You Can Make Your Own Beer At Home

You Can Make Your Own Beer At Home
by Tim Tanis

It can be a family project or just a new hobby for yourself. Many people do not understand why some make their own beer. They wonder why they want the big mess and all the clutter of creating their own brew.It really is not all that. They think that it is easier to go to the store and get what they want when they want it. However, it is not about the convenience or the cost of the beer in the stores.

The actual reason why a lot of people are making their own beer is because they think it is fun and exciting. This is a way for them to do the hobby that they like and that keeps them busy. Some people create their own brew because they have never tried it before and now they want the opportunity. there are so many resources and recipes for all your favorite styles of beer. There are so many different recipes for beer that have been handed down through different families. They are using the recipes that their ancestors used and seeing if they can do what they did and that are creating great tasting beer. Many of the recipes are easy to follow and have an ingredient list that is easy to find. There are different things that people can buy to make their beer making experience more fun.

With the right kit and the best beer-making recipe, anyone can try making great tasting beer. Even if it is a one shot thing, it will be worth seeing if they can create a beer that is just as good as the stuff that is purchased in the store. You can create anything with the supplies that you can find in the store.

Buying the kits to brew your beer is going to make it easier for a lot of people to do. You can get everything that you need with this kit and it will make your beer brewing easier. Finding these kits will make the beer brewing adventure even more fun for someone that has not had the opportunity to try making their own beer yet.

Finding out about making your own beer is easy. You can go online and get all the facts and the tips that you need to get started on making your own beer. Many tips and pieces of advice that a person can use when they are checking into all the beer brewing articles online, such as right here! You can use this information to get creative and find a new past time in making your own beer.

Good luck in your adventure as a new Brewmaster.

Why make your own beer at home

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Tanis

Powered by ScribeFire.

Homebrew Experimentation – Back to Basics

Homebrew Experimentation – Back to Basics
by Drew Vics

I started brewing my own beers back in the late 90’s. A friend of mine had been brewing successfully for about 10 years and had offered to show me the ropes. I eagerly accepted.

At that time he had already had a sufficient grasp of the process, so my actual first brew was an experiment of sorts, but the outcome was fairly predictable because we were using base ingredients that he was familiar with.

The addition we made to his standard recipe was about 4 lbs. of honey. He thought it would be neat to try our hand at brewing a honey brown ale. We ended up with approximately 10 lbs of fermentable sugars in that brew, and later, during fermentation, the airlock clogged with hops and the lid blew off of my fermenter spewing hops and foam onto the wall in my apartment. It would prove to be one of my strongest brew to date.

Since that first brew I’ve tried different recipes and experimenting with my own variations on the basic theme. I’ve used pale malt extracts, dark malt extracts, steeped specialty grains, several varieties of hops, different yeast strains, lemons, limes, rosemary, coriander and other herbs to enhance the ‘nose.’ All in an attempt to create my perfect ale.

I still haven’t achieved that goal, and now that I look back on all the experimentation, the successes and failures, I understand why. There is no perfect beer, just different beers that need to be appreciated for their own unique qualities and differences. Likewise, different tastes and preferences will cause us to appreciate one style or flavor more than another.

One batch of beer cannot, or should not, be compared to a previous batch of beer, unless the brews were made from exactly the same recipe, they must be assessed individually. They are as distinct as any commercially available offering. Even more so because of the environmental differences, and variations in timing inherent in the home brewing process.

As a brewer who likes to experiment with flavors and other additions, if I can’t create the perfect beer I must first create a beer that I am satisfied with and use that as my benchmark for additional experimentation. At least then I can anticipate the result and not be completely disappointed when a particular experiment doesn’t turn out as I had planned.

For example, I can’t successfully determine the effect of a particular flavor addition if I have also changed the hops variety, or the malt variety for that same batch of beer. I need to establish a base brew for my future experimentation.

Then, if I decide to experiment with different hops varieties, or extracts and grains, I’ll be creating a completely different benchmark brew which can be used for further experimentation.

