BOB.T

Hi

Having recently got into real ales I'm considering having a go at brewing my own...what can possibly go wrong?!

It's not a cost saving thing, I don't really drink that much, it's more just for the sake of having a go.

I was thinking of something like this,

COMPLETE STARTER KIT from Homebrew It Yourself

Any thoughts?

wayne9t9

Used to do it years ago, I didn`t drink that much then either. After years of having homebrew on tap 24 hours a day i`m now a recovering alcoholic Seriously its a good hobby and you`ll get good results if you are patient. I would recommend a co2 bottle as well, I found it kept the beer fresher longer and it kept some fizz too

fatherpierre

I used to brew my own too.

It was awful and I'd often blank out after a few pints of it as I was bad at making it, and it was about 10%abv , but I drank it like normal beer.

Cheap, but you need to really buy decent equipment and ingredients, and put time/effort into making nice stuff. I'd often tap into mine too early and have awful guts as a consequence

BOB.T

So what happens when you've made your brew, how long does it keep? That kit^^ says it'll do 40 pints, that would keep me going for months!!

fatherpierre

Depends on the equipment you use. Bottle it and it'll last 6 months+; but the 40 pints kegs should be done in a couple of months IIRC.

There's a fair outlay needed to start up.

I remember getting through a full 40 pint keg of ~12%abv stuff in one day when 2 of my friends came over. It was messy, and I had a bad head and body for a week.

The kit stuff for the kegs really doesn't taste that good. If you're serious then go for bottling and buy decent brewing stuff with from-scratch ingredients.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

We've been brewing our own beer for years - full guide on how we do it here

Do it from raw ingredients, which you can get from here. The recipe book we use has just been updated and is available here.

Have fun - any questions, drop me a PM

Jamescsti

That must have been good stuff!

4X4BOB

There are cheaper places for a kit, and as a newbie I'd avoid a keg unless you like warm flat beer?
Go with bottles would be my advice.

First did home brew at the age of 11 untill aged 18. Made some great brews in my time.
Got into mashing later on, you can taylor the taste to your own preference.

If buying in kit form, Woodfordes and Coopers do some decent kits.
And replace any sugar with Muntons brew enhancer as it makes for a far better pint!

THE most important thing is STERILISE everything you use. Found thats what makes most people fail with a home brew.
VWP sterilser is my choice.

And watch your temps when fermenting, try to keep it even. Going to hot then cold etc ruins a brew. Worth investing in a heater.
If bottling, don't forget to prime for secondary fermentation in the bottles, l;eave them a week in the warm, then put somehwere cold for 4 weeks.

Loads of info on the net and some good forums out there too.


Have fun!

BOB.T

Crikey, there's more to this than meets the eye!

Thanks all, will do some looking around.

Oh yeah, flat beer is fine, not into warm beer though, I'm a Northerner don't you know!

Leslie

Just the Sloe Gin! Great to take fishing when you can't catch anything too.

Les

Turbo2

My father-in-law ran his family Home Brew shop in Northampton. He still makes wine for his wife and used to do some beers. Frankly it's all pretty vile stuff and he's been doing it for decades!

I don't really see the point of all the hassle involved with making your own filthy brews, when you can get 12 cans of perfectly good beer for 8 quid or a bottle of Lindemans or Hardy's Shiraz/Cabernet red wine all the way from Australia for under 4 quid down your local supermarket.

Life's just too short to drink p!$$

Tam the bam

Woody, this is a good site for all things home-brew YoBrew - Home brew wine, cider, beer, drinks, kits and recipes

BOB.T

Seriously, that's not the point! That's like comparing a cup of Mellow Birds to the vanilla latte I'm currently enjoying!

Cheers Spam...sorry, Tam

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Because properly home-brewed beer is at least as good as you can get on draught in a good pub, and it's never, ever been possible to get good beer in a can at any price

Tam the bam

Home-brew is something I'd really like to have a go at, I keep looking on that site (the one I posted above) but never got round to making my mind up as to exactly what I want.

Coffin Dodger

As mentioned brewing from the raw ingredients will, if done right, produce some really good beers. However it's very time consuming and has a big initial outlay for all the kit you need.

Brewing ale from beer kits, like that shown in the starter kit you linked to, is much easier. I brew kit beers and I must say that things have moved on a bit and you can now make some really good beers from kits. The key is to buy good quality kits, expect to pay between £15 and £20 for a 40 pint kit, and always buy ones that are all malt (i.e. you don't need to add any extra sugar to the brew).

Fairly easy to do, most important is to ensure everything is sterile and clean using the sterilising stuff sold for homebrew. Stick the kettle on, empty the contents of the beer kit cans into the fermenter, then use the boiled water from the kettle to rinse the cans out and get all the beery goodness into the fermenter. I typically add this and another kettle full of boiling water to the fermenter. Now give it a good stir to dissolve all the syrup into the water. In the meantime take a little of the boiling water and put it in a sterile container, check the temperature and when around 38 degrees C add the powdered yeast to it. This hydrates the yeast so it can get to work quickly.

Now add cold water to the fermenter to get it up to 40 pints, pour from a hight to get as much air into the brew as possible (yeast needs oxygen to do its stuff).

Finally add the yeast / water mix and put the lid on the fermenter, leaving it slightly unclipped on one side to let the gasses escape. Leave in a warm place for approx 1 week or when there are no longer any bubbles on the top or rising up. You can have a little peak from time to time and the fermentation should be quite vigorous once it gets going after a day or so.

Now carefully syphon into the pressure barrel taking care to leave as much of the sediment from the brew as possible in the fermenter but also getting all the beer out.

You need to prime the pressure barrel by adding a little sugar (preferably brewers though normal granulated will do), usually 1/2 tsp per pint. Do the lid up tight. As mentioned best to have some sort of C02 (gas) injector system as once the pressure from secondary fermentation has been spent you'll need it to keep the beer fresh and force it out of the barrel. If you open the lid to let it out the the fresh air getting in will speed up the rate at which the beer goes off.

Leave the barrel in a warm place for a week then move to wherever you going to store it, preferably somewhere cool, leave for another week or so, then drink The first couple of pints pulled may be a little cloudy but it should all come good after that

I got two barrels to ensure a continuous supply

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

I may try the beer myself, currently do wine and have 2 demijons going at present (one is my recipe strawberry wine made from scratch, other is a kit elderberry wine that I am trying)

With beer can you add some kind of fruit to give a distinct taste or will it ruin the beer?

prodriva

I've just bottled my very first home brew. It's a Coopers Australian Lager Microbrew kit and was easy peasy to do. Will be ready to taste in 2 weeks and ready to drink in 2-3 months. It was great fun to do and if the brew works and is drinkable i'll definatley be making it regularly.

BOB.T

Thanks again for the replies!

This is looking like a go-er now, was speaking to my dad earlier and he reminded me that's it's my birthday next week! Oddly, I'm the age now that he was when he was brewing when I was little!

austinwrx

as an alternative, ALDI are doing bottled wytchwood beers for £1.19


an easy option !

oldsplice

My brother gets his stuff from here, Bob.

http://www.edwintucker.com/