Blog, Brewing

Check Out These Amazing Tips On Measuring Your Beer

By : Hazel Wagner

Beer can be defined as a type of alcoholic drink. It ranks third on the list of popular drinks in the world, just after water and tea. Beer is produced for drinking through a process called ‘brewing’ and packaged for sale in bottles, cans, and draughts and can be bought from stores, online review hub like McFny, malls, pubs, and bars.

Beer is made from four basic ingredients, and they are Barley, Water, Hops, and Yeast. The process will require the sugars extracted from the Barley is fermented by the yeast into alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. This mixture is what is referred to as Beer. Besides barley, wheat, maize, and rice can also be used as sources of sugar.

Water is the major ingredient in beer, and it accounts for the greatest percentage of its weight. You can get to see the detail process of making beer from this site. In recent times, Beer is also brewed with hops which give it a bitter taste. It also serves as a natural means of preserving the quality of the beer. Some beers also have different flavors added to them to give a unique taste. These flavors can be got from herbs, fruits or gruit.

For anyone who makes or drinks beer, there may be a need to measure the beer. The measurement of beer can be in different ways. Beer is measured using these factors: bitterness, colors, and strength (alcoholic content.)

  • Color: The color of a beer is based on the malt content. This color can be called pale amber, and it is a result of the pale malt content. It could either be the light ones made from a pale lager, or the dark ones made from a lager malt base or the very dark ones whose malt have been roasted.
  • Bitterness: The bitterness of a beer can be measured using the IBU which is an acronym for International Bitterness Units.
  • Alcoholic Content (Strength): The alcohol content in beers vary in percentages, and most cans or bottles usually indicate the average quantity on the bottle or can. It alcohol in any beer is determined by the sugars and the yeast used for fermentation. You can use a hydrometer to measure the alcohol content in a beer. The following steps would be helpful:

To measure the alcohol by value (AB), you have to subtract the original gravity from the final gravity and divide the result by 7.326 

The original gravity is the beer’s density before fermentation and the final gravity is the beer’s density after fermentation has occurred. The original gravity is always more because the beer has more dissolved sugar which the yeast will ferment into alcohol.

You can use a hydrometer to measure the gravity. 

  • Using a cup, measure out the beer.
  • Fill the hydrometer from the top till it gets to about 2inches.
  • Place the hydrometer into the liquid and wait for it to stop bouncing.\
  • Once it does, locate where the liquid meets the markings of the hydrometer, and identify the gravity reading. 
  • You can then record the gravity reading which should be a number between 1.000 and 1.160.

People drink beer for several reasons. They include:

  • Socializing: Beer is used as a way of bonding with friends. People tend to drink less when they are alone than when they are with others.
  • Cost-Effective: Beer is quite cheap, making it more affordable than other alcoholic drinks like vodka, spirits, and whiskey.
  • Good Feeling: Beer has a way of making a person feel good. It makes for a certain kind of light-headedness, and people usually use it as a temporary way of escaping from negative life issues.
  • Peer Pressure: Beer is also drunk by many as a way of fitting in with the crowd, especially if their friends drink as well. For them, it serves as a way of looking cool.
  • Addiction: People also drink beer simply because they are addicted to the taste, and the feeling it gives. They do not have the strength to fight the urge, and so give in.
Blog

Brewing Beer with Ginger

By : Hazel Wagner
Brewing beer with Ginger

Ginger beer is a hot trend today, thanks to the health benefits and the different taste it offers. Ginger gives a sweet yet spicy taste to the beer and is a great option for making cocktails. There are a lot of ways to make ginger beer at home, the one listed below is a simple recipe that takes only 3 days to make. But since it is not fermented for a long time it is not rich in probiotic but still offers various health benefits.

To brew your beer at home with ginger follow the easy steps below:

  • Peel fresh ginger and grate it finely. You will need 1/4th cup of finely grated ginger.
  • Take ½ teaspoon cream of tartar, 1/4th cup of lemon juice, and grated ginger in a large pot.
  • Add 4 large cups of water to the pot and boil the mixture.
  • After it has come to a full boil, turn the flame to medium and add sugar. Stir it well till the sugar has completely dissolved.
  • Now add 5 cups of cold water to the mixture in the pot and let it cool down to 23 degrees Celsius or 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Add 1 teaspoon of yeast to this and stir it well.
  • Place a kitchen towel on the pot to cover it well. Now you need to keep this pot in a dark and warm corner in the house for at least 3 hours. Post this the liquid mixture should smell yeasty and gingery.
  • Strain the liquid with a fine strainer in a pitcher. Make sure the liquid does not have any ginger in it.
  • Pour this brew in a clean plastic bottle. You can also use soda bottles or any other glass bottles. Fill the bottles leaving a little space at the top.

