Is beer making hard?

Question

I make wine, but I am interested in making beer... honestly, is it worth my time?

Answer 1

Yes, find a store near you where they specialize in beer-making and all the accessories and the people there will chat you up and convince you that it's the shizzle.

Answer 2

Hard?  No.  Time consuming, yes, and it will require slightly different equipment than wine making.  Depending on whether or not you start with extract brewing or jump directly to all grain (I'd recommend getting an extract-based kit of a style of beer you like), you'll need to:

a) mash the grains (mix them with water and hold them at a certain temperature to allow enzymes in the grain to break the complex starches down into fermentable sugars - generally not necessary for extract brewing)

b) steep any specialty grains to extract the color and taste they provide (try not to boil them as that will extract lots of tannins, which are generally undesirable in beer)

c) boil the wort, including any hops - check the recipe for boiling times, and if using extract add it about 15 minutes from the end of the boil time (this allows enough time to sterilize it without causing excessive caramelization - be sure to do this off the heat so you don't scorch any that sinks to the bottom of the brewing vessel, and *be very careful* to watch it closely when you bring it back up to heat, as boilovers of sugary liquid are unpleasant)

d) cool everything down to pitching temperature and shake/stir/whatever to aerate (necessary because boiling removes most of the oxygen)

e) pitch (add) the yeast

After that, it's generally the same as wine brewing.  Assuming you already own pretty much everything you need for wine making, for beer making you'll need to add a brew kettle large enough to boil the wort (you can do a concentrated boil; it'll affect the taste somewhat, but 5+ gallon kettles are expensive), a bottle capper capable of handling beer bottles, enough beer bottles (about 2.5 cases for a 5-gal batch of beer) and caps for your batch, and priming sugar (generally about 0.5 c to 0.75 c dextrose added just before bottling to generate carbonation).  It's helpful to have a wort chiller to cool things quickly, but I've been using a sink of ice water for years now.  Some day...

As to whether it's worth your time, only you can decide that.  I like beer - a lot.  I like being able to make exactly what I want (well, pretty close to it - still working on some of my recipes).  I think it's really rewarding, and while there is some work involved, it's totally worth the end product.

Answer 3

Beer is much more complex than  wine and requires good skills. But any one willing to read and practice can brew a nice beer.

http://beertwon.org/

http://www.howtobrew.com/

Answer 4

It's slightly harder than making wine in that you don't have the acidity to deter bacterial growth. You have to be very careful to sanitize everything.

Warning: Do not use the same plastic buckets or cubitainers for both beer and wine. Plastic picks up the flavor of hops, something you don't want making its way to your wine.

The amount of time it takes depends on what you start with. An all-extract brew, which you will probably start with, takes less time than an all-grain brew, which you may or may not graduate to. It's sort of like starting your wine from juice vs growing your own grapes. You pays yer money and you takes yer choice.

Answer 5

If you're already making wine, then you will have some good knowledge to put towards your beer making.  Whether you go from a kit, or try a recipe with malt extract and hops, it's not too hard, and you'll probably enjoy  it.  Some people even start All Grain brewing on their first go (not many though)

The only extra time you would have to expend would be boiling your wort, and there's even no-boil kits you can get.  I know of a couple companies here in Ontario that even make pre-packaged wort that are pretty good. If you do use a beer kit from the  can I would recommend adding malt extract instead of corn sugar ( I would use 1.5L malt syrup in a 23L batch).  Check www.howtobrew.com

Answer 6

Yes :)

Answer 7

It depends on the reason you want to make beer.  If you are looking to save money, then you might want to reconsider.  There are two kinds of general brewing methods, extract and all-grain.  Extract uses a syrup or powder of the sweet liquid extracted from the grain.  Buying extract is easier than all-grain, because extracting the sweet liquid yourself (the process is called mashing) can take around 8 hours--and that's 8 hours of working, not waiting.  

If you want to brew beer because you think you'd like making beer, then yes, it is worth your time.  Keep everything sanitized; it's the hardest part of beer brewing and the most important.  Beer that gets infected with bacteria tastes awful, but it won't kill you.  Start simple and easy.  

Answer 8

Define "hard" for me. It is time consuming. It requires research, planning, strict sanitation, a constant vigil during brewing and the patience to weight a month or more before drinking.

I won't tell you that it's easy, but on the other hand I can't tell you it's difficult. It isn't brain surgery, but it isn't like making PB&J either.

I typically spend about 2 to 3 weeks just researching a recipe before I even set foot in a supply store for my ingredients. Sanitation for me begins the night before brewing, racking to secondary and bottling. The mashing process takes several hours to do properly...after you've gathered, measured and laid out your ingredients. The fermentation process takes between 2 to 3 weeks on average...depending of the beer. The bottle conditioning takes about 2 weeks. So all together for me it takes about 2 months work to make 2 cases of beer. Beer that tastes like I want it to. Chocolate Milk Imperial Stouts, Orange Saisons, Apple Witbiers and Mint IPAs.

Yeah, it is completely worth it.

EDIT:

Here is a link to a free (and legal) copy of one of the most popular homebrewing books out there, How to Brew by John Palmer.

http://www.howtobrew.com/

Read through this, before you start. Or if you're feeling adventurous...while you're brewing.

Oh, and don't forget to have a finely crafted beer in hand during the boiling process. About 15 minutes into it, you'll wish you had one...but you can't leave the pot for fear of a boil over.

Answer 9

It really isn't that difficult and the results can be quite spectacular.  The main thing is to sanitize everything that will come in contact with the beer as it brews.  You can find several videos on home brewing on YouTube which show how it is done.  I kept a blog with pictures when I brewed a batch that is listed below in my sources.