Something yet to be mentioned - Homebrew beer - entertainment & barter

[DeepseekerADS]

Back in the early 60's, my stepfather brewed his own beer with a churn and off the shelf grocery store items. In the 80's I did it myself - with inexpensive commercial equipment. After a few batches I began to experiment throwing fruit into the brew, and the results were absolutely great tasting and kick butt. My life changed - marriage problems - had a bad all foam brew, and I abandoned the hobby.

And now I'm getting back into it, all the equipment is here except a 15 gallon cook pot off eBay. You can begin on your kitchen stove with a fairly complete kit for under $100 - on up if you have very serious intent.

Ingredients from brewery sources get pretty expensive. As I progress I'm going to be investigating ways to bring those costs down. If you pick up good equipment and fully understand that sanitation if of EXTREME importance, you're set for the duration with your equipment.

Anyone interested in pursuing the subject should first read this free on-line book by John Palmer - How to Brew - By John Palmer - Introduction

There's also far more websites and forums than I've even begun to discover yet:

Home Brew Talk - Home Brew forums, news, articles, reviews, blogs, pho
Craft Beer and Homebrewing Blog | BillyBrew
BeerAdvocate
Make Beer At Home | Brewer's Friend
Beer Glossary, brew terminology, IPA, Lager, Pilsner, Ales, Porters
Grow Your Own: Beer Ingredients in the Backyard | Growler Magazine - Part 2

As I'm going to be a farmer when I grow up, I'm certainly looking a growing my own ingredients as much as possible. You can even grow your own yeast, and at about 3 years a hops vine will have spread 200 feet!

Keep the faith and prepare your independence!

 

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[DeepseekerADS]

Another thing of note here....

You want amber bottles. Clear or green bottles allow sunlight, or just light degrade the taste of the beer.

If you buy bottles from a brewery supply you'll be paying about a buck a bottle. If I'm going to pay a buck a bottle, there'll be something in it when I purchase it

 

[Mr.T]

You are after making me thirsty! And it's only Thursday.

 

[redbeardrelics]

I love craft brewed beers, and spend a significant amount of money on them, but have not yet attempted to brew any. I have been growing my own hops for over 10 years, but generally do not do anything with them except an occasional "hop pillow". If I had enough gumption to grow my own barley and grains, I would be closer to taking the home brewing plunge.

I never really liked (or could stomach), many of the wines I bought in stores, or tried at restaurants, but for the last 7 years have been making dozens of varieties of homemade wines and Champaign's, averaging about 120 gallons per year, go figure? Seven years ago I tried one of my friends homemade wines, and was able to drink it easily without getting heartburn. I found out it was so easy to make (the fruits really do want to be wines when they grow up), that it became an easy way to make use of all the leftover raspberries, blackberries, grapes, pears, peaches, apples, mulberries, persimmons, elderberries, watermelons, cherries etc., etc. that my wife didn't make jams, jellies, pies, or syrups out of, or freeze. A side benefit of wine once you get it up over 15% alcohol, is that sanitation becomes less of an issue or concern. I can not drink near what I make by myself, so I give it away to pretty much whoever wants it, and in return I get back way more empty bottles than I can handle most times. For the last several years I have also found that it is pretty easy to convert a batch of tasty wine, into a batch of tasty, and as potent as you like, vinegar.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I love craft brewed beers, and spend a significant amount of money on them, but have not yet attempted to brew any. I have been growing my own hops for over 10 years, but generally do not do anything with them except an occasional "hop pillow". If I had enough gumption to grow my own barley and grains, I would be closer to taking the home brewing plunge.

If you are making wine, it's a very short trip to making beer. In the 80's there were no real alternatives to commercial beer unless you brewed your own. I like tasty beer, with Samiclaus being my favorite. To give an example of my tastes, Arrogant Bast*rd Ale is a favorite, and it is arrogant! That hops taste to it.

Samiclaus is a very rare beer. I'm lucky if I pick up a couple of bottles every other year, and find it in Metro Detroit. 20 years ago it was $75 a 6 pack. Now it's down to $24 a 4 pack, or $6 a beer.

One of the sites I listed above has thousands of recipes for different beers. The ingredients for me to make a Samiclaus Clone cost about a buck a bottle. And I'd never find it down here in the wilderness. Made a trip to Greensboro, NC yesterday to a brewing supply store. They'd never heard of Samiclaus, but I spelled it for them and they went on-line and found the clone recipe

Not going to start brewing for a few weeks yet - got some studying to do. Homebrew has changed incredibly since the churn days, and even since the 80's when I brewed.

I will say this, if you're making your own craft beer and get it tweaked to your tastes - you'll be spoiled. Going back to commercial will be disappointing...