The Big and Easy is a very cheap and fun introduction to home brewing. It consists of a two liter bottle of unfermented beer (wort). All it takes is a twist of the cap to release the yeast capsule and the fermentation process starts. Wait about 10 days, chill, then drink! This makes for a very unique and cool gift because literally anyone can brew their own beer with a couple of minutes of effort.

The benefits of the Big & Easy are:

It is that time of year again--hop harvest. We will be ordering hops from Northwest growers soon, so let us know if there are any varieties or quantities you are looking for. We can get very large amounts if you'd like to buy in bulk and save.

Rickis Mozz KitHave you ever thought of making your own cheese? Our cheese kits make it really easy. We have a Mozzarella and Ricotta Kit from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. I also just finished putting together an "Easy Paneer" kit complete with butter muslin (a fine cheesecloth), citric acid, cheese salt, and step-by-step directions.

Kenton Third Thursday @ HBXTonight be part of the exciting new Third Thursdays in Kenton. Businesses in the neighborhood will have their doors open, for an art walk and community gathering. As the newest business in this great area we are excited to be part of this night.

Come sample some Lemon Balm Ale, made from fresh lemon balm (picked in our friends backyard), brown sugar and a light malt. It is quite refreshing!!

Hope to see you there.

The Homebrew Exchange is having our Grand Opening tomorrow, Wednesday, September 16th. Come see our new store. All customers receive a free gift on our grand opening day.

After much hard work our store is ready to serve all your home brewing (beer, wine, mead, soda) and cheese making needs. Come by and let us know what you think about our merchandise. We need your feedback about which items you'd like us to carry, as we are constantly ordering new stock.

A story and pictures of a long ordeal building a grain mill for grinding malted barley.

The mission started simply; build a safe, dummy-proof grain mill that customers can use in a homebrewing supply store to grind their bulk grains. Really, I would have preferred to buy a finished product, but all I could find were stone grist mills that started around $4500. This was out of our budget.

I've created a diagram which allows you to quickly choose a substitute hop variety when the one in your recipe is not available.

There are many varieties of hops. Now imagine you have a beer recipe which calls for--say--Bramling Cross hops. You go to your local home brewing store and find they do not have Bramling Cross hops. How do you quickly choose a good substitution?

The store is coming along, and hope to open our doors very soon. I have been busy stocking the shelves, learning to use a POS (Point of Sale), pricing inventory, talking to vendors, and the list goes on. This has been a big jump into the business world for someone who used to be a physical therapist. I am having a lot of fun doing it, wondering how I manage it all with Adria (my one year old) running around the store.

Wanted to put up a Help Wanted message. I am looking for an employee to work part time in the store. If interested or know someone who is please send a resume to:

Hello this is Jocelyn. I will be writing a blog here on homebrewexchange.net about our new store and how the opening process is going. To receive updates as I write them, you have two options:

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