Homebrewing
If this all sounds very complicated, then
you might be wondering how people ever manage to brew their
own beer. But as you may have gathered, most of the complexity
of the brewing process is due to the need for a commercial
brewery to turn out beer that tastes exactly the same batch
after batch, year after year.
A typical set of homebrewing
equipment
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Most homebrewers have no such requirement -- it doesn't
matter if the beer tastes exactly the same each time they make
it. There are so many different types of beer to brew that
many homebrewers never make the same type of beer twice
anyway.
At homebrewing stores (see the links on the next page) you
can buy malt extract, which is the fermentable sugars
extracted from the mash. That eliminates one fairly
complicated step (although it is entirely possible to do a
mash in your home). A basic set of homebrewing equipment
consists of:
- Fermentation vessels (a bucket or glass water
jug)
- Various hoses for siphoning beer from one
container to another or to fill bottles
- An airlock so that carbon dioxide can escape the
fermentation vessel but air cannot get in
- Some cleaning equipment for washing your
fermenters, bottles and hoses
- Floating thermometer
- Floating hydrometer
- Bottle capper
- Funnel
All of these supplies and any ingredients you need are
available at homebrewing stores, and are sometimes packaged as
a kit.
For more information on beer, homebrewing and related
topics, check out the links on the next page.
Here are some interesting links:
