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Beer. - 12/6/2007 7:53:43 PM

Stephann

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From: Portland, OR
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So, to prevent any misunderstandings in case the header wasn't clear enough, this thread is about beer.

Well, more specifically, how to make it yourself.

Now that I'm settled in the US again, and have enjoyed enough bottles of Grolsch to bottle it, I'm diving into the great wide world of brewing beer at home. I'm digging through the mysterious, arcane secrets that the internet holds (god knows how I'd have learned thirty years ago.) So the question posed; anyone here brew it at home? If so, any suggestions? Thoughts? Ideas?

For those who care, apparently brewing it at home is (once you have the gear) incredibly cheap; pennies on the dollar. That, and you can say "want a Bud? Tough shit, all you got is Stephan's brew in this house!"

Steffen Buschewiesenweiller

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RE: Beer. - 12/6/2007 8:11:34 PM

FangsNfeet

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By the time you calculate the time, effort, work, mounts of frustration, and cost, you'll discover that your best making your own beer with this technique.

http://www.mrbeer.com/

Otherwise, just buy it fresh at your local Micro Brew Pub.

Either way you go, I promise that you'll end up with cheaper and better tasting beer than what comes out of your back yard.

If you really want to start making good stuff, think Wine and Mead. I'd recomend grain alcohol a.k.a. Moon Shine but it has been known for being dangerous to drink.

Do yourself a favor and learn to make mead. Leave the beer for professionals. You'll have more fun and also attract more friends and women.

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RE: Beer. - 12/6/2007 8:14:02 PM

CuriousLord

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Could always go to your local university and find a couple of Chem students to do it for you over the summer. Could pay minimum wage and offer a good recommendation on their resume.

Seriously, us undergrads are virtually slave labor, and those just about to graduate are more educated than most pro's out there.

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RE: Beer. - 12/6/2007 8:54:26 PM

Stephann

Posts: 4214
Joined: 12/27/2006
From: Portland, OR
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Fangsnfeet,

I'm a notorious 'do it yourselfer'; the way I see it, for hundreds of years, somehow, we managed to churn out decent beer without microchips. I figure it's good, honest, and (from what I've read) not overly complicated work.

CuriousLord,

Ironically, I happen to have such a creature at my disposal; Tigrita is wrapping up her PhD classes in Microbiology....

Regards,

Stephan

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RE: Beer. - 12/6/2007 9:10:54 PM

FangsNfeet

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Okay, have it your way but don't say that I didn't warn you.

Sooner or later, I'm sure you turn out have some decent beer. Just realize that those trial and error lessons are going to cost you. I hope you like coffee, you're going to be needing a good supply of it.

Let us know when you decide to start making meade.

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RE: Beer. - 12/6/2007 10:01:30 PM

CuriousLord

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Stephann
Ironically, I happen to have such a creature at my disposal; Tigrita is wrapping up her PhD classes in Microbiology....

She's about to wrap up her Ph.D? Very nice! Congratulations to you both.

(in reply to Stephann)

Post #: 6

RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 2:45:48 AM

stella41b

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Joined: 10/16/2007
From: SW London (UK)
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Wow! It's years since I last brewed beer at home..

Something which is often overlooked but to me which is very important is the quality and type of the water.

People talk about Budweiser, but there's actually two Budweisers, the Czech one and the American one. I don't know about the States but in Europe many people favour beers made with soft water coming from mountain areas. My personal favourite is Zlaty Hrad from Slovakia which is brewed in the Tatry mountains running through Eastern Europe, which starts in the western part of the Czech Republic around the town of Plzen - pronounced Pilzen, and if you turn this name into a German adjective you get Pilzener, hence this is the home of pilsner beer. Here you've got some well-known breweries, not just the Czech Budweiser, but also Staropramen (Czech), Zlaty Hrad (Slovakia) and Tyskie (Poland), which is brewed in a small town called Tychy.

The two biggest producers of beer in Europe are Germany and Britain, with many beers coming from the mountains such as the Bavarian Alps, the Alsace, the Pennines, etc. But you don't need mountains to produce beer, as Holland, Denmark and Ireland have shown, and all these countries produce really wonderful beers.

