Beer Making Equipment: The Means Gets You To The End

Author: lukeporterbeer

Beer making equipment may look like complicated gadgets, some you’ve never encountered since your last chemistry lab.

However, as they say, looks could be deceiving as after all, your equipment surely comes with a set of instructions of what to do and what not to do with it. As long as you are sure it came from a trusty company and the package comes with information printed in a language you can understand , as long as you follow the instructions religiously, it would be very easy to make it yield to your convenience.

Beer making equipment may be purchased as part of brewing kits or they may be purchased individually. Those in the kits come with a set of instructions and these normally have been fashioned to suit the procedure stated. In other words, it may not be that flexible enough to accommodate the experiments you plan to do with your brew. For example, if you want to up the ratio of your ingredients, the containers in the kits may not be huge enough to allow the increase of its contents. In this case, you would want to purchase brewing materials beyond the kit.

Kits also normally have a standard ratio of ingredients. So again, if you would want to do more, you should consider buying other home brewing supplies. This should not be very hard as there are home brew specialty shops and many owners would personally give you tips on what to do especially if you are a newbie.

There are just a few pieces very necessary in beer making – the boiler, the fermenter, the bottles – or some would prefer the keg, the caps, the capper, the bottle brush and steriliser that – because it is very necessary to keep your materials very clean to avoid other bacterial growth, spoon, funnel and priming measure. If beer brewing is more than just a leisure or relaxing activity for you – you have perhaps begun collecting all manners of implements in beer brewing invented since the time of the Egyptians – or you are very meticulous and you want your procedure to look like a guide books’ illustrations, then the expensive materials at the specialty shops are the ones for you. However, if the equipments you would use really don’t bother you and you believe that the end justifies the means, some materials could be improvised. Paint buckets with HPDE 2 guarantee for example can be used in making your beer. These are a lot cheaper than the buckets sold at the brew specialty shops.

You would also want your brewing equipment to last long so you have to keep them in good shape all the time. If not in use, they should be cleaned from time to time to avoid unwanted growth or other unknowns that come with storage and dirt. Also, the dos and don’ts that come with your package must be respected. You cannot expect overheated materials to perform its expected lifespan. With proper care, you can maximize your beer making equipment either for profit or for personal consumption.

Health Benefits : Drinking Your Own Home Brewed Beer

Author: Ron King

Is beer a health drink? Binge drinking aside, in moderation beer actually has healthful results. Studies reported below point out many benefits from drinking beer. Home brewed beer is even better than commercial beer because it has no artificial colors, additives, preservatives or flavors.

Benefits

Here are only a few of the ways that home brewed beer is good for you:

-The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center reported (in May, 1999) that moderate beer drinking lessenslowers the chances of getting coronary heart disease by over 30%. Very impressive!

-”The New England Journal of Medicine” reported (in November, 1999) that moderate beer drinking decreases the probability of suffering a stroke by 20%.

-The TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute discovered that homebrewed beer contains vitamin B6, which prevents the accumulation of the amino acid homocysteine (linked to causing vascular and heart disease). Beer aids vitamin B6 absorption into the blood plasma by 30%.

-Home brewed beer is a stress reducer. Try a quick experiment, if you have any doubt. Even the process of making beer is relaxing.

-Studies have shown that beer increases good cholesterol and decreases blood clot development. Home brewed beer includes no bad cholesterol and no fat.

-Drinking home brewed beer promotes blood vessel dilation, sleep, and eases urination for older people.

Equipment

If the above information has whetted your appetite, let’s next consider a common MYTH: that it is prohibitively expensive to brew your own beer. Nope!

Ignore those huge costly urns that you’ve no doubt seen. Basically you only need 2 pieces of equipment: a small fermenter (to store the beer during the fermentation process) and a hydrometer (to know exactly when the beer has finished fermenting). That’s all for equipment.

The final thing you’ll need are consumable ingredients: a can of mixed malt and hops, and some brewing yeast. You can select from many basic flavors and styles, also you can customize your own brews with many additional ingredients for your own secret recipes.

It’s extremely simple to brew your own beer at home. Put a container of malt mix into the fermenter, add water, add yeast, and seal. A few days later use the hydrometer to know precisely when it is finished and ready to drink. Place it into bottles and get ready for your friends to be amazed at your new skill.

