Homebrewing

[Menjoo]

Since I ordered some more stuff this week to finally start kegging my beer, I wondered if there are any brewers on Taleworlds.
I know there are quite a few beer connoisseurs (Kronic and some others), but is anyone making his/her own?
I hope there is, as there are few things as rewarding as getting drunk on your own booze. And it`s quite simple to do as well!
So, I hope we can share our experience and maybe even get new people to try this finest of arts.
If you have any questions about brewing beer, or want to share your knowledge, feel free to do it here!

 

[Lord Burgess1]

Brewed my own cider before, never again.

 

[Tuckles]

My dorm mates and I tried brewing beer last year. The beer itself was good, but we ****ed up somewhere and it was flat, no carbonation whatsoever. Didn't drink more than a glass.

 

[Menjoo]

Brewed my own cider before, never again.

How do you make cider? It`s the only alcoholic beverage I havn`t tried yet. Well and spirits of course, it is illegal to make them here.

My dorm mates and I tried brewing beer last year. The beer itself was good, but we ****ed up somewhere and it was flat, no carbonation whatsoever. Didn't drink more than a glass.

Thats easy to fix though. Put some sugar (maltrose if you have) in the bottles, about half a teaspoon and let the yeast do its magic for some days. Works fine. If it gets to much CO2, just open the bottle shortly and close it again some times.

 

[Elisianthus]

I've been meaning to get around to beer, but so far the only stuff I've homebrewed is mead.

 

[Menjoo]

Mead is nice, but once you go beer, you never go back! 
Though, made some nice mead with rosmary and thyme. When you mixed it with cherry juice, it was godly!

 

[Phonemelter]

My father did some homebrew mead in celebration for making his first model ship; that stuff was very mediocre.

 

[Menjoo]

Does anyone has any expirience with kegging? I got some corny kegs just now, but dont really have clue how to use them yet. Forced carbonation, or normal priming? What`s the way to go?

 

[Tibertus]

I've brewed a decent IPA. It was a little flat, so next time we do it more sugar when we bottle maybe.

 

[Menjoo]

The proper way to do it would be to keep some of the wort (about 10%) and put it in the fridge until bottleing. Then you give it in your fermenting vessel before putting the "young beer" on bottles or a keg.
Never did that though, since I`m too lazy to calculate the amount of wort needed for that. 

 

[Elisianthus]

Right. Ordered meself some gear to start off brewing my own beer - shall post with updates as I go. Any advice from anyone who's done beer before for things to do/avoid?

 

[FrisianDude]

Advice is to ship me some.

 

[Kobrag]

My mate makes Braggot (welsh concoction thats a missinglink between ale and mead), several aple and fruit combination Ciders, Mead, Pale Ale and several 'forage' wines (Dandelions, birch sap and that sort of ****).


If you guys want something, I could prolly get you a recipe.

 

[Anarion]

Right. Ordered meself some gear to start off brewing my own beer - shall post with updates as I go. Any advice from anyone who's done beer before for things to do/avoid?

Be extremely particular about hygiene; sanitize all your equipment (rinse it well of course). Refined sugar can be handy and some brew kits call for it, but for the flavour it's generally better to use only malt (extract). If you use a brew kit, it might say you should boil some water with the malt extract, then add cold water. Some say that you should boil everything, but I think that depends on wether you have the equipment to cool the wort down quickly. The longer it's cooling, the higher the chances for infections. Also, shower water is often better water for brewing than tap water.
Lastly, even if you think your beer turned out crap, someone else might like it. You'll be surprised. 
Best of luck!

 

[Harkon Haakonson]

My dream is to make my own whisky.

 

[Menjoo]

Just shoot me a pm with any question you have. Important to know for me is if you use a beer kit or if you go all grain. What kind of equipment are getting?
Brewing is easy enough if you put a bit thought in it before you start. How do you get wort in the boiling pot? How are you going to filter the hops out? How do you setup the cooling? That kind of things. Much easier to know what you do before it happens.
Anyway, it's great fun and is very rewarding. I make about 200l of beer per year, I nearly don't have to buy any anymore! 

Edit: Urgrevling advice is good.

 

[Tibertus]

My dream is to make my own whisky.

I know someone with a still who makes rum. Awesome stuff.

 

[Krik]

My sister makes wine every now and then, it's pretty alright. I've also never had vodka better than a bottle I had brewed in Austin.

 

[LordOfShadows]

Hello.

I brew a dark ale and a ginger beer and am thinking of trying a light mead and will be doing a lager next, after my current batch of dark ale finishes. Brewing is really easy, and lots of fun.

 

[Radalan]

I used to brew kilju (or sugar wine). Before I had money to buy alcohol that is.