What makes a beer hard to make

I was just wondering what makes some beers harder to make than another one.

It all boils down to time or money or a combination of the two. You can brew just about anything but you have to be willing to spend one or the other or both.

If you can be more specific, then so can I.

Lighter or delicate beers arent necessarily harder to make, it is just easier to hide off flavors behind giant malt or hop bombs. Also, big beers often require special techniques to get high attenuation by the yeast so that the beer is dry by the time it is finished. Pitch the proper amount of yeast and ferment at consistent temperatures and you are most of the way there...

some beers require unusual temperature control process. some can be brewed entirely with extract or extract-with-grain others really should be partial mashed or all grain. lagers need to be held at very low temps and will be awful if brewed at ale temps.

I'd say hops make it either harder, or easier. A simple single hop beer with one addition is easier than a complex multi-hop, multi-addition schedule.

Or, you can say all-grain is harder than extract.

But for me, it's not hard to brew - especially when I'm drinking the final product.

They are just more complex in one or more aspects. For instance I am buying ingredients to make Tasty's APA - which, including mash hopping and dry hopping has 11 hop additions consisting of seven different hop varieties. The additions during the boil must be added rather accurately in both time and quantity to ensure the correct qualities are added to the beer. Fermentation temperature schedules can be complex as well. I know when I am brewing 12 gallons of an "advanced" all-grain recipe, I am pretty busy the whole time.

ok that last one seems pretty complicated. What does it take to make a dark beer something like Guinness. Is that tough (alot of money or time)? And does any body have any tips of where online i can buy a kit or ingredients to make it.

immcpat said:

ok that last one seems pretty complicated. What does it take to make a dark beer something like Guinness. Is that tough (alot of money or time)? And does any body have any tips of where online i can buy a kit or ingredients to make it.

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Not hard to make but expensive to dispense properly. You need a stout faucet and beer gas, if you want it like you get at a pub.

immcpat said:

ok that last one seems pretty complicated. What does it take to make a dark beer something like Guinness. Is that tough (alot of money or time)? And does any body have any tips of where online i can buy a kit or ingredients to make it.

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Only if you can't use a stop watch , don't be intimidated, it's not as hard as it sounds.

Guinness isn't hard to brew. Check with Austin Homebrew Supply. They can send you a complete mini-mash kit to brew it. To do a real clone you might want to check the mineral content of your local water and make any additions necessary to match the water profile Guinness uses. The guys at AHS can help with that too. To me, it doesn't get challenging until I try for a Belgian Trappist Ale.

John

immcpat said:

ok that last one seems pretty complicated. What does it take to make a dark beer something like Guinness. Is that tough (alot of money or time)? And does any body have any tips of where online i can buy a kit or ingredients to make it.

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here you go: http://ebrew.com/dark_ale/irish_dry_stout.htm

Just got this kit for Xmas. I hope to brew it this week.

I'm a firm believer that anything can be made or replicated. It all comes down to ingredients, money, attention to detail, and equipment.
If you are trying to clone a beer from a certain company, there are a LOT of variables that are secret. What type of grain do they use? What is their water like? What temperatures do they mash/ferment? What strains of yeast? Etc.

I will venture to say that someone has made a beer that is "better" (its all opinionated) that any commercial offering of the same style.

wildwest450 said:

Only if you can't use a stop watch , don't be intimidated, it's not as hard as it sounds.

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Exactly. It's not "hard" it is just more complicated. More steps and more attention to detail. None of it is difficult, just some beers have more things to do than others.

use the search function here to find biermunchers dry stout(recipe section). its a pretty spot on for guinness.

as for what is needed that is one loaded question but look at midwestsupplies or austinhomebrew for their starter kits. keep in mind that they don't include a boiling kettle and you might need to source one locally.

Don't even concern yourself with needing beer gas or water quality. Just get a kit for a dry Irish stout. It won't be like identical to Guiness, but it will be in the same family of beers.

+1 on Austin Homebrew

Buy a starter equipment kit, a cheap 3 gallon pot, and an extract kit for the beer of your choice. You are looking at a $150ish invesment to get started.

You won't regret it.