Homebrew.

[Chigworthy]

My dad's old homebrewing rig had been in my attic for a few years, weighing on my mind. Well, I finally knocked the dust off and brewed my first batch last night. 5 gallons of British Pale Ale is bubbling away in the primary fermenter right now. How will I wait for it to finish?

It was a lot of fun. Anyone who enjoys cooking, beer, and a degree of self-suffiency would probably find the process just as enjoyable. Because I had the equipment, it only cost me 33 bucks for the ingredients, enough to make 50-55 12 ouncers. I did see equipment kits for $100-$300.

Anyway, anyone else make beer, or even wine or mead? If not, quote what I said about brewing my first batch last night, and make a sexual innuendo. I'm excited.

[DarkHippie]

Me and my brother brew our own beer using a kit from mrbeer.com. the beer is fantastic. nothing like a nice, fresh, beer

[Brad_Rush]

I used to brew a few years ago, but I haven't found the time to do it for a while. Nothing quite like the smell of fresh hops!

[Ritalin]

I've bartended in 2 brewpubs: Goose Island in Chicago and the defunct Zip City in Midtown, and all you homebrew guys would always come in and ask me a million questions, with your flannel shirts and suspenders and weird beards.

I know my mash tun from my lauder tun, but it was too much.

You know, you have to name your beer. That's half the fun.

[furie]

i've been homebrewing for about a year now, actually, i really need to start a new batch.
i get my supplies from a place in Northport.

[Mullenax]

We've been homebrewing since college because in Maryland you can buy all the raw ingredients before you're 21. It's a tasty loophole! The gear was grandpa's, and we never had any bottles explode during the carbonation period, but he warns us about it a lot.

Have you named your private beer label yet? Ours is Buffalo Explosion, or something, and we make IPAs.

[marcpsych]

I've bartended in 2 brewpubs: Goose Island in Chicago and the defunct Zip City in Midtown, and all you homebrew guys would always come in and ask me a million questions, with your flannel shirts and suspenders and weird beards.

I know my mash tun from my lauder tun, but it was too much.

You know, you have to name your beer. That's half the fun.

Weird beards...very funny!

These are the same people who make their own honey and then put roadkill in their backyards to be "cleaned" by bugs and such.

[Tallman388]

I keep telling myself I'm going to start homebrewing every spring, so I finally found something to waste my rebate money on. I've also been listening to a podcast from The Brewing Network. For radio, it stinks. But, they have good interviews with brewers and good information for advanced brewing once you work your way up to that point.

[DolaMight]

I know my mash tun from my lauder tun, but it was too much.

You know, you have to name your beer. That's half the fun.

I've done beer but I hate dealing with carbonation. Always comes out flat.

I've just finished 46 litres of red wine using a 2x23L Costco kit that costs 45 bones. Took about a month and a bit and came out great. Here in metric land a retail bottle of wine is about 9$ for a 750ml bottle, so in comparison I make 61 bottles at a cost of 75 cents a bottle.

It comes with corks and labels but bottling's too much work so I just use empty plastic 2L pepsi bottles.

As for a fancy name I label my bottles in french of course: JUMBO VIN on a plain white label.

[Chigworthy]

My dad gave me his old labels that he made, so I will continue the "Ridge Rooter" brand. The mascot is a wild pig that my dad drew (he's an artistic gentleman).

[bossdjbware]

My buddy's brew just about every week. They're constantly experimenting with new flavors and methods. Even started a garden last year for fresh hop beers. They made my wife and I a special brew for our wedding, the "Dirty Sanchez".

Check out their MySpace - 1615 Brewing (http://www.myspace.com/brew1615). There's pics and blogs about what's brewing.

[furie]

actually, i really need to start a new batch

That was taken out of context!

[Chigworthy]

Update:

First batch was great. The British Pale Ale is a decent summer beer, low on the hops, malty goodness, vastly different from American pales. I have 48 Belgian strong ales bottled, ready in about 5 days. I was using some old caps from my dad's stuff when I bottled it. The old caps have either gotten stiffer or the modern bottles I'm using are pussy, because I broke the rims off 4 bottles trying to cap 'em. I had two 12 ounce portions of flat Belgian because pieces of glass had gotten into them when the bottles broke. I didn't want to bottle ground glass, so I drank it that night, letting the glass settle out like yeast. Wow, they is strong.

Henry Rollins once said something about the self-righteous power of making yourself come, and catching a buzz off of something you made is akin to that. Your destiny is in your hands.