I want to start brewing beer

[whitesheperd]

Can I use plastic beer bottles to carbonize? Like when I add the prime sugar then bottle, will the beer bottles expand and explode because it's plastic?


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[Qhrumphf]

A lot of folks use PET bottles (basically soda bottles). They're capable of holding pressure, but I've never used them and don't know how much. Presumably as long as you're not overpriming or doing something else wrong to cause too high of a pressure level, PET bottles should be find.

 

[whitesheperd]

What about capping them??


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[Qhrumphf]

I don't know the mechanics of how they refrain from leaking, but they're screw top like a regular soda bottle.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/amber-500-ml-pet-bottles-case-of-24.html

 

[whitesheperd]

So when capping them u just screw the lid on?


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[Qhrumphf]

So when capping them u just screw the lid on?


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That's what I'm lead to believe, but once again I've never used them so I don't know for sure. Perhaps someone who has can confirm.

 

[bernardsmith]

Whitesheperd, Hi, I've been reading these posts and it seems to me that it might be very useful for you to do one of two things - You could check out the address of the nearest local home-brew store (LHBS ) and pop in and chat with the owner or those working there. They can perhaps more easily answer your questions and you can see what the different grains and adjuncts look like.
The other thing you might do is go the the American HomeBrewers Association website. They have really good (IMO) instructions to help beginners and even more experienced brewers. Like others suggested you should also try to get your hands on Palmer's - How to Brew and Papazian's The Joy of Home Brewing. Both contain basic information as well as much more information than you really need at this time.

That said, my suggestion would be to start small with a kit or two (like wine kits) and then progress on to making beer using extracts as the base and then perhaps move on to making beer from whole grains. Now, I am a complete novice when it comes to beer but I have made one beer from whole grains and one beer from extracts and adjuncts and have made one kit and I can say that making beer from whole grains is not any more difficult than making beer from a kit BUT it is far, far more labor intensive and to make five gallons of beer properly from grains and not extracts you really need several LARGE kettles and a really good heat source and a really good method of cooling five or six gallons of wort (the beer) very rapidly. Wine and cider are far more forgiving than beer and far more tolerant of errors you are likely to make. You won't ever scorch your fruit making wine. You won't ever have a boil- over making mead. You won't ever add too much or too little liquid to extract enough of the sugars in your cider.
Now, if you read Palmer and Papazian you can (I think) realize how easy it is to make one gallon versions of five gallon recipes... and that would enable you to try out different recipes and see how different adjunct grains affect color and flavor, how different hops affect the flavor, how different base extracts or grains produce different kinds of beer.

 

[whitesheperd]

.

 

[whitesheperd]

I'll just stick with making a five gallon extract kit, only having to boil in a bag with grains once, and then bring to a boil while adding extracts and storing it. Seems pretty easy rather than grains for my first time


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