A Perfect Hobby
July 30, 2011
A Perfect Hobby
A Perfect Hobby for that Guy Who Loves Beer
If the man in your life is thinking of getting into brewing beer because he loves drinking different beers, there are some solid reasons to encourage that enthusiasm. Your first reflex might be that he already has a love of beer and that making his own is going over the top. But in truth, making the move toward home brewing has a lot going for it and it is a very creative and productive approach to the love of fine beers.
There is a difference between a true lover of beer as a fine beverage and the average “beer guzzler”. Beer actually has a rich history and the diversity of flavors, textures and blends of beers is almost as strong as the wine culture which we know is one where real connoisseurs know what a fine wine is. So the move toward making beer identifies with that side of the beer culture that seeks the finest in flavors in beer and seeks to become part of the way very good beer is made rather than just be a consumer.
By encouraging your beer connoisseur to develop this new found passion for beer making, you are emphasizing the noble and creative side of his love of good beer. And the new social connections that novice beer makers find at retail beer brewing stores and local societies devoted to this hobby will help him become educated in the best way to make a truly fine beer at home. Once that home brewing hobby takes off, the passion to make beer becomes more about improving the quality and taste of the beer he makes even more than just drinking a beer that you made yourself. And that is a productive and creative way to approach his passion for beer.
Along with the creative side of beer making, if you start to produce your own beer at home, there are some economic benefits. Like everything else, beer prices are going up. But the costs of making a batch of beer at home are phenomenally low if you break it down to a per glass cost. Now there is equipment to buy up front. But it’s a myth that getting set up for making beer at home costs an arm and a leg. You don’t have to set up a brewery on the scale you may have seen when you toured the beer factory in St. Louis last summer. There are beer kits that give you all of the basic equipment you will need and you can usually have a home beer production factory going at home for under 0. And when you consider you can make many gallons of great tasting beer with that same set up, that’s a pretty smart investment.
It’s not out of the question that if your beer loving guy develops his abilities as a Brewmeister, you may find a market to sell the beer he makes. There are lots of brew pubs that specialize in quality home made beers. So if he can develop a unique taste and recipe that can be replicated consistently, you may be able to bottle it and sell it at local pubs. If that beer gets some popularity with the local beer drinking popularity, you may be able to make back your investment in equipment and supplies to make beer and even turn a nice profit from a great hobby.
These are all good reasons for you to encourage that fascination with how to make beer at home in your loved one. And if you jump in feet first and become a beer maker yourself, this new hobby can become a family affair and a wonderful way to share the fun together. And who knows, you may even get to be a bit of a beer connoisseur yourself!
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Kegging Your Own Beer
July 27, 2011
Kegging Your Own Beer
When you start learning the art of making beer house, one of the steps is the size of the transfer of beer in smaller bottles or beer house was for storage or to serve your delicious home beer to your guests. This part of the process can be a bit messy but if you want to have beer tasting is a really great milestone. Learn beer bottling and kegging skills is an important step in the process of making homemade beer and play a big role in your final product.
There comes a time that you can consider the next important step in becoming more skilled in your beer home making skills. And the next big step is kegging your home brews. But before doing this step, it is good to know what you need and the cost and effort involved, so you enter in step kegging with eyes wide open.
On the one hand, kegging home brew can be a bit pricey. There is another level of equipment, including tanks and CO2 storage, the canisters kegging and even a kegerator that can all add another level of cost to your home beer making hobby. But I hope that if you were making your own beer for a few years before doing this step, you can see that the money you saved on beverages was important enough to justify the next big step into drums.
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The first step might be to switch to kegging is to get a keg of beer house. A natural progression, however, is to start your hobby of home beer making for fun and savings and then go to a barrel of beer home when you become a beer home making serious zealot and you know the quality your beer requirements of this step. So if your beer has changed and that you are a beer machine at home which you will be delighted to learn this step.
Further costs have a good idea for kegging extra storage space will add to your beer making needs and requirements. With the equipment for kegging, you will also need extra refrigerator space. It may be time to consider the purchase of a dedicated chiller unit called kegerator that is made just to relax and serve your fine beer the keg beer house. But if you entertain a lot and you found these critical acclaim for the quality of your craft beer, such a purchase is a slam dunk decision.
The positive side of kegging, it is a lot less noise and mess of using bottles and always having to clean and make them sterile bottles for the next use. Kegging and gives you much control over the levels of carbonation in your beer. This gives you more options and freedom to adjust the carbonation to use in creating unique designs and tastes of your beer. This is just one of many ways kegging improves as the flavors of the quality and diversity that you can do with your house beers.
