Does that count?! 
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.
If you use bottles I found a nice attachment for a faucet made out of brass that squirts water upwards at a nice strong stream when your dirty bottle is placed on it. And I like to use 2-liter pop bottles for most of a batch to cut down on work.
When the wort is fully boiled and ready to cool, transfer the pot to the sink from the stove and drop in the coil. connect to the faucet and turn on the cold full blast. Cover the brew pot and let the water run into the sink until tepid or room temp. Remove coil, pitch yer yeast in and put it in the brew pail. Stir in a little air with a drill and a stainless of plastic rod with right angle bend in the end.
Follow the usual instructions. Rack on time. Bottle whenever. Add dextrose priming sugar (I lean on it a little for extra carbonation). Bottle and store for a good long while - I find a couple months to be best.
Prosit, comrade!
Read up before you start. Papazian’s books are classics but there are other resources, especially on-line.
Buy a gear kit and a recipe kit and give it a go.
The key is to sanitize absolutely everything.
A corollary is to not drink while you brew. Mistakes will happen. Get it in the carboy and then have at it.
Also, be patient. You probably won’t be able to drink your first batch for a month or so.
Tons of work and tons of fun. If you have the time.
Irish: I’ve brewed my own many times, and here is what I can offer:
1. You will need bottles - ask your local bartenders if they will save you the capped bottles they pour - not screw heads, but cappers - and give them $5 or $10 per case - reuse them. Soak them in bleach and water before each use, and let them dry for a few days to be sure the bleach gets out.
2. Search the online sites - then call or e-mail them with questions. They can set you up with the equipment you will need - not expensive - a couple of food grade 5 gal. canisters, an airlock, canned materials. Mix the canned stuff with the yeast, and go for it.
If you get good at it or really like it, you can order the separate ingredieants (hops, yeast, etc.) and really make it from scratch, but I recommend canned ingredients to start - you mix it, seal it up, let it bubble, strain it into the bottles, add a little sugar to each bottle (to pressurize the bottle) and cap it. Home brewed beer is better than anything you ever tasted. Send me a bottle.
All...this is great 0- thanks soooo much for the feedback...on the books and all. I snuck away from the in-laws for a few - surprised so many into home brewing...I gotta go back and read it all now!!!!
I hope I don't forget to thank someone...oh what the heck...it is a fun topic, huh????
Oops, I misread your reply. You are correct.
Just bought all the ingredients to make an Irish Stout. Get back to me if anybody wants to know how to make it.
Guys - thank you so much...I think what I am reading is it is a very LOVED hobby...I need to read the Boble o’ Beer and maybe at the same time try my hand a few times with a kit to get the rookie hang of it. Then when I get good (or brave), devote the entire laundry room to my hobby (I’m in - I get clean underwear from Walmart anytime and I can shower with my clothes on - the wife may be a different story tho’), save my beer bottles now (Cus I ain’t brewing yet - buyin’ off the shelf - might as well stop pretending I am recycling and really do it for me - heck with the world - we are dying from global warming anyway)and then keep in touch with you guys along the way. Is that pretty much it?????
Cool, Thanks RA- kinda looks like something from an OB/GYN’s office, tho :)
Does that count?!
Yes’m - Friday brew drinkers always count.
Well if you sat on it, it would give you one heck of an enema...LOL.
So I can get one on-line at Bwarnyfwank.com???
Almost every city has a beer brewers club.
Avoid them for one year. Most of the members are too busy trying to impress newbies than help them.
They are, however, very good help after you know what you are doing.
Go to your beer supply store and ask them for some names of guys who have just started. Call them for help. Ask them to watch while they make a batch. Best way to learn.
Tell us how to make IPA’s
Apologies to Dynachrome who did ping me but I was too buzzed to see it :)
Cheers,
knewshound
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