Home brewing?

[remnar]

I know there are some home beer brewers here (clovisc) and I've been thinking about giving it a shot. For those of you with experience, what advice would you give to a beginner? What equipment is essential for getting started? Where is the best place to buy equipment and supplies for a reasonable price? Extract brewing looks to be a little easier but is full grain brewing better?

Clovisc, I found an old thread that you started several years ago and noticed that we have similar tastes in beer. You mentioned Hop-Henge and Stone IPAs (I just finished a Ruination 2.0 :D ) which I enjoy a lot. I also like stouts, red ales and black IPAs. Do you brew using kits and if so is there any that you would recommend that fit into this spectrum? Any advice you or anyone else would like to offer would be much appreciated. :)

-Chad

[Doc Dan]

This would be interesting. What would it take to brew a good beer or something?

[awa54]

For a beginner, I'd suggest starting with a brew kit, extract recipes, or at least only use adjunct grains for flavor with liquid malt as the main ingredient, pellet hops are OK too. If you have a good local homebrew shop ask them to set you up with a kit, if not you'll need a whole bunch of stuff to do it right:

First off if you're doing 5 gallon batches, you'll want a stainless steel stock pot big enough to hold a batch at the boil (larger is better since boil-overs suck), then at least two 5 gallon carboys, I far prefer glass over plastic (easier to clean) and 5 gal. plastic buckets are a last resort IMO, as they invite contamination of your brew. If you want to make smaller batches as test runs a few 3 gal. carboys can be handy too.

Then you need all the miscellaneous stuff: a good thermometer, a hydrometer, a graduated cylinder, lots of tubing for racking and bottling, tube clamps, rubber stoppers, fermentation locks, strainer, funnel, bottles, bottle brush, caps and a capping tool (don't cheap out on this, the good ones are much nicer to use), sterilant/cleaner like b-bright, a "racking cane"... Optional but recommended are a siphon starter, a bottle drying tree or rack, a bottle washing nozzle attachment (these are fantastic labor savers). I'm sure I forgot something...

If you're in a city (or a hipster sanctuary) there may be brew kitchens that have all the gear so that you can just come in with your ingredients and brew, then once fermented out you can go back and bottle there as well. Kegging systems are also an option, but are a lot more costly, so most brewers don't go for that option unless they do larger volume.

Hard Cider, Mead and other fermented beverages are easier than beer, but require pretty much the same gear to produce.

[cabfrank]

It's a fair amount of work, a lot of time, and even more sanitation. Much respect to those who have the time and ambition. I've tasted some really good homebrews. I don't have enough time to drink all the good beers out there I want to drink, let alone make my own, so I just leave it to the experts.

[remnar]

It's a fair amount of work, a lot of time, and even more sanitation. Much respect to those who have the time and ambition. I've tasted some really good homebrews. I don't have enough time to drink all the good beers out there I want to drink, let alone make my own, so I just leave it to the experts.

I completely understand and respect your perspective. For me, it is a challenge that I would like to take on. I know that I can handle the "work" and the "sanitation" aspects but I'm not sure if I have the patience to brew a good beer. That will be the challenge. I like to cook and make all kinds of things that are delicious, but it only takes about five hours to get a delicious smoked rib. Waiting five weeks or more to get a delicious beer will be tough. It will be quite rewarding, however, if I can make my own beers even close to as good as some of my favorites. I'm one of those people that likes to figure things out. All kinds of things. This is my latest interest and it has the potential to be an intoxicating endeavor. :D

[murphjd25]

This totally just reminded me I bought a complete home brewing kit a year ago and it's still in the box in my closet. Guess I don't have the patience or the time at the moment. I'll give it a go someday, theres just too many tasty beers here between washington and Oregon:)

[remnar]

This totally just reminded me I bought a complete home brewing kit a year ago and it's still in the box in my closet. Guess I don't have the patience or the time at the moment. I'll give it a go someday, theres just too many tasty beers here between washington and Oregon:)

All those tasty beers are my inspiration. :D BTW If you haven't tried Balls Deep Double IPA from Seven Seas Brewery, then you should.

[cabfrank]

remnar, no doubt it will be rewarding, and something I wish I had more time for. The first few batches will be really hard to wait for, but after that, you'll be able to drink some finished ones while you wait for the new ones. I helped a couple friends with a batch on a nice Sunday, and that's what we did. We also did taste it before it was anywhere near ready, just to have a comparison. My friend took copious notes and wrote down very detailed recipes for each batch, so he could recreate them, or make minor changes if necessary. That's probably a good idea. I hope you have great times with your new endeavor. Best of luck with all your brews, and let us know how they turn out.

[remnar]

remnar, no doubt it will be rewarding, and something I wish I had more time for. The first few batches will be really hard to wait for, but after that, you'll be able to drink some finished ones while you wait for the new ones. I helped a couple friends with a batch on a nice Sunday, and that's what we did. We also did taste it before it was anywhere near ready, just to have a comparison. My friend took copious notes and wrote down very detailed recipes for each batch, so he could recreate them, or make minor changes if necessary. That's probably a good idea. I hope you have great times with your new endeavor. Best of luck with all your brews, and let us know how they turn out.

