Extract Ingredients:

Here is a list of suggested ingredients for a very simple American pale ale. You could purchase them from your local homebrew supply shop or online. You should also be able to find recipe kits where all of the necessary ingredients are conveniently pre-packaged for extract brewers. One caveat with recipe kits - be careful of freshness, especially with the yeast! There is absolutely no substitute for fresh, top-quality ingredients.

1. Five and a half (5-1/2) gallons water (referred to by brewers as "liquor")

   The rule of thumb with tap water is that if it's good enough to drink, it's good enough to brew with. However, even good tap water has chemicals that may affect the quality of the beer, such as fluoride and chlorine, so I always brew with spring water. An alternative would be to use water that has been run through a carbon-filtering device. A second alternative would be to boil all of the tap water you intend to use so that some of the chemicals in the water precipitate out of suspension. Regardless of how you choose to get your water, when boiled, your liquor will evaporate at the rate of approximately 1/2 gallon per hour, so to end up with 5 gallons or beer, you'll need to start with about 5-1/2 gallons. Having 6 gallons of liquor on hand is a safe bet.

2. Approximately 6 pounds of unhopped light malt extract syrup or dried malt extract

   It makes little difference at this point whether you use extract syrup or dried malt extract (or "DME" for short). It's primarily a matter of personal preference which you'll figure out after brewing a few times. However, it is suggested that DME stays fresher longer that malt extract syrup, so DME might be the way to go if you don't mind using it.

3. Two (2) ounces of Cascade hop pellets

   Cascade hops are the classic hop variety used in American pale ales, but you could use any other type of hop once you learn the difference between them and their effects on beer. Until then, Cascades are a safe bet. In addition, whole hops or hop plugs could be used in place of pellets, but pellets seem to be easier when starting out.

4. Ale yeast

   You can get yeast in either a liquid or a dried format. This, too, is a matter of preference, so I recommend trying both types to see which yeast gives you the results you want. Just make sure you follow the manufacturer's instructions to prepare the yeast properly for adding to your beer. Dry yeast will need to be re-hydrated prior to adding to the beer.

5. Three-quarters (3/4) cup of corn sugar (priming sugar)

   The corn sugar is added at bottling time to allow a re-fermentation and conditioning in the bottle. More on this later.