Lets talk homebrews (thinking about starting)

[IHateMyJob2004]

I have some general home brew questions. Talking beer here to be clear.

Are there any good forums on the internet for this topic? I'm sure there are but what is the "best" one.

If I brew say a 5 gallon batch, that's about 50 bottles of beer. How much does it cost to actually make the beer ignoring start up costs.

Any good books (de facto standard type books) on the topic that I can buy? Or magazines that I should consider?

 

[sourceninja]

homebrewtalk.com is a great community for homebrew questions and general talk.

Depending on how you make the beer and what beer you make your costs are variable. $20-$50 a batch is a good ball park.

My advice is to just find a local homebrew shop and talk to them, get some basic equipment to do extract brewing and make some beer!

 

[xanis]

I got a brewing kit from SS this year (thanks, Broheim ) so I'm interested to see what people have to say as well. If you're interested in the history of beer, I recommend reading The Audacity of Hops.

 

[Crusty]

I've gotten my cost down to around $50-60 for a 10GL batch of beer for all ingredients including water and propane.

sourceninja's right though, it's really easy to make an OK beer and not much harder to make a GOOD beer. Just grab a basic extract kit and have fun.

If I could offer any piece of advice to a new homebrewer it would be to keep it simple and slowly work towards more complex beers. It's way too easy to go way overboard with everything from your equipment to your recipes.

I would highly recommend reading John Palmer's How To Brew.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com is very popular as well.

 

[norseamd]

never done it

thinking about some herb beer and fruit wine

want to add mugwort with the hops and maybe some other things

any advice for me

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I got a brewing kit from SS this year (thanks, Broheim ) so I'm interested to see what people have to say as well. If you're interested in the history of beer, I recommend reading The Audacity of Hops.

SS?

 

[Uppsala9496]

It's a lot of fun. I only started about 6 months ago. Went straight to kegging. Right now I have 3 kegs on tap and 2 I use for lagering.
If you live near MI, http://www.homebrewing.org/ is a decent place to order from. Live far and the shipping won't be worth it. Their extract kits are good. The mini mash are good as well. I haven't stepped up to all grain just yet (spent my money on building a keezer instead of the extra brewing equipment).

As mentioned earlier, homebrewtalk is a good site.

Read How to Brew by John Palmer. http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html
Really good basic information in there to get you started.

Tonight (or tomorrow depending on how the US team does against Canada) I'll be brewing a belgian wit. Yeast is cranking away on the stir plate and at high krausen. I'll either pitch it all or fridge and decant tomorrow.

It is an addictive hobby. I had a pale ale kegged that lasted 9 days in the keg before it was empty. Had people over on a weekend and they killed it. IPA and Pale Ale on tap now. Sam Adams clone lagering. Anchor Steam clone lagering. Amber ale getting kegged tomorrow and the Belgian Wit getting brewed. Need to get another Pale Ale going since that has become the house beer and everyone drinks it on me.

 

[Uppsala9496]

If you do decide to get into kegging, I found this to be a good site to buy from:
http://www.kegconnection.com/

I bought my 3 tap set up from them. The $8 shipping is nice when you are buying a lot (and I found their prices to be the lowest before shipping as well).

Scour craigslist for cornelius kegs as well. I paid $50 local for 4 before the guy sold out (in hindsight I wish I had bought 6). Had to spend $65 shipped for an additional. My keezer is maxed out at fitting 5.

 

[Crusty]

It's a lot of fun. I only started about 6 months ago. Went straight to kegging. Right now I have 3 kegs on tap and 2 I use for lagering.
If you live near MI, http://www.homebrewing.org/ is a decent place to order from. Live far and the shipping won't be worth it. Their extract kits are good. The mini mash are good as well. I haven't stepped up to all grain just yet (spent my money on building a keezer instead of the extra brewing equipment).

As mentioned earlier, homebrewtalk is a good site.

Read How to Brew by John Palmer. http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html
Really good basic information in there to get you started.

Tonight (or tomorrow depending on how the US team does against Canada) I'll be brewing a belgian wit. Yeast is cranking away on the stir plate and at high krausen. I'll either pitch it all or fridge and decant tomorrow.

It is an addictive hobby. I had a pale ale kegged that lasted 9 days in the keg before it was empty. Had people over on a weekend and they killed it. IPA and Pale Ale on tap now. Sam Adams clone lagering. Anchor Steam clone lagering. Amber ale getting kegged tomorrow and the Belgian Wit getting brewed. Need to get another Pale Ale going since that has become the house beer and everyone drinks it on me.

Oh so true...

I started off with 2 kegs.... now I have 8 and I'm making 20GL of beer tomorrow.

 

[Uppsala9496]

it is a lot of fun. My wife hates the smell of it. I found that brewing late on a Friday night when she goes asleep to be the best. I jsut wake up early Saturday and make some bacon and then she never has to smell the wonderful grains and hops.

The other funny part is my 6 year old daughter telling everyone how her dad likes to make beer all the time. No child services knocking on the door so that is good.