How Do You Make Beer With a beer kit?

How Do You Make Beer With a beer kit? There are many different ways to make beer, the easiest way to make beer is to simply use a beer kit.

Below I will cover all the equipment you need to get started,and cover all the steps to brewing your first batch of beer with a beer kit.If your a beginner i suggest you start with a beer kit,then once you have learned more about brewing your own beer,you can start adding other ingredients to enhance the flavor of a beer kit to your taste by adding extra hops,dry malt,or more corn sugar {dextrose} to increase the alcohol content and so on.Then move forward from there or just stick with beer kits its up to you.People use different equipment and methods,when brewing with a beer kit. This is one of them.

So here are the things you will need to make beer from a kit....

Sanitizer You can buy a no rinse sanitizer or you can use unscented household bleach not javex, note: if you decide to use bleach make Sure to rinse everything very well until the odor is completely gone. Avoid any forms of detergent or soap.

A Kettle you need a kettle big enough to boil a gallon of water

A Fermenter - The cheapest way is to use a 6.5 gallon bucket with a Lid and Spigot

A airlock and rubber grommet for the fermenter,this is inserted in the hole on the lid, this is needed to let the gas escape and to keep bacteria from getting in. (airlock and rubber grommet sold separately does not come with with the 6.5 gallon bucket} unless you buy a full kit.

A Adhesive Strip Thermometer to stick on the side of your fermenter to be able check the temperature of the beer,the temperature needs to be between 21°C/69° F - 27°C/80° F before you can add the yeast {very important}

A hydrometer this is used to to measure the specific gravity of the beer and the potential alcohol content so you know when your beer is ready to be bottled.

Gloves so you don't burn your hands with the boiling water

A spoon plastic or metal to stir the ingredients

A Funnel to prime your bottles with corn sugar before adding the beer, corn sugar is added to produce the carbonation, or go with the carbonated drops that is what i use it is much easier.

Bottles and caps to bottle your beer i prefer plastic bottles because glass ones can explode if over carbonated so plastic is safer but it up to you.

A Bottle Filler to fill your bottles

A capper to put the caps on your beer bottles unless your using screw on caps

A place to store the fermenter for 1 weeks or more in a raised position in a room temperature of 21°C/69° F - 27°C/80° F, it is very important to keep the beer at 21°C-27°C or the fermentation will stop.

Now for the ingredients you will need....

• 1 Can of Coopers Hopped Malt Concentrate of your choice {recipe may vary so read this instructions in the beer kit} make sure the malt is hopped or you will need to add the hops yourself
• 1 kg of corn sugar {dextrose} {you will need more sugar if you are going to use the corn sugar to prime your bottles} or you can use the carbonated drops instead.
• 23 liters/6 gallons of good water
• Yeast but this is supplied in the beer kit under the cover.
  

Step 1. Clean and Sanitize all of your equipment,this is a very important step you do not want to contaminate your beer, as i mentioned before you can buy a no rinse sanitizer or you can use unscented household bleach not javex, Note: if you decide to use bleach make Sure to rinse everything very well until the bleach odor is completely gone.
Avoid using any forms of detergent or soap.

Here is the bleach method

First make sure the spigot on the fermenter is closed,then fill up your fermenter with 23 liters of cool water then mark the 23 liter mark on the fermenter with a marker if it is not already marked, now add 1/2 cup of unscented household bleach buy the cheap brand/not javex, put all the equipment in the fermenter, let it soak for 30 minutes after rinse everything very well with hot water until the bleach smell is completely gone.

Step 2 Prepare the Malt extract.... remove the plastic cover on the malt extract,the yeast sachet and instruction, soak the can of malt upside down in the sink for 10 minutes in hot water to soften the malt.while you wait again make sure the spigot on the fermenter is closed cause we will be adding our liquids next.

Step 3 Open the can of malt extract from the bottom and empty the contents in the fermenter add some warm water to the can and rinse out all the malt extract into mixture.Add 1 kg of corn Sugar.

Step 4 Boil 2 liters of water in a kettle.Add the 2 liters of boiling water to the mixture.Stir thoroughly until everything has dissolved

Step 5 Make sure you put the fermenter in a raised position in an area which will maintain the temperature at 21°C/69° F - 27°C/80° F. Place your fermenter now cause you wont be able to move it later.

Step 6 Fill up the fermenter with cold water to the 23 liter mark. then stir well.

Step 7 Check the temperature with a thermometer and make sure that it is between 21°C/69° F - 27°C/80° F before you add the yeast. Once temperature is ok add the yeast,sprinkle the yeast evenly over the surface stir and cover immediately. now insert the rubber grommet and airlock in the hole on the top of the lid then fill the airlock half full with water.

Step 8 Check for a good seal, push the top of the cover,the airlock should bubble and the water level should go up if not make sure that the rubber grommet and airlock are inserted securely.

Step 9 Maintain the temperature of the beer at 21°C/69° F - 27°C/80° F this is very important cause if the temperature gets out of this range the fermentation will stop.

• After several hours to a day the airlock will start bubbling this means the fermentation process has begun.The airlock will continue to bubble, slowing down towards the end of fermentation.

Step 10 Is to wait... it will take about a week or more for the fermentation process to be complete.

Step 11 On the day 4 and day 7 check if your beer is ready to bottle, Use your hydrometer to measure the gravity of the beer, pour some beer in a cup or tube, fill the cup or tube with enough beer so the hydrometer floats. Read the graduated scale where the beer level arrives. while the fermentation progresses the beer becomes less dense and the hydrometer will sink lower into the cup or tube. When the beer is ready to bottle, the reading should be between 1039-1040 if it is not ready yet leave it to brew longer check the brew with the hydrometer everyday until it's ready.

Step 12 Once the beer is ready to bottle clean and sanitize your bottles and caps to prepare for bottling.

Step 13 Add carbonation drops or corn sugar in the bottles to prime the bottles for the secondary fermentation process.Use 1 carbonated drop or 1 level teaspoon of corn sugar for 345-375ml bottles or 2 carbonated drops or 2 teaspoons of corn sugar for 740-750ml bottles.

Step 14 Attach the bottler to the spigot. Place the bottles over the bottler.. Touch the bottom of the bottle so it will open the valve at the end and begin to fill the bottle slowly. Fill the bottle 2 inches from the top, if there is to much foam turn the tap on the spigot off a little to slow down the flow of the beer. Fill the other bottles, leave the last inch of beer in the fermenter this will be thrown away because it contains the thick yeast.

