# How To Make Beer at Home - Videos



## Sonnyjim

Hey guys,

I know that this is a big project and most of you would rather just go to the store to buy your beer but I've been doing this for a few years and tried to put together a series of videos that would show people how to make their own All Grain Beer at home. Most videos online toss around confusing terms and don't really show you everything you need. I learned most of this on my own with lots of research and a lot of bad tasting beers before I found a good system. As with many other things on this site, the majority of my equipment is home made and on a cheap dime(just the way I like it).

I have tried posting videos when I was learning to brew beer but I was bombarded with a bunch of beer snobs who kept pointing out little things I was doing wrong. I'm not making this beer to win a competition, I'm making it to get in touch with the way people used to brew beer and also to save money(another thing we like to do here on this site). Our ancestors used to brew beer with a pot and fire and a heap of grains. I'm sure when they drank it they also got a bunch of hay and bugs in there as well. So all things considering, my setup gets a nice fresh glass of beer on the table that tastes really good.

As I live nowhere near a homebrew store I have to ship everything in. I can make 72 beers for $48. That is not the only benefit though. You can make the beer as strong as you want or as weak as you want. You know what goes into your beer with no artificial flavours, colours, or preservatives and you can make any kind that you want. It's great to give to family and friends to try or just as a small gift(I haven't paid for a coffee in a year). Many people are into Craft beer or Local beer but you can't get any more local than making your own. Last year I made a pumpkin beer from local pumpkin and some spices which was very nice, and a Maple Beer with all local maple syrup and grains. This year I plan on making a Birch Beer with fresh tapped maple sap as the base, Maple Syrup to sweeten, and all local grains. The combinations are literally endless.

I still have a fourth video to add of bottling the beer and then ofcourse drinking it, so that is still to come but I thought I would post the first 3 on here. They come to about 25 mins or so in total, and the first one is quite boring but I thought it was necessary.
















Hopefully the links work.


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## Sonnyjim

P.S does anybody know how to get the option to have the videos directly on the post?? Thanks.


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## OldCootHillbilly

Well, that didn't work, be how I usually do it.


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## NaeKid

*First video:*






*Second video:*






*Third video:*


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## Murph

I have made beers from kits, and am just stepping up to brew from grain only, not malt extract. Should be fun. 

The most interesting aspect of my homebrew is that I never get a hangover from it, but will have that "lazy" feeling the next day after drinking only 2 or 3 commercial beers.

I am also looking at which type of hops vines I want to plant this spriing to replace some honeysuckle that always gets powdery mildew. Apparently there is a world-wide shortage of hops, so anything I can do to reduce cost will be beneficial. Next step is the beer garden to grow all my ingredients.


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## oraltool

Hops take a few years to fully mature into plants that will yield enough for brewing use. I brew at home all the time. A year or so ago there was a hop shortage but that is behind us now. Good luck with the brewing.


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## Emerald

Hey Murph! I grow hops and be prepared! Them puppies grow like weeds and about 50 to 100 feet in every direction! lol I have Golden hops that is an ornamental that is supposed to be a shorter type, but the hops are fine for beer, not as good as hops that are bred for beer but still better than some of the dried out ones from the brew store! and I just bought another vine this summer that is un named but supposed to be for beer so I have high hopes for it!
Hops should grow in your area quite nicely! They grow here like madmen!:2thumb:

The smell of fresh hops compared to dry is like night and day and it does smell reminiscent of good pot.. (it is a related plant to maryjane! lol).


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## The_Blob

Emerald said:


> Hey Murph! I grow hops and be prepared! Them puppies grow like weeds and about 50 to 100 feet in every direction! lol I have Golden hops that is an ornamental that is supposed to be a shorter type, but the hops are fine for beer, not as good as hops that are bred for beer but still better than some of the dried out ones from the brew store!


doesn't Sam Adams Brewery use Golden Hops?


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## Emerald

The_Blob said:


> doesn't Sam Adams Brewery use Golden Hops?


Well there is "Golden hops" that is a shorter(kinda, here it is running amok!) and then there is the "Golden Nugget hops" that is for brewing beer. and I also think(maybe not tho) that there is a "grading" system for hops too and they might be upper graded called "gold"?. There is so much going on in the world of beer brewing that I can hardly keep up!


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## Sonnyjim

Murph said:


> I have made beers from kits, and am just stepping up to brew from grain only, not malt extract. Should be fun.
> 
> The most interesting aspect of my homebrew is that I never get a hangover from it, but will have that "lazy" feeling the next day after drinking only 2 or 3 commercial beers.
> 
> I am also looking at which type of hops vines I want to plant this spriing to replace some honeysuckle that always gets powdery mildew. Apparently there is a world-wide shortage of hops, so anything I can do to reduce cost will be beneficial. Next step is the beer garden to grow all my ingredients.


