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Alcohol Content in Beer

You are currently browsing the Alcohol Content in Beer category.

Do You Know How Root Beer Really Came About?

Did you know that root beer is one of the first sodas in the United States? True, in fact it even pre-dated colas. It was during the Colonial times that the very first root beer came out and it was initially called small beers. Made from a combination of herbs, roots and barks the small beer had none or only had a very small amount of alcohol, that’s where it got the name small beer.

The First Commercial Root Beer

Charles Hires, a Philadelphia, PA pharmacist, is credited with making the first root beer to be sold commercially in America. Unfortunately, the way it all came to be is largely lost to history. One of the most popular stories though is that one day, on his honeymoon; Mr. Hires developed a tea using over twenty-five different herbs, berries and roots.

It was also said that the dry form of this new brew became available in his Pharmaceutical Shop when he and his new wife returned to his hometown in Philadelphia. Not long after, he started to work on using flavored carbonated soda water to come up with the liquid version of the tea.

The people that Mr. Hires gave his drink to loved the taste so much that he decided to introduce it commercially at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, where it was very well received. Finally in 1893 the Hires Family sold and distributed the first bottled root beer.

Whats In Root Beer?

There is no hard-fast rule in brewing root beer, in fact most of the modern manufacturers don’t use any of the original roots and herbs used in the 1800s brew. Most of the root beer available these days use artificial flavors instead of natural ingredients, they also substituted molasses, honey or sugar with the cheaper and easier to find syrups. However, some of the basic ingredients like wintergreen, sarsaparilla, pipsissewa, ginger root,dandelion root, allspice, burdock root, spikenard, wild cherry bark, spice wood, and birch bark have been retained to give the root beer its basic flavor. The manufacturer then introduces their own special ingredient to give the root beer the taste that’s specific to their brand.

Today, depending on the Root Beer you choose, you may find that these herbs aren’t used much and that the root beer taste of your beverage comes from artificial flavors and syrups. However, thanks to the micro-brewery movement, small batch Root Beers are coming back into style, and many areas of the country have their own locally made root beers once more. These often do rely on the unique flavors imparted by these herbs and roots and either honey or sugar, as opposed to artificial flavorings and sweeteners.

Root beer has become so popular that you see them almost everywhere being enjoyed by people of all ages. More and more brands of this popular drink are now available in virtually any grocery store. Its quite a pleasant surprise to know it has a rich historical background that can be a source of pride for all Americans.

Beverages Direct offers a large selection of unique and hard to find sodas including gourmet root beers, diet sodas, gingers beers, ginger ales and other specialty soda flavors.

Author: David Marcheschi
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted August 8th, 2010.

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Micro Brews For The Beer Lovers

Are you a beer lover? You may define regular beer drinking as a sign of beer-loving, but there are people who love beer so much that they brew it themselves. Micro brews are fast becoming a favorite hobby or business among beer lovers or beer hobbyists. The American Home brewers Association reported about 1 million micro brewers in the US.

The theory behind micro brews is that the usual beer that is commercially mass-produced and because of this has a very bland taste. Brewing your own beer, however, gives you the option to look for your own preferred taste, something that you have no control over when buying beer from the commercial market.

The beer drinker can create a beer taste and texture that is to his liking. Aside from this, micro brewers have the chance to earn profit from their hobby. Once a brewer is able to brew a distinct taste of beer with commercial appeal, his beer business will definitely take-off.

If you intend to market your own taste of beer, the usual home brewing kits are not enough and you have to shell out a higher capital for a bigger fermenter, quality bottles with re sealant caps, and a wide choice of brewing ingredients of good quality.

A home brewer should try all the variants of his brewing ingredient so he can find the right taste. For example, there are roughly about 100 variants of yeast, the main ingredient in the brewing process. To be a total micro brewer, one must brew 100 times using the different variants.

Current brewing from home produces tastes similar to the light lagers, such as Budweiser beer; the dense and rich taste of Barley-based lagers, and the taste and texture of British ale. It will all depend on the beer recipe used.

