These are the guys I use... I start with a kit... http://www.breworganic.com/beer/organic-beer-kits/mash-extract-beer-kits.html ...or just buy extract, hops and yeast of my choice... then punch it up with a few pounds of grain that I mash with at the start, and this is where your beer can become truly personalized: http://www.breworganic.com/beer/ingredients/organic-malt/malt-per-lb.html
OK here's one bit of advice.....if you just finished it, and it came out well. Give it a month (for light colored beer) or a couple of months for brown ales/stouts/high alcohol brews. In my observation no homebrew tastes half as good after two weeks in the bottle as it does after two months. So by all means relax...have a homebrew...but have MOST of your homebrew after it matures!!
sounds good, ill pull a few aside. how do you feel about two stage fermenting? and how many batches have you screwed up experimenting? and barry this one was bought from a kit that cost me about 50 bucks, and I got 51 12oz bottles from the batch. definitely could do it cheaper, and will do it cheaper next time. the process is enjoyable, but drinking it is way more fun
For me..always two stage: After the yeast is pitched and MADLY stirred, it ferments for several days to a week or so on all of the yeast until nearly all signs of fermentation stop and the specific gravity indicates you are at or near your target. That's the first stage. Second stage: rack off all of the fermented beer (leaving just the yeast dregs behind) into a clean second container with as little head space as possible, and let sit for another week in cooler temps (maybe 55-65 degrees for ales, 10 or degrees cooler than that for lagers. This is the secondary fermentation. If you are brewing a lager this is where you would try to set the beer in an unheated garage and attempt to keep it below 45 degrees for several weeks (lagering) Then add priming sugar and bottle or just keg it. As far as screwing up goes, most of the problems I have had seem to involve some sort of failure for the yeast to fully ferment out, leaving two much unfermented sugars in the final beer and undesirable sweetness or harshness. I've never been much for wild experimentation although I have used habanero peppers in a red ale and things like coffee in stout and fruits like cherries and apricots. All of these have been cool.
Barry, It generally works out to about half the cost of good beer from the store. 5 gallons makes about two cases, give or take a few, and ingredients (using extract) will run you about 50 bucks, depending on what you want to make. I make a sierra nevada pale ale knockoff that costs $45 to make, and two cases worth would cost me between $65-80, depending on if the store has a sale.
