Blog

  • The Fast Track Way to Making Beer at Home

    The Fast Track Way to Making Beer at Home

    There are a lot of people who have taken the plunge to buy all the equipment and get started making their own beer from scratch at home. But the odds are that just as many people are curious about brewing beer at home but are pushed away by the challenge of buying all this stuff and figuring out how to do it and then the problem of the mess and the storage of equipment and beer in different phases of fermentation and completion.

    For many, what is needed is an easy way to give home brewing a shot without having to go to all the effort of buying a complete set up of equipment, all of the ingredients and the bottles and storage just to find out if you like it. What is not generally known is that there is such a fast track way to making beer at home. By buying a simple device called a beer making machine, you can easily make a batch of beer right in the home

    The good thing about a beer making machine is that it is basically a plug and go situation. This takes a lot of the intimidation out of buying many individual units of equipment and going through each step of brewing and fermentation by the seat of your pants. The brewing machine goes a long way to take the preparation over so you can do all the steps using the resources of the machine. When you buy the machine, it comes with the ingredients and instructions.

    The entire design of a beer making machine is based on the idea of reducing the mess and fuss of beer making for that first time home brewer who needs to have some of the joy of making their own brew but not as much of the work and the worry. You certainly don’t have to be a beer making guru to use these user friendly machines because the instructions are clear and written in an understandable way and the ingredients come measured and ready to go.

    But as with any ready made solution for discovering something as great as home brewing your own beer, there are pluses and minuses to breaking yourself in on a beer making machine. Probably one of the biggest pluses is that they are a one time use machine that you can use and throw away. This gets the problems of cleaning and sanitation out of the loop entirely. All of the ingredients are prepared and ready to add in premeasured amounts so the fuss and worry about going from completely raw materials is removed as well. It is just about as user friendly as you can make home brewing be.

    The down side of using a beer making machine to break into the craft of home brewing is that because it is completely set up when you buy it as a kit, you don’t get the change to play with the ingredients and enjoy the creativity and experimentation that is a big part of why beer making is so fun. You go through the steps and make one good batch of beer. But you don’t have the chance to make it a great batch of beer because you cannot make changes to the ingredients as you go.

    Also a beer making machine is sold to make one and only one batch of beer and then you, in theory, are to throw it away. This may seem like a big waste and you might try to clean it up to use it again. But the real idea of the product is as a starter experience. It really isn’t the kind of thing intended for you to buy a new kit every month and continue making that same kind of beer each time.

    But keep the perspective that it is not really designed to be your total and final solution for beer making. By breaking into home brewing with the beer making machine, you get some of the experience of making and fermenting your own beer and then bottling it to serve a few weeks later as a genuine product of your little at home brewery. And the fun of that may be a great way for you to start making beer and then grow into a hobby that may last a lifetime.

  • Home Brewing Beer With CO2 Can Go With A Pop

    Home Brewing Beer With CO2 Can Go With A Pop

    Beer has been brewed at home, more or less for the past several thousand years. There is not much said about the practice before the nineteenth century. At some point though, men figured out that CO2 (carbon dioxide) was needed for brewing beer at home. This most likely strengthened the fascination with home brewing. Larger breweries were not quite so thrilled with the home-based competition.

    The Inland Revenue Act of 1880 in the United Kingdom demanded private citizens to pay for a license in order to pursue their pastime. The same types of hardships were felt by home brewers in the United States. A law passed in 1920 banned anyone, private of company to produce alcohol. Organized crime saw a boost in activity during the famous “Prohibition” period.

    Times have changed now and home brewing is enjoyed by many, with interest in the process growing as more time passes. It can be a very relaxing and enjoyable hobby. There is some work that goes into making beer at home, but it is minimal and the result is something really great that you can share with friends and family.

    What CO2 Is To Brewing Beer At Home

    Brewing beer at home is not at all difficult as long as you can and will follow directions. There are four basic ingredients necessary for every batch you make:
    Water
    Yeast
    Malted Grain
    Hops

    There is a fifth ingredient, but it arrives a little late to the party: carbon dioxide, or CO2. You cannot brew beer at home without it. Actually no one can brew beer anywhere without carbon dioxide. How do you get it? It is produced by the yeast and hops in the beer. There is an important process of aging that is necessary if you want really good beer.

