Thinking of making wine and beer at home and not sure where to start?
Are you someone who would like to enjoy a casual drink from time to time but does not like spending the money changed for alcohol at your local liquor store or bar? If so you may be interested in this helpful home wine and beer making article.
For as long as we can go back in history humanity has been drinking wine and beer. It was used for recreation, healing, and ceremonies all over the world in many countries. How did humanity come up with these wine and beer concoctions? We may never really know but what we do know is the people of today still enjoy it but in a more commercialized fashion. Today we are more prone to stop by the local liquor store and buy a bottle of our favorite wine or beer, but back in the day, most folks made their own. What happened did this craft die off, we believe convenience plays a key role. Home brewing is coming back in a big way one reason we believe is that life, in general, is becoming more expensive and the second reason is that it is a fun past time and cool hobby to create some amazing tastes at home for a fraction of the price.
Beer
Some of the best beer around today is craft beer. Craft beer came from small microbreweries, or even home brewers who make small experimental batches breaking the barriers of beer brewing as we know it. Craft beer is so refreshing and tasteful that it has exploded at the seams and there are so many delightful tastes from all around the globe. Craft beer is a personal experience, and not everyone may like what you like, but that is the exciting part about it. Good news is you can also be a craft beer maker, just buy a beer kit and figure out how beer is made, you will need the right equipment, and it is relatively cost effective to start. Once you got all the right equipment and brewed a few batches, you can then get into adding new and exciting ingredients to become a craft beer, maker. As long as you follow the instructions, your batches will come out to perfection when you first start out. You may want to ask friends or even kit suppliers to help you choose a brand that is known for its great taste. There are so many beer kits to choose from, Amber Ale, Pale Ale, Cream Ale, Pilsner and many more delightful flavors. If you are interested in drinking your homemade beer sooner than later you might want to look into IPA kits (India Pale Ale) This type of beer is better when it is young and fresh because of its fruity taste.
Wine
Winemaking is very similar and requires similar or the same equipment. You can make wine from grapes or kits. Both are pretty easy to get. Wine can be consumed in approx 30 – 60 days after it is started from a kit than if it is made from real grapes. If you do drink it when its first drinkable it may be a little young fruity tasting. Some people prefer to age it for a month before drinking, so the ingredients mingle together better. You can grow the grapes in the summer, or you can buy grapes or grape juices in season. Out of season, you will have to acquire them from hotter climates like Argentina. Wine kits can be red, white, or blush in many delightful tastes like Chardonnay, Pinot, Merlot and much more. After you get the hang of the process, you can start experimenting and creating your own unique tastes. Wine in the old days was unfiltered, and you can still drink it that way today, but the wine we are used to from the store is filtered. A good pump based filter system can cost you $200 – $400, and if you want to age your wine, you will need to filter it, so the wine does not go bad. If you are drinking your wine within 30 – 60 days you do not need to filter it.
Additional Info:
There are countless websites and youtube videos to help you out with wine and beer making, also in most kits, they come with detailed instructions. In your city or town, there is local shops who sell supplies and kits go in and talk with them. If you decide to brew or make wine at the shop, it will cost you more for storing than if you did it at home but its still cheaper than store bought. Let’s use an example that you can purchase a wine kit for $70 and can make sixty 750ml bottles in that batch. That works out to be $1.17 per 750ml bottle of wine. Let’s say that a bottle of your favorite wine costs $10 per 750ml you now just saved $8.83 per bottle. That is a huge saving and can add up over the course of the year.
People usually think homemade wine and beer is bad tasting; it is far from the truth. Many times you will notice it is comparable or even better than commercial wine and beer and since you made it you know what goes in it.
Helpful Tips:
Use natural spring water for your kits, this will not only taste better, but the fermentation stage will move along better with all the natural minerals. Stay away from distilled or reverse osmosis water. This can slow down fermentation.
Always sanitize your equipment, never use unsanitized equipment. It can kill your whole batch, waste money and waste time.
If you do not want to clean a bunch of small bottles, then look into 3-4 liter bottles or even barrels.
Don’t over drink, you will now have an endless supply of alcohol at your fingertips, and this can lead to drinking too often. Make sure you do not fall into this trap. Drink responsibly.
Save money by using home made wine or beer as gifts and party favors. This adds a nice personal touch to any gift or house warming.
Store your equipment in the correct temperatures that the instructions recommend. Around 65 degrees is a good starting point.
You can find cheap yet good kits from Costco sometimes in store but for sure online.
