FINDS

Dad’s Old-Fashioned Beer

Home brewing is a growing hobby; it requires special equipment and supplies, though. For the dad who might be interested only in getting his feet wet in the art of beer making, here’s a package that has everything.

You pour the malt and hops from a plastic pouch into a reinforced brew bag, then add about a gallon of water that you’ve brought to a boil and cooled a little. Shake it up, add some cold water and a packet of brewer’s yeast, screw the lid tight and wait a week. Then dissolve some sugar and add to the bag (to create carbonation), fill the bottles and wait another week. It makes a little more than 3 gallons.

We tried the lager style, which is technically an ale rather than a lager, but it turned out a pleasantly honeyed one. There are also amber ale and dark porter styles. The bag is reusable.

Our lessons from the experience: Sterilize everything with bleach and hot water before you get started. (The instructions to do this come on a separate sheet from the brewing instructions and it can be confusing.) Do everything, but everything, in a sink--trust us on this. And don’t playfully shake the brew bag before filling the bottles or you’ll be bottling a fair amount of harmless but unprofessional-looking sediment.

San Francisco Home Micro Brewery is $49.95 plus $5 shipping; refills, $19.95 plus $5 shipping. Call (800) 536-6779.