Food and Beer

 

 

Fat and added sugar make the American diet unhealthy. Are you one of the millions of Americans who want to get on the right track with a healthy weekly meal plan? As the old saying goes, “when you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

The benefits of a weekly meal plan include improving your health, losing weight, saving money, and adding variety to your diet. A convenient weekly meal plan coordinates meals each night of the week, so your family is never left wondering, “what’s for dinner?”

Check out these five advantages to creating a healthy weekly meal plan.

1. Healthy Weekly Meal Plans Improve Your Health

After a week of healthy meals, you will lower your cholesterol and blood pressure. Processed foods contain high amounts of salt and sugar. Healthy weekly meals allow you to customize your food with high-quality vegetables, good carbohydrates, and little added sugar.

In no time, you’ll be more alert, sleep better, and have more energy. Healthy weekly meals will give you the natural vitamins you need to live a healthier lifestyle.

2. Lose Weight

Portion control with your convenient weekly meal plan can help you eat less and thus lose weight. When you become lighter, there’s less stress on your joints and hips. You’ll move better, and you’ll want to exercise more.

Cutting down the number of calories you eat helps you lose weight. Dropping just a small amount of weight thanks to meal planning strategies will encourage you to lose more!

3. Save Money

Developing a list of items from the grocery store and planning out a week of healthy meals helps you save money. You can sit down with your family and plan your meals with your budget. Grocery store trips with meal planning strategies mean you’ll stick to the list.

You can also plan your meals and save money by shopping sales, using coupons, and taking advantage of bulk items at warehouse clubs.

4. Add Variety to Your Diet

One of the benefits of a weekly meal plan is you add variety. Different meals each day mean you can always plan something new.

You won’t eat the same meals week after week. Adding Berkshire pork is a great way to add variety.

5. Eliminate Food Waste

Structuring your meal planning strategies means you’ll have enough food for you and your family, and none will go to waste.

Planning out portions and the number of meals each week means less food in the trash.

Five Benefits of a Healthy Weekly Meal Plan

The benefits of a healthy weekly meal plan include improving your health, losing weight, and saving money. You will also add variety to your diet and eliminate food waste.

Stop wondering what to feed your family for dinner each night! Get on a weekly meal plan schedule, and your family will enjoy helping plan your meals and look forward to a healthy menu.

Keep reading our blog for more information about eating healthy and living a healthier lifestyle.

 

Did you know that around 22% of food poisoning cases each year are linked to meat and poultry? That’s millions of people getting sick from meat that was either contaminated or cooked incorrectly. Preventing meat cooking mistakes can not only improve the taste and quality of your meat but keep you and your family safe.

While cooking meat can be intimidating, with the right skills and techniques, you can conquer any meat-based recipe. Here are the top six cooking mistakes when it comes to meat and how to avoid them.

1. Undercooking

One of the biggest culprits when it comes to cooking meat is undercooking it. Undercooking meat can lead to inside temperatures that are insufficient to ensure that harmful bacteria get killed. This is especially important when it comes to poultry meats like chicken and turkey.

Poultry meats often carry salmonella, which often causes food poisoning and severe sickness. It’s Important to take precautions with poultry meat and cook it thoroughly, with inside temperatures reaching 165°F.

2. Overcooking

While overcooking your meat isn’t dangerous for your health, it can lead to dry meat that is hard to chew. This is because overcooking your meat causes the muscle fibers in your cut to become tight. The meat toughens to the point that it can shrink in size, as the fat and juices get cooked out of it.

Much of the flavor in meat comes from the fat within it. Overcooking it to the point where little to no fat content is left causes it to lose flavor, leaving you with bland and lifeless meat that adds little to your dish.

3. Using Too Much Salt and Seasoning

Seasoning and salt are integral parts of cooking all types of meat. However, when you use too much salt and even other seasonings it can overwhelm the meat’s flavor. Adding too much salt can cause your meat to become hard to palate unless you’re curing your meat, such as the ham used in making tasso ham.

Adding too much seasoning and salt can be fixed by adding other things to your meat to dilute the saltiness. Although, this does require you to augment your original plans for your meat, so season carefully!

