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I'm thinking about trying my hand at brewing my own beer. I've always tossed around the idea as I love beer, and think it would be a fun hobby to start over the winter.

 

Does anyone here do this?

 

Looking at some starter kits but don't even know where to begin.

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I tried but failed.  It turned out horrible.  Drank it anyhow.  Years ago.  Also took a class at the Junior College.  It turned out pretty good.  The sampling party got carried away.  Also years ago.  Glug glug.  I tried an extract beer single blown in car boys.  Something went very wrong.  It did keep the rats out of the basement.

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My sister made some killer good lager. She used my a/c temp controlled storage room for brewing, I found the smell a little unpleasant, but the beer was worth it.. It does require stable temps. And careful attention to details.

 

Find a homebrew forum they will have more information.

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I have homebrewed about a dozen batches of beer and a couple of meads. The most important thing is to do a really good job of sanitizing the equipment. After a couple batches the basic equipment pays for itself. The beer kits available do make some really great beers. I have an older versuon of this startup kit and buy all my beer kits from them also: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/platinum-pro-beer-brewing-starter-kit.html

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Done it for about 15 years as a hobby. I can't tell you how many thousands of bottles. At this point, I do 15 gallons at a time. Brewing it takes a few hours, then ferments for approximately 2 weeks, then bottle and let sit for approximately 2-4 weeks in the bottle for carbonation. Using quality ingredients, including bottled water (cheap gallon jugs), properly sterilizing everything, and taking your time will make a world of difference.

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Making your own beer is not cost efficient. Bottles + brew + capping.

 

Home-made wine is dirt cheap.

 

Easy wine.

 

One gallon of spring water + two cans of any juice concentrate + 3.5 cups sugar or 8oz honey + 1 packet of D47 yeast = 4 bottles of wine (16 glasses at about 14%). Strain and bottle as-needed.

 

Give it two or three weeks to ferment.

 

Drinkable immediately but, months add clarity and different flavor.

 

Oh yeah, leave the lid very loose and put the gallon jug on a cookie sheet for the first week.

 

Cranberry, Apple+Cinnamon, Orange, Blackberry, Blueberry, and Pomegranate (Cosco) make excellent drink.

 

Vary the sugar to taste.

 

I drink my store-bought beer and finish the night with a glass wine.

Edited by Sim_Player
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Ferment in a glass or ceramic container.

Use distilled water and then add proper minerals for perfect hardness

Always use corn sugar.

Fill bottles from top of fermentation container down to keep yeast minimal in bottle.

Start with a canned malt lager and use a good hop from Germany.

This is a natural conditioned beer as the head will be tighter with more aroma.

Make sure there is no soap residue in chilled glass when pouring.

Because it is a natural conditioned beer it is alive and will not go stail and will get better with age.

This is always better tasting beer.

Good luck

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I've a few friends who do it. We've talked about getting the kit and taking turns making a batch and then passing the kit onto the next guy on some kind of a rotation. Like a beer of the month club thing. The idea would be to make something creative each time. It will happen sooner or later, but I haven't gotten the ball rolling.

 

I am making a few gallons of cider right now, since I live in the center of apple land. Frankly given the choice between a really good beer and proper hard cider at almost any stage to hardness, I'll take the cider. I do not believe in adding yeast. It changes the flavor and apples tend to have enough to get going in the right direction anyway. A good blend is 2-3 parts granny smith for the tart, and for the sweet 1 part water core red delicious and 1 part rome or mackintosh, or pink lady. Johnagolds can sub well for the whole sweet side.

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