This is something I've been wanting to do for awhile, but wasnt sure what the best way to do it is. There seems to be alot of kits out there, so those of you that have or do, do it...what kit do you have and how easy is it?

 

Welcome to the world of home brew V. I tried making my own kit which you can very easily do, but for a first timer, I would suggest going to a home brew store and talking to someone there. They will be more than helpful and should set you up with a kit.

You will want to check if your local store has premade beer kits. You can buy the malt, hops, yeast, etc separately but you might not be happy with the results. My store has kits with all the right combinations of ingredients for different types of beer.

Your beginner kit should include bottle caps and a capper. Bottles are expensive so make sure you save and steam clean them. Brewing is a lot of fun but be prepared to be super impatient. It'll take about 2-3 weeks for your beer to be ready but it's worth it.

Let me know if I can help anymore, I'm still a beginner but I've made about 4 or 5 fairly decent brews.

PS: After initial costs, you'll be paying around $1 - $1.50 per bottle of beer. So it's not exactly cheaper.

 

but its an art form. I suggest lots and lots of reading. Also, do you have the space to have a constant temp room for your stuff?

 

See...I was thinking about getting something like this:

http://www.mrbeer.com/category-exec/category_id/181


Seems easy enough....

 

The only thing I don't like about that kit is that the beer bottles it gives you are plastic and the brew ingredients seem very generic. See if any of these stores are nearby you. http://homebrewsupply.brewersroundtable.com/index.php

Bullfrog, you can get away with covering your fermentor with a dark blanket and sticking it in a corner or a closet. Ales require colder brew temps, but most houses are air conditioned around the right temperature for lagers and pilsner. Although in New York in the winter your house may be cool enough to brew ale.

That kit is pretty reasonably priced so if you aren't sure how committed you are to it it wouldn't be a bad buy, but eventually you'll want to upgrade and a local store can be a lot of help, especially when it comes to developing recipes for yourself.

you'll also need a big dutch oven to boil all the malt and hops.

 

My cousin does alot of home brewing, and he goes to one of the stores that ereeves recommended.

 

home brewing is freakin awesome

ive just bottles 67 bottles of corona last week.....give it 2 months and they will be awesome!!!

its easy as getting hold of an airtight sealed 25L container that has some sort of screw in tap at the bottom
then buy an ale kit (i used a coopers mexican cervaza kit for my corona - technically corona is a lager, but you can ale it and its just as good), and follow the instructions

go into a brew shop to get some ideas on whats good to do and not good to do....

ale kits arent as finicky as lagers, and you dont need to cool them for long periods of time
i have my bottles sitting at around 23-27ish degrees C and they turn out fine


oh, and scour ebay for bottles
i bought 5 crates of 345mL beer bottles for $10 (thats about 120 bottles)