I'm drinking fancy beer!

[Landon Jeffery]

I just picked up "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" because I wanted to learn a bit more about brewing beer and home and I am absolutely fasinated     I shall be returning to my local home brew shop tomorrow and picking up a glass carboy and all the neccesities and within 3 weeks I hope to have my very first homebrewed ale!  Anyone got some tips for a new comer into the brewing community?  Better yet does anyone want to sell me some brewing supplies for cheap     

[Tom Sawyer]

Getting everything sanitized is the biggest part...

Beyond that, relax, enjoy doing it... don't worry, it ain't rocket science... it will turnout well. 

[Lloyd Danforth]

Here is a link to Alton Brown's Beer making episode:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2852527078421700337

[Free libertarian]

I generally avoid drinking things that I can't pronounce or that cost very much. I get a lot of pleasure out of a dollar cigar.  I figure a $10 cigar or a $100 bottle of wine should, at a minimum, provide an orgasm.

  Isn't that what Bill Clinton figured too? 

[Puke]

I'm glad to have enlightened Ian on Hefeweizen a couple weeks ago.
He was drinking Bud Light.     

[dalebert]

I'm glad to have enlightened Ian on Hefeweizen a couple weeks ago.
He was drinking Bud Light.     

Hey, I learned not to be so condescending of Bud Light when Jim gave me a couple of those in frosted mugs. Those frosted mugs are like a holy grail or something. They have magical powers.

[KBCraig]

I'm glad to have enlightened Ian on Hefeweizen a couple weeks ago.

'Tis truly the nectar of the gods.



I couldn't find a good pic of my favorite, Maisel's. They've changed their labeling since '86-'89, when I partook regularly at the Bäyerische Bierstübe in Mall am Herkules, Fulda. I hope they just changed the name and label, and not the content. They had a great clear Kristalweizen, but their Hefe is absolutely the best of any (of many!) I've ever tried.

Now I'm thirsty. 

[David]

I have heard that there's a federal limit on brewing only up to 100 gallons of beer per drinking-age person per household.

Now you know why some of us are trying to get as many roommates as possible 

Little Minnesota can brew 600 gallons, I'll bet Porc Central can brew 1,000 gallons!

Norther Brewer sent a former housemate a catalog, so I have it if anyone wants it.  I will not be brewing any.   

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I brew my own beer.

I have heard that there's a federal limit on brewing only up to 100 gallons of beer per drinking-age person per household.

The wording of the law puts this at 100 gallons for a single adult household or a 200 gallon limit for households with two or more adults. Household members under 21 don't count. That said, Big Brother isn't yet counting the number of carboys on your back room and no homebrew supply is going to say "You've bought so much grain this year that I can't sell you more".

I shall be returning to my local home brew shop tomorrow and picking up a glass carboy and all the neccesities and within 3 weeks I hope to have my very first homebrewed ale!  Anyone got some tips for a new comer into the brewing community?  Better yet does anyone want to sell me some brewing supplies for cheap  Wink

Every brewer has a preference, so allow me to express mine. Some of these thigns are hotly debated in homebrew communities. Personally, I hate glass carboys. I'm paranoid that I'm going to drop one (and there are horror stories... I've seen hands come out of carboy breaks that look like ground beef) and they're quite a bit heavier when they're empty than plastic buckets or Better Bottles. My preference is better bottles. They're the same price as glass carboys but made out of food-grade plastics that minimize oxidization. They're much lighter, shatter proof and thermal shock proof (though, they do melt if you put boiling wort in them, but you're doing it wrong if you do) and you can see through them unlike buckets.

As for sanitization, I STRONGLY recommend Star-san. Get a little spray bottle from Home Depot or similar and put some Star san in that. Sanitization is a PITA when you have to make 5 gallon vats of stuff, or boil stuff, or rinse stuff, but a few squirts of Star-san on your equipment and you're good to go. It's no rinse and as long as it's not cloudy, it's an effective sanitizer. It's also perfectly safe for the environment (i.e. you can dump it on the lawn), pet and human safe (you can drink it but it's VERY nasty and will give you the runs) and in small quantities can be broken down by yeast to provide additional nutrients.

If you're interested in buying a kettle... Aluminum is safe, despite the alheimer's urban legend. You consume more aluminum through your skin from deodorant than you do from using an aluminum brew kettle, and more from a single antacid tab than from drinking and entire batch brewed in aluminum.