Many home brewers like to experiment with flavors and subtle changes in the recipe, and I’m no exception, but first we need to establish a solid, good tasting beer to build upon. That means we need to step away from the spice cabinet and the fruit basket, and get back to basics. Find the right hops, find the right malts, and build the brew that’s right for you.

Once that’s done you can start experimenting, but at least you’ll know what the underlying beer tastes like, and that will make all the difference.

Drew Vics is an avid homebrewer, artist and musician from northern New Jersey. He writes short articles for various websites on the internet, and runs the home brewed and craft-brewed beer appreciation site, Cryptobrewology.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Drew_Vics

Powered by ScribeFire.

Brewing Beer

Brewing Beer
by Gary DeWitt

Brewing beer at home requires 4 basic ingredients. They are malt, hops, yeast, and water. Yet brewing beer is almost as much of an art as a science. The malt for brewing beer is the grain. The hops you use for brewing beer adds bitterness. The water makes it work. The yeast processes the sugar in the malt and affects the flavor.

You can use many malts for brewing beer. Barley malt is one of the most common. Other malts for brewing beer include wheat, rye, and oats. The malt will affect the final color of the brewed beer. Some even use oatmeal for brewing beer.

Hops create the bittering when brewing beer. Just like the grapes in wine, where hops are raised can affect the flavor.

Yeast will add flavor and aroma to the beer. Different strains of yeast are used depending on the level of alcohol wanted in the final product. There are top fermenting and bottom fermenting yeasts. Top fermenting yeast floats to the top during the fermenting process. Bottom fermenting yeast settles to the bottom.

When brewing beer, you can control all the ingredients and amounts. This will give your beer a distinct flavor that is all your own. You control the aroma, bitterness, sweetness, and alcohol content.

There are several main styles of beer. When brewing beer, then main styles are ale and lager. Ale is brewed with a top brewing yeast and a higher temperature. Lager is brewed with a bottom brewing yeast and a lower temperature.

Click here to start brewing beer today

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_DeWitt

Powered by ScribeFire.

Beer – Tasting Parties

Beer – Tasting Parties
by Michael Russell

Let me start out by saying that nobody should host a bear tasting party unless all the participants are over age and there is a designated driver for each person. That way you are assured of nobody getting arrested for underage drinking or driving under the influence. Having said that, what exactly is a beer tasting party and how do they work?

A beer tasting party is just that. You bring a number of people over to your place and have them sample a variety of beers. At the end of the evening the beers are ranked from best to worst. There are many variations you can do on this such as having friendly wagers on what beer you think will come in first. Of course gambling for money is illegal so the wagers would have to be for something other than.

It’s best, when having a beer tasting party, to have a small group. The reason for this is simple. With a small group, the tasting party is just that, a tasting party. With a larger group, it tends to become a party, period. And parties with large groups can become quite rowdy. So if you want a serious tasting party, keep it small.

The next thing is the selection of the beers themselves. How do you go about doing this? A good tasting party will have about eight to ten different kinds of beers, all very distinct in taste. You should probably select a beer by its brewing style rather than by its country of origin. You should mix up your beers between beers that are expensive and beers that are cheap. You don’t want to have two beers that are very similar. This way you are sure to get a more accurate ranking of the beers. If all goes as it should, the cheap beers should end up at the bottom with the premium beers coming in first.

Because this is a tasting party, you don’t need a lot of beer. Probably a six pack of each beer will be more than enough and you’ll still have plenty left over after you’re done. If you’re on a tight budget and don’t want to buy whole six packs, then figure one bottle of beer for every three people at the party. This way you can pull off your party without going broke.

Because you don’t want your guests to get rip roaring drunk, it is a good idea to have food at this party. What kind of food? You want foods that will go well with the beers, like cheese and bread. These things won’t interfere with the tasting process itself. And if you want, you can even turn this into a combination cheese and beer tasting party. They make great fund raisers.

Finally, there should be a certain order to the tasting itself. You want to taste your beers from the lightest beers to the heaviest, making sure that you take a bite of cheese or bread in between each beer so that the taste of the previous beer is gone.

