the big yim

i'm thinking of starting to brew some beer or cider . Does anyone have any experience of this that could offer some advice?
What do I need to start?
How long does it take to brew? etc
any advice or drunken homebrew tales appriciated
Thanks in advance

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

i am not going there

plenty of asprin

Clarebabes

LOL, you used to be able to get these sachets from Boots that made home made alco-lemonade. Used to get pissed on them as a student a few years back. Dunno if they still do them, but they were cool and cheap as chips!

In fact, it was 10 years ago which is making me feel rather old...

2000TLondon

I hear it tastes ****e, takes ages and is a waste of time and money, but that's just what I hear, so..............

My wifes Dad's (don't like to call him my Father-in-Law as he's a bit of a tool) girlfriend brews her own wine. She is pretty much an alcoholic and her garage is filled constantly (literally dozens and dozens of gallons on the go at any time) with weird mixes of berries and grapes stinking the gaff out!

PG

2000TLondon

http://www.radgraphics.net/images/ma...lleryShell.jpg

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

I used to brew my own beer when i was about 18, all i had was a 5 gallon fermentation drum and a 5 gallon beer keg.Then all you need is a beer kit from boots and a bag of sugar.And a stomach made of iron

Save whats in the bottom of the barrel for people you do not like very much

StickyMicky

good old moonshine

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

My father has brewed his own for years, and apart from being excellent for getting ratted on ( at least was when I was a teenager and could smuggle a few bottles out of the garage ) it does taste better than stuff from the pub once you get the hang of it.

Would steer clear of cider though unless you really want your internal organs eaten away or severe brain damage ( if you've ever met people from small villages in the west country who drink scrumpy you'll know what I mean ! ).

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Seems like a few of you have had bad experiences with homemade beer. That's a shame. Mrs C and I have been brewing our own for a couple of years now and, frankly, it's consistently better than many of the beers you can buy in the pub.

Of course, if you don't put in the time, care and effort, you can brew youself a barrel of engine degreaser - but do it properly and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Your first pint of homemade beer that actually tastes of beer will be a revelation.

The secret is to use a 'full mash' brew, just like a commercial plant. You start with malted barley and mix it in with hot water (65-67 deg C) in an insulated vessel for about 1 1/2 hours. Then sparge the grains with hotter water (80 degrees or so); this rinses the remaining sugars out of the barley and makes up the final volume of wort.

You then boil the wort for another 1 1/2 hours, adding dried hop cones as soon as it starts to boil, and some more hops 15 mins before the end. Chill the wort back down to room temperature and pitch in some dried (of if you're really keen, fresh) yeast. Fermentation should take around 4 days, then you transfer the beer into a pressure barrel and leave it to condition for 2-3 weeks.

Get yourself a copy of 'Brew Your Own British Real Ale at Home' by Graham Wheeler and Roger Protz (here and have a read; the section on brewing technique is fairly brief but includes all the basic information you need, and at the back there is a selection of recipes for beers similar to a range of commercial brews. Pick your favourite and brew a barrel of your own.

I'm fortunate enough to live just round the corner from The Home Brew Shop, but they have a mail order service and can supply all the equipment and ingredients you'll need. Minimum is a boiler, fermentation vessel and mash tun, plus various accessories: thermometer, sparging arm, hydrometer, hop strainer, wort chiller, spatula, sterilising solution... admittedly it does add up, but it's more than worth it. Total cost of the beer once you've paid for the equipment works out at about 50p a pint - a saving of about £2/pt or £70 a barrel over what it would cost to buy in the pub.

Brewing takes a day or so, but most of that time is spent waiting while the beer mashes or boils. The biggest and most important challenge is keeping everything scrupulously clean, don't cut any corners here or your effort will be wasted.

If you really want then you can get a kit - basically a tin of concentrated, hopped wort which you mix with water and ferment - but you'll end up with something that tastes of homebrew, not beer. It's a guaranteed disappointment IMHO.

Go the whole hog and do it properly, you'll never look back. Cut corners and you'll be another one telling the same stories about how homemade beer is rubbish. There is a lot of bad homebrew around, and that's the only experience many people have of it. It can, however, be really good beer.

As it happens, I have a batch mashing right now. Must dash

The Rani

We always used to make our own beer - based on the Boots kits but 'altered' slightly. Also always used to make cider (Mum had two decent apple trees in her garden) - will have to dig the recipe out when I've got the house sorted!

