Any home brewers here?

The other "share your fav beer thread" got me thinking...

Anyone else here a home brewer? What's your setup like... what do you like to brew... what are your favorite malts, hops etc...

I've been brewing on and off since 2005. Just recently switched from extract and partial grain to a full all grain, 10 gal mash tun setup. Usually single batch sparge.... but sometimes a little of a fly sparge (by hand).

My friend and I just racked a hoppy saison with Citra, East Kent Goldings and Sorachi Ace... it's heaven if you like Belgian beers and hops.

Up next is a session IPA and an Oktoberfest... followed shortly by a Pumpkin ale and a chocolate coffee stout.


What about you guys???

And here I thought you guys were talking about the PS3 hacking scene. Isn't that what they are called?

I do some home brews on and off, but just do the simple extracts. I have a honey wheat that should be ready, made it last year and it was amazing, hopefully the same this year! I generally just do the light or amber lagers and some wheat beers, not too much into the super hoppy stuff.

I use to do it about 15 years ago... I really liked the stouts... Your coffee stout sounds good.. I am not even sure I still have my equipment.

@Chav: Homebrew haha yeah... i didn't even think of that... you're right. But that shit ain't as tasty haha

@Criptic: Sounds like you'd love Belgian beers then?

@Staple: Stouts are great! I prefer lower abv% beers and stouts give me all the great flavor and i don't have to worry about getting bombed haha. Equipment is cheap nowadays if you ever want to get back into it. Check out NorthernBrewer for great online brew equipment/ingredients http://www.northernbrewer.com/

It's kinda funny you even brought this up because I was going to do a short video about it when I crack open my first one from this batch.

Hate the Brewers.... I'm a CUBS fan

I was waiting for someone to reference the team.... smartass  

I've done the mr. Beer home brew kit... It tasted like shit. Sorry I had to make this rhyme but I clearly have too much time. Ooooohhhhhh

hahaha yeah some of those kits taste like junk; however, you can brew really excellent beer from extract nowadays and it's super easy!

I would love to get into home brewing...as I certainly am a brew drinker. Still, not enough room living in the city, or time. Either way would love to see a shot, or two of anyone's home brew set up out of curiosity. And no...not some wise-ass pic of a 6 pack of Coors in the fridge.

The (very) "basic" process for those not familiar with brewing beer.


Not my picture but basically i use the same equipment because i have a loft... no house with a garage to use propane burners... so pots for the stove top.  (2) 5 gallon hlt/mash boil pots; (1) 10gal mash tun (orange cooler modified with filtered internal base and ball valve spigot for making your mash/lauter "grain tea" and draining into your boil pot(s)); copper wort chiller (to get your wort down to pitch temp as quickly as possible)... along with various scales, siphons, tubing, yeast culturing glassware etc. A very simple and inexpensive initial investment... that can become very, very expensive and complex very, very easily haha.


to something like this that is popular among homebrewers with more $$ and space lol..

LOL yeah I don't have that much, damn!! I just cook on the stove. If you do extract brewing you don't need much space, just a kettle to cook in and a spot to keep a carboy while it ferments, that's about it.

^^^Yeah, me neither Criptic haha... that guy's homebrew setup is epic. ON the other side of his "brew shed" is a full bar and TVs and shit.... i want it all!

I might start doing some partial extract brews again for small 1-3 gallon test batches... putting only a few lbs of grain in the mash tun is a pain in the ass.

My buddy does mead and its fantastic. How much do u think the initial set up cost would be on a basic hhomebrewing kit I been kicking the idea around for awhile now. Also any websites yall could recommend to get me started would be appreciated.

For beginners looking to start brewing at home, most suggest (and i do too) to start with Palmer's "How to Brew".  Great book to introduce you to the basics.  A must read for noobs... And it's online now.

Then, time to buy your stuff. $80.00 - $100.00 is all you'll need to get your basic equipment and ingredients to brew your first 5 gallon batch of beer.

I recommend going to your local homebrew store for as much as you can. It's great to build a relationship with those guys... they always seem to be good people and willing to help. (esp taste your beers and tell you crazy shit like "PH was off during mash"... stuff you won't be able to taste or know for a long while lol) It's nice if they're close bc sometimes you'll be mid-brew or racking etc. and realize you forgot something and you're 5 gallons of beer will be trashed without it... go local if you can.

If you don't have a local store (or you already go local but need supplemental supplies/ingredients)... there are tons of great places online.

You could go to MidWest....


MidWest - Brewing Basics Kit

Then grab one of the ingredient kits from wherever you're getting your equipment kit... something like this...


MidWestSupplies - Gold Dust IPA Kit (extract)


So now as long as you have a 4+ gallon pot at home to fit on your stove to boil the wort... you're all set!

The basics will stay the same, but over your next 5-10 brews you'll learn a lot and probably get addicted to the hobby haha... and you'll want to spend loads of $$ on a 30+ gallon setup and probably open a nano-brewery /slash/ pub... it's a downward spiral  

Great Resources
HomeBrewTalk Forum - Best homebrew forum on the net
MidWestSupplies - For all brewing supplies/ingredients
NorthernBrewer - Another great store for supplies/ingredients
BeerSmith's Blog - Go here read it all and buy the app/software - youll thank me
HomeBrew's Wiki - Great source of info
Mad Ferm - Another epic brewers blog
BrauKaiser - Brewing science resource


I am NO expert (but i make badass beer lol) but anyone who has questions... feel free to PM me anytime.

Appreciate it. Lol the hardest part is gonna be getting the warden/wife to give the ok and allocate me a little space sense we live in a townhouse but given my love affair with all things beer im sure she wont bitch too much:) Thanks again for the info

No problem at all man!

Id really love to see a bunch of us get into it and do a little over 30 brew club thing where once a month or every 2 months we trade around a few beers mailed out to taste and compare. Would be pretty cool!

That would be cool. Ill keep ya posted on my progress. I found a place locally so im gonna check them out after work.

Nice man! And if you don't wanna go with a pre-made ingredients kit... lemme know what kind of beer you want to do and i can hook you up with a general guide and ingredient list.

Thanks ill probably take up on that after I get my feet wet a bit.

Midwest is a great place for starter kits, and their recipe kits are very very good, I've never had any issues with them. And if you have any issues or questions they are very friendly and helpful.

Awesome stuff. Cool to see/hear you can go with the basics.