Home brewing of beer, ales and lagers has been done for hundreds of years. Today it is a popular hobby for many enthusiasts. Easy for beginners to try and fun for experienced brewers who like to enter brewing competitions, there are even home brewing clubs organized by enthusiasts. From the first fermentation to the closing of filled bottles with Bottle cappers, many folks enjoy both the process of brewing beer at home as well as being able to share their creations with family and friends.
Why Make Home Brewed Beer?
Home brewing refers to the brewing of beer on a small production scale for personal consumption or sharing with friends through a social gathering. Serious experienced home brewers enjoy participating in “craft brewing”, or brewing for amateur competitions. People take up brewing for a variety of reasons. Some find it cheaper to make their own beer than to buy commercial beverages. Others enjoy experimenting with ingredients to produce different taste sensations. Still others create homemade beer to have a beverage with fewer calories than commercially produced beer.
How Do You Get Started Brewing At Home?
Brewing beer at home uses a process similar to the one used by a commercial manufacturer but on a much smaller production scale. The key ingredients are the same. These basic ingredients are malt, water, yeast and hops. Bottle cappers, a five gallon glass carboy, kegs (known as “cormies”), steel cylinders, cap discs and bottles are the key equipment needed to start brewing at home. Basic start kits are available for sale and may include items such as bottle caps, a kettle (at least 3 gallon volume), and a couple of cases of beer bottles that seal with pry-off caps.
Many beginners start their home brewing experience by making use of recipe kits sold for home brewing. Most kits include malt extract, hops and yeast along with written instructions. Most also include specialty grains. Some contain brewing spices or sugars for finishing the beer. Beginners favor beginning with these extract recipe kits because they save time when beginning to brew beer at home, have a simpler process with fewer key steps, and do not require anything but basic equipment. Bottle cappers must be purchased, however, to seal the bottles once the beer has been brewed. Moving from starter kits to partial mash kits or all-grain brewing recipes will help the home brewer learn new techniques and try new flavors by adding new ingredients.
Photo Credit: Flickr jcftang
As their skill level grows, many advanced brewers like to design their own recipes instead of using kits. This is where many hobby brewers have the most fun. Experimenting with ingredients to achieve just the right flavor adds some artistry to this craft. Once the completed beer is ready, brewers also can personalize their stock with the bottles they choose and the cap materials they select. Capping equipment allows brewers to literally put the finishing touch (the cap) on their product.
How Do You Cap Off Your Brew?
Capping machines can range in cost from approximately $12 to around $69, depending on complexity of design. Both new and used bottle capping machines are available for sale. Bottle cappers serve one function. They seal the caps onto bottles of beer to keep the flavor in and the beer from going flat. The most basic one on the market is the Black Beauty, a double-handed capper. Made of plastic with metal jaws, this product is safe for the dishwasher. A very popular devise is the Red Baron beer bottle capper. Also double-handed, it has a smooth mechanism and attaches caps with quick continuous motion. Spring-loaded, the Red Baron features a self-stopping crimper bell and a magnet for holding up the bottle cap before crimping it. Both of these “wing” cappers are the most commonly used devices. They can only apply caps to long-neck bottles.
A bench capper is typically more stable and faster to use than the double-handles Bottle cappers previously mentioned. This device self-adjusts when in use. With the press of one button, the height of the capper adjusts to the height of any four inch to 12 inch bottle being capped off. It can even accommodate champagne bottles. The Agata and Super Agata by Ferrari are the most popular models of bench cappers. They can be operated on manual or automatic. The Colonna Capper and Corker is also a bench mounted device. This machine easily puts caps on with little effort. There is no need to bear down forcefully on the handle to crimp the cap disc on the bottle. Inside the cap area is a piece of hardened steel that provides longevity to the device. At 18 ½ inches in the bottle area, it can accommodate any size beer bottle available on the market.
Another option is the beer bottles Grosch produces. These do not require the use of Bottle cappers, but instead come with E-Z reusable flip caps and washers attached. These bottles save the brewer the effort of capping them. They come in 16, 22 and 32 ounce sizes and in brown, cobalt blue and clue glass. Replacement washers for these bottles are available in 100 count packages. Standard 12 ounce brown beer bottles can be ordered by the case for use by home brewers. Requiring the attachment of caps, the necessary cap discs can be ordered by the gross in a variety of colors, including:
- plain gold
- plain silver
- oxygen absorbing silver
- black
- white
- yellow
- blue
- green
- orange
- U.S. flag design
Home brewing is easy and fun, with recipe kits and basic equipment kits to get you started. As you progress in your experience, you will enjoy brewing and serving beer to your family and friends.