Home Brewing Supplies
Beer has been part of America’s culture and history since the first ships arrived. However, the stuff the early settlers drank is probably very different from the beer you drink today. Although the process is actually quite simple, there is still a lot that goes into brewing beer. You need to have quality equipment and quality home brewing supplies.
“Quality” doesn’t necessarily mean the most expensive but it also doesn’t mean the cheapest. Experimentation and advice from seasoned brewers is the best way to find out what the best home brewing supplies are.
However, as you’ll discover, the main “ingredient” is time. Just like a good wine, good beer needs the time to age - and it does get better with age.
Another thing that has to happen you’ve brewed your beer is carbonation. This is critical to how your beer will turn out (there’s nothing worse than flat beer. Carbonating your beer also ensures that any bacteria that managed find their way into your brew have been neutralized. It’s a proven fact that no bugs dangerous to humans can live in a current and active beer and/or a yeast environment and carbonation makes a beer active. Whether the beer is made at home or made commercially, they all need to be carbonated.
There are two main methods to choose from when carbonating your homemade beer:
The modern method involves pouring the beer into a closed pressure tank and pumping it with carbon dioxide. You’ll need a pressure gauge and some other bits of testing equipment to ensure that you have the right amount of gas. Some breweries use this method as it’s simpler, less expensive and cuts down the time it takes to carbonate the beer. Both home brewed beer and commercially made beer can be carbonated this way so long as you have the necessary tools and equipment.
The older and more traditional method for carbonating your beer is to put yeast and a dose of wort (unfermented beer) into the beer. The yeast ferments the wort and, hey presto, carbon dioxide is created. After carbonation, the beer needs to be bottled, capped (or any other method for keeping the pressure in) and stored for at least 2 weeks. However, it’s suggested that you allow a longer period of time (4 to 6 weeks) if you can hold out for that long.
The yeast / wort technique is the preferred method of most commercial breweries and is definitely the preferred method of most home brewers. Whilst you can certainly take short cuts to hasten the process, at the end of the day, time is the most important ingredient. The old saying “patience is a virtue definitely holds true when it comes to brewing beer. If you can have patience and allow your brew to age naturally, you’ll end up with a great tasting beer.
Learning to brew your own beer and selecting the best home brewing supplies isn’t something that you can master overnight just by reading a page like this. The best way to learn is to seek the advice of an expert and one of the best books I've found on this topic is Matt Tremblay's EZ-Brew. The book takes you right through from getting started to mastering brewing your own beer. Matt pretty much covers everything you need to know and more.
I wish you well for your home brewing journey. Cheers :)
