Home Beer Brewing Tips

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photo credit: sarah m scott  If you’d like to get your family involved in your new beer making hobby, here’s a great recipe for the kids and non-drinkers… Ginger Beer.

Recipe For Ginger Beer - A Wonderful Non Alcoholic Beverage
By Drew Brown

Ginger beer has a completely different recipe than regular beer, its completely non alcoholic and easy to make, the confusion that people have probably lays in the term beer, its just a common mistake. Ginger beer may be mixed with beer (usually a British ale of some sort) to make one type of shandy. Anyone can make this ginger beer recipe and everyone can drink it, even children.

The process involved of making home made ginger beer is quite simple and quick, it is a lot of fun to make even with your (grand)children. Really anyone can make this refreshing recipe. There are a lot of ginger beer recipes you can find online but the one we will give you is especially popular

What do you need for your own Home Made Ginger Beer

Ingredients and Tools:

When you plan to make your own home made ginger beer you need the proper tools and ingredients. For our ginger beer recipe you will need eight pint (plastic) bottles or four quart (plastic) bottles, and bowls where you can make the mixture in.

Basic Ginger Beer Recipe

For this most basic home made ginger beer recipe, the required ingredients are as follows:

- 2 oz. fresh ginger

- 1 tsp. cream of tartar

- 2 lemons

- 1 lb. sugar

- 1 oz. yeast.

- 1 gallon boiling water

The preparation is easy, You need to wash the lemons and slice them in thick rings, after that the ginger root should be roughly crushed. Mix the ginger, lemon, sugar and cream of tartar in a large bowl.

Pour the boiling water over the top, stir the mixture and let it cool to lukewarm temperature. After that you need to stir in the yeast. You’ll need to leave it for 24-48 hours to let the yeast go to work. Once the plastic bottle is very hard, and can’t be squeezed, the ginger beer is done. At that time you need to skim off the yeast and the mixture strained. After that your ginger beer can be bottled. Place the bottle in the fridge overnight. This halts the yeast and stops the bottle exploding. Once the ginger beer is chilled, pour it into a glass and enjoy. When you just follow this simple ginger beer recipe you can’t go wrong.

Exploding bottles

Because of the yeast, ginger beer can be a very aggressive fermenter, it produces high pressure very rapidly. So it is better not to bottle ginger beer in glass bottles. You also should not leave the finished ginger beer in a closed up warm place, because this can result in generating enough pressure to explode the lid of.

This is just one, although very popular, recipe for ginger beer. On the internet or at your favorite brewing supply store you can find many more.

Have fun in making this delicious Ginger Beer recipe, and enjoy making it together with your children or grandchildren. Together you can make little changes to make it your personal Ginger Beer recipe.

Drew Brown has one hobby and he loves to share it with the world. He just loves to brew his own beverages. http://www.brewingyourown.com

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If you’re just getting started brewing your own beer at home, you’ll need some basic beer brewing equipment.

You can either buy a beer making kit or you can buy the equipment piece by piece.

Either way, here’s a short list of what you’ll need:

- one large container (5-6 gallons) to store the beer in while it’s fermenting (also called a carboy)
- a large stock pot or bucket (should hold at least 3 gallons of liquid)
- a hydrometer (a thermometer will work if you don’t have a hydrometer)
- a siphon hose
- bottles or something to store the beer in when done

Also helpful to have on hand are a long-handled stainless steel spoon and a funnel.

It’s crucial that all of your beer brewing equipment be sanitized before and after using it to ensure that your beer tastes its best.

Personally, I’d rather buy a kit if I was just getting started, but to save money you can find many of the items above either in your own home, at garage sales, or on the Internet.

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photo credit: pheaber - Just ran across this homemade beer recipes article by William Swan.  I love his sense of humor and the recipes look good too!  Thanks William!

100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall - Beer Recipes to Make at Home
By William Swan

You’ve just finished bottling your first batch of beer with some equipment and a standard beer recipe you got a couple of weeks back. You take the bottle opener (or just use your teeth, because your in such a hurry to taste your beer), and pop open the bottle.

Cautiously you taste it; about 10 seconds later, you have a smile on your face because it actually tastes like beer (and it’s delicious too).

Looking at the two and a half cases of beer that you just made, you realize that it will only last you a couple of weeks (if you don’t invite any friends over to help you drink it). You need to hurry up and make some more.

Here are four beer recipes that are pretty easy for beginners to make; but once you have a lot of experience with beer making, you will enjoy making (and drinking them) as well.
The Full Pilsner (this is a great second beer to try, because the ingredient list is really short)

1 can of Pilsner beer kit

2.2 lbs of dry malt extract

1 lb of corn sugar

1 oz. of hops

1 vial of Pilsner Lager yeast

Carbonation drops

Heat the water to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and add the malt extract and corn sugar. Bring the mixture to near boiling. Remove from the heat and add the beer kit.

