Run out of reasons to tell your wife why your shirt and breath always reek of beer? Try this: According to the New England Journal of Medicine dated November 1999, drinking one or two bottles of beer a day prevents stroke cases by 20 percent.
But your wife will probably grow tired of that justification soon. Why not brew your own beer? Brewing your own beer is cheaper than buying it-and who knows-you could even sell your beer and earn some decent money. Why don’t you start with the ingredients? If you haven’t got a clue what ingredients to use, start reading.
Beer is over 90% water. Because it is the main ingredient by volume, to brew good beer, you need to start with good water.
Brewing sugar and yeast are another two main homebrew ingredients that you can’t-and must not-do without. Remember what your Chemistry teacher told you about them? No? Here’s a refresher for you. The yeast and the brewing sugar are key elements in fermentation. The yeast uses the brewing sugar and converts it into two chemicals, carbon dioxide and of course alcohol.
Next, don’t forget the hops. They should be kept in oxygen barrier bags in a freezer at all times. A day or two out of the freezer means a change in their bitterness and taste characteristics that they shouldn’t have, and thus makes the beer or brew taste differently.
READ: In principle, the fresher the ingredients, the better.
Understand that to make the “perfect” beer, you must first enjoy the learning process to make beers. Because there are many different types of beer with different ingredients, you can do a lot of testing and tasting with your friends and family to come up with that one beer that speaks of you.
Beer has been brewed for many centuries, and you can use some of the wisdom gained over thousands of years to be a great brewer of home beer. Getting started on this fascinating hobby is far easier than you may have thought, and although you will have to learn a few things about the process of making beer, it will be fun. Besides, you get to drink the final product anyway.
You ready with your beer garden?
Author: Dharmendra Zala
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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There are many different steps to make in the brewing process, and there are some ingredients that are essential, and the most important ingredient to the entire process is patience! To complete the whole process it will take you at least three weeks, in some cases even longer for the beer to be in optimum condition and ready for consumption. Starting your own home brewing process takes some planning in order to ensure that all of the equipment is sanitized and ready for use by the time you need it in the process. The second part in this planning stage is gathering your ingredients for your favorite recipe in case you use beer making kits and beer kit packages you need to make sure they are ready to use.
All equipment and ingredients should be ready for use during your home brewing process.
If you miss a piece of equipment or an ingredient is missing, the beer may end up flat because the fermentation process did not work correctly or you have some other problem, like the sediment not settling or the taste being off. You need to be a bit precise for brewing but if you use home beer making kits they are a sure way to get a good end result because these kits contain everything you need for beer brewing, including the ingredients. The only additions you need to some of the kits are the dextrose for the secondary fermentation process and the fermenting agent, some sort of malt or sugar according to taste. So called beer kit packages also include these ingredients. They are easy to use and the beer brewed is very tasty.
Equipment For The Ultimate Beer Brewing Process
The equipment for the process called “beer brewing” has to be sanitized at the beginning of the process and each time it is used again. You need to do this to prevent a build up of bacteria. This could be harmful to the beer but also be harmful to you and who ever drinks it. Sanitizing is done with the use of bleach or iodine solution and all of the equipment used in the brewing process should be soaked in it for at least thirty minutes. After that it should be thoroughly rinsed and dried.
The Brewing Pot
A large stainless steel brewing pot is the first thing you will use in the process. This pot is used to heat the water after that the mix from the beer kit should be dissolved into them. At the end of this process the wort is ready for primary fermentation in the primary fermenter the second piece of equipment needed in the brewing process. The primary fermenter has an airlock and stopper to prevent air from outside getting into the fermenter, but also allows the carbon dioxide to get out so that it does not explode.
Of course you need other equipment like the bottling bucket, beer bottles with caps and sometimes a bottling machine. It is important to have dark beer bottles from plastic or glass. This will preserve the taste of your home brewed beer the best.
Home brewing is not as difficult as you might think, the beer brewing process gives you the security you need to get started and learn the basics. When you have gained more experience there is time enough to start some experiments with recipes and ingredients.
Author: Peter Waterman
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
More and more people are getting into making homemade beer as they discover how much fun it can be and how great home brewed beer can taste. The ingredients and supplies you need to make your own home brew are readily available thanks to the Internet, making brewing your own beer easy and inexpensive. But the best part… there’s nothing more satisfying than serving your own home brewed beer to your buddies and hearing them rave that your homemade beer is just as good as the stuff they usually buy at the store!
