A bar is a perfect spot for guests to gather around and get acquainted with each other. You can build your own bar in a room where you normally entertain guests or install one in your patio for summer pool parties.
You can actually build a portable bar that can be used indoors in many rooms and push it outdoors when the weather calls for it. Bars are usually made from wood or bamboo. The bamboo particularly lends itself to a tropical island bar style. Another good idea is to build a bar as a counter in the room used for entertaining and then use it for all sorts of things like a bar, a buffet table or just an extra table.
Filed under Beer News, Wine-Spirts, beer, beer dispensers by Dave Rokiki
Start with a clean, dry glass for each brew being considered. Appearance, aroma, mouthfeel, flavor and aftertaste all play a part in the experience, along with more subtle aspects. Humans are visual creatures. What they see strongly influences their subsequent perceptions. A glass of dark brown with a creamy brown two-inch head will create another. But, blind taste tests often produce surprising results. Many have identified their favorite brew as dull or even distasteful aroma.
Filed under Beer News, beer, beer dispensers by jamesjohn
As a flavoring agent hops contribute in multiple ways. The fruit of the hop plant contains compounds called alpha acids. At the same time, like many plants, hops contain oils that add distinctive aromas. Scottish ales began using hops only much later. Noble hops alone, for example, come in four types. Names more familiar to English readers, but derived from their European ancestors, are such types as Goldings – an English hop used in some ales – and Fuggles, a woody hop developed in England in the late 19th century.
Filed under beer dispensers, home brewing, home brewing beer recipes by jamesjohn
Which glass looks best for beer presentation is largely a subjective issue. For the utmost in tasting, hand-wash your glass in warm water and rinse well. Allow to air dry. Hand towels, and especially paper towels, can introduce bits of cloth or paper.
Purists will avoid frosting the glass, since that can change the temperature and introduce moisture into the brew. The Weizen is named for Weizenbier (wheat beer), a Bavarian brew. The traditional English serving glass is the Pint Glass (or Becker), a tall, round, tumbler-shaped container with thin walls. The Stange is a traditional German-style, a straight cylinder used to serve delicate beers. They function well to concentrate volatiles, leading to a heady aroma. Malt and hop complexity is easier to judge using these fine serving vessels
Filed under Beer News, beer, beer dispensers by jamesjohn
Even so simple an act as pouring a glass of beer is surrounded with controversy. When the glass is half-full, (not half-empty, there are no pessimists among beer pouring specialists!), tip the glass upright and continue to pour into the middle.
Gentle pouring down the side of the tilted glass helps keep the foam down to moderate height. Steepen the angle or pour from a higher distance for thicker foam. For those who want the maximum that a beer offers, pour some of the settled yeast out of the bottle into the glass. See, nothing about pouring escapes controversy!
Filed under Beer News, beer, beer dispensers by jamesjohn
Not many people realize that there are different types of beer glasses. However, even less people know that there are many types of beer glasses that are geared for German-style beer!
More on Let Me Explain The Number of Styles of German Beer Glasses
Filed under Beer News, beer, beer dispensers by jamesjohn
German Beer Glasses: German beers tend to get their own special type of drinking glass, and the beer glasses are configured to enhance the taste of the beer. Hefeweizen, Kristallweizen and Dunkles are served in glasses that are tall and elegant, with a narrow base broadening toward the top before tapering slightly again. There is often a spiralling effect ascending from the bottom of the glass.
More on Here’s Why German Beers Get Their Own Special Drinking Glass
Filed under Beer News, Wine-Spirts, beer, beer dispensers by jamesjohn
The article says you can make beer in the coffee maker, Has anyone every tried this? You can actually brew your own beer version if you have a coffee maker at home. I bet you haven’t considered that before. Has anyone tried this?
Filed under Wine-Spirts, beer dispensers, beer recipe by jamesjohn
People wonder if they should have a beer keg at home. Here are some of the reasons you should have a beer keg at home. If you do not drink beer, you need not need to read this.
