[Closed] Anyone brew their own beer?

[i]I like organic beer (less intense hangovers).[/i]
How does that work?

No idea but I swear it does.

I should imagine to mimic the real ale producers you're going to have to use hops rather than syrups.

Ian Munro - Member
I like organic beer (less intense hangovers).
How does that work?

backhander - Member
No idea but I swear it does.

We bought a brewing kit a few months ago. Only done one batch so far (Norfolk Wherrys) and it was very good indeed. We intend to brew more over the winter (easier in cooler temps) and bottle it for next year

the kit cost £60 and made 40 pints, so £1.50 a pint. Refills are £20 so it's 50p a pint from here!!!! 😀

Peter/backhander

I was just about to say that Woodfordes Wherry (is that the one?) looks very good indeed. Plenty of home brew shops on ebay.

Try this

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Home-Brew-Online-Shop__W0QQ_armrsZ1

I was just about to say that Woodfordes Wherry (is that the one?) looks very good indeed. Plenty of home brew shops on ebay.

Yeah, that's the stuff. Cracking pint. The equal of anything I've ever bought in a Pub, save perhaps for Sharpes Doom Bar.... 🙂

>Refills are £20

£14.99 from Wilkos (Aldershot sell them, not Farnborough)

I have recently started brewing my own beer the good old fashioned from malts, sugars, home grown and water. Its fairly easy to make really decent beers and you can either mimic commercial beers or have a go making your own style. the kit can mostly be found at home or brought for a few quid from hardware stores.

[url= http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/ ]www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/[/url] - I believe this website gives information and there are plenty of books available that deal with it in detail.

50p a pint will soon sound expensive 🙂

Nice one Mr Allthepies 🙂

Do I know you?
😀

[url= http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk ]www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk[/url] - This is where we get our malts, yeast etc from.

I found some hops growing on the banks of the Thames near me and was going to give it a shot. Assuming I don't use a kit and shove it together using "my" hops and other ingredients I source, what are the odds it tastes even remotely drinkable?

I have tried a few times to brew beer, but always been disappointed with the results.

bentos - got any pointers? I have tried using home grown hops from my allotment, but its always turned out tasting very weak?

So the last two years, I have swapped to making Cider and Pear Cider.

Which hits the spot well, lethal stuff if consumed in quantity 😉

bentos, is the traditional way more difficult than getting a mix or is it quite manageable?

>bentos, is the traditional way more difficult than getting a mix or is it quite manageable?

You need a load more equipment and time!

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk is the STW of "craft" brewing and has a lively forum!

The traditional way takes more time and yes you need more kit (buckets and big pans is all you need extra really), but with a little patience you get far superior results.

ski, did you dry your hops? if not that may be why it tasted weak.

We've actually discovered we have some hops growing through our fence. How much do you need?

See if you can find Dave Lines' "Brewing beers like those you buy",very good on theory and practise,but out of print along time,and I've lost mine 🙁
Ian

>We've actually discovered we have some hops growing through our fence. How much do you need?

Depends on the type of hops - they have different "potencies" you see! Not all hops would be great for brewing so if you don't know the variety then it's all a bit of a lottery.

Thanks everyone.
It seems that I have soem reading to do 😀

Its all down to Alpha Acid. I would recommend that you take a cone of the hop, rub it firly enthusiastically between your palms. It will warm and release it essential oils. It should now smell pungent and leave a residue on your palms. If it smells like freashly mown lawns then go ahead, put a few ounces in the boiler right at the very end of boiling. You will not release any bitterness , but you will infuse the essential oils, and sterilse the hop. In a 5 gallon bucket an ounce will do .

Another vote here for the Woodford Werry, if your local Wilkos don't stock it you can order online and get it delivered to you local store for collection (this is what i have to do) they also sell most of the other stuff you will need.

I was getting into the brewing a while back and getting some nice results, but I've put it aside since our bairn came along. I was brewing from extracts, although hopping it myself, so fairly simple stuff. It worked great - where I could see people going wrong with it is in the sanitation procedures. That seems at least somewhat important and is worth taking a bit of care over.

The one ball-ache to it is that I live in a city flat and brew day always turned into a bit of a song and dance - I recall the wife coming home one bottling day and going absolutely volcanic at the state of the kitchen. If I had a bit more space I think I'd get back into it.

There's great economy of scale to brewing. If you've got big enough buckets and pans it's dead easy to double or triple your brews without much extra effort. I guess bottling it all up takes longer, but you can cask condition if you like.

First post on the forum and it's got nothing to do with bikes... ah well!

Best advice when it comes to brewing is sanitisation. Be meticulous when cleaning anything that comes in to contact with any thing after the [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wort ]wort[/url] has been boiled.

As soon as any beasty other than yeast gets in to your beer it will take advantage and eat all the sugars and turn your beer into something more 'interesting'!

Kits can be good, but check dates of the extract/yeast before buying. (Also no boil kits should be avoided (for a sanitisation reasons...))

Also check out [url= http://basicbrewing.com ]basicbrewing.com[/url]. The podcasts/videocasts are good and show how it's done.

Been brewing for a while now and progressed to 'All Grain' brewing. Brew what ever style you like and enjoy! Very satisfying!

Went i was younger i tried to make some cider, by collecting rotten apples from the garden and "storing" them. Then put them through a seize and i think i got a pint of the most disgusting fluid ever.

paraphrasing Viola in Twelfth Night, I brew all the beer I drink 🙂

Dave Lines' "Brewing beers like those you buy"

Urm, I had that. Not sure if it's still in the house or went on Ebay....wanders off to search the cupboards.

Not brewed in years. I would say that the water quality is also important. Birmingham was superb and the beer was excellent. Kettering was dire and results were a disaster. There are ways of treating the water to get it right but can't remember what it involves.

I got good results from basic kits - empty tin into pan, add water, sugar and go for it. Also used extract, hops, sugar, yeast and this got better.

Did some bottling but ended up having three 40 pint barrels on the go and one in the fermenting bin. Just like a conveyor belt. Oh happy days 😀

[url= http://www.brupaks.com/ ]Brupaks[/url] are also a frequently recommended kit, they come with a 'tea bag' of hops so you can adjust the flavour.

If you are planning on making some homebrew start saving bottles now as this can be one of the more expensive parts of the process.