The home brew thread

[TINY]

Well that sounds pretty easy then and not some annoying process before i even get a sniff.
Cheers for the info TINY, any shop you recomend to get stuff from?

Wilkinson's for super cheap, or tesco for the coopers DIY kit which i got. Everything included. Then tesco sainsburys or Wilkinson's for the kits. Do it, and if you like it , there are lots of homebrew shops scattered around.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

It was a coopers draught with 500g LME, 800g of brew enhancer; nothing spectacular but the taste is superb, really pleased with it. Fermented out for 8 days or so, bottled with carbonation drops, left for another week, and then fridged for a week. My darling mrs decided to turn some of the bottles on their side 2 days ago so it's a little cloudy but this bothers me not. Head retention was good all the way down and the taste was superb.

I'm after doing an IPA also; what would you recommend recipe wise? Also, how much sugar to prime would you recommend? I'm really after a winter warmer style for Christmas and really fancy brewing up something with a chocolate note on it.

It must be spectacular if you thought the taste was superb.
I will give this one a bash mate.
Seen it on the shelves.
Cant go wrong with the Coopers stable.
Think I too would have aimed for your selection on fermentables
Effectively gives you 900g of spray malt with 400 of the dextrose.
And a well balanced mix
Not too sure on which is a satisfactory balance mate.
I am only learning at the moment but am writing everything I do down on paper.
This I guess over a protracted period will allow me to brew to my own palette .
The saint johns IPA comes highly recommended
For priming of most ales 80 to 100 gram is good.
You want the brew alive but not in the style of a lager.
Lagers I am currently using between 180-200g batch prime.
Made a mistake with my Cervasa by under priming at 120g : (
Still waiting on my European and hope to have it fixed in two more weeks
Really looking forward to seeing how the Muntons gold pilsner turns out.
Double malt kit using an ale yeast but good reviews on the t'internet.
Will keep you informed.

My recipe for the Wilkes pilsner will be.
Tin plus under brewed with Tesco spring to 20ltrs and 500 light spray malt plus 750 dextrose and dry hopped with 33 gram Sazz hops for 5 days after fermentation.
Secondary for two weeks then into to empty Tesco bottles and store in cool place for three more weeks
Will let you know how it comes out mate.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

I have a strawberry wine and a mixed fruit cider brewing currently, as well as a quick pilsner ongoing. Looking forward to sampling them all! Home brewing is now a passion! Looking forward to the day I get my kegerator going.

Do you want some Sazz hops for the pilsner Tiny.
Try 33g in the mix after primary fermentation.
Pm you your addy and I will post them out to you free and on the house with a spare Muslin bag.
Sanitize the bag and then add the hops AFTER fermentation has completed.
Weigh the bag down with some sterilized marbles or anything that will not impair on the taste.
Leave them in the mix for 5 days tops then batch prime as usual to another FV and bottle.
Sazz is excellent for the pilsner style
Let me know pal.
Got to watch telly now.
PS The slight sediment you mentioned will invariable settle out after a few days.

See u later
Taxi;

 

[Crabbers]

Where do you guys buy your LME and brew enhancer from? I've looked around and can't find it in any shops.... Or do you just order it online?

 

[yeseye]

Cheers Taxi, or is it Tiny? Anyway, just took a pic of your reply so I can stroll around Wilkinsons like a man on a mission who knows what he's doing! Can't wait to get started, thanks again.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Hi Tiny glad the hops arrived safely.

I have not brewed the Wilko pils yet.
Doing that one tonight and posted the recipe on here.
Done the Wilko golden lager and the Wilko Cervasa and scored to my palate about 6.5 to 7
Said on the boxes that it carried a tangy profile and it did indeed.
Don't think it complimented the brew in any way
The pilsner doesn't mention this so very hopeful it will turn out very good especially with the sazz hop additions.

In answer to your question let it more or less finish off the ferment as an active fermentation can dilute some of the aroma from the sazz hops.
If its nearly finished fermenting ( 5 days to a week ) then just add the hops to the bucket.
Ceramic pellets should be OK to weigh down mate.
As long as everything is sterilized coming into contact with the brew it should be fine and dandy.
Leave the hops for around 5 days and then siphon and batch prime to another bucket and just bottle.


In the garden supping the Coopers European lager.
Took ten or eleven weeks to come good and finally remove the remaining sulphate smells associated with using a lager yeast.
Tastes just like a becks. Honestly.
Give it a good 8.5 out of ten and will definitely brew this cheeky number again.
Only thing that lets it down is the pissing about fermenting it with ice packs to get down to 13c
and also the ridiculously long wait for it to come good.

