Hello fellow brewers

[perastikos]

Cheers guys.

I live in Greece and i'm new to brewing. I have a cousin that he is brewing wine every year, in large batches (around 2-3tons), once a year, from real grapes.
I have studied chemichal engineering but i haven't specific knowledge around brewing and drinks.
So one day my cousin asked me if i know how to make beer and if it would be possible to make.
So i started some research on the internet. Google pointed this community several times, i learned about beer kits, youtube also gave me great amount of information and at last yesterday i fired up my first homebrew.
It's a muntons weiss beer kit and it's all going quite well so far (i think).

Today i signed up here and i'm very glad to meet more people around the world with the same hobby, exchanging experiences and information.

I hope you are all well.

 

[Homercidal]

Welcome! Using a kit is a great way to get started. They are almost foolproof. If you get hooked on brewing, you will probably eventually want to brew with all grains, and it's a little bit more challenging, but still easy enough. Your cousin would probably find making beer a natural thing since it's only one step away from winemaking.

 

[Cyclman]

Welcome to the group, from CO. Are there great craft beers in Greece?

You're in the right forum, this is the best brewing community there is.

 

[perastikos]

Beer is not very spreaded in Greece.
People tend to drink beer mostly during summer time. The majority of the market share belongs to 1-2 big companies, that produce 1-2 lagers and some times some Pilsner. There are also a few microbreweries that follow the path of the big companies have chosen (lager-pilsner).
There are a few pubs, but the residents aren't experienced in beer and types of beer.
Here we brew mostly wine, traditionally for hundreds of years. Also there is a popular byproduct of grapes (spirit) called "tsipouro" or "tsikoudia" or "raki", that comes from distilation of fermented stems (i'm not very sure about the terms i'm using here). Ouzo has it's roots in tsipuro.

Coming back to beer, i like it very much, but i haven't tasted many beers and i don't know what to brew.
I have put up a batch of muntons wheat beer kit, and next i want to try at least a pilsner of some kind.

 

[Homercidal]

Pilsners are difficult. Any light lager is going to be just about the most difficult thing to make. The reason is that they require good temperature control. They are fermented at about 45-50F and then aged at about 35F for many weeks. Most people new to homebrewing don't have the equipment to make sure the beer stays at the proper temps. Other than that, the process is very similar to an ale, with only having to boil the wort a little longer and pitching more yeast being the only real differences. It's certainly a possibility if you can keep the beer at the right temp during the fermentation.

The wheat beer is a good starting point. They are easy to make. There is a wide range of beer colors and flavors to try. You might like to try a stout or Amber ale or IPA just to sample the rainbow, as it were.

 

[Psycotte]

Welcome Perastikos! These people here will have you addicted fast enough.

 

[perastikos]

Homercidal temperature control isn't difficult at all for me. I have knowledge of theory of thermal tranfer because of my university degree. Also I have the means to control the temperature, automation/refrigeration experience and most of all I'm eager to make something dufficult.
Applied science is always better than theory.
For now the most difficult thing for me is to understand the differences between styles of beer and learning specific brewing techniques.
That's where homebrewtalk comes in along with books online or printed.

Thsnk you all for welcoming me.

 

[Homercidal]

You're in great shape for just about anything you want to make then! Most ale recipes are very similar and easy to do. I recommend picking up a book called Brewing Classic Styles, or a book called Designing Great Beers. Both are full of information on MANY different beer styles. Designing Great Beers has a lot of detailed information on the styles, and the Brewing Classic Styles has very solid recipes.

Beyond that, you might consider finding some examples of the different styles, for tasting purposes.