Entrepreneurship and Home Brewing

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Home brewing has always been a hobby with numerous possibilities for the financial benefit of the home brewer.  With the skills and knowledge of brew craft that many home brewers have, it is easy to make the jump from a hobbyist into a career brewer.  Some brewers start by opening their own local brewpub.  Others go to one of the many schools offering degrees in Master Brewing, hoping to land a job with a larger company that produces ales of quality.  Some brewers even go underground to sell their concoctions at parties and even speakeasies.  If you are thinking of a career in brew crafting, it is wise to look at many of the entrepreneurial options available to you.  You might just find the perfect new career you have been looking for!

Many home brewers love to brew beer, but have trouble making the jump to using industrial style equipment.  If you are confused by the array of home brewing products out there, just remember: with each jump in technology, you will be able to make more beer, more efficiently, more cost effectively, and more time effectively than ever before.  It is always good to keep your old bottling tools on hand in case you want to make a special gift bottle or limited edition ale.  But for the entrepreneurial home brewer, a move to Cornelius kegs and the larger regulation kegs is an important step.

Cornelius kegs are a great way to get to know how modern beer kegging works, and to experiment with carbonation techniques.  The set-up price is relatively small, and the savings in time that would otherwise be spent bottling is vast.  Another good initial investment is the kegerator, or kegerator conversion kit. A proper knowledge of how your Cornelius keg interacts with a draft beer system will help you greatly when you switch to regulation kegs.  Cornelius kegs are becoming harder and harder to find second-hand, but they are available as brand new or reconditioned units through many home brew equipment suppliers.  

Because of the size of the Cornelius keg (about 6 gallons), it is the perfect choice for the home brewer who wishes to gradually develop their brew shop and range of knowledge.  Most home brewers start out brewing batches in that range, and this will allow home beer production to increase without the need for a larger kettle – but this is the next step!  Once you have started to keg your beer, you will find it so easy to make large amounts, that you will want to increase your kettle size to around nine gallons.  A nine-gallon kettle takes only a little more time to brew than a three or five gallon one.  Many home kitchens are not built to accommodate such massive pots, though, so you will have to plan ahead to ensure success with this increased brew load.

You should always have a spoon or stirring paddle that can easily reach the bottom of your kettle.  Kettles with false bottoms and spigots can easily facilitate the exit of the wort from the kettle, which can be a real problem if your kettle is holding in excess of five gallons.  Because of the weight of the wort, you will basically have to not move the kettle until the wort has cooled.  If you are using a wort chiller to affect this change, you should ensure that the water lines can reach the kettle where it is placed.

The most important jump for the entrepreneurial home brewer is the use of the all grain brewing technique.  By using grains, you will save money over using malty extract, and as your batches become bigger and bigger, these savings will increase exponentially.  There are some more start up costs associated with this kind of brewing, but also many shortcuts you can use while perfecting this brewing technique.  Some find it distasteful, but the use of food grade five gallon plastic buckets can replace the need for a false bottom kettle, and a cleaned and sanitized camping cooler can also help with the mashing process, where maintaining temperature is so important.  If you consider yourself a bit of an engineer, and have a lot of room to work with, the three tier brewing system is the best way to maximize the efficiency of your all grain brewing setup.

The career of a brew master is a fun, creative tradition that is enjoyable for both the brewer and the drinker!  Remember that you need not have a degree to be a master brewer, but a scientific knowledge of brewing will only make it easier to repeatedly produce the unique ale that is yours!  Remember that an eye for invention and mechanical improvisation will save you tons of time and money in this effort, and good luck!

Brewing Up a Fine Camping Trip

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

When planning a camping trip, most people remember to bring the tent, the sun block, and the sleeping bags.  But many folks forget that special addition that can make the trip all the more enjoyable after a long hike: the home brew!  Most camping trips can benefit from some home brewed refreshment, whether a small hike or a full-blown lake fishing trip!  With the advances in home brew serving technology these days, it can be simple for friends, families, or couples to brew up a fine camping trip!

