Discussion
So went and spent the day at my local brewing shop and used their grainfather to create an pale ale from the home brew book which I’ve seen recommended on various places online.
It’s currently at the shop fermenting and I’ll be back to bottle it in a week.
All of this was because my brother in law has just got a grainfather so was learning the process. And I look forward to dropping off ingredients for him to make beer with.
It’s currently at the shop fermenting and I’ll be back to bottle it in a week.
All of this was because my brother in law has just got a grainfather so was learning the process. And I look forward to dropping off ingredients for him to make beer with.
ecsrobin said:
So went and spent the day at my local brewing shop and used their grainfather to create an pale ale from the home brew book which I’ve seen recommended on various places online.
It’s currently at the shop fermenting and I’ll be back to bottle it in a week.
All of this was because my brother in law has just got a grainfather so was learning the process. And I look forward to dropping off ingredients for him to make beer with.
Which shop was that if you don’t mind me asking? I’d love to have a go on one before committing the cash to buying it!It’s currently at the shop fermenting and I’ll be back to bottle it in a week.
All of this was because my brother in law has just got a grainfather so was learning the process. And I look forward to dropping off ingredients for him to make beer with.
Jonboy_t said:
Which shop was that if you don’t mind me asking? I’d love to have a go on one before committing the cash to buying it!
Get Brewing in Southsea (I notice you’re in Southampton so very local) http://getbrewing.uk/home/264-in-store-brew-day.ht...
I think in total it cost £60 which included the brew day (and lots of sampling other home brews) and then leaving the beer there for 2 weeks to ferment in temperature controlled conditions and bottling.
We popped in a few weeks before, they provided a few books and we went next door to the cafe with the best cinnamon buns you’ll ever have! We had a coffee and picked a recipe to make on the day. You are welcome to provide your own recipe.
It was a great day and certainly one I would repeat, and this weekend I get to help bottle 23litres of beer and then in a few weeks get to drink it.
They also seem to offer the best price on the grainfather.
So a bit of an update on this. My brother in law managed to set up all his kit recently and I helped on the first and second brew day.
The first brew was a 5% milk stout we were surprised when we hit our OG and only slightly off our FG to bring it in at 4.7%. I was at my local brewery when they mentioned a home brew competition the next day and that I should force carb my beer and bottle it (the original plan was to keg for 6 weeks) so we did and got our first taste of beer in 8 days from brew day.
The home brew competition we didn’t place last and from a brewer judging it “you can buy worse beers in Tesco” which we will take as a glowing review
The keg is now sat waiting for weekly tastings but were hoping it will mature to become quite a nice beer.
The same day we kegged it was on to our second beer which is a loose leaf pale ale 3.5% (yep citrus and earl grey in beer) it’s looking good and we plan to dry hope by the beginning of the week before kegging next weekend.
The next brew lined up is an 8% DIPA.
So what have we learnt in the past 2 weeks? That we need more kegs (3 more on order to bring it up to 6) we need cooling for our conical fermenter to enable us to cold crash in the FV rather than kegging then cold crashing.
We've also learnt that everyone wants to help I’m amazed how much advice and support is out there. People just want to make good beer and share the process with you, from big brewery to first timers.
I can’t wait for the summer to have a proper session with family and friends on something we've created.
The first brew was a 5% milk stout we were surprised when we hit our OG and only slightly off our FG to bring it in at 4.7%. I was at my local brewery when they mentioned a home brew competition the next day and that I should force carb my beer and bottle it (the original plan was to keg for 6 weeks) so we did and got our first taste of beer in 8 days from brew day.
The home brew competition we didn’t place last and from a brewer judging it “you can buy worse beers in Tesco” which we will take as a glowing review
The keg is now sat waiting for weekly tastings but were hoping it will mature to become quite a nice beer.
The same day we kegged it was on to our second beer which is a loose leaf pale ale 3.5% (yep citrus and earl grey in beer) it’s looking good and we plan to dry hope by the beginning of the week before kegging next weekend.
The next brew lined up is an 8% DIPA.
So what have we learnt in the past 2 weeks? That we need more kegs (3 more on order to bring it up to 6) we need cooling for our conical fermenter to enable us to cold crash in the FV rather than kegging then cold crashing.
We've also learnt that everyone wants to help I’m amazed how much advice and support is out there. People just want to make good beer and share the process with you, from big brewery to first timers.
I can’t wait for the summer to have a proper session with family and friends on something we've created.
SwanJack said:
Drew my first Duvel clone from the keg today. Not bad at all. I've stayed away from shiny kit as for me the whole point is making decent beer as cheaply as possible. Mango barrell boiler, large plastic cooler mash tun, 99p eBay fridge for my fermentor.
