Wine Making | Beer Brewing

Welcome, and thank-you for taking the time to visit my website.  I have always had an interest in wine, beer and making my own.  As I uncover everything there is to know about wine and beer I will keep recored here.  I am a very analytical person so I will be starting from the very beginning, as you can see my post on The History of Wine.  Over the next week I will be touching on:

The Social Aspects of Wine

The Social Aspects of Beer

The History of Beer

The History of Beer Brewing

The History of Wine Making

If you have any feedback, or would like to request information on a specific wine or beer topic please let me know.

~Cheers

Wine Making, the ancient art or the ancient science; depends on who you ask. For over 5000 years wine making has played a part in shaping the history of the world. It is commonly agreed that the origins of wine making started in the Middle East, between the fertile regions of the Nile and the Persian Gulf. Accident or not, the discovery of wine has been a part of almost every culture since the beginning of time. The wine making process spread through the growth in population. Villages became cities, putting pressure on the demand for product. As nations and empires came and went the wine making process spread throughout the world.

In ancient Egypt wine making quickly developed into its own industry. Weaving itself into ceremonies, the wine making process was routinely recorded on the walls of tombs and caves. Cultivated and created through hard labour wine was enjoyed from the peasants to the pharaohs. Within the arid climate, wine skins were the most common means to keep the wine until consumption.

When the Roman Empire influenced the Middle East, wine instantly became fused to their culture. Wine became so common within the Roman Empire that it was pretty much considered part of their diet. The Romans have been credited with planting most of the vineyards found in Western Europe today. This precious business of wine making also saw many technological improvements at the hands of the Romans. In fact they are the ones who originally started using barrels and bottles to store and transport their wine. It was through the Catholic Church that the wine industry and wine culture survived the fall of the Roman Empire.

Today’s modern wine culture models that of the Greeks. You can still find vineyards in Greece today growing the same plants that were harvested many centuries ago. Theophrastas is the oldest known author to document the complete wine making process. Even the Greek gods were told to have enjoyed the wine that was produced.

Wine is the fermented juice of grapes. Most wine is specifically created from the Vitis Vinifera species of grape. The different varieties of the species come in different sizes, shapes, color, juice amounts, have different ripening times and different disease resistances. Common names of the varieties are Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Beer Machine is a self-contained, single-step brewer that makes brewing your own fresh premium naturally made beer as easy as brewing coffee. The idea is simple: after the simple one time assembly, you can make any of dozens of international or domestic styled beers in just seven to ten days. Included with your Beer Machine, you’ll get your first 28 12oz servings of heavenly brew that you can tap direct from The Beer Machine and keep right in your fridge.

The Beer Machine 2000 features a brand-new custom made precision pressure gauge that measures the volume of CO-2 gas inside The Beer Machine so you have the knowledge and power to alter the amount of carbonation in your beer during and after brewing. In addition, to allowing you to better control your brewing you can control the serving process. Knowing the amount of pressure inside The Beer Machine allows you to pour your beer with exactly the “beerhead” you desire. Also you can customize the two extra beer tap handles that come with the model 2000. Display the name of your brew or the Brewmaster!

Currently there are two different models available The Beer Machine 2000 and The Brewery 2006. The Brewery 2006 system takes the ultimate brewing machine, The Beer Machine 2000, and gives you the capability to bottle your brew with a special attachment so your beer never is exposed to the outside air before it reaches your mouth. The Brewry 2006 comes with 6 PET reuseable bottles and caps.

“Received your beer machine 10 days ago. Just poured my first couple of drafts of my first attempt at EVER making my own beer. Your claims of outstanding beer are incredibly true!!! Took me just minutes to make my first batch and it was fantastic!!! Definitely will be telling my friends about you product” Chris Adams Bear, Delaware

“Well I didn’t think it was possible for the Beermachine to produce the same quality beer that I enjoy to drink. Well I was wrong. I’m enjoying a glass of Canadian Red right now. HMMM HMMM GOOD.”
Vern, Racine, WI

With a Coopers Microbrewery Kit and a little imagination, you can design your own ‘hand-crafted’ beer. The Coopers Brewery, Australia’s only family-owned and operated brewery, has spent decades perfecting the art and craft of making beer at home. Now, this expertise, once only available to Aussies, is yours to enjoy.

