Beer – How to Make it Yourself

Beer – How to Make it Yourself
by Michael Russell

Home brewing is a big industry in Europe and elsewhere, but it seems that it is just in huge demand in England. There people began to brew their own wine and beer pretty early on, until it turned into a boom in the early eighties. Everybody jumped on the bandwagon and England turned into a country full of specialist on how to make your own alcoholic beverages at home. Everywhere stores went up that sold equipment and kits for brewing your own beer.

It doesn’t really surprise when one takes into account the pub opening hours, which were very much restricted until the mid – nineties. Back in the days of the World War I, the House of Parliament decided to do something about the high casualty rates on the home front. Too many people who worked in the armament industries blew themselves and their colleagues up by accident, not working with the required care when building hand grenades because they were either under the influence of alcohol or suffering from a hangover. The only thing the politicians could think of at the time was to limit severely the opening hours of bars, clubs and restaurants. So if people wanted to have a drink after 11:00 p.m., they had to be inventive. That’s why it seemed that everybody had a barrel with some kind of fermenting liquid at home, waiting patiently for the beer to be ready.

It requires very little money, not much time and a little space to make some superb beer at home. Most people start the process in their kitchens and once they have mixed all the ingredients into the barrel they put it in some quiet corner to let it ferment.

Beer is made, in its purest form, from only 4 ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. In fact, Germany had a so called purity law which the government had to scrap in order to align local laws with European laws, which generally allowed breweries to add chemical components to the beer, some for preservation, some for coloring.

It’s not necessary to use some extra clean or purified water to make beer, any tap water will actually do as long as it doesn’t have a high mineral content.

The next of the four ingredients is what is called the ‘heart of beer’, the malt. It is the product of grains like wheat or rye germinating. In itself it is the catalyst for the yeast, but more importantly in provides the flavor and the color for the beer.

In the south of England, particularly in Kent, there are huge hop farms. Hops are bitter tasting flowers that give the beer its herbal aroma. Consider these small flowers as the seasoning for the beer, as oregano might be the seasoning for a spaghetti sauce.

People are obviously familiar with yeast, which is used in making bread. It is a single cell organism that needs sugar in order to exist. Mixing it in with the dough for bread for example, this organism looks for and finds the sugar, eats it and multiplies in the process. As a by product there is alcohol and carbon dioxide, which makes the dough rise. In the beer brewing process it is the special kind of yeast which each brand uses that gives it its particular taste.

After having mixed all the ingredients together comes the difficult part, the waiting. The brew has to go through its fermentation process and before that is finished people are not supposed to drink it or else they get sick.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Beer

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Beer – Barley, Hops And A Lot Of Luck

Beer – Barley, Hops And A Lot Of Luck
by Michael Russell

It’s almost become the first choice for a lot of people, when the purpose is to quench their thirst. Many businesses have been built while using this product as their ultimate selling point. People gather every day to share a laugh, to share a smile and to share a beer. To some people, being able to drink a beer is like the rite of passage into adulthood. I don’t know, maybe it’s because there are laws against underage drinking, so when you’re able to take that first legal drink, it tastes so much better. Beer, like sports, seems to have a way of bringing people together.

Beer has been around for some time. The oldest documented evidence shows that beer has been around for at least 6,000 years. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese also brewed beer. Oddly enough, women were considered the master brewers. Beer was popular with the Romans and Greeks until wine came along. The Romans thought of wine as a type of food from the gods. Beer quickly lost its popularity in Rome and soon became a drink only fit for barbarians. During this time in Europe, beer making was still done in the home. As the 15th century rolled around, pubs and even monks were brewing beer, in Europe, for mass consumption.

Most beers will have the same ingredients and these are, barley, hops, water and yeast. The brewing process is what determines the style of beer. There are almost 70 styles of beer; some of the most common are, ale, lager, pilsner, mild beer and porter. With almost 70 styles, there’s probably at least one beer that fits everyone’s taste. So how do you like your beer, bottled, canned or draft? If given the option, most drinkers would chose draft beer. Draft beer retains most of its brewing flavor, plus, the packaging process does not affect the flavor as much. Most bottled beer is able to keep some of its flavor, even though it goes through a pasteurization process. Bottled beer can last about 3 months on a shelf. Also, the beer will keep longer if it comes in a brown bottle. Canned beer is filtered before it’s canned, but then it goes through a pasteurization process after it’s canned. Canned beer has a tendency to smell like the area where it was packaged.

Beer is obviously one of the most loved liquids in the world. People drink it for all occasions. It’s not defined by economic status, because the rich and the poor all drink beer. But beer is like anything else, it must be drunk in moderation. Most people who’ve been drinking for years, probably have some story of getting drunk and not remembering what happened the night before. These stories used to be funny, but as drinking, especially underage drinking, has grown, those stories tend to have unhappy endings. We’ve seen too many stories of drunk and unruly fans at sporting events, or worse, the drunk driver, to continue to believe in the concept of the happy drunk.