It’s simple to get started with home brewing kits abundantly available online. And it’s cheap — the beer winds up costing around $5 a GALLON!

Conclusion

Now you have even more reasons to get started brewing your own delicious beer at home. It’s better and cheaper than commercial beer, plus it’s better for you. Now you can drink (responsibly) guilt-free.

Ingredients
- Malt Extract. One 40oz. can of any flavor you like ( light, dark, stout), or a 1.5kg “tall” can of same. The 1.5kg can contains more malt extract so you can make a larger batch or use the same method here to make a richer beer. You can also buy ‘pre-hopped’ extract which will impart more of a hop flavor to your beer.
- Yeast. 1 tsp brewers’ yeast. Note: some malt comes with little packets of yeast included.
- Sugar. 6 – 7 cups of regular white sugar, or 8 – 9 cups of corn sugar (preferred).

For even better results, consider using two cans of the malt extract and not using any sugar. This adds to the expense, but further enriches the taste of the beer.

These ingredients should cost between $10 – 15 depending on your choice of malt extract. The yield will be about 23 liters of beer, which equals 65 – 70 bottles or cans of beer, of the regular 345ml size.

How to brew
Sanitize
It has been said that 75% of brewing is good sanitation. First, clean all equipment with warm, lightly soapy water. Rinse well to remove soap residue. Then sanitize using household bleach at a quantity of 1 tbsp/gallon of water. Or you can purchase a no-rinse acid sanitizer such as StarSan, which is effective and leaves no aftertaste.

Brew
1. Pour 10 liters of fresh, cold water into the 10 gallon plastic pail (carboy). If the pail is new, wash it out first with a mixture of water and baking soda to remove the plastic smell.
2. In your largest pot, bring 7 liters of water to a boil.
3. Add one can of malt extract. Stir and cook uncovered for 20 minutes.
4. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
5. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, pour contents into the carboy. Pour, or ’splash’, the contents quickly, which adds air to the mixture. The more air the yeast get initially, the better. It allows them to rapidly grow and get things going.
6. Top up with bottled drinking water or tapwater until temperature is neutral. (If using tapwater, it is recommended to boil first to kill bacteria, or use an ultraviolet light water filter.) Test using a clean, sanitized thermometer. The carboy will now be a little more than half full.
7. Sprinkle in the yeast, and stir well. Cover with lid. (Set lid on loosely; if capped too tightly, a carboy can explode from the carbon dioxide gas that is produced.)

Keep covered and avoid unnecessary opening. The beer will be ready to bottle in 6- 10 days, depending on ambient temperature of the room and amount of sugar used in the brewing. Room temperature should be 20-24 Celsius at the highest; 16-20 Celsius is better but it will take the beer a day or two longer to ferment.

Test for readiness with a hydrometer. Set hydrometer into the beer and spin it once to release bubbles which cling to it and give a false reading. The “ready to bottle” reading should be about 1.008 for dark beers and 1.010-1.015 for light beers. If you don’t have a hydrometer, you can judge readiness by tasting a sample – it should not be sweet tasting. There should be little or no bubbling action in the beer.
Bottle
Set the carboy on a sturdy table and the 12 2-liter bottles on the floor, with newspaper underneath to catch drips or overflows. Using a funnel, put 2 level teaspoons of sugar in each bottle.

Siphon the beer into the bottles, trying not to disturb the sediment on the bottom of the carboy. (One method is to tape a plastic straw alongside the bottom end of the siphon hose with 1″ projecting beyond the end. The tip of the straw can touch the bottom of the carboy without the siphon drawing up sediment.) Tip the carboy as you near the bottom.
It is important to not splash or agitate the beer too much when bottling as any oxygen introduced can lead to oxidation and a “cardboard” taste.

As you fill the bottles, keep the end of the siphon tube near the bottom of the bottle to avoid frothing. It is essential that the bottles ar not completely filled – leave an airspace. Screw the caps on tightly. Invert each bottle and shake to dissolve sugar on the bottom. Set bottles in a warm area for the first few days, then store in a dark, cool spot. You can drink the beer within a few days of bottling, but it will improve with age.