Step 15 Put your caps on the bottles with capper unless you have the screw on caps and move each bottle in a up and down motion a few times to mix the sugar with the beer. Store the bottles upright in a room temperature of 21°C/69° F – 27°C/80° F for 2 weeks.taste the beer after 2 weeks it should be ready you can leave it longer to enhance the flavor.

Step 16 Invite some friends over for a good home brewed beer  Enjoy.

Introduction to Kegging Part 1

Introduction to Kegging Part 1

Introduction to Kegging Part 2

Introduction to Kegging Part 2

Introduction to Kegging Part 3

Introduction to Kegging Part 3

Introduction to Kegging Part 4

Introduction to Kegging Part 4

Stop Smoking And Start Vaping

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How to make an inmate brew

How to make an inmate brew (wine)

How to make an inmate brew? A great way to brew a cheap batch of wine with things you have around the house.listen to what he suggests to use for a airlock when you don't got one.well i guess when your hard up you will use anything.thank you Craig great video.

Easy Home Brewing - Hop to-it! - (Adding Hop Tea to home brew)

How to brew a batch of beer with the Coopers IPA beer kit,using with a hop tea

Please visit or subscribe to CraigTube Channel he has lots of great beer videos there.Thanks Craig

Home Brew - Coopers IPA with Hop Tea Taste Test

Home Brew - Coopers IPA with Hop Tea Taste Test

How To Make Beer (full)

Here is A Video that shows you how to brew a batch of Chocolate Mountain Stout Ale.

Please visit or subscribe to waterball youtube page ,more great videos there.Thank you Waterball

Brew Your Own Beer, Brew at Home Part 1

How to brew your own beer at home part 1

Brew Your Own, Brew At Home Pt. 2 - Bottling

How to brew your own beer at home Part 2 Bottling



Please visit or subscribe to kjcrowley youtube page ,more great videos there.Thank you kj

Beer Brewing Forum

"Home Brew Talk" The Beer Brewing Forum

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f57

Easy Home Brewing - Second Addition 2

This is Part 2 on how to make beer with a Coopers Draught beer kit

Easy Home Brewing - Second Addition 1

Here's a video that shows you how to brew a batch of beer with a Coopers Draught Beer Kit part 1

I Am a Home Brewer

BeerEasy Video Training

                                               
BeerEasy.com

Here's what you'll discover in my BeerEasy Video Course that will get you brewing your first delicious pint you can share with your pals in no time!
It's easy.  It's wonderfully flavourful.

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(You probably have some of it already lying around in your kitchen!)

That's it...simple enough. So let's get started shall we?
Here's what's inside your BeerEasy online video training course...
Here's what's inside your BeerEasy online video training course...

Video Training on each of the Steps in the Brewing Process: ($497 value)

Video #1 - Introduction to Brewing Your Own Beer
Video #2 - Equipment and Ingredients for Brewing
Video #3 - Day #1 Brew Day - Part 1 of 2 (length 16:58)
Video #4- Day #1 Brew Day - Part 2 of 2 (length 10:30)
Video #5 - The Fermentation Process
Video #6 - Day #2 Transfer Day (length 07:26)
Video #7 - How To Sanitize Your Brewing Equipment
Video #8 - Day #3 Bottling Day (length 13:52)


Checklists (PDFs) to walk you Step by Step through your Brew Day... Comes in handy WHILE brewing.

Checklist #1 - Equipment & Ingredients Checklist
Checklist #2 - Day #1 Brew Day Checklist
Checklist #3 - Day #2 Brew Day Checklist
Checklist #4 - Day #3 Brew Day Checklist


8 Of My Very Best Home Brew Recipes. ($197 value)

Recipe #1 - Cascade Pale Ale Recipe
Recipe #2 - Can't Lager Oktoberfest Recipe
Recipe #3 - India Pale Ale Recipe
Recipe #4 - Mac's Amber Ale Recipe
Recipe #5 - Lake Superior Porter Recipe
Recipe #6 - Oatmeal Stout Recipe
Recipe #7 - Pre-Prohibition American Pilsner Recipe
Recipe #8 - Strawberry Blonde Recipe

But That's Not All!
You'll Also Receive These Special Bonuses...

All Grain Brewing Training

Video #1 - All Grain Brewing Part 1 of 2
Video #2 - All Grain Brewing Part 2 of 2
Equipment Checklist - All Grain Brewing Equipment Checklist
Checklist - All Grain Brew Day Checklist
Worksheet - All Grain Batch Sparge Brewing Worksheet & Sample

Home Brewing Recipes Bonus

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What Goes Into Commercial Cigarettes?

For many people, cigarettes are merely something that they buy and enjoy without a second thought, but have you wondered what was in the cigarettes that you are smoking?  The truth is, there are more than 500 ingredients in commercially made cigarettes, and they will do everything from keeping the cigarette lit to producing a distinctively recognizable smell.  When you are thinking about what is really in your cigarettes, you'll find that some ingredients keep coming up time after time.

When looking at the ingredients in cigarettes, you'll find that you will see a number of chemicals that are designed to kill weeds and insects, including DDT.  These chemicals are used to keep the tobacco plants healthy but can take a toll on your own health over an extended period of time.  You will find that there is no good way to get these pesticides out of your cigarettes, and that by ingesting them you can, over time, deplete your immune system's ability to heal itself.

You'll also find that ammonia is a common ingredient that is often added to your cigarette.  Ammonia is toxic, and you may recognize the scent very easily; it is a common ingredient for use in commercial cleansers.  For cigarettes, you'll find that ammonia is used to help the  nicotine get absorbed through your lungs more quickly.  You'll find that this can give your cigarette more of a punch, and your brain will be able to process a larger amount of nicotine with each puff.

You will also find that there are a number of chemicals that have been added to your store-bought cigarettes in order to improve the smell or to make them feel smoother when you smoke them.  For instance, cadmium, which is frequently used in paints, appears in cigarettes, but is commonly linked to lung and prostate cancer.  Similarly, benzene, which is linked to leukemia, and formaldehyde, which is linked to lung cancer, will appear as well.  Most of these chemicals have a preservative quality, giving the cigarettes a longer shelf life.

When you are considering what you can do to reduce your health risk when it comes to cigarettes, you will find that switching to hand-rolled cigarettes might be the key.  While many people feel that hand-rolling cigarettes is old-fashioned or too much trouble, you'll soon see that there are a number of reasons to roll your cigarettes. You'll be able to have more control over the finished product, and you'll find that you have a better understanding of smoking itself.  You'll find that the only way to really be sure about what you are smoking is to grow it and dry it yourself!

