Brew your own beer FTW!

[AMCRambler]

So I've got one of those amateur Mr. Beer kits. It's pretty easy to do without screwing up. I might start buying some of the paraphernalia for making the bigger batches. Anyways, the pale ale I was making just finished carbonating this weekend. Cracked it open for a try and it wasn't too bad. The last one I made was a stout which was alright too. Still not microbrew quality. Still perfecting my brewing skills I suppose. Anybody else brew there own beer?

PIC

 

[illusion88]

Homebrewdude does. But he just had a baby so I don't see him around too much

 

[SampSon]

I've brewed a bunch of small batches. They were all drinkable and did the trick, but nothing I'd consider umm high quality?

 

[Tuktuk]

I guess if you call dumping a fifth of everclear into a tub of Busch "brewing," then I brew the best damn stuff on earth. IT'LL GETCHA DRUNK!

 

[AMCRambler]

Originally posted by: Tuktuk
I guess if you call dumping a fifth of everclear into a tub of Busch "brewing," then I brew the best damn stuff on earth. IT'LL GETCHA DRUNK!

lmao...probably make ya blind too!

 

[Jeff7]

"The GeoCities web site you were trying to view has temporarily exceeded its data transfer limit. Please try again later."



Geocities just can't handle the ATOT effect! It can't even handle ATOT Effect Jr - as of this posting, this thread has <55 views.

 

[MrBond]

Mr Beer kits are OK for learning about brewing, but you'll get far better beer doing it the right way. Pick up a copy of this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Homebrew..._1/002-6911195-9009652?ie=UTF8&s=books

It's a good intro text on brewing with several recipes. There's also this website for while you're waiting on the book to come in:

http://www.howtobrew.com/

I haven't bought stuff online for brewing, but I've heard good things about these guys:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/

You may have a good homebrewing shop near you. Check out http://www.beeradvocate.com and click on their "BeerFly" search - you can search for homebrew shops there and they have a pretty good list.

I have all the supplies for homebrewing, but I haven't brewed in a while. I still have a pretty decent supply of a Pumpkin Ale I brewed a couple fall's ago and it's very good (tastes just like Blue Moon's Pumpkin Ale). I'm so busy these days I don't really do much beer drinking, so I don't want to brew it and just have it sit around.

 

[Jawo]

This would be very could if I only had the money....Already have too many expensive hobbies!

 

[AMCRambler]

My crappy ass geocities account. I should use photobucket or something. Mr. Beer kit is pretty cheap. like 60 or 70 bucks for everything. Then you just got to buy a can of malt, some brewers yeast, the alcohol booster and the one step cleanser when you want to do a batch.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: Jawo
This would be very could if I only had the money....Already have too many expensive hobbies!

I have to believe I could brew beer cheaper than the $10 I'm paying for some six packs.

 

[Accipiter22]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
So I've got one of those amateur Mr. Beer kits. It's pretty easy to do without screwing up. I might start buying some of the paraphernalia for making the bigger batches. Anyways, the pale ale I was making just finished carbonating this weekend. Cracked it open for a try and it wasn't too bad. The last one I made was a stout which was alright too. Still not microbrew quality. Still perfecting my brewing skills I suppose. Anybody else brew there own beer?

PIC

question: How do you find out the alcohol content of the beer you brew? Like I had a room mate in college who was into that...he made this beer once that was 9.5% alcohol.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
So I've got one of those amateur Mr. Beer kits. It's pretty easy to do without screwing up. I might start buying some of the paraphernalia for making the bigger batches. Anyways, the pale ale I was making just finished carbonating this weekend. Cracked it open for a try and it wasn't too bad. The last one I made was a stout which was alright too. Still not microbrew quality. Still perfecting my brewing skills I suppose. Anybody else brew there own beer?

PIC

question: How do you find out the alcohol content of the beer you brew? Like I had a room mate in college who was into that...he made this beer once that was 9.5% alcohol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_(beer)

 

[Accipiter22]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Accipiter22

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
So I've got one of those amateur Mr. Beer kits. It's pretty easy to do without screwing up. I might start buying some of the paraphernalia for making the bigger batches. Anyways, the pale ale I was making just finished carbonating this weekend. Cracked it open for a try and it wasn't too bad. The last one I made was a stout which was alright too. Still not microbrew quality. Still perfecting my brewing skills I suppose. Anybody else brew there own beer?

PIC

question: How do you find out the alcohol content of the beer you brew? Like I had a room mate in college who was into that...he made this beer once that was 9.5% alcohol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_(beer)

wow..didn't think it'd be that easy

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
My crappy ass geocities account. I should use photobucket or something. Mr. Beer kit is pretty cheap. like 60 or 70 bucks for everything. Then you just got to buy a can of malt, some brewers yeast, the alcohol booster and the one step cleanser when you want to do a batch.

For a little more than that, you can put together a kit of equipment that you can do 5 gallon batches with. The websites I linked earlier are a good place to start, if you visit the HowToBrew website I think they have some suggestions. A local homebrew place is probably a good start, you might pay a little more but you'll save on shipping (and they may even run homebrewing clinics).

Midwest Supplies sells equipment kits, but they all include a capper and I personally like the swing-top bottles. They're a more expensive but they're TOTALLY worth it.

Now I kind of want a homebrew . My Pumkin Ale is only in liter bottles and I'm too full from dinner to finish a whole one tonight .

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
My crappy ass geocities account. I should use photobucket or something. Mr. Beer kit is pretty cheap. like 60 or 70 bucks for everything. Then you just got to buy a can of malt, some brewers yeast, the alcohol booster and the one step cleanser when you want to do a batch.

