It is no secret that everyone is trying to stay in shape and cut out as many calories possible out of the diet. If you stop to think about it, when was the last time you saw a commercial for a beer that wasn’t “Lite” or reduced calories? I will bet it has been a while. You will see commercial after commercial for beer celebrating how low they are in calories but still have taste. If you are one of the ever growing number of people that home brew beer, you might be asking if you can really reduce the calories in your brews and still maintain taste.
Yes, you can, but only to a point.
Beginning the process of reducing calories in your beer batch is going to start off with the sugar you have in the fermentation process. As you know, different recipes are going to require different amount of sugars. So, you can start the process of brewing lower calorie beer by using recipes that require less sugar to ferment. In no case should you try to use artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. Artificial sweeteners are, basically, chemical compounds made to taste sweet. Using anything other than sugar will greatly change the fermentation process which, in turn, will greatly change the taste you are trying to achieve. What comes out at the end of the process might not even be beer!
Another spot to watch in counting calories is the carbohydrates in your malt and hops. If lower calories are your goal, then you can evaluate this when deciding on the recipe in the first place. The process of creating a really good “light” home brew beer lies in the recipe and the ingredients it requires. By visiting the online beer sites you will see a large number of low calorie and low carbohydrate beer. The ingredients have already been selected for their ability to produce a lighter beer.
But please remember that, too be good, beer must go through the fermentation process and, in my opinion, it is not possible to brew a low calorie or low carbohydrate beer with the same richness of taste. Here is another suggestion: Instead of drinking weak beer, simply drink less! You are limiting your calories either way.
Author: Jesse L Moore
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Thinking of brewing your own beer at home but something always kept you from actually start brewing? It must be complicated, time consuming and I wouldn’t know where to start?
Put those negative thoughts away my friends, homebrewing can be as simple as buying a beer brewing kits available. Most kits come complete with everything you need to brew beer at home.
You should first understand the four key ingredients necessary in making beer: water, fermentable sugar, hops and yeast. Having a basic idea of what they do and how they interact with each other in brewing process will enhance the joy of this hobby. As you gain knowledge and experience, you can put your own twist to your homebrew to truly make it unique.
Water: The most important ingredient in beer. Water you use should be pure and taste good. If you plan on using tap water but it tastes like pool water, boil it before using to evaporate chlorine and other chemicals that may be in the water. You can also use bottled water or invest in water filtration system.
Fermented sugar: Sugar derived from malted grains. Malting barley and other grains from scratch is very complicated and time consuming process. Lucky for us, a can of malted extract or malt syrup is provided in the kit. This will practically eliminate something going wrong in brewing process.
Hops: Conical shaped flowers found on a hop vine. Hops make the bitter flavor that balances out the sweetness from fermented sugar. It also helps keep the head longer when poured into a glass and slows down spoilage.
Yeast: Specially cultivated yeast just for brewing beer. There are two basic categories of beer yeast, ale yeast and lager yeast. Ale yeast will actively ferment in warmer temperatures above 50F (10C). It’s known as top-fermenting yeast as it tend to hang around at top of the carboy (fermenting vessel) while fermenting. Lager yeast likes cooler temps below 55F (13C) all the way down to 32F(0C) and works its magic from the bottom, hence the bottom-fermenting yeast.
We’ve just touched on basic ingredients of home brewing. Just from this article, you already learned that you need top-fermenting yeast if you want to brew an ale and what temperature to keep for it to actively ferment.
Home brewing can be fun and you can’t beat the rewards of taking that first sip of beer that you made.
Author: Jim Shigeta
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Recently we’ve encountered several articles that give you amazing, interesting and alternate uses for Home Brewed Beer. These strange ideas suggest you do odd things with beer, other than drink it yourself or have your family, friends, loved ones and total strangers drink your beer. In the spirit of accurate reporting we urge you to read this special report and make up your own mind.
Here is a list some of these insane and dangerous ideas. We urge you to be on the look-out and if you see others using home made beer in these ways…report them immediately to the “Beer Monitors,” and Yes, it will go on their permanent record.