Right now I don't have the land to grow my own grains or hops but I've got it all planned out for when I get my new place. There are also books on making beer with spices and natural plants and fruits like berries and dandelion. Hops weren't introduced into beer atleast in England until the 15th Century.


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## IrritatedWithUS

This is hilarious! I am new to this site and JUST TODAY I made a 5 gallon brew of Dunkelweizen weissenbeir ! It should be ready in two weeks!


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## Lonewufcry

Sonnyjim keep up the good brewing. I have been brewing for a while now and I have gone from some skunked to a good brew. My thing is the filtering I can't afford the micro filters so I make my own and filter the batch several times to cut down on the sediments. Plus you are right about the cost more beer less money.


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## Emerald

IrritatedWithUS said:


> This is hilarious! I am new to this site and JUST TODAY I made a 5 gallon brew of Dunkelweizen weissenbeir ! It should be ready in two weeks!


Have you checked out the sister site of this about homebrewing? Very great folks there and they can ferment anything from apples to pumpkins into the beer, and the wine, and the mead.. lol
That is where I found this site thru.


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## IrritatedWithUS

Emerald said:


> Have you checked out the sister site of this about homebrewing? Very great folks there and they can ferment anything from apples to pumpkins into the beer, and the wine, and the mead.. lol
> That is where I found this site thru.


I did find that section!


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## pdx210

Emerald said:


> Have you checked out the sister site of this about homebrewing? Very great folks there and they can ferment anything from apples to pumpkins into the beer, and the wine, and the mead.. lol
> That is where I found this site thru.


Thats how i found this site


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## Sonnyjim

Emerald said:


> Have you checked out the sister site of this about homebrewing? Very great folks there and they can ferment anything from apples to pumpkins into the beer, and the wine, and the mead.. lol
> That is where I found this site thru.


Yes I actually found this site via homebrewtalk.com. I still use it whenever I have a problem with a brew. Infact, while I was overseas I had talked to the guys in my section about brewing. One of them who is a farmboy said his great uncle used to make some homebrew cider and he wished he knew how to do it himself. I wrote him out a recipe and sure enough when I saw him today he had a 1Gallon jug waiting for me in his truck. In return I gave him a nice 750ml bottle of my freshest brew.


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## Jason

Sonnyjum-I started watching your videos today. That's a great idea, sharing your knowledge that way. And I like how you keep pointing out that you do it the homespun way with nothing too fancy. 

I made my first beer with a Mr Beer kit on Christmas night and it tastes excellent. It's a West Coast Pale Ale. Last night I started my second batch- a German wheat beer. I'm really getting into this home brew thing!


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## Sonnyjim

Jason said:


> Sonnyjum-I started watching your videos today. That's a great idea, sharing your knowledge that way. And I like how you keep pointing out that you do it the homespun way with nothing too fancy.
> 
> I made my first beer with a Mr Beer kit on Christmas night and it tastes excellent. It's a West Coast Pale Ale. Last night I started my second batch- a German wheat beer. I'm really getting into this home brew thing!


Thanks Jason, I'm glad you like them. I still have the last one to post but yeah I am big on doing it simply on the cheap for the common man. We all can't spend 2000$ on brew kettles and all that. Good luck with your batches, I just got another one on the go too!


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## ComputerGuy

Just got done with a secondary fermentation of my Efes Pilsener. Right now drinking a Bass Beer I made thanks to you.


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## Sonnyjim

ComputerGuy said:


> Just got done with a secondary fermentation of my Efes Pilsener. Right now drinking a Bass Beer I made thanks to you.


I am very very happy right now. This is the reason I made these videos. To help those guys that can't afford all the equipment but want to make a good glass of homemade homebrew. I actually got this message as I'm making a Vanilla Cream Ale and it's all completed just cooling down on my deck right now. Glad that I could contribute a bit to a good glass of beer. Cheers:beercheer:


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## ComputerGuy

Thanks Sonny. I bought a kit, but only because you made it easy.

If you ever make it down here to Alabama. Look us up. Stay for the night and enjoy some brews!!


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## Sonnyjim

ComputerGuy said:


> Thanks Sonny. I bought a kit, but only because you made it easy.
> 
> If you ever make it down here to Alabama. Look us up. Stay for the night and enjoy some brews!!


Soo hospitable. You for sure count me in. Same for you if you're ever up in the middle of nowhere Ontario!


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## Jason

I just bottled my second batch the other day. Right now I'm just using a Mr. Beer kit but I do plan on expanding in the future. The batch I just bottled is a Whispering Wheat Weizenbier.


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## oraltool

*sonnyjim's vids*

Can you give me a link to your vids I would love to see your stuff too.

OT


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