Anyone know what it takes to start a home brewery?!
Anyone know what it takes to start a home brewery?
I've always wanted to get into beer brewing and want to know what it takes to start a home brewery and where to get the stuff that is needed.
Answers:
Making beer at home is similar to making wine. All ingredients can be bought anywhere and with wine making equipment very easy to do. The only problem is carbonation. This I have no clue where to find. Producing CO2 in a sealed bottle is not the way to go unless you enjoy sitting on the can for hours.
I know of a place called Homebrew Heaven in Everett, Washington State, so Google them and see!
Samuel Adams sends you a free kit for their home brewing contest. I guess you can keep the stuff after they send it to you. Check out the link below. Once you click the link, look for the picture that says "long shot" and click on it and fill in the information.
Good Luck!
The Sam Adams suggestion was excellent.
Also:
Find your local wine making shop. They all sell beer brewing equipment as well as wine making equipment. The equipment is almost all the same.
You need a beer kit, a 6 gallon carboy, cleaning crystals, Corn sugar.
You probably need a hydrometer.
You need to collect bottles. I save my 2L soft drink bottles and clean them thoroughly.
The yeast comes with the kit.
More complex beer kits come with other beer making ingredients like hops.
When you finish the beer (gotta start 2 batches today), at the very end, you add 3/4 to 1 cup corn sugar to the 6 gallon batch. More than this can make the beer explosive, so more is NOT better.
There are other ways to carbonate it, but corn sugar is inexpensive, where the equipment costs well over $100.
As a beginner... KISS (keep it simple, silly!)
Good luck and find a kit that matches a kind of beer you already like. We started with Mexican Cervesa.
Check your phone book for brewery supplies.
They sell kits to get you started.
A great place to read about what the process entails is here:
http://howtobrew.com
Then, do a google search for home brewing supply stores in your local area. The people at home brewing stores are a wealth of information and tips.
If there are no home brewing stores in your area, my favorite online supplier is http://morebeer.com Check into the starter kits to get going with your first batch. The nice thing is that once you buy the kit, subsequent batches only need ingredients, so you don't have to get more equipment (unless you want to).
Have fun!
Visit http://www.beertown.org and learn where your nearest homebrew shop and nearest homebrew club is located. Do not buy kits like Mister Beer or the Beer Machine; they make inferior beer.
In the meanwhile, pick up a copy of 'The complete Joy of Homebrewing' by Charlie Papazian.