home brew

[althegud1srtakn]

i recently started making home-brewed beer with my roomate, and it's awesome. it's cheap too, for the quality and amount of beer you get.

any other home brewers out there? any tips for someone just comming into home brewing?

[jerman]

Haven't brewed a batch in years but you must get a copy of the Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charles Papazian if you dont already have it. It is the book on home brewing.:)

[RandomDood]

I home brewed many years ago. As my life got more complex and I gained more responsibility, I kind of let it slip. I may pick it up again when I get some spare time. It's kind of cool to drink your own brew. Makes you a little less dependent on The Man. :D

[hophead]

Haven't brewed a batch in years but you must get a copy of the Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charles Papazian if you dont already have it. It is the book on home brewing.:)
What he said. Charlie is the godfather of homebrewing.

Some advice and brewing words of wisdom:

Use a high quality liquid yeast like White Labs or Wyeast that is appropriate for the style of beer that you are brewing. If you are using kits, toss the little pack of dry yeast in the trash can. IMO, this is the single most important way to improve the quality of homebrew.

Use grain! Even if you are an extract brewer, use specialty grains or even try a partial mash. All grain is the best, but not necessary to make really good beer.

Make sure everything that touches your precious brew is clean--really clean. Brewing is about 80% cleaning & sanitizing.

You can never use too many hops. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly. I suffer from alpha acidosis.

Brewing beer smells good! If you have a spouse or a significant other that does not agree, kick him or her to the curb immediately! The inability to appreciate the wonderful smells that emanate from a boiling cauldron of wort is a fatal character flaw. There's no sense hanging around with that person. You have no future.

And most importantly, in the words of the godfather, "Don't worry, relax and have a homebrew."

[S. cerevisiae]

Clean everydamnthing that is going to be in the room with your baby. O' course, if you're looking ot make malt vinegar, by all means allow dirty tools in your kitchen.

Hop's right: liquid yeasts are way better than any generic yeasts available in kits. When the brewmaster at Penn Brewing in Pittsburgh starts his wheat beer he jets off to Bavaria (the land of the excentric southern mountain tribes) to get a keg of yeast. He actually buys the keg a ticket and has it on the seat next to him on the plane! If yeast wasn't important I doubt a pro would go through this expense.

After that, play with a recipe you like to make it your own.

I like porters. 'Swhat I did best back in the 90's...pre childrens.

[Spatafore]

"Don't worry, relax and have a homebrew."

Haha, this line is just about at the end of every chapter in the Complete Guide to Homebrewing

I always get a kick out of the 70s era pics when I need to thumb through a section.

I just got back from a trip to Pittsburgh and am sipping a homebrew as I type. 7.3% Imperial IPA that I brewed on 12/31. I picked up 3 souveniers while I was there and might open one of the DFHs after this. The left beer is a Chruch Brew Works 2000 Trippel.

[althegud1srtakn]

my roomate and i just finished his second/my first batch! it's a red irish beer, and it's delicious as hell. it's also MUCH stronger than the last beer he made in terms of alcohol content. i'm not sure how strong it is, but it's been a while since i've been able to feel the effects of just one beer.