Knowing What To Look For In A Home Bar

Do you want to enjoy a relaxing drink with friends in the privacy of your own home bar – away from the noise, jostling and smoky interiors of crowded clubs? Do you want the quiet simplicity of a basic home bar to mix a few drinks or maybe have a saloon-style outdoor home bar to add sizzle and excitement to your summer parties?

Drinking in moderation can bring people together and add an element of celebration to most social and family gatherings. And in this age of open plan houses and home entertainment systems, the home bar is becoming more popular as a focal point for partying and socializing.

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Simply, beer is a fermented combination of water, barley, yeast and hops. The major variation in any beer is the type of yeast used in the fermentation process.

Let’s look at the properties of this beverage.

Water is the main ingredient of beer. In the past, the purity of the water influenced the final result and was specific to the region of the earth from which it came. Today, water is filtered of these impurities, although pure water supplies are still ideally preferred by elite brewers.

Barley malt is an extremely important ingredient in beer as it is the main source of fermentable sugar. Many new breweries use barley malt extract, in either syrup or powder form, as this form ferments much quicker. It also contains many minerals and vitamins that help the yeast to grow.

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Hops are the flowers of the hop plant, a climbing vine plant that grows well in many differing climates. Hops contain acids which add bitterness to beer. Adding bitterness to beer helps to balance the sweetness, as well as acting as a natural preservative. Add more hops to the mixture and you will get a more bitter taste. This kind of beer is extremely popular in Britian and is simply referred to as “Bitter” (the original names are always the best!).

Variations of these ingredients create different tasting beers as well as having an affect on the alcoholic content.

When making your own beer many good resources are available which provide home brewing kits. It is important to read the ingredients of the packets in order to ascertain which has the best mixture according to your needs. One quick tip which many home brewers fail to adhere to is this: “Use fresh still water”!

Many have often sought information on how to make beer and the basic homebrewing equipment is not very expensive you can get what you need, for as little as $100.

In order to start making beer, you will need the following:
A brewpot: Primary fermenter: Airlock and stopper: Bottling bucket: Bottles: Bottle brush: Bottle capper: and a thermometer: In addition you can even use items from your kitchen to aid in the beer making. A breakdown of all the equipment is as follows:
Brewpot

A brewpot is made of stainless steel or enamel-coated metal which has at least 15 litre capacity, but it’s no good if it’s made of aluminum or if it’s a chipped enamelized pot, (these will make the beer taste funny). The brew pot is used to boil the ingredients thus begins the first stage of beer making.

Primary fermenter

The primary fermenter is where the beer begins to ferment and become that fabulous stuff that makes you so funny and charming. The primary fermenter must have a minimum capacity of 26 litres and an air tight seal it must also accommodate the airlock and rubber stopper. Make sure the one you buy is made of food-grade plastic, as it wont allow the bad stuff in or let the good stuff out.

Airlock and stopper

The airlock is a handy gadget which allows carbon dioxide to escape from your primary fermenter during fermentation, it is this process that keeps it from exploding, but it doesn’t allow any of the bad air from outside to enter. It fits into a rubber stopper, and is placed into the top of your primary fermenter. The stoppers are numbered according to size, so make sure you use the correct stopper for the correct hole

Plastic hose

This is a food grade plastic hose which measures approximately 5 feet in length. It is needed to transfer the beer from system to system, and it is imperitive that it is kept clean and free from damage or clogs

Bottling bucket

This is a large, food-grade plastic bucket with a tap for drawing water at the bottom, it needs to be as big as your primary fermenter, because you need the capacity to pour all the liquid from your primary fermenter into a bottling bucket prior to bottling up.

Bottles
After fermentation, you place the beer in bottles for secondary fermentation and storage. You need enough bottles to hold all the beer you’re going to make, the best kind of bottles are solid glass ones with smooth tops (not the twist-off kind) that will accept a cap from a bottle capper. You can use plastic ones with screw-on lids, but they arent as good for fermentation and dont look as well. Wheather you use glass or plastic bottles, make sure they are dark-colored. Light damages beer, i would recommend green or brown bottles.

