Posts under ‘Brewing’

The Hops Cone

Many beers contain hops, they do two very important things to the beer, firstly give it some flavor, hops add a bit of bitterness to the beer and give it a fruity and herbal aroma. The hops also acts as a natural preservative helping the beer keep longer. The hops are actually female flower pods which look like cones from the hop plant called Humulus Lupulus. The plant is a close relation to the Cannabis hemp plant and grows on what is called a bine which is a bit like a vine but has hairs to aid its climbing. The plants grow very fast with it’s shoots growing up to several inches a day. One of the most popular strains of hops are grown in the Hallertau Valley in Germany, other large produces are the USA, the Czech Republic and China. Hops are added to the beer in different ways but we will touch on that in a later story along with a story on some of the popular types of hops – Hallertau, Saaz, Tettnag and Splat .

Cascade Spicy Ghost Kit

Cascade the famous beer from Hobart, Tasmania now a subsidiary of the Foster’s Group has launched a wonderful range of premium brewing kits, where you can make some pretty tasty beer in your own home. One of our favorites is the Spicy Ghost Draught which has a real zesty spicy taste. The kits make 23 litres and all you need to do is add water and a kilo of sugars to the supplied can of extracts and yeast and a few weeks later you will be drinking a great beer. Cascade has a great range of beers to choose including a Chocolate Mahogany Porter, a pale ale and Golden Harvest Lager all which bring back some of the tastes of the Brewery’s long heritage dating back to 1824.

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Yeast

Yeast has been used for thousands of years to brew beer, but it wasn’t until the mid 1850’s when French scientist Louis Pasteur discovered that yeast converted sugars to produce alcohol, before then brewers must have just thought the production of alcohol was magic. The yeast used in beer really changes the taste and the length the beer takes to brew. There are thousands of strains and the big breweries are very protective of their yeast cultures, with many cultivating them for hundreds of years. As there is natural yeast in the air it is very easy to contaminate your yeast with other strains. There are two main types of brewers yeast, top fermenting and bottom fermenting- the difference is where the yeast ferments, bottom fermenting tends to ferment at the bottom of the barrel were the other at the top making a foamy top on the wort. Bottom fermenters are usually used to produce lager style beers while many of the darker or higher alcohol beers tend to use the top fermenters which usually brew the beer a bit sweeter or fruitier

Last week we featured the Mr Brew Beer Kit, and by all accounts plenty of our readers took up the great offer and bought one of the kits. Well now you are going to need somewhere to put your brew, because it only takes about 2 weeks before you need to bottle. Here’s a cheap and easy way, with the Mr Beer Deluxe Bottling System. There are eight one litre PET plastic bottles, caps and even lables everything you need for a batch of Mr Beer, you just cant go wrong. Before you know it you will be driniking your very own beer…How cool is that!

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How’s this for a great micro brew kit, its got everything you need and it looks so cool! The clever fermentation chamber is shaped like a old wooden barrel and would look great on any bar. The kit has everything you need to brew your first beer, you just need to mix the ingredients and ad water. Then in only 2 weeks you can be drinking your first brew. The kit is reusable you just need to purchase a new starter kit. It’s a great way to drink good quality beer at a fraction of the cost and best of all it’s something you have made your self- what a way to impress your friends. This item can only be shipped within the USA but other regions should get down to their local brew shop and see what type of kits they have- they are sure to have something great to get you started. Happy Brewing!

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If you have been following our home brew series you would have guessed we are about to talk about bottling this week. Your standard home brew kit will produce enough beer to fill approx 48 330ml bottles often known as the stubbie or longneck. We chose this size for two reasons, 1. it is pretty easy to get suitable bottles around this size and 2. it a nice size to drink out of if the need be. In Australia a few years back most home brewers liked to use the 750ml size king brown, these have fallen out of favor as the king browns sold by Australian breweries has switched to twist tops.

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Last week we gave you the low down on the beer in a can or no boil home brew kits. These are a pretty popular way to brew and are what is included in the basic home brew kit you may have picked up at K-Mart etc. Even if you have never brewed before you may even recognize one of these cans from the supermarket shelf, but what many beginners don’t realize at first is that there are even more advanced kits to get you brewing a bit more like the big boys.

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If you want an enjoyable and interesting day out when visiting Singapore book yourself into the Tiger Brewery where you can not only learn how this tasty drop is produced but sample a little bit of it the end of the tour. For about $10 you can visit the brew house, the packaging hall and the beautiful Tiger Tavern. Located behind the Raffles Golf Course it is in easy reach of all of the island city by MRT and Bus. The brewery offers three tours most week days and is conducted in English. For most visitors other than the sample at the end the historic presentation of advertising and beer memorabilia is the highlight of the tour, there is some very cool antique beer making equipment and paraphernalia. Tiger is one of Asia’s biggest beers being brewed in both Singapore and Malaysia, it has won a whole trophy cabinet of prestigious awards for excellence over the years and is available in over 50 countries.

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Last week we introduced you to the basic home brew kit. Nearly everyone who gets into home brewing starts with one of these, if you picked up one of these new you will have along with your fermenter tub and various other doo dads, your beer in a can mix.
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Many beer connoisseurs like ourselves at one point or another get tempted to brew their own beer, it’s cheap, fun and pretty easy. Over the next few weeks we are going to cover the processes of home brewing and this week we are starting off with the beginners basic brew kit. So if you want us to dumb down home brewing read on. Read the rest of this entry »