Add the hops to a liter of cold water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and boil for 10 minutes. Let cool, and then add the water from this pan to the mixture of malt extract, corn sugar and beer kit, straining out the hops.

Cool the mixture, and add to the fermenter (adding more water to make 5 gallons). Add the yeast, and begin the fermenting process. Before bottling, add some carbonation drops, and enjoy!
Simple Stout (this Irish beer recipe is a bit more advanced. Don’t worry, after you’ve made a couple of beers, this dark beer won’t seem difficult to make at all)

6.6 lbs of dark malt extract

1 lb of flaked barley

1 lb of roasted barley

2 oz. of Challenger leaf hops

½ teaspoon of Irish moss

7 grams of ale yeast

1 cup light dry malt extract

Clean and sanitize everything. Put the roasted barley in a steeping bag, and steep in the water for about 15-20 minutes. (You remembered to get all the chlorine out of the water by boiling it for about 10 minutes, right?)

Mix in the malt extract and the flaked barley, and bring to a boil. After the mixture starts to foam, add the hops. Keep boiling it, and after 25 minutes add the Irish moss. Boil it for 20 more minutes and then cool the mixture down to room temperature.

Put the mixture in your fermenter (you may need to add a bit of water to get it to 5 gallons). Add the yeast and ferment. Before bottling, add the dry malt extract.
US LAGER (If you like brewery beer, you can now make it at home!)

6 lbs of light malt extract

1 lbs of rice syrup solids

1.5 oz. of Styrian Golding hops

1 teaspoon of calcium chloride

1 teaspoon of Irish moss

7 grams of yeast

¾ cup of corn sugar

Sterilize and pre-boil your water. Add the malt extract, rice syrup and calcium chloride to the water and bring to a light boil. After the mixture starts to foam, add the hops and the Irish moss - continue to boil for 20 more minutes. Cool down to room temperature and put in your fermenter. When the temperature is less than 80 degrees Fahrenheit, add the yeast. Right before you bottle, add the corn sugar. Invite some friends over, and enjoy this beer while planning your next recipe!
Pale Ale (If you don’t like your beers too light or too dark, this is a good one to try!)

1 can of Coopers light malt extract

1 can of Coopers lager kit

1/8 lb malted wheat

1/8 lb dark crystal malt

1/8 lb light crystal malt

3 oz hops

2 packages of ale yeast

Get everything cleaned up. Steep the grains in 1.5 gallons of the water from the time the water is cold until it is boiling. Remove the grains, and add the two cans of extract. Boil for 10 minutes and then add 1/3 of the hops, continue to boil for 20 minutes and add 1/3 of the hops, and then boil for 5 more minutes before removing from the heat.

Cool, and add to the fermenter with enough water to make 5 gallons. Add the yeast when the temperature is at room temperature. After three days add the final 1/3 of the hops directly to the mix; after 12 days, you can bottle and enjoy!

Love beer ? Check out theses beer t-shirts

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You can find over 1,000 recipes (and growing) at BeerRecipes.org.

Whether you’re looking for wheat beer recipes, ginger beer recipes, summer beer recipes, winter beer recipes, or even chili beer recipes, BeerRecipes.org has them all.

You can search their recipes by type (all grain or extract beer recipes), ot by style (wheat, amber, ale, etc.).

They also have forums where you can ask questions about recipes or where you can add your own favorite beer recipe.  I could probably spend hours going through the various recipes on this site.  Enjoy!

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More and more people are getting into making homemade beer as they discover how much fun it can be and how great home brewed beer can taste.  There’s nothing more satisfying than serving your own fresh beer to your buddies and hear them rave that your beer is as good as the store bought beer they usually drink… or maybe even better!

One reason making homemade beer is getting so popular is that getting the equipment and getting setup to brew your own beer is fairly easy and inexpensive.  You can find discounted equipment from people who already brew their own beer (they might be upgrading their equipment or maybe they have gotten out of the hobby), or sometimes you can make your own equipment.

More and more brewing retail stores are popping up to help provide the ingredients, supplies and equipment needed for home brewing beer as well.  And of course the Internet has hundreds of resources and websites where you can find ebooks, articles and all the help you could ask for to help you get started making your own beer.

There are many reasons why people getting into home brewing.  Some love the social aspect that comes with joining a community of home brewers.  Others just think it’s fun assembling the equipment, learning the recipes and mastering the art of making your home grown batch of tasty beer.  Heck even if you mess a batch up, it’s still fun trying!

Another reason to brew your own beer is that you have a lot more control over the taste when you brew it yourself.  Since you’re not dealing with a mass produced beer that’s shipped from hundreds of miles away, you can control the taste, the consistency and even the level of alcohol to suit your taste.  And you can change it as much as you want with all of the beer recipes available today.

Getting started making homemade beer is easier and less expensive than you might think as well.  Probably the best way to get an idea for the best equipment to buy and which suppliers have the best ingredients is to join a couple of home brewing clubs and make some friends there.  If you make it known that you are new to home brewing, you’re likely to get tons of mentoring and help.  Definitely pick the brains of those who have been making their own beer for a while to get a heads up on the best equipment and supplies to buy.

