Home Brewed

ejenne87

So I have been flirting with the idea of trying to brew my own beer when I get home from Afghanistan. I am not very well informed on the whole process but it sounds like it might be fun. I am just wondering if any of you guys have tried it or know anyone who has. How did it turn out? How much of a pain in the @$$ was it? Is it worth it just to have a brew that is all my own?

Luko

I brewed a couple of batches at home with a cheap kit. The beer turned out awesome, but my set-up was poor. So it was a ton of work and made a huge mess. I liked doing it, but with a cheap kit like that and little space, it wasn't worth the effort. I'd like to do this again, but in my opinion, you need a good amount of space and the right tools, so to speak.

TatuajeVI

Well I started to do this a few years ago. The girl I was dating had a brother who brewed his own and was VERY good at it. He helped me buy a few basic things and started my first batch - it wasn't difficult, you just had to know what you were doing as far as cleaning stuff properly, when to add malts vs hops, etc. Sadly (for the beer, not the girl) I broke up with the b... girl and the beer that was fermenting was at her brothers house. Too bad, the beer was going to be great, and she had a really cool brother.

TatuajeVI

Oh, and definitely don't go cheap on a kit. Hell, my stuff was under $75, including a batch of beer - but I did already own a large stock pot.

ejenne87

TatuajeVI:

Oh, and definitely don't go cheap on a kit. Hell, my stuff was under $75, including a batch of beer - but I did already own a large stock pot.

Any suggestions on where to get the stuff?

Is there a company like Ccom that wants to make a beer for the troops to send to us over here? That would make me unbelievably happy!!!

TatuajeVI

lol, you can't brew beer legally in a combat zone!

I remember coming home after being gone 14 months - with no booze. It was amazing when we flew through Ireland. I had a Guinness. It was wonderful.

ejenne87

TatuajeVI:

It was amazing when we flew through Ireland. I had a Guinness. It was wonderful.

I did the same thing last time on my way home. They said only one beer, gave us about 2-3 hours to drink it. I prolly don't need to tell you this but I got back on the plane hammered.

TatuajeVI

ejenne87:

TatuajeVI:

It was amazing when we flew through Ireland. I had a Guinness. It was wonderful.

I did the same thing last time on my way home. They said only one beer, gave us about 2-3 hours to drink it. I prolly don't need to tell you this but I got back on the plane hammered.

Lol. We only had about 45 minutes, I managed to take two down. My 130 pounds of pure awesome was definitely feeling it after that many months of no beer.

4bob4

I was going to do this at one point and found this site

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

seems to be lots of good info. they even split it up for the people that are like "i want to start now!" vs. those that "want to understand the whole process".

ejenne87

I love derailing my own threads haha.


Anybody else have any experience with brewing?

j0z3r

Scrambler is the one to talk to about home brewing here. I know there were others who had done it, but he's the only person that comes to mind. There is/was a pretty extensive thread quite some time ago, you'd have to dig deep though.

ejenne87

Thanks Joe, I'll def. check out both of those leads

The_Sir

Yeah Check the Mr. Beer homebrew kit they have a simple kit to start off with the basics to see if you even want to try and brew beer at home. It is like beginers level for beginners, very simple but makes some great brew. I have brwed about 4 batches with them and had no issues. I plan on brewing two batches as soon as i get home from Iraq in a few months!

Luko

The_Sir:

Yeah Check the Mr. Beer homebrew kit they have a simple kit to start off with the basics to see if you even want to try and brew beer at home. It is like beginers level for beginners, very simple but makes some great brew. I have brwed about 4 batches with them and had no issues. I plan on brewing two batches as soon as i get home from Iraq in a few months!

This might have been what I used...simple, pretty cheap. Then if you decide you like it, you can buy the right equipment to start making it in larger quantities.

TatuajeVI

Luko:

The_Sir:

Yeah Check the Mr. Beer homebrew kit they have a simple kit to start off with the basics to see if you even want to try and brew beer at home. It is like beginers level for beginners, very simple but makes some great brew. I have brwed about 4 batches with them and had no issues. I plan on brewing two batches as soon as i get home from Iraq in a few months!

This might have been what I used...simple, pretty cheap. Then if you decide you like it, you can buy the right equipment to start making it in larger quantities.

A friend of mine got this kit and was relatively disappointed. It cuts a lot of corners and basically makes cheap beer. The investment cost into a better kit will of course be more, but if you love good beer (which ejenne87 does) you're better off getting the stuff needed to make good beer. The two most expensive things are going to be a large metal pot (holds 5 gallons) to boil all your ingredients in, and something to ferment into: some guys use cheap 5 gallon buckets, or glass carboys for someone who doesn't mind investing a bit more.

I'm making my first batch this weekend, I'll keep this thread updated with how it goes. Lucky for me, I already had a large metal pot.

T. Gervais

I've been interested in brewing my own beer for a while now but haven't acted on it yet. Maybe when I get some more time and funds.

zoom6zoom

Mr Beer kits can suck; they often have expired yeast. Check out the forums at realbeer.com for some great input, lots of experienced folks there. I haven't done any brewing in a while, but still have a few batches on tap at the house. Lately I've prefered doing hard cider, even easier than beer. I've got a batch of raspberry mead that's ready to get bottled.