Home Brewed Beer Thread

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**Lint**

I wanted to start a thread for any Dakkatzens out there who A) Share my love for beer and B) Also brew it themselves. Not sure how many others do this, but I thought it'd be neat to share stories, recipes, and tips.

I just brewed my first batch over the weekend, a malt extract recipe for a red ale. I have all of the equipment to do an all-grain brew, but for my first try I decided to go with extract. All went well, but there were a couple of moments where I'm not sure I sanitized as well as I could have.
Also those plastic air locks that go into the bung on the fermenting carboy are worthless. Freaking thing exploded out in the middle of the night and I had to scramble for some clean tubing and a water bucket. Luckily I have brewed with my friend on his setup before so I knew basically what I needed to do. Anyway, I brewed last weekend, primary fermentation is bubbling happily away, secondary will be this coming weekend, with bottling and drinking to follow in the proceeding weeks.

Here's my emergency measure taken when I discovered the bung had exploded:

Spoiler:

Here's the correct way to have an airtight carbon blowoff:

Spoiler:

So does anybody else brew their own beer? Have any favorite recipes? And what is your setup? Share!

**kronk**

My mom bought me a Home Brew Kit for Christmas. I haven't played with it yet, but I'll probably set it up in the Guest Bathroom as no one uses it. I decided that after seeing your mess!

One of these kits.

It's on my to do list!

Lint wrote:
Anyway, I brewed last weekend, primary fermentation is bubbling happily away, secondary will be this coming weekend, with bottling and drinking to follow in the proceeding weeks.

Sounds great!

**Shadowbrand**

I'll post when my Mead is done fermenting.

**Tibbsy**

It's not something I've done myself, but I always tend to like ales and beers that are "locally brewed", much more than some of the branded ales...

Unlike most of my generation, who seem to drink piss (otherwise known as "cheap lager"

) almost exclusively.

**Shadowseer_Kim**

I am not much of a beer or wine drinker, but making alcohol has always been a point of interest. I have most years of owning this house, made wine with the grapes and plums from the back yard. I mostly give out the bottles of wine as gifts.

I have also converted the grapes into Grapa once, that was tasty.

**Steve steveson**

Never had the space to make ale, but I do make ginger beer every summer.

It is very very easy to make.

Basically take ginger, lemon, yeast, sugar, Cream of tartar. Simmer the Ginger, lemon, cream of tartar & sugar for 30 mins. Cool, add yeast, leave 4-5 days (remember to let the gas out every day or your bottle may pop).

Strain, bottle and enjoy. 7-8% abv is normal. Very tasty with little faffing and not much to go wrong (as long as you remember to let the CO2 out before it gose bang and makes a mess)

**nwns**

I brew my own as I don't much like all the chemicals that the breweries use these days (probably always did but we do have to slate 'these days')

I also like just having barrels of beer in the shed that I can drink at my leisure

**Lint**

Tibbsy wrote:
Unlike most of my generation, who seem to drink piss (otherwise known as "cheap lager" ) almost exclusively.

Funny thing about lager, it's actually the most difficult beer to brew, with the added process of "cold" filtering. And yet it's the cheapest and most abundant. As an American I absolutely have a shameful love affair with cheap lagers, however my palate has greatly expanded as I've gotten older.

nwns wrote:
I also like just having barrels of beer in the shed that I can drink at my leisure

This is exactly why I've got into it

The wife told me the only way she'd let me have a tap is if I completed certain projects around the house and then brewed it myself. Needless to say I finished the projects post-haste.

**RossDas**

I can see myself catching the brewing bug at some point; it's something I've been meaning to try for ages. Being a fan of stouts and real ales I'd love to make my own, but I wonder if there's a recommended starting out point that would be a better idea first?

**Valkyrie**

Local hardware store sells homebrew equipment, I could get going for about £50 along with a variety of different drinks, although I'm a bit partial to cider myself. It's something that I'd seriously consider doing, will probably start later in the year when I've moved into my new place. For you experienced brewers, are there any major points or tips you can give me?

**rubiksnoob**

Any of you guys do any home-distilling? I'm strictly asking only those dakkanauts who reside in New Zealand, of course.

**Lint**

Valkyrie wrote:
For you experienced brewers, are there any major points or tips you can give me?

I'm not experienced by any means, but as a guy who has just started out I've already learned a couple of things:

The kits you can buy are usually for brewing in your kitchen and on your stove. You get a kettle and a 5 gallon bucket, and all of the smaller tools you'll need, such as a racking cane, hydrometer, thermometer, and some cleaning supplies.
Tip #1 clean and sterilize the living crap out of everything. The smallest amount of outside microbes will compete with and/or be eaten by the yeast and will ruin the beer.
I inherited almost all of my supplies from a friend, and it's an outdoor setup with a burner and a keg that's been converted into a kettle. That being said even if you plan on going large with an outdoor/garage setup, if you're starting from scratch I'd definitely recommend getting a kit anyway, if only for all of the extras. The 5 gallon bucket in particular is important especially if you're grain-brewing. Racking cane, thermometer, etc. can run upwards of $50 by themselves so for the money the kit is a good deal.

**daedalus**

I've been doing this with some friends for about a year now, just off kits, nothing original (yet).

So far, we've only had one beer that came out bad. Careful sanitization of everything involved, and highly specific attention to the directions are the two most essential things to do to ensure proper brewing. The one that went bad was because we listened to the guy who likes to just halfass directions, because we figured it would be easier.

**Shadowseer_Kim**

rubiksnoob wrote:
Any of you guys do any home-distilling? I'm strictly asking only those dakkanauts who reside in New Zealand, of course.

Yes of course, and yes I know a guy. See above Grappa making reference.