Conquer Club

i am going down south for a christening this weekend. it is on an army barracks and the beer is a pond a pint ($2). i just thought i would brag about that, it is so cheap i could get bladdered for around 15 to 18 quid.

Bastard. £2.70 a pint is killing me. Luckily I'm a lightweight so I can get trollied for around £15 anyway

I went to Sweden last week and it was around 70 Krona for a pint (That's around £5 )

Nickbaldwin wrote:Bastard. £2.70 a pint is killing me. Luckily I'm a lightweight so I can get trollied for around £15 anyway

nick, don`t worry about it. in my local i pay 2.50 for a pint of cider.

Just as well, your giro cant't stretch much further past the pound a pint mark

which barrack you going to? aldershot?

Man, down in Ecuador, everything is cheap. A pint costs about $2 (US Dollars).

So that makes it what, about 1 quid for a pint?

Actually, it's about two bucks here where I live, dsepending on the brand of course.

I brew my own great stuff. It takes me about one hour of my time and costs me about US$35 for 5 gallons (40 pints). And it is awesome!

muy_thaiguy wrote:Actually, it's about two bucks here where I live, dsepending on the brand of course.

Where do you live and what do you drink?

cleveridea wrote:I brew my own great stuff. It takes me about one hour of my time and costs me about US$35 for 5 gallons (40 pints). And it is awesome!

How long have you brewed? There's a few homebrewers like us here on CC.

Brewing your own is the way to go. You get great beer for a fraction of what it'll cost you in a pub. Which will save you more $$ to spend in that same pub.
That means LOTS of beer

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"
-Ben Franklin

Iz Man wrote:

cleveridea wrote:I brew my own great stuff. It takes me about one hour of my time and costs me about US$35 for 5 gallons (40 pints). And it is awesome!

How long have you brewed? There's a few homebrewers like us here on CC.

Brewing your own is the way to go. You get great beer for a fraction of what it'll cost you in a pub. Which will save you more $$ to spend in that same pub.
That means LOTS of beer

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"
-Ben Franklin

Well, I have a couple of questions.

How much space do you need for brewing? A closet? Do you need plenty of room in a freezer?

Where do you get your grains and whatnot?

Finally, just how difficult is it to make good beer?, because believe me, I've had some pretty awful homebrew before.

On Thursday nights at my fav bar near here, they have $1 you call-it's. Which means what ever you order is $1.

happy2seeyou wrote:On Thursday nights at my fav bar near here, they have $1 you call-it's. Which means what ever you order is $1.

A mediocre Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood has my city's best drink specials on Tuesday nights. 1 pint of any kind of beer: $2, Bombay Sapphire, Bacardi, or Grey Goose served any way: $2, Well drinks: $1

Not quite as good as your deal, but I'm always satisfied with it.

Another mediocre Mexican restaurant has $1 margaritas from 4pm - 6pm on Thursdays, but... ehhh...

Though, a bar near where my parents live way out in the sticks has pitchers of Budweiser (the only thing they have on tap) for $6.50, every night of the week.

btownmeggy wrote:Well, I have a couple of questions.
How much space do you need for brewing? A closet? Do you need plenty of room in a freezer?
Where do you get your grains and whatnot?
Finally, just how difficult is it to make good beer?, because believe me, I've had some pretty awful homebrew before.

Ah Hah. You've got me started now. Good.

You can brew a batch of beer in your kitchen. Ales are fermented at room temperature, hence no fridge or freezer req'd. Lagers, Pilsners, and such require somewhat precise cold temp control (dedicated fridge with thermosat) so are a bit more difficult. 5 gals is roughly 50 12oz. bottles so as long as you have room to keep 2 cases of beer around, your fine.
Check out http://www.northernbrewer.com or http://www.williamsbrewing.com to get a free catalog.
http://www.morebeer.com is also a prime detailer, you can download a free .pdf catalog from them. Their brew sculptures are top notch, but pricey. You can also google for your local homebrew shop, they're everywhere.
As far as making good beer; I can honestly say that in the 4+ years I've been brewing, I don't think I've made a "bad" batch. Obviously it all depends on the drinker's taste. The MOST important thing in brewing is keeping everything sanitary. As long as you follow the directions (easy, trust me) and keep things clean, you'll be fine.
You can get a starter kit for ~$60. Then expand piece by piece afterwards to suit your needs.