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Here are some interesting beer facts I found yesterday as I was catching up on my reading:

- The Brewers Association released the list of top 50 brewing companies for 2008 (based on sales volume) and I was surprised to learn that 37 of the top 50 brewers were small, independent brewing companies.  In 2007 the top 50 list included 35 small craft brewers, so it looks like this trend might be growing…

- After an 18% tax hike last year, British pubs are in serious decline, as many have had to close their doors.  For more information or to help fight the “sin” tax, you can visit AxeTheBeerTax.com.

- Did you know that the phrase “rule of thumb” comes from brewers?  Yep, brewers!  Before thermometers were invented, brewers would check the temperature for the right time to add the yeast by dipping their thumbs in the pot.  Ouch!

- And my favorite fun beer fact, Germany serves beer ice cream in the form of a popsicle.  What more could an ice cream loving beer drinker want?

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So you’ve decided you want to learn how to make your own beer, but you don’t have a clue how to get started. What equipment will you need, what ingredients are best, which beer recipes should you try first, etc. Well the easiest way to get started with home beer brewing is to pick up a beer making kit.

A good beer making kit will have everything you need to get start brewing your own beer at home. It’s probably the easiest way to get started if you are new to home brewing, and you will find that you really can create your own great tasting beer with just a little knowledge and a great beer making kit.

There are many beer kits sold today. You can find beer making kits online or even in your local grocery store. Most beer making kits come with complete instructions to make it easier on beginner beer brewers. Most kits also have all the ingredients and recipes to help you make great tasting beer from home.

While your basic beer kits will have everything you need to get started (including brew packs, bottles, supplies, and a brew guide), and generally allow you to brew 1 batch of great tasting beer, once you’ve got the basics down, you might want to investigate the more advanced brew kits. The more advanced brew kits will include premium ingredients, and more advanced equipment and supplies such as bottling systems, hop scales, brew-o-meters, measures, glasses, and more.

So you see, there’s no shame in buying a beer making kit. It’s easy, it’s a great way to get started learning how to make beer from home, and it will help you save money in the long run (over buying expensive retail beers from the grocery or liquor store).

Home beer kits are great for yourself to get started home brewing, and they make great gifts as well. There are even root beer kits for the kids! So what are you waiting for… start making your own great tasting beer from home today!

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When times are tough, we all look for ways to cut back and save money. With gas prices going up constantly, the prices of everything just goes right on up with them.

Since we can’t print money like the government, we have to learn how to cut costs without giving up the things we love in life. And if you’re like my family, quality of life means having a great tasting brew, and no way are we giving up our brew.

Thankfully, there is something we can do to make sure we don’t have to give up our beer, is fun and cost cutting all at the same time. Yep, you guessed it; I’m talking about making homemade beer! The great thing about making your own beer is that you get three great benefits all in one great hobby.

First, you get to take one passion - drinking beer - and turn it into a new passion - making homemade beer - that will not only keep you busy, but will likely fascinate you as well. Second, you’ll become part of a whole group of fascinating people who are zealots for this hobby and lifestyle of homebrewing.

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 the best part is that you can make it for a fraction of the cost of what you would pay for retail beer, and you may even find that you like it better than your long time favorite retail brand.

The great thing about home brewing your own beer is that in addition to all these benefits, it really isn’t that hard to learn how to make great tasting beer right at home. There’s a little bit of a learning curve to learn which ingredients to use, how to use the equipment, etc., but the ingredients are easy to find these days, which means you can start making great tasting beer at home for a very small investment.

So on top of great fun, and great beer, it’s sensible economics as well. You may not be able to control the cost of gasoline or rising food costs, but you can control one tiny part of your own economy by brewing your own beer at home!

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Why would you want to make your own beer at home when you can choose from thousands of varieties of beer at your local grocery or liquor store?

Some people brew their own beer as a hobby, some enjoy the process, some are trying to save money, and others just really, really like their beer.

Many people find brewing their own beer fun and exciting.  It’s a great hobby to keep them busy on the weekends or after work.  It’s also a fun activity to do with friends and family (adult family only please!).

There are many different recipes for beer available, so you’re sure to find some that you like.  Most of the recipes are pretty easy to follow and have ingredients that are easy to find.  With all of the different recipes available, you’re sure to find one that you’ll enjoy.

There are also many home beer brewing kits available to help you make great tasting beer at home.  With the right kit and beer-making recipe, anyone can try making great tasting beer.  Using a beer brewing kit is probably the easiest way to get started, and also makes a great gift for someone who has never brewed their own beer before.

It’s easy to find out about making your own beer these days with the Internet.  You can go online and find many websites about beer brewing, as well as the kits mentioned above.

On this blog, we’re going to discuss home beer brewing, beer brewing supplies and equipment, beer brewing kits, and much more, so please check back often!

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