If you are going to the lake, or on another kind of car or R.V. camping trip, bringing a larger home brew setup is a great way to enhance the trip.  If you have room in your vehicle and a generator, you can bring along your home kegerator, but most people opt for the draft beer cooler for such trips.  A draft beer cooler is basically a plastic cooler that has either a copper or stainless steel cooling coil placed inside (with lots of ice).  The beer from the kegs flows through this cooling system and out of draft spigots mounted on the front of the beer cooler, producing a cool and refreshing draft beer with a very lightweight and easy to set-up apparatus.

Either draft beer coolers or beer cooler conversion kits can be ordered online, making it even easier for you to focus on your brewing for the camping trip.  Considering the cost of keeping a generator on and kegerator plugged our whole camping trip, the draft beer cooler is a much more economical option for your camping trip.  Make sure you have extra supplies of ice for your draft beer cooler.  If the keg beer flowing through your beer lines is warm, it will melt the ice inside quickly, and it will need to be replaced.  It is a good idea to keep the kegs insulated in thick blankets to keep it cool.

For smaller camping trips, such as one to three day hikes, or walk-in camping, a smaller beer cooler with a few bottle conditioned brews can be perfect.  For colder weather hiking, a nutritious stout, porter, or malty scotch ale is recommended.  These ales will keep you warm under the crisp, cold glare of starlight in the mountains, and help you rest.  No cooler is really necessary for these trips, as an icy mountain stream will cool your bottles off rather easily.  For warmer weather trips, coolers are advised, although it may not be necessary if cold-water streams are along your path.  But for warmer weather hikes, a lighter ale is recommended, at darkest an amber.

One fun aspect of the biggest camping days of the year, namely, Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July, is making the extra preparations necessary to build a bar for your camp out!  If you already have a home bar, you will be able to take some of your sturdier decorations out to the campground.  The main issue will be having plenty of seating available for your patrons, be they friends, family, or fellow campers.  Turning your campsite into a party zone can make you some exceptional friends!  To avoid any unpleasant interactions with authorities, it is advisable to disguise your mobile draft beer system.  You may want to read my articles Entrepreneurship and Home Brewing and Disguising a Mobile Beer Draft System if you are planning on setting up a campsite bar during such major party weekends.

Whether you are brewing up a fine camping trip for a small group, or for a large assembly, the mixture of draft keg beer and the wilderness is a pleasant surprise for all.  The association of home brew and the great outdoors is an apt one; brewing one’s own beer is healthier than accepting the bland corporate beers offered in most of the nation, and is especially refreshing after a constitutional in the great outdoors!

Free Beer: A Most Excellent Promotional Tool

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

There is little that can generate more interest in your business that the words “FREE BEER” in lights. Indeed, the whole notion of “FREE BEER” is like unto a mystical occurrence in the mind of the average Joe (slack). With such a lure, a canny business can elicit memberships (it has its privileges: FREE BEER!), marketing data such as surveys, email addresses, telephone numbers – really, the potential is nearly unlimited. It is a shame that more businesses do not realize the power of FREE BEER.

Think of the cost, some might say. If you are worried about cost, you are thinking about this all wrong. What is the true cost of offering free beer when, for example, you are asking for half a day’s labor out of someone as a volunteer or intern? Your cost in wages would be far over that of some FREE BEER, even if you buy good quality ale. I have known corporations that have enlisted numerous volunteers for weeks long work “parties” in demanding physical conditions simply for the sake of FREE BEER. Not only do volunteers flock to the event site, but the guarantee of FREE BEER elicits such trust and dedication from volunteers that those seeking financial compensation for their work are looked down upon. For most physical laborers, FREE BEER is indeed all that is needed to ensure their loyalty.

Compare Kegerators

One great way to increase the customer base of a membership-only business is the offering of “FREE BEER ON SUNDAY! (For members)”. You need not offer more than one beer per customer, but the enticing offer will lure many people into your video or canoe rental. Since the offer is only available to those who pass your membership criteria, any unsavory looking (or smelling) characters can be denied beer on the grounds that they do not have a membership with your organization.

