This is a simple step by step setup guide for the Vanilla forum script. Yes, it is not that popular but it is sure getting there. This script has tons of very unique and visitor friendly features which no other forum scripts can provide. It is lightweight (always a plus point in my book) and can easily integrate into any existing website. The platform it is based upon is the Lussumo Framework. This framework allows developers to easily code and add new features to the forum. Not surprisingly, it is very easy to setup as well., All you need is some experience it web hosting, the basic knowledge of FTP and some windows commands and function. That’s all you need to setup Vanilla. Of course, I will go step by step and provide screenshots for every important step and you will setup Vanilla is just a few minutes.
Here are some of the requirements:
- Basic FTP and webhost experience
- Basic windows command knowledge
- Webhost which supports PHP and MySQL.
I am pretty confident that most webhosts nowadays will be able to support what you need to setup the Vanilla forum script without any problems. When in doubt, just contact your webhost and check with them whether they do. You will also need the FTP password and account name to upload your files. Furthermore, you will need to setup a MySQL database to work with Vanilla. For this, you will also need your webhost control panel password and username. Yes, all of these information can be obtained from your webhosting company.
Now, we begin:
You have to download the software from Vanilla’s website.Their URL is http://getvanilla.com/. Click on Download Vanilla and save the file some place on your computer where you can remember. The file is zipped and you will need to extract the files out before you can use.
I am using IZArc to extract the zipped files. You can use any achieving software to do it. It should be around the same steps. However, I would recommend IZArc because it works very well for me. Plus, it is free.What you need to do is to open the zip file using your achieving software and extract it out.
It is important to note the location where the files will be extracted to. You will need to upload those files to your webserver.
For most webhost, you will be given an FTP user account for you to transfer files to and fro the webserver. Some webhost use a web-based uploading system, so it is better to check with your webhosting company for more information on how to do it. I am using Filezilla to upload the files through FTP. They are other FTP Clients out there. The reason why I choose Filezilla is because it is free and most importantly, it is stable. Futhermore, it is very easy to use. So, what you need to do is to upload all the previously extracted files (you do remember the location right?) to your server. Please upload ALL the files. If you are uploading to a subdirectory, you will need to navigate to the correct directory in your FTP Client.
Remember, you should upload the files and folders and not the Vanilla folder to your webhost. If you upload the Vanilla folder, then you are actually creating a subdirectory and your URL will change. Of course, if that is your intention, then by all means, do it.
There all the files have been uploaded! Yes, it will take some time for the all files to get uploaded to your server.
The next step is to use your browser and browse to the URL you have setup your forum to be. For example, if your domain name is “google.com” then you will need to brose to “google.com”. If you have set it up on a subdirectory, let’s say “forums/vanilla”, then you will need to browse to “google.com/forums/vanilla”. You will be greeted with a screen just like above telling you that your Vanilla configuration is not yet setup. Click on “Click here to install a completely brand new version of Vanilla”.
This tutorial will not cover upgrading of the Vanilla script.
You will be again greeted by yet another page and it will provide you with the information as above. Note that they are asking you to chmod 777 for the conf folder and chmod 755 for the extensions, languages, setup and themes folder. But let’s not worry about that and click on “Click here to check your premissions and proceed to the next step”.
Yes, there is an error. You will have to chmod 777 on the “conf” folder. Well, what does that mean? Simple, you will need to provide some permissions so that the Vanilla forum script can do some changes. “777″merely means giving full access to Vanilla on the “conf” folder. Still don’t understand? Again, no worries, just follow the next few steps.
Go back to your FTP Client. If you are using Filezilla, just right click on the conf folder (of the remote site eg your website) and choose File attributes to set permissions.
Then key in “777″ on the numeric value. If your FTP client is not Filezilla, you will be need to allow ALL permissions to the folder, so choose Read, Write and execute on all permissions. Most UNIX or Linux servers allow chmod functions. Although there are quite a number of Windows servers out there, however most webhosts will be using Linux. In the case of Windows server, under security, choose your server’s username and allow all.
