Beer Drinking

Brewing Pumpkin Beer

If you haven’t started your pumpkin beer brew by now, you won’t make it by Halloween.  But, it doesn’t matter.  Pumpkin beer is good all year around.  You can definitely have a batch of pumpkin beer ready by Thanksgiving.  So, let’s get started!

This set of steps is from my first batch of pumpkin ever.  It’s a fairly new concept for me, so I had to really do some research to find the right stuff. It was a little difficult at first to decide on what types of extracts, malts and hops would go best with pumpkin flavor.  Also, I have heard that some pumpkin ales have come out with a slight pumpkin taste while others come out syrupy oozing with pumpkin flavor.  I prefer more toward the former.

So, the recipe I finally decided to use would combine cinnamon and nutmeg with an actual pumpkin. I had some other ideas, but I kept going back and forth…Continue Reading at the Learning Center  

Calculating Alcohol by Volume – ABV

Home brewing can be a tricky science. Of course, there are home brewers who just throw it together and look forward to whatever brews. But making changes along the way, documenting every possible contingency and then tweaking it when it doesn’t come out just right is the art of the master brewer.

The one question most brewers ask will always be how potent is their beer going to get. It’s not really all that scientific. You need to know a little math and you need to be aware of a few measurements as you brew. Other than that, it’s a piece of cake…

Learn more at the Beertaps Learning Center!

Beer Drinking Technology

This is some awesome new beer technology.  Thought I’d share.

If you have some awesome beer technology to share, join us at the Pub for Beer Enthusiasts, Beertaps.com Pub.

Beer Drinking Community and Interactive

Running beertaps.com has been an interesting ride that was more involved than I thought it would be.  But, it has been fun.  Each new challenge has presented an interesting and useful solution.

For instance, when I was asked about the kegerator a customer just purchased, I realized that there probably are more people out there who have the same questions.  So, I wrote a report and published it on the site.  Then, I wrote an article to let everyone know that I wrote the report.

That’s about the time the second question came in about keeping beer lines clean.  Then, about home brew recipes.  So, I kept writing reports to help people and I kept writing articles to make people more aware.

It started out as a big gaggle of reports that I finally organized into a Learning Center that is now populated with great stuff.  From Home Brew Tips and Tricks to DIY Home Bar Projects, I keep adding to the learning center.  But, I’m always willing to hear what you want to know.  I have a form for questions at http://www.beertaps.com/contact.html

But, the recent interactive is the forum I created.  It’s easier than a report to write a simple answer.  Some answers aren’t as involved as putting an entire article together with pictures and everything.  So, I populated the forum with a few items.  But, it’s new.

I’d love to see some people on there soon.  Start some topics and get some feedback.  How else do you expect a forum to get started?

http://brewdrinker.com/thepub/

Hope to see you there!

Take Your Favorite Beer Survey

I love going on the forums and reading through discussions of people’s favorite beers.  I hardly every hear Budweiser, Coors, Miller or anything normal, which is what you see people “normally” drink.

I always see some exotic beer that they’ve had maybe once.  I’ve also caught some people up in their discussions when I realized they hadn’t even had a taste of the beer they were discussing.  What in the world is that about?

Let’s be honest.  We go to the bar and we get our favorite beer.  We get the one we always drink.  We love the exotic beers that are hard to find and not commonly sold.  We love new tastes and textures.  Of course, we’re up when it comes to trying something we’ve never even heard of before.

But, we have a favorite.  It’s the one at the local store.  It’s the one at the liquor store on the way home.  Do we try new things every once in awhile?  Yes.  But, don’t we normally go for what we know?  Most of the time.

If you disagree, please feel free to comment.

So, I’d like to know what you guys drink.  What is your favorite beer?  Throw us anything, worldwide.  But, I would hope that you’ve drank your “Favorite” beer more than once and that it’s not just an exotic beer you thought would be fun to include in this survey.

Don’t Just Drink Beer, Learn How To Make It

There are beer enthusiasts who are deeply enriched in the beer making world, who own their own home breweries and who take advantage of all the benefits. Then, there are beer enthusiasts who have never even thought of making their own. I can’t imagine why a beer enthusiast wouldn’t at least be interested in giving it a try, but I’m going to try to change that now.

There are many benefits to brewing your own beer and I’m going to take it one step at a time. When you are ready to get off this wild ride, take stage coach left and no one will think any less of you for it. But I bet once this journey begins, you will want to ride it until the wheels fall off.