Leslie

I've made my own Sloe Gin for years now. You just need Sloe berries, pick your own in the hedges, caster sugar, and good quality gin, such as Plymouth.

Only takes 3 months to brew up and then its best left to age for a year. Lovely stuff, all my fishing mates queue up for it

Les

hectic

cant beat a drop of 'potcheen'

the big yim

cheers for all the advice and warnings
So how much would I have to spend to get me started with all the proper kit?

I think im going to go for the beer and give the brain rot cider a miss.
Thanks again

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Probably about £200-£250 for all the kit - the major items are the boiler, fermenting bin and mash tun (which is basically a coolbox with a tap fitted).

At a saving of about £70 a barrel over pub prices, you should pay for your kit in about 3 brews, then it's downhill all the way

Flatcapdriver

Alternatively, you can get an all in one kit which Andy would hate for just under £50.00 which I've just done. I agree with what Andy says but having home brewed before and given up I didn't want to get all the kit only to not use, so I'll let you know in a couple of weeks whether it's close to Sussex Best.

ewanrw

The g/f dad works in saudi and brews his own beer and spirits.

Blows your head off. He makes some form of saki that takes 3 days. comes with a health warning.

Graz

:nods:

I make my own beer. I don't go as far as the full mash process described earlier. Admittedly I'm sure the end product is very good and indistinguishable from commercial brewers offerings, unfortunatley I don't have the room or the time needed.

Don't write off the beer kits completely, whilst perhaps not as good as a full mash, the premium kits are pretty good these days. Go for ones around £15 - £20 for a 40 pint kit. They should be "all malt", i.e. no further sugar needs to be added to make the beer. Very easy to make. As mentioned all equipment MUST be sterile before commencing. Main things you need are fermenting bin, and a pressure barrel. Pour the contents of the beer kit into the fermenter, add 2-3 kettles full of boiling water, using some of the water to wash out the remaining wort in the cans. Stir to dissolve the wort. Then top up to 40 pints with cold water. Pitch the yeast and leave covered for 5-7 days to ferment. Then syphon out of the fermenter into the pressure barrel taking care to leave behind the sediment. Add some dried malt extract to prime the barrel (encourages secondary fermentation to make the beer fizzy). Then leave to mature for a couple of weeks.

Drink!

davegtt

This is how it should be done

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4802928.stm

Flatcapdriver

Problemo! I didn't read the destructions so I slooshed the pressure barrel with steriliser without rinsing it out, so I reckon the beer will taste foul or will I get away with it?

Any thoughts?

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Depends what you're using as a steriliser. More than likely you'll get away with it, though it may inhibit yeast growth which means it'll take longer to ferment.

Of course, if your steriliser has big yellow warning labels on it saying things like 'highly poisonous' or 'biohazard', then you should probably dump the batch and start again, but I wouldn't.

Flatcapdriver

Bollocks. It says 'Harmful if swallowed' which sounds vaguely like my wife, so I'll have to start a fresh batch. This is going to end up as bloody expensive beer.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Might be worth a call to the manufacturer. There's a difference between a few drops of residue in the barrel diluted in 40 pints of beer, and glugging the stuff neat. You may find it's actually rather less harmful than the beer itself

Graz

No don't worry about it, in small dilutions it won't do any harm or make the beer taste funny

In fact homebrew sterilisers are often a solution of sodium metabisulphate. In winemaking it is normal to drop a cambden tablet in at the end of fermentation to kill off the yeast and stop any further fermentation (don't normally want fizzy wine!). The aforementioned tablet is sodium metabisulphate so it has to be safe for humans in low doses.

TopBanana

Andy, don't fancy making a video do you - or at least a photographic demo?!

Flatcapdriver

Good call. The bloke I spoke to mentioned that it may contain a fermenting inhibitor but to leave it a few days and see if it does ferment.

We'll see.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Here you go

ps. Flatcapdriver - how was the beer?

TopBanana

Wow Andy, that's fantastic

I'll clear some time in the diary tomorrow

Flatcapdriver

Excellent thanks. It's Wherels which is a good brew and I can't taste any foreign chemicals although I've had to hide it as the dog has discovered how to knock open the tap and was helping himself. He farted like hell, so it's good to know that it's not just me that it has that effect on.