Should you start brewing your own beer? Here are three reasons why you should start making your own homemade beer today:
1. Easy to Get Started: More brewing retailers are opening online and offline stores every day, so finding ingredients, supplies and equipment to make your own homemade beer is fast and easy. And if you’re on a budget, you can always find discounted equipment and supplies on eBay, CraigsList, or even at local garage sales.
2. Save Money: Another reason that people are starting to make their own beer at home is to save money. After your initial investment to buy equipment, making beer is relatively inexpensive (much cheaper than buying the popular brands at the liquor store), depending on the ingredients and the recipes that you use.
3. More Taste: In addition to the cost savings, when you brew your own beer you have a lot more control over the taste. There are literally thousands of beer recipes on the Internet, and probably hundreds of ingredient kits that you can buy, so you can make your beer taste however you want. You can make ales, lagers, fruit beers, wheat beers, etc. And once you have found a recipe you like, you can tweak it by adjusting the ingredients to suit your taste. Basically, you can make your own brand of beer!
So how do you get started making your own beer? Making homemade beer is easier and less expensive than you might think. A good idea would be to visit forums or join a home brewing club and ask for help. If you let the other members know that you are a newbie to home brewing, you’re likely to get tons of advice from the more experienced members.
To get started, you’ll need some basic beer brewing equipment and your ingredients. You can either buy a beer making kit, or buy the equipment and ingredients separately. As I mentioned earlier, there are many online and offline brewing retailers so getting your beer making supplies is fast and easy.
Author: Krissi Ann
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Ah, beer. Who hasn’t heard of this bubbly brew or watched the Superbowl specifically to be entertained by the brewery industry’s commercials. While appealing to a broad spectrum of people, beer is a versatile beverage with a broad range of uses. It makes a tasty marinade, a moist and light bread and, fantastic soap! Yes, soap. Once the alcohol and its drying effects are removed, beer makes a near perfect skin care addition to soap. Since beer is primarily hops, many of this herb’s properties and benefits become a skin cleansing asset when added to soap. The diverse array of beers from micro breweries and distinct contributions from craft breweries add a new dimension to soap crafting options with beer. Belgian lambic ales bring the richness and nutritional value of fruit to the beer market and when used in soap, these ales transfer these attributes to skin care. Oats, barley and wheat are mineral-rich grains that contribute an array of health promoting benefits to everything they touch, including soap. By adding lambic ales and whole grain beers to soaps, we bypass an otherwise risky bacterial potential and avoid the need for preservatives. Because of the fermentation process used in making beer coupled with the preservative and antibacterial benefits of hops, beer grants our skin the opportunity to directly benefit from these botanical ingredients when it would otherwise be problematic to the soap making process or require preservatives. If an ingredient requires a synthetic preservative to maintain purity, the reason for using “natural soap” is defeated.
In addition to adding flavor to beer, hops make a relaxing tea. Traditional uses for hops include anti-stress or sedative blends along with sleeping formulas. Beer soap brings some of hops’ relaxing effects to the bathing experience making beer soap a great cleansing choice after a strenuous workout, whether in the gym or the yard. Hops have a slightly sweet fragrance and soaps made with beer initially display a sweet under note because of this. Over time, this fragrance tends to diminish and aroma notes contributed by other ingredients tend to be more dominant. For example, with their fruit additions, lambic ales add a beautiful, rich fruit scent to soaps made with these luscious beers. Fruit beers broaden the soap coloring palette as well so that a framboise or raspberry lambic ale grants a garnet tone to soap. Raspberries are packed with vitamins and minerals and contain ellagic acid, a compound found to have anti-carcinogenic activity on skin cancer cells as well as other cancers. Black currant or cassis lambic ale lends a rich note to bar soap acting as both a distinct coloring agent and fragrance additive. As a healthy skin addition, black currants are packed with anti-oxidants along with Vitamin E and Vitamin C among other nutrients. A robust brown color, oatmeal stout combines the skin soothing benefits of oats with hops’ anti-inflammatory, skin-softening attributes for a gentle, skin-loving wash.
I remember as a teen it was all the rage to wash your hair in beer. Personally, I didn’t much care for the idea since I disliked the smell of Coors, the only beer I was familiar with at the time. When I began exploring beer soap, however, I decided a beer shampoo bar was definitely in order. Once an appropriate ale was selected, it was time to formulate the soap recipe. For its moisturizing and small, tight bubble attributes, an abundance of castor oil figures prominently along with jojoba & wheat germ oils for their hair & skin care attributes. Since hair is made of protein, silk fibers are a nutrient additive and lend a helping hand to lather. Finally the bar is enriched with kukui nut oil, rich in essential fatty acids and noted for its hair care benefits. The resulting beer-based shampoo is a great scalp conditioning, dense-lathering bar soap that works equally well whenever a thick lather is desired, such as with shaving. Skin also benefits from this soap with its silky lather and skin-loving ingredients.
