Mix the Wort and Pitch the Yeast:

1. All equipment that touches your wort and beer from this point forward needs to be sanitized first!!!
2. Record the type of kit, and code number from the box top. This information will be required should you have any questions or comments or have a kit that fails.
3. Open the box that contains your beer kit. Be careful to not puncture the plastic bag that contains the wort concentrate.
4. Place the primary fermenter in a location that will keep the bucket from moving or ask someone to hold the bucket.
5. If your kit does not contain bentonite (Package #1) proceed to step #5. Add two liters (1/2 Imp. gal.) of warm water to the bottom of your sanitized 7.9 gal primary fermenter. Stir the water vigorously and slowly sprinkle the contents of package #1 (bentonite) onto the surface. Stir for 30 seconds to ensure even dispersal, and to break up any clumps. (Alternatively, you can use a blender to mix the bentonite and water. Then pour it into the primary fermenter.)
6. Grasp the bag by the neck, carefully remove the cap, and pour the contents into the primary fermenter with the bentonite solution.
7. Add 4.5 liters (1 Imp. gal.) of warm water to the bag to rinse out any remaining liquid, and add it to the fermenter.
8. Top up fermenter to the 23-liter mark with cool water. Stir vigorously for 30 seconds. This is very important to make sure and mix the water and wort concentrate to get an even fermentation. ( Skip to step #10)
9. Now you are ready to transfer your cooled wort from the brew pot to the primary fermenter. I prefer a siphon to transfer the wort in order to leave a large amount of the solids behind. It is not absolutely necessary to strain all the solids out at this stage but will help with having fewer solids in the primary fermenter which is called trub.
10. Top off the primary fermenter with cool water to the 5 gallon level (6 gallons if using a no boil Baron’s kit). The ideal temperature of your wort at this stage should be 70-75 degrees. Stir the wort very vigorously now so that there is plenty of oxygen mixed in for the yeast to work quickly. The faster the yeast starts to ferment the less chance of off flavors to develop.
11. Using your sanitized hydrometer and test jar take a starting specific gravity reading of your wort and record on your recipe/log sheet.
12. Add your yeast by sprinkling dry yeast on top of the wort or pour in your liquid yeast. No need to stir at this point just put on the sanitized cover and add an airlock filled halfway with water.

We'll talk more about two-stage fermentation in our next lesson.