Beer Homebrewing thread

[puke_face]

This thread has been created with the intent of people sharing their home setup for brewing beer, questions about brewing beer, and the like. I currently do not have a setup, but am looking forward to getting one soon. Feel free to post/share!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/delu ... allon.html

That is the base system I've been look at getting. There are a lot of parts and pieces I want to get, but I'll start of with that.

[Luke]

Brewing your own beer is fun, but it comes with one problem: All homemade beer tastes like homemade beer.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great hobby, but it is expensive, time consuming and you'll be disappointed when Budweiser tastes better than the American lager you slaved over.

[bmoc]

Brewing your own beer is fun, but it comes with one problem: All homemade beer tastes like homemade beer.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great hobby, but it is expensive, time consuming and you'll be disappointed when Budweiser tastes better than the American lager you slaved over.

You must have had some poor homebrew then. When done right, homebrew should be much better than anything Budweiser puts out. I also disagree about it being expensive. It does have a hefty upfront cost but is far more expensive to buy beer in the store (at least in my area). Considering that I was making 5 gallons at time, I think the equipment I purchased paid for itself after the first batch or two.

You are correct about it being time consuming though. You spend most of your time cleaning your equipment. It took most of the day to brew a batch if I was doing it by myself. Now that I have young kids, I haven't had the time for it. I hope to get back into it when they are older and don't require constant supervision.

[Hatta]

I've had more than my fair share of homebrewers, from many different people and none of them have been worse than mass marketed stuff. Not one. Not even if it's their first try. They may not be as good as a Honkers ale or 90 Shilling, but they beat the crap out Budweiser et. al.

Price is why I haven't homebrewed myself yet. If I can't get the price lower than the minimally acceptable storebought beer, it's not cost effective.

[Luke]

You must have had some poor homebrew then. When done right, homebrew should be much better than anything Budweiser puts out. I also disagree about it being expensive. It does have a hefty upfront cost but is far more expensive to buy beer in the store (at least in my area).

I have probably had somewhere close to twenty-five different homebrews and each one left something to be desired.

And when I say Budweiser, I'm talking about their usual American Lager compared against a home brewed American Lager. The problem with homebrewers is that they have the same problem home "chefs" have: they lack balance and always have one overpowering flavor. Every Oatmeal Stout tastes too damned much like oatmeal. Their IPA's are too hoppy, their peach wheat beers too peachy, their chocolate stouts to chocolatey. Another problem is that after you spend weeks on a beer it's hard for some people to admit that it sucks (and your friends won't tell you it sucks either because they are getting free beer).

I also say it is expensive because, like you mentioned, hefty start up costs. Usually after someone realizes how labor intensive and time consuming it is, they give up. Money wasted.

I'm happier with a Duck Rabbit Milk Stout, or even a Guinness for that mater compared to any homemade stout I've sipped.

[Hobie-wan]

I didn't try the beer my friend brewed a few years ago as I don't do beer, but everyone seemed to like it. The mead he made was pretty awesome.

[Niode]

Brewing your own beer is fun, but it comes with one problem: All homemade beer tastes like homemade beer.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great hobby, but it is expensive, time consuming and you'll be disappointed when Budweiser tastes better than the American lager you slaved over.

Bull-Fucking-Shit.

You must have had some poor homebrew then. When done right, homebrew should be much better than anything Budweiser puts out. I also disagree about it being expensive. It does have a hefty upfront cost but is far more expensive to buy beer in the store (at least in my area).

I have probably had somewhere close to twenty-five different homebrews and each one left something to be desired.

And when I say Budweiser, I'm talking about their usual American Lager compared against a home brewed American Lager. The problem with homebrewers is that they have the same problem home "chefs" have: they lack balance and always have one overpowering flavor. Every Oatmeal Stout tastes too damned much like oatmeal. Their IPA's are too hoppy, their peach wheat beers too peachy, their chocolate stouts to chocolatey. Another problem is that after you spend weeks on a beer it's hard for some people to admit that it sucks (and your friends won't tell you it sucks either because they are getting free beer).

I also say it is expensive because, like you mentioned, hefty start up costs. Usually after someone realizes how labor intensive and time consuming it is, they give up. Money wasted.

I'm happier with a Duck Rabbit Milk Stout, or even a Guinness for that mater compared to any homemade stout I've sipped.

Complete and utter generalised shit.

You must know people who suck at brewing beer. End of discussion.

[Niode]

This thread has been created with the intent of people sharing their home setup for brewing beer, questions about brewing beer, and the like. I currently do not have a setup, but am looking forward to getting one soon. Feel free to post/share!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/delu ... allon.html

That is the base system I've been look at getting. There are a lot of parts and pieces I want to get, but I'll start of with that.

I would take note that you're still gonna need a pot big enough to boil your wort in, also some method of chilling the boiled wort down for pitching.

Personally, I built my own immersion cooler out of copper pipe, it's ugly as sin, but it works well and I can use the water pumped through to sanitise my fermenter !Efficiency!

I can get a batch done in about 5 hours if that. Of that time about 2-3 hours is sat doing something else as you don't need to be there to watch it steep/boil/chill. Could easily do 2 brews in one day, once I've transferred the runnings to the copper I can start mashing in a second beer.

[Luke]

Complete and utter generalised shit.

You must know people who suck at brewing beer. End of discussion.

You must brew your own beer.

[Hatta]

Luke, you could say the same about a lot of craft beers by real brewers. I went to a beer festival this spring and had some of the worst beer I ever had, and some of the best. It's easy for a home brewer to make something very drinkable, easily a match for my typical choices of boulevard, dos equis amber, leinenkugels, or shiner if they follow instructions. If they play with it a bit, they might get something great, or something not so great, but I've never had a homebrew that was outright bad.

For those of you who do brew, how do your costs add up?