None of these skin care applications are possible without first removing the alcohol content form the beer. Not only does alcohol inhibit the chemical reaction necessary to the soap making process, it also dries the skin. This necessary extra step makes beer soap more labor intensive. While most soap makers simply substitute beer for the water portion of a soap formula and add lye to the beer, I found this method to be risky for the very reasons I wanted beer as an ingredient — the nutrients, fragrance and color. After a bit of research, I developed my own modified technique for making beer soap. Since the soap from my test batch made with a framboise lambic ale carried a noticeable fruit note and retained tones distinct to its beer base, the technique was deemed successful. This technique is now employed in all my beer soap making.
While nearly any beer can be mixed into soap, I prefer working with beers that have either ingredients beneficial to skin care or strong, unique fragrances I don’t otherwise have access to in a natural form — I never use synthetic fragrance oils in my soap. Rich colors and strong scented beers assure these treasured elements have a high probability of withstanding the soap making process. Beer soap is a wonderful cleansing and moisturizing experience…and a beer lover’s dream come true. What an inconspicuous, unique way to add health supporting characteristics to your skin care regimen — or celebrate a special occasion with someone’s favorite beer in a bar soap. Cheers!
Author: Cheryl Stroup
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty
Making your own beer at home is one of the most favorite hobbies today in North America, Canada and big parts of Europe. There are millions of people who have discovered the many advantages of home brewing and the fun of the activity. In this article we look at the ingredients you need to start brewing yourself and you will learn how simple and cheap home brewing can be.
With the right ingredients for a homebrew the process is quite simple and because the complete methodology can be found, described step by step, at online websites and in offline books and manuals it has been made possible for everyone to start out with this great activity.
There are many rewards in making your own beer at home, both in terms of fun as well as finances. Brewing your own beer is cheaper then buying it and you could even sell your beer and earn some decent money, but first you can enjoy the learning process to make beers to perfection. And because there are many different types of beer with different ingredients you can do a lot of testing and tasting with your friends and family.
What Homebrew Ingredients Do You Need.
Before you start thinking about launching your own brewing business, you need to know and gather all needed items. And you can do that in more then one way but lets first look at what you need.
Malt barley is one of the the main things that goes into making beer, it is the same as the grapes you use when you make wine. You can’t make beer without it.
Brewing sugar and Yeast are two other main ingredients that you can’t do without to have it ferment. The yeast uses the brewing sugar and converts it into two chemicals, carbon dioxide and of course alcohol. There are different types of brewing yeast and the one you should use depends on your recipe.
Hops are the homebrew ingredient that makes the taste of the beer a slightly bitter as beer should be and why we all love it so much. Hops are a specific vine’s flower and they are absolutely needed to brew a fine beer.
The last but certainly not least important item of the home brewing ingredients is water. Most people forget that water is in fact the main ingredient of beer and it has a great influence on the end result of the taste of your home brew. If you have bad tasting water it could completely destroy the taste of the batch.
There are two ways you can go with these main ingredients. You can buy them all separate from each other and find a recipe that you can use for the right amounts. Or you can buy a home beer kit or package. In these beer kits all of the above homebrew ingredients are included and you can buy them for different types of beer like for example lager, ale, stout or drought beer. For beginning brewers we would recommend that you buy beer kits, because they come with excellent manuals and you can be sure that your first batch will be a tasty one brewed with the least effort and cost.
Author: Peter Waterman
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The history of making alcoholic beverages is essentially the history of home brewing. Historians believe that beer was originally discovered by people of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Barley was a staple grain of this area and it was soon learned that if the barley got wet and was allowed to germinate, it would become sweet and could be used in foods like bread. This process is known as malting.
It didn’t take much time after the discovery of malting to discover beer. Someone probably allowed their malted barley to get wet and remain exposed to the elements. Perhaps wild yeast contaminated the exposed liquid. The yeast then took hold and multiplied generating a bubbly liquid of alcohol and barley that soon became the first beer.
Today, there are many people who enjoy home beer brewing. The main ingredients include malted barley, hops, yeast and water. Like wines, beers have many different flavors. This is caused by differences in the the type of malt, the moisture content, the type of barley used and the temperature used in the kiln.
Malted barley, also known as malt, is barley that has been soaked in water until it starts to sprout. A kiln is then used to dry it out. Barley has a hard husk, is low in protein and high in starch, making it perfect for brewing beer.
