made wine, id like to try beer

[appleweld]

ive done several carboys of wine from kits, concentrates and fresh juice. i still learn something each time, so im no expert. id like to try a beer next. my wife likes a pilsner beer like miller.(happy woman equals less static when you spend to much on wine supplies). any sugestions on a kit to get. will i need co2 or does the beer naturally carbonate? i have basic wine equipment and a mini jet filter. any help appreciated, thanks , ashley

 

[Wade E]

Below is a link to a Pilsner kit by TrueBrew. You will need like a 5 gallon pot to steep the grains in though. You will also want to get a new fermenting bucket as you can get flavor transfers from wine to beer or vice versa. Everything else is very simple and follow the instruction. The beer will carbonate itself in the bottles and youll need those bottles with a capper which is very cheap too. If you know someone who drinks beer without twist offs save them for this purpose as they will work fine. You will want either StarSan or B-T-F Iodophor. I myself like the StarSan and its a no rinse sanitizer and can be kept just like a k meta solution for a long time while the Iodophor only lasts </span>24 hours. C02 tanks are for if you want to start kegging as you need the tank for dispensing. You can even carbonate a keg naturally but youll still need the C02 to dispense it out of the keg. How the beer carbonates naturally is you ferment it down like a wine but add a small packet of dextrose(corn sugar) right into the beer right before bottling and keep stirring it into suspension while bottling to make sure all the bottles come out evenly carbonated or you could end up with some bottle bombs and some flat beer.

http://www.finevinewines.com/c-312-true-brew.aspx

 

[paubin]

I've found that bottle conditioning is best for new brewers. I'd suggest that you get Charlie Papazian's book "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing". Also, The extract kits are great with a wide selection. Pilsner is a fine beer but it takes extra equipement that you may not have. It is cold fermented at about 55 F. I would say you should start out with an ale, they ferment at about 68 F. As Wade touched on a little, sanitation is even more critical with beer than with wine. Hope this helped some.


Pete

 

[Wade E]

I would cal Brian at The Winemakers Toy Store as he could generate a recipe kit for you whether it be all grain, partial mash, or extract.

 

[smurfe]

You might want to consider the Brewers Best American Cream Ale.

http://www.finevinewines.com/p-166-11011.aspx

This beer will be more like what you are expecting than doing a Pilsner kit but fermenting like an ale. The Pilsner kits say they have a yeast you can ferment at ale temps as well which indeed you can but you are not going to have a Pilsner and while it will be good, it will not be like an American Pilsner/Lager that you expect. A cream ale will be close though as it uses corn as an adjunct just like the American lager brewers do. I consider a good Cream Ale a great gateway beer to getting the BMC drinkers to the right side.

 

[andy123]

I believe Smurfe made a good call that American cream ale is a nice easy drinking beer. I've made it a couple times and it was well received.