In home brewing, what is important is that you find the particular taste you are looking for and remember that before trying out to commercialize your beer brewing, hold a beer-tasting event for your friends. Not only will they appreciate your free beers, but also they will be able to give feedback, which could help you determine whether you can expect a return on your investment with the taste.

Hi, I’m Romain Levesque Author of the article and owner of the website :
http://www.the-beer-meister.com

Feel free to stop by. You may republish this article as long as the resource box an live link remains. Cheers!!

Author: Romain Levesque
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted August 5th, 2010.

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Things to Look For in Beer Making Recipes

An important part of successful beer making at home is using the proper equipment, ingredients, and keeping all of the equipment sanitized. Everything used in, on, or around your brew will affect the taste and flavor. So, it is important to keep all equipment sanitized when making the ingredients and using the mixture that is required to get the flavor that you want.

There are over a thousand beer making recipes on the Internet. These recipes are all variations of the basic recipes that has been used for thousands of years. By changing the type of malt that is used a person can significantly change the taste of a beer. Using a different type of grain, or malt, can result in a light beer or another beer that a person may like. When a person first starts brewing their beer, it will be more satisfying to experiment and create a distinct flavor.

You will find that some recipes call for malt extract and some like to make their malt from a unique grain. Malt provides the sugar that is needed to activate the yeast in beer. There are many different types of malt and each one will have a different affect on the taste of your beer.

Many brewers find that filtering tap water in charcoal, then boiling it, makes the perfect water for home brewing. The taste of the beer is affected by the minerals that are in water. When water is used that has the minerals removed, the beer will not taste right.

When a recipe called for malt extract, a person may select to choose a malt that is made from a grain other than barley. Using corn will create a lighter beer. Rice malt is also popular for some beer making. Making small batches of beer, using different malts will give you the opportunity to experiment with flavors and tastes until you have developed your signature taste.

Some people who are having their first beer brewing experience find that a kit is helpful. When a beer making kit is used a person gets all of the equipment and ingredients that are needed for beer making recipes. There are often detailed instructions for ways to make beer taste differently that is being brewed as well as resource information for getting supplies that may not be easily accessible.

To find the best beer making recipes online Click Here!

Author: Chris B George
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted August 2nd, 2010.

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If You Love Beer, Home Brewing may be Just the Hobby for You!

Beer is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Frosty cold mugs are enjoyed by millions everyday. The brewing industry is one of the largest businesses in the world supplying those millions of glasses. But more and more people are discovering the joys of making beer at home.

Home brewing has quickly become a favorite pastime for millions and there are thousands of sites online and hundreds of catalog companies devoted to providing the right equipment for their hobby. There are even slick newsstand magazines that are devoted to nothing but the brewing and enjoyment of beer!

And the art of home brewing could be the perfect hobby for you — if you love beer, you love to cook, you are a bit creative, a bit experimental – and very, very patient.

Is Home Brewing Expensive?

The cost of making your own beer, buying all the home brewing equipment, supplies and ingredients you need to start with this great hobby is probably one of the first concerns for most people. After all, you may have toured or seen pictures of the inside a commercial brewery and know that they use huge cooking apparatus and vats. That’s true and their fermentation containers probably cost as much as your home. But for you to make your own beer, home brewing is actually a very affordable and even cost efficient hobby. As a matter of fact, depending on how much beer you and your family drink, it may save you money in the long run from buying it commercially.

Most of the standard kits you can buy for beer home brewing are much less than a hundred dollars and these kits are meant to last you a lifetime — though many, many batches of homebrew. You might consider it an investment in your family’s grocery bill if it means cutting down on the beer you buy from the store! Of course each batch of home brewed beer requires a new set of ingredients including the malt and yeast that you use and anything else you might put into your beer such as fruit or honey. But these additives are generally very reasonably priced and a large jar of some additives can last you for several dozen batches of beer.

