I started to brew my own beer at home this year, and it's quickly becoming a huge hobby. Good beer at the store here in the states is about 1 USD per 12oz. beer and up, but if you make it yourself you can make 50+ beers for about 20 dollars- less than half the price.
Plus, it's incredibly fun, interesting, more satisfying, and actually much better tasting if you do it right.
I was wondering if any of you other BoCcers have made your own beer or have an interest in it. There is a local store that sells kits for about 70 USD, plus about 25 dollars for everything you need each batch- I know they ship at least state wide.
On the show Breaking Bad, Hank is a cop and makes his own brew in his garage. He is awoken by loud pops that sound like gun shots. He grabs his gun and heads to the garage and walks out drawing his pistol and behold it was all of the bottles that he filled and sealed, popping the tops off themselves from the pressure that built up in the bottles. Hahaha. So, yeah be careful.
My friend Nick bought one of those Mr.Beer Micro Brew things. It's a lot safer and comes with the bottles and the packaging and a mini barrel.
I drank the mass-market beer in America once. To quote Monty Python, I found it was a lot like making love in a canoe - ie. f**king close to water. BUT! I found some excellent little microbrewery stuff near Death Valley of all places. Proper ale with body, rich colour and life, not the usual 3% lager I found elsewhere.
Never tried the home brewing thing myself, although having said that I've been making sourdough bread this week and there is a rather lively smelling hooch currently lying on top of the live 'starter' I've been feeding all week in preparation. Don't think I'll be sampling it though as I suspect it's somewhere close to rocket fuel...
I drank the mass-market beer in America once. To quote Monty Python, I found it was a lot like making love in a canoe - ie. f**king close to water. BUT! I found some excellent little microbrewery stuff near Death Valley of all places. Proper ale with body, rich colour and life, not the usual 3% lager I found elsewhere.
Never tried the home brewing thing myself, although having said that I've been making sourdough bread this week and there is a rather lively smelling hooch currently lying on top of the live 'starter' I've been feeding all week in preparation. Don't think I'll be sampling it though as I suspect it's somewhere close to rocket fuel...
Ahh yes. Well I don't really consider Budweiser, Miller, etc (3% lagers) to be beer. More of a urine...or aborted rice soaked in old cider.
Microbreweries are huge right now in the states. The stronger (both in taste and ABV) the more popular it seems. Sam Adams is the obvious big one, but Dogfish Head, Abita, Magic Hat, and Yeungling are some of my favorite smaller operations.
Hmm...to add to this thread- your favorite beers?! I vote for a rare brew from Munich, Germany called Augustiner Maximator. Seriously good shit if you can find it.
i make this peruvian drink called chica morada. boil a bunch of purple corn in water to get the color and some taste, take the corn out, add pureed pineapple, fig leaves, apple peels, cloves, a little sugar. take everything out except the pineapple, let it sit for a few months. good shit.
Wish I knew about this thread. I'm an avid cider brewer. No proper cider is avialable on the market here in the US. Gotta make it yourself.
I'm still drinking this years batch. Made 15 gallons of the strongest brew I've ever done. Around 11-13%, depending on the barrel. One (22oz) bottle and you're done for the night, so it's taking a while to polish off!
A_Norther_Soul, you lucky duck. Brewing is hella fun, plus you get free beer. Enjoy it, it's a slow but rewarding hobby!
"Life is a stupid, meaningless thing that has nothing to teach you." -Slavoj Zizek
I'd love to get into this eventually, maybe sometime later next year. I love craft beer and I've got no expectations that anything I brewed would even be a fraction of the quality of what I can buy, but it would feel good to create for once, in a world of consumption.
Amo Bishop Roden wrote:Wish I knew about this thread. I'm an avid cider brewer. No proper cider is avialable on the market here in the US. Gotta make it yourself.
I'm still drinking this years batch. Made 15 gallons of the strongest brew I've ever done. Around 11-13%, depending on the barrel. One (22oz) bottle and you're done for the night, so it's taking a while to polish off!
A_Norther_Soul, you lucky duck. Brewing is hella fun, plus you get free beer. Enjoy it, it's a slow but rewarding hobby!
Christ, you need to come to England. So many ciders available, strong ones too. Even the tramps lug big bottles of the stuff.
My dad runs a small village brewery where he lives, and it's bloody good beer. Cheers!
Sagan: In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
Basinski: I wanted Cascade to become this crystalline organism like a star or a liquid crystal spaceship, a jellyfish traveling through the galaxy…
I would love to get to England and try some proper cider.
We only really have two commercial ciders in the US (That can be easily purchased in my area, at least): Angry Orchard and Woodchuck. Americans don't like the taste of well, things (hence: mocha latte's instead of coffee, chocolate cake vodka, etc.) though, so they're heavily watered down and sweetened to taste like storebought apple juice. Not cider at all!
"Life is a stupid, meaningless thing that has nothing to teach you." -Slavoj Zizek
Amo Bishop Roden wrote:Wish I knew about this thread. I'm an avid cider brewer. No proper cider is avialable on the market here in the US. Gotta make it yourself.
I'm still drinking this years batch. Made 15 gallons of the strongest brew I've ever done. Around 11-13%, depending on the barrel. One (22oz) bottle and you're done for the night, so it's taking a while to polish off!
A_Norther_Soul, you lucky duck. Brewing is hella fun, plus you get free beer. Enjoy it, it's a slow but rewarding hobby!
Christ, you need to come to England. So many ciders available, strong ones too. Even the tramps lug big bottles of the stuff.
My dad runs a small village brewery where he lives, and it's bloody good beer. Cheers!
In which case, you both need to be sure and get to the Twoism meetup in the summer. We start at a rather fine public house, famous for it's selection of ciders, including home-brewed. Cheers!
Amo Bishop Roden wrote:Wish I knew about this thread. I'm an avid cider brewer. No proper cider is avialable on the market here in the US. Gotta make it yourself.
I'm still drinking this years batch. Made 15 gallons of the strongest brew I've ever done. Around 11-13%, depending on the barrel. One (22oz) bottle and you're done for the night, so it's taking a while to polish off!
A_Norther_Soul, you lucky duck. Brewing is hella fun, plus you get free beer. Enjoy it, it's a slow but rewarding hobby!
Christ, you need to come to England. So many ciders available, strong ones too. Even the tramps lug big bottles of the stuff.
My dad runs a small village brewery where he lives, and it's bloody good beer. Cheers!
In which case, you both need to be sure and get to the Twoism meetup in the summer. We start at a rather fine public house, famous for it's selection of ciders, including home-brewed. Cheers!
I told you mate, it's a done deal this year. I am there
Sagan: In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
Basinski: I wanted Cascade to become this crystalline organism like a star or a liquid crystal spaceship, a jellyfish traveling through the galaxy…
I'd be interested to know how you guys get on with this. My only experiences were of my Dad doing this back in the late 70's/early 80's (I don't think he was too impressed, although to stuck at it to be fair to him) and then one botched attempt 20 years ago when me and some mates were at University. The results were 'interesting' in a way that 'totally undrinkable piss water' can only begin to describe.
