Sunday, June 23, 2013

Weekly Roundup: Yogurt Edition

Yogurt week was so much fun here at +Make Your Own! We found tons of uses for yogurt other than cooking AND we shared tons of recipes! Find some of our most popular posts below!

We have a complete Make Your Own Yogurt kit right here at Make Your Own! Check it out and get started making your own homemade yogurt today! Comes with everything you need aside from the milk!



We also carry yogurt making accessories right here at Make Your Own!

Yogurt Making Techniques & Benefits

Making Homemade Yogurt

Making Greek Yogurt

The Benefits of Homemade Yogurt

Alternative Uses for Yogurt

5 Ways to Keep Skin Glowing with Yogurt

DIY Yogurt Moisturizer

DIY Facials - Yogurt Masks

What do you do with all that Whey?

18 Ways to Use Whey

Skin Care Benefits of Whey

Cooking with Yogurt

Frozen Yogurt Berries

Tzatziki Recipe

Feta & Herb Dip

We hope you enjoyed Yogurt week as much as we did here! Stay tuned next week for All About Kids! The school year has come to a close and now the summer months are looming ahead! Don't worry, we've got you covered with activities and ideas to keep kids busy and their minds sharp this summer! Make sure to follow us on Facebook so you don't miss a single post!

Have a great week!









Saturday, June 15, 2013

Weekly Roundup: Dad Edition

Usually we do our weekly roundup on Sundays, but this week we wanted to bring you our roundup a little early just in case you're looking for last minute Father's Day gift ideas.

We had so much fun here at +Make Your Own this week finding fun crafts and DIY projects for Dad! We're also running a great special that you can still take advantage of!


Stop in and spend $25 or more on Beer Supplies, Jerky Supplies, or Sausage Supplies and get a FREE $10 gift card to Make Your Own!
 
 
 
See Store Associate for details ~ Offer expires 6/15/13 ~ One offer per customer
Not valid on sale prices ~ Offer valid only at our retail location
 
All About Dad!
 
 
 
Crafts & DIY Projects for Dad's Day
 
 
We hope all you Dads out there have a fabulous Father's Day! 


Stay tuned next week on Facebook for DIY Yogurt week! Learn all about the benefits of making your own yogurt as well as recipes and techniques for making your own!


Sunday, June 9, 2013

Weekly Roundup: Soap Edition

Soap week has come to an end here at +Make Your Own! We had a great week learning all about the different ways to make soap and finding different soap recipes as well as some soap crafts! If you missed any of our posts on Facebook then read more below as we highlight some of our most popular posts this week!

Soap Making Supplies at Make Your Own
 
The Soap Making Kit comes with everything you need to get started
making melt-and-pour soap!
 
We have a variety of soap making supplies for all of your soap making needs!
 
 
 
Learning to Make Soap
 
 
 
 
 
Soap Crafts & Recipes
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Did you know there are also many benefits to making and using your own soap? If you have allergies or sensitive skin, making your own soap may be a great option for you!
 
We posted several DIY soap crafts on Pinterest this week as well! Check them out!
 
***
 
Next week is all about Dad here at Make Your Own and
 we have a dynamite offer that you won't want to miss!
 
 
Stop in and purchase $25 in beer supplies or kits, jerky supplies or kits, sausage supplies or kits and get a FREE $10 gift card to Make Your Own!
 
See a store associate for details. Offer expires on 6/15/13.
One offer per customer ~ Only available at our retail location
Not valid or combinable with other offers
 

Enjoy your week! We'll see you here again next week
for our Weekly Roundup: Dad Edition!
Don't forget to follow us on Facebook so you don't miss any of the fun stuff we share!
 
 

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Weekly Roundup: Wine Edition

Wine week has come to an end here at +Make Your Own! We had great fun and learned a few things along the way!

So let's round up this week's most popular wine posts from Facebook.

First, check out our blog entry on brewing Rosé Blend wine right here in the store! Learn about how making wine can be easy and fun!

Are you new to wine making? We have all the equipment you need to get started!

 
 
 
We also have wine concentrate kits as well as Walker's Wine Juice here at the store to get you started! A variety of wine making books grace our shelves as well!
 
 
Learn How to Make Wine
 
 
 
Wine Making Recipes & Techniques
 
 
 
Cooking with Wine
 
 
 
 
We hope you enjoyed wine week with us! Do you have any recipes for making wine or for cooking with wine? Share them with us - we love trying new things!
 
Each week we send out a newsletter that is chock full of goodies! Have you signed up yet? If not, head over here to sign up! By signing up, you'll get to enjoy special discounts, recipes, and fun offers that we only offer to our newsletter subscribers!
 
Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest so you don't miss anything! Have a great weekend and we'll see you next week!
 
 

 
 
 

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Rose Blend Wine: Brewing it Our Way

Walkers Rose Blend Red Wine

About Walkers Juice
Walkers hot-pressed red grapes, assures each wine maker that they are getting highest quality wine. Walkers standardizes most of their juice at 21 percent sugar, unless the juice has a naturally higher content.  If you want to know the acid content or pH level they are listed on each container.











We started a Walkers Rose Blend Red Wine in the store! 

