How to make beer - before you brew

Learning how to brew beer can be a fun and exciting culinary challenge. Before you get started though you will want to do some homework so you set your expectations right from the start.
You may also want to practice a little patience, and precision when learning how to brew.

The first expectation you should have is that the brewing process can easily take four (4) or more weeks before you can drink your beer.

Let's start our pre-season lessons on how to make beer with research. What kind of research? Well, simply getting our hands, eyes and taste buds on anything beer. Find internet sites like this one, as well as books from your local library, microbrewery, book store or internet venue to get an idea of what is involved in making beer.

My favorite part of this kind of research is trying to decide what type of beer we will make first (or next), and this is up to your individual taste preferences, creativity and skill levels.

Next we will want to research some beer making equipment. As with any hobby or passion, you will get out of this experience what you put into it. That being said, you can start off with an inexpensive kit from MrBeer.com or other supply house to learn the basic techniques, then graduate to larger volume kits or who knows - go pro and open your own microbrewery.

Finally, you will want to determine the ingredients for your chosen beer, bearing in mind the volume of beer you wish to make. This is where your tastes, creativity and the by the book recipie approach works for us. Almost all beers start the same way, its how you mix the grains that matter for the final product.

Do your research, and shop around before proceeding to the next steps. We will tackle one thing at a time and in the end there will be a nice process to bring you to hops heaven.