4. Cross-contamination

Cross-contamination is another way people may get sick from meat. Cross-contamination happens when utensils, plates, and even marinade used to prepare the raw meat come back into contact with the cooked meat. This causes you to consume bacteria and other contaminants reintroduced to the dish after the meat cooking process.

To avoid this, it’s important to keep anything that comes into contact with the raw meat separate and washed immediately. This ensures that anything your cooked meat touches after is safe for you and your family.

5. Cooking Frozen Meat

Cooking frozen meat can ruin your dish in several ways. When meat isn’t allowed to thaw out and come to room temperature, you risk overcooking the meat on the outside, leaving the inside undercooked and possibly still cold. This is even more important when using thick cuts of meat like whole poultry, brisket, and filets.

Letting your meat defrost is an important part of the prepping process, and is one way to ensure that your food can reach the proper temperatures for cooking meat.

6. Not Resting Your Meat

Resting your meat is one step that is often overlooked. Not letting your meat rest can alter your finished product. When you take your meat off of the heat source, your meat continues to cook for a few minutes longer.

This means that the fat and juices within the meat haven’t been reabsorbed back into the muscle fibers. When you cut into hot meat, you might notice that it appears very juicy. However, this loss of liquid can leave your meat less flavorful and dry, taking away from the experience of your meal.

Stop Making Meat Cooking Mistakes Today!

Using meat within your recipes can bring their flavors to the next level. When you take the time to make sure that you’re cooking your meat properly, you keep yourself safe and enjoy amazing meals.

Don’t let meat cooking mistakes hold your dishes back from shining to their fullest potential, and start making meat the right way today!

If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more cooking tips, be sure to check out our other posts in food and beer!

 

Did you know that the way you set up your commercial kitchen determines how smoothly the restaurant functions?

If it’s not designed strategically, your staff won’t have the ability to deliver amazing service and it won’t meet the needs of the restaurant. In your commercial kitchen, you need to have space for storage, food prep, service, dish cleaning, and more, to support your food operation.

Setting up a commercial kitchen is no easy task and it’s one that you have to do perfectly. If you are wondering how to set up your commercial kitchen, this short and simple guide is for you.

Understand Your Local Codes and Regulations

Before you set up your kitchen, you need to know your local codes and regulations. Ask your county’s health department about food production, packaging activities, and the needed permits to operate a business legally.

Develop a Menu

The next step is to develop a menu for your target market. Whether you are serving hamburgers, desserts, gourmet food, and more, your food determines the kitchen essentials you’ll need.

Design the Workflow

The next step is to design the workflow of your kitchen. You need to know where you will place the kitchen stinks, the grill, and more. How you design your kitchen space will be the difference between working effectively and ineffectively.

Stock Your Kitchen With the Right Commercial Equipment

Next, you need to stock your kitchen with the right commercial equipment. You need refrigerators and freezers, ovens and ranges, compartment sinks and dishwashers, and food processors and mixers. You can view here for more commercial equipment.

Hire Experienced Staff

Next on your list is to hire experienced kitchen staff. Hire staff that understands your vision and will work hard to make it happen. You can do this by using staffing agencies, a website like indeed, or by finding the workers yourself.

Understand Sanitation

One of the most important factors in food businesses is understanding sanitation. Design your kitchen with sanitation in mind and train your staff in the latest procedures. This is also an area where you need to pay close attention to your local rules and regulations.

Get Approval From Your Health Department

When it is all said and done, the last thing to do is to get approval from your health department. Make sure you have all the kitchen necessities, know how to sanitize, have licensed food handlers, and more. The health department stamp of approval will let you know when it’s time to open.

These Are the Essentials of Setting up a Commercial Kitchen

The commercial kitchen is key in determining your business success.

After making sure the business is legal, you should determine what equipment you need, what type of storage you require, what hours the staff will work, and more. This goes a long way to making sure the kitchen culture is a good fit for your team and your needs.

Don’t forget to browse our site for food, sports, travel, and more.

 

We hear so much about the benefits of eating poultry and fish, red meat often gets neglected. We forget that there are also benefits to those burgers and steaks. There are plenty of reasons that beef is encouraged in one’s diet.

There are vital nutrients that can be found in red meat that aren’t easy to gain from anything else. Red meat is also known to help with anemia. There are benefits of eating beef that isn’t often talked about.

Before you decide on a diet that doesn’t include eating beef, it’s time to take another look at that idea. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons you need to incorporate more than just chicken and fish into your diet.

1. Prevent an Iron Deficiency

Iron deficiency is something that is growing around the world. In fact, anemia is turning into a high cause of death around the world. The mortality rate shows that nearly 6,000 people pass away out of every 100,000 who are hospitalized every year.

Beef contains heme iron. This iron is one that helps the body to build more red blood cells faster. The more beef consumed, the better you’re able to recover from any type of blood loss.

2. Natural Performance Enhancer

While so many dieting plans will tell you to stick with salad, beef is actually a requirement for losing weight and building muscle. Beef produces something called creatine. Creatine helps the body to build muscle and burn fat easier.

It is a great boost of helping to build muscle mass without enhancements. Different kinds of beef have higher levels of creatine that would be great for incorporating into your diet.

3. L-Carnitine Is Important for the Body

L-Carnitine is a substance that helps many areas of your body. This is a compound that is found more often in beef products.

The importance of L-Carnitine is to help support heart health, weight loss, and diabetes in your body. It is an amino acid that is imperative for your body to remain healthy.

4. Build Muscle Mass

If you’re looking to build your muscle mass doubling your salad intake isn’t going to do it. Beef has a high amount of amino acids. It has everything you need to build up that muscle and keep your body healthy.

One of the health benefits of beef is that it can be a single source of all the protein you need to help with workouts. Beef is one of the most beneficial parts of helping to maintain a strong body and build.

5. Very High in Minerals

With global deficiencies in many different types of minerals, one would think it was hard to find meals that include them. The truth is if the right foods are eaten your body doesn’t need to have a deficiency. Beef is high in the minerals that many diets lack.

Phosphorus, Potassium, and Iron are just a few essential minerals found in beef. A single cut of beef can provide you with all of the essential vitamins that most diets require.

6. Vitamins That Are Essential

We’re all looking to incorporate more vitamins into our diets. It may seem like you need to up the supplements, but in many cases, all you need to do is figure out how to prepare better meals.

Beef houses many of the vitamins you may not be getting enough of. A couple of those vitamins include B12, B5, B2, B6, and B3.

7. Houses the Master Antioxidant

Glutathione may not be an antioxidant you’re familiar with by name. It is an antioxidant that is linked to many major benefits you need in your life. Anti-aging and strengthening the immune system are just a few benefits of this.

Your body breaks down the minerals inside beef and helps to support your body. Beef is a necessary means of supporting your body.

8. Easy Meals to Make

The next time you’re browsing the internet for easy-to-make meals take a look at the simplicity of many beef meals. You might be surprised to learn that many of these meals taste great on their own with little preparation. Some of the quickest and easiest meals are steaks and burgers.

The next time you’re in the market take a look at the types of beef. You’ll see that there are many different meal options you can think of to make with just a single cut.

Besides, if you’re looking for a great place to grab food, Becks Prime can take care of that for you. Check out becksprime.com for more information on the best food menu.

9. The Pricing Is Affordable for Everyone

We see the prices for fish and poultry fluctuate through the year in the markets. Beef is sold in larger quantities and never seems to stray from being affordable. There are many different cuts of beef that can be taken and cooked for consumption.

Let’s not also forget that some of the best takeout meals are beef-based. Who doesn’t love a great hamburger? Beef makes for fast and easy meals that your whole family will love.

There Are Plenty Benefits of Eating Beef

Before you decide that your diet needs to simply consist of fish and chicken think about all you’ll be missing out on. The benefits of eating beef may be more than you expected previously. Not to mention, those great burgers and steaks.

Think of all the beef recipes you’ll miss out on should you decide to cut it from your diet completely!

If you’re looking for more advice with everything from food and beer to budget planning, you’ve come to the right place. Check out our articles for more advice, we’ve got you covered!

Whether you’re in the mood for a classic Italian slice or are craving a slice of delicious New York pizza, there are numerous ways to save money on your order at Papa john UK. These discount codes can be found online printed out and applied at checkout. Many of these coupons are time-sensitive, and you must act quickly to get the most out of them. Here are some great options: If you’re not a member of the rewards program, you can opt-in to receive exclusive SMS-only discounts.

Military Discounts

Among these offers is the military discount. This discount is valid for anyone with a military ID, and you simply have to present your ID when checking out. Depending on the location and the franchise agreement, the specific discount policies may vary. Regardless of the offer, it’s worth checking before ordering to find out if it applies to you. Also, remember that the promo code you use at Papa John can be combined with other coupons to make your total even lower.

One or More Toppings

When using the papa johns promo code, you’ll be given a choice of one or more toppings. These can range from a slice of cheese and sauce-only pizza to cheese and meat-only pizza. With your choice of toppings and base, you’ll be guaranteed to save money on your next visit. With these offers, you’ll get a free slice of Papa john every time you order. You’ll also receive exclusive promotions and deals that are only available online. You can save money on your order with these deals, and you can get a great discount on your order.

Loyal Followings

If you’re hungry for some Italian or American food, try Papa john. It was founded in Kansas, USA, and has hundreds of locations around the world. With their extensive presence in the UAE, Papa john has a loyal following and offers discounts on various items. You can even save money on your next trip to Papa john by using these coupon codes. This way, you can enjoy a delicious slice of pizza for less!

Offers Coupons

For those who prefer to order their pizza online, the Dominos app offers coupons and discounts on many of their products. Besides the promo code, you can also use the app to order your favorite pizza. You can access the discount codes from both apps and websites. If you’re interested in a particular offer, you can find it by searching the web for relevant terms. Moreover, you can find the latest offers by using the Dominos mobile application.

Great Way to Save Money

The Dominos app is a great way to save money on food orders. The app allows you to reorder your favorite dishes or reorder them. The app also lets you track the delivery of your meals and read reviews of the restaurants. Its payment options are flexible, including PayPal, Apple Pay, and credit cards. By using the app, you can enjoy a free meal and save money on your order. The Dominos website offers many ways to earn points and use coupons.

Place Orders at any Locations

With the Pizza Express app, you can place orders from any location. The app has several advantages: You can make table reservations and pay for your order with your mobile device. You can also use the app to order pizza via Deliveroo. In addition to ordering your favorite foods on the web, you can also use the app to enjoy free pizza delivery services. It will deliver your order straight to your doorstep, and you can get bonus discounts from the app.

Use Promo Code to Get Free Delivery

You can use the promo code to get free delivery and enjoy your pizza at a discount. There are also many other options, including the free car side delivery. If you’re not in the mood for eating out, Dominos will deliver it to your door. Its app allows you to easily order your favorite pizza from your smartphone and have it delivered right to your home. With the discount, you’ll be able to save more than just money.

If you’re anything like the majority of the adult population, you probably like to have a nice cold beer or two from time to time. Beer can be extra delicious after a long day at work or with a meal, and there are so many different types that no matter what your taste buds are craving you will be able to find the right beer for you! Of course, with drinking too much can come hangovers, weight gain, even DUIs. If you want to enjoy your beer without any of the negative things that can come along with it, here are 4 tips to help you out with that!

Avoid Driving If You Plan On Drinking

As with any other alcoholic beverages, if you plan on drinking beer you should make other arrangements for a ride home. Call a ride share service or ask a friend for a ride, but whatever you do, do not attempt to operate a vehicle after having a couple of drinks, even if they’re just a low percentage beer. You can get pulled over for drunk driving even when you feel like you’re not drunk and perfectly OK to drive, and it’s just not worth the risk.

Choose Light Beer

Whenever possible, try choosing light beer which has much fewer calories instead of something heavier such as a porter or IPA. This will keep you from getting bloated or feeling too full and it will also keep your figure looking slim. Choosing a lighter beer will also allow you to drink more beers in one sitting and that’s always good news!

Support Small Businesses

There are lots of major beer companies out there but there are also tons of small independently owned breweries, many of which make incredible beer. Find a local brewery in your area and support them whenever you can. This way, you will be able to indulge yourself while also supporting a small independently owned business which is a huge plus.

Don’t Drink Beer Every Day

Instead of having a beer (or more) every day or nearly every day, try limiting yourself and instead only drinking it once or twice a week, only on weekends, or perhaps only on special occasions, when you are celebrating something, or when you have a particularly rough week. The less often you drink beer, the more of a treat it will be and the more you’ll be able to enjoy it when you do!

Drinking beer doesn’t have to be something you feel guilty about. Try these tips and you’ll see for yourself that you really can have your beer and drink it too!

 

You may not smoke cigars yourself, but you still want to go out and enjoy some time with your friends at a cigar bar. You might be looking for the perfect place to take them on their birthday, or perhaps you’re just looking for a different kind of casual meeting place. Maybe it’s even your first time going to a cigar bar, and you’re not sure what to expect.

No matter the reason, cigar bars are actually some of the best places to go out with friends for a lovely evening together. They serve drinks and food while putting you in an atmosphere that encourages relaxation and conversation. Here’s how you can find the best cigar bars in your area:

Look For Bars Near You

Despite all the different kinds of bars and restaurants that you can go to, very few actually specialize in cigars. It means fewer people and less noise, giving you a more relaxing night out with friends.

To find the best cigar bar around your place, it might help to look online first, where you can find listings of local bars and explore what kind of atmosphere they provide.

Post About It On Social Media

One big difference between bars for cigars and other bars is that many will promote their business through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. It is because their target market might be more inclined to use these platforms than others, which means that they’re getting the word out to a broader range of individuals.

It also allows you to check them out before you head on over one evening. Therefore, you can keep yourself open to looking for advertisements on your social media platforms to find a bar that appeals to you.

Find Cigar Bar Reviews on the Internet

The best place to look is the internet. Look for cigar bars in your area and read some of their customer reviews. Search online for more cigar bars in other nearby areas if you don’t find one near you. You can also try looking up “cigar bar” or “smoking bar” along with the name of your city.

While you’re looking online, you can also find reviews for some other bars. Look for ones with a similar theme as cigar bars, such as lounges and pubs. Read at least ten reviews before deciding where to go out with friends, but don’t forget to consider the overall rating as well.

Try out a few different places with friends. Once you find one that works, keep going back now and then if it’s worth your time and money!

Talk to Your Friends

You can’t always trust what you read online, so it’s best to talk to your friends about which cigar bar they prefer. It is beneficial if they’re smokers themselves and can advise you on your expected atmosphere.

They might even recommend one place over another, which can save you a lot of time and effort.

Look For Bar Events Near You

There are probably some cigar bar events that are taking place in your area. Check with the city’s website, local newspaper, or even just social media posts online to see if any upcoming cigar bar event sounds interesting to try out.

If you don’t have time for an event, you might plan and get in touch with the local businesses beforehand. It can give you some time to prepare yourself, which is helpful if it’s your first time visiting one of these spots.

These are just a few ways that you can find the best bars dedicated to cigars near you and enjoy an evening out with friends. Cigar bars really aren’t all that different from other casual dining joints, making them perfect for putting everyone in a great mood to have a good time together.

Beer has been around in one form or another for thousands of years. The Sumerians’ first record of beer being brewed was in 4000 B.C. There are so many different beers to choose from, each with a unique flavor; there is something for everyone!

But what if you want your favorite brew on tap in your very own home? That means it’s time to start your brewery! The process isn’t too difficult, but you should know a few things before you get started. Here are just some of the basic steps involved:

Hone Your Beer Making Skills

While it’s not too complicated to make beer yourself, you will need to know how to do it well. If the taste is off or if there’s a skunky smell, no one will want anything to do with it! Get some recipes together and spend time perfecting them. Your friends and family may be the first taste testers for your home brewed drafts.

Determine Your Startup Costs

Once you can make a decent beer, you need to determine how much money you can invest in your brewery. If this is just a hobby for you, maybe $100 or so would be sufficient. You can purchase this equipment on many different websites around the internet. This is where most craft breweries, like Melvin Brewing started, right in the founder’s houses. However, if you want to turn this into a full-time business, it may require some more capital.

If you decide that starting your brewery is the way forward, then understand that most brewery’s startup costs are around $500,000 to $1 Million. The hardest part of calculating your initial costs is the hidden fees that crop up in the initial phases. There are quite a few variable costs when brewing beer, mostly with price fluctuations in the cost of raw materials.

Check For Legal Restrictions

When you open a brewery, some rules and regulations come with it. The most important things to check include local liquor laws, zoning restrictions, sales tax policies, etc.

You also need to make sure you comply with Federal Alcohol Tax laws. One big thing is determining what type of alcohol license you’ll need for your situation.

For example, if you want to sell at farmer’s markets or retail out of your own home, then this would be considered an “occasional license.” However, there are licenses for breweries that allow them to produce beer on-site and serve it so customers can sample the different flavors they offer. This is similar to the brewpub model followed by companies like Melvin Brewing.

Create a Branding Strategy

One of the most important aspects for any business is creating a strong branding strategy. This will help customers remember your brewery and help them make decisions about what beers to try.

Breweries often use creative names and labels that indicate their style or location. It would be best to create a marketing strategy to let people know about your brewery and the beers you offer. There are many different ways to do this, but social media and word-of-mouth are always good starting points.

Create a Business Plan

You may think that a business plan isn’t necessary until after you start and succeed, but creating a business plan is an important step to take before you get started. You should consider the financing for your startup since it will ultimately help determine the viability of your business.

Ensure Your Business is Viable

Doing market research should always be an integral part of starting any company. Knowing what customers want and how they like to purchase their products goes a long way in ensuring successful sales. It also ensures that there’s a need for your brewery, especially if this goes beyond just being a hobby!

Create a Marketing Strategy

There are many different ways to do this, but you need to ensure you don’t start an advertising campaign until you know your customers. You need to understand why they would want to purchase your beer over others like it.

Final Thoughts

Starting your brewery is far easier said than done. However, if craft brewing is your passion, this might be the right path. Just understand that more goes into it than simply making good beer.

Although there are some initial startup costs, selling beer can be very lucrative if you can open the doors. If you’ve got the money to invest and enjoy making new beers, then this may be the perfect business for you!

Many people love to throw home beer tasting parties for their friends. They love to throw open the double French doors and enjoy sharing favorite craft beers with people in a comfortable environment. In this post, you’ll find information about how to plan a successful party, what to serve at it (both food and drinks), plus some tips on what types of games you can play with guests.

1) Always invite a variety of friends

If you’re going to spend your money on a new beer, then it might as well be tried by people that can give their honest opinion. The perfect mix is usually about 50% casual drinkers and 50% experienced craft beer fans. Inviting too many experts may result in them being dismissive of the beers you’re trying, while inviting too many casual drinkers may result in them being overwhelmed. Sticking with the middle ground will ensure that everyone has a good time and enjoys their beer selections.

Create an invite list. Make sure to include all of their names on your guest list so you know who is attending ahead of time.

2) Choose a variety of beers to serve

There are two main types of beer—lagers and ales. Lager is the most common type you’ll find in stores. They’re light-bodied with low alcohol content (usually less than four percent). Ales have more body, higher ABV’s (alcohol by volume), and have a more pungent, more distinct taste. In addition to the difference in their characteristics, you’ll need to consider how much experience your guests have with beers before deciding which type of beer tasting party you want to throw.

Ales: A wide variety of ales are available, and most people will be able to find something they enjoy. Experienced craft beer drinkers will enjoy trying new and exciting combinations, while casual drinkers may find a pint too strong.

Lagers: Lager’s are the most popular type of beer in America, so chances are your guests have tried them before. They’re straightforward to drink but often lack character or complexity. Casual drinkers are likely to enjoy them, while experts may find them boring.

3) Serve a variety of snacks

It’s tough to enjoy a beer on an empty stomach. You can’t go wrong with pairing your beers with chips and salsa, pretzels, or cheese. Experienced drinkers may handle more filling foods like wings or mini-pizzas, while casual drinkers will probably prefer lighter options. In addition to the type of food, you’ll want to consider how filling it is and whether or not your guests will be able to enjoy their beers while eating.

Snacks: Chips and salsa, pretzels, cheese mini-pizzas, wings, more filling foods (ex: chili), lighter snacks (ex: popcorn).

