If you can boil water you can make your own beer. There are lots of different ways to get started. You can start with a Mr Beer kit for about $40 which will make about 2 gallons of beer. If you spend just a little bit more money you can get a kit that will make even better beer.
Justin Crossley from The Brewing Network joins us in the discussion. Link to the Brewing on the Cheap show.
Homework:
Brew some beer! Get a Mr Beer kit which is a cheap way to try out brewing. Or invest a little more money in a Starter Kit from your local home brew shop. If you don’t have a local store Beer, Beer and More Beer is a great online resource.
Beer Kits and Beer Ingredients.
Bonus home work!
Send us the beer that you make. Be sure to send stories and pictures.
7 Comments
Really enjoyed this episode, made me think about dragging out my setup and brewing my own beer. I have not done it in a decade but this might get me back into the hobby.
Also wanted to say thanks for your San Francisco Beer Tour show. My wife and I were out there two weekends ago and used your show to help plan our trip.
We started Friday by driving up the coast and across to the Bear Republic Brewery. I would recommend both the food and the beer, especially the Racer 5.
For dinner we walked to Gordon Biersch and enjoyed sitting on the patio although I thought both the beer and food were very average.
On Saturday we walked to the 21st Amendment and would recommend it to everyone. Had you guys not recommended it we would have walked by because it is one of those places where the outside is completely different from the inside. The food was excellent and the beer Double Trouble IPA I had was just as good. The only problem we had was that they were out of Watermelon Wheat and the IPA (the one I really wanted). Definitely a must visit for anyone in San Francisco.
We were going to go to the Magnolia Pub for dinner but ended up buying some sour dough, meat, cheese and wine and sitting on our hotel balcony watching the fog roll in instead.
Figured it was a pretty good trip, especially when you consider my wife does not drink beer.
That’s a good way to see San Francisco too! Funny that we didn’t think of that.
Great to hear Justin on the show and on the other side of the dicussion.
As for the Comic chick girls, I agree Motor. I was in San Diego a few years back when one was on, and there were all these hot chicks dressed up as superheros all over the place.
You may also want to checkout some here http://blogzarro.com/?cat=18
Doc
Great show! I’ve been listening to The Session for about 9 months (after a tip from John Foster…thanks) and bought a new brewing system this week. Looking forward to brewing my first batch in a couple days!
You can read about my system on my beer site: http://www.pasadenadrive.com/beer.
Cheers!
Brewing beer IS easier than I thought. It does take time, patients, and a lot of scrubbing. My first attempt was instigated by the Sam Adams Longshot contest. I’m still waiting for my score.
My second brew has now been inspired by the Maui Brewing Company’s CoCoNut Porter. Hmmmmmmmmm. I brought a variety 6 pack back from my vacation in Maui and will be savoring the two cans of CoCoNut P in the pack. The IPA is very hoppy, and it’s all good, but the Porter……is sublime.
I’d just like to defend Mr. Beer for a few minutes.
I’m not saying that Mr Beer is as good as the more expensive kits, but what I am saying is that I’ve been using a Mr Beer for over a year and I’ve made some pretty good beer (better than most beer in a store). I’d suggest trying their Englishman’s Nut Brown Beer, the Linebacker Boch, or some of their recipes such as Bengal Tiger IPA (make sure you wait a month or 2 before drinking).
Of course as soon as I get my own place I’m upgrading to a better kit.
Hey Tombstone. We like Mr Beer otherwise we would not have recommended it! No matter which path you take after brewing a few batches it’s a cheep and fun way to get started brewing.