Posted on 04/17/2009 4:29:41 PM PDT by IrishPennant
Happy Friday!!!! Beer lover here. Not a connoisseur, but a little above a warm PBR you might say. I have been thinking for sometime about brewing my own. I have the room, time and enjoy a good hobby as much as the next Joe...and I figure since I can change the head gaskets in my car, recharge the A/C in the old truck and know my way around the kitchen pretty well, I can do this.
I was looking around the web and there are kits and forum sites, etc, but I figured asking for some general advice in a place where I love and trust my FRiends would be fun.
Any FReepers out there brewing your own and want to tell a rookie where to start. I understand the kit avenue is not real good, and supplies and hops and such can all be picked up locally (I'm just outside Memphis in Northern Mississippi).
I did read that Ales were the easiest to make but I do like a good stout beer...From time to time I travel to Germany, just outside Frankfurt for work. The locals are drinking mostly from local breweries and kid me about the amount of great stuff int he beers...claim each beer is the equivelent of eating a loaf of bread. Regardless, I cannot remember the brewer, but the beer was great.
Read “The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing” by Charlie Papazian front to back before making any decisions.
Bump for home brewing. Knewshound knows!
Also, stouts are ales.
Sweet - thanks for the read heads-up...but do you mean before I decide what to brew or before I decide IF to brew???
hat makes a stout...More hops and barley???
Buy Peanuts
Darn it darn it darn it...unannounced and unappreciated in-law arrival down stairs. I’ll be back but any thoughts the meantime will be appreciated!!!!!
Man, I gotta stop posting without reviewing first!!!
The best advice I can give: Invite me over to test each batch.
I would advise going with a kit the first time around. (There are start-up kits which give you the buckets, bottle-cappers, etc.)
After you see how the first batch goes... just getting it to ferment, I mean — You’ll have the general-knowledge of how to do things and can begin making your own recipes.
(I made one that had a 11.2 ABV! It tasted great too. Though I lost the recipe. :( )
The addition of roasted malt and/or roasted barley.
Bump
knews_hound has a good page to get you started.
It is a worthy hobby with many benefits. The beer is fresh and soooo good.
And the ingredients are tax free in many locales.
“It’s a far better brew when you know the government’s getting the screw.”
Charlie's got a complete list of what you'll need, but basically you need:
1. Brewkettle - 5 gal is standard - with lid
2. Submersible thermometer (you can clip a candy thermometer to the side if you angle it away into the wort).
3. Long stirring spoon.
4. Carboy. This can be an old class water bottle and most of them are.
5. Funnel.
6. Strainer that fits the funnel.
7. Tube fitting the top of the carboy that you can put into water for primary fermentation.
8. Vapor lock that fits the carboy for secondary fermentation.
9. Big bucket (5+ gal) that you can sterilize for beer transfer.
10. Chlorine bleach (or iodine - bleach is less messy).
11. Bottles, caps, and a bottle capper.
12. Small-diameter tube for syphoning the beer from the bucket into the bottles.
13. Small muslin bags for the hops.
14. The makin's - malt, yeast, hops.
15. Beer. It is a scientific fact that one makes better beer when drinking beer. It's magic.
I've probably forgotten some stuff such as a saucepan for the priming malt but that ought to get you started. FR homebrewers, pick me up here if I've missed anything critical.
Cheers!
I have an idea for a home brewing machine that would look much like, and fit into the niche normally used for a washer-dryer combo, using the same attachments.
The “unitank” washer side would be used to add the pre-made, concentrated hopped wort liquid, perhaps 10 gallons of bottled water, yeast, and even special sugars to augment the process. The mixture would be kept at the ideal temperature and gently agitated, while the CO2 produced would be vented through the dryer vent, or compressed for later use.
This would accomplish the fermenting and lagering. Then the bright beer would be filtered and pumped to the dryer side. Additional carbonation could be used with the compressed CO2, both for a finer head, and to pump the beer from the internal keg. The dryer would be a small portable refrigeration unit with a draft tap on top, so could be wheeled and plugged in where wanted.
The washer side could then be put through an automatic wash and rinse cycle with a mild, flavorless detergent, then with a final rinse cycle using bottled water.
Actually the difference between an Ale and Lager is the yeast. And with the difference in the yeast comes a difference in fermentation time and temperature. Ale yeast can ferment a batch of beer in as little as three weeks to bottle and need at least 55-60 degrees. Lager yeast can take over 6 months to ferment a batch and like around 40 degrees.
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