The home brew thread

[Crabbers]

Right..... I gave my first real ale (Young's Yorkshire Harvest Bitter) a taster last night. It spent 2.5 weeks in the fermenter and to date 6 days in bottles after batch priming. You know what... It tasted bloody good! It needs longer in the bottles but it was a nice, light ale as it was and I presume will get even better if left a little longer. Am just deciding now whether to brew a woodfords wherry or try a lager next. That on top of the chianti that comes highly recommended by Taxi!

 

[marco]

was thinking of starting to brew wine, can anyone advise do i need a constant temp area in the house, this house of ours is freezing in the winter and i'm botherd it might not ferment

 

[Two Gun Bob]

was thinking of starting to brew wine, can anyone advise do i need a constant temp area in the house, this house of ours is freezing in the winter and I'm bothered it might not ferment

Its summertime Marco ?
But in answer to winter brewing you could use a heating belt if the house is below 20c


Fermentation will vary with the different kits mate
The Chianti from Jubillee stable was quite fast to ferment

The Beaverdale Barolla I have on the go will take three weeks to ferment out and will require transferring to secondary when it gets down to 1010 gravity.
In non Martian that will be about 6 days and then another two weeks in secondary.

Temperature seems to vary by kit
The Chianti advocated around 23c whilst the Barolla is happier around 20-22c.
These are wort temperatures by the way and not room temperatures which can fluctuate by a degree or two.
It is not an exact science and fluctuations between quite a few degrees will be just fine.
The temperature towards the lower end will result in a longer fermentation which is slighter more desirable.

The kit wines are the easiest home brews to make
Buy the quality kits that do not require additional fermentables.
It will then be as simple as making Vimto
Honestly mate and the results are very good indeed.

Instructions added here for Barolla
Cut and paste and have a quick read.
http://www.zen37219.zen.co.uk/beaverdalewinekit/contents/en-uk/d6_Instructions_.html

All the best
Taxi;

 

[marco]

was thinking of starting to brew wine, can anyone advise do i need a constant temp area in the house, this house of ours is freezing in the winter and I'm bothered it might not ferment

Its summertime Marco ?
But in answer to winter brewing you could use a heating belt if the house is below 20c


Fermentation will vary with the different kits mate
The Chianti from Jubillee stable was quite fast to ferment

The Beaverdale Barolla I have on the go will take three weeks to ferment out and will require transferring to secondary when it gets down to 1010 gravity.
In non Martian that will be about 6 days and then another two weeks in secondary.

Temperature seems to vary by kit
The Chianti advocated around 23c whilst the Barolla is happier around 20-22c.
These are wort temperatures by the way and not room temperatures which can fluctuate by a degree or two.
It is not an exact science and fluctuations between quite a few degrees will be just fine.
The temperature towards the lower end will result in a longer fermentation which is slighter more desirable.

The kit wines are the easiest home brews to make
Buy the quality kits that do not require additional fermentables.
It will then be as simple as making Vimto
Honestly mate and the results are very good indeed.

Instructions added here for Barolla
Cut and paste and have a quick read.
http://www.zen37219.zen.co.uk/beaverdalewinekit/contents/en-uk/d6_Instructions_.html

All the best
Taxi;

cheers for everything Taxi, i have been wanting to do this for ages but not had the bottle ''no pun intended'' what are you working out price wise for a half decent bottle of red around an average of say 12%

 

[gazhinio]

Anybody who isn't involved in this thread, are dead to me!
This includes my family : )

I'm actually a bit gutted I did my extension on my house now!
I originally (where the playroom** is) had huge garage, which would of been perfick for all this nonsense ha ha

**the kids don't even use the playroom now!!!

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Out of all the brews available Marco the wines offer you the greatest monetary savings.
The Barolla I have on the go cost me £40 for 30 bottles
This wine is the equivalent of any £8-£10 bottle available
If you break it down excluding your labour it equates to around £1.35 a bottle.

Track back through the thread a few pages and I am sure there is a recent review for the Beaverdale Barolla

Cheers mate ;

 

[marco]

Out of all the brews available Marco the wines offer you the greatest monetary savings.
The Barolla I have on the go cost me £40 for 30 bottles
This wine is the equivalent of any £8-£10 bottle available
If you break it down excluding your labour it equates to around £1.35 a bottle.

Track back through the thread a few pages and I am sure there is a recent review for the Beaverdale Barolla

Cheers mate ;

just wow, i didn't realise the saving was so good i'd say i'm currently going through three/four bottles of Beaujolais a week so that's costing around £120 p/m, time to get my head into this thread, i'l let you know how i get on

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Out of all the brews available Marco the wines offer you the greatest monetary savings.
The Barolla I have on the go cost me £40 for 30 bottles
This wine is the equivalent of any £8-£10 bottle available
If you break it down excluding your labour it equates to around £1.35 a bottle.

Track back through the thread a few pages and I am sure there is a recent review for the Beaverdale Barolla

Cheers mate ;

just wow, i didn't realise the saving was so good i'd say i'm currently going through three/four bottles of Beaujolais a week so that's costing around £120 p/m, time to get my head into this thread, i'l let you know how i get on

Here we go pal, found it.

Better wrong url

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.creativewinemaking.co.uk/wine-kits/beaverdale-barrolla-barolo-30-bottle/prod_17.html?review=read#read_review" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.creativewinemaking.co.uk/win ... ead_review</a>

And for crabbers

<a class="postlink" href="http://reviews.wilko.com/6551-en_gb/0207610/wilko-com-woodfordes-wherry-bitter-kit-3kg-reviews/reviews.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://reviews.wilko.com/6551-en_gb/020 ... eviews.htm</a>

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.ratebeerkits.com/items/view/woodfordes-wherry-bitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.ratebeerkits.com/items/view/ ... rry-bitter</a>

Give us a heads up on the yorkshire bitter when ready.
Always been a lager drinker since the long hot summer of 76.
But I am slowly metamorphosing back into an wobbly geriatric ale-man with loud knitted jumper and loafers

 

[Crabbers]

Anybody who isn't involved in this thread, are dead to me!
This includes my family : )

I'm actually a bit gutted I did my extension on my house now!
I originally (where the playroom** is) had huge garage, which would of been perfick for all this nonsense ha ha

**the kids don't even use the playroom now!!!

Perhaps the playroom could be re-branded as the brewroom!

Funnily enough we knocked down our garage last year to make the garden bigger for the kids.... The other day I was wistfully thinking about how good it would have been as a brewing facility!

 

[Crabbers]

Cheers for the links taxi. The wherry certainly seems to be 'the one'. I tried another bottle of the Yorkshire last night (impatience getting the better of me). Even after another 24 hours in the bottles it had improved considerably. I only used sugar to ferment so it is a bit 'light' but still very drinkable. I think I under carbonated a little bit. Its not dissimilar to pub served cask ale in terms of carbonation and I prefer a little bit more than that but all in all, pretty damn pleased with the result of my first batch.

Hoping to get batch 2 off and running tonight if I can get chance to pop into wilkos and pick up the wherry. Which fermentables would you recommend for this one taxi?