Still got the Muntons gold pilsner and Coopers Australian on the go and should be good to sup and go within the months end.

Will brew the wine tonight.
Should only take 30 minutes
Tip in bucket and add Tesco spring and sprinkle yeast and just lid it up
Good weather for the wine fermentation.

Right its back in the garden I go.
Enjoy the sunshine
Cheers mate;

 

[TINY]

All sounds good mate, and as I'm currently sat in work, I'm super jealous of your garden activity.

Batch priming; I have always used the coopers drops and primed my bottles with these, and had no issues, although they're slightly over carbonated for my father in law. What advantages does batch priming have? Is it just literally throw the fermented beer into a secondary with a sugar solution and then into bottles straight away? If you leave it for a while in the secondary what advantages does this have? I'm keen to get the right balance for most palates. I'm after the carbonation of a usual pub pint.

Cheers.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

All sounds good mate, and as I'm currently sat in work, I'm super jealous of your garden activity.

Batch priming; I have always used the coopers drops and primed my bottles with these, and had no issues, although they're slightly over carbonated for my father in law. What advantages does batch priming have? Is it just literally throw the fermented beer into a secondary with a sugar solution and then into bottles straight away? If you leave it for a while in the secondary what advantages does this have? I'm keen to get the right balance for most palates. I'm after the carbonation of a usual pub pint.

Cheers.

First off, batch priming is simply the process off adding all of the secondary fermentation sugars to your whole batch of beer to ensure that you get consistent levels of carbonation in all your bottles. This is opposed to the system advocated on the instructions of beer kits which suggests adding sugar or carbonation pellets directly to each bottle.

The batch priming has a few advantages over the Coopers drops.
Price is one as using brewing sugar to batch prime will only cost you around the 35pence mark
Also speed as its much faster to simply add the sugar in one go than add individual drops
Also with the drops it is difficult to calculate and cut up the drops for different bottle sizes used.
But the Coopers drops are indeed fine and just offer the end user an alternative.

For pub style carbonation 160-180gram would be good.
Mix the brewing sugar with 200ml boiled water and cool
Then tip into the secondary bucket
Siphon the lager onto the top of the priming sugar and at the end give it a gentle stir
Nice and steady stirring as you don't want to introduce oxygen to the mix at this stage

For these beer kits we use you can just leave in the original FV for two to three weeks to allow the yeast to complete the clean up work and allow the remaining sediment to settle out.
If you insist on being uber professional then you can of course rack of to a secondary after fermentation is complete and leave another week or so.
Either way after a week fermenting out you can then add the hops for five to seven days.
Boil the muslin bag to sanitize then just tip in your hops tie it off and just cob it in cobber.
Then batch prime and bottle away

Hope this helps mate.

 

[gazhinio]

Hi, my name is Gary, and i'm a newbie to all of this!!
When I say new, I haven't actually bought any kit yet!!
So I like to drink a little...more of a real ale kind of chap, so possible would want to get in to brewing that..
I don't really want any tips or advice on making and brewing the beer initially..although I will do eventually!!
I just wanted to ask what the quality was of such brews?
I have never, ever tried homebrew...and have just got it in my head that it would taste like shit if im honest!!
From what I have read on here, it would appear not to be the case??

I think the reason I would be interested in doing it myself, is the cost side of it!
To put it in to context, there is a good quality beer shop at the end of my road, that sells loads of real ales, ipas, bitters, lagers from all around the world etc
Some really good stuff, that I can't deny!
But fuck is it expensive!!!
Usually buy around 6 bottles...and it usually comes to anywhere up to and around the £20 mark!
Yes folks, you read correctly...£20 for 6 bottles!!!!!!
Hence the curriosity??

Also, lastly...is it a long process? And would my loft make a good place to brew?
Or would the garden shed be more appropriate?

Cheers piss pots ; )

 

[The Ledge]

I'm jumping on the bandwagon as well chaps. My brother and I are planning to set up our 'micro brewery' in my garage (not sure how suitable a garage is?). We're both big into our craft ales and picked up £200 worth of beers last week from a local brewery - Alechemy - who we get on well with. They've offered to advise us and can supply some of the ingredients.

Just about to read through that s thread again as its brilliantly informative, but a he'll of a lot to take in for a novice. Can't wait to become a brewer!