Alcohol Content in Beer

No More Beer Waste

This is some awesome new beer technology.  Thought I’d share.

If you have some awesome beer technology to share, join us at the Pub for Beer Enthusiasts, Beertaps.com Pub.

Everything Beer Learning Center

Running beertaps.com has been an interesting ride that was more involved than I thought it would be.  But, it has been fun.  Each new challenge has presented an interesting and useful solution.

For instance, when I was asked about the kegerator a customer just purchased, I realized that there probably are more people out there who have the same questions.  So, I wrote a report and published it on the site.  Then, I wrote an article to let everyone know that I wrote the report.

That’s about the time the second question came in about keeping beer lines clean.  Then, about home brew recipes.  So, I kept writing reports to help people and I kept writing articles to make people more aware.

It started out as a big gaggle of reports that I finally organized into a Learning Center that is now populated with great stuff.  From Home Brew Tips and Tricks to DIY Home Bar Projects, I keep adding to the learning center.  But, I’m always willing to hear what you want to know.  I have a form for questions at http://www.beertaps.com/contact.html

But, the recent interactive is the forum I created.  It’s easier than a report to write a simple answer.  Some answers aren’t as involved as putting an entire article together with pictures and everything.  So, I populated the forum with a few items.  But, it’s new.

I’d love to see some people on there soon.  Start some topics and get some feedback.  How else do you expect a forum to get started?

http://brewdrinker.com/thepub/

Hope to see you there!

Beer Tap Placement Chaos

Wall Tap Ideas

Refrigerator Conversion To Kegerator Mistakes

You can’t just go in blindly when you are converting your old refrigerator into a kegerator.  I’ve seen some horrible mistakes.  I’ve seen mistakes that have caused the refrigerator to be no longer usable in any capacity.  You don’t want your refrigerator conversion to turn into any of these catastrophes:

One day, a few friends of mine were enjoying their draft beers out of their freshly converted kegerator when all of a sudden they heard a pop.  They didn’t think anything of it because they had been hearing different sounds all day.  One of the beer enthusiasts decided to pour another drink and got a half glass with a lot of foam.  After closer observation, the beer line had popped off the regulator and was damaged.  The beer drinking fun was over until the beer line was replaced.  A good bit of beer was on the bottom of the refrigerator too.  A nice mess to clean up when you have a CO2 tank pumping air through a line to make sure the beer keeps flowing.

I have actually witnessed the next mistake go both ways.  The CO2 regulator needs to be set to the right psi.  Not over and not under.  Can you imagine walking up to the kegerator and not getting anything out of it?  Or worse yet, can you imagine damaging a beer line because you had the psi too high?  Great ways to ruin a party.

But, the one that takes the cake is the amateur who decided to just drill the hole through the door without knowing what he was doing.  The hole was too big for the shank because this guy wanted to drill the hole as big as the nuts.  Enough said about that!  Scrap the refrigerator and go find another one.

So before you make any of these mistakes, make sure that you know everything you need to know before you get started:

Converting a Refrigerator into a Kegerator

Take Your Favorite Beer Survey

I love going on the forums and reading through discussions of people’s favorite beers.  I hardly every hear Budweiser, Coors, Miller or anything normal, which is what you see people “normally” drink.

I always see some exotic beer that they’ve had maybe once.  I’ve also caught some people up in their discussions when I realized they hadn’t even had a taste of the beer they were discussing.  What in the world is that about?

Let’s be honest.  We go to the bar and we get our favorite beer.  We get the one we always drink.  We love the exotic beers that are hard to find and not commonly sold.  We love new tastes and textures.  Of course, we’re up when it comes to trying something we’ve never even heard of before.

But, we have a favorite.  It’s the one at the local store.  It’s the one at the liquor store on the way home.  Do we try new things every once in awhile?  Yes.  But, don’t we normally go for what we know?  Most of the time.

If you disagree, please feel free to comment.

So, I’d like to know what you guys drink.  What is your favorite beer?  Throw us anything, worldwide.  But, I would hope that you’ve drank your “Favorite” beer more than once and that it’s not just an exotic beer you thought would be fun to include in this survey.

Benefits of Brewing Your Own Home Beer

There are beer enthusiasts who are deeply enriched in the beer making world, who own their own home breweries and who take advantage of all the benefits. Then, there are beer enthusiasts who have never even thought of making their own. I can’t imagine why a beer enthusiast wouldn’t at least be interested in giving it a try, but I’m going to try to change that now.

