How to Buy a Beer Making Kit
Home brewed beer is tasty and trendy, and beer making is a fun hobby for many. Some enjoy the micro-brew taste and others want to be able to control exactly what goes into their drinks. It's easy to get started making beer at home when you have the right materials and recipes. Here's how to buy a beer making kit.
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Asses your beer-making skills. If you have experience brewing beer or consider yourself a chemistry buff, you will be more apt at choosing equipment and beer making kits and ingredients on your own. If you are a novice, however, stick with a basic kit before you begin experimenting.
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Purchase a starter kit. This kit contains all the specialized equipment you will need to start brewing five gallon batches of beer at home, if you're new to home brewing. Northern Brewer offers several basic beer making kits from which to choose. Beginning with a quality starter kit is a great investment as the correct information and equipment will give you an advantage over bargain materials. You may find that you use your kit equipment numerous times over the course of your beer-brewing career. Starter kits have simple single-stage fermentation, which allows you to learn the process and make better beer during your first attempt.
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Choose a more specialized kit. These can be made with equipment you already have or can purchase separately if you already have several batches under your belt and are ready to try a more advanced recipe. Consider a Midwest Brewing India Pale Ale or a Hefeweizen Ale.
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Consider a keg system. If you plan to use the beer for a large party or a specific event and wish to avoid the time and cost involved with bottling individually, use a keg. Look at the Brew and Keg Kit from Hearts Home Brew as an example. This kit allows you to choose your type of beer and customize some ingredients.
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Keep in mind your particular climate and home environment when buying a beer making kit. For example, ales require fermenting temperatures of 55 to 65 degrees F, which in many climates can be easily achieved in a cellar or basement year-round. Those in northern areas have an easier time brewing lagers, for which the recommended fermentation temperature is 45 to 55 degrees F.
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Comments
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dogglebe
Nov 07, 2007
Saying that brewing an ale between 55 and 65 degrees is wrong. Ales, generally, ferment at 70 degrees. Most ale yeasts go completely dormant in the mid to low sixties. Those that will ferment at this low temperature (like Scottish ale yeasts) will not give the beer any estery tastes that people associate with ales.
