Winemaker wants to Brew Beer!

[scdigger]

Hey guys,

I've been making wine for a number of years. But have never brewed beer. I'm ready! I have all of my winemaking equipment (carboys, siphones, fermenters, etc. etc.)...so, I'm assuming I'm going to basically need bottles and ingredients...is it recommended to use an ingredient kit? (remember, I've never done this!)...my favorite over-the-counter beer is Sam Adams Boston Lager, so what kind of beer would be best to fit my taste...

Thanks for ANY input you guys may lend!

Greg

 

[Xpertskir]

You'll need a pot and heat source powerful enough to get 3-6.5 gallons to a rolling boil depending if you do full volume or partial volume.

You would be starting with extract beers and a kit is your best bet. Not all kits of ingredient qualities are created equal, IMO northern brewer offers some of the best kits around.

A lager is far more advanced than ales, and requires more time and equipment. You should definitely start with an ale and likely an amber is going to be to your tastes.

Two things to be particularly aware of is the amount of yeast you pitch and the temperature of the wort while its fermenting(not the ambient air temp). Beer is more particular than wine in this respect. I would recommend the dry yeast option for added simplicity at first.

 

[mcangeli]

Pick up this book : Complete Joy of Homebrewing

Read it.

It will answer all your questions.

I will say, having just started brewing both wine and beer, I'd brew beer any day over wine (outside of the fact that I like it more). getting the Must started for wine is easier in a lot of regards (no boiling, etc...) but the work that goes in to it after that...

I would echo Xpertskir and say that an extract kit is going to be the best way to go. Midwest Supplies has an Irish Ale for $27 that's excellent.

 

[masterfool101]

I also HIGHLY recommend HOW TO BREW by John Palmer . . .

IMO, It's better than the Complete Joy . . . but opinions vary. I've read both. They're both incredibly helpful. Reading them will answer about 85% of the questions you'll have.

DO keep in mind that brewing techniques change with time. As our equipment and understanding of the ingredients/process improve, so, too, do our methods. So even after reading the books, come back here and learn more from the great brewers on this forum.

 

[STEVESKI]

I also HIGHLY recommend HOW TO BREW by John Palmer . . .

IMO, It's better than the Complete Joy . . . but opinions vary. I've read both. They're both incredibly helpful. Reading them will answer about 85% of the questions you'll have.

DO keep in mind that brewing techniques change with time. As our equipment and understanding of the ingredients/process improve, so, too, do our methods. So even after reading the books, come back here and learn more from the great brewers on this forum.

On that note...you can also read the original version of the book for free here: http://www.howtobrew.com I read through that first and then just did a lot of browsing on here to come up with my own instruction sheet for my first batch.

 

[vNmd]

I did the same sort of thing, wines to beer. I did a few extract kits and am hoping to go AG soon. If you want to do lagers you will need even more equipment (cooler temps for fermentation. I just had a freezer delivered this morning and a temperature controller to set the temps to what I want. One thing that might help is reading the instructions for the different kits. Both Midwest & Northern have links to pdf versions of instructions that come with the kits. It was kind of nice to read over them a few times before I bought or started anything. Good luck!

 

[Conan]

I seem to remember reading on here that cross-using vessels (buckets especially) for both wine and beer is a bad idea. Glass, I would assume, is fine for both but wine staining of the buckets can cause problems with your beer. I'm not 100% on this having never tried wine making. Kyle