1. “Home Brewed Beer can be used as a Fire Extinguisher.” Oh my goodness, good golly Miss Molly, for heavens sake and, “Not on my watch.” The obvious solution to this terrible suggestion is, “Always, and at all times carry a full box of baking soda in your purse or back pocket.” As you well know baking soda is an excellent fire extinguisher. Home made beer is not to be used for this purpose unless a family member is on fire, then by all means, shake, pop-the-cap and, “Put them OUT!” We know several of you currently carry a box of baking soda with you at all times, to you we say, “Bravo,” it’s odd, yes, but you are a special person.
2. “Home made beer can be used in a marinade and is excellent for tenderizing meat.” The theory is that our preciously brewed beer is slightly acidic and will make meat softer. Here is our solution for that, “If you need SOFT meat, put it in the food processor, otherwise CHEW MORE.” Want a great meat tenderizer, go to the Food Channel (foodnetwork.com) enter “meat tenderizer” in the search box, guess what you get, “Meat Tenderizer” you then go buy it at your local supermarket. Using your precious home brewed beer to make meat soft is not just a travesty, it’s just dumb.
3. “Polish your dishes and pots and pans with beer.” You’ve got to be kidding me. Unless you’re one of those people who collect dryer lint to knit a sweater this is one of the strangest ideas ever. It comes from the old tradition of using the last few drops of beer in a barrel to polish the “copper” kettles that beer was brew in. Uh, hello, we have copper cleaner now. We don’t use Morse Code on the internet, Don’t polish your dishes with your very special home made beer.
4. “Use Beer to Massage Your Feet.” Oh, the humanity, Oh the utter foolishness. Put a bottle of your hand crafted, superb and wonderful tasting beer on the floor and run your feet over it, because your feet hurt? I think NOT. Need something cold to run your feet over, freeze a can of succotash (yep, supermarket again.) Never, ever run your feet over home brewed beer. Please understand, it’ not that we feel this is disrespectful, it’s just way too stupid and a can of succotash is like way cheaper.
We sincerely hope that you’ve found this de-bunking of the most terrible alternate uses of Home Brewed Beer enlightening. And yes, for those of you who are wondering, there are many other really goofy ideas out there on what to do with beer. What is our advice you ask? Honor it, treasure it, pay homage to it, but most importantly when you brew your own beer, drink it and enjoy it.
Here is our Public Service Message: Do not drink while driving! You’re liable to hit a bump and spill the whole darn thing! (Cheers to the Kingston Trio, yes that was before your time.)
Author: Wyn Hawks
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Importance of Ingredients in Home Brew Beer
Think of home brew beer like making a fine meal for the family. When you are trying to impress everyone with your prowess in the kitchen you would not use ingredients of lesser quality. For this very same reason it is important not to use lesser ingredients in your home brew beer. By making sure that your ingredients are all first rate you will find that you will produce a brew to be proud of.
Fortunately, looking for the proper ingredients for use in your home brew beer is not nearly as hard as you might think. The internet is a great resource to start looking for other brewers across the globe. You will find hundreds of online beer websites that sell everything from the basic required ingredients all the way up to the most exotic. Also be sure to make a habit of looking at message boards and blogs to see what other brewers think of the ingredients you want to use. These people have nothing to gain by steering you in the wrong direction and so their advice is almost always top notch.
When talking with other brewers you will run across new recipes that you probably have never thought of. This sharing of information is one of the most fun things about producing home brew beer. Being able to take advantage of everyone else’s experiences is a great help in making your home beer brewing experience all that much better.
For example, when I was looking for a specific ingredient I ran across a recipe for a Brown Ale posted by another home brewer that only took three weeks to be ready. Although my preference is to let my beer sit or 4-5 weeks, depending on the recipe, I tried his recipe and it worked beautifully. Now I have another “favorite” recipe to savor.
I am quite sure that you will be able to find your ingredient with very little difficulty at all. But finding the time to make and enjoy all the wonderful brewing recipes out there is another question entirely!
