|
|
Home Brew Beer Making Kits
Beer kits have become very popular for making beer at home since it was legalised during the 20th century in most of the
world. In the UK, home brewing was completely legalised for personal use in 1963 when
the previously ruling 1880 five shilling homebrewing license was
removed. Today it is free (of alcohol duty) and legal to make any quantity of fermented alcohol for your own use in the UK.
What is a Home Brew beer kit?
A home brew beer kit typically contains liquid or dry
(spray dried) malt extract which when diluted with water produces wort.
The extract is normally hopped, which removes the need for boiling it
with hops. Kits with lower malt content (usually up to 1.8kgs) require
sugar addition. The "all malt" style kits containing 3kgs or more (to
make 23 litres) normally need no sugar to be added and will produce a
higher quality beer. Always check ingredients list though, it should say
malt extract and nothing else (no sugar syrup, barley syrup or anything
with sugar - in that case you have a cheaper beer kit dressed up as an
exclusive one). Beer enhancers improve quality
It is possible to use "normal" quality home brew beer kits
- 1 to 1.8kg malt extract per 23 litres - and add a brewing enhancer,
which is a mix of dried malt extract and brewing sugar (and sometimes
also maltodextrin to achieve more body). This will produce a high
quality beer from a normal home brew kit and it allows you to adjust the recipe by
using different enhancers. Finishing hops for the final touch
Although most home brew beer making kits of today come
pre-hopped, you can obtain a fresher hop taste by adding a small hop
infusion, normally in a tea bag. This is not the same as the main hop
addition, it will not produce the main bitterness, but it will produce
that last freshness and it is a means of varying the beers using the
same kit but different finishing hops.
|
|
