Does anyone here know how to brew GOOD beer?
 

Could you please share your advice, hardware requirements, ingredients & sources for creating a fine home brew?

Here's some info. I don't brew beer myself so who knows if its good or bad, but good eats stuff for food is normally pretty good.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vlv1wBy7Z5w

for the hardware requirements a good quad core processor and 16gb ram

nah, I don't know but there's a million good websites dedicated to this...

Yeah I can go the normal routes for sure, just if someone popped up and said oh yeah you need this carboy this malt, these hops etc.. Someone who knows how to do it.

It is not hard and the equipment is pretty much the same for everyone. You should first describe the type of beer you like though since you asked for good beer.

You have your base equipment which can make all types. You then also have your ingrediants and your recipes which are used to make what your after. I mean typically you just would have say a 5-7 gallon fermentor bucket, another bucket with a spigot, (both should have locking lids), bottlefiller, thermometer, hydrometer, a fill kit, capper, bottlebrush, and some santizer. Oh yeah bottle's too. Yet that will not really get you that far until you say which type of beer you like.


That assumes you have a stainless boiling pot to cook in.

If you want to try it out, just get a Mr. Beer kit.

I got one of those as a gift from my brother. So far I've made two batches of beer in the 5 years that I've had it.

www.MrBeer.com

The first batch was an India pale ale that tasted great. I made a Hefeweizen style beer the second time and it was good but a bit flat.

You can't brew that kind of good beer. It will taste like shit.

Complete hassle to clean and sterilize the bottles too.

Honestly the youtube video helped to add a better perspective, thanks. After shock Media, I have all of the equipment that you mentioned except for the proper ferment buckets namely the one with a spigot. I felt that my earlier attempt was off because the 5 gallon glass carboys seem to used for wine more often than beer.

This has been the experience thus far, including the kit type brew at home or even these new 2 liter bottles that have a yeast in the cap. Supposed to make beer in a week or 2.

I literally puked from my brew of the latter creation. :drinkup

I have made beer before, I primarly make soda though - same equipment basically. Just like wine I am sure you figured out. I just do not drink alcohol much if at all.

OK that just sound crazy sick. I can understand making it but using such short cuts?

I've had good results with the microbrewery kit from Coopers.

http://www.makebeer.net

maybe if you drank a little you would pull that stick outta yer ass!

I got Mr. Beer from my girl and brewed a batch of pale ale... it turned out really good! Kinda strong too...

http://www.homebrewheaven.com

They have a great kit to get you started, I have http://store.homebrewheaven.com/shar...CS=hombre&All=

It works great, first few batches are a little tricky making sure everything in sanitized properly, but after that, all is good. It takes around 3 weeks or so to make it, and that kit will make you right around 60-70 bottles.

Everything you need

http://www.northernbrewer.com/

THey have a great forum as well

kits are nice

if you wanna do the proper way be prepared to be busy for a while to experiment, and work CLEAN otherwise your beer will end up like shit

To clarify yes it was gross, figured I should mention I had tried it out. That was not my original attempt in which I had purchased equipment such as carboy, bung, bottle capper & racking tube etc.

Thanks everyone for your links & tips! I must say northern brewer looks pretty promising.

While a bit over the top to start with, this system LOOKS cool if nothing else:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/pics/f...imate-beer.jpg

I have brewed beer at home for some time now and the best advice I can give you is to do 2 simple things: 1. Use liquid yeast that is fresh instead of dry yeast. 2. Clean your equipment before using it with a strong cleaner in order to kill any micro bacteria. Micro bacteria can turn the beer bad or give it a bad taste.

Other than that you can make better beer at home than you can buy in most cases with the basic starter kits.

my 2 cents

Its cool to do it, but maybe its just me, I prefer to go to the nearest Total Wine and choose from their vast selection of beers instead.

hm somehow i read this thread as "Does anyone here know how to grow a GOOD beard?"

I just finished another lager, I do all grain brewing

I'll post pics in a sec, it's pretty easy but you need to keep close attention to detail and clean your shit a lot.

haha, your second link is somethin else. It complains that I'm not accepting cookies (even though I am) then if I click "OK" it steals focus from GFY and loads in this window instead of continuing in the new window.

Here are some pics from a random brew day.

First you need to start off with enough product to make about 5 gallons which is 48 bottles or 2 cases.

And this will do it for a nice blonde ale with an almost pilsner taste




http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/1.jpg

Here is the mash tun and grain, basically a converted cooler.
It's where the grain and hot water mix to release the enzymes.



http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/2.JPG

http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/3.JPG

i understand the wish of brewing your own stuff when there's only Miller Lite or Corrs Lite available. but here i can choose from dozens of great beers in any supermarket or restaurant - why should i waste my time like that ;)))

next I heat up the water to around 170 degrees.
I mix it with the grain and stir it really well until the whole thing hits 152-154 degrees.
When it does, I close it up and let it sit for an hour.
This is how the exact the sugars from the grains.
Too cold and it wont extract, too hot and you will get off tastes.





http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/4.JPG

http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/5.JPG

http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/6.JPG

A homebrewer can make a beer far superior to 99% of what you can buy in a store.
Mass production can fuck a beer over badly.

Im talking all grain brewing, no shitty kit beers

After an hour I start to extract the "wort".

It's basically pure sugar at this point, but notice I got the color right on it looks like.






http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/7.JPG

http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/8.JPG

http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/9.JPG

http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/10.JPG

next I start the wort boiling and add hops.

I'm adding cascade and saaz hops for this recipe.
I like saaz hops for the bitter and cascades for the aroma.
So I will boil the saaz hops a full 60 minutes and add the cascade hops in around the last 15 minutes of the boil.





http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/11.JPG


http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/12.JPG

after the boil is done, I start cooling the wort by adding cold water then I put it in the fermenting bucket.

Then I put it in the bathtub to bring the temp. down to about 68 degrees.
When it gets to the right temp. I add yeast to start the process.




http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/13.JPG


http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/14.JPG

All you really need is a carboy, large stock pot, thermometer, 5 gal food grade bucket and tubing, no rinse sterilizer and bottles to start.
Ingredients change depending on the type of beer you like and your skill level. (extract, partial mash, or all grain brewing) A local brew shop will be the best place for information.
I have been brewing since 98 and if you are experiencing off flavors then you are not sterilizing everything. Sterilization is key.
If you have any specific questions feel free to contact me.

Oatmeal Stout brewed this past Dec.
http://goodreverend.com/Pic/Mug2.JPG
In Carboy
http://goodreverend.com/Pic/carboy.JPG

here it is the next day, lid on with airlock bubbling away as the yeast eats the sugar and creates the alcohol.

Takes about a week then I will move it to a secondary fermenter to clarify for 2 weeks.




http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/15.JPG

So after fermentation is done, altogether about 3 weeks, I bottle the beer and add some sugar to each bottle.

This will eat residual yeast in the beer and create a natural carbonation. This finishes in about 2 to 3 weeks and your beer is good to go.



Here is the finished product.
It was very clear, hard to tell because the glass was fogged and cold.
Color was perfect and the taste was a cross between almost an amber ale taste and a pilsner urequell. Very eastern european taste with the saaz hops.




http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/16.jpg


http://shawinternet.com/shok/beer/17.jpg