Author: Jesse L Moore
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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There are quite a few people who feel that making beer at home is pointless. They don’t believe that making your own beer can be similar to cooking your own meal because home brewing can take a lot of time. People by nature are impatient; they don’t want to wait for something, especially after they’ve put in so much effort. But, the reward you will reap is well worth it; nothing is quite as good as drinking a beer brew you have made with your own two hands. And, if you really get into this hobby, you can plan ahead and make beer every evening.
Locating the right home brewing supplies is not hard at all. The internet is a great place to start; you can easily find a business that provides all of the supplies and ingredients needed to make a great home brew beer. Another benefit of searching online: experts that have been there, done that, and can tell you what to do to get the most use from your supplies and even what tools are best. When you gain more experience, you too will know the best supplies to use and how to use them. Here recently, home beer makers have come to realize that people’s idea of a great beer is the same as their feelings about food and wine. Making beer at home will allow you an outlet for your ideas and ingenuity.
As an at home beer brewer, ideas will frequently pop up out of nowhere. The best aspect of home brewing is that you are free to experiment to your heart’s content. You can take a recipe and decide if anything needs to be changed. The ingredients and supplies used in making beer at home are highly varied. If you want a raspberry flavor to your beer, you can make that happen. The only thing you need to do is put in the required effort to get the desired product. The foundation of home brewing is straightforward, but there is still room for tweaking, as you’ll learn with experience.
But, when dealing with home brewing supplies, you cannot vary on certain components. By using the appropriate equipment, you can be assured that your beer will have a certain quality to it. However, the type of tools you buy all depend on two factors: the time you want to put into your home brewing and how much space in your house you can devote to your endeavors. Don’t worry; there are many fellow home brewers that do not mind giving advice.
And, when you buy ingredients, what you buy will relate to the time you want to put towards making your home brew beer. If you go in for the long haul, you’ll need hops, yeast, and water. You do have the option of including ingredients like barley. Once you feel you are ready to deviate from the process, you can learn to do so.
Author: Alex Ottis
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Every beer drinker feels that if they only had the skill to learn how to brew beer at home, they would produce the best tasting beer in the world. Brewing the beer, however, is only one part of the fun of this great hobby. The other part of brewing your own beer is enjoying the unique taste that you create. Just by developing some basic skills you too can create a pleasant tasting, original beer.
There are four essential items of equipment that you will need before you start your first brew. They are: a fermenter, an airlock, a hydrometer and the equipment to sterilize all your other equipment and your bottles. It is probably best to purchase a kit to start off with. You can buy these items separately and probably at a cheaper price. However, if you don’t know exactly what you need it is still best to purchase a kit. A kit usually contains all the necessary equipment and most come with instructions and basic ingredients to get started. Hint: If your kit doesn’t already come with it, you will need to purchase a can of hopped malt extract. You can buy it at most supermarkets.
The best way to start your first brew project is to keep it simple. The can of hopped malt extract will help with this. To begin any brewing process you must first master the sterilization process. This is a critical step and if not done correctly it will ruin your first product, guaranteed. When everything is properly sterilized, you can add the can of malted hops to the fermenter following the instructions that come with the can or in the kit. If you leave this in the fermenter a little longer than it says to in the instructions it will help the beer clear and provide a much better taste. As I said earlier, the simple instructions that a kit provides will help you brew your first batch, but you may not like the resulting taste. Don’t get discouraged, consider it part of the learning process.
Once you have mastered the process and are able to brew at least a basic beer, you can easily modify the process and recipe to improve the taste and clarity. Your brews will become better and better with each batch and before long all your neighbors will be wanting to know your secret. You can find more information on how to brew beer at home and a great book of beer recipes that you can use to product great tasting brew by going to www.HowTo-BrewBeer.com.
Author: Robert P. Steele
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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When you walk down the beer isle at the grocery store how many different options are there? A dozen? Two dozen? My bet is that there are even more than that in the average grocery store and even more in liquor stores. So why would you stick with the same flavor with your home brew beer? One of the biggest advantages of home brew beer is that you can make your own unique flavors that you will never find at the store.
