Brewing | Home Brew

About Home Brewing

Home brewing is becoming a very popular hobby among beer lovers. Home brewing is simple because of the few ingredients required. Home brewing is legal (at least in 48 states, sorry Alabama and Mississippi) and a great way to experiment with new beer flavors. If you’re new to brewing, here are a few helpful pieces of information to get you started. 

How is Beer Made through Home Brew?

Beer is made from malted grain sugars, hops, and yeast. It’s a simple process that can be as easy or complex as you like. Many brewers start simple and then begin experimenting with different hops and grains to change the flavors of the home brew beer. The process involves:

·         Mash/Sparge  barley/grains. These lightly roasted grains will form a sweet liquid, called mash when mashed/sparged, and produce sugars. This is called "Wort"

·         OR (instead of mash/sparge the grains yourself), use Malt Extract and a small approximately a one pound steeping grain bag instead of creating a mash. Typical temperature is 155 degree F for 30 minutes. The sugars are already extracted from the barely and save time. (Recommended for beginning home brewers).

·         Boil wort (sugars) and hops

·         Add hops (boiling extracts the oils required for brewing)

·         Cool the wort (the solution of wort and hops)

·         Add yeast (the hidden key to brewing beer); preferable in a warm and humid environment. Make sure it’s not too hot or too cold.

The yeast will consume the sugar within the wort over a few weeks, and is the hard worker in the brewing process. The sugar will become carbon dioxide and alcohol. When there is just a small amount of sugar remaining in wort, the beer is ready for packaging. Once bottled, the remaining yeast will soak up the rest of the sugar, adding the last amounts of alcohol and carbon dioxide.
 

Skills such as reading a hydrometer and understand fermentation and fermentation temperature come into play in the home brew process, too. The way to get unique flavors and tastes is to add variations to each step of the home brew process including grains, hops and even temperatures.


Home Brewing Equipment


Home brewing kits make brewing easy. While you could buy each piece individually, a kit makes the process simple and affordable. You’ll know that you’re getting the equipment designed for a safe and successful home brew. Home Brew Kits create great tasting beer and are easy to use. You’ll typically get the products at a cheaper price by purchasing a home brew kit. It's also important to keep your home brew kit clean, and especially between each use.


Table Top brewing sells high-quality brewing ingredients and home brew equipment so that each home brewer has everything they need to create beer that’s just as good as what’s on store shelves. Brewers even have access to brewing equipment, recipes and techniques that will alter the flavor and create great-tasting beer varieties that everyone will love.


 

Getting Started with Home Brew

 

If you’re just getting started with home brewing, here are a few supplies you need to have ready: