For many people, when first hearing the term "home brew generators", visions of vats of beer or mead perking away in a dark corner of their home pop into their heads. Surprisingly enough, however, the term has absolutely nothing to do with the art of making your favorite type of homemade alcoholic beverage. Indeed, home brew generators are made at home instead of commercially produced, but the similarities end there. A home brew generator is actually an alternate or emergency power generator that has been made by hand instead of purchased.

Types Of Home Brew Generators

There are several different types of home brew generators that can be made. They run the gamut from solar powered to steam or even wind powered. It all depends upon your budget and the type of generator you want to create.

Solar powered home brew generators can be made for less than $300 USD. When you consider that most portable generators cost anywhere from $299 on up, plus the cost of fuel to run it, using a solar powered generator makes sense, especially if you plan to take it traveling or camping. Although you won't be able to keep an entire household supplied with electricity, solar powered home brew generators do produce enough energy to run lights and various other several other electrical appliances continuously for up to 5 hours.

Wind powered home brew generators are cost about the same to make as solar powered generators. Making a wind powered generator, though, is a lot more time consuming. Whereas the solar powered generator may only take a day or so, you're looking at roughly 40 to 60 hours to build a wind powered one. Also making a wind powered generator is a lot more complex.

For a solar powered generator, you'll need a small solar panel (roughly 8" by 24"), a 12-volt deep cycle battery, a battery box, a 12-volt DC meter, a DC input, an inverter (if you plan to run AC appliances), a drill and some insulated wire.

The tools and supplies for making a wind powered generator are a lot more numerous. To make the wind powered generator, you would to need magnets, copper wire, bearings, an alternator, some basic woodworking tools, like a drawknife, planers, electric drill, and a band saw – and a few basic metal working tools, such as a welder, drill, etc., just to name a few. You can either buy the propellers or carve them yourself.

Making home brew generators may sound daunting, but with a little determination and the right tools, it can be both a fun project and save you a bit of money in the long run. If you're interested in making your own home brew generator, a quick search on the internet will provide more than enough options and instructions for you to begin.