I’ve suggested my in-laws get me a home brew kit for birthday as I quite fancy giving it a try.
Partial to the old IPA so wondering where I should start/kit to recommend they buy/advice from the experienced STW-brewers out there!

Thanks

I got a Coopers kit off the other half for christmas last year. Came with everything needed (except steriliser I think) and was a piece of cake. It came with a tin which was English Bitter which was okay. I’ve just put a Milestone Green Man kit on, my brother did their Dasher the Flasher one which was quite nice, more like an IPA.

edit: This One

The Coopers starter kits are excellent value. Coopers IPA kit is perhaps a little harsh though, imo. St Peters Golden Ale and their IPA aren’t bad though. Advantage with these – and all other 2 can kits – is you don’t need to add any sugar

Is the St Peters IPA the one you can brew as an officers or troops beer? 5.5% or 4% / 32 or 40 pints?

I think I’ve brewed it as the officers. If I remember correctly it was a bit full on flavour.

I’ve had a lot of success with the Festival Ales kits this year. Extra ingredients and salts, dry hops etc.

Try here for a good range. Hop & Grape

The Woodforde’s Wherry kit turns out a nice pint.

Not that I’m aware of. But it’s been a while since I brewed a kit, brew from grain these days

I’m quite new to this brewing lark but I’m on my 5th kit already. I practiced with an IPA and a real ale from Wilkinsons, both of which are surprisingly drinkable.

My latest one is Evil Dogs double IPA and it’s lovely but 7.2% 🙂

Ohh…sounds like I’ll be having lots of fun sampling many different varieties over the coming years then!

Thanks all

This has reminded me to order some kits. Just ordered a Youngs American Saison and a Bavarian wheat beer.

The Youngs kits are trying to replicate American craft beers. I’ll let you know how much pretentiousness they can pack in a box. 😉

I was hesitant about home brewing after a bad post-university kit experience. These days it seems hard to go wrong.

I popped into The Brew Shop and armed with some advice from a friend and the advice of the guys from the shop I got a simple kit of stuff: bucket, lid, airlock, siphon, peroxide steriliser (I don’t like chlorine), hydrometer, thermometer, freeze dried hops, hop ‘teabag’, yeast, malt cans.

It was great fun boiling up the hops. A great smell around the house for a short while.

The IPA-style brew was pretty good after a few weeks in bottles and beat some commercial ‘craft beers’ in blind tastings with some friends.

My second batch I upped the hops and went for dried malt. Despite the advice I got from the brew shop I’d recommend dried malt over canned. Whilst it can clump it is easier to work with overall.

Don’t bother with a ‘kit’, get the basic equipment, boil up some hops and malt, sterilise well, and then throw in your yeast and boiled water. Beer is what these things combined want to be.

Thanks for all of the advice. Some hard googling and choosing needed now!

Although I have bought a hydrometer, I haven’t bothered using it since my first brew. I just leave it a bit longer in the bin to make sure it’ll be ready to bottle. What’s the rush 🙂

Get collecting and de labelling your bottles…

Ayup Jason. you should bring a fermenter along and trynan all grain brew sometime

Just started this myself. Bought all the gear from a local shop, which was cheaper than online! Got 2 bulldog craft kits: evildog double ipa & four fingers pale ale. Should work out at 50p a pint 🙂 bit cheaper than sierra nevada!

four finger jack is nice. supposedly even better if you swap Safale US05 for the kit yeast

Might try that next time, cheers, John. Those two have about a week left in the bins, then bottling. Young’s APA is up next 🙂

Cheers Chris, I might just do that while you carpet my van walls 🙂

Yep no problem Thought you must have done that by now
I have some good adhesive for that job too

How long does one batch take to brew from start to finish?

Thanks

About 10-14 days primary fermentation.
2-5 days prior to bottling
2-3 weeks in bottle for carbonation.
then as long as you can bear to leave it for bottle conditioning

hmm ive only done 2 so far both woodfordes and very good. im sure my primary fermentation only takes 5-6 days tho then it goes in the barrel for 2 weeks with some sugar then i just drink it!

no mishaps so far

Thought it would have been longer… Looking forward to starting!

Final rookie question…. Loft or garage?

Quick question, I put my Milestone kit in last Sunday then left it in the kitchen but forgot that the sun comes through the window for most of the day. It was there two full days but now I’ve moved it into a different room. Will that have affected it any?

Probably not. Long term storage in full sun is not good for beer but a couple of days in the fermenter should be ok.

loft or garage? Garage but it will take longer if it’s cooler than room temp.
ale ferments best between 19 & 23 deg, lager is better at 14-18deg.
when fermented out, keg or bottles should be kept at the same temp as the fermenter for 2-3 weeks for secondary fermentation to provide the carbonation, then stored in a cool place out of direct sunlight. Preferably in brown bottles.

Just to update while this thread is still going… I’ve had a few bottles of the bulldog four finger jack and evil dogs I’ve brewed (3 weeks in fermentation, 2 weeks in bottle) and it’s not bad at all. I’ll be leaving it a bit longer, but I’m pretty happy so far. Evil dog tastes very strong indeed, and I’m a lover of strong IPAs, so that is definitely going to mature a bit longer.
Up next, festival razorback IPA and young’s APA 🙂

I tried the four finger jack. Might’ve been something i did or didn’t do but it didn’t turn out that good. I’m reluctant to try it again for £25 when I can brew nicer beers from scratch to my own recipe for less, but if I did I’d swap the kit yeast for Safale US05

Coopers kits are great, my best brews have been with Coopers. If you’re doing bottles rather than a barrel then use sugar tablets rather than sugar for secondary fermentation. Makes a massive difference IME.

Oops. Looks like I’m repeating myself

**Beer talk**

You’re me best mate I love you. Burp.

Provided everything is sanitized, a good beer should be achievable. Coopers kits are pretty good. It is really hard initially, but try to avoid constantly checking and opening the fermenter. I don’t even bother puting a hydrometer in these days.

Coopers kits have all been good for me, I’m drinking the coopers stout right now!
Woodfordes wherry is a cracker but needs 3 months in the bottle to reach its best.
Evil dog IPA just tastes too strong in my opinion.
I’ve just moved onto festival pilgrims hope which tasted fantastic straight out of the trial jar!
My fv is kept at 22° while fermenting as do the bottles while they are on the secondary fermentation. Then into the shed or loft in the cold for several weeks.
I think the key is to build up some stock to drink to give the beer sufficient time to condition.

Just bottled 33x500ml of “Gobhoblin” brewed from grain & hops.
This should be ready for Christmas 🙂

Good to see the thread alive again. My Christmas list has Woodfordes Wherry on it (recommendation by good friend)….hopefully the in-laws indulge their favourite son in law and I’m drinking home brew by Feb!

Keep it brewing…..

On a side note, how about we organise a home brew STW beer festival?
….an opportunity for a cold winter ride and plenty of beer…win win!