Of course, there will still be a place for bottling your beer, even if you reviewed your storage and serving at home method to switch to kegging. It is a pleasure and pride when you can serve family and guests a great tasting beer ice cold straight from a barrel as you can get in the pub. But you want to keep a few bottles to create around beer bottles for gifts or to take with you for a social outing. When you arrive for the next big barbecue with bottles of your own home made beer and barrels, you’ll be the hit of the event.
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Fermenting Your Beer Longer For Better Taste
July 24, 2011
Fermenting Your Beer Longer For Better Taste
To become a true “master” of beer, one must understand all aspects of what happens during the brewing process. When you get home store supplies manufacturing beer with your kit or your little baggies with supplies to make a new batch of beer, it is sometimes difficult to imagine that these materials will result in a lot delicious beer as you do. But by understanding each step, you can become quite adept at making beer at home.
Cycles brewing are all important that you take the order. Sterilization of your equipment, purchase supplies and then boiling and brewing and fermentation, each step is important. But this last stage, fermentation and aging is unique from the rest because it is the step that calls for you to not be interacting with your beer, the adaptation of equipment or preparation of brewing ingredients. It is the step that calls for you to exercise patience and tender care to leave your beer alone as it ferments. But the fermentation process is equally important, if not more important that all stages of preparation. That’s because it’s the fermentation that turns the mixture that you really did cook on the stove in a great tasting beer that you’ll be proud to serve to friends and family.
There are two phases of fermentation is the primary and secondary education. Both are important. During primary fermentation, yeast and sugars that are in the must if you spend carefully prepared by a chemical interaction that releases carbon dioxide along as a by-product. However, during this phase, you want to get the CO2 from fermentation of these bottles, because if you leave them there, the bottles explode.
The need to obtain the carbon dioxide from the bottle fermentation fermentation without opening to the outside air is quite a good reason to buy specialized equipment fermentation, because they come with devices evacuation air that will appeal to a lock system to release the buildup of CO2, but maintain a level of separation between the external environment and your fermenting beer.
Once you have prepared the bottles and wash up, its time to find a cool and dark in the house to put the bottle fermentation. Do not succumb to the urge to put them in the refrigerator because it will just stop fermentation in its tracks. A room that maintains a constant temperature of 65-75 degrees is good. Now that the fermentation process is underway, you do what is often the most difficult maneuver for any fan of homemade beer. Leaving the beer and leave only the ingredients to make magic in the bottle for about two weeks.
Secondary fermentation is the next and final phase, unless you choose to age your beer for extra flavor. But the second fermentation is where you add a little extra sugar and you filter sediment from the primary fermentation and trapping the mixture in sealed bottles yet. CO2 is building up is not too extreme so that the danger of exploding beer bottles has disappeared and the carbon dioxide creates bubbles that attach to the beer that will give him a magnificent head and taste. Both phases are necessary and give you your beer another couple of weeks at this point until ready to drink. But after you a little taste, if you want to let the beer will continue to address and age, perhaps even in vessels of wood to add a rich flavor to beer, just that you are the Brewmeister which will result in beer tasting wonderful to serve your friends and family.
What is Beer made of?
July 21, 2011
What is Beer made of?
How long do you think beer has been around ? A couple of hundred years maybe ? Well, that’s most certainly not the correct answer. Beer is believed to be around since 9000 B.C and the oldest written records of beer were found in Iran and date back to 3500 B.C.
Beer is made by fermenting water, barley, yeast and hops. The different types of beer that’s available across the world are basically determined by the yeast that was used during fermentation. Let’s have a closer look at the different elements that make up a “pint”.
Water is the main ingredient in beer. In the early stages, the pureness of the water was critical as it was the main factor that affected the outcome when brewing beer. But with the purification technology that is available today, the quality of the water is no longer a problem.
Malt barley is a vital ingredient in beer brewing since the barley carries the greatest quantity of fermentable sugar. A lot of modern breweries have started using powdered or instant barley malt now because it ferments a lot more quicker and therefore the beer brewing process becomes speedier. The barley malt powder also includes additional minerals that are helpful for the yeast to grow.
Yeast is a critical substance in the beer production and it is impossible to make beer without yeast. Yeast is a living thing with a single cell and it takes in any sugar it comes in to contact and ejects two chemicals that are very well known to everyone as alcohol and carbon dioxide.
There are few various forms of yeast that are being used in the production of beer. But lager and ale are the two yeast strains that are most frequently used. The combination of water, yeast and barley alone would be almost too sweet to the tummy,that’s why hops are being added to this mix.
