Post: #1

Has anyone had any experience in brewing beer at home? I was thinking of trying this but keep going back and forth on whether it's more trouble than it's worth.

I'd appreciate it if anyone could offer an opinion or share his experience.

Post: #2

Not much of a homebrewer myself but I willl say that brewing beer is far more odorous than brewing homemade fruit wines.

Not sure how it works out cost wise, but if you're passionate about brewing, it could be cool to bust out a few bottles of something you made.

I've made a few decent wines that were worth the investment of a few hours.

Post: #3

Mr. Beer

I was interested in the same thing. Maybe you can try this out and see if it's something you'd like to do.

Post: #4

My friend used to do quite a bit of brewing and I'd occasionally help him out. It's a decent amount of work but definitely rewarding when you taste that fresh beer you made all by yourself.

Bottling takes up a lot of time, but a kegerator takes up a lot of space. Probably best to stick to bottling unless you really plan to brew a lot. Looks like the kit in the post above mine has everything you need to get started as well as positive reviews.

My friend always said there were two keys to brewing: sanitation and patience. He said any little bit of bacteria can ruin an entire batch. Also that if you crack one open and it doesn't taste right, you can always just sit on the beer and hope it gets better over time.

He also made some meads and ciders, which I had the pleasure of drinking after they had been sitting for 5+ years and they were very good.

It's usually easy to find a friend or two to help out, as they'll be eager to try the beer when it's done. Not a bad date idea either, really. Also, good bait to bring a shortie back to your pad and get her drinking.

Post: #5

(12-16-2013 12:42 AM)Art Pimp Wrote:  My friend used to do quite a bit of brewing and I'd occasionally help him out. It's a decent amount of work but definitely rewarding when you taste that fresh beer you made all by yourself.

Bottling takes up a lot of time, but a kegerator takes up a lot of space. Probably best to stick to bottling unless you really plan to brew a lot. Looks like the kit in the post above mine has everything you need to get started as well as positive reviews.

My friend always said there were two keys to brewing: sanitation and patience. He said any little bit of bacteria can ruin an entire batch. Also that if you crack one open and it doesn't taste right, you can always just sit on the beer and hope it gets better over time.

He also made some meads and ciders, which I had the pleasure of drinking after they had been sitting for 5+ years and they were very good.

It's usually easy to find a friend or two to help out, as they'll be eager to try the beer when it's done. Not a bad date idea either, really. Also, good bait to bring a shortie back to your pad and get her drinking.

Good comment.
I've looked into this a little bit, and am surprised by the amount of effort needed to carry it off correctly. On the other hand, being able to make your own beer of any variety would be impressive. I am a beer fanatic and see it, as the medieval Europeans did, as a form of "liquid bread" (!).
I've seen a few YouTube videos and watched the FoodTV geek Alton Brown try to explain it, but I get the feeling that you need to experiment a few times to get your stride.

Post: #6

I've used a few beer brewing kits before.

I wouldn't consider it a lot of work if you've done any canning before. From what I can remember, I think all I had to do was boil the little bag of grains that came with the kit in a few gallons of water, pour the contents into a large glass container with a water locking seal (it lets air escape from the inside of the carboy but it won't let anything come back in), let it sit for however long the directions call for, use a plastic pipe with the capillary method to pour the beerlike substance into a different carboy but leave the sediment shit on the bottom of the old one, let that sit for an even longer period of time in total darkness, and then pour a certain amount of sugar into what will soon be your beer once you mix all that up and pour that into individual bottles and let it sit for a couple days to carbonate.

I highly recommend using a carboy (3 to 5 gallon glass container) that's at least a gallon bigger than what you need to make in a batch. You do not want that shit to foam up and burst through the water locking seal, especially if you use bleach in your water locking seal.

Also, if you're serious about brewing beer, you should invest in a good set of bottles with the rubber coated porcelain stoppers on the top of them. I can't remember what they're called (mine are all "Grolsch" swingtop porcelain stoppers) but I'm sure you can find them on the internet. They're 100% reusable and they take the majority of the bottling problems away. Hammering a metal bottle cap onto a glass bottle neck looks like a serious bitch. It might have taken me forty five minutes to bottle five gallons of beer last time I did it, thanks to those porcelain swingtop stoppers.



The biggest tip I can give you is this. If you think your bottles or carboys or equipment are "clean enough", then give them at least another once-over. I can't stress this enough. Also, make sure you're using cleaning agents that aren't going to impart a taste in your beer.

Post: #7

I've been homebrewing with my bro for a few years now. Most of the replies are right on. All my experience is with ales, not lagers.

The main thing I would reiterate is properly cleaning and sanitizing because there is nothing worse than wasting a whole afternoon to make spoiled beer. To prevent this you should rinse all your bottles immediately after opening then i use an iodine based sanitizer and soak the bottles while I prepare everything else. BE sure to rinse though otherwise your beer will taste like iodine... If in doubt, don't use it.

Is it worth it?

That depends...it's not easier or faster than just buying it at the store and your first batches won't be masterpieces, but with time you can make considerably better beer for cheaper than you could buy similar quality beer. It's not hard either. If you can boil water, wash and sanitize, weigh ingredients, follow a recipe, and read thermometers then you can brew a batch of beer. There is also a good amount of inactive time while brewing so it's a good hobby for when you're doing things around the house or just watching the game. Being worth the trouble also comes down to what kind of beer you like? If you only drink lagers I would skip homebrewing because you will need extra equipment and the commercial lagers available are good quality and cheap, but if you like a variety of ales and especially high gravity ales, ipa's, double ipa's, stouts, ect then its worth it. I have also made some good meads and melomels which are honey and fruit brews- very easy to make and they will sneak up on you!

I agree that it's damn satisfying to crack a brew that you made with your own two hands plus most chicks are impressed by it. If you are unsure then most homebrew stores have classes on the weekend that you could attend before investing in the equipment. A good book is by Michael Jackson- who knew this pop star was an author- I think its called complete joy hombrewing. Good Luck, have fun, and drink a homebrew!

Post: #8

I was just thinking about how cool it would be to actually brew beer and make a living out of it. I looked into it and you can buy small brewery starting from around 13k euros, this brewery can make around 400 litres a week. Here where I live, the law was just changed few months ago, before that it wasnt really allowed to own a small brewery, so I guess the market good now for starting.

Anyway I will look into it, it would be mad cool to brew the beer whole day and hustle marketing and selling it.

Post: #9

My cousin started brewing beer with his friends somewhere in a small room in the attic. It's possible to start out with minimal equipment that everybody has in their home (except for the ingredients), they said that they started with watching youtube videos.

They have a lot of connections in the local beer scene and some of them quit their job and they started with 4 guys to brew professional, with a beer bar as well. They are building the bar right now, and I'm very curious or they will make a living out of it. Their beer is featured on a lot of festivals and in several bars here already.

Moral: if you want to brew beer, you don't need to make a lot of investments, most people already have the needed tools to brew on a very small scale.

The guys were featured on a local tv show lately as well.