An Overview of Home Brewing

Most beer is brewed using barley or other malted grains, hops, water, and brewers yeast. The grain is sprouted and then roasted or ?malted? in a kiln. This roasting process will affect the resultant beer,which will be lighter or darker depending on how long the grain was heated. Sprouting and roasting grains in this way aids in the production of amylase, an enzyme which breaks starches down and converts them into sugars. This sugar is important because it will become the primary food source for the brewers yeast, which converts sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This carbonates the beer, making it bubbly (similar to the effect baking yeast has on bread) and gives the final brew that intoxicant quality we all know and love.

Home beer brewing is an interesting and satisfying hobby for many people. The first home brewers were the ancient Mesopotamians, who began this long and beloved tradition nearly 7,000 years ago! Their secrets were passed on to the Persians, Egyptians, and finally the Romans, who brought the art of brewing to Europe. Today, home brewing of both wines and beers is legal in most countries. Prohibitions surrounding the process were lifted in the United States in 1979, although individual states still have the ability to instate laws governing brewing processes and alcohol content in home-brewed beers. Home brewing is popular for a variety of reasons; not only does it allow enthusiasts to attain high quality beer at low prices, it also allows the gourmet drinker to experiment with flavors, brewing methods, and other subtleties of the crafting process.

Those interested in learning more about the home brewing process can find vast stores of information in books such as The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Different types of alcohol can be legally produced by home brewers ? wine, beer, cider, and a French sugar-beer called Kilju are all available beverages which the brewing enthusiast may be interested in exploring. Somecompanies sell hom brewing kits for those just getting their feet wet; these range from all-grain kits, which include all ingredients necessary to produce beer from the very beginning of the process, to malt powders or syrups, which eliminate the initial processing steps and allow beginners to proceed directly to the fermentation process.

Home brewing can be a fun and frugal hobby ? if you like to drink, consider giving it a whirl!

Ara Hovsepian is a bit of a beer and wine snob, and has spent countless hours tinkering with his own home brewed creations. For more on brewing techniques and other back yard hobbies, visit www.houseofalebeerbrew.com.

Source: http://articlesclear.com/an-overview-of-home-brewing/

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