Hops are actually flowers that a climbing vine plant bare, these vine plants can be found in several different regions across the world. The specialty of Hops is the bitterness of the flower. Hops are used in making beer because, adding bitterness to the mix of of water, yeast and barley assists to balance out the sweetness and also Hops acts as a natural preservative. When you add a lot of these bitter hops to the beer mixture it’s taste becomes a very bitterly, this type of brew is popular especially in England and has been given the most suitable name “bitter”.
Many people out there prefer to start brewing their own beer at home. There are abundance of resources available in the form of home brewing kits for them to learn the process and get started with. Home brewing kits are fantastic but pay attention to the instructions and read them carefully. Understanding the instructions properly is a must. By taking your time to clearly understand the instructions on the home brewing kits you can ensure the beer will gain top quality. And the other important fact you should remember is, make sure you always use fresh water when home brewing.
All About German Beer
July 18, 2011
All About German Beer
Throughout Germany, beer is very popular with the culture. Germany contains well over 1,000 breweries, which is more than any other location in the world. All beer that is manufactured in Germany must follow the purity law, which lets manufacturers know what ingredients can and can’t be used. Basically, the only ingredients allowed to make beer in Germany are water, hops, and barley malt.
Due to the strict purity requirements, you can easily notice German beers by their overall level of quality. They have a distinct taste, with little to no aftertaste. Some styles of German ale include Koelsch, Weizen, and Altbier. Some types of German lagers include Bock, Pilsener, Dunkel, Helles, and Maerzen. Keep in mind that the taste, aroma, and color can vary, although all can be identified as being true German beers.
The German beer Altbier is a very common dark ale, that is top fermented in the lower regions of Germany. The beer proposes a yellow color, with a taste that is rich in hops. Another ale, Rauchbier, is known to have a smoky flavor with a smoked color. These beers taste great, and happen to be very popular throughout the regions of Germany.
German lagers are also very popular, and happen to be popular in other areas of the world as well. Pilsener is one of the most popular and most familiar of all German beers, providing you with more hops and less malt. Pilsener can be found for sale all over the world, and happens to be very popular throughout North America as well. Several bars serve it as well, as it happens to be one of the most popular dark lagers out there.
Throughout Germany, there are several different companies, produce over 4,000 different brands of beers. Some of the more well known and larger companies of north Germany are Beck, St. Pauli, Warsteiner, and Krombach. In the southern region of Germany, there are more breweries, although most of them are smaller, as they are locally owned and operated. Southern Germany also contains the Benedictine Abbey, which is one of the oldest breweries in the world. This brewery started producing beer in 1040 – very impressive indeed!
Germany is also home to Oktoberfest, which is held every year in Munich. Oktoberfest starts in late September and carries on for two weeks, ending in early October. During Oktoberfest, beer drinkers from all over the world will travel to Germany and celebrate German beers. Each and every year, over 5 million people attend the event, making it one of the biggest beer celebrations in the world.
During Oktoberfest, local breweries in Munich are the only breweries allowed to serve beer in the bigger tents. There are six breweries in total, producing a variety of different beers. By attending this yearly event, you can learn more about German beer, sample the different varieties, and enjoy the rich bold flavors that make German beer so very popular.
Due to the success Oktoberfest gets each and every year, other cities around the world try and mimic this event. Even though they have success, their level of success isn’t near as much as the original Oktoberfest – Germany. German beers are very popular around the world, with Oktoberfest helping to prove that very claim. If you drink beer but have never experienced what beers from Germany have to offer, you really should give them a try. Once you do, you’ll quickly realize why German beers are so very popular – and why the taste simply can’t be duplicated with any other beer.