Add URL - Add Your Site To The Index or Suggest Your Favorite

Add URL - Add Your Site To The Index or Suggest Your Favorite

How Do You Make Beer

How Do You Make Beer

Beer is such a popular beverage because it has such a deep earthy flavor and because the variety of flavors, brands, colors and textures of beers is so diverse that you can explore a new brew each and every time you want a beer and never get bored.

Yet most of us pretty much settle on one kind and stick with it. That is until we discover brew pubs. That is when our eyes are opened to the idea that we don’t have to depend on Budweiser and Miller for good beer. It can be made right at home.

Some of the finest beers you could hope to taste are not made in the big commercial factories but in small brew pubs all around the country. So if you have discovered some particularly flavorful home brewed beers, it isn't long before you might decide to take a stab at brewing a batch yourself. Be careful because once you start experimenting with brewing your own beer, you may become hooked into an addictive hobby that will provide hours of fun as you tinker with your recipes, get new and better equipment and become a true beer expert in brewing your own custom blends for the best flavored beer.

But it all starts with that very first batch. You might approach that moment when you decide to make your first batch of beer with some fear and trembling. But keep your spirit of adventure and experimentation because, after all, if you bought good equipment, you will get the hang of it. As the wise man said, that the journey of a hundred miles begins with the first step. So too your journey toward becoming a master brewer starts with your first batch.

The process of brewing that first batch is pretty simple actually. Here are the steps to go through to get your first brew underway.

Gather the ingredients to have them on hand as you step through the brewing process. You don’t' want to have to stop and go dig something up so have them ready to go when they are added in as the brewing process is underway. .

It all starts with water. One gallon of good water will do. You don't need specialty water as tap water in most areas of the country does well due to a good combination of minerals that actually makes the beer taste better. So get a gallon of water boiling in a large pot capable of holding 2-3 gallons of water.
You need that extra space for adding ingredients. .

The first ingredient to add to the boiling water is the brewing yeast that you bought just for this purpose. The yeast will have specific instructions but in essence you will mix the yeast with piping hot tap water and stir it in a separate pot or pan until it becomes a thick paste. . You can prepare the yeast while the water boils and when it's ready, add the mixture to the water. .

Once the yeast is mixed in well, add the malt extract that you bought for this brewing process. Make sure the malt is mixed in well and dissolved before moving on. . Hops will come as pellets when you bought them from the supplier so add them when the water is boiling again and allow the entire mixture to boil for another five minutes. .  
During this preparation time, get your fermenting equipment sanitized and ready to go.

As the brewing process approaches completion, fill the fermenter about three quarters full with cold water from the tap. The strong beer you have boiled is called the "wort" which is now ready for fermenting. Pour the hot wort into the cold water in the fermenter. What you are looking for is an end result of five gallons of mixture in the fermenter so if you don't find you are at that level, add more water.

The brewing process is done and you can follow the directions for fermenting that are provided with the equipment or that you learn from other resources about the fine art of fermenting beer. Now it's just a matter of letting nature do what it does to ferment your beer. Enjoy the anticipation as you allow the fermenting to continue and then enjoy the flavor of your very own first batch of home brewed beer.

You Can't Make Gasoline but You Can Make Beer

You Can't Make Gasoline but You Can Make Beer

In tough economic times, we all look for ways to save money. With gas prices going up constantly, the prices of everything just goes right on up with them. Unlike the government, we can't print up money so anything we can do to cut costs without giving up quality of life is a good move.

And if quality of life includes having a nice tasting brew every so often, well then there is definitely something we can do and maybe you are already starting to do that is not only great fun but a very good cost cutting move for you.

The great thing about taking up home brewing is that you get three great benefits all in one great hobby. First you get a new passion in your life that will keep you busy and learning a side of beer making that you never knew could be so fascinating. Second, you inherit an entire society of fascinating people who are zealots for this hobby and life style of home brewing.

And finally, once you get set up with the equipment and learn the "ropes" of brewing your own beer at home, you can make beer that is 100 times better than anything you can get at the liquor store or in a restaurant. But you can make it for a tiny percentage of what you would pay for retail beer which is inferior to yours anyway.

The great thing about home brewing is that in addition to all these benefits, it really is not difficult to learn how to make great beer right at home. It will take some effort and a bit of study or coaching to learn how to use the equipment and what ingredients to buy and store. But because the ingredients are easy and abundant to get, you can set up to make literally gallons of beer for a very small investment. So on top of great fun, that’s just sensible economics.

One great way to get some help with this process and make it even more fun is to learn to make beer with a group of friends. You can split the costs and make it even more economical. And each of you can and pool your knowledge, your learning and your talents to make each batch of beer better than the last one. Because the process of brewing involves several steps, you need that patience and understanding of the process to do it right. And having friends in the process, each one can be watching for steps that need to be taken. Then when the beer enters the fermentation stage and what you all need is patience not to break into the beer and drink it before its time, you can be a support group to be willing to wait for it because you know how good it will be.

This support group can also be very helpful to be patient if that first batch of beer is not entirely perfect. But you know there are ways to get better. So by being faithful with your learning, joining with other beer brewing lovers around your town, you can and will get better quickly.

But the other value of working together with good friends is that you can eventually get a feel for how much beer you will make with each batch and how much each of you will use in a period of time. Then you can time the brewing sessions so you may even have multiple batches in various stages of completion and coming into use at just the right times so you never have to go to the liquor store again. You will have taken control of this one part of your economy by making your own beer so it's a cost you can control, unlike gasoline.

Zymurgy Lovers You Know

Zymurgy Lovers You Know

The fun of any private hobby or passion is knowing the secret language that goes with it. So if you had someone come to you and say, "You are really into that zymurgy stuff, aren’t you", you may not know whether to thank him or slap him. But if you are beginning to get excited about the art of making beer at home, not only are you getting into "that zymurgy stuff", you probably know a few major zymurgists as well. Zymurgy, for the trivia buffs, is the art of fermenting that leads to the production of beer.

There is a lot of fun in the hobby of making beer. Not only is it not a difficult process to learn, it's rewarding to bring out bottles of rich tasting beer for your family and friends that you made yourself. And since most batches of home made beer produce five gallon brews, you will have plenty of beer for a small fraction of what you would pay for commercial beer.

But there is another level of fun about becoming an amateur brewer and that comes from discovering this whole new world of other brewers who are out there spreading the gospel of home brewing far and wide. The network of people who love to brew their own beer is extensive and well organized. Zymurgy is actually an international passion that goes back for thousands of years and reaches into just about every society. So by now as you begin to just discover the huge social world of brew makers, you are going to be amazed at the diversity and size of this culture that has existed right under your all this time.