Is Home Brewing Difficult?

Believe it or not making beer is actually one of the easiest things you might do in the kitchen! You might compare it to making a very easy batch of soup. When making beer home brewing does require some measuring and boiling and a few other steps but, for the most part, virtually anyone can do it. There are many different “levels” of home brewing. You can start out by buying a “kit” of measured and packaged ingredients and graduate to experimenting with you own flavors and mixtures as you get more experience and feel more comfortable. Many who begin with kits find that later the most fun they have is experimenting with different additives, fruits and flavors.

So if you really love beer home brewing may be for you. And even if you don’t particularly love beer, you might want to consider this as a great hobby or as a way to make personal gifts for others who do love beer. Home brewing is economical, easy and a great way for anyone to experiment with making something in their own kitchen.

Great Way to Meet People

Beer is one of the best ways to meet people ever invented. That’s the whole idea behind bars. Home brewed beer is no exception. In almost every good sized town in the world you are sure to find at least one, usually more, clubs devoted to the craft and art of home brewing. These men and women love nothing better than getting together once a week or so and hoisting a frosty mug while talking about beer. How can you go wrong with that.

If you love beer, good friends and life, home brewing may be the hobby for you.

Mark Hester runs the Drink Up website devoted to Home Brewing. You can read about everything from the best kits to buy to the legalities of Home Brewing Beer at http://myeverydaylife.net/homebrewing/ If you are new to Home Brewing, drop by and sign up for the 10 part email course we offer to learn all about this fantastic hobby.

If you are an old hand, stop by and leave a comment or a recipe at http://myeverydaylife.net/homebrewing/

Author: Mark Hester
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted July 30th, 2010.

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Recipes For Cooking With Beer

Cooking with beer has been a Belgian tradition for a number of years. The craze is now spreading worldwide. Here are a few beer recipes, including the famous Belgian Carbonnade a la Flamande.

Carbonnade a la Flamande

Ingredients:
1 ¼ pounds lean ground beef chuck
3 tbsp unsalted butter or margarine
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 cups fresh or frozen chopped onions
2 3-inch springs fresh lemon thyme or ½ tsp dried thyme, crumbled
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 ½ lbs red-skin potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1 ½ inch chunks (not peeled)
1 can beef consommé – 10 ½ ounces
1 package frozen asparagus cut (do not thaw)
12 ounce can beer blended with 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper

Instructions:
Shape ground chuck into large flat patty – dredge both sides in flour.
Heat butter in medium-sized Dutch oven over high for 1 minute.
Add ground chuck patty – brown 3 minutes on each side
Place patty in plate and set aside.
Lower heat to moderate temperature.
Add onions, garlic, thyme, and nutmeg to drippings and sauté (about 3 minutes).
Add potatoes and consommé.
Bring to a gentle boil.
Place lid on askew and cook for 15 minutes.
Add beer mixture and cook until liquid thickens (about 3-5 minutes).
Add meat, breaking into large clumps.
Cover and cook 10 more minutes.
Add asparagus and cook, breaking up frozen clumps, until potatoes are tender and meat shows no signs of pink (7-10 minutes).
Remove thyme sprigs.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve in heated soup bowls.

Chocolate Stout Cake

Ingredients:
¼ cup cocoa powder to dust the baking pans
2 sticks butter or margarine
1 cup stout or porter
2/3 scant cup Dutch-process dark cocoa powder
1 scant tsp salt
2 cups unbleached flour
2 cups sugar
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
2 extra-large eggs
½ cup sour cream

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly dust 2 greased 8-inch pans with cocoa powder.
In a heavy saucepan or microwave oven, heat butter, beer, and cocoa powder until butter melts. Cool.
Sift dry ingredients together, add the beer-cocoa mixture and beat thoroughly on medium speed for 1 minute.
Add eggs and sour cream and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 24 to 30 minutes.
Place pans on wire rack to cool.
Spread each layer with a thin coat of chocolate frosting.
Stack the layers and cover the sides with frosting.
Serve.

