Home Brewing Supplies - Brewing Supplies You'll Need

In addition to your home brewing equipment you also need to get all of the home brewing supplies or ingredients. Based upon which type or style of beer you intend to make will determine precisely what home brewing supplies you'll require. When you are planning to make your own beer for the first time you might like to think about purchasing a kit with all of the desired supplies.

Below is a list of what home brewing supplies a standard kit will contain:

- Malt Extract Syrup
- Specialty Grains (some kits have this)
- Grain Bag
- Hops
- Yeast
- Priming Sugar

Now lets go over the home brewing supplies and provide you with a basic concept of the way you are going to be making use of them.

Malt Extract Syrup:
Utilizing malt extract is one thing that can help make home brewing easier. Malt extract is made of concentrated sugars extracted from malted barley. You'll find it available in either a syrup or powdered form. The syrups are around 20% water, which means that 4 pounds of dry malt extract (DME) is approximately similar to 5 pounds of malt extract syrup. In addition, malt extract is supplied in both a hopped or unhopped selection. Munton & Fison, Alexanders, Coopers, Edme and Premier are very good brands. When buying malt extracts make sure to read the list of ingredients in order to avoid any kinds with added processed sugars. These processed sugars are occasionally added to Light Beer-style kits.

Anytime you are home brewing with unhopped extract you must add 1-2 ounces of hops over the course of the boil for bittering and flavor. Hops can be added to the hopped extract brews towards the conclusion of the boil to provide extra hop character to the finished beer.

Specialty Grains:
Specialty grains are small quantities of certain kinds of malted barley which are used to enhance your extract brewing. Using this method does not require any extra equipment besides a grain bag and provides you a good deal more flexibility in producing the wort for your desired style of beer.

Grain Bag:
The grain bag is used to steep the specialty grains in the wort within your brew kettle.

Hops:
Hops can be a really complicated topic. There are many different kinds of hops, however they are usually divided into two primary groups: Bittering and Aroma. Bittering hops tend to be high in Alpha Acids (the main bittering agents), normally higher than 10%. Aroma hops are lower, about 5%. A number of hop varieties are in between and are able to be used for either purpose. Bittering hops are added at the beginning of the boil and in most cases boiled for an hour. Aroma (or finishing) hops are added closer to the conclusion of the boil and therefore are usually boiled for 15 minutes or less. A mesh bag, called a hop bag, may be utilized to help retain the hops during the boil and make removal of the hops less difficult prior to fermentation. Straining or removal of the hops before fermentation is advised.

Some more advanced brewers also add hops to the fermenter for improved hop aroma in the finished beer. This is called dry hopping, however, this is usually done during a secondary fermentation.

Yeast:
The yeast is one of the most critical home brewing supplies. In the absence of it there'd be no fermentation and hence no alcohol. In addition, it plays a substantial role in determining the taste in the beer. Different yeast strains will produce different beers when pitched in identical worts. Yeast is available in both liquid and dried types. For the first-time brewer, dried ale yeast is normally suggested. Some leading and well-performing manufacturers of dry yeast are Yeast Labs, Coopers, DanStar, Munton & Fison and Edme. Steer clear of any no-name yeast packet that came taped to the top of the can of malt extract. You've no idea what it is in addition to just how old it really is.

Ale yeasts are known as top-fermenting due to the fact that since of the fermentation activity occurs at the top of the fermenter. Alternatively lager yeasts work at a slower rate and remain toward the bottom of the fermenter. The fermentation temperature is another important difference. Ale yeasts prefer higher temperatures, most will go dormant below 55F (12C), while Lager yeasts will gladly perform well at 40F. Working with lager yeast at ale temperatures 65-70F (18-20C) will result in a beer with mixed character, a slightly fruity tasting lager, called California Common Beer. Anchor Steam Beer is probably the most well known examples of this unique style.

If this will be your first home brewing attempt you probably wish to use an ale yeast, simply because it is going to finish fermenting faster. An ale yeast usually takes just two weeks in comparison to a lager yeast that might take from around four to six weeks to completely ferment.

Priming Sugar:
Priming sugar is put into the beer once it is finished fermenting. This is usually done in your bottling bucket right before the beer is bottled. This technique of introducing a small amount of fermentable sugar prior to bottling will give the beer carbonation after a week or two of conditioning.

Now that you have a sense of what home brewing supplies are needed all you've got to do is pick out a type of beer to make. When you have all your home brewing equipment and supplies you are ready to begin making your own beer.