Brew your own beer?

File this under 'hobbies' I guess.

Have any of you guys ever brewed your own beer? Do you know anyone who has? I think I'd like to try this but no absolutely NOTHING about the process. My dad used to make both homemade beer and wine and it was very good! Still have some of his wine in the basement. But this is yet another of his interests that I paid little attention to while he was doing it and now he's gone.

Anyway, I was wondering if you guys had any experience in this hobby and if so, can you offer advise? I was looking at the many kits available online, and price is a factor for me.

I do t drink often enough to even wanna go there lol

I want to brew, but currently don't have the room. Several of my friends do brew (and not from kits).

I dont have much room either . Those little kits seem pretty good and I dont think the Mr. Beer thing takes up much space. I suspect the Mr Beer kit might be a decent way to get into the hobby, but at some point one would want to expand and grow larger.

Last night I went over to my mom's and went down into the cellar. Dad has lots of homebrewed wine that he made before he died. He also made beer and I got lucky and found 17 old Grolsch bottles with a flip top cap on them! I wont have to buy any empty bottles now!

Also I found a bottle of 25 year old "Old brown Sherry" that he made. I got it out, dusted it off and decanted it. Then mom and I had a glass. Neither of us are big drinker and I really am not a wine drinker at all. But this stuff was so smooth and slightly sweet. Must have a lot of alcohol in it too because I was buzzing after 1 small glass! Lol! (How un-S. Baptist of me).

Made my arthritis pain go away for awhile too! Lol!

After bottling, liquor no longer gains flavor, regardless how long it sits. Whiskeys and wines get all their flavor from the amount of aging in the cask.

Pun wrote:After bottling, liquor no longer gains flavor, regardless how long it sits. Whiskeys and wines get all their flavor from the amount of aging in the cask.

I don't know about wines or whiskey, but I do know that yeast keep fermenting in beer after bottling (the CO2 generated as a bye product of this fermentation is also how the beer gets carbonated). Some beers will actually taste bad if you sit on them too long, while a few others (like Barleywines) tend to improve. With beer the time in bottle is important.

Yeah but in beer and champagne, that carbonation is caused by the alcohol convrting to sugar more, and is why they can go bad even sealed sfter a while.

Wud love to try some sherry

Ok, I started my first bath today.

The label in the ingredients said it was called:

Grand Bohemian Czech Pilsner
The description is as follows:

A characteristically bright golden pilsner brewed using premium pale malt, displaying traditional spicy Saaz hop aroma and a dry, refreshing bitter finish.

I dunno what all that means. But the kit came with this and also another batch called Aztec Mexican Cerveza
Description:

Light gold color, clean refreshing taste with a crisp finish, this is a classic Mexican style beer best served ice cold.

I probably shoulda brewed this instead coz I like Coronas and this sounds similar.

Anyhoo, right now my little keg is fermenting away. I gotta let it perk for 1-2 weeks, then put sugar in the bottles and bottle it and let it sit for another week. Then chill it for yet another week.

I don't know what a traditional spicy Saaz hop aroma is. I don't know what Saaz is. But so far it smells like bread baking. Lol!

Any info yo9u guys can give me I appreciate.

Oops..I meant I started my 1st batch (not bath).

Dennis324 wrote:Oops..I meant I started my 1st batch (not bath).

Yeah, I was going to say congratulations there: :-P

You know you can edit your own posts, so long as no-one has posted after you since you put it up?

Yeah, but I figured most of you had seen it since a couple of days had gone by.

Oddly enough I saw a tv documentary where some people (mostly tourist I think) in Czecho-however you spell it, actually bathe in tubs of beer! In the 70s there was also a shampoo called Body on Tap that had beer in it and I used to use it. But I cant imagine sinking down and soaking into a tub of beer. Imagine how you'd smell! nd it'd likely attract ants and flies. Lol!

I've never drank Czech beer and don't know what it will taste like.

Dennis324 wrote:Yeah, but I figured most of you had seen it since a couple of days had gone by.

Oddly enough I saw a tv documentary where some people (mostly tourist I think) in Czecho-however you spell it, actually bathe in tubs of beer! In the 70s there was also a shampoo called Body on Tap that had beer in it and I used to use it. But I cant imagine sinking down and soaking into a tub of beer. Imagine how you'd smell! nd it'd likely attract ants and flies. Lol!

Am sort of guessing they actually have a shower or something afterwards, seeing how sticky your hands get if you spill beer on them I can imagine getting dressed straight away would be somewhat uncomfortable... Is like if you go to one of those natural hot springs spas, you go into the hot spring for the theraputic effects and then you shower it off afterwards 'cos that stuff can stink sometimes.

I've never drank Czech beer and don't know what it will taste like.