People will continue to gather places to watch sports and share a beer. But lets hope that beer will be just part of a good time and not the reason for having a good time.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Beer

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Beer – A Brief History

Beer – A Brief History
by Michael Kyle

Who doesn’t love an ice cold beer on a sunny day or after a hard days work? Many of us do but what is it that makes beer so great? Well, we could spend years talking about the virtues of beer and trying to categorize them all, but instead why not focus on the conception of beer and learn its quenching history! Beer is possibly the oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage on the planet today. Records of beer can be traced back to 5000 BC in the ancient writings of the Egyptians and Mesopotamians.

It’s basic mix of carbohydrates and water made it a simple beverage to create and became a staple, along with bread, in the diet of medieval times. It was sometimes a thick and floral concoction with often poisonous flavorings that was a far cry from what we now drink today. During the middle ages, brewing beer shifted from homemakers and became more a tool of the artisan. Pubs, Monasteries and Monks in particular, began brewing beer for the masses. Hops were added to induce some bitterness to the sweet brew making it more identifiable to your palate today.

In 1516 the brewing guilds of Bavaria pushed for beer purity laws making it illegal to brew beer with anything but barley, hops and water. (This of course predated yeast) it was shortly after this in 1553 that Beck’s brewing of Belgium began producing beer commercially for the masses.

With the discovery of the new world so did the progression of beer brewing. Many breweries started the process of mass production but with differing results, regional flavors and taste. Many prominent men of the day brewed beer, sometimes hiring brew master’s from the old world to come and work their craft. Beer brewing hadn’t changed much until 1876, when Louis Pasteur was able to isolate a single yeast cell in a controlled lab environment thus changing beer brewing forever. The true secret to fermentation was discovered and was now repeatable. Controlled mass production and consistency were now available to the joy of beer drinkers everywhere.

Since then beer has been manufactured by several large multinational corporations around the world but still retains its artisan roots with regional craft breweries and small “micro breweries†producing outstanding product with a great regional feel and flavor. With the introduction of the metal keg in 1964, it was now possible for completely hygienic and sterilized product to be shipped worldwide thus evoking the term “Import or Domestic†on Tap and giving us the modern brew we love and enjoy today.

Michael Kyle has been an event coordinator and hospitality expert for 18 years. His passion for event planning and guest services helped lead to the successful launch of http://www.thesexykitchen.com; a web-site dedicated to kitchen design, renovation, party planning, hospitality, and more. Perhaps you have a passion or hobby you’d like to write about. Discover how to turn your passion into a successful website, visit http://www.succeed-from-your-passion.com to learn how.

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A Beginners Guide to Choosing Wine

A Beginners Guide to Choosing Wine
by Craig Dawber

Wine can be a complicated topic. Some people have no idea about wine. Knowing the different types of wine will help you to make a more educated choice the next time you are out buying a bottle.

Wines from the United States are named first for the type of grape used in them and then for the place they were made. European wines are named by the place they were made and then by the type of grape. This simple explanation will help you to immediately define a domestic wine from an imported wine.

The different types of wines are based upon what is used to make them and sometimes by the process in which they are made. The following list explains each type of wine.

Red wine – These wines are made form dark skinned grapes.

White wine – This wine is made from light skinned grapes or from dark skinned grapes whose skins have been removed prior to processing.

Rose wine- This is made from leaving the skins on dark grapes just so the wine is tinted and then removing them.

Sparkling wine or champagne- This is made as a regular wine and then goes through a second fermentation process.

Dessert wines – These are made the same as the others, but have a higher sugar content.

Fruit wines – These wines are made from fruit other than grapes.

Agricultural wine – This type of wine is made from agricultural products other than fruit or grains.

Kosher wine – Made for those of the Jewish religions, these wines follow a rabbinical production process.

Organic wines – This type is made from grapes that are grown organically.

Nonalcoholic wines – These wines start as a traditional wine and then go through additional processing to remove almost all of the alcohol.

When choosing a wine you really should go from your personal preference. Taste the wine and consider its flavor and the flavor of the food you are pairing it with. You do not want the wine to overpower the food. The idea is that the wine complements the food. If you are unsure be aware that most people agree that champagne goes with anything.

Knowing a little background on wine ca help you to make a n\more informed decision when you go to buy. You should have an idea of the general type of wine you want before you go. Once you get to the store, taste and think. You should have no problem choosing your own wine.

A beginners guide to choosing wine was written by Craig Dawber, Find out all you need to know about food and drink, wine and spirits on this web-site http://www.winewebsite.info

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