Enhancements
Once you’ve made a few batches of your own homemade beer, it’s fun to experiment with different ‘enhancements’. When adding your own personal touch, however, caution is always a good idea; try things in small amounts so as not to over-do it.
Here are few suggestions:
# Molasses. Add a cup or two of molasses to the malt while it’s cooking. Cut back a bit on the sugar. This will impart a darker, more full-bodied taste to the beer. Blackstrap molasses is darker and richer; Fancy molasses is lighter.
# Licorice. Throw a few sticks of licorice into the malt while it’s cooking. Leave in for 5 – 10 minutes, then remove any unmelted pieces before pouring the brew into the carboy.
# Hops. Put whole hops (dried) or hop flakes into a cheesecloth bag and add to the cooking malt. A handful is plenty. This will give a distinctive hop flavor to the beer.
# Herb teas. Try adding 3 or 4 teabags of Celestial Seasonings “Bengal Spice” tea, or “Apple Cinnamon Spice” tea. Add to the cooking malt and remove after 10 minutes. This will add a bit of spice to the taste of the beer, a very interesting flavor.

Enjoy!

Pour your beer carefully to avoid disturbing the sediment. Re-capped partially full bottles will retain their “fizz” for up to two weeks, so don’t feel you have to empty the bottle (unless you’re looking for an excuse!). After two weeks, unfinished bottles should be emptied.

You may find that batches of homemade beer can vary in quality. Darker beers will work best with this recipe for the most consistent results. If your beer is a little short on “fizz” or falls a little short of your expectations, try mixing it 50/50 with commercial beer or your favorite beer of the month.

If the empty bottles are rinsed out immediately, washing them later will be easy. Simply rinse with warm, lightly soapy water. Rinse well to remove soap residue. A mild bleach solution can also be used to clean the bottles.

Remember, your beer will continue to improve for months. It’s a good idea to start a second batch right away so you can get well enough ahead to enjoy fully matured beer.

Information courtesy of http://www.eartheasy.com/eat_homebrew.htm

Beer Brewing Supplies – The “Beer” Essentials

Author: lukeporterbeer

People say that beer making can be a burden but I beg to differ. As long as you have the right beer brewing supplies and as long as you have the interest, you could do it easily. Well, perhaps not SO easily but still you could do it, and do it well.

Beer production depends on three important things: beer brewing supplies, beer brewing equipment and LOVE. Naturally, you need to exert love and effort into preparing and making your beer because without them even the most advanced beer making supplies won’t help the flavor of your concoction. Similarly, no matter how much sweat you invest in your creation, you won’t get beer unless you have the basic supplies and equipment needed for such endeavor.

If you are a beginner, you may want to use a beer starter kit. Starter kits contain equipments that would enable someone to create around five gallons of beer. They usually include a fermenting bucket with an airlock, a bottling bucket, some priming sugar, a siphon unit, a thermometer, a few beer bottles and bottle caps, a sanitizer and a bottle brush and an instructional material on making homemade beer.

The fermenting bucket is what you will use to ferment your unfermented beer, which is otherwise known as the wort. Naturally, the airlock serves as the bucket’s seal – keeping bacteria and oxygen at bay while letting carbon dioxide escape from the inside of the bucket. In addition, the thermometer is used to check the temperature of the beer while it ferments.

Once the beer has been fermented, it is transferred into the bottling bucket using the siphon unit. Prior to siphoning the beer to the bottling bucket, the priming sugar is added in the bucket so that it could mix with the beer later on.

Most bottling buckets have spigots attached to them. The spigots make it easier to fill the bottles with beer once the bottling process is completed.

The beer making ensemble also has a brush and sanitizer which are used for cleaning the bottles and the rest of the equipments so that they could be utilized over and over again. After all, it is very expensive to throw your beer brewing supplies and purchase new ones whenever you feel like brewing your own beer.

Of course, the most important beer brewing supply is perhaps the How-To book on homemade beer. It is a must – particularly if you are a novice in the field. I mean, how exactly you would be able to concoct your product if you don’t even know the first step to making it? Without the intention of blasphemy, I can say that such step-by-step instructional material is the beer brewer’s bible, without which, beer brewing supplies would not be able to achieve the purpose for which they have been made in the first place.

Now that you know the basics on beer brewing supplies, why don’t you get started? It’s fun and easy!

