How to Get Started Brewing Your Own Beer at Home

Drain off the liquid and drop the unfermented beer into some water for boiling.

"This is where your styles are made - with the different malts that you choose," Benner says. The process begins with selecting some sort of flavor profile and picking out the right style of malted barley.

The barley gets crushed and ground and soaked in water to allow it to germinate.

Hops provide the bitterness and fill out the flavor of the beer. They're dropped into the boil in all sorts of combinations to turn the beer into the delicious bastard it will one day be.

Liquid or powdered yeast gets put into the room temperature beer. It digests the fermentable sugars, leaving carbon dioxide and alcohol. The alcohol is the good stuff.

The brew shop has all the equipment you'll need, including kettles and fermenting jars.

You'll have to wait four to six weeks or so for the beer to fully ferment. Then: Bottle and cap it!

You can buy recipe kits for all sorts of beers. All the ingredients are parsed out and ready to go. Of course, you can get creative and just freestyle with the employees to make your own recipe.

The shop sells starter kits that have all the equipment and ingredients you'll need to brew a batch.