Hi cabfrank, Thanks for the tip about taking notes. I think this will be important for developing my own recipes. I just ordered a home brewer's starter kit and a couple of recipe kits to get me started. I should be bottling my first batch in January. :)

[murphjd25]

This totally just reminded me I bought a complete home brewing kit a year ago and it's still in the box in my closet. Guess I don't have the patience or the time at the moment. I'll give it a go someday, theres just too many tasty beers here between washington and Oregon:)

All those tasty beers are my inspiration. :D BTW If you haven't tried Balls Deep Double IPA from Seven Seas Brewery, then you should.

I will check that out I love IPA'S. Where is seven seas at? Have you ever tried Winthrops Old Schoolhouse Breweries Ruud Awakening IPA? That is my favorite IPA in the world and I've tried alot, also check out bale breakers topcutter IPA, I grew up right down the road from there brewery, in the hopes capital of the world, Moxee!

[remnar]

This totally just reminded me I bought a complete home brewing kit a year ago and it's still in the box in my closet. Guess I don't have the patience or the time at the moment. I'll give it a go someday, theres just too many tasty beers here between washington and Oregon:)

All those tasty beers are my inspiration. :D BTW If you haven't tried Balls Deep Double IPA from Seven Seas Brewery, then you should.

I will check that out I love IPA'S. Where is seven seas at? Have you ever tried Winthrops Old Schoolhouse Breweries Ruud Awakening IPA? That is my favorite IPA in the world and I've tried alot, also check out bale breakers topcutter IPA, I grew up right down the road from there brewery, in the hopes capital of the world, Moxee!

Old Schoolhouse is great but I don't think I've tried Ruud Awakening. I'll look for it next time.



Seven Seas Brewery started in Gig Harbor and they just opened a second location in Tacoma. You should be able to find some of their beers at the beer and wine stores and some grocery stores. They only sell it in cans so I like to get a couple growlers filled if I'm near the brewery.

I hear they have a great homebrew beer festival over there near Yakima. It would be fun to attend and learn all about the different hops.

[zenheretic]

Hard Cider, Mead and other fermented beverages are easier than beer, but require pretty much the same gear to produce.

I literally just finished bottling a batch of mead. Unlike beer, preparing mead doesn't make your house smell like something died. It is also perfect for lazy people...the longer you wait, the better it tastes. A cool basement or winter time is the best months to start a mead, since it tastes best if fermenting at about 65 degrees.

[awa54]

My best batch ever was a Cyser (50/50 hard cider and mead), it took almost a year to ferment out completely, then improved in bottle for another five ...well it probably would have kept improving, but it was all gone by then.

Mead is a two edged sword though, it's technically easier to brew, but good honey is expensive and it really needs at least six months in bottle to lose that funky fermentation overtone.

[remnar]

Today was brew day!



Had the Stretch helping to open a few packages.





I think everything went well. Now the waiting begins. :rolleyes:

Murph, If you're reading this, Ruud Awakening is awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. :D

[murphjd25]

Today was brew day!



Had the Stretch helping to open a few packages.





I think everything went well. Now the waiting begins. :rolleyes:

Murph, If you're reading this, Ruud Awakening is awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. :D

Your welcome!! It is honestly my favorite IPA!! Looks like you had fun today I can't wait to see how it turns out! How many weeks do you have to wait now? And what style did you make?

[remnar]

Murph, If you're reading this, Ruud Awakening is awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. :D

Your welcome!! It is honestly my favorite IPA!! Looks like you had fun today I can't wait to see how it turns out! How many weeks do you have to wait now? And what style did you make?

How many weeks? What style? Not really sure. LOL

Since this is my first batch and based on what I've read, I'm guessing that it will be about 4 weeks before it is conditioned and it could be longer.

The style that I was going for was an amber ale. My kit came with ingredients to make a pale ale but I'm not a big fan of pale ale, so I used the ingredients and found a recipe that is a clone of Mac and Jacks African Amber. I kinda followed the Mac and Jacks recipe, but had to modify it to better fit with the ingredients that I already had. I still haven't decided how much hops that I'm going to dry hop with. :confused: I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it all comes out ok. As long as I get a drinkable beer, then I'll be happy for my first try. I already have a black IPA waiting for this one to get out of primary fermentation. :) :)

[murphjd25]

Sounds tasty! I'll be patiently waiting to see how it turns out!

[remnar]

I had my first taste of my first home brew today. I transferred the beer to a secondary fermenter to dry hop and decided to take a sample at the same time. Even though it was flat, it still tasted darn good.

[murphjd25]

Very nice!

[remnar]

I bottled it all up today. It should take 1 to 2 weeks to carbonate. I'll be sampling a bottle every few days to see how it's coming along. :) :spyder: