As usual, The Beautiful and Thoughtful Mrs. Tas knew exactly the right thing to get me for my birthday: a complete 5-gallon beer home-brewing kit from BSG Handcraft(including a 5-gallon glass carboy) and a very good-looking mix for a Grapefruit Honey Ale from Brooklyn Brew Shop.

My dad also gave me a mix called "American Pale Ale," which comes from E.C. Kraus. That one is a 5-gallon batch (appx 53 bottles), and should make an excellent second project.

Eventually, I hope to try some German wheat beers, Belgian beers, Czech pilsners, and so on. Maybe even something on the smoky-dark side ~

I'm looking forward to trying this, the first of many productions -

Thank you for all the info and recipes.. going to try making a
hard cider myself. I have a couple of recipes to try. would you have any recipes or ideas?
Thank you
coues

In making "real " hard cider you concentrate the mix by putting it outside and let Mother Nature do the work ! You don't have any of that cold weather in AZ !

Sounds like fun Tas... have you started a brew yet?

A buddy and I started brewing a couple of 5 gallon batches at his place last weekend using his equipment, not his first time but it was mine. Actually we had started a brew last weekend but his roommate accidentally shattered the 5 gallon glass carboy when the wort had 5 minutes of boiling left!! We will be kegging this beer.

We picked a dunkelweisen and kolsch to brew from a local supply store... one big beer, one lighter beer (hello warmer weather), both very German. I'm eagerly anticipating the results.

g'morning, evan -

I haven't started any "real" brewing yet ~ I got a batch of finnish sima going, and will be starting a batch of russian kvas as soon as i can. these are mostly to get me into a few basic things such as bottling and rudimentary fermentatione etc.

once the kvas is done, my plan is to go with the grapefruit honey ale mentioned above, since it is only a gallon and therefore a good "beginning" project. after that, the american pale ale, a full-fledged, 5 gallon project.

i lean pretty strongly toward the wheat beers, and also to the belgians and the less-hoppy pilsner types. the kolsch sounds very intersting. i've heard of the dunkelweisen, but off the top of my head can't really remember much about it. one that i want to try also is the berliner weisse ~ my reading indicates that it's a historic beer with some interesting characteristics....

I saw your Sima recipe, looks very interesting and simple too. Might have to give that a shot at home. I'm working on a batch of limoncello at home now and the "lemonclear," just Everclear with strips of zest from half a dozen lemon steeping, is surprisingly good.

Depends on the season but I typically reach for a full bodied porter or stout first- if it looks like used motor oil in the glass it's good to me. However I like most any beers from light to dark as long as they aren't too hoppy, I'm not on the modern IPA train.

The dunkelweisen should be a very big, malty brew and I've found most kolsch beers to be refreshingly light and crisp, the ideal beer to enjoy on a summer evening after mowing the lawn. Opposites attract and my girlfriend loves the lighter Belgian and wheaty beers, so if the kolsch isn't a failure I'll call it Ali's Kolsch #1.

I'm fortunate to live in a new "brewery district" in town where the startup breweries are booming and there's several taprooms within walking distance of my house alone. We even have cider and Belgian-style specialty brewers. Fresh craft beer is great enough as-is but the limitless variety in the area is staggering. Gotta love it.

the sima is worth a try for sure - i'm trying to keep good notes on it in case anyone wants to give it a go.

Start-up kits or gift certificates make a nice gift. My son-in-law travels on business and mentioned that when he was in Boston, he and some co-workers went to a place and brewed & labeled their own beer. He brought a six pack back home. I'm not a dark beer drinker, but he seemed to enjoy the beer and the experience. Based on that we bought him a gift certificate from Homebrew Headquarters in Richardson, Texas for his birthday.

https://www.homebrewhq.com/

Still waiting to see what he brews.