Out of Pod Experience

Hiya peeps
is there anyone in the eve community that brews thier own beer ?. Iv`e been thinking about having a bash at doing it in the new year and was wondering that if thier is anyone else doing it ? If there is have you got any hints & tips on making a decent pint at home ?.


hugs a kisses
Jase

awww .... and thiers me thinking the eve comunity loved me ?.

Here's what I know:
-I've had home brews made by three different friends. One brew was excellent, the other two were pretty awful. Both awful ones were made from one of those boxed kits for brewing one batch.
-Getting your gear set up is kind of expensive. You need a glass carboy (big bottle like a water cooler bottle), a big stainless steel vat for boiling your stuff, a funnel, a few other implements, a hand-operated bottle capper, new bottlecaps, and your ingredients.
-The two kind of bothersome parts: a) You have to sterilize all of your equipment (including the carboy) by boiling it. If bacteria gets in your batch, it might rot instead of ferment. b) You have to somehow get your big, heavy vat of hot brew into the carboy, without getting bacteria in as well.
-The zymurgy (beer brewing) guys say a lot of the flavor is in the yeast and the hops you use. You can get all kinds of varieties of those online-- yeast from an old German monastery, hops from Kent or the Czech Republic, etc. etc.
-Apparently to be a homebrewer, you have to grow a beard. All of the real brewers seem to have one.

This site has all the info you could need. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/ These guys are fanatical homebrewers/beer crafters.

cheers for that ! ...

I just fancied trying a little summat different to do in the new year .. I havent got a beard ...but the wife sometimes wears a check shirt hand she has some sandals ...so I`ll be raiding her wardrobe tonight ...... christ ! where did I put that pipe !

yeah go on ...ya might as well

OK...out of my head, since I didn't write it down as far as I remember.

Put 5 pounds of honey into a pot with 4 litres of water, heat to 70 degrees (Celsius) for about 30 minutes.

Fill into large enough bottle, let it cool down, add porto yeast (it's important that it is porto, this not negotiable) + some nutrient salt pills that feed it (forgot the name, just ask around).
Attach fermenting essay and let it ferment for about 3 months (yes...3, not 2 as most recipes would tell you).

Once the fermenting essay has stopped producing bubbles and the yeast has sunk to the bottom of the bottle, use a hose to suck the mead above the sediment out of the bottle into smaller bottles. Be careful not to suck in the yeast at the bottom, you want a clear and golden mead.

Add sulfate pills to make it more durable- also obtaninable from the same source you get the yeast and the nutrient salts.

With 3 months of fermentation, you should have alcohol levels of about 15-20%..the most you can ever achieve without destilling.

LOL...if you have a proper set up your fermenter will never explode.

Brewed a couple batches so far and I have all the gear. My first batch is conditioning in the bottle nicely and had a really nice hoppy flavor with some bright fruit notes when it went into the bottle. Been in the bottle for about 3 weeks now and will be breaking it out next week for a real taste.

I agree that to do it right is kind of expensive as you'll need a lot of gear but after the initial investment that gear will last you for years and years.

As far as sterilizing is concerned, it is a very important aspect but you don't have to boil everything. There are many methods that work really well. For me, I just used bleached water to soak my siphon, funnel, hoses, airlocks and that sort of thing. I boiled my caps and then I used the sterilizing rinse cycle on my dishwasher for the bottles. Definitely takes some effort but it isn't hard.