    Once bottled, leave it be for no less than two weeks. It is during this time that the carbon dioxide is produced and your beer is carbonated. There are a few other ways to add CO2 to your home brewed beer, but the aging is still something to allow.

    The quick way to possibly add CO2 to beer brewed at home is to pump it into your keg or container directly. This speeds up the aging process and gets you to your brew a lot faster.

    The more traditional way for home brewing beer with CO2 is by adding wort to the finished product before sealing it. Wort is simply unfermented beer; adding that for the yeast produces carbon dioxide.

  • Why Make Your Own Beer At Home

    Why Make Your Own Beer At Home

    You can make your own beer at home. 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 wander why they want the big mess and all the clutter of creating their own brew. 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 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 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.

  • Is It Legal To Make Your Own Beer?

    Is It Legal To Make Your Own Beer?

    When you hear about people who brew their own beer it can easily conjure up prohibition images of speakeasies and moonshine distilleries. Perhaps it’s the puritanical past of American liquor laws that make many of us wonder about the legality of homemade beer in the USA. In an attempt to put your mind at ease, let’s discuss the laws surrounding homemade beer to get the liquor flowing freely again!

    For those of you interested in a little history you might remember that the 18th amendment to the US Constitution made home brewing beer illegal. Passed in 1919 the bill was enough to cause the prohibition era and also erupt an underground thriving black market of homemade brew. When President Carter signed H.R. 1337 in 1978 it officially ended the restrictions of the 18th amendment and allowed citizens to brew homemade beer without fear of taxation.

    The official statute that outlines federal laws regarding home brewing is United States Code of Federal Regulations Title 27, Part 25, Subpart L, Section 25.205 and Section 25.206. It’s an interesting document to read as it outlines how much beer an individual or family of two adults can produce in a year as well as what they can do with the beverage once it is made. In general, you can rest safe and sound that brewing beer for personal use is completely legal.

    Even though the federal government legalizes home brewing, individual states still have a say as to any specific laws. The only state left to completely ban home brewing is Alabama. Mississippi was also on this list until March 2013. So, unless you live in Alabama it’s best to research the legality of homemade beer in your specific state.

    If you currently live in Alabama, or you strongly believe in the legalization of homemade beer in the USA, you can take action steps to let political leaders know you want the laws to be changed. In Alabama be sure to reference homebrew legalization bills HB9 and SB171 in any correspondence as both have passed committee hearings and will soon come before the full House and Senate.

    You may be reading this and wondering why the legality of homemade beer in the USA is so important. What’s at stake if this right is limited? Some of the arguments against home brewers revolve around taxes and underage drinking. The reality is that there are not enough home brewers to even put a dint on the amount of taxes received from the sale of beer. It’s almost a non-issue to think that home brewers cause any type of financial crisis. Those accusing home brewers of promoting underage drinking typically don’t understand the slow, steady process of brewing a batch of beer. If minors are set on finding alcohol chances are they won’t wait three weeks until the supply is ready!

    For most of you, rest assured that you are safe and protected under US law to brew your own beer at home. If you still have questions after reading this article then do your homework to make sure you understand any expectations when making homemade beer.

  • The Many Paths to Great Home Made Beer

    The Many Paths to Great Home Made Beer

    Before you really get oriented to what home brewing is all about, it’s easy to think it is a process that is set in stone and there is only one right way to do it. And it is true that the brewing and fermenting process has some steps that must be followed with some discipline if you wish to enjoy a great home made beer. But one of the reasons that home brewing is such a passion to many people who enjoy this way of making beer is that there as so many varieties of recipes and styles of making.

    You can easily get a feel for what a huge variety there is in ways to brew beer and in recipes for ingredients when you visit your local beer supplies retailer, go to home brewing web sites or sit in at home brewing club meetings in town. And the great thing about the social side of the home brewing culture is that you will come home with a notebook full of ideas of things you can try on upcoming batches of beer. The odds are you will have months of ideas to try out and you may never run out of new approaches, blends and recipes to try to make your home made beer interesting and tasty for yourself, your family and your friends.

