Wednesday 23 January 2008

Home Brewing Set-Ups

Your Home Brewing Set Ups


You either ran all over town and picked up the components of your home brewing system at various thrift stores or you opted to go for one stop shopping an purchased on the home brewing kits offered at beer stores and online for a variety of prices. How you purchased your hoe brewing system doesn’t matter. Important thing is your home brewing set ups. If you purchased one of those pre-organized home brewing kits you have an advantage over the person who ran around town for theirs, your kit probably came with a handy set of instructions telling you where and how to organize your home brewing set ups.


Finding A Place To Put Your Home Brewing System


The first thing you have to decide is where in your home is the best place for your home brewing set up. When considering your possible options, remember that your spouse will be a lot more tolerant of your new hoppy if your home brewing set ups is somewhere that they aren’t tripping over it every time they turn around. Also look for a spot that your home brewing set ups won’t interfere with the interior decorating, on the other hand a well maintained home brewing set ups might be a perfect way to break the ice when the conversation lags at your next dinner party. You will be amazed at how many people are fascinated by home brewing set ups. Make sure your home brewing set ups isn’t somewhere that it will ne knocked over by your children and house pets. If you have small pet, young children, or teenager your might want to consider keeping your home brew set up behind a locked door.


Convenience


Just because you want your home brewing set ups somewhere that it won’t disrupt your family peace you also don’t want it to be a place where the very act of getting to it discourages you from brewing your own beer. Also make sure the space is large enough that you can keep all of your brewing supplies in one place.


Make Use Of Gravity

Many brewers prefer to have a three tier system for their home brew set ups. By making use of some heavy duty display racks, and three separate brewing kettles they are able to arrange a system where the brew flows through a series of tubes from one brewkettle to the next. The advantage of three-tiered home brewing set ups is that the brewer is able to brew a larger batch of beer at one time.

Tuesday 22 January 2008

Home Brewing Kits

Use Home Brewing Kits When You Want To Make Wine Fast And Easy


There is a wonderful saying I read somewhere, "There is always an easier way to do it". You love wine – why buy from the shop when you can make it at home with the least of effort at cost? You would argue that you know nothing about making wine and have no real time to give to learn this art.
However, the plus point here is that you do not need to know much about it. All you would require to make some great wine is where to buy some great home brewing kits for making wine.


Why Using Home Brewing Kits Is Advantageous?


For the first thing using the home brewing kits makes the task easy. Anyone, absolutely anyone can make wine with the help of the kits because they come complete with all the supplies you need as well as all the instructions required to use them. In this way, you can make some exceptional quality wine with almost no effort at all – even if you have never previously done anything like that.


Another plus point about the home brewing kits is that it gives you great wine as laughable cost. In fact if you take the trouble to calculate the costs, you would find that one bottle of the home made wine would come to about US $1-2, which is unbelievable.


The third advantage is that once you find out how easy it is to make great wine at home, you would develop a new and very lucrative hobby that would give you both great satisfaction and value for your money. You could have your own home-made wines which would make you proud and your friends happy. Besides, you could even start a micro-home-business which could complement your income.


The Downside Of Using The Home Brewing Kits


There is one great disadvantage about using the kits – you would rarely be tempted to learn wine-making the traditional way once you get used to the kits. This means that you would be limited to the know-how of the kits which is quite restricted comparatively. This would also mean that you would not be able to have too many variations as the kits would not allow it.


Overall, using home brewing kits to make wine is a good idea; one that would initiate you into the world of making and drinking wine which is not only great in taste, but exceptional for your health and beauty as well.

Monday 21 January 2008

Home Brewing Books

Best Selling Home Brewing Books

Home brewers love to read books and magazines about their craft. They are always looking for new tips and ideas to make the brewing process more interesting and fun.

If you are a home brewer or if you thin you might be interested in becoming a home brewer, check out this list of popular home brewing books on amazon.

How To Brew, by John J. Palmer

The full title of this top-rated book is How to Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Beer Right the First Time. One reason this home brewing book is so popular is because it is perfect for the beginning brewer.

