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No, but, looks like fun... I saw an amazing DIY kit at IFA in Berlin... they were trying to an Nespresso approach to the beer world... can't remember what they were called!
What set up do you have and what are the results like?
I started brewing beers at home last summer and have made 6 or 7 23ltr brews since.
I'm by no means an expert but its great fun and easy enough to do with the basic kit beers.
Im currently brewing Young's IPA and Coopers European Lager which will be ready for the summer months.
Any one else into it, what are you brewing at the minute?
No, but, looks like fun... I saw an amazing DIY kit at IFA in Berlin... they were trying to an Nespresso approach to the beer world... can't remember what they were called!
What set up do you have and what are the results like?
I started off with one of these kits https://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Brew-O...ew+starter+kit
and these are the two that i'm currently brewing and bottling.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Home-Gard...=home+brew+kit
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Youngs-Prem...=home+brew+kit
Both have been made and drunk before.
These kits are really simple to make and produce 'pub quality' beer/ale, i've recently started adding extra hops to the brews towards the end of fermentation to add more flavor.
I brew full mash in 100 litre gas fired stainless steel boiler. Only need to do a handful of these each year to keep me and mine in copious amounts of brew.
I've spent untold hours reading up on it, keep intending to buy a starter kit, and then something always comes up :( Although for the same reason I only ever buy one evenings worth at a time, I'm not sure if home brewing would be the best idea given my fondness for beer :/
This is what I want https://www.grainfather.com/ Currently room to use it is a bit scarce but I live in hopeOriginally Posted by Bangers
I started brewing beers at home last summer and have made 6 or 7 23ltr brews since.
I'm by no means an expert but its great fun and easy enough to do with the basic kit beers.
Im currently brewing Young's IPA and Coopers European Lager which will be ready for the summer months.
Any one else into it, what are you brewing at the minute?
I started off with a coopers kit, which my wife bought me.
Then on to a 40l boiler (tea urn) with a voile bag, and in October 2015, upgraded to a Braumeister.
I love brewing, and perfecting recipes.
Reecie- if I had my money to spend today, I would be buying the new GF. It's a great bit of kit.
If it's dry this weekend, I might brew outside. I have the ingredients for a wheat beer, and will be using my first liquid yeast.
I've got a golden ale in the go at the moment. It's relatively cheap to set up, and like one of the posters above I'm plucking up the courage to start experimenting with extra hops.
My latest brew.
Coopers Euro Lager, dry hopped with 100grms of Saaz hop pellets. Only been in the bottle for 10 days but tasting great already.
Bangers - have you seen the Malt Miller is selling hop oils, which are supposed to give the same effect as dry hopping? Might be useful for a hop head ;-)
I'm tempted to do 50% pellet and 50% oil in the near future
I've started experimenting, but if you want a great kit, try cwtch from tiny rebel company. Relatively fool proof and very good.
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I've started experimenting, but if you want a great kit, try cwtch from tiny rebel company. Relatively fool proof and very good.
I've started experimenting, but if you want a great kit, try cwtch from tiny rebel company. Relatively fool proof and very good.
- - - Updated - - -
I've started experimenting, but if you want a great kit, try cwtch from tiny rebel company. Relatively fool proof and very good.
Thanks for the heads up. Id not heard of this but will look into it as i do like plenty of hops in my ales.
Will also try the Tiny Rebel kit mentioned above
Been brewing for a few years now purely because the hangovers were killing me, since making my own I haven't had a single one
Started off with kits with every intention of moving on to all grain but the results are that good that I haven't bothered plus it's a full day of a job with the grain whereas I can get a brew on in half an hour with a kit.
Can't go wrong with the 2 can kits from Festival and Young's, the hoppier the better
Recently bottled a batch of Cwtch so really looking forward to giving that a go after reading all the positive reviews
Also a big fan of the mini kegs, 5lts fits in the fridge so great for a Saturday session
BrewUK do a malt & hops kit called Way to Amarillo. It's more fuss than a can but much easier than all grain and it's so good that I struggle to find a reason to make anything else!
