Homemade Beer

Rosyrain

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16 Nov 2014
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Washington, USA
I was watching a homesteading show last night and they were making homemade Beer in a key. It seemed really easy to make. All they did was grind up some wheat berries and hops and added them to the water. Has anyone on here made their own beer before?
 
Once or twice. Gave up after one lot went wrong. Dirt in the system/poor hygiene.
Put it through a condensor(think M.A.S.H. here) and dripping into a demijohn. Two filled, one left. First exploded at a works Christmas party some 30 years ago.
 
Can be made with malt extract [plain not the type with added cod liver oil !]. Never put beer in a thin glass bottle it is pressurized [fizzy] and ALWAYS needs a beer bottle or pressure vessel to store it. Very easy and quick to make [can be ready in a few weeks] not sure about the USA but there are literally hundreds of kits available here in the UK that make it even easier. Only slight drawback is that to get the fizz it is necessary to allow it to ferment a little in the bottle which leave a tiny amount of yeast in the bottom. Don't worry about this as A - it's easy to pour off leaving this behind and B - if you do get a little yeast is good for you anyhow.
All you need is a large CLEAN bucket and a few CLEAN beer bottles.
 
It must have slipped through the sterilization step. It wasn't visibilly dirty!
 
The ingredients and equipment available to home brewers these days are fantastic - it's really easy now to make very good quality beer.

I've made eight all grain batches in the last 4/5 months. Three pale ales hopped with US hop varieties and an English mild are already bottled. I've then got a strong porter and a Berliner Weisse to bottle this coming weekend and a double IPA and wheat ale to bottle the following weekend.
 
I remember as a kid that my Dad use to make his own beer. I never really paid much attention to it back then. I just remember he has to stored up in the attic one time and it got so hot that all the caps started popping off...lol The whole house smelled like beer for quite some time!
 
I guess making beer is not that simple because you have to brew it in the right heat and in the correct duration. I have no experience in brewing beer but I had read a formula (although I don't remember the exact details). It's not really that easy and the ingredients are not readily available here. What I remember in brewing is the malt. Well, maybe I have to wait for some other posts in this thread to confirm what I said... or maybe I am wrong.
 
The fermentation process is 3-4 weeks for some kinds of beer so yeah I don't how they make beer instantly in a night unless they have activated yeast already or something. There are many different types of beers lagers, pilsens, stouts etc. I know because I'm trying to brew in my backyard. The main ingredients are barley, hops and wheat but some home brewers like to add orange slices, strawberries and whatnot for flavor. The equipment costs a lot of money if you try to make quality beer. Making it in a steel vat outside your house will cause a lot of problems in the long run as earlier stated so I reccommend getting semi-professional equipment atleast.
 
Once or twice. Gave up after one lot went wrong. Dirt in the system/poor hygiene.
Put it through a condensor(think M.A.S.H. here) and dripping into a demijohn. Two filled, one left. First exploded at a works Christmas party some 30 years ago.

No! Giving up is never an option around here and you? No! I never got to give up because I never tried and I doubt I will be trying anytime soon. It's interesting this should come right about the time I am waging a war against beer. Beer is always around here even when other things are missing. For that reason alone I am not likely to add anymore.
 
I am not a beer drinker, but I did get to taste some apple cideer that I liked and wondered if I could make it at home without much trouble.
 
I am not a beer drinker, but I did get to taste some apple cideer that I liked and wondered if I could make it at home without much trouble.

It's not that difficult if you can get hold of an apple press.

You can of course make "turbo cider": mix apple juice, sugar + yeast, wait two weeks and hey presto - instant hangover!
 
It's not that difficult if you can get hold of an apple press.
ARGH !!! Tell me about it !!! Got one built ready for next year now though :woot:
It is said that true scrumpy [REAL cider with bits and cloudy as mud] doesn't produce a hangover - I can only assume it was the food that affected me when I sampled a few at the last motorcycle rally I went on :rolleyes:
 
I do not like the taste of beer very much so it would not make sense for me to spend all of the time and money to brew my own unless I was giving it away to friends and family members. I do like apple ale though, so that one might be a winner with me. I just don't like major hangovers!
 
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