The book contains lots of picture and drawings that help the novice brewer understand how to make good beer. This home brewing book is a reference that will stay on the home brewer's book shelf for years to come. The book teaches the science brewers need to know in a light way that makes it easy to learn.


The Complete Joy Of Homebrewing, by Charles Papazian

This is the third edition of this book, written by the founder and president of the American Homebrewers Association and the Association of Brewers. Browsing through this home brewing book, it becomes immediately apparent why this book is so popular with amazon readers.

Follow Papazian's ten easy lessons for making your first batch of beer. Learn how to create IPA, Belgian wheat beer, barley wine, and American lagers.


Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide To Brewing Classic Beer Styles

This fabulous home brewing book, by Ray Daniels, is a "deep dive" into the art of making beer. The book goes way beyond the beginner's level, and provides chapter after chapter of technical information that beer geeks will love. This book has three entire chapters just on hops!

Find out all about the history of beer brewing and modern brewing techniques.


The Home Brewer's Garden, by Joe Fisher

This home brewing book is a little different. It teaches you how to grow, prepare and use your own hops, malts, and brewing herbs. This takes home brewing to a whole new level as you brew your own beer from ingredients that you grow yourself on your own property.


Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes For 150 Commercial Beers

With this book, by Tess Szamatulski and Mark Szamatulski, makes it possible for you to brew your favorite commercial beer right in your own home. This book contains 150 recipes for beer you can buy in stores and order in restaurants. Now you can serve these beers at home, from your own keg.


Sunday 20 January 2008

Home Brewing Equipment

Basic Home Brewing Equipment

Home brewing has long been a tradition in almost every culture of the world. For over 11,000 years, mankind has been brewing his own beer and other beverages. Today, although most still buy their beer, wine or mead from the local liquor store, many are rediscovering the ancient art of home brewing. As with any hobby, though, there is an initial investment in equipment and other supplies. If you’re one of the many looking to begin brewing their own beverages, let’s take a look at some basic home brewing equipment to get you started.

The Hardware

First and foremost of the home brewing equipment needed is a home brewing kit. This is relatively easy to find, and relatively inexpensive. A brewing kit is essential, as it contains most of the items you’ll be using over and over again each time you brew up a new batch. Many of these items can be found in your local hardware store, while others may have to be purchased from a specialty store that caters to wine and beer makers. Checking places like eBay or other online sites may also help keep your cost down, as you can sometimes find used equipment.

A kit can run anywhere from $90 to $400, depending upon what’s included in each kit. At the very least, you’ll want a kit that contains at least one five to six gallon glass carboy (fermentation jar), a funnel, a racking cane, a siphon hose (at least 6 feet long), an airlock for each carboy, a six gallon bottling bucket, and a thermometer. The thermometer should have a range that goes up to at least 150 degrees F (65 degrees C). For the carboy, it is recommended that you stay away from plastic.

You’ll also need a large pot that can comfortably hold at least 3 gallons of liquid, with plenty of extra room. This is the brew pot in which the brew will be boiled. A good brew pot can vary in price up to $50, depending on the size and quality.

Though it can be easy to forget, one piece of home brewing equipment that you can’t do without is a stainless steel spoon with a long handle. You’ll need this for stirring both the mash and the wort as it boils.

The Ingredients

Though not generally considered home brewing equipment, the ingredients that go into your brew are just as important. If you are lucky enough to have a brewing supply store nearby, gathering these ingredients shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. But, if you don’t, worry not. Many suppliers also have websites from which you can purchase both your home brewing equipment and your ingredients.

The basic ingredients for any beer are grains, malts, hops, yeast, sugar and water. The exact ingredients used will depend up on the type of beer being brewed. Many brewers also add various herbs and spices to their brews to give them a unique flavor. Some common additives are cinnamon, honey, and cloves.

Making wine or mead uses the same basic home brewing equipment, but the ingredients are slightly different. Mead is made mostly of honey, water and yeast. Wine requires some type of fruit and added sugar. Again, as with beer, both mead and wine often have spices and other things added to them. For example, one recipe for honey mead calls for rose hips and lavender.