Norse wrote:Just as well, your giro cant't stretch much further past the pound a pint mark

which barrack you going to? aldershot?

now norse, there are some strange people on this site, so i refrain from saying which one. it is not Aldershot anyway, my brother-in law use to be based at Aldershot.

oh and you cheeky bastard, i`m not on the dole, your mistaking us with a scouser.

DAZMCFC wrote:i am going down south for a christening this weekend. it is on an army barracks and the beer is a pond a pint ($2). i just thought i would brag about that, it is so cheap i could get bladdered for around 15 to 18 quid.

luckily for me i buy my beer for 75 cents.... .and believe me its a damn good beer!

Iz Man wrote:How long have you brewed? There's a few homebrewers like us here on CC.

Brewing your own is the way to go. You get great beer for a fraction of what it'll cost you in a pub. Which will save you more $$ to spend in that same pub.
That means LOTS of beer

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"
-Ben Franklin

Sadly, I moved away from San Diego about 4 years ago. I still miss my favorite store down there - Ballast Point. I guess I could make the 2 hour trip back there and start home brewing again.

http://www.ballastpoint.com/

btownmeggy wrote:

muy_thaiguy wrote:Actually, it's about two bucks here where I live, dsepending on the brand of course.

Where do you live and what do you drink?

Wyoming, and whatever is available. Though not Jackson, prices are outrageous there. I live in Southern Wyoming.

Iz Man wrote:How long have you brewed?

About 10 years.

Your advice was sound and I agree that you can get a start kit for the hardware you'll need for under $100. However, I've come to have the following setup which dramatically reduces the time I have to put in and the mess it can make.

#1 I use an outdoor burner, like one you hook a gas tank up to and deep fry a turkey. This means I have no indoor odors to deal with (makes my wife happy) and any careless boil over can be cleaned up with a hose. Nothing is much more of a pain to handle than cleaning up the stickiness of a boil over.

#2 I use a copper coil wrapped in a garden hose to put the boiled wort into the fermenting container. Running cool water through hose means that that I can go from boiling wort to pitching the yeast in less than 10 minutes. Waiting for the wort to cool before pitching is both dangerous (opportunity for critters) and boring.

#3 I do primary (first 96 hours or so) in the 5 gallon glass carboy (easy to clean than plastic containers) and then I do secondary fermentation directly in a 5 gallon korny kegs (the same one's used by soda dispensers at your local fast food place). The kegs cost about $12, used.

#4 I don't use bottles - too much of a pain. Sometimes I bottle up a few pints for the boys at work, though - but not for myself. Bottles for me was 90% of the "work" involved in home brewing.

#5 I never naturally kruesen (sp?) - carbonating by adding more sugar and waiting. Instead, I take the fermented (flat) beer, cool it and add CO2, shake and drink. Cuts about 10 days or so out of the loop between getting at the beer.

#6 Usually I use the syrup+hops canned kits and some DME, but sometimes I use special hops and DME. Using grains was too hard and too much work - though I try every once in a while.

#7 I have my own refrigerator on the patio with two taps, so I can black&tan just about any night.

The outdoor burner and the kegging equipment won't come with any starter kit, but it is absolutely worth it if you like the drinking more than the making and cleaning.

cleveridea wrote:About 10 years.

Your advice was sound and I agree that you can get a start kit for the hardware you'll need for under $100. However, I've come to have the following setup which dramatically reduces the time I have to put in and the mess it can make.

#1 I use an outdoor burner, like one you hook a gas tank up to and deep fry a turkey. This means I have no indoor odors to deal with (makes my wife happy) and any careless boil over can be cleaned up with a hose. Nothing is much more of a pain to handle than cleaning up the stickiness of a boil over.

#2 I use a copper coil wrapped in a garden hose to put the boiled wort into the fermenting container. Running cool water through hose means that that I can go from boiling wort to pitching the yeast in less than 10 minutes. Waiting for the wort to cool before pitching is both dangerous (opportunity for critters) and boring.

#3 I do primary (first 96 hours or so) in the 5 gallon glass carboy (easy to clean than plastic containers) and then I do secondary fermentation directly in a 5 gallon korny kegs (the same one's used by soda dispensers at your local fast food place). The kegs cost about $12, used.

#4 I don't use bottles - too much of a pain. Sometimes I bottle up a few pints for the boys at work, though - but not for myself. Bottles for me was 90% of the "work" involved in home brewing.

#5 I never naturally kruesen (sp?) - carbonating by adding more sugar and waiting. Instead, I take the fermented (flat) beer, cool it and add CO2, shake and drink. Cuts about 10 days or so out of the loop between getting at the beer.