First, brewing your own beer is a way of putting a mark on your own home bar. You can even get online and design yourself a label and then place it on your bottles, glasses and beer taps even. When company comes over, you can have them all try it. It might just become their favorite beer meaning you might just get company more often if that seems like something you would like to have.

Then, you can start marketing your beer to the local bars. Give them a taste and see if they like it. There are different ways to make this happen. You can get in touch with a local bar owner and tell them you would like to have a tasting at their bar. You offer some of your beer for free and then when people say they like the taste, the bar owner will most likely want to stock it. Make a thing of it. It’s supposed to be a fun time. So, have fun!

The next logical level is to enter into some beer events. Start locally, but again have fun. Go across the country if you want. The more exposure you get, the more buyers you get. Don’t be surprised when someone approaches you to see if you want a sponsor. Sponsorship can take you to levels you have never imagined. Nationwide distribution. Export. International attention.

By this time of course, you have expanded your enterprise to include so much more than a bucket and a kegerator. You have built your brewery into a high powered system that produces enough beer to satisfy all your orders. You’ve moved your operation to a local location that houses your brewery and invites the neighbors to wander in and have a beer. You’ve had to apply for your beer license so that you can start selling your beer and you’ve had to build a bar so that your neighbors have a comfortable place to sit. You’ve got a sign on the front of your place with your name on it and you’ve been highlighted in the paper as the local beer expert.

With a few different flavors now in your inventory, you can have a seat. Take a breath. You’re finished the first phase of Operation Your Brew. The rest of the ride goes anywhere you want it to go.

Happy Thanksgiving Drinking

This year when we’re drinking your home brew for Thanksgiving…

What?  You’re not making beer for Thanksgiving?  You don’t have a home brew that you make special for Thanksgiving?

Well, how weird is that?

It must not be a tradition everyone shares.  But, see if you can relate to any of these:

• Sitting on the couch and eating Thanksgiving while watching football.
• Same thing…sitting on the recliner with a food tray.
• Saying, “It’s not worth it.  We’re going to a restaurant.”
• I ordered Pizza and Wings one year…

That was the year I had just finished my home bar and I made my first home brew for our New Happy Thanksgiving Tradition. 

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoys their own traditions, whatever they may be!

Brew Your Own Beer And Save Money

There are few pleasures in life to match a nice cold beer on a hot day, and a visit to their favorite bar for a couple of glasses of their chosen brew is an ideal way for many people to round off the working week.

However, prices can be a major sticking point for many, as price increases have taken a nights drinking to the level where it is now something that has to be balanced against cost. The reason for these prices rises are well documented – taxes and the increased price of the raw materials, and though we understand that prices for everything rise over time, the speed at which it is has risen for beer has led many of us to think that maybe it just isn’t worth it.

The benefits of having a home brewery are clear to most people. Still, there is a sense that it’s not the same as bought beer – that it somehow isn’t as good. With well-stocked stores and bars all around them, some people simply think “Why should I bother to brew my own?”. Times are changing though and the sky high prices in local bars and liquor stores mean that the money saving benefits of a home brewery are too big to ignore any longer. Being able to have a few beers whenever you want and at a price that suits you is becoming an increasingly popular prospect.

It is just a myth that paid for beer is better than home-brewed beer. With a little trial and error, home brew can be even better than that stocked in your favorite bar. It will take a little time to get the end product perfect initially, as there are few if us who are lucky enough to master the art first time around, but even those early batches will still be drinkable; you won’t be wasting your time making something that you can’t enjoy. Then, with some experimentation and a bit of persistence, you’ll be able to create a range of great beers, that are suited to your own particular tastes.

Home brewery kits are not expensive. In fact, when compared to how much you would normally spend watching a few games at a sports bar every month, they are positively cheap. But you think the atmosphere will be lacking? Not if you invite your friends around to watch the game and enjoy your home brew too. Believe me, by the time you’re producing a quality end product, you’ll have no shortage of people wanting to pay you a visit .

As hobbies go, home brewing is something that can make perfect sense. It is something that you occupy yourself with for a few hours a week, something that can lead to meeting lots of like-minded beer lovers through the joining of home brewing clubs, and, ultimately, something that you can enjoy.

Luke Porter is a home brewing beer enthusiast, and an expert author. You are invited to discover the simple secrets of brewing world class beer from the comfort of your home by reading his latest book, “Home Beer Brewing Secrets” available online today!

