Homebrewers

[smokinbolt]

I've been reading a couple of the threads and know there are some homebrewers out there. It is something I want to get into when I get home and am doing some reading now (Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide and the Homebrewers Bible (I think that is the title)). Anyone have any recommendations? Also I was wondering how popular is the craft and how easy d you think it would be to find a homebrew supply store? Any links to websites or any advice would help.

 

[BitterRat]

I've been reading a couple of the threads and know there are some homebrewers out there. It is something I want to get into when I get home and am doing some reading now (Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide and the Homebrewers Bible (I think that is the title)). Anyone have any recommendations? Also I was wondering how popular is the craft and how easy d you think it would be to find a homebrew supply store? Any links to websites or any advice would help.

Well, it looks like you have a couple pretty decent books there to read . Austin Homebrew may be close to you, not sure.
Here are some links for you:

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/

Book online:
http://www.howtobrew.com/

More Beer and Northern Brewer have homebrew forums, info can be mixed but there are some knowledgeable brewers on both.

 

[smokinbolt]

Thank you sir. I was having problems opening the austinhomebrew page, there are a couple in waco too but internet is running slow on every site except this one.

 

[ChiTown_Huck]

I started with the second edition, but I found Charlie's book to be a great way to learn the basics of homebrewing. Northern Brewer also has homebrewing boards where you can find a lot of information. They have a great catalog as well. Pick up a copy of BYO, and it has some listings for homebrew shops.

 

[Wild]

Welcome to the obsession. Let us know how your first brew turns out.

 

[smokinbolt]

It will probably be a while before I get a batch going, I'm hoping that with all the recipes and books and all that my first batch should be good. Is that just wishful thinking?

 

[ChiTown_Huck]

Follow the instructions, make sure everything is clean, and your beer should turn out just fine. It might not be awesome but it will be fine. Oh and you will screw something up. But just relax, don't worry, and have a homebrew.

 

[BitterRat]

It will probably be a while before I get a batch going, I'm hoping that with all the recipes and books and all that my first batch should be good. Is that just wishful thinking?

No, not wishful thinking at all! While it may not be the best beer that you ever had, if you do as Chitown said, it'll be good and you'll be hooked! Relax, hmm, I doubt you'll relax! Don't worry, hahaha, you'll worry too! Have a homebrew, well if it's your first batch, have one of the beers everyone has been suggesting here in this part of the forum! But if nothing else, remember brewing is very forgiving, you can make mistakes and it'll still be beer, and most likely pretty good beer!

 

[effinwill]

i THINK IF YOU STICK WITH THE PHILOSOPHY IN THE mILLER BOOK AND FORGET ABOUT pAPAZIAN, YOU WILL BE MUCH HAPPIER WITH THE PRODUCT YOU CREATE. SHIt sorry about the caps.

You can make great beer at home.

 

[smokinbolt]

I appreciate everyone's input, I do feat they don't shareel a lot better that my first batch will be drinkable. Is it a good idea to tweak some of the recipes around some, mixing things that don;'t typically go together, just to try something new? What is the most/least amount of hops you can use in a batch? I'm sure it's different for different kinds but what is a good general rule to go by? Are hops as hard to find as what I've been reading or is that epidemic over?

 

[ChiTown_Huck]

I'm not sure what your first sentence means...been having some homebrew already?

Again this is just me and how I operate, but I would follow a couple recipes exactly to understand the process. In the beginning even simple recipes will have you questioning things. Take notes, in case something does not come out exactly right. Then if you want to ask questions of other brewers, you can tell them exactly what you did and they can maybe help pinpoint the problem. Once you have a feel for brewing, then you can start mixing it up to your hearts content. If you throw in too many variables and something goes wrong, you won't know what part went wrong, and other brewers will be less able to help you.

I recommend going to a homebrew board and reading some of the questions other people have. You will begin to see what I mean in terms of needing to ask specific questions.

 

[BitterRat]

I agree with Chitown, take good notes, brew a batch or two exactly as written, just to get used to the process and get an idea of the flavors each ingredient gives, then start messing with tweaking recipes.
For forums, More Beer has a good one, Northern Brewer is good and then there are others that can be hit or miss, but you can usually get good info just reading posts or going through the FAQ on different sites!