Your guests should rank each beer on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. All scores for each beer should be added together and then divided by the number of tasters. This will give you an average score for each beer.

By following these simple steps, your beer tasting party should go off without a hitch.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Beer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Powered by ScribeFire.

Beer – More Things You Can Learn

Beer – More Things You Can Learn
by Michael Russell

In a previous article we started a discussion of some of the things you can learn about beer. We covered some of the basics. But beer goes way beyond basics. Maybe that’s why over 100,000 people each month do Internet search engine lookups on beer. Ready for some more things you can learn about beer? Great! Let’s begin!

Everybody talks about ABV or alcohol by volume. Every beer drinker should know his ABV or he’s going to be in a lot of trouble if he wants to keep from getting too sloshed out of his mind. ABV simply means what portion of the total amount of liquid in the bottle of beer is alcohol. Why is this important? Very simple. The more alcohol by volume, the more actual alcohol that you’re drinking. That’s why you can drink three bottles of one beer with an alcohol by volume of say 9% and feel nothing, while at the same time drink only two bottles of a beer with an alcohol by volume of 20% and get rip roaring drunk. It’s not the number of bottles of beer. It’s how much alcohol is in each one.

What about freshness? Did you know that beer can go stale? Sure can. Well, no need to worry because you can also learn how to tell the freshness of your beer and how to keep your beer fresh. These tips include things like buying your beer right from the cooler to begin with, checking the freshness or package date, checking for dust (sure sign of stale beer), not buying beer that’s stored in direct light and not buying beer that is on sale. Sale beer is stale beer.

You can even learn proper etiquette on tipping for a bottle or glass of beer when at a bar. After all, you tip your waitress when you order food, so why not tip your bartender when ordering a beer. You should always keep some spare change in your pocket for doing this. Even if your bottle of beer is only a couple of bucks, throw the bartender two bits. You’ll feel much better for it.

What about home brewing? Well, believe it or not, if you look hard enough, you can actually find articles on how to brew your own beer, from picking the ingredients to how to mix them to the type of equipment you’ll need. There’s a lot to learn about brewing your own beer. Just make sure you check with the local laws to ensure that you’re not in violation of any town ordinances.

And if all that isn’t enough, there is always the history of beer itself. You can learn when the first beer was made, when the first major manufacturer of beer came to be and who it was. You can even learn about the history of every company that ever sold beer on this planet. It’s enough reading to keep you busy for years. Oh and in case you’re wondering, the first beer brewed in the United States was brewed by the colonists in Virginia in 1587.

See, there’s a lot you can learn about beer besides how to burp after a good swig of it.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Beer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Powered by ScribeFire.

Beer – How to Make it Yourself

Beer – How to Make it Yourself
by Michael Russell

Home brewing is a big industry in Europe and elsewhere, but it seems that it is just in huge demand in England. There people began to brew their own wine and beer pretty early on, until it turned into a boom in the early eighties. Everybody jumped on the bandwagon and England turned into a country full of specialist on how to make your own alcoholic beverages at home. Everywhere stores went up that sold equipment and kits for brewing your own beer.

It doesn’t really surprise when one takes into account the pub opening hours, which were very much restricted until the mid – nineties. Back in the days of the World War I, the House of Parliament decided to do something about the high casualty rates on the home front. Too many people who worked in the armament industries blew themselves and their colleagues up by accident, not working with the required care when building hand grenades because they were either under the influence of alcohol or suffering from a hangover. The only thing the politicians could think of at the time was to limit severely the opening hours of bars, clubs and restaurants. So if people wanted to have a drink after 11:00 p.m., they had to be inventive. That’s why it seemed that everybody had a barrel with some kind of fermenting liquid at home, waiting patiently for the beer to be ready.

It requires very little money, not much time and a little space to make some superb beer at home. Most people start the process in their kitchens and once they have mixed all the ingredients into the barrel they put it in some quiet corner to let it ferment.

Beer is made, in its purest form, from only 4 ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. In fact, Germany had a so called purity law which the government had to scrap in order to align local laws with European laws, which generally allowed breweries to add chemical components to the beer, some for preservation, some for coloring.

