not sure if we have any home brewers in here, but me and porge are dipping our hops in the pool. i plan to get a nice kit, but yestterday i was at a general store and a mr. beer pale ale kit was on display by the door. 35 bucks, comes with just the basics, no bottles. me and a friend are going to brew it up today so we can drink it on new years.

if any of you guys have ever tried to do this, please tell me what you did and what you've learned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihR98IrYhGI

We're looking at a Coopers Beer Making Kit. It got some decent reviews, and it's supposed to be a good starter kit if you want to get into more serious brewing down the road. MWB just stumbled across Mr Beer at the store and couldn't resist the incremental marketing strategy.

Well, that and he's dying to drink some home brew for New Year's eve. (Sumbish just couldn't wait!)

I want to make a lager. We already came up with a name. "Naked Lager". Then have a pic of Paul Bunyon on the label wearing nothing but a fig leaf.

That Mr. Beer thing sucks. A buddy of mine from Canada got one for Christmas years ago and I think he tried to use it once. I had a friend that was really into home brewing and had a decent set up for it in his basement. His theory on why Mr. Beer is lame is because it doesn't allow proper time to allow the slurry (is that the term) to properly ferment. Think of this thing like a Microwave. Sure a microwave will cook a steak but it's better on the grill.

I've considered brewing my own but I don't have the space for it. If you guys are starting and this is your first batch the biggest problem you will have to over come is sanitation. Sanitation is key here and if you make even the slightest mistake you have ruined your whole batch. Sanitize everything!! Bottles, caps, buckets .. ect ect. Also you batch wont be ready come time for New Years. I don't remember the exact fermentation times but a couple weeks is not long enough. That's a nice little kit that Pogre found online but is it giving you plastic bottles? .. or are the caps just plastic? .. If so your going to want to switch to a cork bottle or pick up a capping device. I don't think plastic threads will be strong enough to withstand the pressure.

Alton Brown did a good episode on Good Eats about Home Brewing. Start there first.

Good Eats

Good Eats

Good Eats pt2

Good luck guys and let me know how it turns out.

I'd look into picking up an extra couple buckets from the hardware store and use them only for sanitizing. It didn't look like anything was included in that kit.

the only folks who said mr beer sucked had screwed up somehow. it really should be done in two weeks. it depeds on how you make it and the temp you store it at, etc. i think it was worth 35 just to scratch the itch.

i found a place local that sells brew kits. i plan to go there to really get started, but not today. the weather ain't worth it.

it's called wert

Let me know how it turns out with the Mr. Beer kit .. I will admit that it does interest me but I can't imagine it actually working out that well. Tam is rather surprised I've never tried home brewing myself but I don't think I can be patient enough for it.

My goal is to convert an old refrigerator into a keg system.

I found a local place out here too. The kits they have seem to be a little more roll your sleeves up and get to work type-thing. Which I actually like.

This is their cheapest basic kit.

This is the one I'm eyeballing right now.

I really want this one, but of course, it's kinda pricey. It would be nice to have the glass carboy though.

A long time ago I helped a buddy brew a batch of honey mead, and I'm pretty sure he had the third kit I linked. I remember the glass carboy and the painstaking care we took to sterilize everything. We actually did the brewing in a big stainless steel pot over a propane burner in his back yard. Long story short, he got tight on cash and drank almost all of it before it was properly aged in the bottles. I only got a couple of them (drank them a little early), but it wasn't bad. I'm kinda stoked about getting started on something new.

I'd go with the expensive one .. it seems to have everything you'll need, and the mid level one still requires you to make a few more purchase. $200 bucks for a home brew kit with all the things you need isn't that bad. We've all spent that going out for drinks.

set mine to brew friday night, and regardless what anyone thinks, i'm stoked.as much as it would pain me to let naysayers see me fail, i'll post a full report and what i learned, be it bad or good, simply to maintain the thread's integrity.

I'm leaning toward the Coopers kit. I read the instructions on the other kits and I'm not sure if I want to get into multi stage brewing and fermenting right off the bat. The more stages you have, the more chances there are for messing up. I think I'll experiment with Coopers, and then if I wanna go full bore, I'll only have to buy a few more components.

Hey guys .. I saw this on Uncrate today .. you might want to check it out if you haven't bought your Home Brew equipment yet.

My link

my beer is beering up nicely, but nice and slow. the location i put it in was a little cooler than i had intended, so i think it retarded the progress. probably none on new years.

that being said, it's changed drastically the last few days. it's got a layer of foam in the surface, and i tested a little by opening the spout and putting some in my hand. that's about the only way. you can't open it. it tastes and really, REALLY smells like beer. can't judge the flavor, it's still just sweet pretty much. i'm calling it a success up to this point. i'll post back, rest assured.

keep me updated .. I'm following this thread pretty closely and starting to consider trying home brewing if and when Tam and I move to a bigger place.

out of curiosity are you using the Mr. Beer Kit or a more complex system like what Pogre is looking to buy?

well, i'm also getting a better kit as well, too. in fact it wasn't until i brought it up that pogre's spark got rekindled. however, it is a mr beer kit.

I've just never had the room to set a system up and the beer here in America is A LOT cheaper than Canada so I never felt the need to bother home brewing when I can buy a 6 back of Bass for about ten bucks (in Jersey). Also my friend John used to home brew (everyone loved his beer but I didn't know him when it happened), and he had a pretty bad experience with the last batch he made. A long (and very sad) story made short was he started a batch and his wife got sick (and later died of breast cancer) and durring that time he forgot about the batch and it exploded or cracked and leaked/sprayed everywhere.

.. but I gotta say .. you guys have got me interested in it again

well....don't blame the beer. her breasts grew the cancer all by themselves.

also, you have just posted the only thing possible that links beer and boobs in a negative way. your ability to deflate my fun...it knows no bounds.

I am pretty good a deflating fun .. if that's my super power than so be it. It would explain why my parties are always so lame .. .. and nonexistent.

I don't blame the beer (or boobs for that matter) .. it was a pretty horrible thing to have happen and sort of turned me off the idea of home brew.

If you want to try something easy and good. Try brewing up some Mead. Excellent home brew. Not beer but easy to make.

I had Mead at the Ren Fair once and hated it. It's too sweet for my liking.

i've never tried mead, but i want to.

There's different versions of Mead. My brother is making sweet mead currently, but there is a kind that isn't as sweet. I really like it. Plus it comes out about 12-14%