Handling the FREE BEER promotional tool legally and efficiently is the key to its success. ID must be asked at all times. Remember that just one free beer handed to a minor can enlist a fine upwards of $2,000, plus probably the end of your FREE BEER policy. To keep things efficient, it is wise to put up either a one or two beer limit per customer. To further tighten the belt on your FREE BEER budget, you should consider the duration that you will be offering it. If, after a trial period of two months, the FREE BEER is working for your business, it is wise to invest in a kegerator. This will keep your keg from souring, and is a more efficient way of keeping beer cool and ready to drink than buying bags of ice or even if you own an ice machine. Kegerators usually pay for themselves within a matter of a year, and ensure that the beer served will be a most enjoyable pub draught.

Another application of FREE BEER is the company event or sale. Sales are enticing, but sales with FREE BEER are guaranteed to hook you in at least an extra 10% – 100% in impulse walk-in customers if advertised properly. By properly, I mean, of course, in large type facing oncoming traffic, but in the storefront will certainly suffice. Of course, the sign should say “SALE! FREE BEER! (For customers)” to leave you and your employees an out for serving beer to unsavory characters.

I am sure that by now you have realized how eye-catching this promotional tool is. For the small business owner, the chain operator, or the corporate event planner, FREE BEER should always be considered as one of the most effective promotional tools available.

Bar Tricks, Jokes, and Legerdemain

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Have you ever gone out to the bar and ended up sitting on your ass watching T.V.? What a waste of an evening! The proper way to enjoy the atmosphere of any bar, be it a night of celebration or merely bar hopping, is to come prepared. By bringing with you a few bar tricks up your sleeve, taking the time to memorize a few lines worth of jokes, and a quick smile, you can not only have an amazing time at the bar, but also become the center of the party! Don’t let your bar experience leave you with a bland evening. Here are some tips for the practical art of beginning legerdemain:

Bar Tricks, Jokes, and Legerdemain

First off, remember, that as the night goes on, people are getting more and more wasted. So if your bar tricks aren’t very good at first, just start your evening out later. Take an hour or so to practice card tricks and read up on stupid jokes before you go out. Often, the only difference between a good joke and a bad one is timing. It doesn’t really matter what the joke is (remember… timing!), and also, as the night goes on, the same joke will become funnier to people that have already heard it. This is known as one of the basic concepts of comedy: Repetition is the key to humor. Timing and repetition. Repetition and timing are the keys to humor!

So now that you have a few jokes memorized, don’t forget to practice some sleight of hand (a type of legerdemain). Some basic palming can get you pretty far (making coins appear from ears, in drinks, etc), but a card counting trick will get you farther. One of the best ways to get people to buy you drinks is to place bets on whether you can pull a trick off. Your pocket book may suffer for this, of course, unless you are practiced. Remember that the trick can be a simple as folding a $20 bill to show the twin towers burning to hammering a nail into your face (a trick that is dangerous and takes training and practice: DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME, KIDS!!!). Presentation is everything.

Here is one effective act of bar legerdemain (in other words, a bar trick) that anyone can do:

Turning a One-Dollar Bill Into a Five

I first saw performed by the showman David Apocalypse as he was talking up a crowd. First off, you have to start up some conversation. A bad joke is good for this. Maybe mention some magic act you have seen. Once you spark some interest, make a friendly wager: ‘I can turn a dollar bill into a five”, you say, “Buy me a drink and I’ll show you how.”

Most folks will be hooked by this line. So you get a dollar bill from them, and start talking about this and that, maybe roll up your sleeves, all the while rolling the bill tightly in a diagonal fashion, maybe unrolling it and rolling it long ways, chatting up your audience with another joke or two, stories, and the like.

Start bending the bill into the proper shape, a straight bar for the top, a ninety degree angle, a little further down another ninety degree angle, basically people should be deeply entranced by your conversation by this time, and at the end of the story, you lay down on the table a dollar bill rolled up and bent into the shape 5. The best thing about this bit of legerdemain is that it is basically a joke, and as long as you maintain the proper wording and misdirection (in the case of smart asses), you can take a drink from almost anyone in a bar.

