Homebrew - Beer & Lager
 In a recession,
it's the little luxuries that are the first to be cut from your
budget - but that doesn't mean that you can't afford a beer every
now and then - if you learn the art of homebrew and winemaking.
Home beer kits make it easy and fun to brew your own beer.
Brewing your own beer can save you money over buying expensive
microbrew beer at the store, but most people brew their own beer
for the fun hobby, and for the great results you can achieve.
It's like a science experiment that you can drink!
The first step to making your own beers and lagers at home
is to put together your brewing kit. You can purchase a home
brew kit for a fair price at any number of merchants. For the
truly budget conscious, you can even use a food grade plastic
bucket!
The various parts you will need to your beer kit include a
brew pot which should be a large metal pot to go on the stove.
You will be boiling your malt extract, water and hops mixture
in it.
The biggest expense of the home brew kit is probably a glass
carboy to use as a fermentor. A glass carboy is the traditional
home brew method; the glass is easy to sanitize, and the design
keeps air out of the fermentation process. You can, however,
use a food grade plastic pail to save money.
Other smaller expenses would be funnel and strainer, siphon
hose, and an airlock and stopper for the fermentor. You will
also want a thermometer, possibly a bottling bucket, and beer
bottles and caps. Money can be saved on beer bottles and caps
by using recycled beer bottles with stopper caps (like Golsch
beer) or even by re-using 2 liter soda bottles.
The most important thing to remember for successful beer is
sanitization of all your equipment. You want the beer yeast to
be working in there, not stray yeasts or bacteria from around
the house. Most dishwashers these days have a sanitize cycle
which really helps.
Once you have your kit put together you need some ingredients.
The typical ingredients for wort (the first stage cooked mix
of beer) are water, malt, yeast, and hops. You can buy these
ingredients in kits or separately as well. Depending on the type
of brew you are making you will use slightly different types
and amounts of each ingredient.
Once your wort is cooked up, you will cool it, and then start
the fermentation process. The fermentation process will take
anywhere from 1 week to 10 days. You will want to store your
fermentor in a cool dark place and check the airlock every few
days.
After the beer is fermented, most recipes will have you prime
and bottle the beer. Priming it is adding a little bit of extra
sugar before bottling to give the yeast a bit more to eat. This
helps carbonate the beer. One you bottle and cap the beer, you
then will leave it a bit longer in the bottle, for a final bottle
conditioning. Then, when the beer is ready you can pop it open,
drink, and enjoy.
The best part? Once you have your beer making equipment all set
up and ready to go you can make another batch as soon as the
first is done. There are ingredients and ingredient kits for
all types of beer - lagers, ales, porters, stouts, Belgian style
brews, and more. The list is as wide as any gourmet microbrews
available on the market an more.
Wineworks |
