Anybody brew beer at home?

[nippinout]

I just spoke to a friend and he is boiling up his second batch. He said his first batch was really good. AND he didn't tell me that he had 2.5 cases of homebrew.

lol

He says that it is pretty easy and the best part is that it tastes pretty damn good. Anybody have experience with homebrew kits?

Kinda want to see others experience before I set aside the $50 for one of the kits.

Thanks.

[Big'n slo]

I've tried unsuccessfully a couple of times. Had the starter kit, the beer brew in-a-bag, and other so called easy "kits". None tasted any good. From what I've heard from people that actually brew real beer is that cleanliness is the key. No bacteria or crap can be in the mix.

Plus you have to wait, I can't take it when the bartenders slow!

[-=Squid=-]

My dad brews beer, but not like some cheap crap. MMmm is it oh so good!!!

[SlipknotX556]

I wanted to get one of those brew your own beer at home kits from walmart, but it was like 50 bucks.

[Dryden]

Homebrew is really pretty simple, but it requires a lot of patience and detail. Boiling and cleaning bottles all day can be real buzz-kill.

Head over to google first and do a search for some different kinds of kits, brew methods, and recepies.

[VCK]

been meaning to try my hand at making beer since i already have all the equipment. I've made Mead in the past which is fermented Honey. And believe me it packs a punch. But as others have said cleanliness is number 1 when it comes to making your own brew. If it gets contaminated you can end up with some pretty vile stuff. I had one batch of mead that ended up tasting more like Night Train than mead due to not having everything clean enough.

[-Carnifex-]

My dad does, he's got a nice little system rigged up too.

[TheTramp]

I've made well over 30 batches of homebrew. Everything from IPA to stout and back to APA. (just look at the sig. I've had since I first joined AO back in the day)

Anything you need to know just ask.

In response to a couple of things posted above:

1) beer-in-a-bag = bad. Good/fresh ingreadents are the first things nessasary for good beer. The second (as mentioned above) is cleanleness. You don't exactly need a "level 4 clean room" but you do need to be careful not to contaminate for brew.

2)Williams Brewing http://williamsbrewing.com/ is a great place to get your supplies. They have a very good kit to start with that has EVERYTHING you need for your first batch of quality beer. They aren't the cheepest but they are the best.

[Dryden]

I'd follow TheTramp's recommendation ... don't buy a ready-to-make kit if you want to brew real quality stuff. It might be good for getting your feet wet and learning the process, but the quality is about as good as brownies from an EZ-Bake Oven.

A supplier about 15 miles from my home has some quality offerings, and they have a full storefront online.

http://www.vinbrew.com/

[gimp]

I brewed my own beer last year. I was meaning to do more this summer but I never got around to it. My boss got me into it, he had all the supplies, so I just borrowed them from him. It's really easy to do. I picked up the ingredients at my local agway store I think. It ended up costing me 25 bucks for about 50 really good beers.

Definetly something I'd like to try again.