Depends on what you like I guess. If you like paler beers/lagers, then they would be up your alley. I don't think that the Czechs have ever heard of IPAs though.... You can get some of the best czech beers in the US AFAIK, Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen and Budějovický Budvar (the last one is sold in the US as "just "Budvar" or "Czechvar" I think).

Dennis324 wrote:Yeah, but I figured most of you had seen it since a couple of days had gone by.

Oddly enough I saw a tv documentary where some people (mostly tourist I think) in Czecho-however you spell it, actually bathe in tubs of beer! In the 70s there was also a shampoo called Body on Tap that had beer in it and I used to use it. But I cant imagine sinking down and soaking into a tub of beer. Imagine how you'd smell! nd it'd likely attract ants and flies. Lol!

I've never drank Czech beer and don't know what it will taste like.

Czech's are famous for their pilsners (easy way to offend a Czech is to compare their beer to Coors).

Hmmm these posts aren't showing up under the most recent posts link that IO check each time I drop in. So a few days have gone by since I saw this thread. Sorry but I didn't know you guys had responded.

Anyway, guys I bottled my beer today. But I messed it up! The instructions told me to sterilize the bottles and caps with some stuff they gave me. I did that.

Then I was supposed to put 2 1/2 tsp of sugar in each bottle and fill it up with beer up to the beginning of the neck (about 1 1/2 inch from the top). Did that. Or so I thought.

Fellas, I have a terrible terrible memory. I'm the kinda guy that if you send me to the store for 3 items, you better write it down for me. I wasnnt always like that. But I guess I killed some important brain cells back in the day.

Instead of putting 1 1/2 tsp in each bottle, I put 1 1/2 TBS in each bottle!!!!!
The sugar reacts with the yeast to make it carbonate, so I knew I was in trouble.

I called the brewmaster at the company and told him what I did. So yeah, now I got 8 liter sized bombs sitting in my bathtub. I'm so worried they ar gonna blow up overnight! All that time I spent watching the beer ferment and now it looks like its ruined!

He told me that I could try to release the gas from the bottle by cracking open the caps whenever the bottle get really hard, so I'll try that. But man, I wanted this to be successful.

Bryant wrote:(easy way to offend a Czech is to compare their beer to Coors).

Easy way to offend pretty much any nationality that takes their beer seriously really :-P

Is Czech beer good?

Dennis324 wrote:Is Czech beer good?

Well, it depends on what sort of beers you like, if you like lagers/pilseners, then yeah, is some of the best you an get. If you like IPAs or something a bit more bitter/hoppy, then no, you won't like them.

Thanks, I'm looking fwd to trying this one, though it probably wont be as good as the real stuff.

So far so good. My beer bombs haven't exploded yet, but I'm cracking the seal on the bottle every night to let the gas escape. It smells an awful lot like beer though! Lol!

I dug out my dad's old Grolsch flip top bottles from his wine cellar the other day and washed em really good last night. Then I replaced the rubber seals from the porcelain stoppers and am etting them ready for my next batch.

I'll probably begin making the wort for my next batch this weekend. Its called Azteca which is a clone of (I guess) Corona. Mr. Beer has tons of different recipes and types of beers I can make and its fun so far.

Dennis324 wrote:
I'll probably begin making the wort for my next batch this weekend. Its called Azteca which is a clone of (I guess) Corona. Mr. Beer has tons of different recipes and types of beers I can make and its fun so far.

Well, we'll definitely know what measurements to use for the sugar this time around then won't we?

What's the old saying, "the best way to learn how to do something properly is to do it wrong one time...." :-P

Miles1 wrote:

Dennis324 wrote:
I'll probably begin making the wort for my next batch this weekend. Its called Azteca which is a clone of (I guess) Corona. Mr. Beer has tons of different recipes and types of beers I can make and its fun so far.

Well, we'll definitely know what measurements to use for the sugar this time around then won't we?

What's the old saying, "the best way to learn how to do something properly is to do it wrong one time...." :-P

Even older saying:
"Why do we never have time to do it right the first time, yet we always have time to go back and fix it"

Miles1 wrote:

Dennis324 wrote:
I'll probably begin making the wort for my next batch this weekend. Its called Azteca which is a clone of (I guess) Corona. Mr. Beer has tons of different recipes and types of beers I can make and its fun so far.

Well, we'll definitely know what measurements to use for the sugar this time around then won't we?

What's the old saying, "the best way to learn how to do something properly is to do it wrong one time...." :-P

Well, you'd think that but as I said, my memory isn't so good.

Dennis324 wrote:Well, you'd think that but as I said, my memory isn't so good.

Well, I'd say that the pleasure of having to clean beer off the ceiling and walls after one of your bottles exploded would be a rather good spur on the old memory banks.... :-p

Lol! Lets hope this doesn't happen. I put the bottles in my guest room shower just in case.