Home Brew

[jep]

Just spotted this little gem of a thread having been on a 3-day micro brewing course at the weekend. It was a present from family and the Brew School course was held in Bakewell. Really really interesting, and one of the key takeaways was that the homebrewer, with not a lot of expense, can easily make brews that are just as good if not better than commercial operations.

Having looked through some of the brews in this thread, it seams that statement does indeed stand up!

[AllHailToTheAle]

Get yourself over here if you want to learn more: http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/

[marksx]

I just signed up on that forum last night!

[marksx]

I forgot about this thread.

Here was what my first brew came out like:



Clouded up a little thanks to chill haze, but was bloody lovely!

That batch has all gone now. Second brew has another week of warm conditioning before going in the garage.

In a couple of days I am going to throw all the remaining ingredients I have left from these pale ales into a pot and see what I get. The software I have used is telling me I will get a very bitter ~5.5% beer. Should be interesting.

After that I now have a mash tun, so let's see.

[don4l]

Hoonigan said:

Excellent but watch out it's a slippery slope... Before you know it you'll be brewing all grain, then you will really find out how good home brew can taste

Is it easy to describe the difference?

[craigthecoupe]

sorry for the newbie question, but i'm keen to try homebrew myself this summer. i have no kit, and whilst i've seen a few links on here, what do i need? i would plan to bottle up the beers and drink them as and when, would i need a kit that comes with a pressurised keg, or do i just need one with the bucket?
id like to make ipa type beer initially, can someone help point out a suitable kit for me?
thanks

craig

[SwanJack]

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Home_... fill your boots!

[don4l]

craigthecoupe said:

sorry for the newbie question, but i'm keen to try homebrew myself this summer. i have no kit, and whilst i've seen a few links on here, what do i need? i would plan to bottle up the beers and drink them as and when, would i need a kit that comes with a pressurised keg, or do i just need one with the bucket?
id like to make ipa type beer initially, can someone help point out a suitable kit for me?
thanks

craig

I bought a kit that contained a pressurised keg.

I haven't used the keg. So, I would advise against the full kit.

Bottling is the way for me. Five to six weeks seems to produce excellent results.

[craigthecoupe]

so something like this would do the job then?
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/HomeB...

[C0ffin D0dger]

Managed to finish up my brew fridge last night. Need to get some beer on now ASAP, stocks are about to run dry

[Chester draws]

craigthecoupe said:

so something like this would do the job then?
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/HomeB...

Yep.

For me, bottling has the advantage of being able to store some for longer. And being able to pick and choose what one I want to drink at any time. And you can get another kit going while the first is carbonating / conditioning. As long as you have enough bottles.

The only things missing from that kit that would make things better / easier in subsequent brews are on the bottling side... 2nd bucket to "rack" into to batch prime and a bottling stick.

Also, if you don't have a second bucket, try and pick a cleaner brew, without hop or oak additions. (And I would recommend "2 can" kits)

Make sure you have somewhere temperature stable to do the initial ferment. 18°C +. If it gets too cold (overnight) the yeast can stop working before it has fully fermented.

[don4l]

craigthecoupe said:

so something like this would do the job then?
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/HomeB...

That seems to have everything that you need.

I only have one concern. That kit uses the tap, to fill the bottles. That might disturb the yeast that will be an inch deep. It might be worth it to buy a siphon tube as well.

I bought this kit:-

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Home_...

I only used the pressure keg once, and I don't think that I will use it in the future. So I would have been better off buying the kit that you have found.

Empty bottles cost 66p each. You can buy full ones for £1.25 in Aldi or Lidl.

[craigthecoupe]

thanks for the input folks. if you dont mind me asking, a second bucket is presumably for decanting the beer into (without sediment/hops etc) ahead of bottling. also batch priming, is that adding a sugar pre bottling? will this sort of thing be explained in a kit that i'd buy?

[SwanJack]

What i do is ferment in the fermenting bucket for two weeks and then transfer/ rack to one of these, leaving the trub (crap at the bottom) behind

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-25-LITRE-25L-25000ML...

I've adapted the cap to take a bung and airlock. Leave it in there for another two weeks (this is called secondary fermentation),during which time the yeast wont convert sugar to alcohol but will clean up yhe beer,you can dry hop if you want at this stage as well. I then add sugar and bottle directly from this. If you cant get one with a tap, you can fit one yourself, I use water butt taps from B&Q. What you don't want to do when transferring after fermentation is aerate the beer, as it will give an off flavour. Using a bottling wand is a good way of avoiding this.

Edited by SwanJack on Wednesday 13th April 22:59

Edited by SwanJack on Wednesday 13th April 23:04

[craigthecoupe]

thanks, ill pick up some kit and give it a try.

craig

[don4l]

craigthecoupe said:

thanks for the input folks. if you dont mind me asking, a second bucket is presumably for decanting the beer into (without sediment/hops etc) ahead of bottling. also batch priming, is that adding a sugar pre bottling? will this sort of thing be explained in a kit that i'd buy?

I don't bother with a second bucket

I leave it for a few days after the bubbles have stopped coming through the airlock. I then use a siphon tube (with a tap on the end) to fill the bottles. This is a two man operation. My wife holds the tube in the beer, and I operate the tap.

I tried bottling the first batch without help - it was messy!

The reason that I don't use a second vessel is that I feel that adding oxygen at this stage is not a good idea. However, I am not an expert.

[227bhp]

For those that brew Vino Tesco have a sale on of wine making kits atm.
We got given a cheapo kit for Christmas which was very easy to make, pleasant or 'nice' pretty much summed it up, so are going to get a much more expensive one and make some good stuff this time.

[SpeckledJim]

don4l said:

craigthecoupe said:

thanks for the input folks. if you dont mind me asking, a second bucket is presumably for decanting the beer into (without sediment/hops etc) ahead of bottling. also batch priming, is that adding a sugar pre bottling? will this sort of thing be explained in a kit that i'd buy?

I don't bother with a second bucket

I leave it for a few days after the bubbles have stopped coming through the airlock. I then use a siphon tube (with a tap on the end) to fill the bottles. This is a two man operation. My wife holds the tube in the beer, and I operate the tap.

I tried bottling the first batch without help - it was messy!

The reason that I don't use a second vessel is that I feel that adding oxygen at this stage is not a good idea. However, I am not an expert.

Little tip: keep three quarters of the lid on the brew bucket clipped down so as to grip the tube, and use the natural bend in the syphon tube to keep the loose end positioned in the brew.

Then you can do your bottling solo without Cost Centre One getting bored and talking at you.

[marksx]

don4l said:

I don't bother with a second bucket

I leave it for a few days after the bubbles have stopped coming through the airlock. I then use a siphon tube (with a tap on the end) to fill the bottles. This is a two man operation. My wife holds the tube in the beer, and I operate the tap.

I tried bottling the first batch without help - it was messy!

The reason that I don't use a second vessel is that I feel that adding oxygen at this stage is not a good idea. However, I am not an expert.

You need a little bottler. It's marvellous.

Add priming sugar solution to bottling bucket, siphon from fermenter to bottling bucket, lid it and leave for half an hour for anything to settle, then bottle away.

[Hoonigan]

marksx said:

You need a little bottler. It's marvellous.

Add priming sugar solution to bottling bucket, siphon from fermenter to bottling bucket, lid it and leave for half an hour for anything to settle, then bottle away.

And do it over the dishwasher(door down) for an easy clean up...