I am thinking about a new possible hobby (like I need one!). Home brewing! I have already determined most retailers of kits to be rip-offs. I have found cheap sellers of 5 gallon cubitainers ($5), which are perfect for fermenting. They have a vent hole perfect for making a simple airlock out of plastic tubing and a plastic cup. Perhaps I can obtain some from a fast food restaurant. They use them for holding oil for the deep fryers IIRC. A propane turkey fryer is perfect for boiling the wort. Siphons for aquariums look great for making wort siphons. I've pretty much got the equipment angle worked out.

What I need to know.

Can you use common twist cap beer bottles? If gently cleaned and sterilized, can you reuse caps? Where are some good places to obtain barley malt extracts, hops, and yeasts for good prices? Many microbrew places sell by the pound and charge $4 or more per pound! The lowest is about $3. Quick figuring shows this to be about the same price as buying the beer! I've found one supplier in Texas that seems very reasonable as long as you buy 12 or more pounds at once, but I'd like to have some more sources.

Anyway, I'd like to get some ideas/comments from anyone willing to give their input.

hmm is this not elegal? or that might just be in sweden...

Perfectly legal in the US, although some local statutes may prohibit it in dry counties/cities. You can only make like 800 gallons a year I think.

I'm not sure about the exact laws regarding this in Sweden, but I'm quite sure you're allowed to brew your own beer and make your own wine (otherwise my dad is a criminal :D ). Perhaps selling it is illegal.

I'm not even sure about whether it illegal to make 'hard' liquor or not. It's probably in the lines of 'it's legal to own a distillery but illeagal to use it to produce alcohol'.

As for Sir Kenyth's question about where to find the ingredients; being a non-American I can't answer your question accurately, but in Sweden these kind of things are available in liquor stores. You may want to try there.

Forget hops! tffff... Get potatoes and make some vodka. Then set up a stand at a heavily populated Russian community. :D ( I like to prey on stereotype) :D

Sigh! Thanks anyway guys. I thought it might be a long shot as this is a gaming forum, but we have such a diverse group I though someone might have experience in this area. Perhaps there are some brewing forums I can check out. Anyway, feel free to give me pointers!

You should try to contact some of these people, they'll have all the info you need. Also, try to find some "beerforums", they are out there, you just need to know where to look. I lost the link to a pretty good international "beertalk" community, but if i manage to find it, i'll post the link here.

Thanks! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm not sure about the exact laws regarding this in Sweden, but I'm quite sure you're allowed to brew your own beer and make your own wine (otherwise my dad is a criminal :D ). Perhaps selling it is illegal.

I'm not even sure about whether it illegal to make 'hard' liquor or not. It's probably in the lines of 'it's legal to own a distillery but illeagal to use it to produce alcohol'.

As for Sir Kenyth's question about where to find the ingredients; being a non-American I can't answer your question accurately, but in Sweden these kind of things are available in liquor stores. You may want to try there. </font>[/QUOTE]Im sorry for my unknowing in this area but is this not the same thing as (have to use the swedsig word) Hembränt? in school we where always thought never to tuch hembränt becuz it could make you blind...

<font color=skyblue>You know...I just realized that we should have an alcoholic beverages forum where people talk about drinks and stuff.


Lord of Alcohol would be the moderator :D </font>

Only if you like glass in your beer. Remember: you'll need to crimp the un-used caps over the lip of the neck...and those screw-on lips crumble. Do yourself a favor: Use 12 oz long-necks (Bud) or Heinekens or Molson’s.

Sorry but no. You'd get rust...but new un-crimped caps are not overly expensive.

OK, here's the ENRON math:

$60 initial capital outlay (One huge cook pot, one seal able food-grade bucket with airlock, one floating thermometer, One siphon tube, one beer cap crimper, plus malt makings, yeast, and 'extras') Figure $5-$10 for per batch costs and assume that you get 5 gallons (2.2 cases) per batch. Sounds like its $5 for a case of beer, right?

OK...now lets pay you as an employee at even McDonald wages...and you see that the real price of your beer is more than the most expensive beer on the market. So, if this is a hobby, its not so bad. But it would be rare for you to get rich brewing beer.

PS- If you ever get bored with a lager batch, drop an uncut pepper into the bottle before you seal it. Wait 2-3 weeks before sampling it and you will have spicy beer!

Oh, I'm in it for the fun for sure! I plan on trying wine too. Let's not forget, the time you put in something like this can't really count as cost because you're paying yourself ;) ! As long as you enjoy the work, you can't go wrong. Think of it as another form of cooking. I must admit though, I wouldn't want to mash my own malted grain, or malt my own grain for that matter! Doing that makes a whole days work out of it! Extract is good enough for me I think. Too bad about twist bottles not working. I guess I'll just have to start drinking Molson Canadian! It's one of my favorites anyway :D !

Quietman, how on earth can you brew lager without a large fridge dedicated to the purpose? You have to ferment the stuff at about 45-55 degrees. Maybe an attached garage in the winter would be at the right temp?

Found it! Apparently, you should brew Lager in the wintertime in an attached garage with a regulated heating method of some sort to keep the temp between 45-55.