I suppose everyone wherever they are in the world has their favorite beer or ale.  Some like Guiness, other Indian Pale ale or even a Coors or Budweiser.

What about people who love to create their own ale though?  What is their favorite?  Without doubt the number one all-time

favorite homebrew ale to make is Goat Scrotum Ale.

I’d have to admit that the name doesnt make it sound great, but don’t let that  put you off.  This ale is very popular to make

becasue there are so many variations of great tasting ales.  It can taste of ginger, sweet chocolate, or even licorice, there are so many combinations of flavors available to you.

This ale began under the name of Tumultuous Porter in the early years of the nineteenth century and the spicy dark drink became popular until prohibition, after which it dissappeared for a while.  Fortunately Charlie Papazian re-discovered it and brought the ale back for us all to enjoy.

That’s the history out of the way, but just how would you go about making your own ale?

First of all you will require these ingredients:

Crystal Malt - 1 Pound
Dark Malt Extract - 5 pounds
Crushed Barley Malt - 0.25 pounds
Hallertauer leaf hops - 3.5 ounces
Black Patent Malt - 0.25 pounds
Brown sugar - 1 cup
Blackstrap Molasses - 1 cup
Corn Sugar - 1 pound
Gypsum - 2 teaspoons
Irish Moss - 1 teaspoon
Ale Yeast - 1 pack

In addition there are some other optional ingredients you can use a mixture of including grated ginger root (3 ounces),
brewing licorice (2 inches) Spruce Tree Essence (2 tablespoons), Dried Chili (Up to 10), Crushed Juniper Berries (0.25 cups)
Baker’s Chocolate or cocoa powder (6 ounces).

That’s the ingredients dealt with now on to the recipe itself.
The first step is take the Crystal Malt and steep it for one hour in brewing water at 150 degrees F
Remove any remaining crystal malt then add the malt extract, both types of sugar and the molasses.
Heat it up to a gentle boil then make sure everything has dissolved.
Then add in quarter ounce of the hops plus any of the additional ingredients such as grated ginger and boil for quarter of an hour then add in a further half ounce of the hops and boil for another quarter hour.
Next you put in the patent malt, barley malt and boil for guess how long?  Yes another quarter hour!
Don’t worry we are nearly finished - add quarter ounce of the hops, the gypsum and moss and boil for another quarter of an hour, but this time add in the rest of the hops two minutes from the end.

Then allow it to cool down to room temperature before straining it into a fermenter.
You add then yeast once the temperature is below 80 degrees F.
After the fermentation process has completed add in about 3/4 cup of corn sugar before you bottle it.

All you have to do now is drink your home made ale!

I know this sounds complicated - but don’t worry I have a very simple recipe, with less ingredients, and less steps. Go and

download your copy of my FREE guide, full of easy Beer and Ale

Making recipes, including simpler version of Goat Scrotum Ale at http://www.besthomebrewguide.com

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Has anyone ever told you that beer is a health drink?
Probably not, but drank in moderation it does have health benefits - don’t use this as an excuse to drink a lot though!

Homebrewed beer is definately the best kind because it has no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives.

Here’s the seven ways  health benefits of homebrew:

1) The November 1999 edition of ‘The New England Journal of Medicine’ reported that moderate drinkers of homebrew could lower their chances  suffering a stroke by as much as twenty percent.

2) The Medical Center of the  Texas Southwestern University found that drinking beer could lower your chances of developing coronary heart disease by as much as 40%, providing it is done in moderation.

3) Studies have found that beer can increase amounts of HDL, which a is good form of cholesterol, and also it can cut down the risk of blood clots.

4) In the Netherlands the Nutrition and Food Research Institute showed that homebrewed beer contains vitamin B6, and that this prevents the build-up of the  homocysteine, an amino acid that has found as a cause of heart & vascular disease).
Beer also increases absorption of vitamin B6 into blood  by 30% - and no other drink can do this!

5) Homebrew contains zero fat and nonwe of the bad form of cholesterol so you can consume it without feeling guilty.

6) Another benefit is that beer reduces stress and induces sleep . There’s nothing as good as relaxing with a pint of delicious ale of beer that you made yourself. In fact, even the process of brewing beer is great for relaxing.

7) Drinking homebrew helps to increase dilation of blood vessels , and aids urination in the elderly.

I hope you have plenty of reasons to finally go ahead with brewing your own beer.  Not only is it cheaper than mass produced beer,

so it’s good for your wallet and it’s good for your health. Cheers, and good health!

So why not start creating your own batch of healthy homebrew

today? Surely your own health is worth it? Get your free beginner’s homebrew guide - containing 13 delicious recipes - at
http://www.besthomebrewguide.com

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If you  asked a bunch of homebrewers what the main items they need for their hobby what do you think they would say?

I suppose the most popular responses would be a fermenter,the  ingredients including hops, yeast, malt syrup , and an item known as a hydrometer. So what precisely is a hydrometer anyway? Why ought you to have one and how would you use it?

After looking up my dictionary, I can tell you that a hydrometer is a tool for measuring a liquid’s specific gravity, generally consisting of a calibrated tube weighted so that it floats upright. Well, that does not actually clarify matters, so let’s explain it in more detail.

When you are creating homebrew beer, you’d would need to use a hydrometer to find out how heavy the brew in comparison to normal water (also called the “specific gravity”). The weight of the homebrew is related to what proportion of the sugar in the brew has been used up by the yeast (this is the fermenting process).

So Why do you need to know what your brew’s specific gravity of is? Well, the hydrometer is way of understanding when your brew is wholly fermented. Once this point has been reached, you can bottle your brew and  thereafter relish drinking what you’ve created.

So, just how would a homebrewer use a hydrometer? Well, the action is in fact  really easy, and learning the method does not require long . In the first place, fill  a straight sided jar two-thirds full of water at 60 degrees  F (room temperature) and then place the hydrometer in the water and allow it bob around for few seconds, and then stabilize. The reading ought to be  about 1.000 .  After you have checked this reading, remove the hydrometer from the jar and then dry it out.

The next step is take a different jar and  pour in your home brew until it is full. Then place your hydrometer into the liquid, and allow it to balance out, and make a new reading. If Fermentation is still happening the readingwill be over 1.015, but is 
near completion if the hydrometer reads from 1.010 to 1.008.

To assure fermentation has completed, take two readings during 24 hours.  When the readings are equal, your homebrew is ready and can be bottled. If your reading is not consistant, then the process of  fermentation is still going on.

Quick tips: Always ensure that  your jars, and hydrometer, are both clean & dry before you use them to make sure that a proper reading is taken. If your homebrew has any froth then pour the liquid into a glass, and then  into the jar again, until they have
subsided. Finally, always ensure that your hydrometer does not touch edges of your ar before taking readings.

meta_adtracking=ezad4″> homebrew aleand beer ? See how easy and fun it is? Go download your free homebrewing guide right now

at http://www.besthomebrewguide.com

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