Homebrew Beer (made easy)

I made an attempt at homebrew a few years ago and it was a complete failure. The taste wasn't great and the beer was flat. I used the basic homebrew setup, which I have since sold, and a beer mix kit from a homebrew store. I have recently been making ginger beer/ale in 2 liters and wondered if a similar technique could be used for making beer.

Any ideas?

Justin,
It is actually quite simple. The two keys are good sanitation, and using enough yeast. Do those, and you'll be good.

I'd recommend getting a decent book on the subject, like Charlie Papazian's book. Probably three bucks on amazon (used). Easy reading, but it walks you through the process. There are many good books out there.

No reason it should be flat. And no reason it shouldn't taste good (or great!). PM me if you want detailed advice. I believe Liquor Barn sells homebrew supplies. All you need is some malt and some hops and some yeast. (and bottles, bottle caps, sanitizer, etc). There are several brewers on this forum, but I bet they don't check this part, because they're too lazy to cook anything other than beer.....

Nimbus, former homebrewer and pro-brewer

p.s. Checked amazon ten bucks for the newest edition. Probably should get that, a few things have changed - mostly better supply of yeast. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Homebrew ... 978&sr=8-1

You might (dunno) be able to be friendly to your local brewers and have them give you some yeast. Just put it in a sanitized jar, bring home, and use for your next batch. It is a slight pain, but I often did it for homebrewers when I had my brewery. Nothing like good yeast to get your brew rockin'. But the stuff you buy at the homebrew store is pretty good these days too.

I'm not sure if you are asking about brewing 2 liter batches of beer or storing beer in 2 liter bottles. If you're thinking of only making 2 liters of beer at a time, I'd advise against it. The proccess takes about the same amount of time regardless of the batch size. In other words, for the same amount of time, you could make 5 or 10 gallons. Also figuriing out the ingredients for a 2 liter batch would an exercise in minutia.

As far as storage, you could keep beer carbonated in a 2 liter for a little while but you would be better off in glass or a keg. My understanding is that the plastic used in soda bottles is very oxygen permeable and will, over time, stale your beer.

In addition to (or as a substitute for) the Papzian book I would recommend "How to Brew" by John Palmer. It breaks the process down in a really simple manner, and if you decide you want to geek out, gets more technical then you will ever need to know.

I just looking for a way to make and store smaller batches. Bottling is out 100%. It is a huge pain. I just want to be able to make a few gallons, try it, and move on to a new flavor. I don't want to have to drink 5 gallons of the same beer. I also don't want to spend the time and money on making a large batch and it not turn out right or not liking it. I figured some home brewer on here would have brewed beer in small batches and would have some ideas/secrets to make it easy.

I don't want to have to drink 5 gallons of the same beer. I also don't want to spend the time and money on making a large batch and it not turn out right or not liking it.

If you brew something great, you might just want to drink the whole 5 gallons, if not, invite over some of your friends with less discriminating palettes and have them help you drink it. You'll get through 5 gallons in no time and they'll thank you for the free beer. Better yet, brew with a friend and then you can split the batch between 2 of you.

I spent a couple years doing the home brew thing and most of the time I shared the expenses and fruits of our labor with a friend. Despite following all the proper rules and regulations the quality of the product was hit and miss at best...interestingly, some of the early products (when the "knowledge base" was low) were much better than the later products. Ultimately the "pain in the ass" factor kicked in and I gave away all of my equipment.