Any homebrewers in da'house?

[Lost-in-FL]

I used to brew wine and beer. It is too hot for wine and didn't want to invest in the equipment since we don't drink much and also quit brewing beer cause I sucked at it. But again, I didn't like beer that much (I know what ya'll thinking). I loved brewing and reading about it and I really loved the thrill of brewing even if I didn't drink. I would like to try again in the future, maybe if I ever move to the northern states.

Any brewers in da'house?

[seemunkee]

1. Here

I do it outside so I brew a lot in the fall and drink down the inventory over the winter. I need to get busy and get my spring brews fermenting. The IPA is always on tap and I do a ginger wheat in the spring.
Right now I have an IPA, porter, bitters and a high gravity IPA in kegs and a few bottles of pumpkin ale and some raspberry porter. I may try doing my first Belgian ale.

[Lost-in-FL]

2. Wow!!

You sound very busy!! :beer:

Cheers!!

:toast:

[mark414]

3. any tips for a beginner?

my roommates and i are tired of spending so much money and are going to brew some of our own...we've got the basic idea down but...any helpful advice you could offer for one who's never done it?

[seemunkee]

6. Find a club or a BOP

I started off brewing at a BOP(Brew On Premise). They had someone there to walk you through the process and explain why your were doing each step. That gave me a base understanding that I was able to build on. I am still far from being an expert but I can identify why certain steps need to be taken and mitigate some problems. If you don't have a BOP look into going to a club meeting and getting someone to let you come watch them brew. Your profile says your in Milwaukee so try these guys http://www.beerbarons.org/index.html
Start off with a simple extract or extract plus specialty grains brew and keep making improvements.

John Palmer put his excellent book on line http://www.howtobrew.com/

Just remember the home brewers motto "Relax, have a homebrew"

[regularguy]

10. Try this site:

http://www.howtobrew.com/

[Lost-in-FL]

14. Here is a good start...

So you know what to expect. Homebrewing is a lot of fun but you must pay attention to details. You can make beer on the cheap, or you can get to spend a LOT of money if you fall on the "gadget" trap.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/index.html Brewing extract beer. If you are looking for a good book, his book is great!!! This guy is a beer "nerd" he explains EVERYTHING involved in brewing.

http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/page1.php If you are BROKE, this is how you make GOOD BEER on the cheap.


http://www.tastybrew.com/articles/dennyconn001 This is what you would expect if doing all grain. As a beginner you should consider doing extract first specially if brewing in the dorm. My $0.02. Once you PERFECT the art of EXTRACT, then (THEN!!!) you can go all grain. At least that is what people recommend.


http://www.brewboard.com/ This is where I learned the most. This is like the DU of Homebrewers, lots of great help.

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/

http://www.beersmith.com/ You'll find good recipes for brewing with this software and there is a 21 day free trial. Also, they have good links for online brew stores.

[Wapsie B]

4. I've tried it and I really suck at it.

But I might try again once I get the inspiration. Samuel Adams commercial about their homebrewing contest got me to thinking. I may just get one of those kits. The stuff I brewed before would make a goat puke.

[gravity]

5. What types of beer did you brew?

Did you use extracts, or grains?

I homebrewed before and I found that my beers were hit or miss. For me, Pale ales turned out to be the best and some of the easiest to brew, but I'm a little bias since its my favorite style.

Homebrews taste better when they age a couple months too. I had some that were terrible two weeks after bottling, but after 2 months, they were delicious.

[seemunkee]

7. True

Despite that damn Born On date that Bud puts on their beer, good beers need to age in cool temps away from light. Light can cause beer to go bad quickly, thats why most come in dark bottles. The higher the alcohol content the longer it needs to age.My 21% IPA wasn't good to drink for over a year and I have a magnum of Duvel that is dated 2004 I may finally drink.

[Lost-in-FL]

12. I followed...

the recommendations, you know, they normally recommend you to start with an ale. That wasn't that bad. I started with an extract ale (Brown Ale). Messy at first but easy. That one turned out all right but didn't like it that much. A friend a mine loved it, but... who doesn't love free beer?

After that I went a little greedy and tried an all grain Porter (a 5 gallon batch). I even built a mini mash tun out of one of those Home Depot coolers. But the ale turned out disgusting, and messy-er than my extract. I believe it didn't went well because the day I brewed it, hurricane Charley was forming and of course a week later it landed here in Central FL. It was in the summer and we lost power for 24 hrs (we were lucky, others lost power for weeks just several streets from our home). Then two weeks later, we got hit by another storm and no power for over 24 hrs. I called that brew the The Not-so Sunshine State Porter. It was a scary looking porter since I think the store cracked the grains too fine and the beer had lots of residue. That was enough for me and sold the nice masher I built. I liked brewing beer but I think I gave up too quickly.

I wanted to make my own Guinness-like beer and brag about it but I didn't want to spend the dollars since here in FL it is just too hot and my hubby didn't wanted me to leave the AC on all day for a batch of beer (which is perfectly understandable). You have to invest money on a beer fridge and we don't even drink that much. I only wish we could brew in small quantities but even 5 gallons is too much for us.

I had better luck with wine. I did mostly white wine (Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling from kits) wish I used for cooking and as gifts for x-mas. The only wine that didn't turned out well was a Pumpkin Wine I made up. That was ugly... It was a combination of turpentine and tequila (miscalculated the sugar, added too much!! yeehaa!!!) I got rid of that one quickly afraid of the feds (LOL!!) it wasn't my intention to make hard liquor.
:beer:

[AllegroRondo]

8. here here!

I've been at it for close to 10 years now. I do only a couple batches a year, but you just cant buy the flavor of a good homebrew.

a good place to buy ingredients and equipment:
www.morebeer.com

[regularguy]

9. Raises hand.

YO! Been brewing for about four or five years, mostly mini-mash w/extract. Except for the occasional stinker, the beer has been pretty good. I love putting on some music and taking over the kitchen after the kids are asleep...just thinking about getting out my 5 gallon kettle gets me giddy! (thinking about bottling it makes me less than giddy)

I'm not sure when it was that you gave it up but it gets easier and easier to brew great beer, especially with the high quality yeast you can get over the counter now. I don't know you but I still think it's safe to assume that if I can brew some pretty good beer, you can too!

[m_welby]

11. You bet

been brewing a few years now.

certainly a BOP shop is a good way to get started and learn 'best practices' I used to go there with friends (until my local place closed up). now I brew extract/grain recipes pretty succesfully. I love it, great hobby that's as much fun to make as it is to drink!.

papazian's 'joy of homebrewing' is the bible, and there are many many others. (some already listed above).

the most important thing is sanitizing! cleanliness (and patience) is paramount to making good beer.

[hedgehog]

13. You beat me to it - keep it CLEAN, CLEAN ,CLEAN!

You're depending on little beasties to make your beer and you want to make sure that they have no competition!

BTW, my son loves watching his little beasties at work. He gives me updates on how they're doing as a brew progresses!