Anybody ever brew their own beer?

[GremlinX]

I drink a beer from time to time and I think it would be a fun hobby to do in the heat of the summer. Just wondered if anybody has done it before?

[RTK]

Used to brew years ago. You can make some awesome tasting beer. Nothing really fancy needed either. I ended up getting some free kegs from out Pepsi rep, that way I did not have to bottle it, just throw it in the spare fridge and add a tap. All my friends seemed to like to visit more often

[Uncle Brett]

Been home brewing for almost 15 years now. Started out with malt extract in a 5 gal. stainless pot on my kitchen stove. The wife hated the smell of malt so I had to move the operation out to the garage. About 12 years ago I switched to mashing my own grains and built the garage cabinets to accomodate a gravity system. I have a 58 gal stainless brew kettle that a friend made for me and I brew 35 gal. at a time. It's a lot of fun, give it a try.

[wizard]

I never have done it my self but, this brings back some great memories from childhood. My grandfather brewed a lot and stored his in an old cast iron stove in the basement. He stored it in the stove because every once in a while one of the bottles would explode. The stove would contain the flying glass.

I always wanted to make a small still ( legal size) make some good whiskey. Some of the best I have ever had was a home made rye whiskey.

[GremlinX]

Cool, I figured I would get 0 replies. As far as getting started, am I wasting my time with something like www.mrbeer.com has?

[DR10044]

Never brewed beer. I have thought about trying it a number of times. My brother in law makes wine, has for years. Some of it is very good, some is awful.

[Torqmeister]

mrbeer.com is good. Another to try is www.eckraus.com. They have an awesome catalogue for beer & winemaking.
It's a lot of fun, give it a try.

[Dangerous Dan]

I did wine once, just took santelope, extracted juce through cheese cloth, added a but load of sugar and some yiest. Then placed it in a 1 gallon glass jar that had a small lid. A cork, with a peace of brass tubing through it(left over form a glow tank), some fuel tubbing connected to the brass with the other end in a glass of water, bubbled for three weeks, and was extremly strong.

[GremlinX]

Thanks...

[bbuzzone]

Heck, had to STOP brewing beer as my consumption went up 2000%!

After living in Europe for a few years I didn't think I would ever find good beer again, but home brew turned out to be better than what I could find in Europe.

Perhaps after this next move I'll have to convince the wife that we really need to serve home brew at the house warming party...

[dbcaster]

It's funny you asked the question now. My latest batch is ready for me to try tonight. I tried the Mr.Beer thing and it really is not that great. I have brewed a couple of times with a buddy and it really is easy. We have a local shop that sells pre-mixed batches so it is just a matter of brewing the oats and dumping the malt mixture in 5 gallons of boiling water. I use a turkey frying kit outside for heating the water and the malt mix. It really is fun and if you do it with a buddy you can sit and drink your last batch while you make the next. I think heydick has got us all beat though.

[Uncle Brett]

Keith,
Stay away from homebrew kits like "Mr beer" that are single step "pour in the malt extract add water and yeast, and let ferment" type systems. I've never tasted one beer that comes out of those kits that doesn't tast like crap. There's a reason that it's called *Brewing*, it has to be brewed i.e. *boiled*. There are certin things that happen on a molecular basis to the sweet liquor (malt extract and water) during a boil that can't be duplicated unless it is boiled.
Do a search for homebrew supply stores in your area, ones that you can drive to. If not, then order a kit online. A good basic brew kit should include 2 plastic 7-10 gal fermentation buckets with a spigot or 1 plastic bucket and 1 glass carboy (Sparklets bottle), a bubbler (fermentation lock), plastic hose, malt extract syrup that's pre hopped, or not, if it includes a pack of hops, or instead of syrup, DME= dried malt extract. The kit should also include bottle caps and a hand bottle capper, a thermometer, a hydrometer, and a good book, like: The Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian, or something similar. You will also need a 5gal stainless pot or at a minimum a 4gal pot. Do not use aluminium. Stainless pots in that size can be expensive but I've found that Costco has really good prices when in stock.
One other thing; don't use the dry yeast that comes with most beer kits, use a good live yeast in liquid form, like White Labs Yeast. Yeast is one of the most important ingredients in beer, it's what gives each kind of beer it's particular flavor, so leave the dry yeast for baking bread. Also, start out brewing Ales and stay away from brewing Lagers. Lagers are very temperture sensitive during fermentation. You can usually find empty beer bottles behind bars and resturants, just make sure they're brown bottles that require a bottle opener, not twist off caps. If you continue this hobby for a while, you'll get tired of bottling and want to keg your beer, which is soooo much easier. Scout around for used Cornillius Kegs; they're the 5 gal. stainless kegs that Coke, Pepsi etc. come in for soda fountains.
I hope this isn't too confusing. Any more questions, let me know.
Brett

[Uncle Brett]

Here's my baby

[GremlinX]

Thanks Brett.... I think you would know best. Surely Nashville has a home brew kit. You stated some information that I would not have known about. Thanks. Keith

[GremlinX]

This is the place! Mobile home parts and beer making all in one store!

http://www.eagleretail.com/