Bottle brush

This is a thin, curvy brush which is used to clean bottles because of the the shape of the brush it makes it very affective at getting the bottle spotless. We haven’t even gotten into how clean everything has to be, but we will, and the bottle brush is a specialized bit of cleaning equipment that you will require in order to maintain your bottle kit.

Bottle capper

If you take buy glass bottles, you will need some sort of bottle capper and caps, of course, and you can buy them from any brewing supplies store. The best sort of bottle capper is one which can be affixed to a surface and worked with one hand while you hold the bottle with the other.

Thermometer

This is a thermometer which can be stuck to the side of your fermenter, they are just thin strips of plastic which are self adhesive, and can be found in any brewing supplies store, or from a pet shop or aquarium. Not everything costs money though even some household equipment can be used.

Household items

In addition to the above specialized equipment, you will need the following household items:
Small bowl:
Saucepan:
Rubber spatula:
Oven mitts/pot handlers:
Big mixing spoon:

So there you have the ingredients and the method to make your home brew, all you need now is to get yourself a beer making kit and your on the way to beer heaven.

Beer enthusiasts enjoy the aroma created during their home brewing process. However, some members of your household may not enjoy the scents of malted barley and hops simmering to perfection. So why not take your hobby outside. Any excuse to spend time in your outdoor kitchen is a great excuse, but this hobby has an obvious reward at the end. You’ll soon discover that it is easy to recruit friends to spend time in your outdoor kitchen to serve as brewing assistants. Helping the brew master is a sure fire tactic to earn an invite when the beer is ready to be served. Of course, all of your guests will enjoy spending time in your outdoor living area enjoying the finished product.

If your outdoor kitchen is equipped with a side burner, and you have some extra counter space, you’re well on your way to having your own home brewery. Home brewed beer can be bottled, but many experienced home brewers will agree the bottling process is the most time consuming and least enjoyable part of home brewing. If your outdoor kitchen is equipped with a kegerator, you can skip the bottling process and significantly reduce the amount of time it takes for your beer to be ready to be served.

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To get started, you will first need home brewing equipment. A basic home brew kit will cost about one hundred dollars. As with any hobby, you can buy more expensive equipment, but getting started for the least amount of money is recommended. Basic home brewing kits consist of a six gallon glass fermenter (or carboy), a six gallon bottling bucket with spigot, and a variety of cleaning supplies, bottling equipment, and instructions. The large fermenter and bottling bucket can be stored in your outdoor kitchen cabinets when not in use.

Next, you will need a recipe and ingredients. For your first attempt, look for a complete kit with ingredients and instructions. Recipes get more complex as you gain experience and expertise in home brewing, but start with something simple. These kits cost between $30 and $50 and produce 5 gallons of beer. The usable yield will vary, but that is approximately 50 twelve-ounce servings.

The actual process of brewing your beer begins using your outdoor kitchen side burner and a large stainless steel brewing pot. Your recipe may vary, but you will be cooking ingredients in the brewing pot for approximately one hour. Along with the flavoring, the malted barley in this step becomes the sugar that is fermented into alcohol. The mixture is cooled by adding more water, yeast is added, and the beer then rests in the fermenter for about a week. Next, the beer is bottled and combined with priming sugar that produces carbonation. After about two weeks, the beer is carbonated and ready to enjoy. If you are transferring your beer to a kegerator, there is no need for priming sugar and the two week wait is reduced to about two days before your beer is ready.

Home brewing is completely legal, and nothing like distilling spirits which is highly illegal and very dangerous. You cannot accidentally make a dangerous beer. Worst case scenario, you might not like the taste of the beer you select, but it will be safe to drink and enjoy. If that happens, just start again with a different recipe, and enjoy spending more time in your outdoor kitchen!

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