The next crucial beer making ingredient is hops. Hops are flowers which provide a natural preservative quality and bitterness to the beer.
The third ingredient is yeast. Yeast may be the most important beer making ingredient. Yeast is a living creature that lives off the ingredients in beer. It is responsible for converting sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide in the fermentation stage.
The final ingredient is water. This is an important ingredient considering that beer is 90% water. For better tasting beer, it’s best to always use quality water.
Beer is made from simple ingredients, but the process of brewing beer can be a little bit more complicated than it seems. If you love beer, you might find home beer making very enjoyable.
Here is an overview of the beer brewing process:
Steep and boil malt and hops
Ferment for one week
Transfer to secondary fermenter for two weeks
Transfer to clarifying keg for one week
Transfer to serving keg
Pressurize beer keg to carbonate for 7 days
Serve!
Many people who decide to make beer at home often choose to buy a beer making kit. This is often the easiest way to get started, so you can begin enjoying the satisfaction of making your own beer at home.
Author: Eileen Childs
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Brewing is hard work. There are no easy sun-filled days of dancing in woven baskets. The brewer must work to loosen its grip on the essential beer making ingredients sugar. Anyone who seeks to create an alcoholic beverage must have sugar to ferment. There are many details along the way that will determine how the beer will turn out. Every journey must begin with a single step; and when it comes to beer, that first step is preparing the essential beer making ingredients, which is malting the barley.
Malted barley, also known simply as malt, is barley seed that has been steeped in water until it starts to sprout, and then dried out in a kiln. For the brewer, barley has special gifts that other grains cannot offer. Its hard husk, low protein content and high starch contents all making a more suitable beer making ingredient.
From the beginning of the malting process, differences in moisture content, barley variety, and kilning temperatures and times are crucial and result in different varieties of malt. Every variety has a flavor, a color, an aroma, and a purpose. Malt is still the first beer making ingredient we are talking about.
The second essential beer making ingredient is hops. Most people seem to know that beer contains hops. In fact, most people seem to think that hops are the main beer making ingredients and that perhaps hops are grains. Actually, hop is a flower. It lends natural preservatives qualities to the finished beer and provides bitterness plus a range of flavors and aromas. Essentially, it acts as a spice. The bitterness of the hop is the backbone of the beer.
Yeast is another beer making ingredient. The right yeast will produce the right flavors. In many respects, the yeast can be rightly said to be the single most important beer making ingredient the brewer selects. Centuries ago, before brewers learned what yeast truly was, beer was allowed to ferment spontaneously.
The last and not to be forgotten beer making ingredient is water. Water is important. Most beers are at least 90 percent water, so it should come as no surprise that water is a critical element in the flavor of beer. The quality of the water will determine the quality of the beer produced.
Beer is made from simple ingredients but the whole process of beer brewing makes beer a more than simple beverage. To truly appreciate the beauty of beer, you can consider getting the beer making ingredients and start brewing your own beer.
Author: Sky Joe
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The beer brewing process or the creation of beer via the process of fermentation has a long and great history. In fact you can trace the beginning of the process in the olden Egyptian days, with the beer recipe descriptions to be found in the ancient documents of Sumeria.
The complicated beer brewing process or beer lagering has a number of steps which are important in making a great quality beer.
The first stage of the beer brewing process is the malting. Here the malt is crushed and soaked in water. Eventually a malt extract is created. The mash is then maintained at constant temperature, which is enough for starches to become fermentable sugar.
Sparging is the next beer brewing process. Here is where the water is filtered through the mash for sugar to get dissolved. The dark colored sweet liquid is what you call wort.
The third process of beer brewing is known as boiling, wherein the wort is boiled with other beer ingredients. The boiling process takes away excessive water and also destroys all existing types of microbes. Hops, either extract or whole, are added as the mixture is continuously boiled.
Fermentation is the process when yeast is added. Afterwards, the mixture is left to stand for a specified amount of time. We have to make sure that the yeast and other particles and matter have really settled, otherwise, we will have to repeat the fermentation process again.
The last stage of the beer brewing process is packaging. During this stage, the beer contains alcohol, albeit less amount of carbon dioxide than what is required. To effectively increase the level of carbon dioxide, carbonation can be done, wherein the carbon dioxide is added directly to the beer keg or bottle.
Author: Ernesto Maitim
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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There are many pre-made beer-making kits available in the marketplace today. These are great for first time brewers as they provide all the materials you will need to brew your first batch of beer. If you are thinking about brewing more than a couple of batches, however, it may be best to put together your own kit. There are a lot of components needed for home brewing so a kit may be the best place to start. As you progress you may want to trade up for some better components.
