Thinking about starting to brew

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I use one fermentation vessel, just leaving the brew down for 4 weeks or so. Essentially the same as racking to a secondary and produces nice clear beer.
 
Yeah, that's exactly what my brother told me on Sunday.

That's good because while I like to have all the stuff I need, I also prefer simplicity where possible. So a simple single fermentation would work for me. However, there's a part of me that is slightly unenthralled by the idea of all that high-energy fermentation happening in a plastic bucket. Seems like stainless steel or glass or something would be a better choice.
 
Hey i sent u a pm.

I do not like the Mr. Beer but thats just me. I've been doing extract/specialty grains for years and have brewed to much beer. (have 10gals for new years party b/c i need to get rid of it) I have a freezer/fermintaion chest for 20gal of brew; rebuilding my kegerator for my corny kegs. And building a all grain system.

The worse part about brewing is waiting for it to do its thing. BBQ = a day at the most, beer takes a few hours to all day depened on how big of a beer your making and then sits for 3 weeks till u bottle it then sits for another week or 2 till u can drink it.

I see that you like Hefeweizen. Great beer expecialy unfiltered.
 
Hi, my son who still lives at home, but out next month YEA, has been home brewing for about 2 years. Out of the 8 to 10 batches, only 2 were barely ok, the rest have been great.

Best advice is to go to brew supply store and talk to people who know what they are talking about. Unfortunately brewing isn't like cooking. In cooking the food is not based on the quality of the equipment it is based on the how good the cook is. In brewing if you don't have the minimum equip necessary to make decent beer, you will NOT make decent beer, period.
 
Fortunately that minimum equipment is.... minimal. A pot, a bucket, a long spoon, a hydrometer, an airlock blowoff valve.

The crucial component is sterility. Keep the bacteria out, follow the instructions, and you'll likely get decent beer.
Got my kit! Will start my first batch sometime in January.
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Great to see some guys getting into brewing! Its been a hobby of mine for a while... This year i'm going to try and only drink beer that I brew.

and remeber when brewing. relax, and have a home brew!
 
I haven't read all the replies to this thread but I would recommend against buying one of the those little Mr. Brew kits. If you really want to try it I would suggest you look up a local brew store. See if they have a brew night or a free brew class on the weekends. Go to the brew night or class and see if you like it. If you do, they will be able to set you up with all the correct tools at one time. They will also make sure you have the ingredients to start your first batch of beer at home. The tools they sell you will be perfect for beer, wine, mead and soda. Home brewing can also lead to home kegging.

I started making wine with my dad as a kid. Most of the time we made vinegar but hey, it was fun. Then later after I got married I figured I'd try it again with our kids. The first batch of wine was killer! Moving forward a few years we now brew beer only on occasion when we want something you can't buy in the stores. We also make soda occasion. Sarsaparilla is by far the best soda on the planet. A good birch beer or root beer comes in second. Wine and mead are the two main things we brew now. We even have a small vineyard in our backyard and make enough wine to keep a good supply year round.

My point is, home brewing is very addictive! Be careful...
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Here's a shot of our youngest daughter checking the grape brix at the end of September to see if they were ready for harvest.

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Jon.
 
The barrell in the mr. beer kit is a perfectly good fermenter. the ingredients they supply are crap. with just a little more effort and money you can make some good stuff.

use all un-hopped malt extract, get some specialty grains to steep, and use real hops in the boil. unfortunately a lot of homebrewers are chubby nerds that take the hobby to seriously and will tell you that whatever you're doing is inadequate. if you want to have fun making drinkable beer, no need for fancy equipment and all grain batches. go here for some advice with the mr beer kit:
http://www.mrbeerfans.com/
 
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