Do you brew your own beer?

[bdcjacko]

And if so what is your favorite kind to make, what is your set up like and um how often do you brew?

As for me I just got a couple of 5 gallon buckets. I don't have a favorite style to brew yet, but I have brewed a couple of different stouts, a pale ale, and I just got the ingredients for an English bitter.

 

[Croix Sinistre]

I just got into it recently. I've brewed two 5-gallon batches but neither turned out well, not sure why. Doesn't really help that I don't know anyone who homebrews so it's hard to get sounda advice, and it seems that every kit comes with different instructions that the last, which also differs from the pamphlet that came with the equipment and the book The Joy of Homebrewing.

The first batch I brewed was an all-malt generic oktoberfest kinda beer, which wasn't too bad. But the second batch was a cream ale and maybe it needs to age some more but after two weeks of aging, but it's not looking good.

It's a fun hobby though, I really enjoy beer and the science behind it

 

[Cowabungaa]

I did it once for school, in the first semester of a Bio-Informatics course. It was all about fermentation and anaerobic processes, and what do students often like a lot? Indeed, beer. But bloody hell was it boring. You start with fucktons of grinding shit, then you just have to boil stuff, stir a lot and wait a whole damned lot.

It was kinda funny to see how a lot of us got into the whole thing all excited ("You're going to brew beer in this course, woooaaaah!") and stuff, only to emerge dirty, bored, tired and with very painful arms.

That said, our teachers said that our classes' batch was one of the best brews in years, and that my group's batch in particular was one of the strongest beers they ever had, and drinkable to boot. Not that I tasted it myself, I only like Guinness.

 

[bdcjacko]

I did it once for school, and bloody hell was it boring. You start with fucktons of grinding shit, then you just have to boil stuff, stir a lot and wait a whole damned lot.

It was kinda funny to see how a lot of us got into the whole thing all excited ("You're going to brew beer in this course, woooaaaah!") and stuff, only to emerge dirty, bored, tired and with very painful arms.

That said, our teachers said that our classes' batch was one of the best brews in years, and that my group's batch in particular was one of the strongest beers they ever had, and drinkable to boot. Not that I tasted it myself, I only like Guinness.

You can get pre-ground grains and stuff.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I did it once for school, and bloody hell was it boring. You start with fucktons of grinding shit, then you just have to boil stuff, stir a lot and wait a whole damned lot.

It was kinda funny to see how a lot of us got into the whole thing all excited ("You're going to brew beer in this course, woooaaaah!") and stuff, only to emerge dirty, bored, tired and with very painful arms.

That said, our teachers said that our classes' batch was one of the best brews in years, and that my group's batch in particular was one of the strongest beers they ever had, and drinkable to boot. Not that I tasted it myself, I only like Guinness.

You can get pre-ground grains and stuff.

Tell that to the school, they're probably cheapskates. And teachers often enjoy seeing students suffer. A lot.

 

[bdcjacko]

I just got into it recently. I've brewed two 5-gallon batches but neither turned out well, not sure why. Doesn't really help that I don't know anyone who homebrews so it's hard to get sounda advice, and it seems that every kit comes with different instructions that the last, which also differs from the pamphlet that came with the equipment and the book The Joy of Homebrewing.

The first batch I brewed was an all-malt generic oktoberfest kinda beer, which wasn't too bad. But the second batch was a cream ale and maybe it needs to age some more but after two weeks of aging, but it's not looking good.

It's a fun hobby though, I really enjoy beer and the science behind it

The Joy of Homebrewing is a good book. But maybe you have a crappy supplier, may I ask who your supplier is? I've been mail ordering from Midwest Supplies and they have quality ingredients.

 

[bdcjacko]

I did it once for school, and bloody hell was it boring. You start with fucktons of grinding shit, then you just have to boil stuff, stir a lot and wait a whole damned lot.

It was kinda funny to see how a lot of us got into the whole thing all excited ("You're going to brew beer in this course, woooaaaah!") and stuff, only to emerge dirty, bored, tired and with very painful arms.

That said, our teachers said that our classes' batch was one of the best brews in years, and that my group's batch in particular was one of the strongest beers they ever had, and drinkable to boot. Not that I tasted it myself, I only like Guinness.