The coup de grace of this trick is putting the dollar bill from the mark into the bartender’s tip jar. This ensures that you maintain a good relationship with your host, which will avoid the circumstance of inhospitality with repeat performances at the same bar.

Often, people will offer you drinks just for telling a good story, and it is always nice to be able to return the offer. Skill with bar tricks, legerdemain, and storytelling will get you free drinks. Better yet, these skills will make you valuable allies. And even more valuable, friends. Everyone likes an entertainer, and by developing and sharing such skills you will enhance the evening for all present. Don’t let another night go by staring at the re-runs in your local bar. You are there to meet people after all, aren’t you? Now go out there and wow ‘em!

Fortified Ales I Have Known

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

One rare treat in the world of craft brewing is the fortified ale.  A fortified ale is an ale that has a hard liquor, an herbal admixture, or both added to it before kegging or bottling.  This kind of ale is mostly seen in the realm of craft brewing or home brewing.  In the days before refrigeration technology was much advanced, it was common for barkeeps to mix new ales with older ones, enhance brews with wormwood to increase their potency, and for brewers to create fortified ales as well.  Now, the fortified ale is a rare commodity indeed, but one that is rather simple for the home brewer who is equipped to keg his or her beer.

The most effective use of the fortified ale that I have experienced has been that of an herbal tincture.  This process can be used to provide both flavor and increased inebriation to any home brewed ale.  I have found Anise, Star Anise, Mugwort (both root and leaf), and wormwood to all be effective herbal admixtures for fortifying ales, but it is certainly advisable to use such sparingly, as it is easy to add too much to our brew.  You need not fear for loss of the batch in such cases, though.  Usually the bitter or acid tastes die out with some aging (6-11 months, depending on the girth of your step-step).

If you plan to create a fortified ale, it is important to realize that if alcohol is used (say, a cheap rum, herbally affected or not) to enhance the inebriatory qualities of your ale, it will be necessary to force carbonate your beverage by the use of a beer keg of some sort.  The reason for this is that when the alcohol level of the beer increases with the addition of a hard liquor to the mixture, the yeast that normally causes the carbonation effect is killed.  I have found the use of a Cornelius keg to be handy when making fortified ales at home.  Common among home brewers, the Cornelius keg offers, at a reasonable price, a great chance to try fortifying one’s own ale while maintaining a proper level of carbonation in the beverage in question.

If you have a home bar, and you are a home brewer, a fortified ale can be a great addition to your selection of seasonal ales.  A brandy enhanced amber ale for fall, perhaps?  How about a winter stout with the extra zing of mint schnapps?  I find that one liter of 80 proof alcohol enhances the five gallon home brew batch quite effectively.  I recommend adding to this liter an herbal admixture of some kind to make your fortified ale truly special.  If you are brewing for summer, an apricot, cherry, strawberry, or apple infused rum could add that special something you are looking for.  The method of fortifying ales with special liquor is one that is seldom practiced among home or craft brewers – a chance to try something unique and different.

Many microbrewers these days are trying all kinds of admixtures for their ales, from Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown (Highly recommended), to Laguinitas with their Brown Suggah (made with molasses, very strong), to New Belgium’s Springboard Ale (fortified with a pinch of wormwood).  There are new concoctions coming out every month, it seems, and the atmosphere is ripe in the craft brewing world to bring forth the next level of unique brews: the fortified ale.

Holiday Kegerator Give-Away Contest

Posted on by — No Comments ↓
Enter to Win
Free Kegerator

Are you ready for this? The last contest was such a success that I’m giving another kegerator away for free! The winner of the last contest was a CPA from Oregon, so this is any man/woman’s game.

The lucky winner will receive a free kegerator and I will get all the free publicity as you, my fellow beer lovers, pass the contest around on the internet to your friends, family and co-workers.

The skinny on the contest is as follows.

A free kegerator to be awarded to the beer lover with the most creative story of how you would put this kegerator to good use!

