Brewing of Beer

What is Micro Brew? Understanding Beer…

Brewing of Beer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:33:05 +0000

By Khieng Chho

Micro brewed beer is often used to refer to beer that is brewed in the comforts of one’s home or in small pubs. The term started in the 70s in the UK to describe single units that make their own beer or traditional cask ale.

Before, the term micro brew was only used to characterize output volume and brewery size. In the US, it used to refer to breweries that produces less than 15,000 beer barrels in a year. But, now, it is fast becoming known as a next generation approach to beer brewing and experimentation, as well as customized service.

Beer aficionados will tell you that some of the world’s best brews are the ones done in microbreweries. Because makers of micro brew beer have the liberty to create their own concoctions and make experiments with flavor, a number of microbreweries gave starting banking on this popularity and sprouting all over the world.

If you ask micro brew fans what makes this kind of beer so great, they will most definitely tell you it’s the distinct flavor. You see, microbrewed beer usually tastes richer and darker than its commercially and mass-produced counterparts. And because each pub or home microbrewery is likely to have its own distinct twist to beer making, you can be assured of a variety of flavors you are bound to taste.

Micro brew is not just for pubs, as said earlier. Some people prefer to brew their own beer at home, for personal pleasure. Home brews are perfect for private parties. In fact, some beer makers even use a home microbrewery as an excuse to invite people over.

However, it is important to note that not all states have legalized microbrewing. To know more information about this, as well as how to start your own micro brew setup at home, you might want to check out the American Homebrewers Association. They have a list of restrictions and how-tos on their Web site, which can help you get started or keep you in control.

You can also join a local micro brew club if there is on in your area. If you’re a bit antisocial, this might be the best place to start with because you deal with a fewer number of people. You can exchange notes and compare micro brew flavors with them, and even do joint projects on new tastes. To find out if there’s one in your vicinity, check the local directory.

Making your own beer or tasting one that’s customized makes a whole lot of difference to the beer drinking experience. If you previously thought the beers you buy from the supermarket are all there is, then you missed so much.

However, it’s not too late to start introducing yourself to the wonder that is micro brew. Who knows, you might actually learn to love it more than the commercial fare — just like any other person who has made the switch before you. Enjoy!

Khieng ‘Ken’ Chho – Micro Brew

For related articles and other resources, vsit Ken’s website: http://microbrew.1w3b.netSimilar Products:

Varieties of Home Brewed Beer

Brewing of Beer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:30:50 +0000

By Chris Haycock

There are almost as many classifications of beer as there are people who drink it. O.K. that’s something of an exaggeration, but it is a fact that commercial breweries produce an amazing variety of beers with different flavours and textures, to cater for the very varied tastes of the beer drinker.

The home brewer can also produce an almost limitless variety of beers, but they will all generally fall into one of the main categories of beer. These categories are as follows :-

Bitter beer. – This is usually a fairly hoppy beer, with a medium to strong alcohol content. Bitter will come in different colours and flavours, but will always have a slightly bitter finish.

Pale Ale. – Sometimes referred to as “Light Ale”. This is a beer that would
more normally be drunk as an accompaniment to food. Being a light, not too strong beer, not as hoppy as bitter. It should have a clean refreshing taste.

India Pale Ale. – This is another version of bitter beer. Somewhat stronger
and more fully flavoured than Pale Ale. With more hops and malt. It should
still retain a clean taste.

Brown Ale. – One of my personal favourites, as it can be very easily personalized to your individual taste. A traditional brown ale can be dark brown to amber in colour, and has a very slight sweetness due to the use of lactose in the brewing process. It is only slightly hoppy, and often mixed with other beers by drinkers in pursuit of an individual taste.

Irish Stout.- This probably needs little description due to the popularity of
Guinness. A very dark beer in appearance, very full flavour, and quite bitter.
Traditionally it has a thick, creamy head. Something of an acquired taste,
those drinkers who have persevered with it tend to be lifelong fans. It is
relatively easy for the home brewer to produce a very acceptable stout.

Sweet Stout. – Or Milk Stout is a less bitter version of Irish Stout. Not quite
so heavy or dark, with a more foamy head.

