A chicken carcass? What? I can understand drinking beer through a chicken carcass, but putting it in the fermenter...
Fuck I cant take this anymore, you guys are too inspiring, now i'm going to have to go and buy a set up.
I want a nice tasting beer, something clear and smooth.
keep in mind this will be my first attempt and dont want to spend shitloads...what would I need?
Like Haydz said, get the Cooper's homebrewery, should cost you $70. It should come with some kind of beer kit (from the Cooper's classic series, it will either be a lager [not a real lager], draught, bitter or real ale), a bag of dextrose (brewing sugar) and enough bottles to put the entire brew in when it is finished. This is perfect for starting out.
If you want a clean brew that won't break the bank:
First step is to throw the instructions in the bin. Then, read my first post. Go down to your local homebrew store (there should be one relatively close to you... where do you live?), and pick up a bottle of Idophor, and if you want a packet of US-56 yeast, which makes a cleaner tasting beer than Cooper's yeast. All up it should cost under ten dollars.
Get your fermenter, place your little bottler and mixing spoon inside, add about 25 mL of Idophor and then fill it to the the absolute brim. Put on the lid and fit the airlock. Fill the airlock with a dilute solution of Idophor and leave for at least 20 minutes. Dump the idophor solution just before you are going to add the wort, because you don't need to rinse it when you use it in this concentration (big advantage!).
Get your biggest saucepan, dissolve the brewing sugar into a couple of litres of boiling water, then add the beer extract kit. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for a while. Make sure everything is dissolved before you put it in the fermenter. When this is done, dump it all into the freshly sterilised fermenter and top it up with cold water to 23 litres, mixing the whole time with the sterile spoon. Make sure you splash it about a fair to get some oxygen into the wort. When the temperature is between 18-30, pitch the yeast (throw it in the fermenter).
Pretty easy! But there are some things to keep in mind:
1) Make sure you ferment at 18-20 degrees, rather than 21-26 degrees. You will get a
much cleaner tasting beer. Keep in mind it will take a few days more to ferment, but it's worth it. In this weather, simply wrap the fermenter with a towel and keep it inside away from heat and it'll stay at 18. Actually, I'll add this to my first post, as it's important.
2) You really should rehydrate your yeast before you pitch it. It's easy and makes a pretty big difference. Read part two of the American pale ale recipe, I went over yeast preparation
.
3) Don't use water from a rainwater tank. Lightly chlorinate scheme water is much, much better. I learned this the hard way!
4) Age your beer for at least 4 weeks before you crack into it. Have a bottle every week to see how it changes.
5) DO NOT use sodium metabisulphate as a steriliser. It's hopeless. Just use idophor, it's well worth it.
This brew will cost you under 20 dollars per 23 litres. Cheap and relatively cheerful.