The first group you should become a part of to become connected to the larger world of home brewing is the American Home brewers Association. They operate an interesting, informative and up to date web sites about home brewing at http://www.beertown.org/ba/index.html. One of the best things you will discover on the AHA's web site is a list of upcoming home brewing events all around the country. The odds are that somewhere in your geographic area there is an event being planed to bring home brewing enthusiasts like you together to trade methods, share recipes and generally celebrate this exciting hobby together.

As soon as you get connect to the AHA's web site, your knowledge of beer making and the amount of information that is available to you will go through the roof. In fact, you will no doubt quickly want to get the AHA's bimonthly magazine coming your way. Not surprisingly, that magazine is called Zymurgy. Through Zymurgy magazine and by surfing beertown.org, you will also find out about special days set aside just to celebrate the big community of home beer enthusiasts such as National Home brew Day held the first Saturday in May. Congress actually set aside this day to celebrate the love of home brewing. No doubt a few senators and congressmen brew up their own blend at home as well.

Along with publications and festivals, there are regular beer brewing competitions you can keep up to date on through the AHA and through a local affiliates as well. These competitions are great fun but you may feel timid about entering your newest beer concoction to be judged. But it's all in fun and by striving to make your brew genuine competition quality, it just makes the excitement you already have for home brewing even more fun and engaging between contests.

But perhaps the greatest service the national organization can be to you is to point you to local contacts to help you move along more quickly in developing your love of home brewing. This is the kind of networking you need to find the best local brewing supply shops so you can get stocked up on the grains, malts and hops you will need to make your next big batch of home made beer.

But more importantly, you can connect with the home brewers association in your own community and become part of this very active and fun loving community. And as you learn the insider tricks and taste their blends, you will move along much more quickly toward making your own beer that will really taste the way you want it to. So get out there and have some fun with people who love home brewing just like you do. You will never regret it.

Anheuser Busch and Micro Brews

Anheuser Busch And Micro Brews

Beer brewing has always been the core business of the Anheuser-Busch company. An industry leader since 1957, Anheuser-Busch currently owns over half of the domestic beer market.

The market share has grown so much that Anheuser- Busch now has a bigger portion of the market than the next four competitors, with the international sales being no different. Anheuser-Busch remains the leading exporter of beer from the United States, with sales in more than 60 countries. Microbreweries, or microbrews for short, have been gaining a lot of attention in the past several years.

Microbrews are best classified as breweries that produce less than 15,000 barrels in a given year. The strength of micro brews is found in their philosophy that beer should be of the highest quality. Therefore, micro brews are only brewed with malted barley, hops, water, and yeast, which are the only four ingredients found in the purist German beers. Mass bottled beers normally add rice and corn to help lower costs. The only drawback to micro brews is what they cost.

The more expensive ingredients found in micro brews cost on average 60% higher than the mass bottled beers. Beer isn't like wine, which tends to get better with age. Beer is instead a food that should be consumed as soon as possible after production. With this in mind, pubs or micro brews that produce beer on the premises are the hottest new trends, with four new pubs on average popping up each and every week. Each year, sales of micro brews goes up an average of 40% each year. This figure is very impressive when you consider that the market is shrinking as a whole.

Even with this amazing success, the micro brew sales represent around two percent of the entire beer market. In their pursuit to continue dominating the entire beer market, Anheuser-Busch has tapped into the trend of micro brews. They recently purchased a stake in the Seattle based Red Hook Ale microbrewery.

The new products they released into the beer market include Red Wolf, Elk Mountain Red, and Elk Mountain Amber Ale. Micro brews are normally produced regionally, therefore Anheuser-Busch is developing regional manufacturers and distributors. By doing this, they must decide on the best possible way to handle their short term cash needs for purchasing inventory in these tiny plants.

With their recent transition into the world of micro brews, you can count on Anheuser-Busch to make quite the impact. They will be offering more micro brews in the future, which is great news for beer drinkers. If you like the wild taste of micro brews, Anheuser-Busch is more than worth your time and money.

Clipper City Microbrew Company

Clipper City Microbrew Company

The Clipper City Brewing Company was founded by by pioneer Hugh Sisson, with the intention of restoring a rich brewing tradition to the entire Baltimore area. By focusing on the classic styles of beer that are made with fresh ingredients and high standards,
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Clipper City is the largest brewing company in Baltimore, giving the entire Bay area residents reason to celebrate. After the inception of craft brewing in Baltimore, Hugh immersed himself in developing and market recognition of both Sisson's brewpub and all of its beers.

The Clipper City Brewing Company produces three regular offerings year round - Chesapeake lager, Chesapeake amber, and the Chesapeake gold ale, which was chosen as the official beer of the Baltimore City bicentennial. Clipper City also includes a line of specialty beers under the Clipper Reserve heading. These types include a Pilsner which is available in May, Irish stout available in February, Oktoberfest available in September, and a winter ale that's available in late November.

Clipper City also manufacturers a separate line of beer, known as the Oxford Brands, which include an English pale ale and a refreshing summer blend made with real raspberries known as the Oxford raspberry wheat. For many years, Clipper City has proven that they are the dominant brewing company in the entire Baltimore area. Residents of the area enjoy the many varieties this brewing company offers, as they have everything for the seasons. Even if you don't live in the Baltimore area, there are other ways to get the excellent beers that Clipper City has to offer.

There are several bars and pubs that carry their beers, although most are in the Baltimore and surrounding areas. If you've been looking for a brew that is different from the rest, you can count on the Clipper City Brewing Company to deliver everything that you've never thought possible about beer and microbrews.

The Budget Brewmeister

The Budget Brewmeister

For a beer lover, one of the most enjoyable hobbies you can pick up is to brew your own beer at home. Once you get set up with the equipment and basic supplies, it’s a fairly affordable hobby and you will get a lot of entertainment out of going through the brewing and fermentation process.

Then once you start bringing out your own home brewed beer, you get the sense of pride because this beer made entirely by you, not to mention the enjoyment of sucking down that hearty blend that you created yourself.

One of the hold ups that may have kept you from getting into making your own beer may have the cost issue. If you have ever taken a tour of a brewery and you see the huge machines and storage tanks, it's hard to see how you can do that in your kitchen with just a few simple devices. But there is an entire home brewing subculture that has risen up based entirely on being able to make beer yourself at relatively low costs. Its legal, its fun and brewing beer can become a major hobby as well.