It’s not necessary to use some extra clean or purified water to make beer, any tap water will actually do as long as it doesn’t have a high mineral content.

The next of the four ingredients is what is called the ‘heart of beer’, the malt. It is the product of grains like wheat or rye germinating. In itself it is the catalyst for the yeast, but more importantly in provides the flavor and the color for the beer.

In the south of England, particularly in Kent, there are huge hop farms. Hops are bitter tasting flowers that give the beer its herbal aroma. Consider these small flowers as the seasoning for the beer, as oregano might be the seasoning for a spaghetti sauce.

People are obviously familiar with yeast, which is used in making bread. It is a single cell organism that needs sugar in order to exist. Mixing it in with the dough for bread for example, this organism looks for and finds the sugar, eats it and multiplies in the process. As a by product there is alcohol and carbon dioxide, which makes the dough rise. In the beer brewing process it is the special kind of yeast which each brand uses that gives it its particular taste.

After having mixed all the ingredients together comes the difficult part, the waiting. The brew has to go through its fermentation process and before that is finished people are not supposed to drink it or else they get sick.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Beer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Powered by ScribeFire.

Beer – Barley, Hops And A Lot Of Luck

Beer – Barley, Hops And A Lot Of Luck
by Michael Russell

It’s almost become the first choice for a lot of people, when the purpose is to quench their thirst. Many businesses have been built while using this product as their ultimate selling point. People gather every day to share a laugh, to share a smile and to share a beer. To some people, being able to drink a beer is like the rite of passage into adulthood. I don’t know, maybe it’s because there are laws against underage drinking, so when you’re able to take that first legal drink, it tastes so much better. Beer, like sports, seems to have a way of bringing people together.

Beer has been around for some time. The oldest documented evidence shows that beer has been around for at least 6,000 years. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese also brewed beer. Oddly enough, women were considered the master brewers. Beer was popular with the Romans and Greeks until wine came along. The Romans thought of wine as a type of food from the gods. Beer quickly lost its popularity in Rome and soon became a drink only fit for barbarians. During this time in Europe, beer making was still done in the home. As the 15th century rolled around, pubs and even monks were brewing beer, in Europe, for mass consumption.

Most beers will have the same ingredients and these are, barley, hops, water and yeast. The brewing process is what determines the style of beer. There are almost 70 styles of beer; some of the most common are, ale, lager, pilsner, mild beer and porter. With almost 70 styles, there’s probably at least one beer that fits everyone’s taste. So how do you like your beer, bottled, canned or draft? If given the option, most drinkers would chose draft beer. Draft beer retains most of its brewing flavor, plus, the packaging process does not affect the flavor as much. Most bottled beer is able to keep some of its flavor, even though it goes through a pasteurization process. Bottled beer can last about 3 months on a shelf. Also, the beer will keep longer if it comes in a brown bottle. Canned beer is filtered before it’s canned, but then it goes through a pasteurization process after it’s canned. Canned beer has a tendency to smell like the area where it was packaged.

Beer is obviously one of the most loved liquids in the world. People drink it for all occasions. It’s not defined by economic status, because the rich and the poor all drink beer. But beer is like anything else, it must be drunk in moderation. Most people who’ve been drinking for years, probably have some story of getting drunk and not remembering what happened the night before. These stories used to be funny, but as drinking, especially underage drinking, has grown, those stories tend to have unhappy endings. We’ve seen too many stories of drunk and unruly fans at sporting events, or worse, the drunk driver, to continue to believe in the concept of the happy drunk.

People will continue to gather places to watch sports and share a beer. But lets hope that beer will be just part of a good time and not the reason for having a good time.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Beer

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Powered by ScribeFire.

Beer – A Brief History

Beer – A Brief History
by Michael Kyle

Who doesn’t love an ice cold beer on a sunny day or after a hard days work? Many of us do but what is it that makes beer so great? Well, we could spend years talking about the virtues of beer and trying to categorize them all, but instead why not focus on the conception of beer and learn its quenching history! Beer is possibly the oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage on the planet today. Records of beer can be traced back to 5000 BC in the ancient writings of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians.

