Brewing and Beer

All homebrewers have to start somewhere, and many companies have created great starter kits that make it easy to begin brewing great beer at home.  But what supplies and equipment do you need to start homebrewing?

We’ve compiled a list of starter kits from around the web.  We’ve tried to select kits that include everything needed to start brewing great extract beer in your kitchen at home .  There are many more options out there, but we hope this helps at least one person discover a wonderful new hobby.  Brew On!

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We recently updated and improved our 10 Best Books about Brewing list!  Follow the link:

http://brewingandbeer.com/top-10-books-about-beer-and-brewing/

The guys over at BeerBooks.com have put together a list of 10 of their favorite and most popular books on brewing and beer.  The list contains the obligatory and absolutely excellent Joy of Homebrewing and the Brewmaster’s Bible but there are some other less expected titles as well such as beer advertising memorabilia and a history/trivia book about beer through the ages.  If you’re looking for a great present for that homebrewer or beer drinker in your life, follow the links below to see the collection.

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Probably the greatest aspect of brewing and beer in general is how accessible every facet of the field really is.  If you’d like to try to recreate your favorite IPA at home, there’s a decent chance the recipe will be on the brewery’s website, or at least on a brewing forum like HomebrewTalk.com. Even at the commercial level, one will often find local breweries working together to create a collaborative beer or hosting a homebrew competition for the local community.  These competitions are often entered by homebrewers as a way to gain some constructive criticism and attempt to take their brewing to the next level.  But again, they are remarkably accessible to anyone with a couple extra 12 oz. bottles of homebrew and the five dollar entry fee.  The fee will vary of course, but the point is, competitions are very ubiquitous and very easy to enter.  Here are a few resources to get you started on entering your local competition.

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The label sets the expectation

It’s a step in the brewing process that is often overlooked even though I believe it contributes to the quality of a homebrew just as much as any ingredient in the beer (except hops or malt or any ingredient that actually goes into the beer).  The label is what sets the expectation for the entire drinking experience.  A bottle with an interesting and unique label will be much more remembered than that 2nd IPA you brewed last February without a name in a nondescript brown bottle and handing out a nicely labeled beer is a satisfying, enjoyable gift.  I believe in labeling every beer I make, not only for others, but it helps me remember each specific beer much more vividly.  A great resource I use is a website called BeerLabelizer.com.  It’s a great starting point for a nice looking label plus it’s always fun to add some personal touches as you can see in 2 of my labels above.  So consider this a recommendation to not skip that final step, it’s a great way to increase the quality of your beer.  Prost!

-Travis Neufeld

Though rare, hop reactions can be fatal

There is somewhat of a mystery to whether or not hops are bad for pets.  With very little data available on the topic (only one veterinary journal article has ever been published) most pet owners are ignorant of the dangers that this all-important ingredient can pose, yet many homebrewers have hops around the house for brewing or may even grow their own in their back yard.  We here at Brewing and Beer love our hops, but we also love our dogs, so continue reading to educate yourself on the dangers hops can present to your pets.

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It’s a problem all too common in homebrewing and with such a large number of variables that can contribute to off-flavors, Murphy’s Law seems to have quite the advantage.  The most occurring reason for off-flavors is lack of sanitation leading to bacterial contamination but there are still a plethora of other possible culprits.  So if you finally crack open that first homebrew only to find a strange, unwelcome flavor staking out in your bottles, check out this list from morebeer.com, it ought to help determine what caused it and should help you prevent any unwanted tastes in the future.

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