You will need to chmod 755 for the extensions folder. It should be “755″ by default.
The same for the languages folder. Chmod 755.
The same for the setup folder. Chmod 755.
And the same for the themes folder. Chmod 755.
Now, go back to your browser and click on “Click here to check your permissions and proceed to the next Step”. If everything is okay, the install script will then continue, if not, it will return to the same page andyou will need to do all the corrections to the permissions first before it can proceed.
Now, it’s time to configure your script to access your database. You will need your webhost’s contorl panel password and username to create a MySQL database. If you are using Cpanel as your webhost control panel, please read the tutorial for setting up MySQL database on Cpanel. If you are using DirectAdmin, then take a look at my tutorial on setting up MySQL database for DirectAdmin. For other control panels, please refer to your webhost for help.
You will need to key in the MySQL server (which is usually localhost), the MySQL Database Name, the MySQL user and the password. You do not need to change the prefix. However, if you want to, there is no harm unless you already using that same database with the same prefix. After you have keyed in all the necessary information, click on “Click here to create Vanilla’s database and proceed to the next step”.
There, you are almost done! Key in the Support Contact Name, Support Email Address and the name of your forum. The cookie domain and the cookie path should be done for you and you do not need to make any changes unless absolutely necessary. Once you have keyed in the information, your next step is to click on “Click here to complete the setup process”.
Wooohooo! You are done! Happy days! You have complete the setup for your first Vanilla based forum. However, you are not done yet.You will need to delete of a folder in your webserver for security reasons. We don’t want anyone to reconfigure your Vanilla forum again now, do we? It’s not good. 
So go back to your FTP Client and delete off the setup folder from your webserver (remote site). Right click on the folder (if you are using Filezilla) and choose delete.If you are using another FTP Client, there should be a way to delete off a folder easily. Refer to your FTP Client documentation for more information. This is actually a very important step.
I am pretty sure that you had thought that installing the Vanilla Forum script is very difficult. But it is not. In fact, nowadays most of the scripts can be easily setup in less than 15 minutes or so. And once you have done it, you will find it a breeze. So now, you should go and configure your new Vanilla based forum.
Tutorial sponsored by Singapore Small Business Directory.
Yes, finally tomorrow is Singapore’s National Day. It’s a day where we celebrate our country’s birth from a small seaside kampong to a thriving city state which is now full of concrete buildings and noisy cars. I guess we Singaporeans should all be proud of what we have achieved throughout the tough times, especially in the beginning. Well, I am. I hope more Singaporeans will take a look at our own history and realize that we did a good job. And when I said this, I mean all Singaporeans contributed to the development of our country. It is not just the work of a few people wearing white either. It’s the hardwork, the sweat and the blood of all Singaporeans which make Singapore as successful as it is today. Don’t let some uncaring elite tell you otherwise.
I would like to tell all Singaporeans to go out and celebrate our nation’s birthday. Even if you are against our ruling party’s policies and detest their arrogance and greed, you should go and enjoy tomorrow, you deserve it. We must know the difference between our country and the ruling party. Although the elites try their best to blur the lines, I have to tell Singaporeans to not to be influenced by them. Singapore is our country. Whatever party controlling the government is not Singapore itself, they are just a group of people (either good or bad).
I know that it is different to do so. Our media is constantly bombarding Singaporeans with nonsense about our country and what some elites have done and that Singapore cannot survive without them. And I even more worried about our young when they have this kind of mentality. But what to do? We can only hope for the best and prepare for the worse right?
So, let’s go celebrate and ignore all the propaganda dished out by our media, okay?
There is a very interesting option for users of MySQL databases in the latest version of Cpanel (v11). They have created a little wizard for you to setup your MySQL Database. Well, I am thinking that that could mean that the “normal mode” of database creation in Cpanel is a little too tough for users, thus a wizard is needed. Hmm….anyway if you are feeling a little more adventurous, you can try my the other step by step tutorial on creating MySQL databases in Cpanel. Err…I don’t think it is that difficult for anyone to have to use a wizard. I always said that Cpanel is extremely easy to use. Do note that if your webhostis using a older version of Cpanel, then there will not be any wizard to help you along.
