Greetings from Charlotte, NC!
I am new to this blog via a kind invitation from the Terrible Swede himself. I am a Lutheran pastor and an avid homebrewer. I have been brewing beer now for a little over a year and still find a little bit of "saint and sinner" in my conconctions. Some brews turn out really well, others are a little left to be desired, yet aren't we supposed to bear with one another (or even with each batch)in their weaknesses? Anyways, I might recommend an excellent
store that is in my town that helped me in my task for brewing a great homebrew. Suprisingly I have some of my own parishoners on board with brewing beer and we've formed a brewing guild at the parish I serve. Nothing brings more men together than saying "come to a brewing guild meeting...we'll talk theology a bit, eat some meat and oh' lets try some homebrews out and cook up some more!" So some might say "why homebrew?" Well, I would like to post the top reasons that ebrew.com put on its website for why one should homebrew. Here they are...
It's Fun!
Making your own beer is a rewarding hobby in all its phases. The manufacturing of the beer is really enjoyable as you watch the magical process take place. You can double the enjoyment by making beer with your friends. Drinking your own beer gives you a very special kind of satisfaction, along with the pleasure of sharing it with your friends.
It's Easy!
Cook it, Ferment it, Bottle it, Age it, Enjoy it!
Make Beer That You Like! Right from your very first batch, you can make a beer that appeals to your taste with minimal fuss and effort. Whether you like the palest lagers or the richest stouts, you can reproduce that beer at home with great consistency. There's no beer in the world that you cannot make.
It's Inexpensive!
Being your own brewmaster, you will control the ingredients that determine the style and quality of your beer and thusly your cost. A normal batch of beer will produce 5 gallons, which works out to be two (2) cases, of import-quality beer at a cost of between $2 and $3 per 6-pack, while commercial imports will cost you at least $5 per 6-pack. Add up the savings over time - you can save a lot of money and gain a lot of satisfaction.
It's Completely Natural!
No artificial ingredients. Back in the good old days, beer was an all natural, healthful beverage, an important part of daily diet. Today, major domestic breweries add nearly 60 chemicals to their beers, some of them inorganic. These include heading agents, stabilizers, emulsifiers, clarifiers, coloring agents... the list goes on. Your beer will be 100% natural, just malt, hops, yeast,water and corn sugar for priming. Even the carbonation is gained by natural fermentation in the bottle, just like the finest French Champagnes. It won't be artificially pumped with carbon dioxide like most domestic commercial beers. It tastes better, and is better for you.
It's Premium Quality!
We cannot over stress just how good your beer can be. Once you have sampled your own beer, you will never go back to drinking imports, let alone your favorite domestic brew. Your biggest problem will be keeping your friends from drinking all of it.
I'd like to add that Luther did it as well!
So, thank you for the invitation to join this great discussion on a great Lutheran topic. And in case you are wanting to know whats on tap at my house...well, there's a decent Summer Wheat Beer sitting in my 5 gallon keg in the garage. I just switched from bottling to kegging and am having a bit of a problem with getting it to carbonate with the CO2 tank, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Whats in the cooker? A 5 gallon batch of Aventinus...the great thing about homebrewing and the store that I recommend is that they offer recipes for hundreds and hundreds of beers you can enjoy, even something like one of my favorites in Aventinus. I might add that one of my elders just got done brewing some Aventinus and it literally blew the lid off the fermenter in the bathtub...signs of a very, very good homebrew...I guess the next guild meeting is at his house. Cheers, Rev. Homebrew
