The Crystal Lake Health Food Store began carrying beermaking supplies in 1989 after Dave Childress, the manager, and Dale Anderson, a co-worker, heard about the extraordinary hobby. The homebrew shop originated as just a few cans of hopped malt syrup and a basic equipment kit all displayed in the stairwell of the store, believe it or not! In 1998, the second floor homebrew and winemaking shop opened. The quality and availability of ingredients and equipment has improved dramatically over the years. As the only current homebrew and winemaking shop in McHenry and Lake County, we are now proud to offer a complete line of quality equipment and supplies. Cultured foods such as fermented cereal and fruit beverages (beer and wine), yogurt, kefir, tempeh, sauerkraut playa prominent role in traditional diets around the world. Fermentation is a natural and very healthful way to preserve and increase the nutrient content of many foods. Several books on this subject include Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers by Stephan Buhner and many others. We feel that making your own beer and wine has a natural connection with the downstairs Health Food Store. With rows of malted grain, fresh hops and healthful yeast, as well as sauerkraut crocks and books on cultured foods, it is clear that this hobby is very much an extension of a positive and wholesome diet. (Obviously, as in everything, there can be too much of a good thing so we encourage moderation in your consumption). Making your own beer can be as simple as sanitizing equipment, opening a can of malt syrup, adding water and yeast then letting fermentation take its course for a week. Include some priming sugar for carbonation, then bottle, age for a couple of weeks and enjoy your first delicious homebrew. Or, step it up a bit by adding your own fresh hops, specialty grains such as black or crystal malt, boil for 45 minutes, let cool, add yeast and then ferment. A less expensive, but more time-consuming method is known as all-grain brewing. In this process, you bypass the use of malt syrup entirely and make your own extract by steeping and mashing the crushed grain. This produces a liquid called wort (pronounced "wert") that is then boiled with hops, cooled and fermented. This method allows you the most latitude in achieving a specific beer style or even in cloning a commercial beer recipe. Given that homebrew is unpasteurized and unfiltered it contains all of it’s naturally occurring enzymes and nutrients. This makes the flavor superior to commercial beer and more nutritious. We also sell winemaking equipment and ingredient kits (for those with neither the time nor expertise to make wine from scratch). Our wine kits, made by Winexpert (winexpert.com) encompass many varieties of grape juice from all over the world and produce an exceptional finished product. All the kits come with easy to follow directions and yield 6 gallons, equivalent to 30 bottles of wine. To really dress up the bottle, we stock stylish bottle labels and shrink tops. So if your lifestyle includes beer and wine in moderation, give us a visit and we'll be happy to get you started on a very rewarding hobby. Here is a partial list of the supplies we carry: Winemaking Equipment kits (which include all the reusable items you will need) Plastic fermenters in many sizes Glass fermenters and jugs in many sizes Wine bottles in many varieties and sizes Syphon and bottling equipment Straining bags Corks and corkers Winexpert ingredient kits including these red wines and many other varieties Cabemet Sauvignon Merlot Zinfandel Shiraz Montepulciano Valpolicella Pinot Noir Argentine Malbec In whites we carry the following as well as many others Sauvignon Blanc Riesling Liebfraumilch Chardonnay Piesporter Pinot Grigio Beermaking Beermaking equipment kits (which include all the reusable items you will need) Glass fermenters in many sizes Beer bottles in many sizes Siphon and bottling equipment Bottle caps Grains in I lb. 10 lb. and 50 lb bags Hops in pellet and leaf form Brewing yeast including Whitelabs liquid yeast in vials (whitelabs.com) and many varieties of dry yeast. Brewers Best ingredient kits in many styles including: American Cream Ale American Light Red Ale Steam Style American Micro Style American Amber American Nut Brown Ale California Imperial Ale English Brown Ale Porter Irish Stout Classic English Pale Ale India Pale Ale Scotch Ale Weizenbeer Kolsch Continental Pilsner Amber Cervesa Traditional Bock German Altbier Russian Imperial Stout Dortmunder Lager Witbier Holiday Ale and many more including many no-boil kits We also carry the following products Kegging equipment Regulators C02 Tanks Tubing and fittings Sanitizing cleaners Books