Citrus Lager Marinade (Perfect for fish or chicken)

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup lager
1 tsp cracked black pepper
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 stalk lemon grass
Pinch of salt

Instructions:
Slice lemongrass length-wise and remove center stalk and discard outer, fibrous husk.
Coarsely chop stalk and place in food processor with ingredients.
Blend well.
When settled, marinate fish or chicken up to two hours – no longer for fish because the citric acids will cure the fish.

These delicious recipes – crock pot stout ham and beef and beer stew should help you get more from your beer!

Author: Lisa Paterson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted July 27th, 2010.

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Beer Brewing 101 – How To Make Cheap (But Great Tasting) Beer

If you enjoy drinking beer, but don’t enjoy the high prices of going to a bar or restaurant for a decent brew, you can brew your own beer in your kitchen. If you are tired of paying a lot of money for beer that you think tastes like cat piss, you should consider brewing it yourself.

Beer brewing is not really a difficult thing to do, if you have a bit of patience, you can really get a great tasting beer the first time you brew. If you want to do a bit of home brewing for the first time, you are probably going to want to get a kit that will help you. Then, invite a few friends to come over and give you a hand. Don’t forget that brewing beer isn’t an instant process, so you will have to buy a couple of six packs to tide you over until it is ready.

If you can boil water, you can make a delicious beer (and if you can’t boil water, don’t worry, there are several kits that you can buy, which you don’t even need to boil water to make). Don’t worry; you don’t really need a lot of equipment to get a great tasting beer. You will need at least one large container to store the beer in while it is fermenting (impress your friends by calling it a ‘carboy’), a large pan (to boil water and mix ingredients in), a siphon tube, and a hydrometer (which will tell you whether the beer is done or not).

To make your first batch of beer, you are going to follow three basic steps: clean, brew and bottle. If this is your first time brewing, it may take a bit longer, but once you have the hang of it, the cleaning and brewing part of the beer making process should take about 90 minutes for each batch.

If you want great tasting beer, you need to make sure that you have the best water and clean equipment. If your containers are dirty, it is definitely going to affect the way that your beer tastes. If you don’t want to sanitize your stuff, make sure that you delegate the task to someone who will.

Brewing is about as easy as boiling water and stirring in the ingredients. The amount of each ingredient is going to change depending on the type of beer you are brewing, but all you have to do is boil some of the water and add the grains. Follow the instructions for the particular type of beer that you are making. The last step is to add the yeast, which will start the fermentation process.

Then the hard part begins: waiting. It takes at least five days for the beer to be ready for bottling, and depending on the type of beer, it can take a lot more time (which is why you are now glad that you took the advice of buying a couple of six packs to tide you over).

If you want your beer to look as great as it will taste, you can put them in glass bottles. This is the final step, and one that every brew master will like, because the sooner you put the last cap on the bottle, the sooner you can get out the bottle opener and pop open one of your handcrafted beers.

Author: William Swan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted July 24th, 2010.

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What You Should Consider in Trying Any Homebrew Beer Recipes?

Brewing your own beer from home can prove to be a great and fun hobby. If cooking is a hobby, then why can’t beer brewing? They are pretty much the same when it comes to procedure and convenience. Just like in cooking or baking, brewers also use homebrew beer recipes in creating their “finished products.”

These recipes for brewing beer are available in print and online. If you are not very familiar with this hobby, you may be surprised to know that several monthly magazines are released to cater for the avid beer brewers out there. They give out free recipes and techniques on how home brewing of beer could be more exciting and tasty. They also promote beer brewing contests that every home beer brewer could join! Home beer brewers are quite a friendly bunch and you would get amazed at how very willing and enthusiastic they are when it comes to sharing their own brewing experiences. They also gladly share recipes with each other just like moms who exchange notes when it comes to planning the family’s menu.

