So there's been a bunch of threads about craft and micro brews on here lately. Anyone into conjuring up their own basement brews? I'm looking to put some money into a solid start up kit, any suggestions? I figure we could start a thread and people can kick some knowledge around and update us on their progress from start to finish. Kinda like that Chicken coop thread, only with beer instead. Also, updates of beer you are currently sampling is also acceptable. Here's some websites for people still sucking their beer from a nipple (or those looking to obtain more info on beer than you can stomach) http://beeradvocate.com/ http://basicsofhomebrewing.com/index.html http://allaboutbeer.com/ http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/lets-brew/get-schooled/get-started Also, maybe we can set up some beer swaps. Different areas of the country have different beers, FedEx and UPS allow you to try beers from coast to coast while sitting on you fat *** at home.
I would love to get into homebrewing, I just need the equipment. I thought I had a hookup for some free equipment, but that has kinda fell through. Oh well. I've done beer swaps with 3 posters on this board. I love beer swaps.
Next time I make it to a local brewery in the area I'll see what bottle selection they have. Here's their profile. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14359
I've been homebrewing for about 4 years now -I absolutely love to do it, the only downside is I haven't the time lately to do any. I could talk brewing for hours and hours so I will be a regular visitor to this thread...:-). I started off extract brewing (buying kits) and now do what is called "all grain". This is the longest, hardest way to brew but also the most rewarding since it is truly made from scratch. You can play with recipes and even come up with your own, it definitely gives you a great feeling when you brew something you come up with on your own and it actually tastes good! As for a startup kit, here is a good one - http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewing-basics-equipment-kit.html You still need a few other items such as a brew pot to boil in and some beer bottles (non twist off type). A very good free online book to read for the beginner is by a guy named John Palmer - http://www.howtobrew.com/ I would read this cover to cover before doing anything else. It is a fantastic resource and lot of valuable information. In any case, feel free to ask any question - I'm sure I don't know it all but I've done about 25 different batches in every which way possible. Also there are messageboards out there like this one that is also pretty helpful. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link to those here.
That online book looks awesome. I'll be studying for a licensing exam for the next couple of months, but once thats done I may need to reward myself by brewing my first batch of beer. One thing I did brew when in college was mead. Extremely easy and a lot of fun to drink. The day we popped the clarboy still goes down as the 'best day ever' amongst my buddies and I. Let's just say the drinking started around 11am with venson steaks for breakfast, and ended up somehow with 6'4" 300lb behemonth of a shmammal sleeping on our pullout couch sans all clothing but a santa hat. Which has been your favorite beer to brew? Easiest? Most difficult? How difficult would a good hefeweizen be to make?
My favorite has probably been a recipe I found online called "Edwort's Haus Pale Ale", simply because this was the best tasting pale ale I've ever brewed. As far as easiest or most difficult - they are all about the same in that regard because the process doesn't change much. Sometimes you can get a pretty intense hop schedules if you are brewing an IPA but it really doesn't make it harder, just have to pay attention more. Also when you start out you will like start with whats called "extract brewing", which is the easiest way to homebrew - the process for brewing these kits are pretty much all the same so whether its a porter, hefeweizen or brown ale, it won't be any more difficult. The more difficult brewing days come in when you get into all grain but it's not worth getting into that yet, it's best to ease in slowly with extract for a few brews to get yourself comfortable with the process. One thing I will tell you though, brewing can be very addicting and like any other hobby, you can definitely spend money on all kinds of neat equipment if you wanted to. Most of it isn't necessary but can make the process a little more fun. My splurge was buying a kegging system - bottling was the part of the process that I genuinely didn't like so I bought a kegging setup and an old fridge and now my homebrew is on tap rather than out of the bottle. When I'm out of homebrew I just buy a keg of commerical beer and use that in the meantime.
How difficult would a good hefeweizen be to make? I've got a hefeweizen ready to drink this weekend. I'll let you know. I did use a kit, but only partially extract. Brewing is not hard, but one of my other hobbies is smoking (food, not weed), and they are surprisingly similar. All about cleanliness/santitation, time and temperature control. A little bit harder for me because I have an electric stove top - not as responsive as gas. FWIW, if you brew with grains, save the spent grain and find a recipie to make bread with them. I am mostly Primal, but I still eat my spent grain bread. Awesome!
I'd really like to get into brewing sometime as well. I don't currently have the monetary funds to get into it yet because I just got out of college, but I'm off to a good start as far as learning knowledge. My girlfriends dad home brews and I've been around him some throughout parts of the process. He also makes his own grain alcohol at about 180 proof and uses it primarily to make different kinds of schnapps which are all delicious. He's got a little better setup than I'll have so I will still have plenty to learn. He's got a bunch of mini kegs that he puts his beer in and a two tap kegerator. I also wouldn't mind experimenting in making wine sometime as well.
Anyone drinking anything good over this 3 day weekend? I'm heading up to our camp for our annual 'Winterfest'. Ice fishing, tomahawk throwing, high powered rifle shooting and the rest of it. Of course the center of the whole weekend will be the nightly bonfire accompanied by many, many Budweisers. We'll usually have a few Southern Tier brews as well as some other local beers from around the state. Looking forward to see what people bring this year.
That sounds like a blast man. I had a job in college one time where I would sneak off into the woods and throw an axe at trees for hours. Man that job was boring but I got pretty good at throwing that axe! hahaha
I am heading to the beer store tonight on my way home. I left him am order list a couple weeks back and I am excited to see what came in....I also have to clear out the fridge I have few beers in there that need drinking... A buddy is supposed to bring over a his new Impact this Saturday morning, I promised I would tune it for him and I am dying to pull one of them apart and putting it back together...perfect time to beer out the fridge. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have couple friends that make cider yearly...really great stuff!! Some guys from down south that I compete against are always bring up some shine... Alas no whiskey except what I buy. Single malt scotches are one of my weakness.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It really is something I look forward to all year. We'll have about 25 guys in total, including my dad and Uncle who makes the trip in from California. My dad just picked up a new steel target for our 100 yd range, so that'll get plenty of action with the AR's and AK. I'll see if I can upload a pic of the fire pit my dad built last year, it really has made for some awesome memories.
Of course its not legal to make here...so cant say much on the open forum...lol. A lot is made around where I live. My Dad use to make a lot....he passed away in 2006. He got caught with a 500 gallon still back in the 70's....lol. so he had to down size...lol.
It's at a hunting camp my dad and I belong to with a bunch of other friends. Quick 2 hour drive and it's in a nice remote location. My dad replaced an old 55 gallon drum burn barrel with that fire pit area this last summer. The base for the fire pit itself if an old 6' diameter iron warehouse vent fan, with the fan removed, making it a 6' steel circle and about 4' high. He then used blue stone from the surrounding wood area to build up around the fire pit and the surrounding area. All the rock, minus the #4 stone was found in the surrounding woods, the steps each weighed about 2-300lbs.