When choosing your beer making kits and equipment make sure that you have first decided upon the best place for making and storing your beer and beer making supplies. They can take up considerable amount of room and for this reason if you are planning on making a lot of batches of beer you may want to set up a special room or area just for beer making.
Most beer making kits come with enough equipment and ingredients to make about 5 gallons of beer (about two cases of 12-ounce beer bottles). Here is a general list of supplies you will need to get started.
5 gallon to 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket with lid
5 gallon to 6.5 gallon bottling bucket with spigot
Sanitizer ( A standard household bleach will work fine)
Siphon unit
Thermometer
Triple scale hydrometer
Bucket clip
Bottle capper
2 cases of beer bottles
Bottle caps
Bottle brush
Large pot (4 to 5 gallon capacity)
A comprehensive beer brewing manual or e-book
Stainless steel, porcelain enamel or copper work best as they do not impart a flavor into the mixture as it cooks. Avoid aluminum. Kits will often save you money be providing all the components you need in one basic kit. The kit is often offered by many leading beer ingredient supply companies and they have put the kit together based on years of beer-making experience. These companies also offer advice and information on beer making as well as forums where those with similar hobbies can communicate.
Author: Graham Williams
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker
Brewing your own beer can be very exciting and as per your liking, you can even add variations to the recipe. There are several recipes that you could use to give different flavours to your home brew. Let us take a look at a few recipes that are easy to follow and most appropriate for those who are brewing their very first batch of beer supplies.
This first recipe is of an American style Home brewed Pale Ale, which is a very simple recipe, but a good learning example for beginners. You will first need to get one of the beer kits available at a home brew store along with the ingredients required for brewing beer.
Ingredients:
3.75 lbs Cooper’s Bitter Brewing Kit
2 lbs gold or light dry malt extract
1 oz Cascade hops in pellet form
In about a 2 gallon pot, the larger the better, put in a gallon of water and let it boil. While the water boils get your ingredients and the other equipment ready.
Open the can of Cooper’s bitter extracts and pour in some hot water from the tap so that the semi-solid liquid can soften up.
In the meantime sterilize the fermenting bucket and other brewing equipment and get them ready for use. You must remember that it is very important to sterilize everything that you are going to use when brewing beer at home.
Once the water comes to a boil, stir in the bitter extracts, rinsing the can with more hot water from the tap in order to use up all the extract. Stirring continuously, pour in the malt extract. Continue to stir so that the malt dissolves and mixes well without forming lumps.
When the water is boiling again, put in the hops and allow to boil for another 5 minutes. After the home brew is through with the boiling process, immerse the pot in cold water to cool the now ready ‘wort’. The wort has to cool down before it can be poured into the fermenting bucket.
Meanwhile, fill your fermenting bucket with about 3 gallons of cold water. When the wort has cooled down, pour the brew into the fermenting bucket and fill it up further with cold water until it reaches the 5-gallon mark.
Put the thermometer into the bucket to check the temperature from time to time, as the home brew needs to be kept at room temperature. Cover with lid and allow the wort to stand in a cool dry place.
For a maltier home brew, you can add extra grain extracts to your home brew.
Ingredients:
1 lb crushed crystal malt
1 can Coopers Real Ale extract
1 pound dry malt extract
0.25 oz Willamette hops
Secure the crushed crystal malt in a grain bag and let it boil in a gallon of water. Keep stirring and when the water comes to a boil, remove the grain bag and squeeze the liquid out of it. Allow the water to boil for 10 more minutes and then add the dry malt extract, stirring it until it dissolves. Now add the Coopers Real Ale extracts and stir, boiling for another 5 minutes. Put in the Willamette hops and turn the burner off. Allow to cool before filling the wort into the fermenting bucket.
This third recipe is a more thirst-quenching form of home brew.
Ingredients:
1 lb crushed pale ale malt
1 lb crushed crystal malt
6 lbs North western Gold liquid malt extract
2 lbs light or gold dry malt extract
0.75 Galena hops pellets
1.5 English Kent Goldings Hops pellets
1 packet Whitbread Ale Yeast
In 3 gallons of water, boil the grain extracts in a tightly secured grain bag. Once the water comes to a boil, stir in the liquid and dry malt extracts and allow it to boil further. When the water is boiling, drop in the Galena hops and allow to boil for 25 minutes and then add half of the Goldings hops. Boil for a further 20 minutes before adding the remaining hops and switch off the burner. Cool the wort in a wort chiller to bring it down to room temperature before pouring it into the fermenting bucket with an additional two gallons of cold water.
Author: Tim J Kirby
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker
