Ingredients
These are readily obtainable from the many home wine and home brew supply firms listed at the end of this book. Convenient sizes of all containers make purchase and measure easy and inexpensive. Indeed, whether you have a gallon or a hundred gallons on your mind, you are catered for.
Malt extract is malt extracted from the grain. Hops extract is an extract of hops. Dried hops are dried hops, while malt is malt in the grain, or grain malt. This has to be cracked before infusion - before it is put into the brewery liquor in the mash tun. Such ready-to-use ingredients makes for trouble-free and easy brewing, and no one will blame you if you stick to using the readily prepared stuff. However there will always be those who will like to malt their own barley and perhaps roast it to obtain some special result. My grandfather used to do this and he produced results he swore could not be matched. He was a blacksmith in the spreading chestnut tree style with an immense capacity for homebrewed beer. In his day, home brewing was a laborious undertaking, but even with commercial beer at a penny a pint it was still economical to make it for oneself.