Posted: 11/3/2004 4:25:38 PM EDT
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I am looking into making some homemade beer, what are some good starter kits or cheap DIY methods? I do not want to tie up a large amount of money in equipment only to find that I hate homemade brew and making it my self. Here is a set of directions I have found online, it uses on jug for fermenting and bottleing. It's on some Envirofrendly site, but here it is. Cheap Easy Homemade Beer So what are some good starter kits? And will the above method make decent beer for the first run? Any other tips and info would be great. 
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I have a kit that was from Christmas several years ago. I have made many batches. It is a top fermented ALE and will be different then a light pilsner made with wheat and all kinds of stuff (I like Budweiser and others too). I enjoy home brew, but it is not that cheap, and cleanness is the most important thing. Good Luck! |
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Go to a local homebrew shop and make some new friends. www.byo.com/ www.morebeer.com/ www.stpats.com/ |
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If you think spending money on a gun hobby is expensive, don't even try homebrewing. I've easily spent over $1500 in equipment over the past few years. I've probably made close to 50 batches since I started 2 years ago. Each batch costs about $35 on average (with some that were much MUCH more expensive). Do yourself and skip the Mr. Beer crap they sell in Wal-Mart. If you are serious enough about making it a hobby, buy a good starter kit. They tend to run from $50-65 or so, not including ingredients. I've recently moved on to all-grain brewing, which takes a bit longer on brewday, but costs a bit less to do, but is more complicated, but can yield a better final product. If you live in the Chattanooga area, you have a mediocre homebrew shop at Riverside Beverages. If you live in the Knoxvegas area, I know there is a shop in town there, too, but don't know the name. I know Nashville has one as well. Plus, there are tons of online retailers, many of which offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount. Scope out Brew Your Own Magazine, How to Brew, the Homebrew.com Forums, and the Homebrewing Forums on BeerAdvocate.com for some reources and friendly folks to help answer any questions you may have. I guess you could also IM me, too. 
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Homebrewing like any other "hobby" will require a small investment. you can get into a decent kit for around 100.00 dollors or so using plastic food grade buckets. Beer is EASY and cheap to make. the main thing is CLEAN THE SHIT out of everything before you start. i'd suggest starting with a premade "canned" kit. they are cheap and VERY easy. if you want to get deeper then "whole grain" is fun but can get time consuming and a little more complicated. some things you WILL want: glass carbouy for the clearing stage copper Wort Chiller to quickly cool after boiling.< will save you several hours of wait time> oxygenated cleaner to sterilise gear without leaving a residue. GOOD QUALITY YEAST!!! i prefer the liquid yeasts but have used the dried packet yeast in a pinch. Yeast makes the brew do scrimp here. FRESH hops. dried or stale hops leave very little taste behind. mike |
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+1 on skipping the mr. beer kits. they are crap and finding kits for 1/2 batches are expensive and hard to find. i buy most of my stuff here www.alabrew.com look around the web and don't be scarred to call the shops and ask for advise. those guys LOOOOOVE to talk about beer! mike |
| I haven't made beer for a long time, but this magazine used to be the bible for homebrewers. |
Keg it and force carbonate= consistency. Also, no bottles to wash and no hammer-pipe damage to your plumbing from the bottle washer! |
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If you like the heavier ales, it is cost fair, and rather easy. Anything can ferment, just be CLEAN, take notes, and enjoy. Beer Slayer speaks the truth. I'll add a friendly warning to store the bottled beer away from carpet in case you make a blowout batch... Later, you'll be looking at used appliance shops for another range and fridge for your basement 
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Have home brewed a bit - couple hundred gallons - a while back. Started with extracts, when to all grain - at the time MUCH cheeper (I did several batches for $1-2 a gallon, but wheat was very cheep that year - was doing 15 gallon batchs, took about 7 hrs a batch). Twice + the time, much more equipment. So start with extract, cost more (was about $3 a gallon then), much easier. I do not recomend kits - unless put together by a brew store. I do not recomend plastic. Use glass carboys (glass water bottles - you can get them for the cost of the deposit). Got cases of bottles (use ONLY refillable bottles, not recyclable) from a home town bar again for the cost of the deposits. Best carboys are metric - those are hard to find (not sure what liter, but they are 7 gallon, the extra headspace on a 5 gallon batch is very nice). All in all, you really don't need all that much stuff. carboy, 1.5" hose (about - what ever fits snug into the neck of the carbo), plactic milk jug (the hose and the milk jug make a great buble trap), capper, bottles, a pot to boils some stuff in, a syphon, and get the book. I think I managed the 7 gallon carboy with a standard buble trap - the 5 gallon would often blow off. Have also heard that a condom can also work, but.... I did use balloons for wine, but for the 2 bucks for a plastic buble trap... All grain took several hundred dollars more equipment, and $1500 for a gravity system would be easy to spend. Ok on bottles, look for the roller scars - if they don't have them, they are probably recyle, not refill bottles (likewise no twist off caps). Realy not too sure how accessable the refillable bottles are now adays - they were bar only 10 years back, and even bars were going away from them. Tried grolsch bottles once - very messy mistake (only time I blew up bottles). Last 200 gallons are so were all mini keg (soda kegs). Can get a lot of that from used resturant supply houses. Saves tons of time, but if I did it again would probably invest in more portable equipment (20lb co2 cylinder is a pain to lug arround). Takes over an hour to bottle 5 gallons (including clean up), kegging took minutes. Likewise very nice to be able to force carbonate. |
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the last several brews i made went into 2liter soda bottles. MUCH easier to clean and transport. and when freinds were over 2 liter bottle get drained FAST. much easier than trying to manage a case of bottles. If you don't drink the entire bottle just add a tsp of suger and it will recorbonate the remainder of the beer so it won't go flat. mike |
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plastic is hard to sanitise, but the 2 liter bottle idea has lots of merit. pet bottles are pretty darn stong. I had a converter to hook 3 liter bottles up to my co2 system, but it (the converter) leaked way to much. One advantage I have is that I can alway keg for long term storage, and just bottle for easy transport to friends. Really need to brew a batch again this year - oh for the days of brewing a batch a week (or moreover 3 every 3 weeks) |