Ben Evert.com

By Graham Williams


There are two main beer-making ingredients that you can grow. Both hops and barley can be grown at home if you want.


Hops are known by the scientific name humulus. It is commonly referred to as hops vines, however the term vine is misleading. The hops plant is actually a bine plant. These plants use stiff stems with hairs to aid in climbing. They will wrap themselves around something in a clockwise fashion to grow. They grow very quickly, growing from 20cm to 50cm per week during peak growth periods.


Hops are perennial plants and are most commonly grown in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They are rather easy to grow and can be grown indoors or out. Hops are susceptible to certain types of insects, so caution needs to be taken to prevent insect infestation. Hops flower during summer and the flower seedpod is the actual hops. These can be picked after the seed is formed, usually in August. The hops are then air-dried for several days at which time they are ready for use.


Barley is another main ingredient in beer. Barley is a grain, commonly grown throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is grown as a major cereal food as well as for animal feed. There are several types of barley. Each type has a different protein and enzyme content and therefore produces different styles of beer. High protein barley is used to produce malt beer. Two-row barley is used in traditional English style ales. Six-row barley is used primarily in lager beer. Four-row barley is not suitable for use in brewing.


It takes a lot of room to produce barley and it cannot be grown well indoors as it needs quite a tall space. Unless you have a large field, you may not be able to grow your own barley. Picking and husking barley can be a tedious process.


While growing your own ingredients for beer can be rewarding and economical, unless you have the time and the space you may want to leave the growing of hops or barley to others.


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.com


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By HomeBrewing.com Staff


The most frustrating aspect of home brewing is when a batch goes bad. The only way to improve your chances of avoiding this depressing situation is to maintain the highest degree of sanitation in your home brewery as is possible. There are also some other pitfalls of the modern age that require a closer look, and some basic tools that will give you the best chances of fighting bacterial infestations, vinegar cultures, and rogue yeasts in your home brew.


One factor often overlooked when cleaning and sanitizing home brew set-ups is that of the water used. Tap water in modern cities is sometimes good, sometimes terrible. It is wise to do some research and find out how your city water rates when analyzed for bacteria, harmful chemicals, and heavy metals. The quality of water used in making beer has a very strong connection with the quality of the finished product. But how to deal with it?


Read more: Homebrewing.com

Beer Making Tips-The Affordable to Great Beer

By Shannon Brown

Brew low cost beer. The amount of time you spend on brewing beer makes the small difference in cost between "just OK" ingredients and top quality ingredients a minor point. Either way, the cost of brewing a 5 gallon batch is much cheaper than buying a couple of cases of beer in the store.

Beer is made of cheap ingredients, so it doesn't hurt to buy the best. Surprisingly, the cheapest way to brew beer gives you the best results: all grain brewing is the cheapest way to brew when grain is bought in bulk.

You do need a grain mill and a mash tun, so there is a small investment in equipment needed. But you should be able to brew excellent quality beer for less than $2 per gallon, and you could brew a mild ale for as little as $1 per gallon, or less than 10 cents per bottle (one gallon is about 10-1/2 12oz bottles). Most of my pilsners are about $1.50 a gallon brews.

Other ways to reduce the cost of your beer are by growing your own hops and reusing yeast from the fermenter. Easy to do, and it means that I don't have to buy yeast more than once every half year or so. The hops should last e through most of the winter brews. So all you need is grain, which is about $0.70 per pound in a bulk purchase (much of the cost is in shipping).

Beer Brewing Equipment Basic, simple, cheap equipment that gets the job done. Sometimes it adds to the challenge. But through the mystique of brewing and remember that illiterate alewives brewed for centuries using tried and true recipes and procedures before the dawn of kegerators, ph meters or hydrometers.

Beer Keg Brewing. After using bottles for years, you can jump to the corny keg (Cornelius keg). This is an important step because it makes brewing so much easier. You can still bottle, but just a few bottles per batch, and use a corny keg to fill the bottles. You can use corny kegs as secondary fermenting vessels. You can try out method where you leave the beer in the primary for about two weeks until it clears nicely, and then upi carefully siphon it over to a corny, avoiding transferring any trub.

Bulk Purchase of Grain and Hops.I purchased about 300lbs of grain and 5lbs of hops from North Country Malt. I have two bags of pilsner, two of Munich, one of pale ale and one carapils. This should cover my base malt needs for a year. I can make my house favorite recipes (pilsner, altbier, pale ale) with the ingredients I have on stock. I hope to work through this supply in about a year, which is the shelf life. I will also order specialty malts and hops as special recipes require.

Beer Drinking Philosophy. Beer is good food. Beer is healthy when used in moderation. Beer is a great beverage.

Shannon Brown is the owner of wemakebeer.com. This site caters to home brewers around the world and has numerous links and resources. You can visit the site at:
http://www.wemakebeer.com

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How The Process Of Beermaking Is Done
Submitted by: Greg Hall

When you think of brewing you probably think of brewing a good cup of coffee. Brewing can also be the process of making alcoholic beverages as well. Beer is one of these beverages that brewing is used for and fermentation is used to make beer.