You can now experience what Australian beer lovers have known for years, delicious beer made at home from your very own Coopers Brewery Micro Brewery Kit. In an age where smaller is better, Coopers is well ahead of the game. Forget laptop computers and miniature cell phones, the Coopers Brewery has managed to squeeze an entire brewery into a box no bigger than the average picnic cooler. Imagine, everything you need to brew your own tasty beer. The Coopers Brewery Micro Brewery Kit includes everything you need from PET bottles and caps to all the ingredients for your first batch. Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations; only Coopers gives you a kit that produces 50 12oz bottles of great brewery-fresh beer. The Coopers Brewery Micro Brewery Kit is the most popular beermaking kit in the world because it is fast, easy, simply the Best.

Imagine the joy of sharing your specially brewed beer with your mates.

‘We are now in the brewing industry’… So wrote Thomas Cooper to his brother John in England, after establishing his brewing business in the new colony of South Australia in 1862. It was, indeed, a matter-of-fact announcement of a very bold decision to turn his back on a secure job as a stone mason. South Australia was only 26 years old, times were tough in the brewing industry with a number of large, highly competitive breweries already established. But Thomas Cooper was a born entrepreneur with barrels of energy, purpose and vision.

He discovered his talent as a brewer by accident when his wife asked him to brew up a batch of ale from an old family recipe to help cure an illness. Word quickly spread and he soon found himself brewing the now world-famous Coopers Sparkling Ale and Extra Stout for a growing band of loyal customers.

Home brewing could not be simpler. So goes the history of Cooper’s Brewery. Coopers are not only the makers of world famous beer but they are also one of the few breweries that manufacture beer kits. Coopers Australian beer kits are recognized the world over for there quality and distinct character.

In 1998, Mr.Beer® was founded with a single goal in mind: to produce and market the world’s easiest to use home brewing systems and supplies. To date MR.BEER® has sold over 600,000 brewing kits, 4 million cans of malt extract, and is proud to serve over 100,000 repeat customers — making it the most popular home brewing system in the world.

Not just a producer of brew kits, MR.BEER® also sells its own unique refill packs. Each of the 16 different beer mixes are produced from a unique blend of malts and hops. Our ingredients run the gamut from the traditional pale malt and ubiquitous galena hops to expertly roasted crystal malts and rare Nelson Sauvin hops.

Our International Series beer mixes focus on reproducing classic styles from around the world. Whether you thirst for a rich and robust Irish Stout or a delicate Bavarian Wheat beer, MR.BEER® has you covered. Our American Series mixes re-create the most popular styles in the states, and each includes an additional dose of fragrant hops added to every can to increase the hop flavor and aroma.

MR.BEER® malt extracts, combined with either a pouch of Booster or unhopped malt extract make two gallons of delicious beer. By varying our selection of base ingredients, we have provided you with the ability to create a nearly infinite variety of beers to suit every palate.

In addition to that, MR.BEER® offers an extensive line of hops, specialized yeast strains, recipes, books, brewing accessories and beer apparel, making it easier than ever for you to brew your beer, your way.

For quality reasons all our malts are made from the finest quality barley and wheat grown in the fertile soils of New Zealand. These grains are harvested before being taken into a state of the art malting house where they are sprouted to activate the grain’s natural enzymes, then dried and kilned. Then, in our fully modern brewing facility on beautiful South Island NZ, the grains are cracked open and heated with water to bring out their natural sweetness. This mashing process produces a rich, sweet liquid, which is then separated from the grain, and boiled with premium hops to produce wort with perfect color and malt flavor, as well as a complementary bitterness. Excess water is then removed and the concentrated malt extract is promptly canned exclusively for MR.BEER®.