Oatmeal Stout. – This stout falls between the two previous stouts. Being not as bitter as an Irish Stout, and not as sweet as a Sweet Stout. It has it’s own flavour by the use, as the name suggests, of oats in the brewing process.

Barley wine. – This is a very sweet, heavy beer, with a high alcohol content. Commercial varieties often around the 10% ABV mark. High for a beer. Usually golden in colour, with just a touch of bitterness in the aftertaste. Usually served in small glasses. Not recommended as a session beer. This is quite a difficult beer to get right for the home brewer, but worth the effort.

Lager - An increasingly popular beer for the home brewer. Again, not easy to reproduce but well worth it when it comes good. Pale in colour, and light bodied, it has just a touch of hoppiness. To brew a good lager it is essential to use a bottom fermenting (lager) yeast.

These are the broad categories, and most home brewers will produce a beer pretty similar to one of them. A common mistake with many home brewers is to get a kit and make whatever beer it makes, and either stick to it and get bored. Or not like it and give up. I can assure you that using the right ingredients and the right recipe you can find not just one beer that suits you, but many. And you won’t be bored.

Chris Haycock is an information publisher. One of whose many hobbies is home brewing. Preferring the taste and variety of his own product to those commercially available. For more information go to: http://www.secretsofhomebrewing.com

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Storing Your Beer – Aging

Brewing of Beer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:29:14 +0000

By Graham Williams

Aging your newly brewed beer is an important step in the beer-making process. This can prove to be the most difficult step because you are surely very anxious to try your new brew. However, if you try it too soon you are likely to be disappointed in the taste. Newly bottled beer will need to age for a period of at least 2 to 6 weeks for conditioning.

During the aging process the yeast will ferment the remaining sugar that was used when bottling the beer. This creates carbon dioxide, which naturally adds carbonation to your brew to make it perfectly bubbly. Also during this time unwanted sediments from the yeast and proteins will drop out and help to make a better, smoother tasting end product. In some cases this process can take up to 6 months, however, it is most often accomplished within a month.

The amount of time the beer needs to age will often depend on the recipe. Follow the time frame that the recipe recommends. In general, most home brews are drinkable in a month; however, they reach their peak flavor after a longer time, usually 8 to 15 weeks.

To ensure enhanced flavor, color and texture, store the bottled beer in a cool, dark place. The optimal temperature range is 66 degrees to 72 degrees. Do not store your newly brewed beer in the refrigerator. Keeping it at cool room temperature allows the yeast to complete its work, allowing for optimal carbonation. After the first two weeks you may store the beer in the refrigerator. This will help it complete its aging process more quickly. Avoid any temperature changes while storing your beer. Use brown or amber bottles to help avoid harmful light damage.

Once the beer is refrigerated it will stop the yeast process and may begin to deteriorate. Test your various recipes to see when the best taste is achieved. Keep good records of your brewing recipes including temperatures and techniques. This will help you re-create the perfect batch of beer every time. Be sure to record when you tasted your beer and how it was. Start with one bottle and wait a week or so to try another. This will give you a comparison to go on. Once you are happy with the taste of your beer make sure that the entire batch is kept under refrigeration to keep the taste at its peak.

Graham Williams is the owner of http://www.gw-ebooks.com this site is full of books that are about hobbies such as Brewing your own beer, Camping, Bird watching, Beekeeping. While your there don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter and you will receive monthly discounts in any new book that is added each month you can visit my site here http://www.gw-ebooks.comSimilar Products:

How And Where To Put Your Home Brewing Set Ups

Brewing of Beer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:27:43 +0000

By Drew Brown

There are all kinds of places where you can buy your home brewing system components. If you have one in the neighbourhood, and then you are very lucky, you could go to a big home brew store, or buy it all the things you need online. Or you could visit all kinds of little shops to get all the pieces that you need. In the end you need choose where to put your home brewing set ups and you will need to know how to. When you bought a complete kit then there probably will be some kind of instruction with it how to put it all together, but if you bought the pieces separately you could use some advice.

Finding the right spot:

First you will have to think about where you want to put your home brewing set up. Maybe you have already thought about a good spot in the house but maybe you should reconsider it if the place you have in mind is probably going to upset your spouse. You need to find a spot in the house where you don’t bother other people in the house and it is not such a great problem if you spill some fluids. Another thing is that your setup will need to stay in that place for some time, at least until the whole brewing process is done so it should not interfere with any interior decoration. On the other hand, maybe you like something to break the ice the next time you are having a dinner party. At least make sure that no one, neither children nor pets, can knock over any of your setup. If you have children or pets then it’s maybe better to lock your home brewing set ups behind locked doors.

