[Closed] Stovetop brew kit - Massive Brewery

Looks good value to me for someone wanting to start proper brewing, I spent about £120 building my own plastic 25l kit!

Cheers,
Jamie

I thought that too. Still looks a bit ghetto, but early days and all that.

Think that's more suited to an advanced brewer myself - someone looking to experiment with styles and refine their technique, and doesn't necessarily want to brew 5 gallon batches each time whilst doing so.

Homebrewing has v good economies of scale / effort. It's not going to take much more time or effort to brew 25 L as it would to brew 10 L.

*adds to birthday present list*

Like the look of that a lot.

I probably spent about £70 on my wine making kit. Bucket, demi-johns, barrel, hygrometer, bubble traps etc. Hopefully be a good season for perry pears this year as our 2011 Perry was really very good.

that's pretty good value considering the immersion chiller on its own is about £60.

Garry, that's sort of where he's pitching it. Cheap costs per brew, and not massive amounts, so if you try something and it doesn't quite come together, no biggie.

Pricing seems pretty much bang on for the

birthday present list

That looks FANTASTIC!

That looks spot on - I'm currently using a very similar 10ltr system I built myself and the results are really good - I may be making a purchase as his chiller is far nicer than my homemade one.

I don't do more than 10l as most of my homebrew is high ABV experiments, 10ltrs is great for trying stuff out

I can thoroughly recommend brewing your own beer from grain & hops rather than from kits - modern kits have come on a long way since the likes of John Bull & Geordie - but for me there's still a twang that says "home brew kit".

All Grain doesn't do that, if you drink an all grain beer that has been brewed in someone's kitchen, it can taste as good as, if not better than, anything you can buy in a pub or in a bottle.

looking at his kit, it looks like a Brew In a Bag setup, which works perfectly well for me, so much so that I've never bothered with a mash tun & sparging the grain for my 19-23 litre batches

loads more info about brewing all grain and BIAB on www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk

I bought that boiler you linked up on the last thread John, thks for the recommendation. Made a hop stopper, a wort chiller and got me ma to sew a viole bag - Did my first complete BIAB last week. Can't comment on the quality of the ale yet, but the equipment and process worked flawlessly.

Only thing I'm missing is a good balance. Had to use a very rudimentary set of kitchen scales which were terrible for weighing anything less than 100g.

Completely agree with John_Drummer above - I've had my beers tasted by the like of Oz Clarke (the less said about his review of my wine the better) and he said that home brewers can easily give the big boys a run for their money if this is what they are brewing - if you love beer, brewing it yourself is an excellent way to get exactly what you like.

glad to help Garry; you can pick up a set of digital scales for about a tenner at Argos & the like, which will weigh down to the nearest gram. I think some even go down to .1 of a gram.

I use a software package called BrewMate to help me with my recipes, it's free from www.brewmate.net & there are a load of recipes on the website too.

I have an American IPA and a Porter conditioning in bottles at the moment and I did a BIAB demo at my LHBS on Sunday, which is now fermenting away. An American Amber Ale, 21L at 1057 OG.

I now need to find a nice "session" beer as these American ales are just way too strong. Taste great though

I want this kit. Now.

I want this kit. Now.

+1

all grain brewing just got Aeropressed.

best clear a 12" space in the kitchen 🙂

Feel free to buy one, then! 🙂

Just sent the link to MrsG in the hope she'll take the subtle hint....

Extract:

'afternoon MrsG

As usual, lunch-time browsing of my beloved timethievingtrackworld.com can be dangerous…

If you’re stuck for an idea for Christmas, this would be great (Hint: do not buy me anything else!):> http://www.massivebrewery.com/index.html

MrG
X

I like the idea of calling your wife 'MrsG', especially during special time. Like you're being ever so naughty.

I also *want*. Stupidly simple idea but genius. Been thinking about dabbling but really haven't got space for five gallon paraphernalia.

How will temperature affect it? I live in a single floor flat, prob. never gets colder than about 16º even in winter.

I like the idea of calling your wife 'MrsG', especially during special time. Like you're being ever so naughty.

This evening's line of questioning:

Freddyg: MrsG, Have you been spending "special time" with Samuri?

MrsG: <blushes>

Freddyg: And did you let him call you by your "Special" name?

MrsG: <blushes again> <faint hint of a smile> <misty, far away look in her eyes>

Freddyg: Curses! <runs off to the pub>

ale yeast doesn't mind temperatures above 16. it's when it gets into the high 20s that you can start getting some odd flavours e.g. banana

lager yeast prefers it a bit cooler (10-15), so unless you invest in a brew fridge, you might struggle to brew lager according to the traditional wisdom on the subject.

but having said that, one of the guys at my LHBS brews lager at around 18 & says he never has a problem

this kit is the "what" - for the "how", watch these videos:

followed by:

Bob, worth dropping Steve an email to ask. He's really very driven to get this thing going, so am sure he'll welcome any questions!

(Assuming his hangover from last night's beering has worn off!)

CF, got a few q's brewing (hah!) which I'll fire over to him later.
He could be onto a winner; as someone said above,it's as easy to brew 25l as it is to brew 10, but I haven't got room for all that stuff (the weight of 25l of wort would probably break my cooker), plus I don't really want to drink 40 bottles of the same thing.

