323915 Thu Sep 07 04:58:58 -0700 2006 19 35 Beer 0 1859352 First question: is it completely insane to attempt home brewing in a one bedroom apartment? I tend to think the answer is yes, but maybe it's been done? Second question: where do I get the supplies? Are there beer brewing stores, or do I go to a restaurant supply store? Third question: what kind of quantities am I looking at? 12 bottles? 24 bottles? Final question: what's the typical up front cost? I know it's going to cost me more than going to the store for some beer, but how much more? I found these very basic instructions on line, but was wondering if anyone had had particularly positive/negative experiences with home brewing. http://www.wyrdwords.vispa.com/heathenry/brewing.html Thu Sep 07 04:58:58 -0700 2006 11577 Pei 1 1859463 I've done it in a studio apartment. Now that I'm renting a house, I much prefer brewing outside with a propane cooker and a seven gallon brewpot. But you can brew in a small apartment. You'll want to wipe down the walls afterwards. Yes, go to a beer brewing store, or find a place on-line. You'll find equipment, supplies, and (variable) expertise. Get the book "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing". A brewing store will usually have a package deal on that book, a few small pieces of equipment, and maybe a starter pack for one brew, for $50-100. It's not a bad deal. Restaurant supply stores can sell you pots, though. A five gallon batch (the 'ordinary' home-brewer's batch) yields about 30 bottles. So the up-front cost is obviously a lot more than you will recover in one batch, if you get the kit. Your per-bottle cost after you have your basic equipment will run around $0.50, plus fuel for boiling, and time. You may develop an equipment-buying addiction if you ever find yourself in a more spacious house. You save a little money home-brewing, but not a lot. More equipment and knowledge will allow you to perform more complicated brews at a much lower price. But by the time you get that deeply into it, you will be too much of a beer snob to worry about price. If nothing else, get the book, read it, and figure out the smallest, cheapest, most space-saving brew you can do in your apartment. Do it just once, just to know that you can. Don't forget to drink the beer. Thu Sep 07 07:15:24 -0700 2006 1859352 19743 noahbirnel 2 1859800 5 gallons yields about two cases (48 12oz bottles). Homebrewing will teach you a lot about beer; that's what's great about it to me. You can save perhaps a small amount, but that's not the payoff. Thu Sep 07 14:37:01 -0700 2006 1859463 10998 Jim Dorsch 1 1859651 Great reply -- you should totally do it! We have modified our operation a bit...and bought a turkey fryer for the huge pot and hopefully some outside brewing sometime. it does take some space, but it's worth it... Google "homebrew supplies" and your town/state...there are lots out there. And next time you are at your local brewery, pick up a Brewing News (http://www.brewingnews.com). Thu Sep 07 13:31:34 -0700 2006 1859352 18481 MaineRed 1 1859867 Brewing is a fantastic hobby. I started brewing in my college dorm on Long Island, NY. I cooked up the wort in the dorm kitchen and then stored the fermenters under my desk and in odd corners of my room. I only bottled the brew a few times since it is such a hassle. I got hold of a few soda kegs, called cornelius kegs, which are tall and thin and hold five gallons. Those plus a CO2 tank and I was kegging my beer, which made brewing and drinking much easier and more fun. In grad school in Seattle I got into it big time and got a job as assistant brewer at an excellent brewpub. At my next grad school in Georgia I had 12 five gallon batches of home brew going at a time, by then I was renting a house. I paid the rent and made money by having $10 a head, all you can drink and eat parties every two weeks. (The food was usually fried catfish and snapping turtle soup since I lived on a cove off a lake and had large fishtraps that provided 5-6, 3-4ft long fish and 2-3 turtles a week.) Nowadays I only brew a few times a year and go for unique and interesting brews that I can cellar, such as barleywines and Belgian styles. You can get started for under $100 and spend $25-45 per five gallon batch. Have fun! Thu Sep 07 15:03:21 -0700 2006 1859352 10732 JMF 1 1859879 I brewed while living in a one-room apt with no problem. That link you have in your post outlines some non-standard procedures & ingredients. You will be much better off starting with info from this site: www.beertown.org/homebrewing/beginning.html This is the home site of the American Homebrewers Assoc. & has the most up-to-date recommendations for ingredients & equipment. morebeer.com is one of many online brew supply stores. They have everything you'd need & you can get a good idea of upfront costs by checking out their complete kits (after you learn more about what you want to brew & at what scale). Thu Sep 07 15:09:50 -0700 2006 1859352 18750 liegey 2 1859922 pei, I agree with liegey that the site you linked to has non-standard procedures and ingredients and the link liegey provided to the AHA is the way to go. That site is great and very informative, it's like having someone be there and talk you through the whole process. Also on the AHA site you can look up local homebrewing clubs and you will find folks who love brewing and will help you learn everything you need to know. Thu Sep 07 15:23:49 -0700 2006 1859879 10732 JMF 1 1859955 Thanks everyone! It sounds really exciting, I just don't know if I have room in my life for so many large containers...I love things that "grow" in the kitchen (yogurt, bread starters, kombucha, mushroom plants, herb gardens) but I might need to hold off on the beer. Thu Sep 07 15:36:12 -0700 2006 1859352 11577 Pei 1 1859961 Its a good idea if you don't mind the work. As long as you have enough space for a few buckets and a resonably cool (60-70F)place for fermentation, you can make beer. Equipment kits go for $60-100, ingredient kits can range from $25-35 depending on style for each batch. Batches are usually 5 gallons and you yield about two cases of 12 oz bottles. You will need a pot to boil the wort, but you can do a concentrated boil with a pot that holds 2 or more gallons and add water to the fermenter to get up to 5 gals. You can make