But no worries, if you find creating MySQL databases too tough or technical, I have created a little tutorial on using Cpanel’s MySQL Database Wizard. I am sure that even a 5 year old kid can do this without any problems. Just follow whatever instructions is on the screen and you should be alright.
So, go ahead and choose the MySQL Database Wizard under the Databases submenu.
Key in the name of your new database (in this example, it is “new”) and then click on Next Step.
There, the database is created. Note the name has changed. Usually, it will be prefixed with your domain name or a shortform of your domain name. Do remember the full name of your new database as you will need to fill in the entire name for your configurations. You will then be prompted to key in a username and passwords for your new database user. Do it and then click on Next Step. I would highly recommend you to create a complex password to prevent hackers from accessing or damaging your database.
As you can see from the above example, I have created a new user named “sgsmallb_newer” and the password for that user is cmv221d. You will need to remember the username and password. Note that like the database name, the username is prefixed as well. Keep them in a safe place for future reference. Furthermore, I have added the newly created user to the database as well. The next thing you need to do is to assign privileges to the user when accessing the database. No worries, for most cases, you will give them full access, so tick ALL PRIVILEGES. After that, click on Next Step to continue.
There, you are all done. Not so difficult right? Click on Return to Home. As you can see from the above photo, if you so desire, you can add another database (which starts the wizard again) or you can add another user to the database. However, this simple tutorial will not cover them.
Ha, just when you thought that I had enough of writing tutorials and guides, I decided to write yet another one. This time it is how to setup MySQL databases using DirectAdmin. Although DirectAdmin is not as popular as Cpanel, it is nevertheless a very good alternative control panel for web hosts. Sure, it has less features than Cpanel, but it is still a very user-friendly control panel and if you like basic and easy, you got it in DirectAdmin. When the latest version, DirectAdmin has really bumped up the competition which was previously completely owned by Cpanel. I must say good job there, Mr DirectAdmin.
The step by step tutorial is for the beginner and it will teach you how to setup MySQL database in just a few simple steps. In fact, it is much easier and less complicated than Cpanel. If you think the Cpanel tutorial is easy, you will be even more suprised to see how you can setup my MySQL databases with DirectAdmin. So without futherado, we begin the tutorial (or some people call this pictorial). You will need your userid and your password to access your DirectAdmin console in order for you to follow the tutorial. If you don’t have the information, you will need to get it from your webhost. Your webhost will also provide the URL which you can access DirectAdmin
At your home page of your DirectAdmin account, under Your Account, you will see MySQL Management. This is where you access the page to configure and setup your database. So your first step is to click on MySQL Management.
If you have existing databases, you can see them being displayed here. What you need to do is to click on Create new Database to create a new database.
The next step is to key in the necessary information. You will need the database Name, a username (or you can use an existing user) and the password (twice). Do note that both the database name and the username has a prefix in front. You will need the full database name and username when you configure your scripts or software to access the database. Of course, you should also remember the password.
After you have finished keying all the necessary information, click on Create. Remember, your database is usually exposed to the Internet, so you should have a very complex password to protect all your hard work. Clicking on random will generate a random password for you.
There, your database and user has been created. We are so happy for you. Take note of the hostname of your MySQL server as well.
You can see your new database on the MySQL managament page. Please note that by default the user privileges is set to Full access to the database. If you need to do some changes or the modify the privileges, you can always do your changes later by clicking on the database. However, this is for the slightly more advanced user. The defaults should work fine for most web applications. I would recommend you not to do any changes to the default privileges unless your application really requires it.
With that, I hope that you guys will enjoy the rest of the week. Remember to relax, have a beer and dont forget to live your life to the fullest.