Therefore the first thing I'd look at is the quality of your tap water. Is it hard? Soft? Water is the single biggest ingredient of your brew, and its quality will affect the taste of your beer. If you haven't got good tap water, then using that water isn't going to make you good beer, no matter how good your other ingredients are. If you're not sure about the quality of your water I'd consider using bottled spring water, the big 5 litre bottles. It's added expense, but you're almost sure to have a decent brew.

I'd also recommend using caster sugar as opposed to normal granulated sugar, as caster sugar is usually much more refined.

These are my suggestions.

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RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 4:22:26 AM

Alumbrado

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quote:

ORIGINAL: FangsNfeet

Okay, have it your way but don't say that I didn't warn you.

Sooner or later, I'm sure you turn out have some decent beer. Just realize that those trial and error lessons are going to cost you. I hope you like coffee, you're going to be needing a good supply of it.

Let us know when you decide to start making meade.

Well, he did say that he liked Grolsch, so he will probably be happy with early results at home...

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RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 4:46:07 AM

missturbation

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I know very little about brewing beer, shame on me. The landlady who knows nothing about what she sells lol.
My question though is are you brewing beer or lager? I have heard from those who do brew that beer although seemingly simple to make can go wrong so easily. Lager according to those i know tastes repulsive home brewed rightly or wrongly.

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If it fit's in a toaster, i can cook it.

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RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 5:11:53 AM

ghitaPVH

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Im piping in with another vote for mead....soooo much better results at home, and chicks dig mead....

beer....honestly its usually cheaper to buy the kits. be midful of your water, be abslutly fastidius about how clean everything is before you start.

ghita~

(who had too much mead last night and apparently forgot how to spell)

< Message edited by ghitaPVH -- 12/7/2007 5:12:49 AM >

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RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 6:02:48 AM

mnottertail

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well, the recipies are all over the net, and I am sure there is a brewing supply near you, and there is some sort of club, it isnt that hard.......

What is rough is getting returnable bottles anymore......go out to all the liquor store and see if they can get you some, take the cardboard cases apart a little carefully and paint them with melted paraffin to keep them in shape somewhat......you can sterilize the washed bottles by baking in your oven. it also tempers them some.

Ron

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RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 6:08:23 AM

adoracat

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ok, this thread made me giggle...

remembering my gramma's story about how she got SO mad at my grampa when the beer he was brewing blew up in the pantry. 3 dozen bottles, kapow!!

kitten

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Post #: 12

RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 7:52:10 AM

Stephann

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Joined: 12/27/2006
From: Portland, OR
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A few random thoughts...

FangsnFeet; one of the first things I teach a slave is how to make coffee ;)

To be fair, I've never tried mead. I'll give it a shot though. I just know I do enjoy beer.

Alumbrado,

Grolsch is hardly my ideal beer; I much prefer lagers and stouts. I'd also like to see if I can make my way up to making a couple batchs of hard cider next year. The Grolsch bottles, on the other hand (this is for Ron too mind you) have a swivel cap; it eliminates the need to have a bottle capper. They're also sturdy bottles, that hold exactly one pint. I've also accumulated a dozen or so bottles of "Fischer" (horrid stuff made in France) that also have swivel tops and are pint and a half.

The suggestions on making sure the water is good, and everything is sterile are spot on. Everything I've read essentially says that making beer, is about making bacteria eat sugar and expel CO2. If anythings dirty, it increases the chance for competing bacteria to grow. Bad water, naturally, means bad beer; we have a large Brita filter that I plan to run the water through, since So Cal water is notoriously hard water.

I'm wary of doing an actual 'kit' though; I don't want to learn to make hobby beer like some Yuppie. For me, it would seem to defeat the purpose of learning how to do it yourself. I'm more than happy to drink substandard beer for the first few (or many) batches, in pursuit of learning to do it well.

Thanks for the thoughts though!

Stephan

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"The blade itself incites to violence" - Homer

Men: Find a Woman here

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Post #: 13

RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 7:59:46 AM

SweetSarijane

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From: KC area Missouri
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Your OP made me think of a friend of mine who actually took a course in winemaking and one in beer making. Have you checked into anything like that at local colleges? Just a thought and I wish you the best in your beer making endeavors <smile>.

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Post #: 14

RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 8:00:39 AM

mnottertail

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most of the beer is going to be camden tableted to fix the prob of sterility.