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Beer Brewing at Home is a Tasty and Cost Effective Hobby
July 15, 2011
Beer Brewing at Home is a Tasty and Cost Effective Hobby
Beer is the most favored beverage in any celebration provided you enjoy it within your limits. Beer producing at your residence is an appealing pastime since it is simple and also affordable. Everybody has a special craving for home brew beer and it is indeed a perfect drink that suits every occasion and celebration. An ice-cold beer not merely satiates your thirst, but you feel completely revitalized and fresh everytime you drink it. Whether you are on a long drive with your friends or watching some sports or if you want to really freak out with your friends at parties, beer is just the right drink to add fun to your enjoyment. There are several kinds of energizing beer available in the market, still eachone has his personal choice. Some may like strong beer, whereas some may prefer a mild one, some may prefer sweet flavor but a few others may love its bitter taste. However, now it is rather impossible to get the accurate savor of the beer that you prefer, yet, you can brew beer at home and get an ideal taste that you are searching for. You need to purchase home brewing supplies from local stores or from any online stores and make a perfect beer that suits your taste. The component blenders and the fermenting apparatus are the two chief devices that help you to produce a perfect beer of your choice. It is often seen that the right kind of beer is the most essential drink that makes your day after a hectic and tiring day’s work. However you have to spend time and efforts to brew beer at home, it is worth the efforts as you produce quality beer that suits your flavor. It is not only an interesting hobby, but you can save a lot of money too. Beer is becoming more and more pricey these days. So it is better to brew your favorite beer at home as it is a tasty and cost effective hobby! Also, each sip of energizing ice-cold beer gives you an indescribable feeling.To get the basic three things you need to look around for perfect home beer brewing supplies in the market. Initially, you will be capable to brew beer exactly the way you want it to be, secondly, you will set aside a lot of income and thirdly, like beer producing at home as it is an appealing and tasty pastime! Not only you enjoy brewing beer at home, but it is an exciting hobby for all your family members. Majority of the people who love beer acrossthe globe love making beer at home and have considered this to be their desired pastime. You get the exact taste of beer that you always craved for. Preparing beer at home is an environmental friendly process. There are several online sites that help you with detailed process of brewing beer at home. The step-by-step method of making beer at home helps you to make your own beer effortlessly and affordably. So enjoy your mug of frothy, fresh, chilled and tasty beer with your family and friends. Make your own beer at home effortlessly, fast and affordably!
www.winekitzcalgary.com Steve Fylypchuk talks about using Wyeast Laboratories’ liquid yeast when making beer and wine.
Video Rating: 5 / 5
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How To Drink Beer
July 12, 2011
How To Drink Beer
Look to see if a beer is brewed according to the “Reinheitsgebot” (German Beer Purity Law). The Reinheitsgebot was ordered by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria in the year 1516. It is the oldest food regulation in the world and still exists today unchanged from the original. It essenially says that beer should be brewed exclusively from barley malt, hops and water.
Check the alchohol content on the beer especially when you are drinking beers which you are not familair with. A Belgium Verboden Vrugt for example weighs in at a hefty 9%.
When chosing a beer have a look at the brewery. Generally you will find the bulk breweries sacrifice quality for quantity.
If you are going to drink a lot of beer then make sure you have eaten beforehand (see our beer drinkers guide for details on what to eat).
- In addition Beer can be enjoyed as part of Some other culinery combinations are beef and onion stew which benefits from dark beer and Indian Pale Ale which makes a good chicken marinade.
- Staropramen Dark from the Czech Republic with Asian Noodles – Imperial Stout with a chocolate mousse or chocolate ice cream
- Trappist Chimay Grande Reserve with any cheese
- Reddish Ale with red meat – Samuel Smith’s Nutbrown Ale with a crunchy salad
- Belgium’s Westmalle Trappist Triple or a Duvel with roast Asparagus cooked in Olive Oil and Salt
- Pilsner Urquell with fresh line fish
Different foods bring out tastes in beer and like wines, a beer can be chosen to compliment particular food. For example an Irish Guinness is a great follow on from a healthy bite of summer sausage with yellow mustard on it. Here are some other stunning combinations:
Don’t mix beer with other drinks. The best is to enjoy a beer focusing on the subtlties of flavour that each beer presents.
Pouring a beer is best done slowly and directly into the glass. Contrary to what many people believe, it is important to have a head on a beer.
A dirty glass will make beer go flat very quickly. You can tell if a glass is dirty by tilting and seeing if the head sticks to the glass. If it does it is clean, if not send it back and ask for a new glass.
Thick walled beer mugs are best and should be used whenever possible. If using plastic make sure that you are using it for the first time as plastic can impart flavours from previous drinks into the beer.
Ideally the glass you use should be cold, you could store them in the fridge next to the beers.
Always pour your beer into a glass. This releases the flavour and removes some of the bubbles so that you don’t get bloated.
If you must store beer then store it upright in a cold fridge with a temperature at least less than 7°C (45°F)
Beer is best fresh and unlike wine, should be consumed as soon after it has been brewed as possible.
Home Brew Beer Is Better Beer
July 9, 2011
Home Brew Beer Is Better Beer
Do both you and your friends drink a case or even more every weekend? Do you find yourself settling for the inexpensive brands other than what you really want to save some cash? If this describes the situation then why wouldn’t you be trying to find an affordable choice to still get the better brews at much more reasonable prices? Relax; I’m not referring to finding beer which has “dropped off the back of the truck”! I’m talking about brewing your own beer at home. Becoming a home brewer is not all that hard, (if you are able to boil water, you can make beer), and it is actually a fun and legal hobby.