Depending on your own individual tastes you can create any number of variations that are yours and yours alone. Should you choose to, you can add special flavors such as cherry, caramel, or smoked flavors just by adding various items at the right time during the brewing process.
For me, one of the top flavors I enjoy in the home brew beer process is a “Cherry Wheat”. To get the particular cherry wheat flavor into the beer, you add a type of cherry extract to the mix. Depending on how much beer I am brewing, I use about four oz. of cherry extract to six and half pounds of wheat.
Also, for those who want a different type of experience, by using the same home brew beer procedures as beer you can also make cider. The process to make cider uses the same equipment as brewing beer and can be very tasty when done correctly. Also, with cider, you can add many types of flavors such as cranberries to create a unique flavor.
Don’t think that you are stuck with fruit type flavors with home brew beer. Even a quick look at the online beer sites will show how many different flavors are possible. With just a little experience you will easily be able to produce pilsners, ale’s, lagers, stouts, brown ale’s and all types of creative and unique flavors. This is the primary benefit of home brew beer; getting exactly the flavor you want each time. And all of this comes with a quality that is unmatched from the store.
Author: Jesse L Moore
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Brewing beer has been around for many centuries. Its concept has been around since mankind discovered the making of bread and to this day is still practiced on a small scale as well as largely mass-produced manufacturing. The process may not be quite as convenient as just being able to purchase from a wide selection of brands from a local store, but once the whole aspect of production is understood, the benefits of home brewing can certainly be more rewarding in due time.
Many people in recent times have embraced the whole home brewing process. As a pastime it offers perhaps a stress free environment which at a relaxed pace can often be described as therapeutic. The easy access to brewing equipment and ready-made ingredients can give even the novice brewer a head start with such a wide variety of home brewing starter kits available on the market. From specialized beer recipes to any number of flavored wines, the possibilities of brewing from home a unique beverage to suit an individual’s taste are endless.
Although home brewing may not exactly have instant results, as a money saving alternative for the beer connoisseur without a doubt it offers positive financial benefits. From home production, there are no imposed government taxes or duties to incur, and the increased retail mark-up price due to shipping and packaging costs are comfortably avoided. Not only that, home brewing is also environmentally friendly with regards to packaging in the form of reusable bottles, and eliminating fuel consumption through transportation.
Home brewing of beer is regarded legal in most countries around the world. Providing the brewer remains within the given boundaries of volume production allowed within the annual quantity limit, and uses the product for own consumption and not for profitable selling, then the home brewer will not be penalized by the authorities. It is however possible for a home brewer to sell their product once they regard the recipe to be perfected, but application for the appropriate license must obviously be adhered to.
As a simple process to understand, the brewing of beer may actually take some time to perfect. For a brewer to achieve the correct recipe, much understanding and knowledge may have to be learned by the unfortunate task of elimination. It is a slow learning process which may take require a lot of patience, but once mastered can be an extremely productive hobby when applied with a good brewing system.
Home brewed beers often come with the stigma attached that they never taste as good as off-the-shelf brands. The ability to recreate popular mass-produced beers may be found to be difficult, but with trial and error it is feasible that they can be bettered to suit a person’s palate. The flavor and texture possibilities are endless when used in conjunction with the right knowledge of beer fermentation, addition of ingredients, and sense of adventure. The potential of having a brew constantly on tap and suited directly towards the brewer’s fancies may seem like a paradise within reach for the avid aficionado of fine ale.
With reduced overheads, only a small amount of manual work and the convenience of being stored within arms reach, home brewing certainly does have its good points. The results can be gratifying even of a competitive nature with entries to nationwide and local home brew competitions a possibility. Making friends has never been so easy by having a regular personal stash of brew, and although the shelf life might not last as long as the popular processed beers, that’s very little concern when there’s plenty of appetites to be whetted.
Author: Jorge Zarate
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Brewing beer is essentially the process of fermenting grain or fruit over a period of time, the sugars in the grain or fruit will then turn in to alcohol. You can make beer with either the grains or an extract from grain. The way commercial producers make beer is not so different from the way that home brewers do.
