rinse sanitizer and it goes a long way. Only needs a few minutes of contact time to sanitize so spraying all surfaces from a spray bottle is enough.
b. Iodine- also no rinse
7. Thermometer- scale from 50°-220° F at least. (One of the below choses)
a. A thermometer that floats (dairy thermometer) in the wort. These are available at Wal-Mart or a kitchen appliance/restaurant supply store.
b. Long needle thermometer: they are not water proof so just put them in to get a reading and them take it out.
c. Digital thermometer. I think it is worth investing in a good digital thermometer so that you only buy once. The Glass and needle thermometers will break and require you to purchase another.
8. Kettle/pot- 7 gal optimal - tamales pot, Turkey fryer pot. Found online, commercial restaurant supply store. Stainless Steel (SS) is best because it is easier to clean and does not leach into the brew. Aluminum is ok but you need to be careful what cleaners you use on them, NO OXYCLEAN. It is helpful to have a spigot on the pot. You can purchase weldless kits online to put one in your pot.
9. Long Handled Spoon/Stirrer- (SS or plastic) Found at brew supply, online, or restaurant supply store.
10. Burner- turkey fryer types found online/ Wal-Mart. The higher the BTU the faster you will be able to heat the water so go higher if you can.
11. Scale- (reads .25 oz increments). A small food scale will work fine. Find at Wal-Mart, or online.
12. Mash Tun- Made from an Ice chest- I found a valve kit from Brewers Edge called KettleValve that is cheaper than using the SS braided hose in the below how-to. They are available at brew supply store or online. Also: YouTube- how to make a mash tun from a cooler thick wall 36-48 quart. They recommend a Colman Extreme 5 cooler but any will work. Thicker the better because it will hold the temperature of the wort better.
a. 16 gauge wire,
b. 2- 1/2" conduit locknuts,
c. 3- 1/2" house clamps,
d. 3/4" SS washing machine hose(48"length)
e. 3- 1/2" barb to 1/2 MPT adapter
f. 1/2" x 1 1/2" Brass nipple
g. 1/2" Brass Pipe Tee
h. Teflon tape
i. 1/2" ball valve-Stainless steel is best.
13. Wort chiller- immersion or counter flow: can be made from copper tubing from Home Depot with garden hose tips or bought online
14. Nylon tube- 3/8?. Can be any size that fits the spouts on your equipment.
15. Racking cane/Auto-Syphon- can use a length of hose but need 2 people or to clap it to the pot when siphoning. NOTE: I highly recommend buying an Auto-syphon so that you only by once. It is very difficult to get a syphon going on a regular racking cane and sucking on the end will potentially infect your beer. Auto-syphon is a racking cane with a larger sleeve on the outside. You pump the racking cane in the outer tube to get the syphon started.
16. Hydrometer - This measures the specific gravity of the wort just before you pitch the yeast so that you know what the alcohol content is. If you dont care about the alcohol content and you dont care to hit the recipe exactly then you dont need one.
Steps to brewing
1. Heat water for the wort using your dairy thermometer- Note: 140°-160° F, 140°-150° F is dry (higher alcohol) 150°-160° F is sweet. For a Balanced beer use water about 150° F. Remember that the temperature will drop while your mash is in the cooler so it is ok to go a little higher. You will learn over time how many degrees your cooler loses over an hour.
2. Mash your grain in cooler for 1 hour. Add enough water to cover all the malt and have a little room over the top. Average Water to grain ratio is 1 quart water per 1 lb of grain. The malt grain will soak up water and expand so make sure you have enough. Great android app: Brewzor Caluclator use the strike temperature to figure the quantity of water at what temp to hit your target mash temp.
3. Rinse (Sparge) the grain with water until you get 5 gallons in your pot. Using a 1 gallon pitcher slowly pour water over the mash as you let the wort drain into your brew pot. As you pour move back and forth trying to cover all the grain as best you can. This will rinse the most sugars out of the grain.
4. Bring wort to boil and keep at boil for 1 hour. Caution: when wort comes to boil it will initially want to foam and overflow. If using a pot less than 7 gal (for 5 gal batches) keep a close eye on it and adjust burner to keep it from over flowing. It will stop the violent foaming after 2-3 min and then make sure it is at a rolling boil for 1 hour. Note: Everything that goes into the wort after this point needs to be sanitized with the sanitizer listed above or similar.
5. Add hops according to recipe. Usually at 60, 30, 15, 5 etc. Most recipes will call for hops to be added at increments counting down from 60 minutes. So hops at 60 means as soon as it boils, 30 means at 30 min left to boil, 15 is 15 min left to boil, etc.
6. While the wort is boiling you can sanitize your parts. Fill a bucket with water and add the Sanitizer according to directions (Star-San is 1 oz to 5 gals of water) and throw all your pieces you will need like carboy cap, air lock, spoon/stirrer, wort chiller, in the bucket to sanitize. Also add some sanitizer to the carboy by spraying the interior or fill with water. Bubbles are ok and expected with Star-san.
7. After 1 hour boil, Chill the wort- Put the sanitized wort chiller coil in the wort pot that you just took off the burner. Run water through the chiller until you reduce the temp of the wort to 70° F. To speed up the process you can stir the wort with a sanitized spoon.
8. Once wort is chilled to 70 deg empty carboy of sanitizer and cane (siphon) wort from the pot to the fermentor. Let the wort dribble in from the top of the carboy so that it allows as much oxygen to be added as possible. (Note: this is the only time that you want to add oxygen to the wort. It gives the yeast something to get started quickly) Try not to clog the tip of the cane with hops/debris.
9. Pitch the yeast into the carboy and put cap and air lock on.
10. Store in a cool dark spot. 68 deg is ideal. Every degree over, runs the risk of added flavors that might not be good.