If you are interested in trying this unique hobby, you can resort to going online and finding beer brewer communities aside from checking the magazines published for them. They would surely willingly coach you as you start. A lot of recipes are also out there free to be tried. However, bear in mind that whatever homebrew beer recipes you feel like trying, there are basic pointers you should always follow:

Use only fresh and high quality ingredients – Just like in cooking, your ingredients are better fresh and with high quality. For instance, instead of using dry yeast, go for the liquid one. You can store it up in the fridge to make sure that it keeps its good quality. Also opt for extracts that are fresh and not the canned ones. Some of them may have been packed years ago and this affects the quality of your liquor.

Keep your beer sterile – After your beer has cooled, it must be kept in clean containers. Like foods, your beer can also accumulate bacteria and other infectious organisms.

Always boil your ingredients for at least an hour – Boiling your wort can do many things. First, your mixture gets sterilized. Second, many undesirable compounds get vaporized through the process. Thirdly, bitter oils and tannins from grains fall out during the boiling procedure which is essential in making your beer drinkable. Some recipes will require you to boil for more than an hour. As a standard procedure though, heat your mixture for at least 60 minutes.

Remember that although homebrew beer recipes are widely available, the most important thing you should consider in making your own beer is your own taste. No recipe could satisfy your taste more than your own. The great thing about home brewing of beer is you get to adjust the taste, color, and texture of your drink as long and as much as you please. Take advantage of the opportunity and come up with something original, something reflective of who you are.

Author: Luke D Porter
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted July 21st, 2010.

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Save Money on Beer Prices by Brewing Your Own

How does $0,40 cent per bottle of excellent home brewed beer sound to you? With an average of beer prices being over $1, per bottle, brewing your own beer is cheap and can save you a lot of money. You need to be smart in this time of financial crisis and if you like making things yourself then the beer price of your own product will amaze you. You do something you like, you save some money and have a great batch of beer to enjoy, what more do you want?

To brew a large amount of beer (six gallons) and pay a good price for your beer you better buy a proper beer brewing kit. This will be your biggest investment and will cost you about $100,- to $120,- this also includes the ingredients for your first batch. But this investment will start making you money before you know it.

The beer costs of your own homemade beer depend on the ingredients you will use for the next batches. You can go to your local home brew store and buy everything separate but you can also buy a so called beer kit packages. These kind of packages contain everything you need to make a new batch of beer and they are available in many of your favorite flavors. The price of these beer kit packages for 6 gallons are between $25 to $30. Your per-bottle cost will run around $0.40 inclusive write down cost for the kit.

Cost of ingredients can vary

In 2000 the price of hop was about 2 dollar a pound, in 2007 the price was extreme and went up to 26 dollar a pound, this was because of a bad growing season. So if you can grow your own hop in your area we advise you to do so. This means the price of beer varies also over the years and that is also true for your own beer. But still in all those years brewing your own beer has been cheaper than buying it. Although it might be saving you just a little bit of money.

Beer prices do not depend on the equipment

Well of course you need to make much more beer to pay your beer brewing equipment of over $300,- then you do when you buy a kit from around $100,- but the prices of equipment have not increased much over the years, this means that the cost of investment have remained fairly constant. So the best you can do is keep the investment as low as you can.

You can also save money by loosing the cost of bottles and caps and to put your finished beer in a keg. You do need to invest in a couple of kegs and a tap but you can get better prices if you divided these cost up among the number of times you can use these kegs and taps. This way you can actually reduce the beer price per gallon even further. But at a price of less than 0.50 cents per bottle of excellent homemade beer who needs to?

Author: Drew Brown
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted July 18th, 2010.

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Make Your Own St Patrick’s Day Beer

St Patrick’s Day is a feast day on witch people from all over the globe traditionally proclaim themselves as “Irish for a day” and usually do that with the consumption of Irish alcoholic beverages like St Patrick’s Day Beer and by wearing green-colored clothing. You can now create your own St Patrick’s Day Beer and in this article we will tell you how to start.

