Home Made Beer

[MikeCT]

Has anyone tried making their own beer? I'd like to try it out. Do I need to buy a kit? What's the best way to get started?

[legion]

I would suggest sampling as many different kinds of beer as possible--preferably in one evening and in the company of friends. Then I would suggest touring some local (or not-so-local) breweries to view their equipment.

Seriously, I have several friends who have brewed beer. The kits are a good place to start because they tend to have good instructions and come with all you need--so it's hard to screw up. I had a friend move from a kit to a full out brewing operation in his garage (large enough to fill a keg or two) in less than a year. The beer from the kit was not spectacular but drinkable. When he moved to trying some more complex brews, his stuff was either very good or completely undrinkable (very hit or miss). I'd recommend starting with a kit to see if you have the knack and interest first.

[Tishabet]

I brew my own beer regularly (make wine too!) and have just finished a hefeweizen that was bottled about 2 weeks ago. I would say that kits are a good place to start, the equipment is pretty cheap. Off the top of my head, here are the things you will need to get started:
Brew Bucket w/top
second bucket with tap for bottling
airlock
bottle capper
empty beer bottles
Ingredient Kit (good starter brand would be "brewer's best")

Wish list:
Hygrometer
bottle brush
bottling "wand"

[MikeCT]

Is a hygrometer for measuring IBUs

edit: Just googled it I was way off.

[Tishabet]

Specific gravity device, lets you determine when fermentation is complete and even lets you know how much alcohol content to expect before you've even started fermenting. Handy but not required.

[will944]

http://www.homebrewheaven.com/
http://www.undergrounddigital.com/beginners_kits.htm

There are a couple links for you. Get the best kit you can afford...well worth the $$$.

Let me know if you ever want any help....I've brewed some beer in my time

[azasadny]

I've been brewing my own beer for over 10 years now. It's not too difficult and it's actually fun. You feel proud when people who "don't like beer" try your and say it's good. It's a good, inexpensive hobb

There's a wealth of info on the Internet to get you started and if you brew now, you'll have some beer for the hot summer!

[M.D. Holloway]

just remember - keep it clean. If you do not use clean bottles or even carboys for the wort, you are gonna get hazy skunk stuff that will waste your time and money. I brewed for years and the better your notes, the more consistant your brew will be once you land on you like. Ales take a few days lagers longer - my fav was stouts and porters. Attack it like you are doing a chemistry experiment, make sure you moniter the temps, times, ingredients and amounts.

[Drago]

What Mike said.

Keeping the equipment clean is a big deal. Case in point: I have two friends who both live in the same cul-de-sac. They both brew their own beer and often times go in on raw materials together.

Friend A makes great beer...very consistent and tasty. Friend B makes goat piss. He doesn't clean his equipment enough, doesn't pay enough attention to detail and in general just doesn't care...the beer he brews is OK with him.

When I visit I stop by friend A's place first.

[notmytarga]

I have slowed down my brewing. My 911 restoration became the project of last year - I actually ran out of homebrew. Now my Steam and Porter are On Tap.

I started in '93 and soon became addicted (buying the Porsche was the cure). My beer costs 25 cents per bottle based on ingredients but probably still costs $5/bottle because of equipment. I sprung for a Brew Magic System (I just found they have upgrade kits - $345 ) in 1995 and I can brew 10 gallon batches from malted grain in four hours start to finish. That's the system behind the Targa (and restoration equipment) its made using beer kegs as the hot water, mash and boiling vessels.


Kegging in Pepsi type kegs saves lots of time and hassle - and its always cold and fresh. I have two old fridges with a total of 7 taps - only time they were all serving was in 1997.






Many advanced brewers would like to use the equipment that I have stored and do not or rarely use - carboys, conical fermenters, 13 gal boiler, counter pressure bottlers, micron filters, magnetic stirrers etc.

All-grain brewing requires high capacity equipment because you have to boil all the wort rather than diluting it after boilng with hops. Starting with concentrated wort boils from kits is a simple, and satisfying way to begin. In some cities - Seattle and St Loius (some are vanishing) there are places where they help you brew (Brew on Premesis) - a great way to begin.
The homebrewing industry has suffered because many beginners get turned off by the level of effort the advanced brewers are putting in to get the last 5% of improvement. Also good beer is readily available. YOU can get to 90% without doing all grain with specialty grains, good kits, liquid yeast and full wort boils with wort chilling.

A Chico state student started homebrewing in the early 80's - he now is the sole owner of Sierra Nevada (Chico). Now that's growth.

Good Luck!

[notmytarga]

Oh - and it's a Geek thing - we should all fit right in.

Check out the Home Brew Digest - www.hbd.org and other Internet discussion groups they have engineers talk about applying their knowledge to brewery design, geneticists talk about yeast, microbiologists talk about sanitation. You get to sift through even more less-objective misinformation than on Pelican.

[MikeCT]

Originally posted by notmytarga

I have two old fridges with a total of 7 taps - only time they were all serving was in 1997.

Sweet.

[Hugh R]

What everyone else said CLEAN. I did it in college and found that it doesn't really save money when you consider your time and effort. If you just want the beer, buy it. If you think you'll be into the fun of making it, then go ahead. I had a chain reaction explosion when one bottle blew up and wiped out most of a case of beer I had sitting.

[tc-sacto]

Notmytarga
I may be wrong, but I believe Budweiser now ownes 49% of Sierra Nevada Brewing. This was a big step in there national distribution.

[notmytarga]

Hugh R - Bottles exploding is usually from being over primed (too much corn sugar) or bottling before fermentation is complete. Gushers can also be from bacterial contamination.

My most recent tour of Sierra Nevada last year addressed this- Kent Grossman bought out his partner a while ago - he is sole owner. Anheuser Busch really wants to buy them at greater than value - but the presumption is that they would close them down. It remains the largest single location brewery. Anchor is up there too. Boston Beer (Sam Adams) and others are contract brewed all over.

The distrubution story I heard was that in order to satisfy Grateful Dead fans that only drink SN Pale Ale - two semi's delivered to each town on the tour, shelf space was created and then the other styles filled in. Maybe more Urban Legend, but I'll pass it on.