4) Put together a fun game or two

Whether you want to play trivia, cards, or beer pong, the most important thing is that your guests are engaged and have a good time. If they’re not competitive by nature, it’s best to avoid more traditional games like Monopoly. In addition to making sure they’re having fun, you’ll need to choose games that will let guests relax and enjoy their beers; otherwise, they may be too distracted to talk or make meaningful conversation.

Games: Trivia (ex: Cards Against Humanity), beer pong drinking games, more relaxed social games (ex: Scrabble), no traditional party games (ex: Monopoly).

5) Have enough glasses and bottles

It’s no fun to let a perfect beer go to waste because someone drank it from the wrong type of glass. You’ll need about one bottle or can per person (that adds up fast), plus an extra set for yourself. Most craft beers come in 22-ounce varieties, which you can either split between two glasses or serve as a single full-sized pour. If your guests prefer pints, then just make sure to have enough pint glasses for everyone.

Glasses: Pint glasses (ex: shaker), snifter glasses, tulip glasses, taster glasses, bottle/can amount, one bottle or can per person, one extra set.

6) Have a backup plan

The last thing you want is for people to get bored and leave. If it’s starting to look like there won’t be enough beer or snacks, make sure that everyone knows they can feel free to bring some of their own. In addition, consider planning a few more activities in case things get dull. If you want to avoid any potential problems, consider having a friend or family member over for moral support just in case.

Backup Plan: More snacks (ex: chips & candy), bring your beer friends or family for moral support.

7) Choose a location that’s fun for everyone

You may be thinking about throwing your beer tasting party in the comfort of your home, which is an option. If you’re looking to mix it up, though, consider hosting at one of these places instead:

Location:  Your home outdoor location (ex: backyard), bar, restaurant brewery, pub.

Depending on the type of beers you have, different snacks will pair better than others. It’s also essential to make sure everyone has a good time and can relax while trying new things. To do this, put together an engaging game or two that matches your guests’ interests. You’ll also need to take into consideration how many glasses and bottles you’ll need. Last but not least, make sure everyone knows they can bring some of their own if required.

From large multinational brewing companies to microbreweries, the process of brewing is diverse. This diversity also depends on the kind of beer you want to produce as well as the level of automation you desire. Large breweries typically have distinct sections that handle specific brewing phases. Microbreweries, on the other hand, perform their operations in one room.

Despite the disparity in size, the entire process remains the same as it involves a simple biochemical process. Microbreweries or craft breweries are independently owned and are smaller compared to corporate breweries. However, in recent times, this difference does not hold much meaning as some major brewers now have craft breweries but in a large form. You can visit this website to learn about craft brewing in different parts of the world.

So if you are a beer lover and have been thinking about starting a craft brewery, you should know that it requires time and patience. You also need to plan carefully before venturing into the business. We understand that starting any business is difficult and breweries are capital-intensive. Therefore, this guide will help you to get started.

How to Choose the Right Brewhouse Size

The first thing you want to do when starting out as a brewer is to secure a space for production. But do you know the size of brewhouse to use? Different levels of production, including the kind of beer you want to produce, calls for different sizes of tanks and brewing systems.

You need to consider this equation when choosing a brewhouse size:

(Annual production)/ (number of brews produced each week x number of weeks you brew in a year) = brewhouse size

Or:

(Size of the brewhouse) x (number of brews produced each week) x (number of weeks you brew in a year) = annual production

For instance, if you plan to brew 5200 bbl annually and five times each week all through the year, here’s what you will get when you use the equation:

Size of the brewhouse x 52 brewing weeks x 5 brews per week = 5200 bbl

5200 bbl/ (52 brewing weeks x 5 brews per week) = size of the brewhouse

5200 bbl/ 260 = 20 bbl

If you were wondering whether you can start a craft brewery with a 20-barrel brewhouse, this example is an ideal answer. However, you can be flexible with your batch size each week because it is possible that you may not have the manpower to match the machine’s capacity.

Note that the calculation above is a basic guideline. Many factors such as the types and styles of craft beer may alter the production timing or capacity. Therefore, measurements will not be the same for every brewer. You can visit https://www.thespruceeats.com/need-to-know-beer-styles-4051730 to discover different styles of craft beer.

