Home Brew

[Black Belt Jones]

I did it for a couple of years - start with extract and if you like it (the process and the product) look to move to whole grain asap. There are ways of doing this which are simple and don't require significant kit investment. You can make legit great ale that way and it's not even hard - Basic cleanliness and hygiene in your brews gets you most of the way there.

It's a great hobby but got too time-consuming for me - hated bottling day for example. I think you have to really love it to homebrew on the reg, get into the recipes etc. You can keg it, which is easy but it doesn't last too long. I struggled with having a keg of great ale on the kitchen counter, was drinking like a fish.

Home-brewing wine is basically impossible to do well outside of sweet desert wines. You'd need to be an absolute genius of alcohol to make a dry red better than 2/10.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

Like drinking a pint of fart.

Home brew? Nah, not if you do it right. When I was younger my parents' friend home brewed some pretty damn tasty stuff. Spirits are a diff matter.

 

[Infernus]

Does anyone here brew their own beers??

I'm pretty sure there has to be one or two of you out there!
I'm thinking of having a crack at it and could do with some pointers on where to start! I fancy a stout first and have been eyeing up the kit below.. any thoughts?

Starter Beer Making Set - Stouts, Porters and Milds

This Starter Beer Making Set (Stouts, porters and Milds) is a combination of an Equipment Set and a nice quality beer concentrate kit, so you are ready to start brewing straight away! There are a number of beer concentrates that we have supplied with this kit. We try to pick those that are easy...

www.biggerjugs.co.uk

I got into home brewing about 7 years ago. Started really small with the bare minimum in terms of equipment, was brewing 'kit and kilo' style with extract, a plastic fermenter and bottles/a pressure barrel. Now I brew all grain from scratch on a Grainfather G30, I have the conical stainless steel fermenter and I serve from a Corny Keg. I still feel that I have so much to learn, and so much more equipment to get before I am 100% happy, but right now I am making beer that I think is better than most store bought, simply because I can brew exactly what I want using exactly the ingredients I want. Very happy to answer any questions you have. Definitely best to start brewing from malt kits to see if you like it, then I would move onto all grain as quick as you can, and try to use stainless steel equipment. Very easy to clean and doesn’t impart any flavour.

 

[perth_blue]

As others have said, start out small and easy.
Get yourself something like this

https://www.diybeer.com/au/coopers-diy-beer-brew-kit.html?keyword=&device=m&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIss_H2pmGhwMVhoFLBR1DUgCUEAQYASABEgK4TvD_BwE

I don't know what shops specifically will have them, but google home brew shops in your area and they'll no doubt stock them.
Start with a style that you like (lager, pale ale etc) but do a bit of research first, as some will be easier to brew than others. Even with extract brewing, you can do some grain additions and create some really nice drops.
With some of the yeast strains out now, you can have a fermented beer within a week.

Give this channel a look, he will give you a few ideas.

The Home Brew Network

The Home Brew Network - Home Brewing Tips, Tricks and Reviews!

youtube.com

 

[notrevE5]

 

[blue61]

Currently enjoying some Yorkshire Bitter, which always tastes better in a quality glass.

 

[Tramps_mate]

Yes, often.

Ales or pilsners type things?

 

[Groucho]

Ales or pilsners type things?

Ales mate

 

[Woolly Blue]

Does anyone here brew their own beers??

I'm pretty sure there has to be one or two of you out there!
I'm thinking of having a crack at it and could do with some pointers on where to start! I fancy a stout first and have been eyeing up the kit below.. any thoughts?

Starter Beer Making Set - Stouts, Porters and Milds

This Starter Beer Making Set (Stouts, porters and Milds) is a combination of an Equipment Set and a nice quality beer concentrate kit, so you are ready to start brewing straight away! There are a number of beer concentrates that we have supplied with this kit. We try to pick those that are easy...

www.biggerjugs.co.uk

I used to do it from scratch ( mashing and sparging my own grain ) and the end result was ale of at least the same quality as anything you'd get down the pub.

Have a go with kits, which are much, much better than I had access to back in the day. Ideally you want to be fermenting the stuff with a room temperature of between 16 and 20 degrees centigrade and, if you're using a keg, storing it at about 15 degrees.

We used to have a house with a cellar, which was perfect. I only stopped brewing when we moved and fermenting and storing in the spare bedroom wasn't great in summer. These days of course you can get cooling units for both fermenting and kegs, but that does seem a bit excessive.

I found brewing decent home brewed lager much more difficult btw. To do it properly you have to ferment at below room temperature. You can make compromises on that, but I never managed to brew a lager which was as good as a really good shop bought one. They were OK and cheap, but not really worth the effort.

 

[ClausThomsen]

I got one of these kits as a present a couple of years back and it turned out lovely. Bit of contrived wackiness in their vids but it's a great starter kit with the full grain mash and sparge thing....

 

[Tramps_mate]

Ales mate

Not giving too much away there Groucho..

 

[Tramps_mate]

I got one of these kits as a present a couple of years back and it turned out lovely. Bit of contrived wackiness in their vids but it's a great starter kit with the full grain mash and sparge thing....

I'll have a look thanks!

 

[Tramps_mate]

I used to do it from scratch ( mashing and sparging my own grain ) and the end result was ale of at least the same quality as anything you'd get down the pub.

Have a go with kits, which are much, much better than I had access to back in the day. Ideally you want to be fermenting the stuff with a room temperature of between 16 and 20 degrees centigrade and, if you're using a keg, storing it at about 15 degrees.

We used to have a house with a cellar, which was perfect. I only stopped brewing when we moved and fermenting and storing in the spare bedroom wasn't great in summer. These days of course you can get cooling units for both fermenting and kegs, but that does seem a bit excessive.

I found brewing decent home brewed lager much more difficult btw. To do it properly you have to ferment at below room temperature. You can make compromises on that, but I never managed to brew a lager which was as good as a really good shop bought one. They were OK and cheap, but not really worth the effort.

I want to try a stout or a porter. However next choice would be a pilsner.

 

[Woolly Blue]

I want to try a stout or a porter. However next choice would be a pilsner.

If you've got a spare bedroom I'd suggest leaving the pilsner till late Autumn.

Most lager yeasts only work "properly" at temperatures below 15 C and ideally a bit less than that. So, unless you're using a high temperature lager yeast, of which there are a few, which work at 18 to 20 degrees, an unheated room outside the Summer months gives you the best chance of brewing something which is a better quality than "acceptable".

 

[Infernus]

If you've got a spare bedroom I'd suggest leaving the pilsner till late Autumn.

Most lager yeasts only work "properly" at temperatures below 15 C and ideally a bit less than that. So, unless you're using a high temperature lager yeast, of which there are a few, which work at 18 to 20 degrees, an unheated room outside the Summer months gives you the best chance of brewing something which is a better quality than "acceptable".

I haven't got the cash for temperature control yet, it can get very pricey. If anyone is in the same boat I would highly recommend using this stuff to brew a 'pseudo lager'. Brews very very clean at temperatures up to 30 Celsius, and after brewing if you store your beer in bottles or keg cold for around a month, you can end up with something that is extremely close to the real thing. Yeast technology is getting very good these days!