After this, all you need to do is keep the bottles in a warm and dark room for 3 days. About 2 to 3 times in the day loosen the cap of the bottles to relieve the pressure. Do not remove it completely. Once the fermentation is complete, you can add any fruit, syrup, liquor, or juice to customize the drink.

You can also enjoy it as it is. Be careful if you are storing it in a glass bottle as the carbonation might lead the bottles in exploding. So remove the fizz from the beer before storing it in glass bottles.

Enjoy your ginger beer!

Brewing

How To Brew Your Own Beer

By : Hazel Wagner

Brewing beer at home is fun and easy. You can save a lot of money if you are fond of enjoying good quality beer. You can follow our basic steps to enjoy your own beer at home.

To make your own beer you will need the following ingredients:

  • Hops
  • Malt extract in liquid or dry form
  • Specialty grains
  • Yeast depending on the kind of beer

All these ingredients are available in a DIY kit.

How To Brew Your Own Beer

First, you need to steep the grains. For this put the grains into a mesh bag or another teabag like bag and steep them for about 30 minutes in 2 gallons of hot water. Remove the bag from the pot and let the water drip out itself. You don’t have to squeeze the bag as it may cause the beer to get an astringent like flavor.

The malt extract needs to be added to this mixture and boiled once. The hop gives a flavor, aroma, and bitterness to the beer and hence is added at different intervals. The kit that you buy will spell out the time when you should add the hop. This boiled liquid is called wort and it needs to be cooled down as soon as possible after boiling. The best way to do so is by placing the pot in a sink filled with icy water. You can simultaneously stir it gently to aid the cooling process. Once the temperature is around 27 degree Celsius splash the wort to the fermenter.

Before fermentation starts, scoop out the hop and add more water to the liquid. Once the mixture is about five gallons add yeast. Depending on the yeast, you may need to pitch it. It is ideal to pitch the yeast so that it blooms and works faster. However, it is not necessary. Now air-lock the fermenter for minimized air exposure. Place it in a dark corner where the temperature remains consistent. After 24 hours the air-lock should start bubbling away. In case you don’t notice bubbling after 48 hours you may have a problem with the yeast.

After about a week, when you see the bubbling has slowed down leave the mixture for another week. Add dried malt extract or priming sugar that was in the kit. This will provide carbonation once you bottle the beer. Pour this brew in clean and sanitized bottles and cap them carefully. Store these bottles for a week or two at room temperature and then refrigerate them.

Enjoy this beer whenever you feel thirsty!

Blog

The 7 Tastiest Beers from Europe

By : Hazel Wagner

Europe is not only a dream destination for people who want to explore picturesque locations on a continent; it is the ultimate place to experience the variety of beer this continent has to offer. Known as a native to the modern beer, the place is a home for many famous brands around the world. Let us give you the top 7 beers that are a must if you are visiting this continent.

  1. Guinness: Irish culture is incomplete without this mouth-watering beer brand. You might have sipped it in another part of the world, but once you sip the original home-grown beer, you will have an experience like none other. If you visit Ireland do not forget to sip Guinness and enjoy a pint with your friends or partner.
  2. Augustiner Helles: To put it in simple words, this is the best lager you will ever have. Brewed in Augustiner-Brau, one of the oldest breweries in Munich that is run independently, this lager is made as per the German purity law. It is made with Bavarian malt and hops and fermented for a long time to get a smooth and crisp finish.
  3. Rugenbrau: Swiss chocolates and the Alps are what people visit Switzerland for. But if you are a beer lover, Rugenbrau is another best thing that this beautiful country can offer you. It is a pure Alpine beer brewed in Interlaken.
  4. Heineken: A familiar name, right! This premium quality lager made in the Netherlands is among the top beer brands across the world. Around 800 million liters of this crisp, clear, and golden beer is produced every year for the world. The alcohol volume is 5% and gives a strong taste and aroma to this beer.
  5. Juliper: Beer can be a luxury too if you want to savor Juliper. Brewed in Belgium, the country known for producing many high-quality lagers, Juliper is too expensive for a common man. But spending on this can be worth the shot once in a lifetime. The beer has a taste of grass and is one of the balanced beers in terms of its taste. It gives a sweet aftertaste that is to die for which is why you want to keep coming back to it.
  6. Paulaner: Did we mention that Munich brews the best beers? Well, this Munich beer by Paulaner Brauerei is popular during the Oktoberfest. A wheat beer that gives a sweet makes this beer a success in more than 70 countries. The beer is consumed at a massive number of 2 million hectolitres per annum.
  7. Newcastle Brown Ale: This ale has gained popularity within a very short time and has acquired a devoted following. Its fans cannot keep away from its sweet malty and nutty taste. The beer is manufactured by John Smiths which is a child company of Heineken and it has lived to its parent company’s name.