It’s basic mix of carbohydrates and water made it a simple beverage to create and became a staple, along with bread, in the diet of medieval times. It was sometimes a thick and floral concoction with often poisonous flavorings that was a far cry from what we now drink today. During the middle ages, brewing beer shifted from homemakers and became more a tool of the artisan. Pubs, Monasteries and Monks in particular, began brewing beer for the masses. Hops were added to induce some bitterness to the sweet brew making it more identifiable to your palate today.

In 1516 the brewing guilds of Bavaria pushed for beer purity laws making it illegal to brew beer with anything but barley, hops and water. (This of course predated yeast) it was shortly after this in 1553 that Beck’s brewing of Belgium began producing beer commercially for the masses.

With the discovery of the new world so did the progression of beer brewing. Many breweries started the process of mass production but with differing results, regional flavors and taste. Many prominent men of the day brewed beer, sometimes hiring brew master’s from the old world to come and work their craft. Beer brewing hadn’t changed much until 1876, when Louis Pasteur was able to isolate a single yeast cell in a controlled lab environment thus changing beer brewing forever. The true secret to fermentation was discovered and was now repeatable. Controlled mass production and consistency were now available to the joy of beer drinkers everywhere.

Since then beer has been manufactured by several large multinational corporations around the world but still retains its artisan roots with regional craft breweries and small “micro breweries” producing outstanding product with a great regional feel and flavor. With the introduction of the metal keg in 1964, it was now possible for completely hygienic and sterilized product to be shipped worldwide thus evoking the term “Import or Domestic” on Tap and giving us the modern brew we love and enjoy today.

Michael Kyle has been an event coordinator and hospitality expert for 18 years. His passion for event planning and guest services helped lead to the successful launch of http://www.thesexykitchen.com; a web-site dedicated to kitchen design, renovation, party planning, hospitality, and more. Perhaps you have a passion or hobby you’d like to write about. Discover how to turn your passion into a successful website, visit http://www.succeed-from-your-passion.com to learn how.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Kyle

Powered by ScribeFire.

A Beginners Guide to Choosing Wine

A Beginners Guide to Choosing Wine
by Craig Dawber

Wine can be a complicated topic. Some people have no idea about wine. Knowing the different types of wine will help you to make a more educated choice the next time you are out buying a bottle.

Wines from the United States are named first for the type of grape used in them and then for the place they were made. European wines are named by the place they were made and then by the type of grape. This simple explanation will help you to immediately define a domestic wine from an imported wine.

The different types of wines are based upon what is used to make them and sometimes by the process in which they are made. The following list explains each type of wine.

Red wine – These wines are made form dark skinned grapes.

White wine – This wine is made from light skinned grapes or from dark skinned grapes whose skins have been removed prior to processing.

Rose wine- This is made from leaving the skins on dark grapes just so the wine is tinted and then removing them.

Sparkling wine or champagne- This is made as a regular wine and then goes through a second fermentation process.

Dessert wines – These are made the same as the others, but have a higher sugar content.

Fruit wines – These wines are made from fruit other than grapes.

Agricultural wine – This type of wine is made from agricultural products other than fruit or grains.

Kosher wine – Made for those of the Jewish religions, these wines follow a rabbinical production process.

Organic wines – This type is made from grapes that are grown organically.

Nonalcoholic wines – These wines start as a traditional wine and then go through additional processing to remove almost all of the alcohol.

When choosing a wine you really should go from your personal preference. Taste the wine and consider its flavor and the flavor of the food you are pairing it with. You do not want the wine to overpower the food. The idea is that the wine complements the food. If you are unsure be aware that most people agree that champagne goes with anything.

Knowing a little background on wine ca help you to make a n\more informed decision when you go to buy. You should have an idea of the general type of wine you want before you go. Once you get to the store, taste and think. You should have no problem choosing your own wine.

A beginners guide to choosing wine was written by Craig Dawber, Find out all you need to know about food and drink, wine and spirits on this web-site http://www.winewebsite.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Dawber

Powered by ScribeFire.