Home Brewing Beer - A Fantastic Hobby and Pastime - If You Know How! |
Having spent a couple of hours with a friend the other day in our local bar I was staggered at how much the evening had cost. It was the price of a small mortgage! All so we could have a couple of drinks in a bar that had no atmosphere and very few people. The smoking ban really has reduced the amount of customers visiting bars these days. And the cost certainly doesn't help!
So this got me thinking. Why not try brewing my own beer? Many years back I had tried my hand at wine making with some success, well I enjoyed it anyway.
So off I went and bought myself a beer making kit, the bottles, plastic barrel, bucket and pipes, the whole works, and set about making my first batch of home brew beer following precisely the kits instructions.
Each night I would eagerly come home from work and make a bee line for my mini brewery just so I could witness the changes in the fermentation since I had last looked and smell the heady aromour.
Then one weekend came the big day. Bottling up time!
With my wife safely settled in our local shopping centre I spent the whole afternoon happily syphoning the golden liquid into newly washed and sterilized bottles. After leaving the bottles for the specified time, not easy when your taste buds are tormenting you, I invited my friend over for the first ever tasting.
I opened the first bottle and holding it at an angle to the glass I slowly and lovingly poured out the liquid. One glass for me and one for my friend. Cheers, we both said and sipped our first mouthful.
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly didn't meet my expectations. It tasted kind of odd, and had a strange smell to it. One mouthful was all I wanted. Trouble was I had gallon of the evil smelling liquid.
That was when I realized there is a knack to brewing beer. There is a process to be followed and tricks to be learnt that the home brew instructions simply don't tell you.
Home brewing is a fantastic hobby that everyone can get involved with, and a very cheap way of quenching your thirst.
It's much easier than you would think to make a good home brew once you know all the tricks and secrets.
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