4 Main Ingredients Of Home Beer Making

4 Main Ingredients Of Home Beer Making

by

EarnaLot

If you have ever wondered what goes into the beer that you enjoy, you will be surprised at how little is actually needed to successfully make homemade beer.

The most important ingredient is probably the yeast.

When I first started making homebrew beer I thought there were only 2 kinds of yeast- Bakers yeast (the sort for making bread) and Brewers yeast. How wrong I was.

Just as there are hundreds of different beer flavours, so there are hundreds of different yeast’s that are used to brew them and it is important to use the right type of yeast to provide the flavour you are looking for.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwa8-3GXbuE[/youtube]

To see a list of some of the different styles of beer you may wish to brew just go to the Beer Judge Certification Program site (BJCP) Incredibly their members have judged over 557,000 different beers and the site gives a full description of many of the beer styles categorised.

The second major influence on your home beer brewing is the Malt.

Much of your home brew beer characteristics will come from the malt, it is largely responsible for your homebrews body, flavour and even alcohol content. Although Barley malt is most commonly used wheat malt is prevalent in many German and Belgian beers.

Thirdly of course there are the hops.

These are the flowery looking things that grow on vines and usually feature in the beer commercials because they are aesthetically pleasing.There are many different types available and they will effect the flavour and bitterness of your homemade beer.

Finally there is the water.

Although water is by far the biggest ingredient used in home beer brewing it is relatively unimportant in terms of it’s effect on your home brew beer (unless you are brewing from grain. So long as it is decent, potable water it should be OK for pretty much every style of home beer making.

So that’s the basics. Hopefully you are becoming aware of the incredible scope your home beer brewing can take.

I suggest you take the first step and arm yourself with a good

Home Beer Making Book

guide, get some basic equipment, buy an off the shelf kit and get started.

Cheers, Bottoms Up.

The author of this article started

Home Beer Making

over 35yrs ago and has just started a site dedicated to this fantastic hobby. For some fantastic links and videos that will provide you with everything you need to know about home beer brewing go to:

Home Beer Making VideosArticle Source: ArticleRich.com