Brewing Supplies and Methods to Use for Creating Your Own Beer at Home

With the rising popularity of craft beers, the entry barrier to becoming a brewer has become lower. It's easier than ever to find brewing supplies in Sacramento, and new techniques allow aspiring brewers to learn the trade with a small budget and minimal experience. There are three major techniques that cater to various levels of skill and experience. Home Beer Kit Many first-time brewers begin with a home beer kit. These kits serve as something of an introductory-level course, guiding you through the methodology and chemistry behind the beer making process. Home kits typically consist of a tin of malt extract pre-mixed with malts and a yeast packet. The process is as simple as could be and involves just mixing the yeast and malts together and letting the brew ferment. While it's simple and guaranteed to provide a quality taste, it doesn't allow the customization you get with more advanced techniques.
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A Detailed Guide to Wine Making from the Comfort of Your Own Home

Home wine making is a skill that's easy to learn but difficult to master. Experience is the only way to get better, but the process is simple enough to start in an afternoon. In the simplest form of wine making, all you need to do is mix juice, sugar, and yeast and let it ferment for 10 to 30 days. However, the result won't be particularly pleasant. Creating a rich and full-bodied wine requires carefully picking fruits that capture the flavor you want and relying on the right chemicals and equipment to give it the perfect taste. Start by making sure all your equipment and ingredients are fully washed and cleaned. Pick sour or rotten fruit from the batch. If you don't have a wine press, you'll need to crush the fruit yourself, using a strainer, a bucket, and your clean feet.
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Art of Beer Making: How Adjuncts Can Affect Your Home Brewing Recipes

Beer brewing is an art that is almost as old as civilization itself. For millennia, people have tried to craft and perfect their own home brewing recipes using different grains and equipment that helped them achieve good tasting beer. Today’s beer is mainly made from barley, and some beer enthusiasts would insist that a top-quality drink should only be made from barely. However, other grains are also just as capable of whipping up a great batch of the famous drink. Wheat, sorghum, rye, oats, corn, rice, and even sugar are all known as adjuncts. The term “adjunct” refers to any unmalted grain used in beer brewing to supplement the main ingredient (commonly malted barley). Some people think that adjuncts are only used to cut down on production costs, since some grains like rice and corn are cheaper than barley.
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Home Brewing 101: The Differences of Extract and All-Grain Beer Brew

Home brewers have two options when it comes to making beer at home: extract brewing and all-grain brewing. To begin with, it is important to understand the home brewing process itself. Beer is a result of fermenting malt sugar. The traditional process of making beer is to mash grains, take the remaining sugars as base, introduce the yeast, and then wait for it to ferment. Traditionally, all-grain is the only way to brew beer; however, today’s technology has made it possible to brew even with extracts only. In simple terms, an extract is a ready-made malt that can be immediately used as a base. Extract brewing allows the brewers to skip over the malting and mashing process and go right ahead to the fermenting process.
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Fired Up Fun: Making Chili-Laced Beers with Your Home Brewing Supplies

It is common for beer lovers, particularly those who brew their own, to check their beer’s label and study the content. Some ingredients, like milk or fruits, can certainly point to the brewers’ creativity, but the use of chili peppers surely reflects the brewer’s preference for the hot stuff. If you want to give your homemade brew a kick, a dash of chili pepper could be the answer. Caution: Hot Zone In his article for Brew Your Own magazine, Scott Russell says there are many cardinal elements to consider before you even go about making your own chili beer. One main point is that the chili content must not overpower your brewed malt and hops. The beer itself should be well-brewed and can stand their ground.
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Gathering Wine Making Supplies for Crafting Up the ‘Tangerine Dream’

There are many fruits which can be used for homemade wines. Specific citrus varieties, like tangerine, have become perennial favorites by home winemakers who want to craft something different from the products available at the nearest liquor store. Tangerine 101 Tangerines, also known by their scientific name citrus reticulata, have been tagged as cousins of oranges. Along with satsumas, tangerines come from the Mandarin family of citrus trees, and both originated from Southeast Asia. Tangerines are recognizable by their smaller size compared to oranges, and are also easier to peel than oranges. Some of the well-known tangerine varieties include the much sought-after Wilking and Kinnow, the Nova, and the Changsha. However, you have to be careful when shopping around for tangerines – a few citrus fruits may be passed off as tangerines but are not “true” tangerines, such as Calamondins and Minneota Tangeloes.
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