Going to try brewing beer, help!

Caultahgew · Jul 18, 2012

Hey everyone. I was doing temp work at a brewery today and I asked one of the employees if he knew how to brew his own beer. He said, "yeah, it works out to about $20 for 48 beers".

He said all I would need is:

- A pail (optional if it is sealed or not. Sealing it can help make the yeast create carbonation naturally or unsealed and inject it with CO2)
- Water
- Apple juice
- Yeast

He didn't go into very many details cause it was loud in the brewery but the most I got out of it was mix the ingredients together, let it sit for 2 weeks, then drink it.

After researching a bit I've noticed there are special tips and tricks and stuff to get the best beer. But since this is my first time, I don't want the "Best" beer.

I was wondering if anyone had a good easy recipe to do for a first time brew. Nothing fancy, I'm not looking for the most amazing flavor. I just want to try it out, learn a bunch about how to do it, then from there I will start trying to perfect the recipe, trying different things etc.

Thanks!

homebrewdad · Jul 18, 2012

Technically, that's not beer - that's cider or apfelwine.

You're not going to naturaly carb anything in a bucket. You can add a bit of sugar once fermentation is done, then bottle, and it will carb up there - but your bucket will explode before the drink carbs in it.

jonmohno · Jul 18, 2012

You have quite a journey ahead of you,friend. You need barley to make beer though.Crushed too and steeped for an hour,or barley extract. You could go with some "hops" too.

Caultahgew · Jul 18, 2012

jonmohno said:
You have quite a journey ahead of you,friend. You need barley to make beer though.Crushed too and steeped for an hour,or barley extract.

I "Need" barley?

http://www.chow.com/food-news/55536/how-to-brew-small-batch-beer-in-your-kitchen/2/

arnoldk2 · Jul 18, 2012

Dude, just get some LME (liquid malt extract) dump it in some boiling water and add some hops. That is as easy as it gets. This should take you less than 2 hours to brew. Add yeast and wait a couple weeks. that beer won't be carbonated but is drinkable. If you don't want to invest in bottles, caps and a capper then just pretend it is a very flat cask ale and drink from the bucket.

Caultahgew · Jul 18, 2012

arnoldk2 said:
Dude, just get some LME (liquid malt extract) dump it in some boiling water and add some hops. That is as easy as it gets. This should take you less than 2 hours to brew. Add yeast and wait a couple weeks. that beer won't be carbonated but is drinkable. If you don't want to invest in bottles, caps and a capper then just pretend it is a very flat cask ale and drink from the bucket.

now THAT is what I'm talking about.