Mr. Beer Brewmasters Ultimate Beer Kit Review

Author: Seth Monroe

Becoming a brewmaster at home means that you have several options in brewing kits that you can choose from. You can look to spend a pretty wide range of money on the different setups, but for most people having a good setup doesn’t mean you have to spend every penny you’ve got. With the Mr. Beer Brewmaster’s Ultimate Beer Kit, you can get everything you need, plus more extras than you’ll know what to do with, all for a price that is roughly equivalent to a few nights of bar hopping.

You get all the basics that you would expect. You get the two gallon keg and the screw top bottles for your brew. You also get some Mr. Beer pint glasses and other hardware for the kit such as a brew-o-meter and the various measuring devices.

There is a set of easy to follow 4-step instructions that come with the kit so that even novice brewers will be comfortable. The brewmaster’s guide that is included answers some simple questions most people have about brewing their own beer. Even those with plenty of experience may pick up some new tips.

But the extras are where this kit really pulls away from the pack. Mr. Beer loads you up with lots of additional items, and they aren’t just junk. You get several different brew packs from standard to premium.  You also get a deluxe bottling system for the brews you will create.

You also get a hop scale, funnel and strainer and measuring spoons in addition to the extra pint glasses.

But it isn’t just about how much stuff you get. The good thing is that Mr. Beer didn’t skimp on quality when they built this kit. The brew keg itself is made from a light weight plastic which complies with FDA regulations. That means that the plastic won’t impart any unwanted flavor onto the beer.

The same quality can be found in the plastic bottles, which are made of a high quality reusable plastic. The pint glasses are also sturdy and designed to bring out the best in your new brew.

The set of brew packs that you get is just a huge bonus. You’ll love the wild American Devil IPA for parties and the Witty Monk white Belgian beer will help keep you cool on hot summer days. The other brew packs that are included range in styles and will keep you busy for a while.

And the brewing guide not only comes with answers to popular questions about brewing, it even has some of Mr. Beer’s recipes inside. You can start off running with your own brew, or run through some of their recipes. Whatever you decide to do, you’ll enjoy brewing your own home beers with the Mr Beer Brewmaster’s Ultimate Beer Kit.

Home Brew Beer – The Counterpart of Commercially Produced Beer

Author: lukeporterbeer

When Dionysus created wine, he must have been enamored by the taste of grapes that he forgot to proclaim “let there be beer!” and thus the absence of home brew beer in great mythologies. However, I don’t mind this short sightedness on the god’s end because ancient cultures such as those of Egyptians and Sumerians more than made up for it when they created their own versions of the delightful beverage. Since then, beer has become one of our favorite drinks and today, aside from those that are manufactured by companies like Heineken USA, we have what we commonly refer to as the home brews.

Home brew beer, as its name suggests, is beer that we create in our own kitchen (or anywhere in our own backyard) using our own beautiful hands. Of course the process takes long and is usually difficult at first. Over time though, home brewing becomes second skin particularly with the help of quality beer making equipment and brewing kits. In fact, home brewing is very interesting and easy to learn that it is advocated by many people and is fast becoming a hobby. Furthermore, home brewing is also gaining popularity because beer that is domestically produced is usually cheaper than its commercial counterpart and people generally favor cheaper things especially if they are just as good as the more expensive stuff.

But how do we initiate the beer making process? The very first thing that we have to consider is the equipment that we want to use. If we are new to the activity, it would be best if we start with brewing kits because they always have the things that are essential for the process. Along with starter kits, we need home brew recipes which we could use if the idea of experimenting on flavors does not appeal to us. There are a number of sources that offer us recipes for creating a variety of home brew beer that would tickle our senses.

We might wonder about the taste of home brewed beer. Many individuals claim that homebrew tastes like heaven. Some say that it tastes just like the way a master creates it. Perhaps these descriptions are true. Perhaps they are a little bit exaggerated. What we know for sure is that home brew beer is made of an assortment of flavorsome ingredients that it can taste like anything – from something fruity to something with a hint of cinnamon and honey. It can also be strong and bitter which is palatable to certain beer lovers. However it tastes, home brew is good so long as the person is able to perfect its creation. And with practice, anyone can surely perfect the home brewing process.

So the next time our urge kicks in and we feel like drinking a bottle of beer or a keg of it (if our ultimate goal is to get drunk), let us toast home brew beer and together let us yell “let there be home brew!”