Did you know you can start this juice right in the food grade carboy it comes in? Walkers juice comes with everything you need to get the started, all you add is the yeast nutrient and the yeast. Some people just sprinkle the yeast on the juice but we re-hydrated our yeast to give it a jump start. (Walkers recommends this too!) We activated the yeast by adding slightly warmed water to the dry yeast and gave it a few minutes to start. While waiting for the yeast to re-hydrate we sprinkled the yeast nutrient into our juice.  We added this to replenish any of the nutrients that maybe naturally deficient in our juice.  It is not necessary to feed our yeast but we want to give it the best 'working' condition possible! 











As you can see our initial stage was quite violent.  Just look closely at the picture, you can see the gas escaping through the liquid. This can continue for 7 to 14 days but as time goes on, the explosions will be come less frequent and less aggressive. We will be keeping an eye on the bubbler and adding more water if the level drops.  This can be due to the aggressive stage or from simple evaporation.  

Now we just sit back, watch and wait for the next step.  This will be about 3 to 6 months when we will rack, stabilize and finally bottle our wine.  

Would you prefer to use a glass carboy? Many people do.  We carry them in several sizes, plus all the other things you may need like the rubber bung and bubbler.  Yes, it really is that easy to make wine!  Stop in and let us show you how!



Sunday, May 26, 2013

Weekly Roundup: Beer Edition

It's been a fun BEER week here at +Make Your Own! We've learned a lot and shared a lot about brewing, cooking with beer and even the surprising health benefits of beer! Let's round up some of our most popular posts from Facebook this week!

Get started brewing beer with supplies and kits from Make Your Own!

 
 
 

 
(We also blogged about a recipe using your Mr. Beer Home Brew Kit. You can see that recipe here. It's easy to get more out of your Mr. Beer Home Brew kit!)
 
Just getting started with a home brew hobby? These links walk you through the process of brewing!
 
 
 

Cooking with beer can be fun! Try out some new, delicious recipes today!
 
 
 
 
 

Finally, some miscellaneous beer posts!
 
 
 
 

 
We hope you have enjoyed Beer Week here at Make Your Own as much as we have! We've learned so much about beer that we never knew! What did you learn? Make sure to follow us on Facebook to keep updated on all of our posts!
 
Next week....WINE WEEK!!! Stay tuned!
 
Have a safe and happy Memorial Day! 

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Getting more out of your Mr. Beer Home Brew Kit

This week is beer week here at +Make Your Own! If you haven't checked out our Facebook page yet, hop on over and see what we've been posting! We're sharing recipes, brewing techniques and even brewing videos this week!

Right now, let's focus on getting more out of your Mr. Beer home brew kit. The Mr. Beer website has tons of great recipes that you can try out. If you haven't read our recent blog posts about the Mr. Beer home brew kit you can check them out using the following links: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 and Part 4. Each part takes you through the brewing process step-by-step! 

Recently, we made a Raspberry Wheat that turned out amazing and is perfect for warm evenings or an afternoon BBQ! 


This recipe is available on the Mr. Beer website, but we made a couple slight changes from their original recipe. How you brew yours is up to you!

Ingredients:
1 Bavarian Weissbier Refill (You can find that here)
1 Packet Dry Wheat Brewing Yeast (included in refill pack)
13oz Corn Sugar (You can find corn sugar here)
1 Can Red Raspberries in Heavy Syrup
Cleanser (You can find that here)

You Will Need: 
Blender
3 quart stock pot
4 cup glass measuring cup

Instructions:

First, follow instructions for cleaning and sanitizing all of your equipment and any instruments that will be coming into contact with your beer. Cleaning and sanitizing instructions came with your Mr. Beer Home Brew Kit or you can view Part 1 of our Brewing with Mr. Beer series. 

Puree raspberries in a sanitized blender and set aside. Remove the yeast from under the lid of the Weissbier can and set the can into a bowl with hot tap water. (This helps the syrup in the can melt slightly so it's easier to pour.)

Using your sanitized measuring cup, pour 4 cups of water into your clean stock pot. Slowly, add the corn sugar, stirring to prevent clumps within the water. Bring the water to a boil, stirring frequently. Once a rapid boil occurs, remove from heat and add the can of Weissbier, stirring thoroughly to mix. 

Add 4 quarts of cold tap water to your keg. (Look for the 4 quart mark on the back of the keg.) Pour your mixture (wort) from the pot into the keg and top the keg off with cold water up to the 8.5 quart mark. Add the pureed raspberries and stir thoroughly to combine. Sprinkle the yeast packet in the keg and screw on the lid. 

Store your keg out of direct sunlight and in an area that has a consistent temperature between 68 and 74 degrees. The raspberries in this mixture can cause quite violent fermentation. Make sure to keep the keg out of direct sunlight AND make sure the room temperature is consistent. Place the keg on a rimmed cookie sheet and check it daily for leaking. If it does leak, remove the lid and wipe clean with a paper towel dipped in sanitized solution then replace lid. 

Fermentation should take about 7-14 days. Follow the directions that came with your Mr. Beer Home Brew Kit for bottling or view Part 4 in our blog series. 

The Mr. Beer website describes the Raspberry Wheat in this way:

This framboise style brew combines the tart qualities of both raspberries and wheat to produce a deep red, cloudy, crisp and fruity beer that will make anyone a believer in home brew. A refreshing summer drink that fits well as an after dinner pairing with light tart tasting desserts.  

Have you made any special brews with your Mr. Beer Home Brew kit? If so, let us know! We love to try new recipes out! 

Happy Beer Week!