All that said, it's true that the initial costs can be pretty intimidating. The cost of the pots, fermenters and other specialized equipment can run into several hundred dollars. It's risky to sink that kind of money into a new hobby before you even know if you will enjoy making beer, whether the beer you make will be drinkable or if you will stick with it. And during a time when we need most of what we earn just to get by, that is a risk that may be holding you back from getting into the hobby of home brewing.

Of course one natural solution is to get your first exposure and training in making beer with someone Else's equipment. Once you start poking around home brewing web sites and places where the equipment and supplies to make beer are sold in town, you can find out about clubs and societies that are full of people who have taken the plunge and are making beer all the time right at home like you want to do.

These people not only love home brewing, they can become real evangelists for their hobby and with very little encouragement, you can enjoy some Saturdays in their shop or kitchen learning how to brew beer with someone that already knows how. This kind of experience is priceless because you learn what to look for in equipment and what is essential and what is optional. You can go through the brewing process and learn a lot about how to make actual beer that is drinkable and what pitfalls to avoid. Meanwhile, you may not have spent any more money than to buy your new friend lunch or to bring the pretzels for the tasting party when the beer is done.

But then when you are ready to get started, your knowledge of what you really need will pay off big time. You still don't have to pay top dollar for the equipment to get up and running. Lots of people get started with making beer and for many reasons, their hobby stops suddenly. The outcome is that there is a pretty brisk used home brewing equipment market out there. You can find discounted equipment in new or like new condition out on eBay or Craigslist all the time. But don't overlook the local sources as those home brewer clubs and associations may have bulletin boards with listings of people who want to sell their equipment. Pawn shops in the area are another great resource.

Another great way to save money is to go together with a friend and buy the equipment together and split the costs all the way down the line. This makes brewing beer more fun and social and each of you can have the equipment and supplies home at different times to get to know it and learn to make good beer separately so you can make great beer together. And who knows, you may get so good at it that you start selling your beer to local pubs. And when the big bucks come rolling in from that, your investment in learning to brew beer will really look good to you.

Brewpub Heaven

Brewpub Heaven

Everyone knows that if your looking for the best in coffee, you go to Seattle. For wine, you go to California. When it comes to the best in beer, you go to Portland Oregon, where your never more than 15 minutes away from a quality brewpub. The Williamette Rive in western Oregon has been the center of hop growing and brewing since the days of the pioneers.

When the microbrew revolution began, the history and the hops were already there, along with the spring water, the grain, and the fruit for summer beers. As a result, regional brewers and microbrewers began to pop up all over the place. After that, it didn't take long at all for the brewpub to follow. These beers weren't just for washing down food anymore.

The hand crafted beers could be used in cooking, just like wine. In the brewpubs of Portland, the beer also forms a base for salad dressing, spices up marinades, and even helps to sweeten the desserts as well. Many brewpubs will offer a sampler of the best in beer tasting. You can think of it as wine tasting without the snooty steward. You sip on small amounts of a variety of brews to see what the brewer can do, from the light and hoppy to the dark yet sweet brews.

What to expect

1. Good head on the beer. Good head ensures that you'll get a strong smell of the brew, so be sure to pour it into your glass very carefully.

2. Always use a glass. You should always use a clean glass, a very clean glass. In most brewing establishments, the glasses are always hand washed and air dried to ensure that there isn't a speck of grease in the glass to deflate the head and leave soapy looking bubbles behind.

3. The English are right. As the English know, refrigerated beer is too cold to fully appreciate the taste. In brewpubs, the beer is served at temperatures that are cool but not that cold. The iced and chilled glasses are saved for martinis.

4. Vocabulary. Beer has a mouth feel, which describes the body of the brew - light, medium, and full. The color can be misleading, as even light bodied beers can be full bodied.

Anytime you are looking for the best in microbrews, you can count on Oregon to deliver the best in beer. There are hundreds of brewpubs here, with everything you could ever want. Anytime you are in the area, don't hesitate to stop off and see why the microbrews here are easily among the best in the United States - or the world for that matter.

Troubleshooting Home Brewing Stuck Fermentation

Troubleshooting Home Brewing Stuck Fermentation

Stuck fermentation occurs when your beer fails to ferment to completion. This can result from the use of old yeast or poor ingredients. The best way to take care of this problem, is to prevent it from starting. To do this, you should:

1. Re-hydrate the yeast by adding it to some water and adding wort to the yeast an hour or more before you pitch. This will help ensure that your yeast is still active.

2. Use an all malt or a recipe that has a lot of it, as yeast needs nutrients to stay alive. Corn and sugar lack these nutrients. If your yeast still fails to survive, it cannot reproduce. For this very reason, distilled water shouldn't be used when making beer.

Under carbonation If you've used the proper amount of priming sugar and your beer is still flat, it's probably due to the fact that you didn't properly rise the sanitizing solution from the bottles. If too much sanitizer is left in the bottles, it can kill the yeast, which results in flat beer. The only way to prevent this is to stop it from happening.

Over carbonation can cause your beer to turn into a foam disaster. It can result from these causes:

1. Too much or uneven priming sugar. You should measure your primer carefully and dissolve it thoroughly in boiling water and allow it the proper time to cool. Before bottling, make sure to stir this into your beer.

2. Bottling your beer too early can also result in too much carbonation.

3. Poor sanitization is also a cause. If you allow your beer to come in contact with wild yeast, it can result in over carbonation and possibly even off flavors.

4. Bottles that are under filled can also contribute to over carbonation. You should allow 1/2 inch of head space to allow your beer time to pressurize. By taking the proper time to fix problems, you'll ensure that your brew comes out great every time you brew it.

If you happen to run into a problem, always take the time to rationize it before you rush into fixing it. If you rush into fixing a problem, you may start another one. You should expect problems, especially if this is your first time brewing. Even for expert home brewers, problems can occur from time to time - which is something you'll learn to deal with.

A Brewing Society

A Brewing Society

A Brewing Society,One of the reasons the hobby of home brewing is so popular is that you are not just taking up a pastime, you are becoming part of a closely knit society of home brewing that has its own culture, language and social structure that is unique to brewers alone.

Of course, the social aspect of drinking beer is well known. The infrastructure of pubs and bars that offers to patrons a place of comfort, friendship, fun and relaxation is about a lot more than just tipping back a delicious drink,.

It is a part of our social fabric that goes back to revolutionary times when our most important documents were hashed out over a beer. And the importance of sharing a beer is just as powerful today as we all enjoyed thinking about that bar where "everybody knows your name" called Cheers.

