Brewing beer (is it easier than I think)?

[Hello]

You're going to make beer! Yay!

 

[Pyg]

I would start with hoppy beers or darker beers. Both are more forgiving than lighter beers, where off flavors come front and center.

Agree, don't over think beer making. Its a lot of fun and not that difficult to make good beer.

Going with the above advice what would be a good starting beer?

My 3 favorite beers are:
Cream ale
Stout
IPA

Would one of those varieties been good to start with?

 

[solbes]

All 3 should be fairly forgiving. I'd go with the IPA first. Look for a recipe that has late boil additions of hops (where most hops are added with less than 20 minutes, even after flameout is okay).

Stouts are not too difficult either. Look for a recipe that uses roasted barley as a steeping grain (Northern Brewer's Irish Dry Stout for example). The onlything more difficult for this than the IPA is that you first hold water at 150F for a period of time with the steeping grain to extract color/flavor).

 

[Gavin C]

Going with the above advice what would be a good starting beer?

My 3 favorite beers are:
Cream ale
Stout
IPA

Would one of those varieties been good to start with?

I would start with a darker beer. A brown a porter or a stout would be good and can be forgiving of errors. I found the kits from Northern Brewer to be excellent. You can look at some of the threads on how people brew and these may highlight equipment you are lacking.

I started with partial mashes; ( a mix of grains and extract) as many before have and now utilize BIAB. ( a simple all grain methodology). This is outlined in my thread below which might give you a feel for the methods. There are lots of ways to skin the brewing cat however and this forum is the place to learn.

Best of luck and I wish you every success

 

[fosaisu]

I agree that starting with the IPA or stout makes sense, lots of strong flavors there to cover up mistakes your first time out.

Only other thing -- as others have noted you can make beer with the largest pot you currently own and dilute with water at the end to hit your target volume. But if you're going to buy a new pot just for brewing, I'd recommend going with a 10 gallon. Sounds huge I know but once you add 6.5 gallons of water (you start with more to account for boil off), malt extract, and then start tossing in hops or other additions that can lead to significant foam-up, it's very nice to have some extra room in the pot to work with.

 

[fuelish]

Yeah, brewing beer (the initial brewing preocess) is more involved time-wise than wine making (ingredients, more equipment to clean at the end of brewday/night, etc), but the positive trade-off is you end up with a fresh drinkable product after a few to several weeks, as opposed to "the wait" for wine to fully age....in all fairness, not a winemaker here, but I spend my time doing meads these days (wine, mead, close enough for the comparison to beer brewing)....you've already developed the patience/skills/knowledge of a winemaker, I'd presume, so going over to beer should really be no big deal other than perhaps needing some additional equipment....neither is rocket science, really, and most beers have a relatively quick turnaround to ready-to-drink, compared to wine/mead. Enjoy your new hoppy pursuit

 

[bragona71]

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?????? GO BREW SOME DAM BEER ALREADY!!!!!
have fun and read read read.. everthing you need to know is right here on HBT

 

[fuelish]

.....
have fun and read read read.. everthing you need to know is right here on HBT

Agreed this is a helluva site with some mighty knowledgeable folks willing to help ya out

 

[Gavin C]

I have been making wine for the last 10 years.
I make about 30 gallons a year of "grape" wine
I make another 12 to 20 or Skeeter Pee, mixed Berry, Cider etc.....

The problem is I am mainly a beer/whiskey drinker, more so than wine. Wine is good in the cold of winter, but sometimes you just have to have an IPA or 2.

So I have started to consider brewing beer. However I have 2 issues,
1- I am absolutely ignorant of the process
2- I really can not afford any new equipment.

As to the 1st point, I am sure if I were to buy a kit, the instructions would walk me through it.

as to the second, I have 6 gallon carboys, 5g carboys, 3 gallons and 1gallons, a 6.5 gallon brew bucket and vacuum pump, oak barrel, etc...etc...

However I am not sure if I have a pot that would hold 5 gallons, but I imagine I could get my hands on one.

But it is my simple understanding that you boil all the ingredients from a kit or otherwise, cool it down in an ice bath, fill the carboy and ferment to dry.
You then let it clear and carbonate and bottle. (dont get me started on my fear of trying to carbonate. coming from a wine background I try to avoid re-fermentation).

Is there any equipment that I would need to purchase that I might not already have? (capper and bottle tops are on my list, as I am going to use them to bottle my Cider).

Any words of encouragement?
Are kits a good way to start?
Or just follow a recipe?

Is it as difficult as wine brewing and aging?

Thanks for all the likes Pyg. Hope you found my thread of some use. Thanks for reading.