Hello Hello,
From a previous thread I know there are a handful of brewers in the board.
I thinking about getting into it this summer and was wondering a couple things,
I’ve heard alot of people talk about chemistry backgrounds, is this a necessity?
Is there a book or other resource that is a must-have for the beginning homebrewer? Straightforward, easy to understand.
Thank you!
Chemistry background isn’t necessary…really. Sanitation and patience are.
As for books, that depends on what you want to brew…beer, wine, mead? I’m primarily a mead brewer, so if you want beer or wine, someone else should probably chime in. I did find “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” very helpful, even if the pictures do look like they were taken in the 70’s
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060531053/002-3493614-5941658
Chemistry background? No. Though you can get really involved if you are interested, most brewer’s handbooks give you all the background you really need.
Good books? I’ve been out of the hobby for a long time, so I’ll let someone who’s more current answer that one. Your best bet is to find a brewing supply store and talk to the owner.
The basic process is pretty simple - really, it’s all about cleanliness and good ingredients. Given those, you should be able to brew some really decent beer the first time out. And as you get more practiced, be able to fine-tune your recipes to match your personal taste.
Have fun!
Nuts and Nuts!
That’s good to know, I wasn’t particularly fond of chemistry… well I wasn’t particularly fond of my chemistry teacher actually, I’m sure chemistry is a blast… ahem, sorry. :roll:
Yes, I had beer in mind.
This is a favorite first book of many.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060531053/qid=1112240004/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-2861969-9297416?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
It was my first. I bought a couple more, but got most of what I learned out of a magazine called Zymergy.
I figure I made about 150 five gallon batches befor I gave it up. It was a fantastic hobby befor I got into computers. Often in the winter I’d have two or three batches of lager going in a cool room, with ales going in the living room, where it stayed warm.
The big thing is keeping everything clean and sanitized. The book leaves few mysteries.
Thanks vomitbunny, that’s what I was looking for.
Will homebrewing shoot my parents’ electricity bills through the roof?
That’s probably a much more important question.
No. You’ll start out brewing from kits, and take about an hour or so to boil, although you can get by with less with a ready made fully hopped can kit. Although cleaning and bottling are rather labor intensive, it really doesn’t take that much hot water. Probably not much more than running an extra load of dishes or two.
Start with a ready to go can kit. Either get two cans, or buy extra malt to use in place fo the two pounds of sugar most kits call for. It’s worth it, tastewise.
The book will pretty much explain what I just said about the extra malt.
BTW, I used to keep a “house brew” around that was just a brown ale made with some dark and crystal malts, and a couple of cans of Blue Ribbon malt.
You may have seen these in the grocery and remember old timers that beer with it in thier basements. The truth is, using proper recipes, you can make damn fine beer with it.
I moved on to my own recipes adding my own hops and specialty malts, experimenting with different yeast, and finally a few batches with only grain malt, no malt extract. I would up falling back to the house brew made with either Laanglander malt extract, or very often Blue Ribbon extract.
It’s very easy at first, and you can make very very good beer without going much past the beginner’s stage.
You just need to be careful who you let know where your still is… it can save you time… five years in the case of one of my relatives. 
I’ll second all of Vommie’s comments. Find a good homebrewing shop and ask them for advice. You can get up and running for less than $75, including ingredients for a first batch. This will also include equipment like a vermenting bucket, bottling bucket, air lock, etc that you can use repeatedly. This was my favorite hobby (hence the Brewerpaul name) until I discovered whistlemaking. Care in sanitation is paramount, as already mentioned. With relatively little effort, you can brew beer as good as anything from your favorite brewpub and WAY better than the big label commercial swill.
One hint-- as a beginner, you won’t have the patience to wait and taste that first beer until it has matured long enough. Recipes often say that the beer tastes great in two weeks, but I never liked any of mine for about a month. When it comes time to bottle the beer, bottle up one or two in plastic screw top bottles and use those to sneak your little tastes. YOu’ll be surprised how the taste changes every couple of days. BTW-- you can bottle in one or two litre plastic bottles which saves lots of time and effort and is great for bringing homebrew to parties. You sanitize them just like glass bottles, except you don’t boil the caps.
All the instruction for brewing I ever got was making a batch or two with a friend. No chemistry. In addition to the Papazian book, you might want to check out brewery.org .
VB’s advice is very good – the most important thing is, don’t follow the directions on the kit. There are some very good kits – after 15 years, I still brew a few batches from the Mountmellick export ale kit with very few modifications. The Mountmellick stout kit is very good, too.
I wouldn’t do this for all of a batch if you’re planning on aging it. Those bottles are oxygen permeable, and I’ve found that the beer oxidizes if left in them for much more than a month.
Give another holler when you’re ready to start.
Hi: I would recommend getting the magazine “Brew Your Own” also referred to as BYO. Not sure if it’s available in Canada, but it probably is. It’ a bi-monthly magazine that I consider must reading. A subscription is not that expensive.
About a year ago, or maybe a bit less, they did a special addition that was basically a primer for home brewing. I would check with them to see if they still have it, and if so, I would HIGHLY recommend getting yourself a copy.
All the Best, Tom
You guys are better men than I…when I’ve brewed beer (all 3 times), It’s lasted all of 2 weeks.
Of course, mead, on the other hand, is a different story, and requires 6 months to do it justice. I still have some in the cabinet that I bottled the month my son was born in 2000.
Get the book. You’ll find out what to get. I wouldn’t bother with those all in one little kits. You can make a big 5 gallon batch with supprizingly small amounts of equipment.
BTW, I experimented with using one liter platic pop bottles to bottle in. Worked rather well. Usually used the 12 oz returnable beer bottles and a capper, but the plastic club soda bottles had no problems. I don’t recall how long I kept beer in them, but likely I had at least some over six months. Just keep them out of the light.
Thanks for pointing that out-- I forgot to mention it. I’ve kept them longer than a month with no problems, but certainly this is not a long term storage idea. Still, if you plan ahead when that big family picnic etc is coming, plastic bottles are great. They’re also great if you want to serve beer poolside and don’t want the danger of broken glass. (note usual disclaimers about consuming alcohol and swimming, etc)
You can probably also get Grolsch-style bottles at your local homebrew store…new or used. New are more expensive, but usually have to thoroughly clean and sanitize used.
Grolsch-style bottles make bottling so much simpler…
I used to pick up cases of empty bottles at the distributers for $1.25. You could get overrun caps (you never know what would be on them) for 99 cents for a gross, although you couldn’t always get that kind of deal. That was the cheapest way to bottle it that I could see.