Home Brewing, Making your own beer?

[pastradamus]

Just got a coopers brewing kit as I decided im sick shitless of paying over-the-odds for poor quality light lager (Budweiser, Coors, Miller, Heineken etc). I've decided to brew my own as I've tasted the product of my friends home brew lager and its pretty good stuff (full heavy body and a creamy head). Im going to try this Lager first and if it ferments correctly I may move onto more advanced stuff like the wheat beers afterwards.

Just wondering if anyone here has brewed at home before and what the results were like?

[danyboy27]

nope but i plan on making kvass someday.

[pastradamus]

nope but i plan on making kvass someday.

Then why not make it? Its a pretty nice soft drink and easy to make.

[Olentzero]

You'll want this (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Joy-Homebrewing-Third-null/dp/0060531053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327073559&sr=8-1). Worth every penny.

[pastradamus]

You'll want this (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Joy-Homebrewing-Third-null/dp/0060531053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327073559&sr=8-1). Worth every penny.

Now that is useful. I might just have to order that book sir. Cheers!

[danyboy27]

Then why not make it? Its a pretty nice soft drink and easy to make.

i am somehow scared to get food poisoning.

[hatzel]

I don't have that much experience with Coopers (when I brew 'from the pack' so to speak I tend to favour Brupaks, though if I remember their lager kit isn't anything special), but I've always found it perfectly palatable, and it's pretty difficult to go too far wrong, particularly with a lager. That said, you might want to experiment with a few other kits on later batches, to find one that best suits your fancy.

I might suggest trying some non-lager kits, too (if you aren't versatile in your tastes there are plenty of light or gold ales that lager-drinkers generally get along with), based merely on the details of the brewing process and the potential limitations of a home brewery. Whilst a lager definitely benefits from being brewed at a low temperature which you may not be able to replicate at home (that isn't to say it won't still be good, of course, just not perfect), I find these light ales are generally more forgiving, so you might be more likely to get the best out of such a beer.

[pastradamus]

I don't have that much experience with Coopers (when I brew 'from the pack' so to speak I tend to favour Brupaks, though if I remember their lager kit isn't anything special), but I've always found it perfectly palatable, and it's pretty difficult to go too far wrong, particularly with a lager. That said, you might want to experiment with a few other kits on later batches, to find one that best suits your fancy.

I might suggest trying some non-lager kits, too (if you aren't versatile in your tastes there are plenty of light or gold ales that lager-drinkers generally get along with), based merely on the details of the brewing process and the potential limitations of a home brewery. Whilst a lager definitely benefits from being brewed at a low temperature which you may not be able to replicate at home (that isn't to say it won't still be good, of course, just not perfect), I find these light ales are generally more forgiving, so you might be more likely to get the best out of such a beer.


Thanks for the advice comrade. I've been told that ales come out best by a few friends but im not an ale drinker so im brewing lager at the moment. Im now four days into fermentation and my hydrometer readings are pretty good. Im also getting good levels of Krausen, so everything is good thus far. The tempretures here in Ireland are cold to mild at the moment so its no problem getting lager temps (50-60F) its just a case of wait and see now in a couple of days.

[Rooster]

We tried making our own wine with out of those home kits. It was awful. I think the main problem was the low quality of the stuff. Most of the bottles went undrunk and eventually mould started to grow in them (didn't wash the bottles out properly). We then tried to brew our own meade with honey and bread yeast. The results were terrible. It must have had more methanol than ethanol in it cause it gave us terrible headaches after half a glass (I still had seconds though cause that's how I roll). Lucky we didn't go blind from it.

[Welshy]

My father brews in sparetime (he's won some awards) and for this next batch he got recipes from here: http://hopville.com/

Each recipe also comes with comments from the person who submitted it.

[MegaBrah]

Alcohol sucks, but if you insist on killing yourself just pay for some cans you cheap bastard :)