home beer brewing

Why would anybody want to brew his own beer at this time when moonlighting is passé and a six-pack is readily available in grocery stores? Some people do it to make a modest savings. With a little effort they can produce a week’s supply at a fraction of the cost of commercial beer. Others want beer to taste a certain way. And the only way to achieve this is by producing their own. Whatever the reason, it is good for the environment because you don’t have aluminum cans to dispose of.

For those thinking of embarking on a home beer brewing project here are a few tips. ~Use high quality, fresh ingredients – fresh ingredients make better homebrew. Store liquid yeast in the refrigerator, grains in a cool dry place, and hops in the freezer. Hops, dry malt, yeast, liquid malt, and crushed grains all have a limited shelf life and must be used quickly. ~Keep it sterile – anything that touches your beer after it has started cooling must be sanitized using any of the popular sanitizing solutions (bleach, iodophor, etc).~Cool the wort quickly – cooling your beer quickly will increase the fallout of proteins and tannins that are bad for your beer and will also reduce the chance of infection. ~Use glass fermenters – glass fermenters offer significant advantages over the typical plastic bucket. First they are much easier to clean and sterilize. Second, glass (or stainless) provides a 100% oxygen barrier, where plastic buckets are porous and can leak oxygen if stored for long periods. Third, plastic fermenters often have very poor seals around the top of the bucket and can leak in both directions making it difficult to determine when fermentation has actually completed.

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