The Ultimate Micro Brewery.
Author: Chris Haycock
Home brewing, that is, making your own beer at home, is an
increasingly popular activity for many people. There is an
absolute wealth of information, supplies, and equipment to
be found on nearly every high street, and of course the
internet.
Hardly surprising in this age of advertisement driven
sales, where often the manufacturing costs of a particular
beer are dwarfed by the advertising budget of many of the
large breweries. Giving rise to a common complaint of
bland, overpriced beers with little, or no taste.
So lots of people are turning to home brewing to regain the
quality and taste of old. You have control over every stage
of the process, and of course these days it certainly
doesn't hurt that your finished product, as well as being
tasty, is considerably cheaper than the mass produced
varieties.
Beer has been with us for thousands of years. It can be
traced back at least 6,000 years when the Mesopotamians
were known to have drunk a fermented bread mash. Via
various routes it eventually arrived in Northern Europe.
From where it rapidly spread all over the civilised world.
Early fermented drinks, made with grain, the early
forerunner of our modern beers, made use of honey as a
source of sugar. These drinks were always referred to as
"ale". The term "beer" did not come into common use until
much later.
Most early ales were brewed from malted grains such as
barley, oats, and wheat. They were simple beers. The
addition of such ingredients as hops, which we now think
are pretty much indispensable were only introduced in the
early 1500's when Flemish settlers broght over their
recipes, which rapidly proved popular.
Until then many early recipes would contain such
ingredients as saltpetre, tree bark, and all manner of root
vegatables. The main purpose of many of these ingredients
would be to offset the often "rank" taste of the brew.
Obviously were it not for the alcoholic content nobody in
their right mind would drink it!
Every large household in those days would brew their own
beer. It generally being safer than a lot of the untreated
water, was drunk by all. They would have a brewing day once
a week, producing much stronger beers than are currently
made commercially and were made in quite large quantities,
stored in casks.
From the late 1700's onwards small breweries started
producing beer in commercial quantities, brewing excellent,
good drinking beers, which were deivered to ale houses
within a fairly small radius. Over a period of time, with
the increase in population and improvements in transport
links, many of these small breweries either amalgamated or
were taken over. To be replaced by fewer, larger breweries,
making a lot less types of beer.
And so we now see a swing back, consumer driven, to a lot
more "micro breweries" producing a much smaller quantity of
beer, but providing the variety and taste that people want.
The ultimate micro brewery being of course the home brewer.
About the Author:
Chris Haycock is an information publisher. One of whose
many hobbies is home brewing. Preferring the taste and
variety of his own product to those commercially available.
For more information go to:
http://www.secretsofhomebrewing.com
Author: Chris Haycock
Home brewing, that is, making your own beer at home, is an
increasingly popular activity for many people. There is an
absolute wealth of information, supplies, and equipment to
be found on nearly every high street, and of course the
internet.
Hardly surprising in this age of advertisement driven
sales, where often the manufacturing costs of a particular
beer are dwarfed by the advertising budget of many of the
large breweries. Giving rise to a common complaint of
bland, overpriced beers with little, or no taste.
So lots of people are turning to home brewing to regain the
quality and taste of old. You have control over every stage
of the process, and of course these days it certainly
doesn't hurt that your finished product, as well as being
tasty, is considerably cheaper than the mass produced
varieties.
Beer has been with us for thousands of years. It can be
traced back at least 6,000 years when the Mesopotamians
were known to have drunk a fermented bread mash. Via
various routes it eventually arrived in Northern Europe.
From where it rapidly spread all over the civilised world.
Early fermented drinks, made with grain, the early
forerunner of our modern beers, made use of honey as a
source of sugar. These drinks were always referred to as
"ale". The term "beer" did not come into common use until
much later.
Most early ales were brewed from malted grains such as
barley, oats, and wheat. They were simple beers. The
addition of such ingredients as hops, which we now think
are pretty much indispensable were only introduced in the
early 1500's when Flemish settlers broght over their
recipes, which rapidly proved popular.
Until then many early recipes would contain such
ingredients as saltpetre, tree bark, and all manner of root
vegatables. The main purpose of many of these ingredients
would be to offset the often "rank" taste of the brew.
Obviously were it not for the alcoholic content nobody in
their right mind would drink it!
Every large household in those days would brew their own
beer. It generally being safer than a lot of the untreated
water, was drunk by all. They would have a brewing day once
a week, producing much stronger beers than are currently
made commercially and were made in quite large quantities,
stored in casks.
From the late 1700's onwards small breweries started
producing beer in commercial quantities, brewing excellent,
good drinking beers, which were deivered to ale houses
within a fairly small radius. Over a period of time, with
the increase in population and improvements in transport
links, many of these small breweries either amalgamated or
were taken over. To be replaced by fewer, larger breweries,
making a lot less types of beer.
And so we now see a swing back, consumer driven, to a lot
more "micro breweries" producing a much smaller quantity of
beer, but providing the variety and taste that people want.
The ultimate micro brewery being of course the home brewer.
About the Author:
Chris Haycock is an information publisher. One of whose
many hobbies is home brewing. Preferring the taste and
variety of his own product to those commercially available.
For more information go to:
http://www.secretsofhomebrewing.com