Whatever you choose to brew, it’s certain you’ll enjoy the process as much as the end results. Just remember to share with your friends. They’ll love you for it

Saturday 19 January 2008

Home Brewing Basics

Home Brewing Basics-What You Need To Know Before You Sample Your Beer

You and your family recently went to a micro-brewery where you sampled several beers. There was one you fell in love with, your brand new favorite. A beer you simply must have in your refrigerator at all times. Driving home you decide that rather then go to the brewery every time you are struck with a raving you are going to set up a home brewery and make beer in your basement. The home brewery guarantees you will always have your favorite beer on hand, and that you won’t waste precious gas driving back and forth to the brewery. Before you rush out to buy a home brewing system, empty beer bottles, and Hops, there are some home brewing basics you should know.


Talk To Your Family

An important home brewing basic to remember is before getting started is communication. It doesn’t matter if the first batch of beer you brew is good enough to be marketed world wide, your spouse will not be impressed if they are constantly tripping over your home brewing system, or mopping spilled beer off the counters. Make sure your entire family is okay with your new hobby.


Start Simply

You will be amazed at how many recipes there are for beers you can brew in your own home. You can find them all over the place, in magazines, in recipe books, and online; some micro-breweries will even handout some of their recipes. Just because you have a recipe doesn’t mean you have to use it. A home brewing basic is to not get in over your head, look for a recipe that is simple and clearly written. It helps if your first recipe is for a beer that is readily available to you, that way you can purchase samples to compare the flavor of the store bought brand to the batch you just brewed.


Enlist Help

One of the home brewing basics is to not try it completely on your own at first. You and everyone around you will be happier if you find someone who has previous brewing experience to help guide you through your home brewing basics. This person should be someone who can help you set up your home brewing system, and talk you through the nuances of your first recipe. They will also be a person who will enjoy sampling the fruits of your labors. If you are unable to find someone to help you with the home brewing basics, try turning to the internet, there are several home brewing websites where you can find some


Keep Trying

One of the home brewing basics you need to remember is to not expect perfection the first time. The Sistine Chapel was not Michelangelo’s first art project, he had a ton of experience before tackling that particular task. You will probably have to brew several batches of beer before you are able to perfectly duplicate your favorite recipe. If the first batch isn’t perfect keep working at it, just keep to the home brewing basic and you’ll eventually succeed.

Friday 18 January 2008

Home Brewing

Experience The Greatest Satisfaction And Money Savings With Home Brewing

Home brewing is a hobby for many, while is it a small cottage business for others. There are millions across the USA who have taken up this type of activity whether a leisure activity or as a side business. The fact that home brewing is easy, profitable and (often a lot of) fun has made this activity a hot favorite throughout the world.


What Does Home Brewing Involve?

Anyone who is interested a little in this activity can pick it up and master it in no time. You could start with the home brewing kits which would introduce you gradually to what it requires both in terms of ingredients and effort and once you would get the results (which, by the way are more often not than excellent) you would be hooked to it forever.

Before you go into this, you need to gather some ground intelligence by researching what are the best methods to brew wine or beer (or both) at home depending upon your preference. You need to know as much as possible about what supplies are needed, how much time and effort are needed for best results. Gather all the ingredients you need before hand so you would not get stuck in the middle of the process when you find that a key ingredient is not available.


Start Small And Gather Experience

As with any skill, before you master this skill you would need to practice a lot learning from the mistakes you commit until you perfect the art of home brewing to perfection. This, as you would find out yourself, is not really too difficult – and if you are motivated by the appreciation of friends and family the learning curve can be very steep.

Once you have mastered this activity, you could use your newly acquired skills to improve the entertainment value of your parties at one fraction of the cost or even start your own micro-business from home.


Earning From A Wonderful Hobby

The parties you throw could be sufficient advertising grounds for your micro-business and your best customers would be your friends who enjoyed the wine or beer when you served it to them. In this manner, you would grow a customer base from word of mouth advertisement which though would be initially modest with the returns on investment, could snow ball into a highly profitable business. This is definitely worth giving it a try.