A long day of manual work, days burdened with deadlines, a week of stressful meetings and decision making, and pounding hours of intellectual discourses would always be best ended with a bottle or pint of beer. Birthdays, weddings, and gatherings of friends and kinsmen would always be merrier with beer. The joys of beer are countless. The greater would be the pleasure when they are homemade. Imagine relaxing with a pint of beer that you personally mixed with ingredients you chose to your liking. This is all possible if you have a home brewing kit.



Producing Your Own Beer at Home

There are basically three phases in producing beer at home: brewing, fermentation, and bottling. With your home brewing kit you could do the following steps in brewing:

▪ Boil water then clean or sanitize your brew pot, stirring spoon, table spoon for measurement, measuring cup, yeast starter jar, fermentor and lid, airlock, and thermometer

▪ Make the sweet pale yellow or reddish liquid malt barley extract called wort.

▪ Cool the wort at a temperature of 18 to 32 degrees Celsius

While the wort is being cooled, rehydrate the dried ale yeast by mixing pre-boiled water and yeast, and when done, cover it with plastic wrap. When the wort has cooled, you may proceed to the next phase which is fermentation. Pour the rehydrated yeast into a bucket then add the cooled wort. Siphon the mixture into the fermentor. Do not suck on the siphon because you might contaminate the mix. Seal the fermentor with the lid and store it. Use an airlock for better results. Keep them in a safe and cool place for two weeks or more as you desire. When you bottle your fermentation be sure that your bottles and caps are well-sanitized. Prepare the priming sugar that you would mix with the beer that you fermented. Add the flavor of your choice. Store your bottled beer at room temperature. After another two weeks, they are ready for consumption.

A Closer Look on Home Brewing

Beer may be brewed at home using a home brewing kit as long as the product is for personal consumption and not for commercial distribution. A lot of environmentalists in fact support home brewing of beer because it reduces the negative impacts that are brought about by mass production and distribution. Home brewing of beer is practiced by a lot of people for the following reasons:

▪ Cheaper costs

▪ Customized or personalized tastes

▪ Total control over the alcohol content

▪ The enjoyment of non-pasteurized beer

Home Brewed Live Beer

Most commercially distributed beer is pasteurized, which requires it to be cooked. When beer is cooked it loses its natural carbonation, which kills the yeast and result to improper aging. The taste, feel, and color of pasteurized beer are inferior to that which is not pasteurized or what most call as live beer. If you would like to enjoy beer at its natural state, buy a home brewing kit and brew your own.

To assure yourself of a well-priced and excellent home brewing kit, check out The Grape and Granary.