Hey, I have no problem admitting that I'm a Chef that doesn't enjoy wine. I do however, love beer. German beer, American Beer, Irish beer, it's all good! One of the coolest things I have always wondered about though is how can you make your own beer at home? Is it easy or hard? What do you need to get started? Is it expensive? Well recently I found some really cool inexpensive beer kits online, and I wanted to share them with you. I'll be listing the top 3 beer kits I have found on the Internet. But first a little history lesson about beer! Hey beer is for more than just drinking! There actually a really interesting history behind beer.



The first beer brewery was opened in Manhattan in 1623. But the oldest brewery still running is the 1829 Yuengling in Schuylkill County in Pennsylvania. The first Oktoberfest was held in Munich Germany in 1810 and it actually started as a wedding celebration. The oldest brewery in Munich is the Augustiner brewery which was established in 1294. Sake is closer to beer than wine by its method of production. People have been brewing their own liquors, wines, and beers for millions of years now. But beer is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages and one of the most popular. Beer was first "invented" in 10,000 B.C.E, in Mesopotamia. No one seems to be able to come on an agreement as to which is the oldest BRAND name beer however. I guess its one of those "mine is better" type of deals where everyone is trying to say they did it first. But a few of the oldest ones mentioned when looking up "Oldest Brands of Beer" on Google are:

Molson - Canada - 1786

Pilsen - Brazil - 1295

Lyle's Golden Syrup - Britain - 1885

Sapporo Beer - Japan - 1876

Beer Facts -

The first beer brewery was opened in Manhattan in 1623. But the oldest brewery still running is the 1829 Yuengling in Schuylkill County in Pennsylvania. The first Oktoberfest was held in Munich Germany in 1810 and it actually started as a wedding celebration. The oldest brewery in Munich is the Augustiner brewery which was established in 1294. Sake is closer to beer than wine by its method of production.

There's an Official "All About Beer" site that has all sorts of cool information like:

The Growler List: 125 Places to Have a Beer Before You Die

Home Brewing instructions & Recipes

World Beer Festival Info

Merchandise

Beer Pairings

and lot's more!

Alright now on to beer brewing kits! These kits were first introduced to help the consumer, some of these kits produce low quality beer and some make really good high quality beer. You just gotta look around at reviews and such, to find the right kit for you!

Grumpys Boston Cream by MasterBrew - This "brand" offers different sorts of kits, take a look at their website. Here's an example of a price and what's included in one of their kits:

Masterbrew Starter Kit. A starter kit for serious brewing! No 'kit and kilo' brew kits here! $145

Fermenter Complete. Airlock/tap/therm

Bench Capper

100 Crown seals

Bottling valve

Hydrometer

Priming measure

One-Shot sanitiser

Bottle Brush

Stirring paddle

AND your choice of 1.5kg "Masterbrew" recipe

Morgans Blue Mountain Lager by Export Range $140

100 Crown seals

Bottling valve

Hydrometer

Priming measure

One-Shot sanitiser

Bottle Brush

Stirring paddle

TCB Wetpak - American Pale by Country Brewer $80

1.7kg Country Brewer "Wal's" can

1 kg Dextrose

25Lt Pail & Lid

500g PSR

Hydrometer & Test Jar

Airlock

Standard Tap & Sediment Reducer

Digital Thermometer

Brewers Bottler

Finings 7g

Bottle Brush

200 Crown Seals

Hand Capper

Instructions and Recipe sheets

And here are a few sites you can take a look at as well. These sites have information about beer brewing at home, as well as brew kits and a lot more kits if you are interested (cheese, wine, jerky, etc.)

Wikipedia

CountryBrewer

MakeYourOwnAtHome

HBKit Reviews