So just as the social aspect of enjoying a beer with others is strong and well entrenched in our culture, so too is the art of making beer a deeply rooted part of society that goes back generations. That popularity has regular revivals and we are seeing a surge of interest in brewing today as all over the country brew pubs are springing up around delicious home grown beers that in many cases are far better than the mass produced beers that are heavily advertised during the Super Bowl.

This well developed and sophisticated brewing subculture not only will be of great help to you as you start to learn about becoming a home brewer yourself, it will become a society that is a lot of fun to be part of and where you may make friends for life as you share with others your love of making your own beer. In America the grass roots level subculture of home brewing is growing fast. This is no small concern to the big retail brewers who cannot possibly make the quality and rich kinds of beers that can be made at the local level. But this is a natural evolution as we follow our cousins in the UK where keg beers made locally dominate the world of beer consumption in a culture where pubs are a central part of the fabric of society.

One reason home brewing has such an appeal is the tremendous diversity of beers you can produce and the control you have over flavor, consistency and alcohol levels. In most cases, once you have your basic equipment for brewing beer, it is cheaper to make your own beer. And there is something satisfying about brewing up a big batch of beer to put back to ferment as you enjoy a five gallon batch you made last month. Beer brewers can become quite obsessed with flavor, color and "punch" and always be looking for new ways to become better at this fun and interesting hobby.

Whatever level of involvement in beer making appeals to you, you can probably find new friends in the beer brewing society that you can share your hobby with. There are beer brewing radio stations and ham radio channels devoted to helping amateur brewers share their secret recopies and solve each other's problems. And there are home made beer competitions that can really put some challenge that all on you to make that blue ribbon beer that rally makes the judges sit up and take notice.

So as you find yourself getting more and more enthusiastic and "caught up" in the fun of home brewing, don't be embarrassed by that because you can find a diverse assortment of other beer making enthusiasts to share your hobby with. So have fun, make friends, make good beer and above all, share your beer and your knowledge with others. Because beer is about more than good drink. It's about good times with good people as well.

Beer Culture

Beer Culture

Social context Many social traditions and activities are very associated with drinking beer, such as playing cards, darts, or other games. The consumption of beer in isolation and excess may be associated with people drinking away their troubles, while drinking in excess with company may be associated with binge drinking. Around the world All over the world, beer is consumed. There are several breweries in the Middle East countries as well, such as Iraq and Syria. There is also breweries in African countries and other remote countries such as Mongolia as well. Glassware serving Getting an appropriate beer glass is considered desirable by some drinkers. There are some drinkers of beer that may sometimes drink out of the bottle or can, while others may choose to pour their beer into a glass. Drinking from a bottle picks up aromas by the nose, so if a drinker wishes to appreciate the aroma of a beer, the beer is first poured into a mug, glass, or stein. Similar to wine, there is specialized styles of glasses for some types of beer, with some breweries producing glassware intended for their own styles of beer. Temperature The conditions for serving beer have a big influence on a drinker's experiences. An important factor when drinking is the temperature - as colder temperatures will start to inhibit the chemical senses of the tongue and throat, which will narrow down the flavor profile of beer, allow certain lagers to release their crispness. Pouring The process of pouring will have an influence on the presentation of beer. The flow rate from the tap, titling of the glass, and position of the pour into the glass will all affect the outcome, such as the size and longevity of the head and the turbulence of the bar as it begins to release the carbonation. The more heavily carbonated beers such as German pilseners will need settling time before they are served, although many of them are served with the addition of the remaining yeast at the bottom to add extra color and flavor. Beer rating The rating of beer is a craze that combines the enjoyment of drinking beer with the hobby of collecting it. Those that drink beer sometimes tend to record their scores and comments on various internet websites. This is a worldwide activity, as people in the United States will swap bottles of beer with those living in New Zealand and Russia. The scores may then be tallied together to create lists of the most popular beers in each country as well as those throughout the world.






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Differences Between Keg And Cask Ale

Differences Between Keg And Cask Ale

Over the years, keg beers have gotten a lot better. If a cask beer is in poor condition, it's actually possible for a fresh keg beer to be much better tasting. Even though this may sound absurd, it's very common for someone who's unfamiliar with cask ale to not be able to taste the difference between keg and cask beer.

The warm temperature that cask beer is famous for doesn't apply in the summer months all that often these days, as temperature control units in pubs have beer run through coolers. The fact is, some pubs will run cask ale lines through lager chillers in order to get the beer below the maximum temperature required, so cask ale may very well end up just as cold as a keg lager. This isn't really a good thing, as ale requires a cool rather than very cold temperature to bring out all of its flavors. In a well run pub however, the cask ale will be served at the right temperature - cool but not too cold.

The smell of cask ale is much fresher and more wholesome than keg beer. Keep in mind, the aroma of cask ale doesn't have the stored up impact of bottled type beers, as this beer has already been exposed to the air for a couple of days - meaning there is no impact when you transfer it to your beer glass. Normally, the aroma will be released into the air when it has been warmed up, which will probably happen when you get near the bottom of the glass.

The flavor of cask ale is very similar to the aroma in it, which is very fresh and delicate. Unlike other bottled beers, the flavor of cask ale is even more noticeable than the aroma. At first, the aroma is very slight, although the flavor more than makes up for it. The intensity of the flavor will depend on the style of beer. The CO2 bubbles themselves will have very little flavor, therefore a mass of bursting bubbles against your tongue will prevent the actual beer from making contact. With cask ale, there is little to no carbonation, so more of the flavor will connect with your taste buds.

You should be able to note the fruity taste up front, with balance in the middle and bitterness in the end. The flavor of a cask ale is much more noticed than keg or even bottled beer. Bottle conditioned beers will also have this type of flavor profile, although they'll need to be prepared and conditioned well in advance, meaning that the bottle will need to be opened and allowed to settle for a while. Cask ales offer the conditioning being done fro you, so you won't need to do it. The most important aspect of cask ale is how it feels in your mouth. It shouldn't be fizzy. If it is, it's either a keg beer or a cask ale that's been put on too soon. There will be a natural feel in the beer, a life that makes you want to drink it.

The Pros And Cons Of Beer

The Pros And Cons Of Beer

Although beer is a drink that contains alcohol, the alcohol alone doesn’t make it dangerous to your health. Drinking beer excessively is what leads to hangovers, headaches, and the more severe healthy problems. If you drink beer in moderation and avoid getting drunk, you won’t experience any problems with your health.