Brewery Equipment

After deciding on the size of brewhouse, you need to get the necessary equipment for brewing. They include:

The Brewhouse

While a brewhouse refers to a place for brewing beer, it is also a collection of the components required for starting the brewing process. These components include:

1. Whirlpool
2. Boil kettle
3. A tank for hot liquor
4. Lauter tun
5. Mash mixer

Microbreweries usually use two-vessel brewhouses like the 20-barrel brewhouse. They combine the tank for hot liquor, mash mixer, and lauter tun in one vessel while the other vessel contains the whirlpool and boil kettle. The first vessel mashes the malt as well as any other grain you choose to use, then extracts the wort in liquid form.

The other vessel adds hops and all the ingredients for your beer into the wort, then boils the mixture. When the wort settles, the solid particles produced during the crushing process will be separated. Brewhouse capacity is usually in bbl (barrel), approximately thirty-one US gallons.

Tanks for Fermentation

After preparing the wort, the next stage is fermentation. You need to transfer the wort to your fermentation tanks to allow the yeast to convert the sugar inside the wort to carbon dioxide and alcohol. The tanks are shaped like cones at the bottom to allow you to recover and reuse the yeast.

Brite Tanks

These tanks are used for secondary fermentation. After the first fermentation, the beer filters and pumps into the brite tanks for further clarification and carbonation. Afterward, it is transferred into bottles, kegs, or cans for consumption. If you own a pub, you can serve the beer from the tanks. You can find a brewing system from ABS to match the level of production you want to achieve.

Kegs

Whether you want to serve customers from the brite tanks or you will package the beer in cans or bottles, you still need to store it in kegs. Brewpubs, restaurants, and bars can serve or sell beer in kegs. You also need to wash the kegs to prevent the beer from tasting bad or spoiling. Microbreweries can wash by hand since their level of production is sizeable. But larger breweries need to invest in a special washer for greater efficiency.

Factors That Affect the Costs of Brewery Equipment

We already hinted that setting up a brewery is capital-intensive. Hence, you need to have an estimate of the costs of equipment, which largely depends on your speculated volume of production. Apart from the size of your brewhouse, other factors to consider when estimating how much brewery equipment costs are:

The Material Used in Making the Equipment

The equipment for brewing is made from different materials, but the commonest materials are stainless steel and copper.

Stainless Steel

Most commercial breweries today use stainless steel kettles. These modern kettles are clad with copper to give them a traditional appearance. However, the cladding is cosmetic since it does not touch the wort directly.

Stainless steel kettles react with a few chemicals like chlorine. But the equipment will not affect the beer flavor if you avoid cleaning it with bleach. Stainless steel has more strength than copper. Therefore, you need to consider this when choosing equipment since the kettle is pressurized when it boils the wort.

Copper

Traditionally, brewing equipment, especially the kettle that boils the wort, is made from copper. Copper ores smelt easily into pure forms and are readily available. They are very good conductors of heat, which is a desirable quality for brewing.

The drawback of this material is that it can react with a lot of chemicals. This process can add metallic flavors to your beer. Also, many cleaning solutions can corrode the material.

Used or New Brewery Equipment

The costs of brewery equipment depend on whether you want to buy a used or new set. If you are starting a microbrewery with a limited budget, you may compromise with respect to your purchase decision. But it is not a bad idea to start with used equipment, provided it is functional and can produce results. As you progress, you can get newer equipment.

The major things you need to start your brewery are:

1. Kettles
2. Boilers
3. Fermentation tanks
4. Kegs
5. Storage tanks
6. Cooling equipment
7. Filters
8. Refrigerators
9. Bottlers
10. Cleaning tools

If you want to test the waters by starting with home brewing, you need to get equipment that is suitable for that purpose. You can read this article to know the essential equipment for home brewing.

Conclusion

Like any other business, starting a craft brewery requires careful planning. We discussed how to choose an appropriate brewhouse size after securing a place for your production. We also discussed the brewing process and the equipment you need for each phase. Finally, the materials used in producing the equipment and whether it is a used or new equipment will determine its cost.