Bottled my first homebrew beer today!

[clintsfolly]

About 5 weeks ago my son gave me the stuff to brew beer and today was bottling day!! Now have to let it set and carbonate for 2 weeks then I have to drink just shy of two cases of Caribou Slobber. Clint

[Tom-ADC]

I used to make a lot of it, it used to dry my to girls nuts as I always brewed on Saturday mornings, they hated the smell.
I need to start brewing again.

[JeffinNZ]

I am fascinated by the idea of home brew however I have a dilemma. I don't drink beer so.....

[rockrat]

Same here. Wanted to be a brewmeister, but don't like the taste of beer (hops bitterness acutally).
Probably should try and make my own, with extra light on the hops, or none.

[Tom-ADC]

Same here. Wanted to be a brewmeister, but don't like the taste of beer (hops bitterness acutally).
Probably should try and make my own, with extra light on the hops, or none.

Or just experiment with different hops, there are many many different hops and flavors that go with them, hops is what my girls complained about.

[thx997303]

Whoa buddy, don't crack it open at two weeks.

3 weeks at 70* F is the standard. Anything before that is early, and could be really hit or miss.

After the three weeks, throw a few bottles in the fridge for 48 hours, Then try it.

A lot of people's issues with homebrewed beer can be traced back to impatience.

And remember, just because it's carbonated doesn't mean it's no longer green. Sometimes you got to let it age.

[Rex]

When I was a kid growing up in Kansas, that state was a "dry" state. We lived out on a farm and Dad had a 25 gallon stone crock down the cellar going most of the time. He'd get in a hurry bottleing once in a while and Mom finally made him quit opening bottles in the house. Beer dripping off of her kitchen celing didn't impress her. Kansas went "wet" in the late 40's and the crock went up for sale.

[monge]

always wanted to try home brew love beer! My dad was a off the boat Italian and we made home made wine when I was a kid Great wine and memories! What type of kit did you use ?

[dragonrider]

I brewed approximately 13 gallons of a Heineken style beer last sunday. Will bottle it on May 5th. My sons in law and I have done this on many occasions but not in the last 6 years so we are getting back to it. We go to a brew-on-premisis pub. Everything you need they have, recipes, grains, malts, steam kettles, yeast, bottles and bottling equipment. No mess at home, no women compaiining about the smell, which when you are cooking grains is just awesome. It's great fun too, we bring pizza and chips, there are many beers one can sample while you are brewing.

[iomskp]

I used to Brew I ended up using four small 25 litre kegs I had a beer fridge outside the back door with a beer gun and drip tray on the out side and the kegs inside, I started to enjoy it a bit too much I ended up selling the lot, I do miss it.

[bruce drake]

I am fascinated by the idea of home brew however I have a dilemma. I don't drink beer so.....

Dang it Jeff! I slipped a bottle of Yuengling Lager (America's oldest operating brewery) in my Easter care package to you an your family. Its wrapped in bubble wrap so it should (hopefully) be in one piece by the time it gets to you.

Let one of your mates there enjoy the bottle. Next time I'll slip a bottle of "medicinal grape juice" in the box.

Bruce

[ph4570]

I hope your batch turns out well. Give us an update when you sample it.

I have done many 5 gallon batches of beer. They mostly came out good. I keg mine in 5 gallon cornelius (soda pop) kegs. Lately I have been making mead (honey wine) with a variety of experimental flavorings. These are kegged as well and dispensed at low C02 pressure. I have a blackberry flavored one that is real nice.

[clintsfolly]

My son works for Northern Brewer and he got me the kit. Clint

[gbrown]

20 years ago, I got into the brewing interest. I brewed about 3 years. Made lagers, pale ales, and dark ales. Enjoyed it. Made my own recipes and got stuff from a brew shop in Houston. Barley, malt, hops, etc. Finally decided to move on, as I was the only one drinking it and a brew would make about 3 months of product, plus the brewing period down here is only about 4 months. Anyway, it was good, for me, and like a lot of my other projects, learning periods, it added to my knowledge. Never used any kits. As I know from friends, they work. Enjoy!

[firefly1957]

what kind of bottles do you use ?
I have some reusable Golshe(sp) bottles that I have never gotten around to using.

[Fishman]

I brewed approximately 13 gallons of a Heineken style beer last sunday. Will bottle it on May 5th. My sons in law and I have done this on many occasions but not in the last 6 years so we are getting back to it. We go to a brew-on-premisis pub. Everything you need they have, recipes, grains, malts, steam kettles, yeast, bottles and bottling equipment. No mess at home, no women compaiining about the smell, which when you are cooking grains is just awesome. It's great fun too, we bring pizza and chips, there are many beers one can sample while you are brewing.

That sounds like too much fun.

To answer the question as to what bottles, a lot of folks are using soda bottles with screw lids. Really.

[clintsfolly]

AS far as bottles go I saved some, was given some and am going to buy some. All of mine take crown caps. Clint

[454PB]

I had a great time brewing beer many years ago. I started with wine making, but I'm not really a wine guy. Many of the principles are the same, but beer is less work.

I used a 5 gallon crock, malted barley, and later, experimented with different varieties of hops.

Since I'm normally a light beer lover, homebrew got me looped quickly, and presented the worst hangovers I've ever experienced.

When I quit making it, I had over 20 cases of heavy duty crown cap bottles, a thousand crown caps, and several 5 gallon crocks I had to dispose of.

What I really enjoyed was watching friends and family get blasted on only three beers.

[thx997303]

Brew some Edwort's Apfelwein, the recipe will come up quickly in a google search, and is an extremely easy recipe.

Then give it to people. The 8-9% alcohol is something they do not expect. They will get pretty drunk pretty fast.

It's also great, and extremely easy to make.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Same here. Wanted to be a brewmeister, but don't like the taste of beer (hops bitterness acutally).
Probably should try and make my own, with extra light on the hops, or none.

rockrat,
most of the styles that came from Germany have little or no Hop character in the flavor profile. Some of them use spices like coriander or a unique yeast that can give a hint of friut or banana flavor. Oh, and I've experimented using orange zest and grapefriut zest instead of hops during the hop shortage of 2007-2008. that wasn't a total failure.

I've brewed quite a few beers in the last 5 years, But I've moved onto mostly countrystyle wines mostly using Rhubarb as a base and adding various other friut in secondary, my favorite is wild black razberries, gooseberries is a close second.
I've also made some beet wine, adding gooseberries to beet wine makes it drinkable much sooner. typically a beetwine needs to age at least 12 months for the overwhelming beetiness to subdue some. I've also made some wild grape wine, both times I've tried that, the end result is so tart, it's undrinkable alone, I've blended with about 70% plain rhubarb wine and that makes a nice beverage.