Brewing can be traced back to ancient Egyptian times. The fermentation process was discovered accidentally by the Sumerians. No one knows exactly how this occurred however as it was not written down. It is thought that it may have had something to do with the making of bread since many of the ingredients are the same and if left without cooking, or completely cooking the bread mixture can ferment. They were able to repeat the process and continue to create the drink, which they obviously enjoyed the first time it happened. The beer of this era could not be stored and did not have any foam. Beer was thought to contain a spirit or god because drinking the mixture seemed to possess the person who drank it.

Unlike wine where fruit juices are a big part of the ingredients, beer's major ingredients are malt and hops. Add to this yeast, sugars, and water and in the right combinations and with the right processes you will get beer. The first process to undergo is mashing. Mashing is where crushed malt and hot liquor are combined and kept at a constant temperature for about an hour so that the enzymes convert the starches into a fermentable sugar. The mash would be similar in consistency to cream of wheat or oatmeal.

Water is then filtered through the mixture to dissolve any remaining sugars. This is called sparging. The liquid that is heavy with sugar is known as wort. Boiling is now required to remove excess water, remove microorganisms, remove any sweetness, and develop bitterness. The wort is collected in containers called fermenting vessels.

The next step is fermentation; during this process yeast converts simple sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide plus a wide range of flavors. Every yeast has its own flavor profile so this explains why each beer company has its own distinct flavor.

Packaging is the last step. At this stage the beer contains alcohol but not a lot of carbon dioxide. In order to fix this there are not a lot of options, the most common one used is forced carbonation by adding it directly to the keg or bottle. Casks for real ale, kegs for brewery carbonate beer, and cans or bottles for take away sales. During packaging you must be careful to not oxidize the beer or it will become stale. It depends on the person as to whether or not the beer is aged.

About Author: Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as Home Beer Brewing at http://www.brewmybeer.com

Article Source: ArticlesAlley.com

Photo by: colbs



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In Geoff Haas' St. Paul basement, a few more batches of home brew bubble away. As he looks over the glass carboys sitting on the table, Haas said, "I've been pretty busy over the holidays, making some beer."


Haas is typical of a growing list of home brewers who are being bitten by the bug. For many of them, it begins with the notion of saving some money -- brewing your own beer and fermenting your own wine can be cheaper than buying it. But for the most avid hobbyists, it becomes an obsession over taste.


"I think now it's just more about the love of the process and the love of beer," Haas said

Read more at WCCO

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Submitted by: Paul P.

Home Beer Brewing is becoming an increasingly popular hobby for men and women of all ages. The ever increasing price of drinks at bars and clubs coupled with a greater interest in entertaining at home have made it increasingly popular.

So yes you can start home beer brewing! However it dos not have to be a solitary occupation locked away in the cellar or shed for hour after hour. As well as being a hobby for the individual it can also be a family project through which you introduce members of the family to alcohol and the need to be responsible with it. Some people do not understand why people make their own beer. They wander why they want the all the mess and clutter associated with creating their own brew. They believe that it is far easier to simply go to the store and get what they want when they want beer. However, it is not simply about the convenience or the cost of the beer stores.

The actual reason why a lot of people have started home beer brewing is because they think it is both enjoyable and exciting. This is a way for them to participate in hobby that they like and that keeps them busy. Some people create their own brew just because they have never tried it before and now the proliferation of Home Beer Brewing Kits and other resources provide them with the opportunity relatively cheaply.

It is also a way for individuals to reconnect with their ancestors and family history. There are so many different recipes for beer, not only held by the breweries, but that have also been handed down through different families. They are using the recipes that their ancestors used and seeing if they can do what they did, In the process they are discovering that they can create great tasting beer. Many of the recipes are easy to follow and have an ingredient list that is easy to find. There are different things that people can buy to make their beer making experience more fun.

With the right kit and the best beer-making recipe, it has come within the reach of many more people and anyone can try making great tasting beer. Even if it is a one shot thing, it will be worth seeing if you can create a beer that is just as good as the beer that is purchased in the store. You can create anything with the home beer brewing supplies that you can now find in the store.

Buying the kits to brew your beer is going to make it easier for a lot of people to do. You can get everything that you need with this kit and it will make your beer brewing easier. Finding these kits will make the beer brewing adventure even more fun for someone that has not had the opportunity to try making their own beer yet.

Finding out about making your own beer is easy. You can go online and get all the facts and the tips that you need to get started on making your own beer. There are many tips and pieces of advice that you can use when you start your new hobby of making your own beer and I hope you will enjoy your own beer!

About Author: Paul Duxbury writes extensively on Home Beer Brewing and on Beers and Beer Accessories

Article Source: ArticlesAlley.com


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