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Hop oil is useful to add different notes to the brew but I wouldn't be tempted to replace your dry hopping completely with it. I was a brewer on an industrial scale for 25 years and we added particular oils to the coppers on particular brews but it was only used for the certain stuff. Taking a lager brew for example with Kronenbourg the ratios were generally about 4 ltrs of oil, 2ltrs of bitterness oil added on the raise to boil then another 2 of aroma oil added 45 minutes into the boil. As a contrast of the ratio of oil to dry hops Kronenbourg would also have about 300 kilos of various dry hops introduced during the boil on each 750 barrel brew (216,000 pints).
Interesting stuff. Kronenbourg is one of the few commercial lagers I enjoy.
Did you brew in the Uk for S&N when they owned the brand, or prior to that?
I only ask, because I worked for them between 2004 -2008 I think, although not brewing, i was in tech services.
I worked for them when they were owned by Fosters (who prematurely sold off the pub chain due to a proposed change in law that never came in), S&N then bought the group and eventually closed Berkshire Brewery down in 2010 but I left in 2009 (with redundancy thank goodness). I then worked for Molson Coors until they closed Alton Brewery down. I then realised that a change of career could be a smart move!
Sounds great what other kit would i need to buy? Thanks
Spent the morning bottling 40 pints of Coopers IPA, wanted to get it done sooner but not had the time, so its been dry hopping for a few days longer than recommended. Cant wait to do a quality control test in a few days.
Out of interest do you guys use tap water for brewing?
I use tap water and half a campden tablet to get rid of the chlorine.
Just starting looking in to water chemistry, and have a nice PH meter now.
So where do you guys do your brewing? I'm in a flat so no option of a basement brew, and I think that the temperature would fluctuate far too much for me to get away with it in my current situation. Are the various temperature control products reliable?
I use the home brewery aka utility room.
As far as i am aware most of the kits, which are what i brew, use ale yeasts, which are happy from 18-25' C. I never pay much attention to the temperature once i start fermentation. Last summer i was brewing during a heatwave and the fermentation got up to 27'. The ale turned out fine.
Coopers Euro Lager uses a lager yeast which prefers colder temperatures I believe
Thanks for that Bangers. I was mostly concerned about temperature fluctuation though. I'm not sure if this is more kind of "best results" advice, but that even if fluctuation does occur you'll still get a good ale. I've a lot of spare space in my combined living room and kitchen, and have been thinking about giving it a go. My flat has a whole wall of windows, and the place starts the day cold, and then rapidly heats up by the end of the afternoon with the sun blazing into the flat.
Assuming you're in the UK i dont think that will be a problem, certainly this time of year, could be an issue in thhe summer months but im not experienced enough to say either way. I would give it a go anyway !
The best option is a fridge with an aftermarket temp controller, to control the temp of beer in the FV. There's also a brew bag, where you add 2litre frozen water bottles a few times a day. Good for places such as a flat, with limited space, as folds quite small.
What I do is brew plenty of Porter type beers, or beers which age well, to get me through the hotter months.
I could have a brew fridge, but I'm skating on thin ice with a £1200 Braumeister, 4 kitchen cupboards filled with bottles and equipment to dare pushing it :-)
Water chemistry and fermentation temp control is supposed to be the difference between good and excellent beer.
Sorry for the slow reply. At an absolute minimum you'd need a fermentation vessel (plastic), an airlock, some sterilisation powder and some plastic tube to siphon it. Then you'd need a barrel or (much better for this kind of beer) 40 bottles and a crown capper.
It sounds a lot but it's not expensive. I'm sure if you give them a call they'll put together something like this but with the Amarillo kit substituted...
https://www.brewuk.co.uk/ale-starter-kit.html
All you need then is a big saucepan!
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Anyone brewing today?
I have a wheat beer on. It will be my first beer where I ferment with liquid yeast.
Today i've bottle 30 pints, or thereabouts, of Cwtch. Looking forward to quality control testing in a week or so.
Anyone else brewing anything?
I've brewed quite a few kits, and some all grains. Best kit I've done so far is probably Razorback. Really nice IPA.
I tried my batch of Cwtch last week, I like hoppy beers but christ it tastes strong - it's very good but far hoppier than anything else I've brewed. Mines been in the bottle about 6-7 weeks and it's spot on
This week I have a batch of Festival NZ Pilsner ready so got stuck into that Friday, done it a few times and it makes a fantastic pint,nice and chilled goes down a treat
Didn't have time for 'proper' brewing but 40 pints of Young's American IPA will be fine for barbecue season. Done and dusted in an hour and a half.
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