Make sure that the place where you put the whole set up is a fun place to be, the last thing you need is that you don’t like to be in the room where your hobby resides. It should be so large that you can store all your supplies in that same place, that way, if you need something, you don’t have to walk out of the room and leave anything unattended.

Your Brewing system should be three tiered:

Maybe you haven’t heard of the three tiered brewing system yet, but if you ask some of the hobby brewers, you will surely meet when you start with this craft they will surely tell you that this is the set up to go for. You will need some display racks, of the heavy duty kind, and three kettles. These are connected with each other through some tubing, this way it can flow from one kettle to the other one. The big advantage of this set up is that you can make a larger beer batch and the brewing process is somewhat automatic.

So start with this hobby and join the thousands of people around the world that have started before you. Once you have tasted your first batch you will want to continue to create the next one.

Drew Brown has one hobby, made beer brewing and he loves to share it with the world. He just loves to brew his own beverages. On his website he tells you all about where to sell home brew beer or to buy brewing supply home brewed beer kits – http://www.brewingyourown.comSimilar Products:

Home Brewing Low Calorie Beer – Is It Possible?

Brewing of Beer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:26:16 +0000

By Drew Brown

These days there is trend in light or low calorie beers and to be sure that the beer you buy is of that kind you only need to check the label to see if the calorie count is around the 150 mark. If you are brewing your own beer at home it is a bit harder to find out what the amount of calories are that is contained in your brew. There are just to many factors you need to take in account, things like how much sugar you have used or the carbohydrates you got from the malt and hobs and, this may sound strange, your brewing method are all things that can greatly influence how much calories are present.

When you want to brew your own beer you need to know the principal of it and that is that there needs to be a fermenting of the hops, malt and sugar. And you will also see that the different brews come with their own amount of sugar that is needed, and this is apart from what the taste of the brew master says. There are people who, wrongly, think that you can use something else to take the place of the sugar, things like vegetable-based sweeteners or other sugar substitutes. These people are wrong because this will affect the process of fermentation and also the temperature that is required for this process to even start.

Maybe this is the first time you want to start brewing your own beer then you probably bought a kit so you only need to use the ready made ingredients. If this is the case then the best thing you could do for home brewing low calorie beer is to buy a beer brewing kit that was specifically arranged for this purpose.

It all adds up

If you want to know the exact amount of all the calories in your brew then there are special mathematical formulas with which you could calculate them, you would also need to know the precise weight of all the ingredients. The next best thing is just to add up all the calories you read on the labels of the ingredients you put in to the brew. You need to keep in mind that the numbers on the labels are probably per serving and this is normally per 12 ounce of beer served.

If adding up the calories in the ingredients keeps you above the 150 mark then you could consider using an artificial sweetener but you need to keep in mind the facts we stated above. Also the taste will be drastically different in respect to the recipe with the original ingredients. Think to yourself if keeping the calories low is worth this difference in taste. Maybe drinking a bit less, and this way enjoying your batches longer, is a better way of watching your weight then drastically changing a beer recipe.Enjoy brewing your home made low calorie beer, or maybe just buy some and enjoy your normal home brew beer when you want to.

Drew Brown has one hobby, home made beer brewing and he loves to share it with the world. He just loves to brew his own beverages. On his website he tells you all about a recipe for making home brew or to buy discount home beer brew – http://www.brewingyourown.comSimilar Products:

Home Brewing Beer – To Keg or Not To Keg?

Brewing of Beer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:24:21 +0000

By Gregory McLaw

That is the question most home brewers eventually ask soon after getting hooked on brewing their own beer. Most home brew enthusiasts see it as a natural progression from novice to expert, much like going from extract to all-grain. However, even with all the positives of kegging your home made beer there are a few things you need to understand. First off, and probably the most important for many is the cost of kegging equipment.