This is a simple tutorial for Cpanel users to setup MySQL databases on their server. It is extremely easy to setup a MySQL database using Cpanel and as I will show you in the guide, it will take about 5 to 10 minutes. Don’t worry, it is very easy to do. If I can do it, so can you. All you need is your password and username to access your Cpanel account in your server. If you don’t have these information, get it from your webhost. You will need to enter to Cpanel’s console to add MySQL databases. The reason why I choose Cpanel is because it is one of the most popular web hosting control panel out there. In fact, most of the web host I have tried before used Cpanel exclusively, which is not too surprisingly considering that it is a very user-friendly control panel.
Anyway, let’s begin. In this tutorial, we will be using Cpanel v11. If you are using an older version, it should be around the same steps but the GUI will be slightly different. Again, don’t worry, it’s very very easy.
Okay, here we are at the main page of the Cpanel console after you have logged in. On the left (if you have the default theme), you will see your server specifications and stats. On your right, you will see the settings. Scroll down till you see Databases. Click on MySQL Databases.
At the top, you will see “Create New Database”. You will need to key in a new database name and then click on Create Database. In the tutorial, I have choosen the database name “new”.
There you go, a new database created. That was easy right? Click on Go Back to return to the MySQL main page.
Your new database name will usually be prefixed with your domain name as you can see from the above photo of the current databases. It has the prefix “sgsmallb” in front. However, your prefix will defintiely be different from what I have. So remember to take note of the full name of your database. For mine, the database name is now “sgsmallb_new”.
It is useless to create a database without a user connected to it. It’s like having a cake and nobody’s eating it. So what you need to do next is to create a new user for your database. You can of course make use of a prevous user and connect that user to your new database. Anyway, in this tutorial, we will be adding a new user. Key in the desired Username and password (twice) and then click on Create User (this is under MySQL Users).In the example, I have created a user with the username “me” and a password “cmv221d” (as you can see below).
There, all done! You have created a new user. Note that the username will usually be prefixed as well, just like the database name. Remember to take note of the full name and remember the password. Now click on Go Back.
Now, we are going to add a user to the database. You can see that in the above picture, there username has been added a prefix. In this example, the user “sgsmallb_me” will be added to the database “sgsmallb_new”. Click on Add after you are done.Note that you can add more users to a database in the future.
Next you will be presented with a option to provide certain privileges. For most cases, you will need to add “All Privileges” to your user’s rights. So tick on “All Privileges” and then click on “Make Changes”. If you need different privilges (rare), then by all means do the necessary changes.
Good. Your next move is to click on Go Back.
Now, under Current Databases, you can see the new database and the user connected to it. So, you are all done. You have just created an MySQL Database and added a user to it. And it took you like 5 minutes? Not difficult right? Don’t you just love good old Cpanel? Now go and enjoy your new database.
Have you guys tried burning a CD image to a DVD? No, I am not talking about converting a VideoCD format to a DVDVideo format. I know a lot of people are interested in that. If you are going to convert the mpeg files from the VideoCD to a MPEG4 format (that’s for DVD Video), you will need a video converter and this method is different from what I am about to introduce to you.
Although I know that it is not useful to the majority of the people out there, but at times you may find it useful. For example, just last week, one of my friend’s notebook had a faulty DVDRW drive and his system OS was corrupted. It was able to read DVDs but not CDs. So I had no choice but to create an image from the WinXP CD and then burn the image to DVD in order to reinstall his WinXP. To install WinXP, you will need to make it bootable. If you just copy the contents from the WinXP CD and then burn the data to the DVD, you won’t be able to boot from that DVD anymore. So, data copy is out. The only choose (less replacing the drive) is to make a WinXP Bootable in DVD. Ha, you will be surprised that one day you are looking for this exact solution!
