newbie

I am thinking about buying a Home Brewing Beer Machine 2006 with Bottling Kit.

I've had success with the beer machine a few years ago brewing but I had trouble with the carbonation dispenser.

1. I didn't know if I needed to add carbon.
2. When I added a bottle the keg/dispenser seal would break.

I think I want to try again this time brewing and then sending the beer to bottles driectly. I've never done this before.

I think I like the idea of P.e.t Bottles and caps. To brew beer all I need to do is:

1. to sanitize the beer machine with water and bleach
2. add the mix and water.
3. Let the mix brew for 7 - 14 days.

Is this correct so far? Now to bottle:

4. do I need to add the priming sugar ? If so how? I was thinking is there enough carbon produced during the brewing ? or do I just add a few squirts of c02 via the dispenser to the keg before filling my bottles?

5. sanitize the bottles and caps & filling tube.
6. add the beer to the bottles.
7. Just twist on the caps?

is this all I have to do?

are Pet bottles caps a good way to go?

Can I sanitize by washing in bleach & water & then a hot rinse in the dishwasher?

Thank you

Ok, I'm not gonna answer your question, but instead pose one for you to consider.
How much space do you have to work with?

I've seen those beer machine 2000/mr.beer/et al....they are cute and functional...but if you have the space for a couple 5 gallon buckets, I would simply go for a beginner beer kit from a local home brew shop (or an online one). Main reason is you get a little more for your money, and you're not stuck with proprietary hardware.

the only reason I'd use one of those 2.5 gallon setups is if you really wanted a super portable keg system, and/or just don't have any room for 'normal' extract brewing equipment.

to answer a few of your questions though:

get a no-rinse sanitizer, like star-san or one-step. bleach is fine for some stuff, but its sorta 'old school' in my opinion.

CO2 is produced during fermentation, but you're venting it, so the beer is not carbonated at bottling time...hence the need for priming sugar, or force carbonation with a CO2 system (kegging of some sort)

caps for screw on bottle tops...need to seal VERY tightly, or your CO2 for carbonation will simply escape.

Right, if you have the room you may want to reconsider. I toyed with this idea when I started. There's a pretty good book called Basic Homebrewing by Jim Parker. If I recall the beer machine was about $100. I think you could probably get a good starter set for that ; you may want to replace the plastic with a glass carboy. You'll have a lot more options like creating a starter yeast. Also read up on how to use Iodopher for sanitizing and b-brite for cleaning. Bottle cappers are really cheap and IMHO are a must vs. screw on.
Anyway, goof luck.

_________

Kegged : American Wheat
Secondary: Kolsch

I'd agree with the other two guys. If you are even semi-serious about making beer, you should consider getting a five gallon starter kit. Not sure what you are paying for the beer machine, but from what I've seen they cost about a hundred bucks.

You can get a basic starter kit for less than that. Also most of the mixes they sell are overpriced compared to what you can get for five gallon batches.

Whatever you decide Good Luck. You'll have fun either way.

I had a Beer Machine and I made two batches of mediocre beer. The bottling instructions come with the bottling kit- you have to use that platform they provide and follow their directions to get it to carbonate. I couldn't figure it out, so I just drank it via the tap. Good luck with it! (I felt that I wasted $85, but maybe you'll find it works better for you.)

Hey, Thanks for the starting info. I will be back in the future. I was not impressed by my old beer machine. It was great. I made beer, but then the seal on my co2 dispener would break.

I think I found another kit:

http://makebeer.net/kit.asp

I think maybe I will try that as they offer 30 bottles, cleaner, carbonation drops, & an instructional video. They also have a wheat beer kit I would like to try. Does this look like an okay start.

I have taken note that you do not like the twist bottles. I will consider the bottles in the kit as just starter bottles to begin the hobby. I will also do more reading of the forums regarding sanitation.

The sanitation is not that difficult is it? I was thinking of just mixing up a batch in a kettle with distilled water & just pouring or dipping. I mean the first batch the eqiipment is not soiled so there will be no scrubbing.

& I was thinking that after dipping my bottles that I would just place them down in the dishwasher rack until use.

I was wondering about the fermenting keg. After my first batch do I have to clean the keg or can I just start another batch?

I think that is all for now. I need to gather my equipment & read the kit guides.

I have one of those Cooper's micro-brew kits, its pretty easy to make beer with it. But you're probably going to want to have a carboy/secondary and a bottling bucket too, so you might as well just go to the home brew store and get a starter kit from there.

The bottles that come with that kit are exactly as you said - starter bottles. You'll have just enough bottles to bottle your first batch of beer that comes with the kit. Still its nice to have the plastic bottles because you'll want to give some beers away to your friends and family and you can keep your good glass bottles for yourself.

Don't get me wrong, its a pretty cool kit to have, and I've been seriously thinking about getting another one.

What I really think you should do is this: Find a local home brew store and go there and check it out before you spend any money online. Just see what they have and compare. For the price of a microbrew kit, you can get a bucket fermenter, glass carboy secondary, bottling bucket, and a couple of ingredient kits. And you'll have a higher brewing capacity with a beer bucket or ale pail kit since you can have a batch in the secondary with a batch in the fermenter at the same time.

You should at least go look at it and check it out.

want to have a carboy/secondary and a bottling bucket

Click to expand...

I hear what you are saying.

I wonder is there a reason for the second carboy and the bucket v.s. the drops?

My guess would be better tasting beer.. no brainer right?

But I'm a pure novice. Don't know much about beer except I don't like bud, coors, or any light beer. I guess I'm looking for a certain flavor.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=6874

This is the same price as the coppers but with out the beer or bottles but you get a capper and the bottling bucket

I was wondering why the beer kits on midwestsupplies call to steep the beer in a stainless kettle while the kits from coopers you just add the lager & sugar into the fermenting keg, add boiling water and stiir. Wait for the mixture to cool and then add the yeast.

Don't let the lack of experience scare you away. If you even remotely think you might be interested in brewing 5gallon batches, do it. You will not regret it.

Can you boil water, can you follow a recipe? I'll bet the answer is yes. You can make beer.

Get your Brew on.

Happy5000 said:

I was wondering why the beer kits on midwestsupplies call to steep the beer in a stainless kettle while the kits from coopers you just add the lager & sugar into the fermenting keg, add boiling water and stiir. Wait for the mixture to cool and then add the yeast.

Click to expand...

The Coopers kit looks like a no-boil kit. All you do is mix the ingredients together in the fermenter and add yeast. The kit from MidWest requires you to boil the malt extract and hops on the stove before adding them to the fermenter. I've never used a no-boil kit like the Coopers, only the kind you boil like from MidWest. Boiling is easy and fun, and makes great beer.

The kit from MidWest looks like a great way to start. I'd recommend you get it, and also take some time to read the book How To Brew, by John Palmer. The first edition is available online for free at www.howtobrew.com.

If you have any questions, post them here on HBT and lots of people will try to help you out.