Home beer kits...
- Thread starter Wayne K
- Start date
Making your own beer does not save much, if any, money and the results usually are not as good as what you can buy and the beer depot.
But it is fun and creative. A good hobby.
Go for it! Find a free class and you will avoid many headaches.
But it is fun and creative. A good hobby.
Go for it! Find a free class and you will avoid many headaches.
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My brother has a home brew kit. Even if I did drink, I wouldn't partake of anything he made. But that is more due to him rather than the idea of a home brew kit. In the hands of a competent person, it sounds like a decent idea and probably a good hobby.
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Most home beer brewers don't produce anything you'd opt to drink for the first several months. Because it's carbonated, bottling requires a capper, and they're not cheap. Bottles can and do explode if your yeast is too active.
However, a family member has been home-brewing mead for about six months, and all but the first batch have been quite tasty and fully drinkable. (The orange he bought for flavoring that first batch turning out to be a small grapefruit was a factor.) He says 750 ml. (a standard wine bottle) costs him under a buck to make. I haven't yet tasted his hard cider, which he says is a little too alcoholic but still smooth and drinkable.
I also have an acquaintance, the husband of a woman in my critique group, who makes wine better than some stuff I buy.
So if I were going to make alcoholic anything at home, I'd probably try mead, cider, or wine before I attempted beer.
Maryn, not into exploding glass bottles
However, a family member has been home-brewing mead for about six months, and all but the first batch have been quite tasty and fully drinkable. (The orange he bought for flavoring that first batch turning out to be a small grapefruit was a factor.) He says 750 ml. (a standard wine bottle) costs him under a buck to make. I haven't yet tasted his hard cider, which he says is a little too alcoholic but still smooth and drinkable.
I also have an acquaintance, the husband of a woman in my critique group, who makes wine better than some stuff I buy.
So if I were going to make alcoholic anything at home, I'd probably try mead, cider, or wine before I attempted beer.
Maryn, not into exploding glass bottles
My father tried home brewing when I was about thirteen or so. My mom was not too happy about having to clean up all the exploded glass bottles when he - hello? - failed to heed the instructions. His many attempts at microbrewing all turned out like his chili - basically unconsumable, although no one would tell him for fear of hurting his feelings. On the flip side of it, I used to work with a guy who made his own beer and wine, and his stuff was really good. So in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, it does work. (I've been playing with the idea of making mead...)
Speaking of homebrewing, me and my mom got an ugly little surprise when we were cleaning out the garden shed after my father died. We found eighteen large boxes full of beer bottles he told my mom he'd gotten rid of - a good number of which were still full.
Speaking of homebrewing, me and my mom got an ugly little surprise when we were cleaning out the garden shed after my father died. We found eighteen large boxes full of beer bottles he told my mom he'd gotten rid of - a good number of which were still full.
My dad got me one of these maybe 5 months ago. It's a lot of work and it's best that you follow the instructions to the letter given the risk of explosion, but so far the beer has been tasty.