For a little more than that, you can put together a kit of equipment that you can do 5 gallon batches with. The websites I linked earlier are a good place to start, if you visit the HowToBrew website I think they have some suggestions. A local homebrew place is probably a good start, you might pay a little more but you'll save on shipping (and they may even run homebrewing clinics).

Midwest Supplies sells equipment kits, but they all include a capper and I personally like the swing-top bottles. They're a more expensive but they're TOTALLY worth it.

Now I kind of want a homebrew . My Pumkin Ale is only in liter bottles and I'm too full from dinner to finish a whole one tonight .

Listen to this man, he's saying what everyone does. I have my first batch of Mr Beer conditioning right now, and I think I have 4 or 5 more cans of mix, but once I get through this I'm getting the real setup and learning how to do it right.

 

[jiggahertz]

Just finished bottling my first batch of homebrew last night, a red ale. Will be ready to drink in a couple of weeks.

 

[AMCRambler]

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
My crappy ass geocities account. I should use photobucket or something. Mr. Beer kit is pretty cheap. like 60 or 70 bucks for everything. Then you just got to buy a can of malt, some brewers yeast, the alcohol booster and the one step cleanser when you want to do a batch.

For a little more than that, you can put together a kit of equipment that you can do 5 gallon batches with. The websites I linked earlier are a good place to start, if you visit the HowToBrew website I think they have some suggestions. A local homebrew place is probably a good start, you might pay a little more but you'll save on shipping (and they may even run homebrewing clinics).

Midwest Supplies sells equipment kits, but they all include a capper and I personally like the swing-top bottles. They're a more expensive but they're TOTALLY worth it.

Now I kind of want a homebrew . My Pumkin Ale is only in liter bottles and I'm too full from dinner to finish a whole one tonight .

Listen to this man, he's saying what everyone does. I have my first batch of Mr Beer conditioning right now, and I think I have 4 or 5 more cans of mix, but once I get through this I'm getting the real setup and learning how to do it right.

Yeah I think I'm gonna do the same. The Mr. Beer stuff is alright, but I hear doing the two step process and then bottling makes much nicer beer. I'll probably finish off my last can of malt and invest in some equipment.
Plus I melted the plastic fermenter keg the last time I made the beer. I didn't have any more one step cleanser and I said screw it I'll just put some boiling water in there to sterilize that puppy. As I'm pouring the hot water in I notice the little label on the top of the plastic fermenter, "Contents of keg not to exceed 140 degrees F". I'm like aww crap as the bottom of the keg starts melting and getting all warped! I dumped out the water real quick but it was pretty warped by then. Now it doesn't sit flat on it's bottom any more and wherever I sit it, I got to prop it against something so it doesn't roll around, lol. I'm such an idiot!

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler

Plus I melted the plastic fermenter keg the last time I made the beer. I didn't have any more one step cleanser and I said screw it I'll just put some boiling water in there to sterilize that puppy. As I'm pouring the hot water in I notice the little label on the top of the plastic fermenter, "Contents of keg not to exceed 140 degrees F". I'm like aww crap as the bottom of the keg starts melting and getting all warped! I dumped out the water real quick but it was pretty warped by then. Now it doesn't sit flat on it's bottom any more and wherever I sit it, I got to prop it against something so it doesn't roll around, lol. I'm such an idiot!

In the future, you can use a weak solution of bleach to sanitize if you're out of OneStep. 1-2 ounces in 5 gallons of water, let it soak, then rinse it out with hot water to get rid of the chlorine smell.

Sanitizing properly is super important. I learned the hard way on my second batch of beer. To save time, I washed the bottles in the dishwasher rather than with a bottle brush and sanitizer. It must not have done a good enough job, because that batch of beer was really inconsistent. There were some bottles that were amazing and some that tasted bad. I ended up dumping a bunch of beer because I could tell it was contaminated in the bottles.

If you like keeping beer in a Mr Beer style keg, they make something called a Party Pig that's essentially the same thing. They only hold about half a batch of beer (2.25 gallons). They're about $50.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: AMCRambler

Plus I melted the plastic fermenter keg the last time I made the beer. I didn't have any more one step cleanser and I said screw it I'll just put some boiling water in there to sterilize that puppy. As I'm pouring the hot water in I notice the little label on the top of the plastic fermenter, "Contents of keg not to exceed 140 degrees F". I'm like aww crap as the bottom of the keg starts melting and getting all warped! I dumped out the water real quick but it was pretty warped by then. Now it doesn't sit flat on it's bottom any more and wherever I sit it, I got to prop it against something so it doesn't roll around, lol. I'm such an idiot!

In the future, you can use a weak solution of bleach to sanitize if you're out of OneStep. 1-2 ounces in 5 gallons of water, let it soak, then rinse it out with hot water to get rid of the chlorine smell.

Sanitizing properly is super important. I learned the hard way on my second batch of beer. To save time, I washed the bottles in the dishwasher rather than with a bottle brush and sanitizer. It must not have done a good enough job, because that batch of beer was really inconsistent. There were some bottles that were amazing and some that tasted bad. I ended up dumping a bunch of beer because I could tell it was contaminated in the bottles.

If you like keeping beer in a Mr Beer style keg, they make something called a Party Pig that's essentially the same thing. They only hold about half a batch of beer (2.25 gallons). They're about $50.

The one time I mentioned bleach at the homebrew store it was as if I had just claimed to be Lucifer, ready to rain down fire and brimstone.

I now use iodine. I think it was $15 for container of it.