You can get pre-ground grains and stuff.

Tell that to the school, they're probably cheapskates. And teachers often enjoy seeing students suffer. A lot.

What kind of school do you go to where you make beer? My school sucks in comparison now.

 

[Cowabungaa]

What kind of school do you go to where you make beer? My school sucks in comparison now.

I edited the original post a split second before you quoted it. No-one really liked brewing beer though, it was just such a pain in the ass job requiring us to stay at school doing fuck-all (as we just had to wait...and wait...and wait...) for hours on end. I was lucky I was home before midnight.

But I ain't going there any more. The course was too tough so I was forced to drop out.

 

[bdcjacko]

What kind of school do you go to where you make beer? My school sucks in comparison now.

I edited the original post a split second before you quoted it. No-one really liked brewing beer though, it was just such a pain in the ass job requiring us to stay at school doing fuck-all (as we just had to wait...and wait...and wait...) for hours on end. I was lucky I was home before midnight.

But I ain't going there any more. The course was too tough so I was forced to drop out.

Ah, that makes sense. Kind of like how once in high school for biology we made bread to see how yeast works.

 

[Croix Sinistre]

I just got into it recently. I've brewed two 5-gallon batches but neither turned out well, not sure why. Doesn't really help that I don't know anyone who homebrews so it's hard to get sounda advice, and it seems that every kit comes with different instructions that the last, which also differs from the pamphlet that came with the equipment and the book The Joy of Homebrewing.

The first batch I brewed was an all-malt generic oktoberfest kinda beer, which wasn't too bad. But the second batch was a cream ale and maybe it needs to age some more but after two weeks of aging, but it's not looking good.

It's a fun hobby though, I really enjoy beer and the science behind it

The Joy of Homebrewing is a good book. But maybe you have a crappy supplier, may I ask who your supplier is? I've been mail ordering from Midwest Supplies and they have quality ingredients.

I don't remember where i got the first kit from, but the second I got from homebrewers.com. I'll look into Midwest supplies, I remember buying my bottle washer and a few small things from them, I'm gonna pick up an ingredient kit. I'm still learning the basics so I'm sticking with premade kits instead of trying to wing the whole thing.

 

[bdcjacko]

I just got into it recently. I've brewed two 5-gallon batches but neither turned out well, not sure why. Doesn't really help that I don't know anyone who homebrews so it's hard to get sounda advice, and it seems that every kit comes with different instructions that the last, which also differs from the pamphlet that came with the equipment and the book The Joy of Homebrewing.

The first batch I brewed was an all-malt generic oktoberfest kinda beer, which wasn't too bad. But the second batch was a cream ale and maybe it needs to age some more but after two weeks of aging, but it's not looking good.

It's a fun hobby though, I really enjoy beer and the science behind it

The Joy of Homebrewing is a good book. But maybe you have a crappy supplier, may I ask who your supplier is? I've been mail ordering from Midwest Supplies and they have quality ingredients.

I don't remember where i got the first kit from, but the second I got from homebrewers.com. I'll look into Midwest supplies, I remember buying my bottle washer and a few small things from them, I'm gonna pick up an ingredient kit. I'm still learning the basics so I'm sticking with premade kits instead of trying to wing the whole thing.

That is where I am.

 

[SimuLord]

If I were a beer drinker, I would homebrew with gusto, but 14 years of sobriety and a penchant toward extreme red-mist violence while drunk means I don't partake.

 

[Hashime]

I don't drink, but my Chem prof had a good line. She insisted that "Any self respecting chemist brews their own beer".

 

[s0m3th1ng]

Yep, even grew our own hops, my Dad and I.
We used malt extract...just easier and cheaper and you get the same quality of beer from it. No malting or kilning or any of that bullshit.
We used a big 5 gallon copper pot to boil.
An outdoor stove because making the hopped wort stinks up the house.
A copper condenser.
5 10-gallon carboys, each on a rotation. We'd usually have 4 beers going.
About 72 16-oz pop-top reusable bottles and a healthy supply of capped bottles.
Bottle capper.
Nitrogen.
Our favorite beers were a Rasberry Wheat and a Pumpkin Stout.

 

[bdcjacko]

Nitrogen? So you carbonate instead of bottle condition?