$9.99 for a six pack of Sam Adams

 

Ouch.

I haven't had a beer in 2 weeks.

 

Sounds like it is time to start home brewing.

 

I have a Mr. Beer kit and the pre-made mixes are "ok", better than what I was drinking last night for sure.  Need time to put one together and wait a month, this is a busy time.

 

Once I have a full home brewing kit together later this year (to make wine again) I'll do it the right way.

Yeah.  Boy.  Kits.

 

Dude.

 

Spaniel, read this.

 

I have a Mr. Beer kit and the pre-made mixes are "ok", better than what I was drinking last night for sure.  Need time to put one together and wait a month, this is a busy time.

 

Once I have a full home brewing kit together later this year (to make wine again) I'll do it the right way.

 You don't need much! It is possible to brew with  1 large canning stockpot (garage sales), a 5-gallon HPDE bucket, a big wire strainer. I am sure you have what you need already with your winemaking. But a dedicated beer-bucket for primary fermentation is really nice. 

Want to make a fair american ale? As simple as we can make it and yet all-grain. And I swear it will taste better than your kits. First find a good homebrew shop. Or even a crappy one.

7# 2-row pale malt. Crushed.

1 # 20-L Carmel malt, crushed.

3 oz. Cascade hops (pellets will do)

1 packet dried ale yeast.

Put the grains and water in the biggest pot you have and bring it up to 120"F, then slowly up through 170"F ~ 180"F over the course of 90 to 120 minutes, or whatever. Then...without getting too wordy... Sparge. Strain your grain and rinse it with hot (not boiling) water. Return the sweet liquid to the boiling vessel. Invent a new way to do this sparging and share with the world.

Then boil for one hour. Add 1 oz hops each at beginning, middle, and end of boil. Pour it into your completely sanitized primary fermentation (bucket) and pitch in the yeast vigorously in the morning.

Wait a week, rack to one of your glass carboys, (hava a 5 gallon carboy?) and wait another couple of weeks. Then, you can bottle it in 2-liter plastic pop bottle if you like. It's cheap. Perhaps unseemly, but cheap. Use 7/8 cup of sugar to prime it before bottling. Sanitize everything! Doesn't matter as much for winemaking, but you will find it matters for beer.

There, you just spent $20, waited a month, and you have two cases of fine drinkin' ale.

Trent, correct my errors without adding cost or complication. This is off the cuff.

I expect some in July. You have time to practice.

Yeah, brewing all grain can be incredibly simple but you can also make it as complex as you want, which allows you quite a bit of craftsmanship if that interests you.  But as obsessor pointed out, it can be very straightforward.  Once you invest in the basic equipment, all-grain brewing can be cheaper than kits and is far more satisfying.  His post was right on, and in the linked thread there is an equipment list.  My setup is a bit different: I use a 4.5 gallon steel pot (but want a 5 or 6 gallon pot) and a near-7 gallon plastic bucket.  Like Mr. Finn, I prefer to do my secondary fermentation in a glass carboy.

The bottles and buckets you can get for free.  Just save your empty bottles (no twist offs) and soak them in oxyclean (the unscented stuff).  The labels come right off.  I used the double bucket system for sparging and got the those buckets for free.  You want food grade buckets, so just go to a bakery, they are always throwing out buckets.  Just ask them for them and they will give them to you.

 excuse to sit outside and drink beer

 

That's something that is really never needed but is always nice to have.