beer at home cheaper than you can buy it - for microbrews anyway. And with some practice and adhearence to some basic principles, you can make really good beer. My first attempts were poor, but with practice, and research, I now make beer that is on par with some of the best microbreweries in the US. I would suggest reading/buying How to Brew by John Palmer. You can read it for free on the internet here: http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html You may want to read what it takes and the time involved to make beer before you go out and buy some equipment. Or contact a local homebrew club and attend a meeting and meet someone who can show you what it takes. Brewing the beer itself should take you 2-3 hours for extract batches, it will take a week to ferment, then another week or two to condition, then it takes 2-3 hours to bottle it, then you wait 2-4 weeks for it to carbonate and condition in the bottle. At the very least it will take 4 weeks to make beer. If you decide to make the plunge, search for a local homebrew shop, and if one is within a half hour or so of your house, go there, buy your equipment, and start building a relationship with them, because you may need their help starting out. Plenty of homebrew shops on the internet also - I use http://www.austinhomebrew.com/ for ingredients I can't find at my lhbs - you can't beat the flat fee shipping rate of $6. It is a very rewarding hobby when you start making good beer. Thu Sep 07 15:38:39 -0700 2006 1859352 12014 LStaff 2 1859970 Aha, you sealed the nail in my beer coffin. I don't have anywhere in the apartment that stays below 70 degrees for even a few hours out of the day. So this will have to wait until winter...or beyond. But thanks for all the responses, everyone! Very enlightening, and great pointers to bookmark for the future (thank goodness for that new feature--thanks Chowhound Team!) Thu Sep 07 15:41:58 -0700 2006 1859961 11577 Pei 3 1860470 When I lived down south I brewed ales all the time and my home averaged around 75 degrees. You get different flavors when you brew at warm temps but those flavors go well with the amber, medium, darker, and brown ales. Also a good hopping level works well with warmer fermenting temps. Thu Sep 07 18:16:04 -0700 2006 1859970 10732 JMF 3 1861954 No, do it whenever you have the capital to start running. Hot fermenting will never yield good lager, but ales are fine... just expect more fruity flavors. Remember that boozy things have been brewed all over the world without fridges or cellars. Go to it and learn in the process. Fri Sep 08 03:48:22 -0700 2006 1859970 19743 noahbirnel 3 1866497 I got into home brewing to make a Belgian style white beer, and quickly ended up doing all-grain brewing. I don't suggest going quite that far yet- it's a big investment in gear, time, and space. But the Wyeast witbier strain, in my experience, actually did best with a temp in the low 70's. Below that and it would glug along forever (weeks) to finish fermenting. You could emulate a white beer w/ a kit or extracts and get good results while it's still warm. Sun Sep 10 16:01:40 -0700 2006 1859970 12626 ted 3 5048719 There are lots of people who brew in hot temps.. all you need to do is keep an eye on the brews temp and cover the kit with a wet towel, this helps keep the temps down! Also, just store it in a shady spot of the apartment Tue Sep 22 07:54:11 -0700 2009 1859970 1111114 howtobrewbeer 1 1867667 I started brewing with one of those Mr. Beer kits. I'd have to say, skip that and fork over the money for a decent kit. The beer I made from the kit was OK, but I'd probably still prefer a Bud Light over it. Talking with people from work, I found several guys who had brewed at home for years. I'm now trying to use some of their experience to try recipes they enjoyed and had good luck with. Here is a shop that is local to me that also ships their products, however, I'm sure there is a similar store in the LA area closer to you. Good Luck. http://www.beer-wine.com/ Mon Sep 11 03:01:48 -0700 2006 1859352 12116 Ali G 2 1867740 IIRC Mr Beer does not utilize a boil, an essential step in wort production. Mon Sep 11 03:46:13 -0700 2006 1867667 10998 Jim Dorsch 1 1889958 Brew, you will learn much about beer by brewing. Use malt extract, but try to get cans or bags that are unhopped. Find recipes calling for unhopped malt extract. Put the hops in yourself. Ferment in glass. Taste everything. Drink beer while you brew. Wed Sep 20 18:44:29 -0700 2006 1859352 18017 Captain 2 1891273 I've always found it useful to maintain lucid thinking by enjoying beer after I'm through, not while brewing. Thu Sep 21 02:32:07 -0700 2006 1889958 10998 Jim Dorsch 1 1892233 I think you can brew in your apartment as I did years ago in a one BR, just don't transfer the hot wort directly to a glass carboy like I did or you risk having gallons of hot wort all over the floor if the carboy cracks. The real question is do you like the home brew taste? If you like the import/microbrew beers with yeast on the bottom you are getting an idea about what they generally taste like. I'm not a big fan of that yeast taste, and in my experience no one else will appreciate your beer but another home brewer. It is an interesting hobby, but there is a significant amount of work to it and the initial investment adds up, I concur with skipping the Mr Brew type all in one plastic brew kits. As you might gather I have gotten rid of my homew brew and wine making supplies. Look around for someone who still has supplies left in their basement and buy or borrow those if you are still interested. Doug Thu Sep 21 16:03:54 -0700 2006 1859352 23652 dijon 1 5049458 I just started brewing myself. I have a few friends that are very serious, so I was able to get some higher end supplies for brewing, and most of the supplies for kegging. I have had great success with my beers so far. You just have to make sure you have everything prepared and sanitized, and take your time when you are moving your beer - it's not a race! I get most of my kits and supplies from the web. Start out small and work your way up. Your first beer will not win awards. And pretty soon you will be able to create flavors and styles that you've always wanted to try or make up out of the blue. Enjoy. Tue Sep 22 11:30:50 -0700 2009 1859352 1106393 jbg7