sgtnull wrote:Malik: how hard is home brewing? I have always wanted to try it. how expensive is it?
To get started brewing kits, you might have a hundred dollar investment, including ingredients. Maybe less if you already have a 5-6 gallon pot, large funnel, metal strainer, 5 gallon food grade bucket, etc. But if you drink a lot of beer (that's all I drink--don't like liquor or wine) it will quickly pay for itself. Especially if you're drinking expensive beer, which is the only kind I drink. Actually, that's the reason I got into it: my tastes outgrew my wallet.
Now I do it for the sheer joy of making a delicious beverage that just so happens to be mind altering.
But seriously, I'm grateful to take part in this 10,000-year-old tradition. Beer used to be a product that every household brewed for themselves, usually by the woman of the house. It was a staple, since sanitary water was rare. But its importance goes well beyond a safe drink. Some historians believe that this is the reason why human beings settled down to an agricultural lifestyle--to have enough barley to brew beer. And if civilization was a result of agriculture . . . wow. It's all beer's fault.
Beer is best drank fresh. There is absolutely nothing fresher than homebrew. I can't describe how much better it is than your typical canned product. The difference is comparable to the difference between heating up frozen food in the microwave, and making it from scratch. Unbelievably delicious. It's all I can do to not have a couple every night, considering that I've got over 100 bottles sitting in my basement.
Really, it's a wonderful hobby. If you like to cook, and you
love beer, you'd like this. Spending a Saturday afternoon making enough brew for a month (2 cases/30 days = 1.6 per day) is a productive way to relax. But I'd first recommend trying as many different craft beers you can, just to open your mind up to the possibilities, and to develop your palate so that you'll know what you want to brew. 99% of the population just has no idea what the current explosion of craft brewers are accomplishing. It's difficult to pay $13 or more for a six pack of something you're not sure you'll like, when the mass produced stuff goes for less than half that. I recommend finding a store that let's you buy singles, and spend at least six months experimenting before home brewing. However, if you already have a good idea what you'd like to make, then gather your supplies, order a kit online, and in 3 weeks you can be drinking your first homebrew.
If you're truly interested, I can give you more details.
). Turns you into a raisin in seconds! Bitter beer mouth? My man...about 20 distinct tastes and all of them nasty-I am in heaven! 
