I have 2 kegs constantly on the brew. The unfortunate thing is that most of the time by the time one brew has finished I've drunk most of the previous brew. Terrible, but they taste good if they survive my drinking habit.

3 weeks minimum you should leave them bottled.

Industrial experience only...

I have always wanted to do this, have never tried. Will be following this thread.

Suggest you don't make it TOO strong by adding excess sugar or glucose chips (always a temptation). Otherwise your evening is ended after 2 pints.

What kind of beer is the easiest to brew well? I like IPAs, Rye PAs, Scotch Ales, Stouts but figure these would all be in the more difficult side of things.

I used a kit to make "irish stout" and it was pretty easy. It's still in the primary fermentation stage so I'm a ways from tasting it, but it smells good! I have been making wine for about two years so I had some nice equipment and familiarity with the fermentation process.
One complication was that I have a glass-top stove and it took a long, long time to heat the water to steeping temperature and then to a boil. I will find a friend with a gas stove next time I try. Fortunately it's not too hard to find friends when you're making beer.

Kaner, do you bottle or do you have a kegging system? Are you using kits or grinding your own grains and whatnot?

Whoops, that was my kid's account that was logged on. FlemJ is not making beer, FlemGem is.

Underage drinking

Mostly I use kits, but depending on the year I'll crush up some apples and make Cider.

For the beers, I pour them into bottles and seal them, but I do have an enclosed 16L keg that I put the required sugar content into and let carbonate. Takes about the same time as a bottle of beer - only this bottle has 16 litres of alcoholic goodness.

What kind of yeast do you use for cider? Is cider superior to apple wine in your opinion, and why? I've made apple wine, but cider sounds cool too.

What's your process for the apple wine, FlemGem, sounds delicious.

I've never brewed myself, but I looked in on a guy in my fraternity house who did it two years or so ago. The flavor was something like a soon to be skunked knock-off Guinness.

I've home brewed before. It was very enjoyable, although my last foray...which was many years ago...I came home to my apartment and found exploded glass bottle shards everywhere during secondary fermentation!

You have to be very careful with how much sugar/fermentation drops, you put into your bottles. I've had a couple of explosions in my time, but they have all been Ginger beer. So now I mature my Ginger beer in plastic bottles - no explosions there.

The Cider you can use regular brewers yeast - or if you are willing to wait a little longer apple-rinds carry their own natural yeast - although you still need to add sugar for in your bottles for sparkling cider.

Try freezing your coffee beans before...Oh, you're talking about beer...

"Brewing beers like those you buy" Dave Line - superb book - it's years since I made beer but this thread is making me think I should start again. Be warned that this book has many recipes that use several pounds of ingredients so it's not for the faint hearted and you need the other people in your house to be able to put up with brewing smells resulting from the mash taking some hours.

My brother is obsessed with brewing beer that tastes 'exactly like the beer he buys'. Personally I have given up on that and each brew is slightly different to the palette... Sometimes I flavour the brew with coffee beans (thanks KA), for me it's a matter of experimentation; and of course an incredibly cheap way of making 25 litres of alcohol. I reckon I save myself vast amounts of money by subsidising my drinking habit this way.

in Australia:
25 litres of beer brewed = 10$ + 1$ sugar + 50c bottle caps + electricity
745 ml of beer bought = 3$ - 5$ = 1.5 litres equaling 6$-10$

and you get the added satisfaction knowing that you made your own brew... (that is drinkable!). I don't know why everybody doesn't do it...

but then I don't know why most people don't grow their own vegetables, it's such an easy thing to do.

With wine I don't have the patience or interest in pH levels and all that crap to try to get each batch to taste exactly the same. I would guess I'll be the same with beer.
I live in rural america so I have great access to all kinds of fruit and flowers, so wine making is dirt cheap and now I've got so much of it I don't know what to do with it. And I have enough rhubarb in the freezer for another ten gallons, and grapes will be ripe in a month.....