Bible_Belt said:
I home brew from time to time. Bought a kit (one 5 gallon bucket for fermenting, another for bottling, bottle capper, siphons, tubing, etc.) for $70 a couple years ago. It's usually $20 for the ingrediants to brew 5 gallons or 48 12oz bottles.
So far I've brewed Bavarian wheat ale, Belgian ale, Blonde ale, and Hefeweizen. I've only done ales, as lagers require lower temperature for fermenting. While not as good as an import, it's often better than some microbrews you'd find in a restaurant. The important part is thoroughly sanitizing all the equipment, as bacteria will ruin the taste.
The more serious brewers will do the whole process from scratch, which requires extracting the malt from the grain and more time/equipment. The easier way is to just buy malt in liquid form that's already been extracted from the grain. That way you just have to boil it in a pot with water, steep some grains for flavoring, add the hops, cool it down, add the yeast, let ferment for a few days, and bottle it.