Filed under Wine-Spirts, beer, beer dispensers, home brewing storage by jamesjohn
There’s nothing better than a crisp, cold beer at the end of a long day. But if you’ve just got them from the store, they’re going to be lukewarm by the time you get them home. Dilemma. How do you avoid that? By investing in a beer chiller of course! There are few things in life that come as a bigger disappointment than a warm beer. We have all experienced this, at a party perhaps or a summer barbeque, and it happens time and time again!
Filed under beer, beer dispensers by jamesjohn
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A 12 ounce tapered glass that is tall and slender. Pilsner glasses are good for showing a beer’s color, carbonation level, and for head retention. Designed to be used with “pilsner” beers. These are tall, with a shape that evenly tapers from a wider mouth to a narrower base with no curves. The shape of the Pilsner glass provides a stage for the light, gold color of the traditional pilsner beer while the wide mouth allows formation of a foamy head to keep in the flavor and aroma of the hops.
Filed under Beer News, Wine-Spirts, beer, beer dispensers, home brewing beer recipes by jamesjohn
Filed under beer dispensers, home brewing, home brewing supplies by jamesjohn
Home brewing beer with kegs is a lot easier than you may have imagined. The cost of the kit depends on how much beer you wish to brew as well as your level of expertise. Home brewing beer with kegs provides you with the opportunity to brew delicious beer that will taste the way that you want it to taste and you will find it to be a hobby worth pursuing.
Kegging does free the homebrewer from the mundane and tedious tasks of cleaning and sanitizing bottles, storing the empties (always seems there are more empties than fullies), and waiting weeks for beer to carbonate in the bottle. A kegging system also opens the door to other possibilities, like closed beer transfer for sanitation and filtering for crystal clear beer.
Even with all the cleaning, and all the liberating freedoms of kegging your beer, bottling your homemade beer still has its place. Bottles also let you add a custom label that personifies your beer or adds that personal touch and flare to the beer.
Filed under beer dispensers, home brewing storage, home brewing supplies by jamesjohn
The home draft system or kegerator as it is sometimes called is the anchor of any home bar. A home draft system will give you the ability to keep nearly any beer on tap and enjoy it for as little as 45 cents per serving.
In my humble opinion, purchasing a manufactured home draft system is the best option if you can afford it. You can get a kegerator for sale for as little as $400 or if you are mechanically inclined, kits can be picked for about $100 if you have a fridge to start with.
Once you’ve selected the appropriate refrigerator, you’ll need to choose your kegerator kit. Next, assemble the tools necessary to build your kegerator. Even though the kegerator kits typically include any specialty tools that are needed, you will need a few basic household tools. If you are building a mini fridge style of kegerator, you need to decide if you’re going to have a top mounted, tower style tap, or are you going to mount the tap in the door. If you are building an upright style of kegerator, the tap will be drilled through the door, which has no coolant lines, so this is not a concern.
Filed under beer dispensers, home brewing storage by jamesjohn
A beer kegerator is a good, economical way to dispense beer in your home bar. The kegerator maintains beer at the ideal temperature and allows it to be served mess-free. The kegerator is an indispensable item for your bar equipment for the host who loves to entertain and enjoys a cold beer on tap. Beer kegerators are available in various sizes from small to large.
You can look for a kegerator for sale or do your own refrigerator conversion to make your kegerator. Enthusiasts use the stand-up refrigerator, because the conversion process for this type is the easiest and most convenient. Some refrigerator models have their coolant lines in the door, and this would make it difficult to do a kegerator conversion as majority of the conversion will take place at the refrigerator’s door. If you are looking into installing more than three taps for your kegerator, or pondering over installing a large storage space for serving beer or for cold beer storage, you may want to consider converting a large storage freezer over a regular refrigerator. Most refrigerators and freezers that would be up for kegerator conversion will need modifications to the temperature controller as well.
Filed under beer dispensers, home brewing storage by jamesjohn