Who celebrates St Patrick’s Day?

Saint Patrick’s Day or St. Paddy’s Day is a feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick who was the patron saints of Ireland. St Patrick’s Day is generally celebrated on March 17 and is a feast that is widely celebrated all over the world and not just in Ireland, countries like Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and United States also celebrate this day.

What is good St Patrick’s Day Beer?

People usually drink Irish Stout or Guinness as a traditionally St Patrick’s Day Beer. The key ingredient of Irish beer is Roasted Barley like in the classic Irish Stout. This gives the St Patrick’s Day Beer a dry coffee like taste, a very dark color but still a white foam. You also see some green beer in the pups but this is usually not very nice to drink for people who like a good quality beer.

Make your own St Patrick’s Day Beer

Making your own beer is not difficult at all and with Irish beer this is no different. A lot of people received a beer brewing kit for Christmas or as a special Valentine’s day beer gift and are now testing a lot of different recipes. Beer brewing kits are a great way to make your own beer, it’s a nice hobby and the end result is a batch of the best beer you have ever tasted. You can drink it with your family or with your friends. If you are interested to buy beer brewing kits you can look at the website at the end of this article. But if you already own such great equipment you can now start brewing your own St Patrick’s Day Beer and have it ready in time, although Irish stout can be appreciated not just at St Patrick’s day only. It is a great beer all year round.

Ingredients

The best thing you can do is buy a Complete Irish Stout Package, this contains all the ingredients you need to make a tasty beer. The package contains an Irish Stout beer kit, 500 gm Light Dry Malt Extract, Dextrose and Carbonation drops. Follow the enclosed instructions and we are sure you can brew a great St Patrick’s day beer.

Celebrate in style

Do you know a better way to celebrate this feast day, almost the beginning of spring, all the people wearing green, everybody is happy and you are surrounded by your family and friends who are enjoying your own home brewed beer. Is there anything more rewarding than brewing your own St Patrick’s day beer? A Irish stout dark brew displaying coffee, chocolate and licorice aromatics, roasty bitter notes with a dry finish. Mmmm, I can’t wait until the batch in my garage is ready to drink.

Author: Drew Brown
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted July 15th, 2010.

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Reasons For Brewing Your Own Beer

Brewing your own beer can be a fun and interesting hobby. It can also save you money. There are many reasons you may want to brew your own beer.

Save Money

You can save a substantial amount of money if you brew your own beer. You may not save a lot on your first couple of batches. But, as you progress in learning more about making beer you will find that you can save money. Once you have made the initial purchase by investing in the equipment needed, you will save money with each batch you make going forward.

Hobby

Beer making is a good hobby. It is something that can be done at home and does not take a substantial amount of money to get started. There are also various local and online organizations that you can get involved with. Here you will find many others with the same hobby who are willing to share information and stories about beer making. Because there are many types of beer that you can make, the hobby can progress and not become boring.

Make Beer That You Like

There are literally thousands of ways to brew beer. Different ingredients used in varying amounts will produce different types of beer. You can experiment with the ingredients and brewing methods until you find the recipe that you like the best. You will also find that fresh beer is better tasting than beer that has been sitting on a shelf for a long time and will therefore want to make your own beer.

Fun

Beer making can be a fun pastime. There is enough to it to make it interesting yet it is easy to learn how to do. Most people start brewing beer by using a beer making kit, which allows them to try the hobby without too great of an investment. From there, if you like it, you can reuse the equipment you already have and get additional ingredients as needed. Since there are many types of beer you can make there is a lot of information you can find. Trying to make new types of beer can be fun.

Gifts

Home brewed beer makes a good gift for friends and family members. It is especially fun to give a gift you have made yourself, particularly when it is something you are proud of. Once you get good at beer making you will enjoy trying new and different beers and giving them to friends. You may even want to pursue beer making for profit.

Author: Graham Williams
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Posted July 12th, 2010.

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