For some it might be a hard sell to the wife or significant other on the merits of spending a few hundred to upwards of six hundred dollars on C02 tanks, canisters, towers, and maybe even a kegerator. Wasn’t one of the reasons given for the need to brew your own beer the money that would be saved? For those lucky few whom money is not an issue or those, like me, with a wife that loves beer, you will have to consider the space needed for a keg system.

Not only will you have to have space to store everything required you will have to have a place to dispense from. If you also appreciate food in addition to appreciating beer this usually means that you will need a spare refrigerator or even better-a kegerator, an appliance whose sole purpose and function is to serve beer. Can there be a higher calling for an appliance? I think not.

Kegging does free the homebrewer from the mundane and tedious tasks of cleaning and sanitizing bottles, storing the empties (always seems there are more empties than fullies), and waiting weeks for beer to carbonate in the bottle. It also gives you control by easily adjusting carbonation levels to your liking for a given style or batch. A kegging system also opens the door to other possibilities, like closed beer transfer for sanitation and filtering for crystal clear beer.

Even with all the cleaning, and all the liberating freedoms of kegging your beer, bottling your homemade beer still has its place. For instance, seasonal or specialty beers that you don’t want to drink everyday would do better in a bottle. Especially, when you are giving some away for gifts or to take to a small get-together where a keg would be inappropriate. Bottles also let you add a custom label that personifies your beer or adds that personal touch and flare to the beer.

If you have the cash and space you can easily relieve yourself of the tedium of priming and bottling and enjoy the convenience and flexibility of a complete kegging setup. However, bottles will always have their place in the grand scheme of homebrewing.

For alternatives to kegging see this article http://makebeerathome.info/articles/41-articles/95-alternative-to-keg

Gregory McLaw is a regular contributor to http://www.makebeerathome.info and enjoys brewing and drinking his own beer.Similar Products:

Beer Making Machines

Brewing of Beer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:22:13 +0000

By Graham Williams

If you want to try brewing beer at home but feel intimidated by all the information and instructions, you make want to start with a beer making machine. Beer making machines are set up to allow you to start brewing beer quickly and easily. The beer machine comes set up with all the ingredients needed and simplifies the home brewing process.

Beer making machines are hassle-free and can be a great way to try beer making at home without any big commitment. Anyone will be able to make beer using the easy instructions and simple ingredients that come with the machine. Here are some pros and cons with using a beer-making machine for home brewing.

Pros

Easy – Beer making machines are extremely easy to use. They involve no measuring and very little setup time. Because they are designed for single use the parts are disposable and do not need to be sanitized or cleaned. Inexpensive – Beer making machines are relatively inexpensive. They are a great way to try beer making to see how you like it without investing in lots of equipment. Quick – The simple pre-measured recipe provides a fast-brewing beer that is usually ready to drink in under two weeks. Since the machine is usually small it is easy to find a place to keep it while the beer is brewing. All-inclusive – The beer making machines come complete with everything you need to make one batch of beer. It includes the equipment and the ingredients as well as the bottles.

Cons

Makes only one type of beer – Because the beer-making machine is designed for ease of use, it comes with pre-measured ingredients and you cannot vary from those. You will be able to brew only one batch of basic beer. Disposable – generally, the beer machines are disposable, being designed for one time use only. It is not meant to be cleaned and re-used. If it can be re-used, you will only be able to make the same type of beer as the first batch, limiting your creativity and ultimately your fun.

Beer Making Ingredients For Home Brewing

Brewing of Beer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:20:21 +0000

By Sky Joe

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.

For more information on Home Beer Brewing, Beer Glasses, Beer of the Month Club, or Beer Dispensers you can visit this site: http://www.my-beer-store.com/

©Skyjoe.

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Complete English Bitter Package

Brewing of Beer — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:22:27 +0000

Coopers English Bitter is a brown copper colour with red hues and a creamy head. It displays a pleasing floral aroma with a blend of toasty/sweet malt flavours finishing with a firm bitter finish. This package contains an English Bitter beer kit, Dry Malt Extract and Carbonation drops. A savings of $2.98 when purchased as a package.

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Complete English Bitter Package

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Complete European Lager Package

Brewing of Beer — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:22:27 +0000

This package contains a European Lager beer kit, Brew Enhancer 2 and Carbonation drops. A savings of $2.98 when purchased as a package.

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Complete European Lager Package

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