Home Brewing Beers and Stouts

[Lark]

This is something I've only gotten interested in recently after getting some old second hand books on the topic, it doesnt seem to be something which enters into more recent publishing too much at least not in a decent detail.

Anyone got any advice, websites, stories to share or recommended reads?

 

[slowriot]

I have none but Im interested aswell. Eventhough I live in an appartment.

 

[spin-1/2-nuclei]

My dad has done this for years and recently my friends and I have started doing this ourselves as well. It's fairly common around here for graduate students to brew their own stuff at home. I don't drink but I do enjoy cooking with my stuff.

The best advice I can give you is to take very detailed records in a notebook that you won't lose about every step in your process. Even where, how, and for how long you store the yeasts etc before you begin the process. Make sure that you write down everything, everything, everything! If you make something you like you'll want to be able to repeat it. So the temperature, color changes, lightening or lack there of, all of this is important to note.

Cleanliness is also extremely important, you must clean everything multiple times before reuse. Also depending on the type of beer you are interested in making you will need different things (yeast, hops, etc) - so if there is a local brewery that also sells yeast and equipment near by that would be the best place to go for advice. Books are okay, but you'll probably find that things don't work out quite right when you start customizing the recipe. This is something that takes a lot of detailed planning and patience.

 

[miss fortune]

I had an ex who decided to brew his own stout... the only problem being that he didn't like stouts

he also didn't have any bottles, so he paid for a friend and I to drink about 100 bottles of beer so that he could wash the bottles and use them for bottling

he had a book that he went by, I'll try to remember what it was called... I'm sure as hell not calling him and asking what it was called

 

[ragashree]

Wine is probably easier to get good results with, even *whispers it - home distilling of spirits!*. Actually, cider works extremely well too if you have access to a good apple supply and some way of pressing it. For beer you need to buy in a supply of raw materials which need to be carefully combined and treated to get a worthwhile result; I actually think if you're new to home brewing wines and ciders are probably easier, and more likely to produce something of a standard above the purchased product. Was it definitely beer you wanted to focus on at the moment?

I had an ex who decided to brew his own stout... the only problem being that he didn't like stouts

he also didn't have any bottles, so he paid for a friend and I to drink about 100 bottles of beer so that he could wash the bottles and use them for bottling

he had a book that he went by, I'll try to remember what it was called... I'm sure as hell not calling him and asking what it was called

Wow, that sounds like it must have been NASTY Was it really a chore drinking them all?

 

[Valiant]

I'd be interested in this in about ten years when I get a house.
After all, I need a few time-consuming hobbies meant for rural areas.

I'm definitely building a small sailing ship. But that's very direct.

This can be perfected. I like things that can be perfected.
I also like ale, stout and porter. Much.

I will subscribe to this thread and see what pops in.

 

[miss fortune]

Wow, that sounds like it must have been NASTY Was it really a chore drinking them all?

a chore?! no way! it was the most awesome couple of days ever! I was actually REQUESTED to be completely wasted!

then we also drank the stout, which turned out to be pretty good

 

[demimondaine]

will subscribe, am looking to do this!