    For that first time home brewing recruit, one of the best ways to help him have the fun of making beer at home without so much investment and mess that will come in due time is to go with a home brewing kit or machine. Beer making machines literally take all of the thinking and planning and risk out of trying out home brewing to see if you want to make the investment in a full set up. The machine comes with a full set of ingredients for one batch of beer and the equipment is automated so the novice home brewer can make the beer and move it through the fermentation and aging process and know the fun of having real home made beer a few weeks later.

    Similarly kits simply the process of buying and using the equipment and ingredients to get started in home brewing. Unlike the beer making machine which is used once and discarded, the beer maker’s kit gives you the basic equipment which will be the beginning of your collection of the tools of a beer maker to be used over and over many times. But the kit provides the ingredients and the instructions to make the process of learning to make your own beer easy and fun to learn.

    Even for seasoned home beer makers, there are variations on the home brewing method that will give you more flexibility and range of choices that will affect how unique your beer will be. But each may have a greater investment of work and effort to use effectively so it’s worth getting familiar with them in advance so you know your investment of time and effort and what you might expect with a new brewing method.

    Probably the most common brewing method most amateur brewer’s use and the one that is taught in most home brewing guides is the extract method. And even though it is well known, because you are truly brewing beer yourself as opposed to using a kit or a machine, you can alter the consistencies and flavors of your beer and get a wonderful brew each time you use this approach.

    You can settle on the extract method for a long time or perhaps use it exclusively for your brewing career and get great beers with it every time. But if you want a greater challenge and the possibility for even more unique beers as a result, you can explore the Mini-Mash method and the Full Mash Brew styles of home brewing. Each is more complex and takes longer to finish the brewing process. But they also give you a lot of flexibility and even more ability to make your own beer unique and distinctive.

    It’s up to you where to start in your beer brewing hobby and the paths you take. You can explore new approaches through networking with other brewers. But you will never get bored brewing beer at home because the variety of methods and ingredients are virtually limitless.

  • A Home Beer Making Kit Will Improve Your Popularity!

    A Home Beer Making Kit Will Improve Your Popularity!

    It is a well known fact that Americans love their beer and desire nothing but the best from their beer. No doubt the large commercial beer manufacturers hold a considerable chunk of the beer making pie, but the number of home beer makers too has steadily been rising.

    In fact, the popularity of home brewed beer has risen dramatically during the past twenty years or so, and custom made beers are more popular now than ever before.

    Only Need a Few Hundred Dollars to Get Started

    The American taste for beer is quite sophisticated and faced with an inexpensive as well as easy method of making home brewed beer has only stoked the fire of brewing beer at home. You may only require a few hundred dollars investment to purchase the required home beer making kits along with ingredients before you are well on your way to preparing homemade beer.

    You can easily source home beer making kits from homebrew supply stores who stock not only the kits, but also the required ingredients as well. Before you actually get stuck into brewing beer at home you should be well acquainted with the different home beer making kits available that each comes with different supplies.

    At the very least, your home beer making kit must include vital items such as the brewing kettle that is usually made from stainless steel and is used to make the wort. You should select a brewing kettle size that can hold at the very least twice the amount of beer you wish to brew.

    Another important piece of equipment that your home beer making kit should have is the fermenting container which holds the brew at the same time as the yeast performs its function. In addition, the container should allow the brewer to check the fermentation that is going on, and it should also have an airlock to let gases escape.

    Your home beer making kit should also have a hydrometer which is a tiny probe whose function is to measure the wort’s specific gravity while fermentation is taking place, and also before the fermentation process begins. A good thermometer is also necessary to check the temperatures between a low of sixty degrees Fahrenheit and a high of two hundred twelve degrees Fahrenheit at which point water begins to boil.

    A very important facet of brewing beer at home is cleanliness and so you should ensure that your home beer making kit also has a sterilizer and it should also come with a racking cane, associated tubing as well as racking bucket – all of which help in transferring the fermented beer into a temporary location before it is actually bottled.

    It is not unusual for home beer making kits to not contain bottles, caps as well as cappers which you will require for storing the fermented beer from the racking bucket into the bottles. With these pieces of equipment you should have no difficulty in brewing your beer at home.