Home brewing

[Pike]

I'm bored and want to do this. Anyone else ever try this? I've made homemade wine before where you take concentrated grape juice, cup of sugar, water, and yeast and actually tastes like a  legit low quality wine that gets you wasted. But that's too easy. I want to make beer that kicks ass.

[cireksu]

work with people that do it.  they say it's not all that hard.  kind of expensive I think.

[KITNfury]

Anyone else ever try this?

yes

[Pike]

work with people that do it.  they say it's not all that hard.  kind of expensive I think.

Yeah I think raw ingredients are the most expensive especially in the long run. Just looked up 5# of malting barley is $20 delivered, and that won't even make very much beer. These home brewing websites try and nickel and dime you with $350 home brew kits, and half that crap you don't even need. But whatever, I'm going to try.

[KITNfury]

work with people that do it.  they say it's not all that hard.  kind of expensive I think.

Yeah I think raw ingredients are the most expensive especially in the long run. Just looked up 5# of malting barley is $20 delivered, and that won't even make very much beer. These home brewing websites try and nickel and dime you with $350 home brew kits, and half that crap you don't even need. But whatever, I'm going to try.

Pretty inaccurate. The ingredients are much cheaper in the long run. It's the startup cost that is the most. I managed to start when in school "on the cheap". Not really cheap, but do-able even for someone on a tight budget. I wouldn't spend $350 on a starter kit. A lot of the equipment you need is pretty readily available in a college town.

[Pike]

work with people that do it.  they say it's not all that hard.  kind of expensive I think.

Yeah I think raw ingredients are the most expensive especially in the long run. Just looked up 5# of malting barley is $20 delivered, and that won't even make very much beer. These home brewing websites try and nickel and dime you with $350 home brew kits, and half that crap you don't even need. But whatever, I'm going to try.

Pretty inaccurate. The ingredients are much cheaper in the long run. It's the startup cost that is the most. I managed to start when in school "on the cheap". Not really cheap, but do-able even for someone on a tight budget. I wouldn't spend $350 on a starter kit. A lot of the equipment you need is pretty readily available in a college town.

That's what I'm saying. It could cost me $50 to get new equipment to ad to stuff I already have. Then it could cost $50 per batch of beer I make after grain, hops, yeast, or anything else.

What kind of beers did you make? What recipes did you use?

Edit: Especially want to know what type of yeast you used? If i could use instant yeast from the grocery that could save some money. Obviously brewers yeast is going to be a different strain but idk if will alter flavor or anything? I mean yeast is yeast in my book. Am I wrong?

[Rick Daris]

work with people that do it.  they say it's not all that hard.  kind of expensive I think.

Yeah I think raw ingredients are the most expensive especially in the long run. Just looked up 5# of malting barley is $20 delivered, and that won't even make very much beer. These home brewing websites try and nickel and dime you with $350 home brew kits, and half that crap you don't even need. But whatever, I'm going to try.

Pretty inaccurate. The ingredients are much cheaper in the long run. It's the startup cost that is the most. I managed to start when in school "on the cheap". Not really cheap, but do-able even for someone on a tight budget. I wouldn't spend $350 on a starter kit. A lot of the equipment you need is pretty readily available in a college town.

That's what I'm saying. It could cost me $50 to get new equipment to ad to stuff I already have. Then it could cost $50 per batch of beer I make after grain, hops, yeast, or anything else.

What kind of beers did you make? What recipes did you use?

Edit: Especially want to know what type of yeast you used? If i could use instant yeast from the grocery that could save some money. Obviously brewers yeast is going to be a different strain but idk if will alter flavor or anything? I mean yeast is yeast in my book. Am I wrong?

start by looking around here...http://www.austinhomebrew.com/

the easiest way to get started is w/ kits. check the site out. not that expensive to start really. keep us updated.

btw- homemade wine is really, really hard to do good. beer... not so much.

[pissclams]

who drinks beer now a days?  might be interested in home brewing some dark & stormy juice, that's about it.

[KITNfury]

work with people that do it.  they say it's not all that hard.  kind of expensive I think.

Yeah I think raw ingredients are the most expensive especially in the long run. Just looked up 5# of malting barley is $20 delivered, and that won't even make very much beer. These home brewing websites try and nickel and dime you with $350 home brew kits, and half that crap you don't even need. But whatever, I'm going to try.

Pretty inaccurate. The ingredients are much cheaper in the long run. It's the startup cost that is the most. I managed to start when in school "on the cheap". Not really cheap, but do-able even for someone on a tight budget. I wouldn't spend $350 on a starter kit. A lot of the equipment you need is pretty readily available in a college town.

That's what I'm saying. It could cost me $50 to get new equipment to ad to stuff I already have. Then it could cost $50 per batch of beer I make after grain, hops, yeast, or anything else.

What kind of beers did you make? What recipes did you use?

Edit: Especially want to know what type of yeast you used? If i could use instant yeast from the grocery that could save some money. Obviously brewers yeast is going to be a different strain but idk if will alter flavor or anything? I mean yeast is yeast in my book. Am I wrong?

Yeah, the right yeast will make a difference. Many brewers start by doing extract kits. It's very easy to do. You can order a whole ingredient kit to to style of beer you want. I always liked northernbrewer.com.

If you go that route, it won't be as cheap as doing all grain, but it's simpler. Most sites I went to HIGHLY recommended reading this:

http://howtobrew.com/intro.html

If you do extract, you basically boil water and the extract (basically a syrup) for about an hour w/ hops. Add finishing hops the last little bit if they call for it (the directions will tell you). Cool it as fast as possible and put in the fermenter (straining the hops out of the wort as you put in the fermenter). There are different methods for all of this, but if you have a spare keg around, that's a top notch stainless steel pot if you cut to inside top off. Good for 10 gallon batches. A turkey fryer can be used as the heat source.

There are some brewing forums that help out a lot too.

[Pike]

Thanks, I've been reading about home brewing this evening and have learned a lot. I'm living in AL right now and I found out it's not even legal here (this state f*cking blows). But I think I may give it a try anyway

[Duncan]

Did it college quite a bit, wife made me sell all my stuff a few years back, I miss it.   

William's Brewing is a pretty good mail-order place to get stuff, they range from beginners to serious.  The brewery kits are pretty affordable, should start you off pretty well.

If you want to get into pretty serious, including all the science and gadgets, would recommend the following books:

The Complete Joy Of Homebrewing, Third Edition, Charlie Papazian

Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes for 150 Commercial Beers, by Tess Szamatulski

Brew Ware: How to Find, Adapt & Build Homebrewing Equipment, by Karl F. Lutzen

[AzCat]

Beer?  Pfft.  If you own a crock pot and have a couple of bucks to spare for copper tubing you can distill absinthe (or anything else you want to make) in your kitchen.  Much better than beer in that you'll get great booze & be a felon to boot!