This story is part of a special beer month series celebrating the
Queen City's beer heritage and bright future as a booming brewery
town. Check wcpo.com/beer every Tuesday and Thursday for a new profile
of one of the 12 local breweries in the Cincinnati area.
CINCINNATI -- If you have a passion for good beer and can follow
instructions, you can brew a great beverage.
That's what Cincinnati native and local homebrewer Chris Nascimento
believes anyhow.
If you can cook, you can homebrew, he said.
While that may dissuade some bachelor types, Nascimento said its
possible for the process to be as simple as following a cake recipe.
The 45-year-old North College Hill resident is one of the co-operators
of Brew Monkeys , a homebrew supplies store on Harrison Avenue in
Cheviot. He and his business partner, Jeff Bishop, also offer classes
to brewers of all skill levels ($10 per class) at the location to help
them take their love of quality beer to the next level.
"It's obviously important to enjoy quality beer, but if you want to be
a homebrewer you really have to have a passion for it," said
Nascimento who began his love affair with craft brew at the popular
Northside hangout The Comet.
Nascimento, who started out in information technology field before
turning his professional pursuits to the beer production industry,
decided to venture into the world of homebrewing after meeting Richard
Dreyer, a transplant from Germany, in 1996.
While Nascimento fell into a social circle of brewers early on in his
homebrewing education, he said first-time brewers shouldn't be
intimidated by the process because of all the resources available
today.
Equipment Kits
In addition to brew clubs, recipe books and various Internet
resources, homebrew supplies are easy to acquire and relatively
inexpensive. Mid-range equipment kits range in price from $69 to $110,
according Nascimento.
While less expensive kits are available at places like drug stores and
kitchen goods retailers, Nascimento said going the generic,
inexpensive route can have a drastic impact on the quality of brew you
produce due to things like heat regulation, temperature gauging and
the filtration process.
Most standard, recommended kits include the following:
6.5-gallon primary fermenter with drilled and grommeted lid
6.5-gallon bottling bucket with bottling spigot
Easy clean, no-rinse cleanser
Airlock
Siphon & bottling setup
Home beermaking text
Hydrometer and test jar
Bottle brush
Twin lever capper
Liquid crystal thermometer
Bucket clip
The kits on the more expensive price range typically include things
like a 5-gallon glass carboy, a carboy brush and a brew paddle.
Some homebrew overachievers may splash the market and go for a kit
that exceeds the $110 price tag. While there's nothing wrong those
kits, you don't need one of those to make great beer, Nascimento
advised.
One of the interesting parts about these kits, Nascimento said, is
theyre usually less expensive than the cost of purchasing all the
necessary equipment independently of one another.
Some of the other things youll need for the process include a
5-gallon stainless steel pot (usually about $29 if you dont already
have one) and a large sink in which you can cool the brew in an ice
bath.
Other tools like a bottle washer ($10.49) and a sink adaptor for the
bottled water ($3.99) could come in handy but are considered luxury
items more so than necessary supplies.
Ingredient Kits
As they like to say on Top Chef, you can have the best equipment and a
visionary chef, but if you don't have quality product you won't have
delicious food. It's the same idea with homebrewing, which Nascimento
compares to baking due to its emphasis on recipes.
You can have a great recipe for a cake, follow it perfectly, but if
you dont use the right ingredients youre not going to want to eat
because it wont taste very good, he said.
While you might think packaged kits are similar in quality to the
packaged foods you find on the shelves at your local Kroger, that's
not the case. At least it's not the case all the time.
Most ingredient kits come with all the goodies you'll need to make a
flavorful and delicious brew. While you can venture to local organic
market and pick beautiful hops and delicious ingredients if you want,
doing so isn't necessary -- and isn't advised if you don't know what
you're looking for.
Like the equipment kits, ingredient kits come with pretty much
everything you'll need to make your own beer. They're also reasonably
affordable. The kits usually range in price from $29 to $52, depending
on variables such as the type of beer youre making, the time of year
and the quality of ingredients.
Some examples of pricing for specific beers are:
Red Ale - $31.95
English Brown Ale - $35.44
Pumpkin Spice - $41.13
German Oktoberfest - $38.94
IPA - $45.41
Most kits available online or at specialty brew shops can produce 5
gallons of beer, or about 54 standard
http://www.wcpo.com/lifestyle/food/homebrew-beer-a-look-at-the-cost-of-homebrewing
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