If you win this kegerator it will be the most unforgetable Holiday season you and your friends have ever experienced. Just ask last Summers winner and I’m sure he will agree.

To win this free kegerator fill out the Kegerator Give-Away Entry Form located here and tell us how you would put this kegerator to good use! Good Luck!!

AND THE KEGERATOR GOES TO…

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Kegerators.com recently handed off a very lucky individual a free Kegerator courtesy of the 2007 Summer Kegerator Giveaway Contest. The winner with the most deserving story was sent in by Patrick Green of Portland, OR and described his passion for draft beer in an essay title The March of the Kegerator.

Kegerator Winner

The winner of the contest submitted his essay online at Kegerators.com and will soon be enjoying fresh draft beer out of his very own home beer dispenser.

An excerpt of the essay along with a picture of the winner is attached.

“The wedding was not being held at the hotel, so the next morning discussion broke out among the men as to how the diverted kegerator would rejoin its brethren.  The groom, being a resourceful man, decides that the best way was for the kegerator to be rolled, pushed and carried the 4 blocks to the wedding site.  That is how our wedding pictures ended up including all of the groomsmen, dressed to play their parts, forming a phalanx to protect and guide the determined groom in his efforts to push the kegerator the entire distance.”

To read the entire essay please visit www.kegerators.com

The next Kegerator Giveaway Contest will begin sometime in mid September so keep checking their official contest entry page for the latest details.

Kegerator Upgrade: Single Tap to a Double Tap Tower

Posted on by — No Comments ↓
Double Tap Tower

When buying your first kegerator, most of us opt for the cheapest solution available. This is very understandable, as the cost of a kegerator is rather expensive, but keep in mind that you may want to upgrade your kegerator later down the road.

Take for example that I bought a single tap tower kegerator about two years ago and only used it for commercial kegs for gatherings and parties. Now that I have entered the world of home brewing there has been many opportunities for me to utilize my kegerator as a storage, chilling and dispensing tool.

The home brew kegs I use to keg my beer have a different type of tapping mechanism, so I was forced to make the decision to switch the coupler from the commercial style to a ball lock sytem for use with my home brew kegs or to upgrade the entire kegerator into a dual dispensing system.

Commercial and Ball Lock Setup

The choice was easy, I wanted both. It took only a few parts for me to convert the kegerator from a single tap to a dual tap tower and while I was in there I decided to add a 3 way gas splitter. This will allow me to add a third tower later if I need it.

So I now have a dual tap system that can dispense commercial and home brew kegs. To check out some of the equipment I used see the following:

3-Way Distribution Distributor
Double Tap Tower
Ball Lock – Liquid
Ball Lock – Gas

A Kegerator for Under $400 Bucks

Posted on by — No Comments ↓
Nostalgia Kegerator

Nostalgia Electrics has finally done it. Long has there been a dream for an inexpensive kegerator that can hold a full size keg and today that dream is answered. Teaming up with Wal-Mart, Nostalgia Electrics’ Keg O Rator Beer Dispenser for 1/2, 1/4, and Mini-Barrel Kegs has been manufactured with cost and design in mind.

The unit is currently under $400.00 dollars allowing a larger group of consumers to purchase the units. These at home kegerators are perfect for the home brewer to store multiple corny kegs or for the entertainer that needs to add a little zing to their kitchen. This price may not last long, so if you are in the market for a kegerator you need to check out this deal.

5 Days Until Free Kegerator Contest Ends

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Win a Free Kegerator

If you haven’t already submitted your entry to win a free kegerator, then you should do it now. There are only 5 days until the contest closes and the entries will be reviewed to see who is the most deserving to win a free kegerator.

The contest started in June and it was an instant whirlwind of entries from all over the country. We have thousands of entries to read through, so make sure your submission stands out from the pack. We suggest you add a funny or touching story why you deserve to have this kegerator in your life.

The contest ends August 1st and the winner will be announced by the end of September. We can’t wait to announce the winner and make someones draft beer dreams come true!