Want to make your own suds? Here's what you'll need...
Everyone has a different taste in beer. No matter who you are or how much you drink, every adult has that one beer that means something to him or her. The problem for years was that this certain flavor was not attainable in a home setting.
Today, anyone of age can purchase every necessity needed to create his or her own homebrew. Imagine the possibilities of being able to create your own personal flavoring of beer, a testament to your own unique tastes. With home brewing, you needn’t worry about what others will think of your personal taste in beer, you can brew to your very personal liking.
Anyone willing to enlighten themselves with a little chemistry and a basic understanding of brewing practices can now create beer flavorings that cater to their personal flavor profiles. Indeed, it took the home brewing and micro brewing revolution to allow for such feats to be achieved, but now that the general public has access to them the possibilities are endless.
Anyone wishing to brew their own beer has a very simple task in front of them: do a little research, pick up your supplies, and set aside some time for trial and error. In Tennessee, homebrew and brewery supply stores have been allowed to flourish allowing for an expansion for the market of small batch brewers.
For those who have hesitated to take part in micro brewing due to fears of financial burdens or other issues, allow me to assure you that there is not a better time to engage in such a venture than right now. At this moment there are several homebrew suppliers in the Chattanooga area who can easily supply you with all of the necessary ingredients for your own personal brew.
Any home brewing supplier will be able to provide you with the basic necessities to brew your own beer, usually in a “box kit”. This kit will include malt extract, bags of specialty grains—ranging from light to dark—vacuumed sealed packages of hops, muslin bags, yeast and clarifier tablets. The muslin bags are used for steeping the hops while the clarifier tablets insure fermentation.
In addition to these basic elements, a home brewer will need access to a five-gallon cooking pot, as well as a larger fermentation vessel adding up to at least seven gallons assuming that your initial brew is five gallons or less.
The process of actually brewing and fermenting your personal and unique beer is complex and requires several brews, but for those of you who want the pride of saying “Yes, I did in fact brew that,” the complexity will be well worth it. To gain knowledge about what it takes in home brewing to achieve certain desired flavors such as hoppiness, maltiness, drinkability and replication of larger scale brewery products requires personal research.
I should also mention though that YouTube is the ideal place to start when beginning your own home brewing adventures.
Home brewing is quickly becoming a fixture of American culture. In the last two decades, it has replaced the hobbies of old such as, kite making, carpentry and wood burning as the ideal hobby for anyone attempting to occupy an idle—and thirsty— mind. Though members of earlier generations may have seen the brewing of alcohol as a devilish hobby, home brewing is a fantastic way to spend your excess time.