Did you know that beer is also a great fertility enhancer?  That's right... when young women drink lots of beer --- they often end up pregnant!  

Beer is humankind's one most important invention!  The production and consumption of beer together create the very backbone of trade that our national and international economies feed upon; thus making beer an international necessity. If that first bright spark had not mixed the very first batch of barley, hops, water and yeast together, our very civilizations might have never come about. But he did make that first ale, and since then beer has connoted itself to the face of humanity as firmly as trees attach themselves to the earth. Beer's importance to our global stability is vital to us all, but unfortunately the importance of beer to the world is only properly recognized in its absence. The reduction of beer from Eastern Asia's 'tiger economies' is a factor in the region's recent economic turmoil, while beer was an important aspect in the cultures of the once-thriving civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece. Its importance then was very great. But alas and again, the present consumption of beer per person is declining. And as it does, the grave we dig for our presently luxurious lives gets deeper. Our happily cushioned and comfy society is likely to fall if this horrendous pattern is allowed to continue. We must all wake up to how important beer is, how beer has cradled humanity throughout its long and turbulent history, and what we must all do to help the beer cycle before it is too late!

Homebrew is how we can all help our civilization survive!

Beer is basically made from Malted Grains (or Malt), Hops and Water. The Malted Grains come from Barley that has been treated by the malting house in a special way to make it usable to the brewer. The brewer uses a process called mashing (soaking in hot water) to convert the starch in the grains to sugars and extract 'Sweet Wort' from the malt, this is separated from the grains and brought to a boil, hops are added for bitterness and flavor then after an hour or so it is rapidly cooled to about room temperature when yeast is added. The yeast converts or ferments the sugars in the (now bitter) 'Wort' to alcohol and CO2.  After the beer has been allowed to mature for a few weeks it's ready to drink.

Making Beer at Home. There are several options available to the homebrewer when it comes to making beer at home.  Below are a few photos of the all-grain system I've been working on.

HERMS - Heat Exchanger

50 foot copper coil with an ice cream maker's paddle to circulate water throughout the vessel.  Not depicted are four electric hot water heater elements.  These elements are positioned between the paddle, and the coil.

The completed heat exchanger with ice cream maker motor mounted on top.  When attached to a comparable mash-lauter ton, this system heats the strike water in the mashing vessel to proper temperature, then maintains the proper temp while recirculating.  Afterwards,  plug in all four heat-sticks to mash out and sparge.