Let’s Take A Closer Look At Homebrew Kits

As a beginner homebrewer, you will find that homebrew kits are perfect to get into the game. All your ingredients, and supplies are included so that you can start brewing your own tasty beer. It’s basically the easiest way to get started with home beer brewing… by choosing a homebrew kit to suit your needs.

There is a kit called the all-extract kit which is the most basic of basics. You can opt to buy a package which has the classic beer style. Aside from correctly following the process that goes with your kit, all you would have to do is clean your materials free of any other organism that might thrive in the cool area needed to ferment your drink. The cleanliness is next to godliness adage is very important here as the taste – and perhaps the safety – of your home made beer relies on this. Other growths would definitely ruin your beer. As the ingredients are already prepared and most often than not, would only require additional sugar, it would be hard to mess up with this kind of homebrew kits. Directions come for each of the beer making equipment so you would know which is which and how it functions.

All hombrew kits are essentially the same in regards to the ingredients. You will get some malt extract, hops, yeast, and that’s about it. Usually if you wan to experiment with flavors, you will need to change the extract that you use and you may even use different sugars to get different consistencies within your beer.

All extract brewing is a fairly simple process because the boiling off certain ingredients to get certain flavors has already been done for you on a mass scale. As you gain experience, it is advisable to start with partial mash brewing for more refined flavors and textures of home brewed beer. As a partial mash brewer, you are involved in boiling ingredients, choosing specialty flavorings, and crafting your beer from start to finish… and this is a lot harder than simply adding the ingredients to a pot and stirring.

The kit comes with a guide which tells you what an ingredient’s effect is to your brew. You can even choose right from the start if you want to have your extract hopped or unhopped. The hops are what determine the bitterness of your brew. You can then add the hops later in intervals to give your mix the difference from your neighbor’s – who also has an all-extract kit – beer. To give you a better ambiance while pouring youself a drink, some kits even have a keg system instead of the usual bottles.

Eventually, you’d get the hang of brewing beer from your kits. You want to experiment more, do more than your ingredients or your materials would allow or you would even want to decide to graduate your hobby to beer fanaticism or better, to a commercial brewery. But whatever extent you want to bring yourself to, start it first with the good old trusty homebrew kits.

Homebrew kits will help you get started and become an enthusiast at brewing beer at home. Luke Porter is an enthusiast brewer who is happy to share the in’s and out’s of brewing kits available on the market today.

Like Beer? Brew Your Own!

Home brewing is something which has been popular for many years. Still, those of us for whom convenience is the issue may find that we would much rather go to the liquor store and pay to enjoy beer brewed by companies who have done it for years, with equipment suitable for mass production. However, the thing about that kind of convenience is that you pay for it every time. As insignificant as the additional cost can seem at the time, it certainly becomes significant over the course of a years worth of sports games, parties and nights out.

The issue of paying an upfront sum for beer brewing supplies puts a lot of people off getting involved with it. They calculate that they could have a few nights at their local bar for the same cost and think to themselves that it would be a lot less effort to do so too. However, look at the situation beyond just a few weeks ahead and you’ll see that home brewing is a much better option. After the initial amount that you pay for the kit and supplies, which is little more than the cost of a few crates anyway, you’ll have the potential to make enough beer to see you through the next couple of months.

As well as the initial costs, some people are put off home brewing because it sounds like a lot of effort. It must be better to just let the breweries take care of all of the behind the scenes stuff for us, right? Well, of course it is, but then again you could think of it this way – you can eat in a restaurant every night of the year, but you’ll save money and develop a skill if you cook your own meals. At first restaurant food seems better than anything you could possibly cook yourself, but, with a little practice, you soon develop your own recipes that are superior. It’s exactly the same with beer brewing.

Beer brewing supplies are easily sourced. Most larger towns will have a specialist store that stocks the required equipment and ingredients, but don’t worry if your town doesn’t as there are plenty of suppliers on the internet. In fact, buying via the internet may be the best option anyway as the prices tend to be lower. Do a little online research first to find out what you need. Like-minded beer lovers can be found in various beer brewing forums and they are always happy to give tips and recommendations to newcomers.

Once you have bought the necessary equipment and supplies, you will just need to follow the instructions that come with them. It is simple enough, just remember not to miss out any of the steps. Hands on learning and regular practice is the best way to make progress. Eventually you will start amending it yourself as you experiment and find out what suits you. Brewing your own beer may sound like too much hassle but its really worth the effort.

Luke Porter is a home brewing beer enthusiast, and an expert author. You are invited to discover the simple secrets of brewing world class beer from the comfort of your home by reading his latest book, “Home Beer Brewing Secrets” – available online today!