Discussion
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
anyone got a braufather?
Is that the love child of a Braü master and a Grain father?
t i meant grainfather!
have a look at these, they seem to be getting superb reviews and bloody good value..https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271687277467
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
anyone got a braufather?
Is that the love child of a Braü master and a Grain father?t i meant grainfather! have a look at these, they seem to be getting superb reviews and bloody good value..https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271687277467
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
anyone got a braufather?
Is that the love child of a Braü master and a Grain father?t i meant grainfather! have a look at these, they seem to be getting superb reviews and bloody good value..https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271687277467
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
anyone got a braufather?
Is that the love child of a Braü master and a Grain father?t i meant grainfather! have a look at these, they seem to be getting superb reviews and bloody good value..https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271687277467
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
anyone got a braufather?
Is that the love child of a Braü master and a Grain father?t i meant grainfather! have a look at these, they seem to be getting superb reviews and bloody good value..https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271687277467
C0ffin D0dger said:
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
Hoonigan said:
Blown2CV said:
anyone got a braufather?
Is that the love child of a Braü master and a Grain father?t i meant grainfather! have a look at these, they seem to be getting superb reviews and bloody good value..https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271687277467
I was going to post a new thread to see if there are any homebrew enthusiasts on PH, and stumbled upon this one. Looks like quite a few people are into it !
I started years ago when I was a student with cheap ale kits and had some variable results, especially when using a barrel for conditioning. I ended with a few ales which were much fizzier than they had right to be, and some which ended completely flat, so I quickly got rid of the barrel and have been bottle conditioning ever since. In terms of kit brews, I have had the best results with the Belgian Brewferm kits. I've done a few of them over the years, and they have all been superb, especially when left to age for 2-3 months. Of course, brewing with raw ingredients is a whole different game, and some of the beers I've made have been better than most stuff you'll get on tap in the pub, but it's a bit laborious and not worth the effort for the batch sizes I'm able to make with my equipment.
I've dabbled into cider as well, as it's generally easier to make. My latest cider is apple and blueberry, which I co-fermented. In hindsight, I should have added the blueberries in the secondary fermentation to retain some of the fruity aromas, as otherwise a lot of the astringency starts to come through. I regularly use wine or even champagne yeast for ciders, as this way I can ferment them to be completely bone dry, and a lot fizzier. I've also experimented with adding cinnamon and nutmeg during the fermentation, with some good results.
Lately beer and cider have taken a back seat, as I'm doing a lot more wine since I find it a lot more satisfying to make, and the results a lot better. I'm even considering trying to start a small vineyard with a cool-weather loving species, such as Riesling or Green Veltliner, so that I don't have to travel across the continent to get grapes, or buy any expensive imported ones.
!I started years ago when I was a student with cheap ale kits and had some variable results, especially when using a barrel for conditioning. I ended with a few ales which were much fizzier than they had right to be, and some which ended completely flat, so I quickly got rid of the barrel and have been bottle conditioning ever since. In terms of kit brews, I have had the best results with the Belgian Brewferm kits. I've done a few of them over the years, and they have all been superb, especially when left to age for 2-3 months. Of course, brewing with raw ingredients is a whole different game, and some of the beers I've made have been better than most stuff you'll get on tap in the pub, but it's a bit laborious and not worth the effort for the batch sizes I'm able to make with my equipment.
I've dabbled into cider as well, as it's generally easier to make. My latest cider is apple and blueberry, which I co-fermented. In hindsight, I should have added the blueberries in the secondary fermentation to retain some of the fruity aromas, as otherwise a lot of the astringency starts to come through. I regularly use wine or even champagne yeast for ciders, as this way I can ferment them to be completely bone dry, and a lot fizzier. I've also experimented with adding cinnamon and nutmeg during the fermentation, with some good results.
Lately beer and cider have taken a back seat, as I'm doing a lot more wine since I find it a lot more satisfying to make, and the results a lot better. I'm even considering trying to start a small vineyard with a cool-weather loving species, such as Riesling or Green Veltliner, so that I don't have to travel across the continent to get grapes, or buy any expensive imported ones.
