If you don’t want to go to the expense of a kegerator and aren’t giving it away you can simplify everything considerably by reusing plastic soda or sparkling water bottles. They are easy to clean. All you have to do is retighten the plastic lids as tight as you can. Plus they don’t break if you drop them. And if you are going to a barbecue or potluck and want to bring some brew they are great because they won’t break and you can leave them behind without losing any precisou glass bottles.

In answer to #5. You can make better than good beer the first time – even with a kit. Somewhere between try #1 and #4 or so you are likely to make a bad batch – either by killing the yeast with too much sterilization or by not sterilizing enough and getting something funky growing in the beer. But one bad batch is it – it teaches you to focus on that part of the process – which is the only truly critical part.

It’s really fun and really easy.

I’ll have to second the suggestion of all-grain brewing. While you can certainly make excellent beer with kits, all-grain homebrew is often even better. After you get a couple of kits under your belt, get a book such as Palmer’s “How to Brew” (a must have, in my opinion) and start doing all-grain batches. This requires another investment in equipment (such as a mash tun and a wort chiller), but these items can easily be made with inexpensive materials by any amateur do-it-yourselfer (I’m not handy at all, but my gear works just as well as anything you could buy at a homebrew shop). All-grain brewing also takes several hours longer than kit brewing, but the extra investment in time is well worth the return in quality.

Admittedly, the time and money I put into my homebrewing would not be cost effective for the casual beer drinker. However, as someone who used to go through about a six pack of not so cheap craft beer every two weeks, plus a couple of fairly expensive 22oz bottles of premium craft beer on the weekends, I can say the homebrewing has allowed me to enjoy more beer (about 1 bottle a day) of similar or greater quality for the same price as my old habit. Plus, half the reward of homebrewing is drinking something that represents a new skill I’ve learned. Cheers.

PS to all that follow Trent’s message…I am 50+ and throughout our marriage we have focused on simple needs/wants and were able to pay off our mortgage a decade ago. It’s amazing how a debt-free lifestyle also translates into endless opportunities. I know it’s hard to get there, but years later it will all be worth it. Hang in there (and continue reading Trent’s blog)!!!!

Skip bottling which is the worst part of brewing beer. Build a keg-orator. You can use the 5 gallon soda kegs.

To save even more money, it is easy and very traditional to re-use the yeast, some brewery’s have the same yeast going back hundreds of years.

It is also easy to grow hops, you don’t get much the first couple of years. By third year you start to get a good harvest.

http://thepauperedchef.com/2009/10/how-to-make-hard-apple-cider.html
http://thepauperedchef.com/2009/11/the-final-word-for-now-on-homemade-hard-cider.html

They just use the jugs of organic apple juice from whole foods to make the cider – it looks pretty easy, but I’ve never gotten around to trying it. It looks pretty cheap too – and it has much less stuff you have to buy than for beer.

Michelle, you can definitely make root beer at home. There are kits for it. mmmm, root beer.

Brewing
Bottling

But seriouinsly, Trent’s right, homebrew is usually excellent beer. If you live with a drive of a farming community or a farmers market, it gets even better because you can buy fresh barley and hops. I’m looking to get into it myself this winter.