The steps to a home brewed beer
Step 1
First we need to make a mash that is why this stage is often called the mashing stage. We need to crush en steep all the grains in water and thus forming an extract. This mash is then kept at a constant temperature and by doing this some enzymes and starches are distracted from the grains. The distracted starches will become sugars that later on will become alcohol.
Step 2
Sparging is the name of the stage. Fresh water needs to be added at this point so any sugar that remained in the mash will now dissolve. From now on we will call this mixture wort, this is the basis for all beers, a dark liquid loaded with sugar.
Step 3
When we are done with the sparging and we are sure that all sugar has dissolved we will boil the wort. If you need to add any extra ingredients this is the time to do so. Hops is a given in this but you can add anything that your recipe calls for. A lot of the home brewers out there have their own special ingredients that they add to the recipe, so they can have a special flavor that is connected to them. By bringing the wort to a boil we also kill bacteria and other microorganisms that could be present in the wort it will also get rid of the excess water.
Step 4
Now we place this mixture of wort, hops and other ingredients in to a glass vat or jar and we add yeast to it. Now we let this mixture ferment for some time. This fermentation process can take from 7 up to 14 days (sometimes longer), during this time sediment will settle on the bottom of the glass jar or vat together with other materials. When this first fermentation is done most brewers will put the beer in a new container so it can ferment some more.
Step 5
Now we have come to the last stage which is the packaging stage. Get your beer bottled and capped.
Where do the bubbles come in?
You might wonder when the bubbles, or carbonation as we call it, gets in the beer. Most of the beer drinkers in the world like their beer to be carbonated. Except a few people, no one likes his or her beer to be flat. When you brew your own beer some carbonation will have happened but it won’t be much. When you do your brewing at home then there are a few methods to get more carbonation in your brew,
Method A
This method is not for everyone and is called forced carbonation. When you use this method you would be forcing carbon dioxide, just before capping them, into the bottles. This is not only difficult but also could be hazardous and therefore is not a method we would recommend.
Method B
A much easier way of getting more carbonation in your brew is to just let it ferment a bit longer. When the yeast starts to ferment in the beer and creating alcohol in the process has a byproduct and that product is called carob dioxide. So the longer the beer is allowed to ferment the more carbonation you will get.
Method C
You could also add some unfermented wort to each bottle of beer just before they are capped. This way the fermentation process continues in the bottle and thus adding more carbon dioxide to the beer. But be very careful with this method, if you add to much wort the bottle could explode because to much pressure builds up inside the bottle.
Author: Drew Brown
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Many people don’t realize how easy it really is to produce beer yourself, at your own home. For this reason, many people are missing out on a great opportunity to impress friends, family, and save lots of money. Brewing your own beer can cost as little as $6 a gallon! You can even bottle it yourself and sell it to make a profit.
One of the easiest ways to brew beer is by purchasing a kit that has all the tools you need. Most kits come with a brew keg and tap, as well as the ingredients (usually hops) and possibly containers. It really contains pretty much everything you need to get started! For that fact, it is definitely easy to get started and hard to stop. These kits usually go for around $20 to an upwards of a few hundred dollars. It really depends on how much beer you want to brew at one time, and how advanced you are.
By being able to brew your own beer, you will be able to create a delicious beer that tastes just how you like it, and in addition it’s a great hobby to pass on and tell others about. Wouldn’t it be nice to come home from work and have a nice ice cold beer, especially one that you have made yourself?
One of the key factors to take into consideration when brewing your own beer is that you need to make sure you follow the directions carefully and ensure that you are taking the correct measurements. Often times, if you measure the wrong quantity of ingredients just by a little bit, your beer can have a totally different taste than the last time you brewed.
If you are interested in taking up the hobby of brewing your own beer, than you should make sure to find a great source of information on how to do it. There are a lot of variables that come into play when you brew your own beer and you want to make sure that you have each one set correctly.
Author: Nicholas Larson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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