One of the most common things people say about beer, is that it makes you fat, hence the term “beer belly”. As a whole, beer contains little to no fat, and there are plenty of beer diets out there that you can use to stay thin. The infamous beer belly is caused by consuming too much alcohol, which affects the body’s ability to burn fat. Even though beer can indeed lead to a “beer belly” if you drink too much of it, if you drink in moderation you should be fine.

Even though beer is low in sugar, it can affect your blood sugar levels. Beer contains alcohol, which can drop the natural level of sugar in your blood, leading to low energy levels. If you drink too much beer, you’ll get really tired and go right to sleep. Alcohol in beer will also lower insulin levels as well, which makes it perfect for non diabetics, as it will reduce the risk of arteriosclerosis.

In the past, research has linked beer with reducing the risk for heart disease. Beer contains no cholesterol, although it does have antioxidant qualities that can reduce LDL oxidation, with may help reduce your risk of heart disease. Beer is also an excellent source of fiber, stemming from the malted barley. Beer can also help to reduce stress, if you drink it in moderation.

To get the health benefits that beer provides, you should drink one beer a day. You shouldn’t drink any more than this, as it can easily lead to health problems. Alcohol will thin out your blood, which will protect your heart and reduce the risk of strokes as well. In the past, research has even shown moderate consumption of alcohol can help with improving your memory as well. Then again, if you drink it excessively, it can destroy brain cells - the adverse effect.

Beer is also nutritious, although it can destroy your levels of vitamin C as well. Beer is a great source of fiber, as well as other minerals, such as potassium, magnesium, and several B vitamins such as B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, and B12. Beer contains high levels of these vitamins, along with other minerals that are actually good for your body. Although it offers plenty of B vitamins and other minerals your body needs, it will also destroy your vitamin C - which is why you never want to drink too much of it.

When it all comes down to it, beer may contain over 95% water, yet it is still a diuretic. Due to the fact that beer contains alcohol, it will always be a diuretic. When you drink beer, you should avoid drinking too much and never, ever, drink beer instead of water. Beer can dehydrate your body fairly quickly, which is one of the biggest cons to drinking beer. Although beer does have several health benefits, they can easily be hindered by drinking too much. To stay on the safe side and avoid headaches and other health effects of beer, you should always drink responsibly, never drink too much - and always drink a few glasses of water when you are drinking beer.

Kegging

Kegging

When you first learn the craft of home brewing, one of the big steps is the transfer of the beer into larger bottles for fermentation and then smaller bottles for storage and to serve guests your delicious brew. This can be messy but it is an important step along the path to great tasting beer. And learning the beer transfer and bottling skills will be a big step as your sophistication at home brewing comes along.

There comes a time though that you can consider the next big step in becoming more skilled in your home brewing talents. And that next big step is into kegging your home made brews. But before you make that step, its good to know what you will need and the costs and efforts involves so you go into the kegging step with eyes wide open.

For one thing, kegging your own beer can get a bit expensive. There is another level of equipment including CO2 storage tanks, the kegging canisters and even a kegerator that can all add another level of cost to your home brewing hobby. But hopefully if you have been making your own beer for a few years before you make this step, you can see that the money you have saved on beverages has been significant enough justify making the next big step into kegging.

The first step perhaps of moving into kegging is to get the family on board, especially your spouse, as you may have done when you first started brewing in the first place. A natural progression, though, is to start your hobby of home brewing for the fun and the savings and then to go toward brewing when you become a serious home brewing zealot and you know the quality of your beer demands this step. So if your family has evolved and you are a home brewing family, they will be as excited as you are to learn this next step.

Along with the costs get a good feel for the additional storage space kegging will add to your beer making needs and requirements. Along with the equipment for kegging, you will also need additional refrigerator space. This might be the time to consider the purchase of a specialized refrigeration unit called a kegerator that is made just for chilling and serving your fine beer from the kegging setting. But if you entertain a lot and you are getting those rave reviews for the quality of your home made beer, such a purchase is a slam dunk decision.

The upside of kegging is that it does reduce much of the fuss and mess of using bottles and always having to clean and make sterile those bottles for the next use. And kegging gives you a lot of control over the levels of carbonation in your beer. That gives you even more options and freedom to adjust carbonation to use in the creation of unique styles and tastes in your beer. That is just one of many ways kegging improves the over all quality and diverse flavors you can achieve with your home made beers.

Of course there still will be a place for bottling your beer even if you have overhauled your storage and at home serving method to move to kegging. There is a real fun and pride when you can serve family and guests great tasting ice cold beer directly from a keg like you could get it in the pub. Btu you will want to keep some bottles around to create bottled beer for gifts or to take with you to a social outing. When you show up for that next big barbeque with bottles of your own home made and kegged beer, you will be the hit of the event.

All About German Beer

   
All About German Beer

Throughout Germany, beer is very popular with the culture. Germany contains well over 1,000 breweries, which is more than any other location in the world.

All beer that is manufactured in Germany must follow the purity law, which lets manufacturers know what ingredients can and can’t be used. Basically, the only ingredients allowed to make beer in Germany are water, hops, and barley malt.Due to the strict purity requirements, you can easily notice German beers by their overall level of quality.

They have a distinct taste, with little to no aftertaste. Some styles of German ale include Koelsch, Weizen, and Altbier. Some types of German lagers include Bock, Pilsener, Dunkel, Helles, and Maerzen. Keep in mind that the taste, aroma, and color can vary, although all can be identified as being true German beers. The German beer Altbier is a very common dark ale, that is top fermented in the lower regions of Germany.

The beer proposes a yellow color, with a taste that is rich in hops. Another ale, Rauchbier, is known to have a smoky flavor with a smoked color. These beers taste great, and happen to be very popular throughout the regions of Germany.

German lagers are also very popular, and happen to be popular in other areas of the world as well. Pilsener is one of the most popular and most familiar of all German beers, providing you with more hops and less malt. Pilsener can be found for sale all over the world, and happens to be very popular throughout North America as well. Several bars serve it as well, as it happens to be one of the most popular dark lagers out there.

Throughout Germany, there are several different companies, produce over 4,000 different brands of beers. Some of the more well known and larger companies of north Germany are Beck, St. Pauli, Warsteiner, and Krombach. In the southern region of Germany, there are more breweries, although most of them are smaller, as they are locally owned and operated. Southern Germany also contains the Benedictine Abbey, which is one of the oldest breweries in the world. This brewery started producing beer in 1040 - very impressive indeed!