That was rather his thinking. Small batch, interesting beers, but still proper beer.

I brew 50L batches and the "brewday" takes about 5 hrs including cleaning up. I guess with this little beastie then you'll be able to knock a couple of hours off that time.

Make sure you have an understanding partner though as you'll be boiling wort (the stuff which becomes beer) for 60-90 mins with hops added. So.....steam and aroma (which is lovely IMO but is a very "marmite" thing) will be present in your kitchen/stove area 🙂

When is the copper chiller used? Is it after the wort has been boiled? I guess this is to get it down to room temp quicker to avoid any nasties beginning to grow in the wort?

If so, would you syphon from the hot wort mix, through the chiller (which is sitting in another bucket of cold water) and out into your fermentation bucket?

Very interested in this!

After the boil is finished, yes. Yeast needs to be pitched at or around ambient temperature, so the received wisdom is the quicker you cool the wort down the better.

No siphoning though - it's just a heat exchanger that you run cold water from the tap through. You dump the chiller in you boil with 15 mins to go. Heat off, wort is then cooled (takes around 30 mins give or take for 5 gallons) and you can transfer it into the fermenter. Yeast in, brew day done.

It's not absolutely essential to chill the wort - I believe 'no chill' methods are popular in places like Australia where water might be more expensive - I think you can just cap the wort and let it cool down of its own accord. Takes hours though.

Great answer - thanks Garry! I think I may take the plunge with the Massive Brewery kit so expect to hear more from me!!

you'll be wanting some recipes next...

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=6b633a755f30d321fc12fa2751132db6

http://www.brewmate.net/recipe

Just ordered one of these, thanks for the heads up Flashy.

Can't wait! 🙂

That looks good. Recently tried an extract brew after doing a fair few kits. Went a bit pear shaped so have gone back to kits. Still keen to move on from kits.

Oh shit. That's done it.

Excellent!

Peterfile, am hoping to have a few beers with Steve when I'm back in the UK. Hope it turns out awesomely for you!

First brew has just been transferred to the fermentation bucket 🙂

A few observations (as a completely new brewer):

Steve is massively helpful with any queries and responds very quickly by email, no matter how silly the question 😳

Even just 6.5l of water takes a long time to heat up on an electric hob - if you've got a combi boiler if might be worth filling the kettle up with that.

My main problem was trying to get the wort back up to boil. It was taking forever (although my stove is useless). I ended up spreading the pot over 2 of the halogen heat thingies and floating a camp kettle inside to reduce the surface area of the boil. This worked and I was able to maintain a rolling boil.

Can't wait to taste it now! Patience was never my strong point though....

as Graham Wheeler puts it in his book (or close enough) - when boiling wort there is no need for control, there is only one speed needed and it is full throttle.

If you think it takes a long time with 6.5 litres - try 30, I despair every time I burn out a kettle element mid brew (always mid-brew) and have to run my boiler with just one - adds another hour to the whole operation I'm sure.

I do 50L batches and my boiler has two 3kW immersion elements in it 🙂

If you're using one of these hob setups on an induction hob then consider insulating the outside of the pot using camping mat or similar (obviously don't do this with a gas hob 😉 ) Should speed up the bringing to boil time and also help with your rolling boil.

I've just pressed the button on a Massive Brewery Stovetop kit thanks to you lot...

YOU'RE A BAD INFLUENCE!

8)

Hints were dropped.
Web pages were left open.
She got it.

Mrs CFH has one of these lined up for me for Christmas. Which is nice. 😀

It'll be your ruin CFH...

I've done about 10 brews with mine and am now looking to upgrade volume to something similar to what allthepies must have...!

😀

A woman once drove me to drink. And I never even had the decency to thank her.

(Not mine, but WC Fields)

Yes! Good man.

I've just bottled my 9th batch (a Russian Imperial Stout with espresso and cacao weighing in at 10%) a couple of weeks ago, all using the massive brewery kit.

Already considering some kit which will allow me to do 25 or 50 litre batches when I find a recipe that turns out really well on the smaller kit (i've had one in particular so far that has been amazing and worthy of a big brew)

It's great having the ability to brew such a wide range of beers every week or two.

🙂

Didn't see this post first time around. Seriously tempted.

I did a brewing course recently with a couple of friends and we have been talking about going in together on all the kit to do big batches and then brewing it up in someone's garden (cos of the steam), splitting it into thirds and taking it away separately to ferment.

However, the small volume of this kit really appeals. I don't actually drink that much and am interested in experimenting with recipes more than anything, which will be more difficult if brewing with mates.

How much steam/stink is given off doing this indoors? We have an open plan kitchen/living room with no external extraction so would be ideal to minimise that. Could potentially invest a couple of hundred quid in an external extractor hood if that would help.

you're boiling a sugar syrup (effectively) with smelly hops (think sprouts*) for a minimum of 1 hour. Before you get to that stage, you're steeping a few kg of malt for a minimum of 1 hour. And then you need to get from 67degC to boiling. Absolute minimum of 2hr15mins of 'aroma' and steam...

* ok the raw hops smell waaaay better than sprouts, but I'm not a fan of their aroma during the boil phase