#6 Usually I use the syrup+hops canned kits and some DME, but sometimes I use special hops and DME. Using grains was too hard and too much work - though I try every once in a while.

#7 I have my own refrigerator on the patio with two taps, so I can black&tan just about any night.

The outdoor burner and the kegging equipment won't come with any starter kit, but it is absolutely worth it if you like the drinking more than the making and cleaning.

I have a 70k BTU propane burner that's awesome (~$85).
For chilling the wort I use a copper immersion chiller, my ground water is pretty cold even in the summer (~50deg) so I can get 5 gals from boiling to pitching temp in about 15 min.
I have a couple of kegs, but no dedicated fridge yet so I just use them for my homemade root beer & birch beer. Bottling can be a pain, but its easier to share with people. Just hand them a bottle.
I'm a partial-mash brewer, never used pre-hopped canned kits, I prefer adding my own hops. Which, BTW, I grow in my back yard .

Hopefully this isn't considered a hijack of this thread, we're still talking beer, right?

go right ahead and highjack all you want. i could not give 2 shits, all i posted for was to take the piss out of people(like me) who pay to much for their beer in pubs. being on an army barracks, my brother-in law said they are not aloud to make a profit. it is usually 75p a pint, but because there are civvies there(at the do) it goes up to a quid to cover extra staff and cleaning.

Iz Man wrote:

cleveridea wrote:I brew my own great stuff. It takes me about one hour of my time and costs me about US$35 for 5 gallons (40 pints). And it is awesome!

How long have you brewed? There's a few homebrewers like us here on CC.

Brewing your own is the way to go. You get great beer for a fraction of what it'll cost you in a pub. Which will save you more $$ to spend in that same pub.
That means LOTS of beer

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"
-Ben Franklin

The problem here, is that this spawn degenerate alcoholics.....

DAZMCFC wrote:

Norse wrote:Just as well, your giro cant't stretch much further past the pound a pint mark

which barrack you going to? aldershot?

now norse, there are some strange people on this site, so i refrain from saying which one. it is not Aldershot anyway, my brother-in law use to be based at Aldershot.

Fair point....I live about an hour from aldershot, the whole town is full of hard-nuts...not a good place to go out on the piss, unless you are a hard nut like me

DAZMCFC wrote:oh and you cheeky bastard, i`m not on the dole, your mistaking us with a scouser.

True, true....

muy_thaiguy wrote:Wyoming, and whatever is available. Though not Jackson, prices are outrageous there. I live in Southern Wyoming.

I know you said you try to stay away from Jackson, but have you ever made it to the Snake River Brewery?
They brew some award winning ales. I unfortunately have not had the chance to try any of their brews yet. I'd love to though.

Iz Man wrote:I have a 70k BTU propane burner that's awesome (~$85).
For chilling the wort I use a copper immersion chiller, my ground water is pretty cold even in the summer (~50deg) so I can get 5 gals from boiling to pitching temp in about 15 min.
I have a couple of kegs, but no dedicated fridge yet so I just use them for my homemade root beer & birch beer. Bottling can be a pain, but its easier to share with people. Just hand them a bottle.
I'm a partial-mash brewer, never used pre-hopped canned kits, I prefer adding my own hops. Which, BTW, I grow in my back yard .

My groundwater is a bit warmer (Texas) but it does the trick in about the same time.

I meant to start growing my own hops this year but I forgot to get off my ass and get the vines last spring. If I don't get them in by March, it's over. They would have been great this summer with all the rain we've had. I'm thinking of Cascade hops, but I'm not sure. What hops do you grow?

My beer fridge has two taps, but room for 4 kegs, so I fluctuate on having 6-20 gallons on hand at any time. I'm getting a little worried now that my kids are getting older that their friends that come over might get a silly idea and try some beer because it is very accessible. I have to figure out a way to lock down the system somehow.

Maybe next summer I will give making my own mashes a go again.

The dirty little secret I have is that my "bottling" technique for the boys at work is using those self capping pints (with the metal and rubber doohickies) by filling them with carbonated/cold beer from my tap. The downside is that the beer has been exposed to open air and probably isn't good for more than a week this way, but to date that hasn't been an issue judging by how quickly the bottles are returned to me.

I have also in the past filled up a few regular 2 liter bottles after secondary fermentation but before I carbonate the keg with beer with flat fermented beer, adding CO2 with an adapter on the bottle that lets it hook up to my tank the same as a keg does. That works out when I have to bring more than few pints. And it lasts for several weeks without any worry since I can purge all air from the 2 liter container.