Home Brewery Kits

[Koosh]

Anybody tried them out?

At my work they just got in a "Mr. Beer" home brewry kit... its $40, and I figure I could use another hobby...

Anyway, think it'd be worth it?

[land hurricane]

At my work they just got in a "Mr. Beer" home brewry kit... its $40, and I figure I could use another hobby...

Anyway, think it'd be worth it?

hmm.. since they are only 40 bucks i think they'd be worth it. but then again, i dunno how much the materials that are used to make beer costs

[punkncat]

A friend of mine does it. Sometimes he even makes a good brew from it. The best thing he ever made was mead. Quite tasty ..... but some of the beers have been pretty nasty.

[Koosh]

hell you can buy it online, isn't that against some law? I can see it on the news... Kids order home brew kit, wait a few weeks for beer to ferment, then get drunk off their nasty beer!

https://www.mrbeer.com

[MicroMiniMe]

You need a good amount of supplies for brewin'. To do it right you need a 5 gallon bucket, 2 or more 4-5 gallon carboys and a nice stainless 20 Litre kettle to start for the big stuff. The brewing concumables can be purchased in $30-$50 kits usually or buy each separately in bulk if you like a specific recipie. Good sanitation is paramount. Mold and Bacillus don't taste well.
Mead (fermented honey) and cider are good starters. Mead is very easy and a favorite with the ladies. Packs a punch and goes down easy. Usually a silly buzz too.

[KRAKMT]

Its a great hobby and there is no such thing as bad beer- just some batches that take more time to finish. We brewed some that had a great deal of kick. My buddy and I have made probable 20 or so batches and have gotten pretty good.
If using a kit you boil some water in the big kettle and pour in the can of malt/sugar- cook it up real good and pour it into the 5 gallon bucket. Let it cool and add more water and yeast. Cover and wait a couple o weeks- until good and fermented. Drain brew into another pail and add sugar and bottle. Wait another couple o weeks and drink. Follow the directions and keep everything clean. The dishwasher works great for washing bottles with the top rack removed. Be flexible on taste- it takes a couple to find the stuff you like.

You need a good amount of supplies for brewin'. To do it right you need a 5 gallon bucket, 2 or more 4-5 gallon carboys and a nice stainless 20 Litre kettle to start for the big stuff. The brewing concumables can be purchased in $30-$50 kits usually or buy each separately in bulk if you like a specific recipie. Good sanitation is paramount. Mold and Bacillus don't taste well.
Mead (fermented honey) and cider are good starters. Mead is very easy and a favorite with the ladies. Packs a punch and goes down easy. Usually a silly buzz too.

[KRAKMT]

2 or more 4-5 gallon carboys and a nice stainless 20 Litre kettle to start for the big stuff.

Whats a carboy?

[MicroMiniMe]

Whats a carboy?

Quick and dirty Google

http://www.homebrewheaven.com/5-gallon-glass-carboy.htm

You can see the amount of bubbling as well as lees (sediment) a lot better than the plastic bucket. Bucket is easier cleanup though. The multiple carboys is to have *multiple* batches running. The mead can take a few months to fully ferment, so you can have a cider or beer running as well that will finish faster. You can also use the spare to decant off to for a nice secondary fermentation or flavoring step.

[Rob218]

My dad has one in the garage..Hasn't used it in a few years. The stuff he made, he told me was really good. I'm not one for beer, or many types of alcohol. If anyone's interested in buying one I could talk to him..

[Muzikman]

Read this before you even start.

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

[Python14]

A friend of mine is into that. He made some stuff that I swear could take you down and out for the whole weekend.

Mead is good though. Easy.

[TheTramp]

Here's a thread I made the the second to last time I bottled homebrew.

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=133823

I get most of my supplies from these guys:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/

That "Mr. Beer" kit will make "beer" but it wont be very good. Like with most other things, to get a good final product you need to use good ingrediants to start with.