Anyone brew their own beer?

[The Architect]

I'm seriously considering brewing my own beer.

I'm think small home brew batches.

Any advice? 

[the_Journeyman]

Not beer, but I have made some dandy dandelion wine and have a batch of mead going at the moment.

I used old-school earthen ware crocks rather than air locks and carboys.

Works well.  My last batch of dandelion wine was quite strong...

JM

[ducpainter]

The Northwest crew has a bunch of homebrewers.

Maybe Veektor or Mom will pipe up.

[the_Journeyman]

Hope so, I'm a noob and welcome to hints & help ~

JM

[ducpainter]

You could always crash their party...

They have a whole thread about it.

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=32927.0

Only some of them bite.

[Speedbag]

Three friends are homebrewers.

I plan on starting up this winter. 

[brimo]

I've brewed quite a lot of kit beer (the can into the bucket just add water and dextrose variety) pretty well fool proof, I have since moved on to adding extra grain and hops to try and copy some of my fave factory brews.
The biggest PITA is cleaning the bottles, but if you can afford a keg kit go for it.
My number one tip is leave the brew for a good 4 weeks before you drink it.
I've also done quite a few batches of fruit wines, strawberry, mango, passionfruit to name a few. Got some strawberry on the go now as it happens.
And another thing, brewing in a northern winter, you may need a heating pad for your keg.
As I live in the tropics my biggest problem is keeping the brew cool, I also use a high temperature yeast as the weather warms up here.
The interweb is full of info, I get most of my stuff and my recipes from here.
http://www.brewcraft.com.au/
USA outlets here
http://www.brewcraft.com.au/wa.asp?idWebPage=9608&idDetails=301

[GAAN]

Krolik is the brew king followed by Toolfan(the new daddy) I've done one myself without the supervision of one or both.

Several key points to live by

1) clean everything and then clean it again

2) keep the drinking to a minimum during the boiling process

3) it's best to do it outside, catastrophic failures of 5gallon carbouys filled with sticky hot fluid happen and the collateral damage is easier to mitigate on the porch vs in the kitchen

[Speedbag]

Several key points to live by

1) clean everything and then clean it again

2) keep the drinking to a minimum during the boiling process

3) it's best to do it outside, catastrophic failures of 5gallon carbouys filled with sticky hot fluid happen and the collateral damage is easier to mitigate on the porch vs in the kitchen

+1

Especially #1. This is key.

[MendoDave]

Krolik is the brew king followed by Toolfan(the new daddy) I've done one myself without the supervision of one or both.

Several key points to live by

1) clean everything and then clean it again

2) keep the drinking to a minimum during the boiling process

3) it's best to do it outside, catastrophic failures of 5gallon carbouys filled with sticky hot fluid happen and the collateral damage is easier to mitigate on the porch vs in the kitchen

You guys planning on anymore brew days? I wanna come up.

[Slide Panda]

My buddy does. He started with the Mr Beer kit due to limited space, and still uses it as he works in small batches. One of the best things he got his hands on were some slight larger (14 or so oz) bottles with the latch tops, like Grolsh bottles - but in brown glass. I know one can buy them, but he got lucky and the base commissary had some sort of good beer in those bottles, so he just earned his collection.

But, as I said, he started and works small. Originally he just used the kit stuff, but has branched out and is doing a lot of his own variations that are getting really good. He's got a note book of all his works so far, the wins and not-so-wins. Keeping that log has let him tune successive batches into some fine stuff.

[golgofett]

Been doing it for about 5 years, all grain and extract brewing.  It is nice because you can have total control over what your beer tastes like and you can make it for less than 50 cents a beer in most cases. I have only had one batch out of 20 not work out but I was trying to use real raspberries for the first time in a brown ale, similar to New Belgium's Frambozen.

Bottles are a PITA but are nice if you want to age something that is very high in alcohol that needs to balance out the flavor over time.  Kegging (5 gallon)is the way to go.  You don't have to open a whole bottle for a sample or sip, way easier to clean, and your friends freak out when they find out you have multiple beers on tap.  For parties, kegs are portable too, or you could fill a couple growlers from your tap for ease.  

I have recently started extract brewing again as it is less time consuming (half the time of all grain)and I have a 2 year old, along with another on the way.  It is a good hobby, but like any other hobby (Ducati's) once you get into it, it can take over and cost some bucks.  

I think the best place to start looking is Northerbrewer.com to get ideas for the potential of beers you could make, and check their forums too.  Very active.

[The Architect]

So far some great advice.

Things I didn't know; over clean, work outside (this will reduce the damage in case of a disaster) and keep notes.


I'm going to try to follow Alton Brown's demonstration.

Good Eats S6E7P1: Amber Waves

[Slide Panda]

The bottles my buddy got are almost exactly like the one you see Alton pop @ 1:20

[The Architect]

I'm going to have to start drinking Grolsch.