The first thing you need is something to image the CD into an iso file. I would recommend you LC ISO Creator. It’s free and extremely user friendly, plus it takes up a few kilobytes of hdd space, which means it takes all but a few seconds to download using your high speed broadband Internet connection. You just need to run the program and choose which drive to image and the image will be saved for you. I never seen anything easier. The next software you need is Deepburner to burn your image. Other mainstream CD/DVD burning software like Nero will not allow you burn a CD image to a DVD. But Deepbuner allows you to do that without any problems. And for my case, after burning, the DVD boots fine and installs without any problems as well. Do not worry, Deepburner has a free version which comes with plenty of features for everyday use. They have a Pro version with some additional features and if you think that they might be useful, then by all means, purchase the software. It is low on resources unlike what I am currently using - Nero. Thank god for alternative software.
So next time if you need to burn an CD image to DVD, try this method. It works perfectly for me.
Just a quick update on my Australian Pale Ales. Well, yes both of them. My first brew which was bottled last Saturday seems to be completely carbonated already. Well, in Singapore temperature it is not surprising that the beers were quickly carbonated. But I think there are some little amount of sugars left in the beers because I see that the yeast in the bottles are still floating around. Normally once all the sugars in the beer has been consumed by the yeast, the yeast will all fluoccate at the bottom. And you will get a very nice clear beer, especially with the Nottingham yeast I am using. That’s the main reason why I am using the Nottingham yeast. It never fails to create a crystal clear beer in the end, definitely something my friends would greatly appreciate.And before I even open a bottle for a sample, I think I will let it age for about a month first. It is always good to let your beer mature for some time before drinking as the taste will mellow (just like wine) over time.
For what I have currently in my fermentator, it is yet another Australian Pale Ale. This was done last week but on the Sunday. Well, I only have one fermentator and I had to finish fermenting one batch first (and bottling it) before I could proceed to the next one. So it was back to back beer stuff the entire weekend.It was pretty tiring and considering how old I have (I am 30 over years old), it’s quite a accomplishment. Anyways, the wort in my fermentator seems to be coming on just fine as well. The airlock was bubbling very vigorously for the past 5 days and now it has now slowed down to a few bubbles per minute. And being an airlock sniffer, I did spend some time sniffing away at the airlock. It smelled great. In fact, for all the beers, they did smelled great.
The reason why the airlock bubbling is so vigorous could be due to the additional of Yeast nutrients in the wort. I have added about 3 teaspoon of yeast nutrients to the wort as I was afraid that the 1kg of dextrose will affect the yeast. Unlike malt, dextrose doesn’t contain nutrients for the yeast, so I added the yeast nutrients to prevent any stalling. Plus the Nottingham yeast I am using was from the second batch, so it was not from a fresh yeast pack. I had taken the yeast slurry from the previous Australian Pale Ale brew and dumped it on my current brew. I don’t think I got any infection and judging from the active fermentation and nice alcoholic smells from the airlock, I think I should be safe. I wonder how the extra alcohol from the dextrose will affect the overall taste profile of the Cooper’s Australian Pale Ale kit. Will it be too harsh? And will the extra 500g of malt extract make the beer too sweet, considering that the APA is already not a very bitter beer? I will keep my fingers cross and hope for the best as these two batches were done for my friends as they have fallen in love with the Cooper’s APA.
And for my next batch, it will most likely be the Edwort’s Apfelwein. I am pretty sure the girls will love this one.
I think one of the most important aspects of beer brewing is maintaining the temperature at a suitable level. Yes, there are other important aspects of beer brewing like proper sanitization and so on, but it is surprisingly that a lot of brewers don’t know that maintaining a more or less constant temperature is very crucial to creating a good tasting beer. I have been reading beer brewing forums for months now and I am shocked to read brewers giving other brewers advise like “lower the temperature fast!” and so on. Although keeping a low enough temperature for your yeast strain is important, what is also important is to ensure the temperature is lowered gradually. Do not “shock” the yeast with sudden increase or decrease in temperature as they will stress the yeast and it will produce off-flavours. My recommendation is to ensure your wort is at the correct temperature first before pitching the yeast. This way, you won’t subject the yeast to fluctuations in temperature since you need to either increase or decrease the temperature. Your only chore now is the maintain that temperature.