Germany is also home to Oktoberfest, which is held every year in Munich. Oktoberfest starts in late September and carries on for two weeks, ending in early October. During Oktoberfest, beer drinkers from all over the world will travel to Germany and celebrate German beers. Each and every year, over 5 million people attend the event, making it one of the biggest beer celebrations in the world.
During Oktoberfest, local breweries in Munich are the only breweries allowed to serve beer in the bigger tents. There are six breweries in total, producing a variety of different beers. By attending this yearly event, you can learn more about German beer, sample the different varieties, and enjoy the rich bold flavors that make German beer so very popular.

Due to the success Oktoberfest gets each and every year, other cities around the world try and mimic this event. Even though they have success, their level of success isn’t near as much as the original Oktoberfest - Germany. German beers are very popular around the world, with Oktoberfest helping to prove that very claim. If you drink beer but have never experienced what beers from Germany have to offer, you really should give them a try. Once you do, you’ll quickly realize why German beers are so very popular - and why the taste simply can’t be duplicated with any other beer.

The Malt Of Beer

The Malt Of Beer

We tend to think of "malt" as a thing. Of course there is the candy malt and there is the old fashioned "malted" that was the stable of 1950s "malt shops" which in our mind is more like a modern day milk shake.

But when it comes to beer, just about anyone, even people who are not involved in home brewing can list the ingredients as hops, malt, and grains. So as part of our quest to become more familiar with all of the aspects of beer making, it’s a good idea to explore more deeply what exactly the malt in beer is all about.

When you hear the word "malt" in regards to the brewing of beer, the reference is actually to malted barley. Malt is the outcome of the process of malting which starts with pure barley grain, the same grain you might use to make muffins or barley soup. That is a good way to ground the concept of malting to something very familiar.

But even then the term "malted barley" is not specific enough. Malting gets right to the heart of how beer is made because the core ingredient of beer are what results when the sugars from malted barley are fermented. Those sugars are scientifically named maltose, hence malt. So the malt used to make beer is the outcome of fermenting the sugars from malted barley whereas the candy or desert form of malt are those sugars themselves, unfermented. That makes good trivia for the new home brewers club meeting. But what makes brewers malt so useful in beers is that there are a wide variety of types of maltose sugars that result from the fermentation. And each of these can be brewed into a very unique beer.

How malt is produced can make for even more interesting trivia. And it gives you insight into how the malts you use in your home brewing come to be. The process of malting barley begins with jump starting the germination process that is nature's way of preparing the barley plants to grow from seeds into sprouts. The barley is soaked and then they are drained fairly soon so the seeds will be stimulated to begin to germinate. The part of the germination process that is interesting to brewers happens when certain enzymes are released by germination. These enzymes are powerful chemicals that convert the stored sugars and starches in the seeds which become food to power the germination and growth of the plant. But it is those enzymes that the brewer is looking to capture.

The entire objective of malting is to activate those enzymes in the seeds and release them so the brewer can capture them for the brewing process. So as soon as the germination process starts, the grain is quickly dried so the enzymes are captured in that raw state to be processed into malted barley. Once the brewer has the malted barley in the condition we just went through, that malt is saturated in hot water. This stimulates and activates the enzymes and puts them to work again. Under the controlled conditions of the brewing process, the enzymes do their job of converting the starches in the barley to sugars. And as those sugars go directly from conversion to be boiled with hops and then combined into fermented yeast, the result is this little thing we call -- beer.

Now this is all good information but most of us who are making beer at the amateur level. For our purposes, malt extract that is sold by your home brewing supplier is a great way to have all of that skilled preparation at your disposal without you having to do all the work. By buying the malt in extract form, it is ready to go into your boiling water and join the home brewing process in full swing. As you add the malt, those enzymes will kick in and the chemical reactions needed to create great tasting beer will be well underway.
Maybe there will come a time when you will get more involved in the more complicated procedures of brewing or at least visit a brewery where the malting process is underway. But since our love of home brewing is about learning all we can about how beer is made by making it ourselves, getting a feel or the malting process is both educational and fascinating as well.

The Heart Of Great Hops

The Heart Of Great Hops

There is no denying that a great beer has a unique flavor that is unlike any other beverage in the world. That artful blend of bitterness and the rich grain flavors can give you a beer that is bold and stout or one that is mellow and smooth. And while every component of the brewing process contributes important things to that unique flavor,

the hops can make a huge impact on the outcome of your beer. That is why it's good to understand the role hops plays in the brewing process and how you can control the taste of your home brewed beer by controlling the hops.

Hops are a natural ingredient that is actually a flower of the hop vine. One reason that hops give you so much flexibility as an amateur beer maker is that the varieties and origin of hops is very diverse. So you can find different hops to experiment with until you find one that gives you the perfect flavor for your beer.

How hops affect your beer is different depending on where the hops came from and how you use them. Some hops can introduce bitterness to your beer which is not a bad thing if it is part of the overall flavor. That "dry" flavor that many really enjoy in a good beer can came from the bitterness of the right kind of hops. But hops also give beer its deep rich aroma that is a flavor treat all by itself. So it's good to research which of these flavors the hops you are buying will add to your beer and to keep some records so you know which hops work best for you.

Now when you go to the brewing supply stores in town or order from the internet, you can buy hops unprocessed and prepare them for brewing yourself. But usually when you are starting out, its easier to buy them pressed and packaged into pellets in the right measure to add to your brewing process at the right time. You don’t need a lot of hops to make a five gallon batch of beer flavorful and rich. About two ounces per batch is plenty.

So be careful you don’t buy too much. For one thing, as a perishable item, unused hops could go bad before you get them used up. But also you may wish to buy very small quantities of hops so you can experiment with different ones to find the flavor you want.

Besides the origin and type of hops you buy, the way you use hops during the brewing cycle has the greatest effect on the changes to the flavor of your beer. Hops used to bitter a beer are usually added during the boiling process very early in the beer preparation cycle. This ensures that the boiling will take out any aroma from those hops and leave only the bittering effect that you want.

Hops used for the flavor and aroma aspect can be added later in the boiling cycle or during fermentation. The later in the brewing process that aroma hops are introduced, the more the beer that is the outcome of brewing will have that strong hop flavor. To get a beer with the strongest flavor of hops, add dried hops late in the fermentation process and none of the original flavor will be taken out of the final beverage. But this can be a very strong beer so be advised.

Hops give you a lot of ways to experiment with the home brewing process to get new and interesting flavors. And the continuous growth and development of your home brewing skills and finding new ways to make your beers flavorful and rich is one of the things that makes home brewing so satisfying. And hops can be a big part of that fun.