: Sounds like an interesting hobby. Maybe I'll look into it myself sometime.
: Complicated? Expensive? I remember being at a party once when someone
: opened up a few bottles of their latest home-brew. About half of each
: bottle went directly to foam.

In my experience, it's simple and inexpensive, but my experience is somewhat limited (I can't have brewed more than 20 cases total. Oh, wait, hmm. I've got 7 cases aging in the basement. I can't have brewed more than 40 cases total. Or maybe 50. Would you believe 60? Limited experience, I tell you! Limited experience!).

You know, if you do things right, it should never foam over like that. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that the brewer bottled when the first fermentation wasn't finished yet (the specific gravity was too high). There would have been too many fermentable sugars in the bottles and poof! (Those are the bottles that would explode, I'm sure!)

Kind of like kayak making, if you are at least a little methodical and you follow the instructions and use a minimum of common sense (and good hygiene!), you will come out with a FANTASTIC product.

I get all of my ingredients from the 7-Bridges Coop (they're in Cali, but it doesn't matter - if you order ingredients for 3 batches the shipping is free!). It's all organic goodness!

Cheers!
c: