Brewing With Mr. Beer®

INTRODUCTION

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Benjamin Franklin

That quote may be a bit of an overstatement, but there's no doubt that beer is popular the world over (in alcohol-consuming areas, that is). While beer has nothing to do with computing, it is an indulgence for many of us PC geeks. I recently began brewing my own beer and the management of B3D graciously allowed me to write about it for my fellow B3D imbibers. The product I used for home brewing is called Mr.Beer® and this review will give you some background on making your own suds as well describe the product and process in detail.

What is beer and why would I want to make my own? 

So why would you brew your own when it's easy enough to head to any number of stores that will sell you whatever you like in any amount? Because it's fun, it can taste better than store bought, and it's potentially cheaper than the six pack from the 7-Eleven. I also look at it the same way as I do building my own PC's: I could buy a PC from any number of builder, but I can aslo easily build my own PC exactly the way I want it. It's a little more work than buying one off the shelf, but I know what went into it and I can take pride in what I've created. Well, now I can feel the same satisfaction by brewing my own beer!

Beer is made from fermenting cereals and hops. Flavorings such as honey and fruit can also be added. Yeast feeds on the starches within the cereals, hops, and water mix and the output of their feeding (yeast is a living organism) is alcohol and carbon dioxide gas. Your lovely glass of bubbly beer is produced by a complex chemical process that is surprisingly easy to accomplish at home. The types and amounts of cereals, hops, flavoring, and aging processes create the many wonderful types of beer such as Lagers, Ales, Stouts, Porters, etc.