Home Brew Ingredients, It’s Not Rocket Science

The wonderful thing about home brew ingredients is, they are all natural and when we first started brewing our own beer, many years ago, I bought all the ingredients in the health food store.  That was the only place where you could purchase, hops, malted barley and yeast.  Mind you I’m going back quite a few years.

Today we are almost spoiled for choice.  We can simply go to the supermarket and there in the special section for the home brewer are all the necessary supplies one could need.

Not only can you purchase all the raw ingredients, you can buy the ready made base to just add water and you can have your favorite beer, brewed right there in your own home.  The range is amazing.

But…..for those of us who want to be a little more adventurous there are the home brew shops and here with the help of the expert owners we can devise our own home brew ingredients to make something that will be very special to us and our families.

The basic ingredients for making beer are :-

• Malted barley
• Hops
• Yeast
• and then water.

Little bit like the cordial we make up for the kids, small amount of the concentrate and then fill up with water.  That is what happens with home brewing ingredients.  The three main ingredients make up the concentrate but there is a little more that goes on during the process.

Malted barley is high in enzymes and it is these enzymes that give the constistency to the beer.

Hops in the main gives the beer its flavor, its bitterness. They are also a natural preservative, so no need for the artificial kind.  If you want to get really serious about your home brewing ingredients then you can always grow your own hops.  There is something really good about the smell of hops, very earthy.

The next ingredient is yeast.  Yeast is the ingredient that makes it all happen.  It is what causes the malted grains to ferment and therefore it provides the alcohol in the brew.

You can do a lot with what happens to the yeast there is more on that in our ebook,  Our Journey into Home Beer and Wine Brewing.

Also there are lots of other information, hints and tips for getting the home brew ingredients to produce the beer just to your liking.