There are many benefits to brewing your own beer and I’m going to take it one step at a time. When you are ready to get off this wild ride, take stage coach left and no one will think any less of you for it. But I bet once this journey begins, you will want to ride it until the wheels fall off.

First, brewing your own beer is a way of putting a mark on your own home bar. You can even get online and design yourself a label and then place it on your bottles, glasses and beer taps even. When company comes over, you can have them all try it. It might just become their favorite beer meaning you might just get company more often if that seems like something you would like to have.

Then, you can start marketing your beer to the local bars. Give them a taste and see if they like it. There are different ways to make this happen. You can get in touch with a local bar owner and tell them you would like to have a tasting at their bar. You offer some of your beer for free and then when people say they like the taste, the bar owner will most likely want to stock it. Make a thing of it. It’s supposed to be a fun time. So, have fun!

The next logical level is to enter into some beer events. Start locally, but again have fun. Go across the country if you want. The more exposure you get, the more buyers you get. Don’t be surprised when someone approaches you to see if you want a sponsor. Sponsorship can take you to levels you have never imagined. Nationwide distribution. Export. International attention.

By this time of course, you have expanded your enterprise to include so much more than a bucket and a kegerator. You have built your brewery into a high powered system that produces enough beer to satisfy all your orders. You’ve moved your operation to a local location that houses your brewery and invites the neighbors to wander in and have a beer. You’ve had to apply for your beer license so that you can start selling your beer and you’ve had to build a bar so that your neighbors have a comfortable place to sit. You’ve got a sign on the front of your place with your name on it and you’ve been highlighted in the paper as the local beer expert.

With a few different flavors now in your inventory, you can have a seat. Take a breath. You’re finished the first phase of Operation Your Brew. The rest of the ride goes anywhere you want it to go.

Happy Thanksgiving Beer Content

This year when we’re making beer for Thanksgiving…

What?  You’re not making beer for Thanksgiving?  You don’t have a home brew that you make special for Thanksgiving?

Well, how weird is that?

It must not be a tradition everyone shares.  But, see if you can relate to any of these:

• Sitting on the couch and eating Thanksgiving while watching football.
• Same thing…sitting on the recliner with a food tray.
• Saying, “It’s not worth it.  We’re going to a restaurant.”
• I ordered Pizza and Wings one year…

That was the year I had just finished my home bar and I made my first home brew for our New Happy Thanksgiving Tradition. 

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoys their own traditions, whatever they may be!

Drink Beer Regularly? Save Money By Brewing Your Own

A nice cold beer on a hot day – there are few things in life that are more pleasurable, and the best way to round off a hard days work is, in many peoples mind, a trip to their favorite bar to partake of a couple of glasses of their chosen brew.

Unfortunately though, the rising cost of beer over the years has resulted in lots of people having to think twice before indulging. The reason for these prices rises are well documented – taxes and the increased price of the raw materials, and though we understand that prices for everything rise over time, the speed at which it is has risen for beer has led many of us to think that maybe it just isn’t worth it.

The benefits of having a home brewery are clear to most people. However, there is a sense, as with many things, that it just isn’t the same. With well-stocked stores and bars all around them, some people simply think “Why should I bother to brew my own?”. However, as prices at the liquor store and the local bar climb ever higher, it is now more than ever an option to be considered. A home brewery allows you to have a few beers when you want at a price that suits your pocket.

Remember that home-brewed beer is not lesser than paid for beer; it is just a matter of trial and error. There are few of us who are skilled or lucky enough to have our first batch of home-brewed beer turn out to be just as good as, or better than, the frosty glasses of ale served up at our local tavern. Then, with some experimentation and a bit of persistence, you’ll be able to create a range of great beers, that are suited to your own particular tastes.

But you’re thinking – home brewery kits must be expensive? Well, not at all. In fact, when compared to how much you would normally spend watching a few games at a sports bar every month, they are positively cheap. But you think the atmosphere will be lacking? Not if you invite your friends around to watch the game and enjoy your home brew too. Believe me, by the time you’re producing a quality end product, you’ll have no shortage of people wanting to pay you a visit .

It is about more than just the end product though, a home brewery is a hobby. Rather than having a hobby that goes nowhere, the beer lover can enjoy the feeling of making something themselves, with the added advantage that no beer tastes finer than that which you have brewed to your own recipe. The endless variations that you can come up with will make it more fun than you could imagine, and all for a reasonable price.

Luke Porter is a home brewing beer enthusiast, and an expert author. You are invited to discover the simple secrets of brewing world class beer from the comfort of your home by reading his latest book, “Home Beer Brewing Secrets” available online today!