I was saying the same as you last year, and I had my coolbox/laundry boiler brewing down to a fine art with incredibly consistent results but then I had a go on the grainfather and I’ll never go back... Knocks loads of time off brew day and is a pleasure to use, money very well spent and definitely a worthy investment over just shiny bling, lots of benefits such as much better temp control and multi temp mashing.
Hoonigan said:
SwanJack said:
Drew my first Duvel clone from the keg today. Not bad at all. I've stayed away from shiny kit as for me the whole point is making decent beer as cheaply as possible. Mango barrell boiler, large plastic cooler mash tun, 99p eBay fridge for my fermentor.
I was saying the same as you last year, and I had my coolbox/laundry boiler brewing down to a fine art with incredibly consistent results but then I had a go on the grainfather and I’ll never go back... Knocks loads of time off brew day and is a pleasure to use, money very well spent and definitely a worthy investment over just shiny bling, lots of benefits such as much better temp control and multi temp mashing.
Edited by SwanJack on Sunday 24th March 19:35
Edited by SwanJack on Sunday 24th March 19:35
ecsrobin said:
Get Brewing in Southsea (I notice you’re in Southampton so very local) http://getbrewing.uk/home/264-in-store-brew-day.ht...
I think in total it cost £60 which included the brew day (and lots of sampling other home brews) and then leaving the beer there for 2 weeks to ferment in temperature controlled conditions and bottling.
We popped in a few weeks before, they provided a few books and we went next door to the cafe with the best cinnamon buns you’ll ever have! We had a coffee and picked a recipe to make on the day. You are welcome to provide your own recipe.
It was a great day and certainly one I would repeat, and this weekend I get to help bottle 23litres of beer and then in a few weeks get to drink it.
They also seem to offer the best price on the grainfather.
Sorry bud, just seen that you replied months ago!! I’ll give them a go. I’d dearly love a grainfather but the Finance Director won’t sign it off, but if I go and make decent beer using one, that might sway her I think in total it cost £60 which included the brew day (and lots of sampling other home brews) and then leaving the beer there for 2 weeks to ferment in temperature controlled conditions and bottling.
We popped in a few weeks before, they provided a few books and we went next door to the cafe with the best cinnamon buns you’ll ever have! We had a coffee and picked a recipe to make on the day. You are welcome to provide your own recipe.
It was a great day and certainly one I would repeat, and this weekend I get to help bottle 23litres of beer and then in a few weeks get to drink it.
They also seem to offer the best price on the grainfather.
Jonboy_t said:
Sorry bud, just seen that you replied months ago!! I’ll give them a go. I’d dearly love a grainfather but the Finance Director won’t sign it off, but if I go and make decent beer using one, that might sway her
So in that time the owners have sold up however the new owner Mark really knows his stuff and is still running the brew days to my knowledge. I’m not sure if he varies his rates but it doesn’t hurt to mention that Robin & Pete sent you his way. ecsrobin said:
Jambo85 said:
Got a clone of Brewdog’s Dead Pony Club in the fermenter here. Hardly any hops in the boil at all but a s
tload to go in dry once fermentation is done!
I have most of the hops to make a batch. What yeast did you use? I’ve got 1056 on my clone recipe. tload to go in dry once fermentation is done!ecsrobin said:
So in that time the owners have sold up however the new owner Mark really knows his stuff and is still running the brew days to my knowledge. I’m not sure if he varies his rates but it doesn’t hurt to mention that Robin & Pete sent you his way.
Will do, thanks very much
smithyithy said:
Anyone on here making / brewing cider?
After I'd brewed a Saison I chucked a load of Aldi apple juice on the yeast cake and dry hopped it with some hops I had lying about. It tasted a bit like a dry / sour beer and was very drinkable if you like that sort of thing (which I do!!)I've been buying 'proper' cider for a while from a place down near Ross-on-Wye, they do quite a variety of different ones but they're all fantastic, proper oak-barrel stuff..
I don't expect to be able to replicate that quality but I do find it near impossible to drink most of the supermarket-shelf ciders nowadays, although some aren't terrible.
I may have access to some decent apples that are currently being used just for apple juice,, I think if I can grab some of those and a basic set of equipment I'll give it a go when the weather starts picking up.
I don't expect to be able to replicate that quality but I do find it near impossible to drink most of the supermarket-shelf ciders nowadays, although some aren't terrible.
I may have access to some decent apples that are currently being used just for apple juice,, I think if I can grab some of those and a basic set of equipment I'll give it a go when the weather starts picking up.
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