But truly, maintaining a constant temperature is not as easy as it looks. The ambient temperature in the morning and at night can vary quite a lot. And of course, the place where you place your fermentator is also important. I am guessing the best place to keep your fermentator is in an air-conditioned room. However, this is not always practical and to keep a temperature of 20°C in Singapore can be expensive. Well, there is always the storeroom or any place where there is no direct sunlight like your study but those usually range about 25-28°C. In Singapore, you just won’t get the optimal temperature for home brewing if you don’t have air-condition or some other resource.
One of the coolest thing to use to maintain a constant temperature for your fermentator is to just use a big plastic tub with cool water and add your fermentator into it. Then use a shirt or a towel to act as a wick to draw water over the fermentator. For best effect, blow a fan at the fermentator. Due to the evaporation that occured, the temperature of the fermentator will be go down. In the daytime where the temperature should be warmed, the evaporation will cool down the fermentator. At night, the decrease in temperature will be offset by the less warmer water and you will get a more or less constant temperature.
Or you could use something which I have been using since day 1. It’s a coolerbox. Basically what you need is something to insulate the interior temperature from the ambient outside. So either those camping ice box or a styrofoam box big enought to fit your fermentator will work. You can use water (like the above example) or just use ice like what I am using now. You either add ice packs or remove them to get the correct tempertaure. I have to admit, it can be a bit troublesome to change ice packs but in all seriousness it takes all but 5 minutes of your time. I normally change twice per day. If you are interested, please read the review I have done on the cooling box from iBrew. I managed to get a constant temperature of 15°C with the cooling box for one or two weeks. Pretty useful item for doing home brewing in Singapore.
Well, Singapore’s national day is coming soon. It’s on the 9th August and on that day we celebrate the birth of our nation. Yes, we have come far and we Singaporeans have build up Singapore to what it is now. A lot of our parents and our peers toll day and night with sweat and blood to achieve what nobody believed Singapore can achieve. For that, I am proud. I would like to repeat that I am proud of what SINGAPOREANS themselves have achieved. It is not a single individual or a single entity that is solely responsible for Singapore’s success, no matter what our newspapers and media tells us. Collectively, we are the ones that make Singapore as it is today.
However, even with National Day coming soon, I don’t see many residents hanging flags. In the past, I remembered seeing a lot of Singaporeans hanging the Singapore flag outside their flats. In fact, I once saw an entire housing estate with nearly every HDB block hanging flags in every single unit. No, they are not done by the RC or by some government agency but by the residents themselves. Hmmm….what a difference a decade can make. When I came back from work yesterday, I had a look at my block and there are about 4-5 flags out of about 150 units hanging currently. Sad but true.
Perhaps Singaporeans are too busy trying to survive than to worry about hanging flags and looking nationalistic? Perhaps most of the housing units are owned or rented out to foreigners who don’t like the Singapore flag? Perhaps the cost of flags is so expensive now due to inflation that most of us can’t afford a flag? Perhaps Singaporeans feel that Singapore today is NOT what they envisioned and they are expressing their disgust by NOT hanging the flag? Perhaps Singaporeans worry that hanging the Singapore flag will somehow create another round of inflation just like raising of their wages? Perhaps Singaporeans are no longer proud to be Singaporeans? Perhaps Singaporeans are afraid that by hanging the flag, they are painting a big red cross for Mas Selemat, the JI leader whom the government allowed to escape, to target them? Or perhaps all the Singaporean women have became maids in other countries and thus there are no one left to hang the flags? Who knows?
And yes, hanging the flag doesn’t mean that you love the country. Any Tom, Dick and Harry can hang the flag, even those who seek to destroy our country from the inside can hang the flag.