Welcome to the Home Brew thread!
Tend to be a bit more active here with actual home brewing stuff: https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/
In fact that forum has been bad for me, I started lurking on it as someone who brewed a few beer kits for personal consumption. I now own two brew fridges, a tall larder fridge to one day convert to a kegerator, brew wine from supermarket juice and kits, brew turbo cider, and have an itch to scratch with regard to getting into all grain brewing. Regarding that though constraints of time with a young family make if difficult at the moment.
That said the beer kits these days are excellent. I've got a couple of the Brewferm kits maturing for Christmas (Christmas & Abdji). The Youngs American range very good, just about finished the IPA though kept a couple back for Christmas and also have the Oaked Rum Ale maturing. Also trying a few more of the BeerWorks / LoveBrewing kits as I had some good results from those in the past.
Tend to be a bit more active here with actual home brewing stuff: https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/
In fact that forum has been bad for me, I started lurking on it as someone who brewed a few beer kits for personal consumption. I now own two brew fridges, a tall larder fridge to one day convert to a kegerator, brew wine from supermarket juice and kits, brew turbo cider, and have an itch to scratch with regard to getting into all grain brewing. Regarding that though constraints of time with a young family make if difficult at the moment.
That said the beer kits these days are excellent. I've got a couple of the Brewferm kits maturing for Christmas (Christmas & Abdji). The Youngs American range very good, just about finished the IPA though kept a couple back for Christmas and also have the Oaked Rum Ale maturing. Also trying a few more of the BeerWorks / LoveBrewing kits as I had some good results from those in the past.
Glad I found this thread. I have just started my first brew which is the Youngs American IPA. All sat in the fermenting bin bubbling away. Hopefully will be ready to bottle next weekend.
For this brew I have just left the bin next to the radiator and left the heating on low all day and temperature seems ok. For my next brew I am planning to get an immersion heater with thermostat. Although I may look at building a brew fridge with controlled heating & cooling elements for going into the spring / summer.
Need to find another kit to brew once this stuff goes into bottles.
For this brew I have just left the bin next to the radiator and left the heating on low all day and temperature seems ok. For my next brew I am planning to get an immersion heater with thermostat. Although I may look at building a brew fridge with controlled heating & cooling elements for going into the spring / summer.
Need to find another kit to brew once this stuff goes into bottles.
I do a bit of everything from all grain brewing to mead to country wines. Great fun and good results, especially the beer.
Salamura said:
Lately beer and cider have taken a back seat, as I'm doing a lot more wine since I find it a lot more satisfying to make, and the results a lot better. I'm even considering trying to start a small vineyard with a cool-weather loving species, such as Riesling or Green Veltliner, so that I don't have to travel across the continent to get grapes, or buy any expensive imported ones.
Sounds impressive, you're making wine from raw grapes?Jambo85 said:
Sounds impressive, you're making wine from raw grapes?
I started recently. A colleague and I ordered white grapes from a local vineyard here in the south-east last year, and the result was a lovely light wine, which was better than any kit I've ever done, but ended up being quite expensive. In the summer I brought a small amount of Carignan grapes back from a holiday in southern France, and once again, had a pretty lovely wine. It ended up being well balanced, but not particularly powerful as I don't have an oak barrel and only used chips, and only fermented on the skins for about 10 days as I didn't want to overdo the tannins. It ended up as a pretty good table wine.Salamura said:
Jambo85 said:
Sounds impressive, you're making wine from raw grapes?
I started recently. A colleague and I ordered white grapes from a local vineyard here in the south-east last year, and the result was a lovely light wine, which was better than any kit I've ever done, but ended up being quite expensive. In the summer I brought a small amount of Carignan grapes back from a holiday in southern France, and once again, had a pretty lovely wine. It ended up being well balanced, but not particularly powerful as I don't have an oak barrel and only used chips, and only fermented on the skins for about 10 days as I didn't want to overdo the tannins. It ended up as a pretty good table wine.tim2100 said:
Glad I found this thread. I have just started my first brew which is the Youngs American IPA. All sat in the fermenting bin bubbling away. Hopefully will be ready to bottle next weekend.
For this brew I have just left the bin next to the radiator and left the heating on low all day and temperature seems ok. For my next brew I am planning to get an immersion heater with thermostat. Although I may look at building a brew fridge with controlled heating & cooling elements for going into the spring / summer.
Need to find another kit to brew once this stuff goes into bottles.
An idea that worked for me - put your brew pot in a plasterer's bucket, fill the plasterer's bucket with water, so your brew is surrounded by but isolated from a water jacket, and then use a fish-tank heater to heat the water jacket.For this brew I have just left the bin next to the radiator and left the heating on low all day and temperature seems ok. For my next brew I am planning to get an immersion heater with thermostat. Although I may look at building a brew fridge with controlled heating & cooling elements for going into the spring / summer.
Need to find another kit to brew once this stuff goes into bottles.
Then you've nothing inside the brew pot to potentially contaminate your brew, and fewer reasons to have to take the lid off.
I made some very simple ginger beer with sugar, water and powdered ginger when I was a student.
It was delicious.
Brewed in a 3 litre coke bottle with a balloon on the top till it stopped fizzing, decanted it into another bottle with a spoon of sugar and put the cap on. Left it for a couple of days, put it in the fridge to clear, decanted it again into a smaller bottle.
It was delicious.
Brewed in a 3 litre coke bottle with a balloon on the top till it stopped fizzing, decanted it into another bottle with a spoon of sugar and put the cap on. Left it for a couple of days, put it in the fridge to clear, decanted it again into a smaller bottle.
SpeckledJim said:
tim2100 said:
Glad I found this thread. I have just started my first brew which is the Youngs American IPA. All sat in the fermenting bin bubbling away. Hopefully will be ready to bottle next weekend.
For this brew I have just left the bin next to the radiator and left the heating on low all day and temperature seems ok. For my next brew I am planning to get an immersion heater with thermostat. Although I may look at building a brew fridge with controlled heating & cooling elements for going into the spring / summer.
Need to find another kit to brew once this stuff goes into bottles.
An idea that worked for me - put your brew pot in a plasterer's bucket, fill the plasterer's bucket with water, so your brew is surrounded by but isolated from a water jacket, and then use a fish-tank heater to heat the water jacket.For this brew I have just left the bin next to the radiator and left the heating on low all day and temperature seems ok. For my next brew I am planning to get an immersion heater with thermostat. Although I may look at building a brew fridge with controlled heating & cooling elements for going into the spring / summer.
Need to find another kit to brew once this stuff goes into bottles.
Then you've nothing inside the brew pot to potentially contaminate your brew, and fewer reasons to have to take the lid off.
Jambo85 said:
Sounds like fun! RE the not very powerful bit, is alcohol % part of this, did you add sugar? I think most commercial wines are boosted by sugar of some type or another in all but the best years. It is bizarre to me that this doesn't need to be declared on the label.
I didn't add any sugar, and I don't generally like to as it masks the real character of the wine. The alcohol % was OK at around 11.5 - 12, which is not too high for a red, but is reasonable as I bought the grapes in August, hence they were probably not at their ripest. I think it was the short maturation time and the lack of oak that contributed to the light character. I need to invest in a barrel...BTW, I think adding sugar is illegal in many countries like France and Germany, but I think it's more widespread in new world wines, especially cheap ones.
Jambo85 said:
Most yeasts/styles are best fermented at 18 degC or thereabouts. Once you've got fermentation going, typically cooling below room temperature is more often required rather than heating, especially when you consider that the fermentation process creates heat. A modified fridge capable of heating and cooling is the best single improvement you can make to your brewing IMO.
I've got 40 pints of cider in the garage, with an electric seedling heating mat underneath it, then covered it in old towels as it's been hovering around freezing the last week or so. Seems to be enough to keep the worst of the chill off.About 20 liters of Chenin Blanc bottled today. Made from a Beaverdale kit. It cleared up surprisingly well, and the small sip I had straight from the fermenter was absolutely delicious and very, very aromatic. So far, it's turning out much better than expected. Hopefully, after a month or two in the bottles it would be even nicer 
.
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