I fancy brewing some beer

[pokethepope]

This brewing kit was posted in a recent thread for 'presents for my dads 60th.' I fancy buying a kit and brewing some beer for myself.

http://shop.happybrewer.co.uk/brewzers/brewzer-sta...

From PH'ers experience, is this a good kit or are there better for the price? Anything for around that price or less please, dont want to spend more than £30-40.

cheers

[samdale]

the stuff i use is similar to this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Home-Brew-Homebrew-Beer-Ale-...

this is a 5 gallon kit - 40 pints
you need sugar, water and your pick of kits
http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Beer_...

i've got no experience with the 10 pint kit but i know when syphoning mine i lose a bit (say a pint) and then say another pint at the bottom of the barrel thats full of sediment. so you may only get ~8pints. a lot of hassle for 1 nights boozing on your own

ETA i've brewed some of the geordie kits off this ^^ site and a few woodfordes ones although a local department store sells the kits so i dont buy online. never had any stty ones although its VERY important to be rather anal about cleaning all your equipment

Edited by samdale on Thursday 26th February 20:27

[pokethepope]

Thanks. Is there any noticeable difference between an 'all-in-one' kit where you just pour water into a single vessel and leave it, and the kit you posted where you ferment it in one, then transfer into another later on? The all-in-one kit i posted would take up less room on the kitchen surface.

[Kinky]

Interesting thread

I'm looking at doing my own Guinness (as inspired by James and Oz)

[Rob-C]

The thing that, to my mind is wrong with the "single vessel" kits is that *all* of the yeast from the main fermentation ends up in contact with the final beer. So a slight knock to the container, or even a bit of CO2 bubbling up as you draw off a pint, disturbs huge amounts of yeast into your beer.

Also leaving the beer sat upon a thick layer of inactive yeast is not good for the flavour.

IMHO the best kits are the ones with two large cans of concentrate and no sugar added. Ferment in a bin, then transfer to a pressure container for the final settling.

I used to mash my own beer from scratch using the same malt as Black Sheep and the same hops as Taylors Landlord. Messy but very rewarding and tasty.

[samdale]

Rob-C said:

The thing that, to my mind is wrong with the "single vessel" kits is that *all* of the yeast from the main fermentation ends up in contact with the final beer. So a slight knock to the container, or even a bit of CO2 bubbling up as you draw off a pint, disturbs huge amounts of yeast into your beer.

Also leaving the beer sat upon a thick layer of inactive yeast is not good for the flavour.

IMHO the best kits are the ones with two large cans of concentrate and no sugar added. Ferment in a bin, then transfer to a pressure container for the final settling.

I used to mash my own beer from scratch using the same malt as Black Sheep and the same hops as Taylors Landlord. Messy but very rewarding and tasty.

+1 i've got no experience in using these "single vessel" kits but i know theres a lot of sediment left behind in the bin so i guess what you say would be right. you can definitely tell, taste-wise if you end up with some of this in your pint.

to the OP, about the size thing, remember that only 1 of the containers is in use at a time. not sure how short of space you are but i've always kept mine in the downstairs bathroom while its in the bin as its nice and warm. once in the barrel it's then in our utility room as its nice and cool (and out of the way)

[lord summerisle]

same here, havent done these expensive small brews. i keep to the ones posted earlier in the thread.

just think of it like this - your going to spend £30 on a wee barrel, that brews 10 pints, out of which you'll get maybe 8 pints. the refill kits are £15. your looking at £1.80 a pint whats the point?

get the more traditional home brew gear. you can brew 40 pints in on go, and theres a huge varity of kits available at £10-25. ok in the bottom of the barrel you loose a few pints but your still looking at brewing beer at 50-60p a pint.

Tho one differance to my home brew brothers here - i've never bothered with the brew in a bucket, and then transfer to the barrel method.
I just do it all in the pressure barrel. i find that it matures nicely in there, tho the beer never lasts more than a month anyway! and i also after a while put a few pints in Grolsh bottles. If i'm going away for the weekend i'll draw some off into bottles.

Wine i'll do in a 5 gallon fermentor, then syphon into 1 gallon glass demijons when its cleared

[Urban_Ninja]

whats the point at 1.80 a pint?

well down the pub it costs about 2.50 or more for a pint.

and when you brew your own you can find that 'perfect flavour' that beats anything that you can buy.


well, what I think anyway.

[pokethepope]

Thanks for the advice all, i'll go for the 2 container kit linked to on ebay, or similar from a brew shop if i can find one nearby. As you say, only one container is in use at a time, so the unused one can be put in the garage.

Now got to look for which kit to start with. Too much to choose from!

This may be getting too anal, but i live in quite a hard water area, is it worth buying cheap spring water from Tesco or is tap water fine?

cheers