What’s one of the most popular drinks in the world? You’ve guessed it, Beer. Why is that so? I remember when I first drank it I almost spewed. Much the same when I smoked my first cigarette, I felt as sick as a dog. So why did we do it? Peer pressure I suppose, but still, I think it tastes great now and that’s what got me into home made beer. It is almost a cult for some people now. They even have clubs where they can take their latest brew for sampling and of course showing off.

Unfortunately not all home made beers are equal as some of you may have found out when your mate proudly presented you with a mug of his home brew. UGG. Much the same as some home made wine fanatics. So why do people make home brew beer? Well maybe because it’s cheaper that buying the stuff, maybe it’s their great hobby.

Whatever it is there are some great home beer makers out there and I have tasted a few. Whatever the reason it is a great relaxing hobby with a great supping reward. It’s not expensive as some hobbies go and it’s great fun. It is no wonder that it’s very popular as you get a great feeling of achievement when you pour your drop of home made beer. (no matter how horrible it tastes when you first start off). Let’s face it any new hobby has a learning phase when you first start.

One of the great things about home made beer is that you can drink it without any of the additives that are put into the commercial beers. Just about every beer you buy has been pasteurized this means the beer is ‘cooked’ which kills the yeast whereas home made beer contains live yeast which gives your home brew a more natural taste.

The initial cost of buying the equipment you need to start making your own beer is quickly recovered after your first couple of batches of brewing. Most people who start home brewing are fed up with paying the bills for their beer. Home made beer brewing can fix up the cost of beer. Buying  the ingredients for a 5 gallon batch can range from $25 to $45 depending on the type of beer you wish to make. Other costs such as bottles are around $12 for a case of 24 12 oz bottles. Of course these can be reused time and time again.

Home made beer brewing is catching on fast and is not really difficult to start you just have to follow the steps and not attempt to experiment until you have got the basics off pat. It is usually best to start of with a kit. Essentially there are only six basic steps to making your home made beer.

1. Making wort or must.

2. Fermentation.

3. Clarifying.

4. Conditioning

5. Packaging.

6. Drinking.

Brewing can take from two weeks to several months depending on the type of beer you wish to make. Usually you will have several batches going starting at different times especially for the longer brewing styles of beer.

Home made beer is not difficult, especially if you first start with a brewing kit. So go ahead and make your own beer and enjoy.

If you really want to get ahead fast I recommend a couple of e-books that will help you enormously. You can preview them by going to my blog.

Thanks for stopping by! Please share with us your home brewing experiences, ideas and tips.

Ladies, do you ever notice how the guys seem to have all the fun when it comes to beer? They feel like they “own” the beer market? They swill it down and hog the keg. Also, when it comes to making beer, the men love to think that they are the king of the craft - like home brewing is a guys-only club (it reminds me of a tree house with a hand written sign - “no girls allowed”). Not so, my fellow feisty females! Let me give you my story about homebrewing.

Men might think that beer is a “manly drink” - but this doesn’t mean we have to believe it as well. I for one love to enjoy an ice cold beer with my girlfriends while talking about the latest workplace gossip, comparing amazing shopping finds, figuring out my life, or just plain relaxing while away from the opposite sex. There’s nothing like the feel of a cool brew slowly trickling down my throat, especially after a long day.

But where I believe I have that “extra”special something, and where I’d like to encourage many of the other beer-loving women out there to shine as well, is by making my own beer at home. Girls, think about it: we have been expected to cook and clean house for ourselves and our “significant others” since the beginning of time. Why not learn how to make your very own home brew as well? Take it from me - making beer at home is not only easy to do, but the results are better than anything the guys can buy.

I recently took my very own home brew and served it to my guy friends while they watched the game on my big screen TV. They kept complimenting it, begging me to tell them where I got such great beer. And these are guys that have tasted a lot of beer before. But, I want most of my batches going to my girls, and maybe to the extra special guys who really appreciate it.

So come join with me. It’s fun, it’s not very expensive, and it can be our little secret. Well, that is unless you want to make the boys beg you for it.  Happy Brewing!  Tracey

Want to get started on your new ale-wives (or ale-girlfriend, or hey, ale-sexy-single) brewing adventure? Great! Just go and download a great free report that shows you exactly how to brew your own beer at home. 13 delicious recipes inside. Get them at http://www.QuickHomeBrew.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/home-brewing-articles/home-brewing-beer-women-can-get-in-on-the-suds-too-980462.html

Thanks for stopping by! Please share with us your home brewing experiences, ideas and tips.

The Many Paths to Great Home Made Beer

Before you really get oriented to what home brewing is all about, it’s easy to think it is a process that is set in stone and there is only one right way to do it.  And it is true that the brewing and fermenting process has some steps that must be followed with some discipline if you wish to enjoy a great home made beer.  But one of the reasons that home brewing is such a passion to many people who enjoy this way of making beer is that there as so many varieties of recipes and styles of making.

You can easily get a feel for what a huge variety there is in ways to brew beer and in recipes for ingredients when you visit your local beer supplies retailer, go to home brewing web sites or sit in at home brewing club meetings in town.  And the great thing about the social side of the home brewing culture is that you will come home with a notebook full of ideas of things you can try on upcoming batches of beer.  The odds are you will have months of ideas to try out and you may never run out of new approaches, blends and recipes to try to make your home made beer interesting and tasty for yourself, your family and your friends.

For that first time home brewing recruit, one of the best ways to help him have the fun of making beer at home without so much investment and mess that will come in due time is to go with a home brewing kit or machine.  Beer making machines literally take all of the thinking and planning and risk out of trying out home brewing to see if you want to make the investment in a full set up.  The machine comes with a full set of ingredients for one batch of beer and the equipment is automated so the novice home brewer can make the beer and move it through the fermentation and aging process and know the fun of having real home made beer a few weeks later.

Similarly kits simply the process of buying and using the equipment and ingredients to get started in home brewing.  Unlike the beer making machine which is used once and discarded, the beer maker’s kit gives you the basic equipment which will be the beginning of your collection of the tools of a beer maker to be used over and over many times.  But the kit provides the ingredients and the instructions to make the process of learning to make your own beer easy and fun to learn.

Even for seasoned home beer makers, there are variations on the home brewing method that will give you more flexibility and range of choices that will affect how unique your beer will be.  But each may have a greater investment of work and effort to use effectively so it’s worth getting familiar with them in advance so you know your investment of time and effort and what you might expect with a new brewing method.

Probably the most common brewing method most amateur brewer’s use and the one that is taught in most home brewing guides is the extract method.  And even though it is well known, because you are truly brewing beer yourself as opposed to using a kit or a machine, you can alter the consistencies and flavors of your beer and get a wonderful brew each time you use this approach.

You can settle on the extract method for a long time or perhaps use it exclusively for your brewing career and get great  beers with it every time.  But if you want a greater challenge and the possibility for even more unique beers as a result, you can explore the Mini-Mash method and the Full Mash Brew styles of home brewing.  Each is more complex and takes longer to finish the brewing process.  But they also give you a lot of flexibility and even more ability to make your own beer unique and distinctive.

It’s up to you where to start in your beer brewing hobby and the paths you take.  You can explore new approaches through networking with other brewers.  But you will never get bored brewing beer at home because the variety of methods and ingredients are virtually limitless.

Thanks for stopping by! Please share with us your home brewing experiences, ideas and tips.