Creating Your Home Brewery

Before we started our adventures in home brewing beer, most of us had visions of shiny copper kettles and large wooden barrels taking up most of our kitchens bubbling and boiling as we brought to life our latest homebrew.

I hope this doesn't disappoint you, but the reality isn't much like that at all. Mankind has moved beyond the use of copper and wood to make and store beer and now relies on aluminum, steel, and food grade plastics. And while the new equipment doesn't have the same cool look as the old, it is much easier to keep clean, doesn't take up nearly as much space, and produces a better home brewing experience.

As you begin your homebrew adventures, don't lose sight of the fact that we all were beginners once and didn't have all the equipment we do now. I urge you not to feel compelled to go buy everything at once. Take your time and proceed at whatever pace is comfortable for you. Remember, homebrewing is supposed to be a fun and relaxing hobby. Don't turn it into an arms race where you always have to have bigger and better stuff.

Having said that, where should you start?

Not surprisingly, there is a minimum amount of stuff you will need to successfully brew beer. Many, if not most, homebrewing equipment shops offer starter brew kits that have all the basics needed to get started. These kits run the range from barely sufficient to absolutely top of the line. Prices begin under $100 and can go north of $400 pretty easily.

These kits will all have the basic stuff needed and some of the more expensive will include books of recipes, instruction DVDs, and more which will drive up the price.

One thing that many starter kits do not include is bottles to put your new homebrew in. And not just any bottles will do, you need the older style bottles whose caps do not screw on. Interestingly, most brew kits will include the bottle capping tool and the bottle caps.

My advice is to start your search in your local phonebook under either "beer" or "hobbies". If you find a local shop, you have the opportunity to see what you will be purchasing and ask questions about what options you might have. If you don't have a local store, and many folks don't, then it's time to start the on line search. Even a quick Google search for "brew kits" returns something like a million results.

Take your time, make your choices depending on your individual budget, and don't overbuy stuff until you are more confident in what you need and, above all. HAVE FUN!

Evolution of "Light" Low Alcohol Beer

Image via WikipediaMiller Brewing Company launched the first reduced alcohol beer, "Miller Lite" in 1973. Now, almost 40 years later, every major and micro brewing company offers a reduced alcohol product and it accounts for an ever growing percentage of the annual 180 million barrel US market.

To be considered a “light” or reduced alcohol, beer must contain no more than 3.5% "alcohol by volume" (ABV). This compares with "regular" beer that, generally, contains between 5% and 6%. A recent testing of the best selling US light beer, Bud Light showed it to have about 100 calories in a 12 oz. can compared to about 142 in Budweiser's regular beer. The spelling "Lite" is a trademark of Miller brewing company and should not be used to refer to reduced alcohol beer in general.

The states of Utah, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Kansas, and Colorado will allow convenience stores and supermarkets to only sell beer with ABV of 3.2%. Higher alcohol content beer may be sold only in liquor stores licensed by the state. Interestingly, Oklahoma further mandates that beer over 3.2% ABV must be sold only at room temperature. Some classify this reduced alcohol beer as "near-beer" but that term originated much earlier, during the prohibition era.

Originally, "near-beer" was a name for malt based beverages with little or no alcoholic content. These brews sprang up as soon as prohibition outlawed the brewing of any alcoholic beverage. These brews were officially classified as "cereal beverages" to distinguish them from the illegal recipes. These brews proved to be popular with the public and about 300 million gallons were produced in the early 1920s and provided a much needed revenue source for many breweries.

One of the most important reasons for near-beer's popularity was that it was easily spiked with grain alcohol and soon acquired yet another nickname; "needle beer" because of a needle was often used to inject the alcohol through the cork (this was a time before pop-top cans or screw top bottles).

Preceding near-beer was a product called "small beer" which was widely produced both in colonial America and even earlier in Europe. Small beer is an extremely low alcohol drink that is flavored with different ingredients such as molasses. It was often served to children and servant along with meals, including breakfast. At the time, it was a safer drink than water because of the brewing process which boiled the wort, which killed the water born diseases of the time such as cholera.

Small beer has fallen out of favor with today's drinkers and is mostly brewed by home brewers and some microbreweries. However, Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco still produces "Anchor Small Beer" which is listed with an ABV of 3.3%

Read more about beer and home making beer at Brew Beer Today

Specific tips on home making beer are available home brew beer