I am quite certain that by now, you guys would realize that I am all into home brewing currently. If not, then let me tell you straight in the face that I am all into brewing beer at home. Of course, if I have the chance, I would also like to make some wine, cider and other alcoholic beverages. I am looking at making some very nice apple cider, but that have to wait. Anyways, a lot of people ask me why do I brew? You know, if you enjoy beer so much, why not go out and buy some. Or just visit the nearest pub with a nice ambience and have a drink there? Why bother and waste so much time and effort to brew a batch of beer? Well, there are certainly a lot of reasons why I brew beer and in the post I will highlight some of them.
1. Well, it just taste better. If you have not tried the beers I brewed, you may not agree. And in Singapore, we are so used to Tiger beer that we don’t realize that there are other types of beer. The beers you brewed from the beer kits will most likely taste better than the cheaper commercial ones you buy from the store. Unlike commercial beers which pasteurised, home brewed beers have no preservatives or any additives, so they are all natural and thus will taste better. Of course, high quality ingredients will give a better quality beer. And like wine, beer will usually taste better as it ages, which cannot be done if you pateurised the beer and kill off all the yeast.With a little more practice and some knowledge on beer brewing, you can create one of the best tasting beers you ever tasted, until you tasted mine.
2. It can be actually pretty easy. In fact, all you need to do is to add some dextrose to the beer ingredient kit and the resulting beer should work out fine and you can have a very decent drink in just under 4 weeks. I mean what is easier than that? But with that said, you can make the brewing process complicated as well, depending on what style and what type of beer you want. By using steeping grains and malt extract or even just all grain brewing. It can take from 1 hour to nearly an entire day to brew your beer. And you need to be very carefully with sanitization. But it is unlike cooking. You wonder why people spend hours and hours in the kitchen cooking dinner when they could have easily went downstairs to the coffee shop to buy chicken rice from the hawker? It’s the same reason.
3. You get to experiment and taste different beers. This is probably the best part. Plus it is way more fun if you do it yourself. You get to play around with malt extracts, grains, sugars, yeast, hops and other ingredients and make yourself a beer that is truly yours. Or you can clone a very popular commercial beer. I had the most fun trying out different different malts and beer kits and with hops to fine tune the best flavour profile for my beer. After that, I will start on steeping grains which will very likely improve the standard of my existing recipes. Again, this is exactly like cooking. If you enjoy cooking, you will enjoy brewing. You can make Wheat beer, lagers, Pilseners, India Pale Ales, Draught beer, stout and in whatever style you like it to be. If you fancy a Belgium Wit or an American Pale Ale or even a German Ranchbier, you can always brew it.
4. Cheaper. Of course with the high tax on alcohol in Singapore, it will definitely be cheaper to brew your own beer. Depending on the ingredients used and type of beer, you can save up to S$4 per 660ml bottle. If we add them together, that’s quite a sum.
5. Think of it as a hobby. I do. I mean it is like taking a break from your stressful life and relax by brewing beer, that’s it. Nothing much to it. Some people go around and attempt to kick a ball into a huge net while others jump off tall buildings with a rubbery rope around their ankles. I brew beer.
6. Teaches me patience. One of the most important things that the brewer learns from brewing is patience. Imagine, after you finish your wort, you will have to leave it to ferment for a few days or even a few weeks. And after bottling, you will need to leave it to carbonate for a few days or even a few weeks as well. And if you are patient enough, you could age your beers for even longer and this of course will produce a even better tasting beer. So the longer you wait, the better the result will be. That’s beer brewing for you. In fact, if you taste some undesirable or harsh flavours in your beer, very likely, it will be solved with a few additional weeks in the bottle. I would like to tell you that for my first brew, I waited only 1 week till I bottled the damn thing. For my second brew, I bottled it after 2 weeks in the fermentor. For the subsequent brews, I waited a minimum of 3 weeks before I even bother to bottle it.
7. It makes beer. Yes, the result of all your hard work is beer. You get a lot of it. So you don’t have to worry about not having beer when your friends come around. And you will find that your friends are coming by more often than not because you have an endless supply of good quality and delicious beer to share. And beer brewing is all about sharing with your friends! Life is good.
