Home Brewing

[ShooterJM]

Anybody here brew their own beer or wine? I just started a few months back and really enjoy it. Any good resources or recipies?

[Beer]

[funkfool]

Lariatbob makes some AWESOME beer - he did some this summer that was incredible...
'course he's my brother-in-law (more like a brother, really)

[ShooterJM]

Good deal! I'm trying to come up with a decent 5-6 beer rotation that I can do. So far I have only tried a stout, a cider, and a pale ale, but I have about 6 gallons of an amber that I'm bottling this weekend.

I'm trying to rotate between wine and beer so I can stock up on wine while my wife can't drink [LOL]

[meatman]

I haven't brewed in a while, but I bought a setup to keg the beer in corny kegs instead of bottling. It saves a ton of time and bottle cleaning, unless that's what you like. You can also force carbonate the beer, so you can drink it the day you keg it. [Beer] I used to do the primary fermentation, secondary for a week, put the carboy in the refrigerator overnight, then rack it into a corny keg. Pressurize and shake. Carbonated homebrew in under 2 weeks. If you really wanted to, you can skip the secondary or cut it down and you can drink even sooner!

[BuffCyclist]

I actually am planning on brewing my first batch tonight. I was going to spend the money and do a 5gal carboy setup, but I decided to do my few few batches with the Mr Beer kit, especially since I'm the only one that will be drinking the beer, 5gal would last me a LONG time and I'd forget how to brew in between, haha.

The kit I got comes with 16x 32oz plastic bottles, so I'll be bottling one beer in 8 of them, then a different in the other 8, so ideally I'll be able to drink several from each batch and brew a new batch with the empties. Eventually I may get a 5gal setup, as my friend and I have brewed some before together and he used a corny keg too. Whenever he had parties we always just drank homebrew and it always was better than anything store bought. He made a stout for St Patty's day last year that was called "Toad Spit", it made EXCELLENT carbombs!

[ShooterJM]

Well, it's kind of on the ghetto side of the fence, but I actually bottle in 2 liter pop bottles. My wife's a diet coke addict so I got into the habit of washing, santizing, and filling them with water to store in the garage. After one try of filling the little bottles I got bored and filled some empties with beer.

Works fantastic! They have yet to leak during carbonation or anything else, they're nearly free, and most importantly, I don't have to spend forever filling bottles!

I do really want a force carbonation system though! Right now I ferment for a week or so, rack, prime, bottle and let that sit for another week. Perhaps I'm rushing things.

Although the cider I made was putrid after two weeks. Now after 2 months it's pretty good :)

[hollohas]

I have been brewing for many years and I have to agree that if you like it you'll want a keg system. So much time saved. Beer so much sooner. Bottles are a pain in the ass for so many reasons and it took me years to finally get a keg setup and I've never looked back.

I shop here (http://www.beerathome.com/) at the Englewood store and they are awesome.

In Colorado Springs this (http://www.oldwestbrew.com/) place has always been good.

Online I like www.morebeer.com (http://www.morebeer.com)

And my favorite book is How to Brew by John Plamer. You can read the entire book for free online here (http://www.howtobrew.com/).

Keep a record of each time you brew. Write down everything you did. Time, temp, cleaning, ingredients...everything. Write down details of the fermentation and what it tastes like along the way. If you don't do this I guarantee that you one day will make the best beer of your life and won't be able to re-create it because you won't remember what you did. I made a simple word document with check lists and areas to write notes during each step of the process.

PS - years ago when I started brewing, I decided that one day I was going to open a brew pub in my hometown of Woodland Park because it was the most ideal location. Well, I waited too long and someone beat me to it...jerks. BeirWerks (http://bierwerks.com/home.html)

[ShooterJM]

I have been brewing for many years and I have to agree that if you like it you'll want a keg system. So much time saved. Beer so much sooner. Bottles are a pain in the ass for so many reasons and it took me years to finally get a keg setup and I've never looked back.

I shop here (http://www.beerathome.com/) at the Englewood store and they are awesome.

In Colorado Springs this (http://www.oldwestbrew.com/) place has always been good.

Online I like www.morebeer.com (http://www.morebeer.com)

And my favorite book is How to Brew by John Plamer. You can read the entire book for free online here (http://www.howtobrew.com/).

Keep a record of each time you brew. Write down everything you did. Time, temp, cleaning, ingredients...everything. Write down details of the fermentation and what it tastes like along the way. If you don't do this I guarantee that you one day will make the best beer of your life and won't be able to re-create it because you won't remember what you did. I made a simple word document with check lists and areas to write notes during each step of the process.

PS - years ago when I started brewing, I decided that one day I was going to open a brew pub in my hometown of Woodland Park because it was the most ideal location. Well, I waiting too long and someone beat me to it...jerks. BeirWerks (http://bierwerks.com/home.html)

Good info! I started a brewer's notebook of sorts right from the get go because I have an inability to follow recipies as written. Always have to change something or other. Never thought of noting the temperature though, I've just be keeping ingredients, process, and starting specific gravity.


I'd love to start a brewpub, but I'd prefer to be wealthy enough to not have to make money at it. Just open when I want to, close when I want to, smoke cigars, play video games, and kick annoying customers out.

[theGinsue]

I used to home brew but just got bored with it and had too many hobbies. I called my first brew "Ginsue's Olde Style Goat Rope Pilsner". The labels I made were better than the pilsner.

I finally sold my gear to a restaurant here in the Springs about a year and a half ago. Got a whopping $100 for about $300 worth of stuff.

I've even gotten to the point that I rarely even drink beer anymore. I may have had 5 since Jan 1.

[Mtn.man]

We only make hooch. Trying to make some potato vodka at this time.

[jscwerve]

I used to brew a whole bunch, now it is only once in a while with all the other hobbies I have. I have had some great success with a couple different types of mead. I have even carbonated some and let it sit for about 2 years, ended up being pretty much like champaign, but better. I really should dust off the equipment and get something going, if I can find the time.

[ShooterJM]

We only make hooch. Trying to make some potato vodka at this time.

Nice, that's my next step! (Getting an ethanol license to make fuel). May hit you up for some tips!

[Irving]

I've been trying to match the taste of Keystone Light for years, but I can't seem to get it right! I can only get something that tastes like Pabst. :(

[hollohas]

I've been trying to match the taste of Keystone Light for years, but I can't seem to get it right! I can only get something that tastes like Pabst. :(


[ROFL2]

[XJ]

I've even gotten to the point that I rarely even drink beer anymore. I may have had 5 since Jan 1.

WTF?


The reason I don't embark upon the brewing hobby is that it would result in too much additional beer-drinking. I'm "big-boned" enough as it is.

[Beer]

[ShooterJM]

I hear ya, I've managed to add another layer of bio-padding over the last few years.

But I view it as a public service. My neighbors are teachers or in the military so I can keep em supplied with free beer the couple of times a week that we all get together. [Tooth]