You are probably considering just what you will need to begin. My recommendation would be to check out a few of the online beer sites and check out the home brew beer kits. Each of the large retailers offer kits for the first time brewer that come with enough equipment to effectively create beer five gallons at a time (that’s more than 50 12 oz. cans) After you have successfully brewed your second batch you are saving cash over buying your beer in the local supermarket. When you’ve finished your third, you’ll be saving all the more.
Because it is not practical to drink beer out of five gallon buckets you will also need bottles to put your beer in. The most economical method is to save bottles and recycle them but they can not be the kind with twist off tops! You have to use bottles which use the other kind of cap because it keeps air outside the beer much better. Don’t worry, fresh caps plus a capping device generally come along with the beer kit. You should also use bottles which are brown or amber colored because they protect the beer from Ultra violet light. Clear and green bottles don’t.
You’ll swiftly find that the entertaining part of making beer is actually being able to experiment with the recipes. The online beer ingredient and hardware vendors provide many different recipes and each one can be “tweaked” just a bit to make it special to you alone. Soon You will be confident enough to brew ales, lagers, light beer or dark beer. The options are almost endless.
And, as an added treat, the identical equipment and procedures can also be utilized to brew hard cider also. Perfect for the winter evenings!
If you are a beer lover, you actually ought to seriously consider brewing you own beer at home.
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Making Crystal Clear Beer
July 3, 2011
Making Crystal Clear Beer
Beer is about a lot more than just a great tasting beverage. The fact that a culture has grown up around the joy of making and enjoying fine beer testifies how much beer has become part of how our culture works. The drinking of the beverage is only partially about the taste of the brew itself and very much about where you have your beer, what you drink it out of, how the beer looks in the glass and who you are drinking it with. And while you as a home made beer brewer cannot control many of those factors, you can control the quality and ambiance of the beer you make so it not only tastes great but is visually appealing as well.
If you pour a commercial beer from a bottle or a can, you may not be aware of how much those beer makers put into not just the taste but the affect of other senses have on the beer drinking experience. The way the beer pours, the aroma as you pour it, the head that wells up in your mug and how the beer looks in the glass all are just as important as the taste itself. The emphasis the big beer producers put on ascetics is so extreme that they even make the sound the can makes when you “pop a cold one” to be unique because they know that sound alone can prepare you to receive the taste of a great beer drinking experience.
The truth is none of that will change whether the beer itself is of high quality or is good to drink. But visual appeal matters. One area of visual appeal that you have some control over when making your own beer at home is clarity. Clarity simply refers to how the beer looks in the glass. If you can see through the beer and it is a consistent beige or amber color, that is visually appealing. But if things are floating around in the beer, even if they are perfectly harmless byproducts of the brewing process, that can diminish how inviting your beer is to enjoy and even diminish how enjoyable the beer is to drink even if the beer itself is of high quality.
A lot of the “stuff” that floats around is beer comes from the yeast that is crucial to the fermentation process that makes beer beer. Some yeasts are better than others about settling out of the beer during fermentation. Another source of visible material in the beer comes from what is referred to as non-microbiological particles or NMPs which are a byproduct of the brewing process. Again, none of these visible materials are harmful to consume nor do they reduce the value of the beer. They just look bad and hurt the clarity of the beer which is one way beer is measured for quality.
Many of the NMPs are introduced during the initial creation of the wort which is phase one of any brewing operation. The wort is boiled at a high temperature for a significant enough period of time to cause the proteins in the ingredients to break down and become part of the fluidity of the wort rather than remain in a substance state or a “floc” which remains visible in the finished product. To avoid this make sure your boil sustains a temperature of 215F for 90 minutes to assure complete processing of the proteins.
Another important brewing step that you can do to reduce visible agents in your beer is to cool the wort very quickly. By bringing the temperature down rapidly, the clarity is vastly enhanced as is the flavor and overall quality of the beer. The best way to accomplish such rapid cooling is to move the wort quickly from the brewing process to a very cool environment or using a specialized wort cooler to quickly bring that temperature down and eliminate many of the flocs that might be there if the cooling goes more slowly.
Seeking beer clarity can become a major passion of yours as a home brewer and there is a whole science to using clarifying agents such as Irish Moss to enhance beer clarity without diminishing beer quality or taste. Learning good techniques for making your beer clear and appealing is just another step in your ongoing quest to become the best amateur beer making possible. And that is a quest worth pursuing.
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