You can go to the online or mag discounters or the walmarts and get the big stainless steel cooking stuff or the enamel.

if you go make some friends at the bottled water place, you can pick up plastic carboys for sitting around after it has cooled fairly cheap and a place to run stuff thru the sanitzer, the farm store has milkhouse stone cleaner, a stinky phosphoric acid that kills anything.....stoppers can be gotten at the beer supply store or you can go to the arts and crafts place, and you could say boil water to your hearts content, run it thru several coffee filters into the carboys and seal them until you need it.............

where you gonna find beer bottles?

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RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 8:05:10 AM

missturbation

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Why not just date a bar maid or land lady, your fill of beer on tap then, pardon the pun.

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What you don't witness with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth. Proverb.

If it fit's in a toaster, i can cook it.

Buying 10 item's or less is not shopping !!

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Post #: 16

RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 8:07:21 AM

camille65

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Joined: 7/11/2007
From: Austin Texas
Status: offline

Hi! My name is Camille

and I will happily compromise myself for a well done homemade pumpkin spice mead OR beer!

Making beer or so I have heard from friends who do it can be a lot of fun despite the initial difficulties, I hope it stays fun for you.

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Post #: 17

RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 8:09:49 AM

Alumbrado

Posts: 5560
Status: offline

quote:

Alumbrado,

Grolsch is hardly my ideal beer; I much prefer lagers and stouts. I'd also like to see if I can make my way up to making a couple batchs of hard cider next year. The Grolsch bottles, on the other hand (this is for Ron too mind you) have a swivel cap; it eliminates the need to have a bottle capper. They're also sturdy bottles, that hold exactly one pint. I've also accumulated a dozen or so bottles of "Fischer" (horrid stuff made in France) that also have swivel tops and are pint and a half.

Ahh, my bad. Then you are to be commended for sacrificing yourself in the intrest of collecting bottles suitable for this endeavor.

(in reply to camille65)

Post #: 18

RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 8:12:28 AM

ghitaPVH

Posts: 1363
Joined: 11/14/2007
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

where you gonna find beer bottles?

EBAY...no joke....pretty cheap too, if you have a capper....if you dont, you can buy empty grolsch type bottles by the case, this is what I do usually...

http://www.cellar-homebrew.com/store/catalog/16-oz-Flip-Top-Bottles-Grolsch-style-Case-of-12-p-94.html

_____________________________

Don't expect anything of me and I promise I'll never disappoint you.

"The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything. --Nietzsche"

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Post #: 19

RE: Beer. - 12/7/2007 8:34:27 AM

Aneirin

Posts: 6121
Joined: 3/18/2006
From: Tamaris
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Stephann

So, to prevent any misunderstandings in case the header wasn't clear enough, this thread is about beer.

Well, more specifically, how to make it yourself.

Now that I'm settled in the US again, and have enjoyed enough bottles of Grolsch to bottle it, I'm diving into the great wide world of brewing beer at home. I'm digging through the mysterious, arcane secrets that the internet holds (god knows how I'd have learned thirty years ago.) So the question posed; anyone here brew it at home? If so, any suggestions? Thoughts? Ideas?

For those who care, apparently brewing it at home is (once you have the gear) incredibly cheap; pennies on the dollar. That, and you can say "want a Bud? Tough shit, all you got is Stephan's brew in this house!"

Steffen Buschewiesenweiller

GO FOR IT !

Nothing like brewing your own beer, and one can get some pretty nice brews just from kits.Get the hang of that, (a kit basically being a 'must' of malt and other stuff, packet of yeast and instructions), then experiment.

I have brewed both wine and mead, the mead, mostly metheglin, brewing that, basically an animal product smells awful in production, somewhat meaty in smell, but what a brew when it's finished.My last batch of metheglin was used to consecrate the foundations of an iron age roundhouse we built in the Chilterns, half a bottle to the foundations, the rest around the builders.

Mead is nice warmed as well, especially nice on a cold wintery night.

I made nettle beer this year, a bit different from nettle play, but the sensations were the same gathering the stuff.

Yes, Lager kits do taste awful, as does British lager, but the continental 'beer', that is a whole different kettle of fish.Britain should have stuck to ales, ciders and perrys, the stuff traditionally brewed.

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Post #: 20

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