Why Make Home Brewed Beer? (international beer)
No commentsBy Lee MacRae
Many folks love the taste of a well made beer every once in a while. If you do it right, there is nothing wrong with enjoying life and friends while and drinking a great beer. There is nothing greater than the pleasure of it, the way a frosty mug quenches your thirst on a hot, sunny afternoon, the satisfaction you feel drinking and watching your favorite team win.
But why not simply buy bottled beer from the local brewery? Why do some folks become involved in home beer brewing Read along and we’ll tell you why.
One of the unique things regarding this beverage is that there are so many types and flavors to try. Beers can be divided into lagers and ales. But then there is an amazing array of types within the two categories along with hybrid specialty beers that you can try. There is normally something for every taste. But that can also be a problem. Imagine having difficulty locating the exact type of beer you like nearby. The answer is: you can always make it yourself. Problem solved. And that is why many people make their own beer at home.
Making your own beer at home also permits you to take control of the creation process itself. When you buy home brewing supplies in the mall or on the internet, you can make beer with the exact taste and texture you love. Through a loving process, you can create the exact beer with a certain quality that will have you pouring a glass time and again. This is a strong reason that many folks home brew their own beer.
Another reason is cost. Packaged beer may give you convenience and consistency of product, but it comes at a price. The commercial brew master has a mark up to make his profit. Considering how much beer you buy and consume over a year, normally home made costs a fraction of that. With home brew, in the first year you can expect to pay about half the price of store bought beer and a lot of this cost is likely to be the retail beer you consume while waiting to drink your first initial batch of home made beer! And with the second and subsequent batches of home made beer, the savings will really begin to add up.
Home made beer gives you a lot. You never need to worry about going without your favorite type, you can make a beer with the taste and texture you love, you can be like that great chef, making a house specialty just for friends and family, and you will save yourself a lot of coin while enjoying a great hobby. So why are you waiting?
We have available beer brewing supplies for anyone into home beer brewing.
How To Choose The Variety Of Hops For Your Home Brewed Beer
By Lee MacRae
Brewing your own personal beer at home can be an amazing experience. It offers you the opportunity to create a brew to your exacting tastes when Brewing your own beer at home. It can also offer you the opportunity of making a beer you can’t get very easily locally. Home beer brewing also gives you the freedom to play with the exact ingredients that will determine the final taste of the final product. But sometimes selecting those exact ingredients can be difficult. For example, there are dozens of hops varieties that you can choose from. The article that follows will discuss how to choose the right hops for the particular beer you want to makeup at home.
There are actually so many different kinds of hops that it actually can be confusing at first. There are different varieties that are grown in North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and New Zealand that have different properties. And often these varieties of hops can be used in the brewing of one or more beers. For example, the hops variety known as Brewer’s Gold can be used for an English ale, Northwest Golding can be used in making Ale, a porter, stout, ESB or bitter, Hallertauer Mittelfrh can be used in home brewing Lager, bock, wheat and maybe pilsner while U.S. Northern Brewer is great for ESB (Extra Special Bitter), bitter, English pale ale, porter as well as California (steam) beer.
There are a number of things you need to look for when selecting your hops. You have to know the alpha acid “rating” for the specific hops you are considering. This rating tells you how much of the weight of the hop consists of alpha acids. Hops that have a higher alpha acid content will contribute more bitterness than a low alpha hop will when using the same amount of that hop.
For example, Bramling Cross (U.K.) has an Alpha Acid % of 5% to 7%, Chinook offers an Alpha Acid content ranging from 10% to 14% while Admiral (U.K.) gives you an Alpha Acid content of 13.5% to 16%. WGV (Whitbread Golding Variety) from the U.K. is 5% to 7% while Satus goes from 12.5% to 14%. Each variety of hops contributes a bitterness that will balance the sweetness of the malt in the beer so you need to choose wisely.
In addition, each hops variety will add a specific flavor or aroma to your beer. For example, Ahtanum is described as being floral, citrus, sharp, and piney, Bullion is described as having an intense blackcurrant aroma while Chinook is described as having a mild to a medium-heavy, spicy, piney, and grapefruity flavoring. As you can see, each of variety of hops has a particular characteristic to add to your beer.
While all this might seem to be daunting or confusing at first, the good thing is that you will find charts available that will describe the alpha acid rating as well as the flavor or aroma of each variety of hops. You can also find charts that will tell you exactly which hops are best for which variety of beers. You can visit your local home beer making store or you can look on the Internet for information and charts to help you choose a variety of hops for your next batch. Having this information at hand will also help you to choose and even allows you to experiment with a specific variety of hops that will add or lessen the bitterness you prefer. Or you can decide on the flavoring that you would like to have in your next beer.
There are some home beer brewing hobbyists who prefer to try and grow their own hops rather than getting them from a hops supplier or your nearby home beer brewing hobby store. If you decide to try to grow your own keep in mind that it may take you from 2 to 3 years to harvest the full crop. But this can definitely be another way of having full control over another ingredient in your home brew.
As you can see, hops are a key ingredient in beer and they provide much of the flavor and spice that defines many different categories of beer. Don’t be afraid to experiment and to try a different variety of hops to add to the flavor of your home made beer. Take a new variety of hops for a spin and create a homemade beer that will take your friends and family (if not the world) by storm!
We have a wide variety of home beer brewing supplies for anyone who wants to know how to brew beer at home
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