I love GOOD beer....but it's SO much $$$, anyone make their own?? How?

[Brelansmama]

I am totally ignorant to how beer is made...the only thing I know, is it goes down soooo easy!!!

Does anyone here know how to make it?
What is needed - equipment, and ingredients?

Beer is next on my 'Things I gotta know how to make' list.

Thanks to anyone who can help!!

(okay, I know it's not beer, butit is as close as I could find )

 

[miss_thenorth]

My hubby used to make it years ago at a beer/wine making place. We never actually did it at home., but you can buy a kit and go from there. It took quite a few batches before he found one that was actually good. Then we moved and he didn't make it anymore.

We do make our own wine at home with great success. We do use kits for it though. Works quite well.

 

[patandchickens]

A friend in grad school used to make his own beer. It tasted like fermented feet

I have tasted a good home-brewed beer, was told it was a fun hobby as long as you do not have an overly discriminating palate w/r/t the learning curve <g>

Have fun,

Pat

 

[Wifezilla]

It is easy and fun if you use canned malt kits. It can be trickier if you want to malt your own barley.

I actually prefer mead, but you really have to be patient. That stuff takes a long time!



Pat, If your friend's beer tastes like feet, he is letting wild yeast get in to his mix. He needs to learn how to sanitize his equipment better

 

[patandchickens]

Pat, If your friend's beer tastes like feet, he is letting wild yeast get in to his mix. He needs to learn how to sanitize his equipment better

or sanitize his *feet* better, lol. He was the kind of guy who you would expect to brew funky-tastin' beer. AFAIK he is now working fulltime in the Ecuadorean jungle, where presumably it does not matter so much LOL

I kind of wish I liked beer more, it sounds like an interesting project/hobby!

Pat

 

[Wifezilla]

If you don't like beer, then go for the mead.

http://www.ladybridget.com/m/smead.html
http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/fast-cheap-mead-making.htm
(I would use champagne yeast or other wine yeast instead of the store yeast though)

 

[Dace]

We used to brew beer often at home...so much fun!
You can probably goolge it for more info but we had a store that sold everything you needed. We could smell, taste and hand pick the hops as well as the malt. It was really fun experimenting with different flavors.

It is a bit of an expensive thing to get into as you do need some specialty equipment, but in the long run I would think it would be less expensive as long as you are reusing all your bottles.

 

[johnElarue]

You need an enamel(no chips/dings) or stainless pot, a 5 gal glass spring water bottle or 5 gal food grad bucket, with spigot if possible. Some food grade clear tubing and airlocks.

I used to brew a lot, mostly amber and dark ales. If you can cook , you can make beer it's easy, just time consuming. Although I've never done food canning I assume it's the same, you have to keep everything sanitized.

You can definatley save money. Bottling is the most time consuming part, eventually everyone who brews, moves up to bigger and bigger bottles, then finally kegs. If you can get 1 qt.or 3/4qt. bottles with attached ceramic stoppers, like Grolsch bottles you can save time and re-seal the unused portion. 1/4 kegs are fairly easy to do too.

 

[miss_thenorth]

You need an enamel(no chips/dings) or stainless pot, a 5 gal glass spring water bottle or 5 gal food grad bucket, with spigot if possible. Some food grade clear tubing and airlocks.

I used to brew a lot, mostly amber and dark ales. If you can cook , you can make beer it's easy, just time consuming. Although I've never done food canning I assume it's the same, you have to keep everything sanitized.

You can definatley save money. Bottling is the most time consuming part, eventually everyone who brews, moves up to bigger and bigger bottles, then finally kegs. If you can get 1 qt.or 3/4qt. bottles with attached ceramic stoppers, like Grolsch bottles you can save time and re-seal the unused portion. 1/4 kegs are fairly easy to do too.

So, it sounds like the process for making beer might be identical to making wine--same equipment. If it is the same--could I go back and forth between wine and beer? Or will one product contaminate for the next product. I do realize you sterilize, but sometimes flavours can linger.

 

[Brelansmama]

You need an enamel(no chips/dings) or stainless pot, a 5 gal glass spring water bottle or 5 gal food grad bucket, with spigot if possible. Some food grade clear tubing and airlocks.

I used to brew a lot, mostly amber and dark ales. If you can cook , you can make beer it's easy, just time consuming. Although I've never done food canning I assume it's the same, you have to keep everything sanitized.

You can definatley save money. Bottling is the most time consuming part, eventually everyone who brews, moves up to bigger and bigger bottles, then finally kegs. If you can get 1 qt.or 3/4qt. bottles with attached ceramic stoppers, like Grolsch bottles you can save time and re-seal the unused portion. 1/4 kegs are fairly easy to do too.

THANK YOU!
I was hoping someone would just give me the basics of where to start!
I now have an idea an what to start looking for.
Thanks again!!