Someone bought me a Mr. Beer Homebrewing kit this Christmas. I actually started a batch and it should be ready in about a week. Anybody making a hobby of this? Any advice? I'm sure Fezz will have some. :cheers:
Someone bought me a Mr. Beer Homebrewing kit this Christmas. I actually started a batch and it should be ready in about a week. Anybody making a hobby of this? Any advice? I'm sure Fezz will have some. :cheers:
I may know a thing or two about it!Originally Posted by fjpod
{As Fezz thinks of his freezerS stuffed with pounds and pounds of hops}
;):cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::D
Ask away!
PS. I am still waiting for Dave Nelson to send me some of his homebrew!
Last edited by Fezz; 01-15-2009 at 07:01 PM.
Shouldn't that be " Dr Beer Homebrewing". My only question is when, and where.:cheers:
Well, their pre-packaged mixes seem to make it real easy, I'm wondering if it is too easy. I've looked into other kits which are more involved in actually boiling hops and barley, and malt. But all of this would require significant investment in some equipment and a dedicated space in the house, not to mention more time. My first batch smelled pretty good when I bottled it. I'm still waiting for it to carbonate. One thing I've learned so far is to use glass bottles with those clamp on porcelin caps instead of plastic soda bottles with poorly fitting caps.
Do you think it is possible to make decent beer with such a simple kit?
http://www.mrbeer.com/category-exec/category_id/181
As a hobby, homebrewing can be rather inexpensive. A really good starter kit can be had for $75. You can make some excellent beers with this type of kit. These kits are a big leap from the Mr. Beer setup, and will produce exceptional beers. Making beer is rather easy. You have four basic ingredients: grain, hops, water, yeast. One of the main factors in producing excellent beers is sanitation. If you have a handle on sanitation, and a desire to make some fine brews you are golden.
Here are some links that may help.
www.northernbrewer.com
Northern Brewer is a great supply house, and they have a very active and helpful forum.
http://morebeer.com/
http://www.homebrew.com/
www.realbeer.com
I can reccomend some good books as well.
Welcome to the party!
:cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:
Brewing beer is too much hassle. Back in my drinking days there was no way that I was going to wait while my lager fermented. You need a beer - you need it now. I did occasionally have a bottle of home brew that someone else made. Bad . . . bad beer. Sooner drink weasel urine.
I did, however, discover organic drinking. This was back in my hippy, back to nature, mother earth days. Give it a try. Don't eat any solid food for two days. Then, eat three bushels of raw carrots. Chill out for three more days and smoke a lot of weed until natural fermentation takes place in your stomach. Far out, man.
Sounds dreadful. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes.
:cheers:
you might want to lookinto
JER'S SIMPLY HOME BREW
861st. lohns rd DRUMS ,Pa.18222
phone3 570-788-2311
jers@ptd.com
he is well stocked and good prices
I hath made many a hearty brew in my day. Good clean fun.
Well alright!!!!
I see that the brewers of grain and hops are amongst us!!!
:cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:
I've never brewed beer, since I don't care for it, but in my younger days I made some decent rum. Seems my high school Biology II class had us doing temperature/mixture ratio tests on fermenting molasses to see which would produce the most CO2 at which temperature or mix ratio was the most optimum.
Enter college chums with reflux tubes and sundry glass items and VOILA!
One note: said college chums were studying for exams when a failing loser ran through the dorms disturbing everyone. He was chased to his room where he locked himself in. Wanting revenge, people wanted to know what they could do to him. So I got a vinyl record cover, taped three sides really securely, held the open end open whilst it was filled with the unfinished molasses/yeast/water mixture. Slid the open end under the door, then jumped on the record cover, ejecting the mixture at high speed throughout his dorm room. Now that stuff really stunk, so it worked well.
DragonlensmanWV N.A.O.L.
"There is nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country."
We used to to that in my younger days, take dog poo, place in plastic zip lock bag, add water, zip and mix till watery, then slide the half zipped end under a door and step on it, whalla. My neighbors hated me and my sisters as kids, never could figure out why. :bbg:
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Disgusting. Come on guys...this is a beer thread.
Thanks for the heads-up.
I got one of those a couple birthdays(or maybe Christmas) ago. I made a couple batches. The pilsner was the best. I was actually thinking of getting it back out. Sanitation is VERY important. You should find a brew supply store. (Like eyeglasses) your support online is limited. It's best to go to the home brew store and visit with the expert for a while. They will inform you on premix and hops, anythink you need. Be prepared for a cold start. They seem a bit irritated at first, I guess 'cause you bought you Mr Beer at Walmart, and now coming to them for adjustments. Oh! I mean advice. I am planning to make some more Pilsner using the pre mix. I'm considering setting up a distillery.
I went to one...at a considerable distance, to learn and buy bottles because I had seen online that he had what I was looking for at a good price. He was not very helpful and he scoffed at me for making beer without brewing grains and malt from scratch. He also didn't have the bottles, and the price was higher than "the on-line price. He really should have encouraged me to continue interest in the hobby and teach me the next steps...
Sometimes you hit a good one, sometimes you don't. Sounds like optical, huh?
I started a thread last year on home made beer, I had some home made by my brother-in-law and it was quite good, so I made some at a u-brew which was really excellent, so good that the stuff I was supposed to send to Fezz kept getting drank. (drunk?)
I bought one of the kits to make some at home, but I'll probably stick to the U-brew stuff.
How come?
Another thing the guy recomended to me was to get some glass bottles. He said that you would not want to show off your home made beer in the plastic ones.
Glass bottles for sure! Also, the quality of the caps are important. Some guys use the flip-top style (Grolsch) bottles with success.
I agree, plastic soda bottles definately make the beer look like junk. I've picked a few dozen Grolsch style flip top bottles. Only problem is empty bottles are almost three bucks a piece. You can buy Grolsch with the beer in the bottle for about $2.50...so why buy an empty bottle?
What my husband and his friend do is use "bottle collecting" as a way to try out good beers. The theory being the beers they want to try aren't in screw off tops. This way, they try new and different things and reuse the bottles for their own brewing.
BTW, anyone see that Dogfish Head and Three Floyds have combined efforts on a new limited edition German style brown ale? It's called Popskull.
Great point! I got lucky and picked up a few dozen Grolsch bottles last summer. My local lounge and hangout had $3 Grolsch Fridays. I get done at 1:00 on a Friday, and would often {ok...TOO often} swing by for a beer or three. The staff kept the empties for someone who laid claim to them. I asked to save my own bottles and took them with me. One Friday, the kind barkeep offered me a few boxes of them when I was getting ready to leave. It seems the original Dude was rather lax in his pick up of the empties. Grolsch Fridays ended almost as soon as they started, but I am glad to have what I got! I have yet to bottle with them, but am looking forward to it!
Bottling blows!
I always suggest patience to newbies. I told Dave Nelson this as well. Although you may be able to brew a batch from start to finish in a week or three, there are many benefits to adding a week or two to that time. Adding time can help the beer to clarify and smooth out the flavors a bit. Beer is not like wine, most do not get better with age. But, adding a little time can result in some real fine brew!
:cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:
I'm finding that out. Patience is a virtue.
Homebrews are subject to yeast sediment on the bottom of the bottles. Do you recommend racking the beer to a secondary for say, another week before bottling?
I'm not even much of a beer drinker...but somebody gave me this dumb kit and now it's become almost an obsession. I have two brews in kegs. An Oktoberfest (4.6% abv) and a West Coast Pale Ale that should finish up at about 8%abv.
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