Home Brew Craft

If you are going to make your own beer then your biggest worry has to be that something will go wrong and the whole brew will be ruined. What can you do to reduce the chances of that happening to almost zero? The answer could be very simple…

Who Likes A Challenge?

OK, sometimes a challenge is good. It can stretch us, and if the task is that bit more difficult then the satisfaction in getting a good result is all the greater. But it’s all a matter of degree. If the odds are so stacked against you that the chances of failure are seriously high, then that can kind of take away the enjoyment.

It’s like that with home brewing. A little difficulty or ‘challenge’ might be OK, but too much and it can ruin the hobby, and your brew.

And let’s face it, the processes in home brewing the traditional way can be quite complicated. All that preparing the ingredients, malting your grains, mixing at different stages, transferring between containers etc … It’s a long, drawn out business that is full of risks. And any mistake can potentially ruin everything.

Why Take The Risk?

So, if there’s a good alternative why take the risk of failure? Why pour all your time and effort into something that is hard work and can so easily go wrong?

You see, the sort of home brewing kits you can get these days make the whole operation so much easier. Compared to the traditional method, with kits there’s really very little you have to do. Each malt kit (for whichever type of beer you choose) comes ready prepared; you just add the odd extra ingredient, mix with water, and leave to ferment.

Quality and Reliability

But, how about the quality with kits? After all, there’s no point taking the easy route if all you can get is second rate beer. Thankfully, with kits nowadays there is absolutely no compromise on quality. You can achieve the most delicious results — everything that homebrewed beer is renowned for.

And what’s more, you can achieve top results with incredible reliability. With kits the process is made so easy that virtually all the risk is taken away, so you can brew with confidence — instead of with worry.

Sure, you can get great results the traditional way also, but not with the same reliability unless you are already an expert. No, if you take the traditional route you will need to know what you are doing or be prepared for a lot of trial and error and learning the hard way. That’s not what most people are looking for in a hobby.

Sadly, traditional home brewing can be full of disappointment. It’s bad enough that one little mistake in a long sequence of steps can ruin the whole brew, but what’s worse is that you might not realize it till quite some time later…

… How quickly eager anticipation can turn into bitter disappointment! Have you read all those posts in the forums from people agonizing over why their brew isn’t looking right? There’s no need to suffer like that.

Instead — Relax and Enjoy

Instead of worrying over how your brew is going to turn out, when you use kits you can relax and enjoy yourself because you can be confident in the result — top quality beer, time after time. And all with minimum work!

Oh, and by the way you can really impress your friends with this — they won’t know how easy it was, but each week you can bring out a top quality homebrewed beer of your own. All the favorite varieties are available with kits, and you can even experiment with your own original flavors and versions. This is how the hobby should be — easy, fun and delicious!

Ready to make your own beer this fun and easy way? Take the next step now by getting a Homebrewing Kit.

The normal batch of homebrewed beer is five gallons in volume, which is enough for 2 cases, or 48 12 ounce bottle of beer.

The typical homebrewed beer is produced by boiling water, malt extract and hops together in a large kettle and then cooling the resulting wort and adding yeast for fermenting. Experienced homebrewers will make their own extract from crushed malt barley by a more complicated process of mashing the grain in boiling hot water.

With both cases, the wort is boiled for 15 min to an hour, to help remove some impurities, dissolve the character of the hops, then break down some of the sugar. The wort is then cooled down to a pitching temperature.

The cooled wort is then poured into the primary fermenter in a manner of aggression, as to aerate the wort. Sufficient oxygen is also necessary for the yeast’s growth stage. The yeast is then put into the wort.

The primary fermentation will take place in a large food bucket or carboy. Sometimes it is left open but often stoppered with the carbon dioxide gas that’s produced by venting through a fermentation lock.

The process of making microbrews takes a lot of time indeed, although you can take the necessary short cuts once you learn more about how the process works. If this is your first time brewing, you should always use common sense and know what you are doing.

One of the best things about making your own homebrews is the fact that you can experiment with ingredients and brew your own creations. You can brew almost anything, providing you have the right type of equipment – which can easily be found.

A free instructional video detailing the equipment needed to make wine at home from kits. This is part 1. Enjoy.

The wine-like malt flavor of the barely wine style is perfectly balanced by the sweet, round flavor of peach.  Peak peach season is upon us, however if you can’t find fresh or frozen peaches 2 or 3 oz of peach extract can be added at bottling.

Mash grains for 60-90 min. Collect 6 gallons of wort.  Add Chinhook hops and boil for 1 hour, adding the Saaz hops for the last 10 min.  Cool wort and pitch yeast.  Ferment for 10- 14 days.  Transfer to secondary fermenter.  for 20 min, steep peaches in enough 150 degree water to cover.  Add peaches and water to fermenter.  Ferment an addtional 14-21 days. Rack to teriary fermenter, straining out fruit, and let sit 2-3 days. Bottle using corn sugar.  Age in bottle 3-4 weeks.  Beer will improve with age.

Stuck fermentation

If your fermentation has stopped sooner than you expected, first check your hydrometer: your  beer may simply be done earlier than expected.  If the reading tell you that it’s not done, then you have a problem.

The most common cause is lack of oxygen or lack of nutrients. You can try giving your been a good shake to rouse the yeast and inject oxygen.  Or you can pitch more yeast. Champagne yeast is particularly good for this,  since it won’t add additional esters to your beer.

If you’re making an ale, temperature could be another cause.  Make sure you’re not fermenting your beer too cold. The ideal temperature should be between 68 and 72 degrees fahrenheit.

HYDROMETER – ALCOHOL, 0 – 200 PROOF