So my buddy and I are brewing our own beer, we have been doing this for a while, I was wondering if anyone here has done this before. I am up for suggestions.
Some stuff we are thinking about is:
1- Brewing a STOUT and adding Espresso beans to it.
2- Trying a honey ale instead of using sugar.
3- Extending the Primary length to 10 days.

if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to comment.

Here are some pics!


wow this takes awhile, so here is ONE pic.
maybe some more will follow
ok the pic(s) will follow! this is taking too long

Well, it is a thread about beer...

Nope, never done it. Probably should. But then there is the laziness to consider...

I had a Keith's today. Yes, you read that right, A Keith's. Not 15 Keith's... just the one. Betcha didn't think I could...

Thats ok. I made up for you.


should I be worried that I can finish off a 6 pack and not even feel loopy anymore? I barely feel buzzed.

There is this one brewery that uses coffee in their process. I forgot what company it was though, I remember that Vonnegut wrote an article about it.

JUST ONE?

Rick are you ok????? I am worried about you.

well, here is the thing....$15 for 20L of beer...cant go wrong. there is not much work involved.
day 1 - heat up the "mash" and mix with water. (1 pint) <- that is my timeline
day 10 - Cyphin beer into Carboy and seal. (1 pint)
day 24 - Cyphin beer into new Carboy with clear. (1 pint)
day 31 - Bottle beer. (3 pints)
day 45 - GET PISSED DRUNK (40 Pints)

so really it is easy to still be lazy, there is also the pride of drinking YOUR beer. and as long as you have beer to drink while you are working, your golden. The only problem was the 40 bottles of Grolsh that I drank for the bottles....DANG that hurt my wallet.

(For the H.P. Lovecraft fans...)

You could always try a Black Milk of Shub Niggurath. Add a scoop of instant to a pint of Guinness.

Some of my mates and I used to play Call of Cthulhu, and drinking a Black Milk became kind of a tradition.

My old man used to brew when I was a kid, but not the 'kit' variety. He used raw ingredients and even did 'open' fermentation (an unsealed container with a simple cloth cover for cleanliness). It was the 'real-deal' thats for sure. But then, they had chooks and a milking cow and a vegetable garden and all that shite, so its no surprise he wanted his beer natural. By the time I was old enough to enjoy beer he'd reverted to buying VB like everyone else.

As you do, while at uni, I thought (because he used to do it all the time) I'd be able to do it. We tried open fermentation (but used ready-made ingredients) and it was a disaster. It got infected and went off. Not good.

Since then, mates have done lots of brewing (sealed fermentation) and had amazing results. I do note, however, that the ones who were best at brewing have since proved not-so-good at, say, climbing corporate ladders or staying, ahem, slim. That said, I'm a podgy corporate weasel, so maybe I shoulda stayed brewing

Holy shit man that's really cool! I mean yeah, I've heard of a lot of people making their own soap, but making your own beer is just great. Let's just hope it tastes as good as fine cold regular beer.

I've not made any, but I've a friend who has gone through so many home-brew kits, they started off as shit, but he ended up making really nice beer, quite strong too. Then there's the other fella who makes the poitín in the bathtub, I've had that the once and got a headache from it

Does anyone brew their own beer?

I recently just purchased a starter kit to get brewing and currently have 5 gallons of an American Ale fermenting in one of our bathrooms.

I am pretty stoked about it. I should be bottling in less then a week!

One day I will get around to building a still... one day...

The whole process is pretty simple.

The key to this is sanitation. The cleaner the better. If I stand by the bucket while it is fermenting, it smells like a delicious beer already.

Mmmm.. beer.

I thought this looked familiar...I basically have not brewed since. Oddly enough, the stuff was amazing. I just havent had the space to do it.

It looks like you had a pretty large set up.

The system im using is a one bucket fermentation. Looks like you went into secondary fermentation... which is good too, depending on the type of beer you are brewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlv1wBy7Z5w

yeah, It took a little longer, extra 2 weeks I think...man was a while ago.

the stuff had a little extra drunk in it! We brewed 80 Liters (10 cases of 24) for my bday party. No one drank any tho. Tasted great, just I didnt think everyone would be driving. My two buddies and myself drank all 80 liters in three nights. They were good nights. Prolly the night I started the drunk thread

I am going to start another batch this week - I need to get a new brew pot though. The one I had was taken back by my ex's step dad. Dick.

Anyway, it is a seasonal ale with very "christmasy" flavors. I am looking forward to brewing this one..

In reference to the above, the beer did in fact turn out awesome! Everyone seems to think it's prety good!