All You Need To Know About Homebrew Kits

Homebrew kits are most convenient for recent converts. It already includes the most basic of materials needed in brewing your beer. You’d already have the hops and grains formulated, the yeast ready to begin colonizing your water to give you the first taste of a homebrewed beer.

There is a kit called the all-extract kit which is the most basic of basics. You can opt to buy a package which has the classic beer style. Aside from correctly following the process that goes with your kit, all you would have to do is clean your materials free of any other organism that might thrive in the cool area needed to ferment your drink. The cleanliness is next to godliness adage is very important here as the taste – and perhaps the safety – of your home made beer relies on this. Other growths would definitely ruin your beer. As the ingredients are already prepared and most often than not, would only require additional sugar, it would be hard to mess up with this kind of homebrew kits. Directions come for each of the beer making equipment so you would know which is which and how it functions.

There is a variant if you would want to determine the color of your beer, and the style of your brew – other than the classic canned beer taste. You can opt to have a different set of ingredients. These are still all-extract kits though as they give you preformulated ingredients.

All extract brewing is a fairly simple process because the boiling off certain ingredients to get certain flavors has already been done for you on a mass scale. As you gain experience, it is advisable to start with partial mash brewing for more refined flavors and textures of home brewed beer. As a partial mash brewer, you are involved in boiling ingredients, choosing specialty flavorings, and crafting your beer from start to finish… and this is a lot harder than simply adding the ingredients to a pot and stirring.

When brewing, the extract, hops, yeast, and water will determine the flavor of your beer. Hops is primarily responsible for determining the bitterness of your brew, so adding the hops sooner or later will provide a different flavor making your bee unique and different to that off your neighbors.

Home beer brewing is essentially a fun and very rewarding hobby… the best there is! You as the home brewer should experiment, try new things, and graduate from homebrew kits to more advanced brewing techniques over time. Some home brewers have take a simple hobby and turned it into a career by opening a commercial micro-brewery or two… the choice is yours!

Homebrew kits will help you get introduced and become proficient at brewing beer at home. Luke Porter is an enthusiast brewer who is delighted to share the in’s and out’s of brewing kits available on the market today.

American Home Brewing 101

American home brewing adapts to the changes in the political and economic climates of the country. Back in the 90s, America had been the top producer of beer. However, with the global recession that is happening now, many companies are closing. Although of course, some argue that as the economy worsens, beer sells more – many get depressed and thus forget their economic woes through the messy route of drinking. Some people, instead of wasting precious money by raking the bars every night, adapt to the situation – and that is by turning towards home made beer.

As was mentioned, American home brewing has been very flexible through time. Back in the old America, home brewing was already a part of colonial lives. Even famous personalities such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were home brew aficionados.

However, there was a time of prohibition that was devastating to the American population. Prohibition meant that it was illegal to brew your own beer, and heavy fines where placed on people who broke this law… and what a shame that was… some people even went to prison for having a home brewery! Can you imagine a life without beer? Everybody had to content with a watered down lifeless beer – well not really beer but something which was a very poor substitute for it. Nothing substantially alcoholic was allowed and few took efforts in making their drinks less alcoholic but tasty. Unfortunately the American people had to suffice and deal with prohibition. This then led to shop owners renaming all equipment so it couldn’t be associated with running home brewery and started selling it on the sly to hardcore supporters of brewing beer at home. This was quiet easy because the equipment is fairly standard, including buckets, hosing, pots, pans, and other tidbits. The situation varied from state to state. In some states, only those selling home brews were caught while in some, brewing for personal consumption also meant facing legal charges. Good thing those laws have been since relaxed and prohibition has truly been and gone!

Before beer was allowed to be brewed at home, a change in law allowed people to make their own wine at home, but now people had to obtain a permit to brew beer at home… strange but true. Even though there were strict regulations, this breath of fresh air was welcomed by the home beer brewing community. One off this first home beer brewers was Charlie Papazian, and he took it to himself to start teaching others how to brew their own beer at home… it was tough going as for those that didn’t have a permit it was illegal, but Charlie kept the dream alive.

But thankfully, in 1978, Jimmy Carter rescued the doomed souls of beer loving Americans and signed Senate Amendment 3534 allowing households to brew their own beer as long as they don’t go beyond 200 gallons a year. After the lifting of the prohibition on alcoholic beverages, it was home brew beer enthusiasts who worked hard to revive the brewing industry. Today, there are over 1,463 breweries in the United States, a much improved American home brewing state.

American Home Brewing is happening and well today, so of-course it’s time to sit down, relax, and have a home brew. For those still not up to scratch with home brewing beer, follow the link to learn more!