Homebrewists of STW, brewing ‘owt at the moment?

Pretty happy with how mine have turned-out.

IPA is really good. Not as hoppy as I would have liked, but well-balanced. Getting really good feedback on it.

Irish stout is awesome. Thought I’d over-done the souring slightly, but it’s mellowed after an extra week or so in the bottle as the beer has carbed-up. If anyone wants to make a Guinness clone, I can really recommend this method. About 3% of the wort removed post-boil and left out to go sour for a few days. Then boil it (to sterlise), cool and add back in to the fermenter. Really gives it that Guinness tang.

Just tried a bottle of the honey ale. Well, it’s out there! Too soon to tell really, only been in the bottle 4 days and not properly carbonated yet, but I’m still figuring out the schedule with Kveik yeasts so thought I’d try one. Tastes pretty sweet, like a strong Belgian beer or a trappist or something. Pretty drinkable though. Hopefully should smooth out a bit in a week or two.

Just done the first week test of the hoppy lager I made. It’s carbonated, well, mostly, but has a tang to it that my Gf has described as ‘apple’. I do not think this is a hop flavour and reading suggests that this could be/probably is acetaldehyde.

This batch was always a question mark because of the issues during bottling, but I wonder if the higher FG had anything to do with this and whether I should pay a lot more attention to fermenting times. Or just stick to ales

I’ve just got my murphys water analysis back, so getting delivered some additions from Malt Miller tomorrow.

Going to go for a Rye beer from the Greg Hughes book and a tin miners ale.

How much difference to your brews have additions made if you’ve had your water analysed? I am going to stick to what murphys have recommended as some of the spreadsheets out there just confuse me!

Just done the first week test of the hoppy lager I made. It’s carbonated, well, mostly, but has a tang to it that my Gf has described as ‘apple’. I do not think this is a hop flavour and reading suggests that this could be/probably is acetaldehyde.

I’ve had that flavour in green beer and it disappeared after a few weeks’ conditioning.

I had another one of my treacleychocolatey things last night. I have to say, it’s really starting to get there. It’s taken aaaaaaages to clear properly in the bottle (that cocoa powder is an absolute git for hanging in suspension for ages, like weeks), but it now has so that’s taken a lot of the harsh bitterness with it.

It’s strong (6.7ish I think), and I reckon with a proper long condition it could be an absolute beauty. I’m tempted to stick them all in a box and forget about them until this time next year.

Gave a second shot to the Czech lager last night and was expecting more tangy green apple off flavour, but it appears to have mostly gone. What remains is a perfectly reasonable lager. It’s not amazing, but it’s decent.

I also tried the Christmas beer again and it’s a lot less yeasty than it was, leaving a very Belgiany tasting beer. Which is nice

Given the time lapse between the last set of posts on this thread and, well, now, I thought I would drop in an update on how brewing is going with me and see what else is happening with the STW Brewers.

I’m currently waiting on a Coconut and Cacao Stout to finish fermenting. It should come in at about 6%, so not as heavy as the last one I made and hopefully the toasted cacao and kokos will give it some extra depth. The grain bill was basically the same as my last stout, but with less of the grain proportionally to drop the gravity. Yeast was a soon to expire Mangrove Jacks Empire Ale or something similar rather than the kviek I used last time.

I also gave myself a treat and bought a stainless fermenter. I’ve been thinking about one for a while and this was a bit cheaper than when I first saw it. When that arrives, I’m going to try making a soursough innoculated weissbeer. Go double hipster.

I’d been keeping an eye on this thread for a while but not posted. Have been homebrewing for a few years with a plastic bucket fermenter then bottling. During lockdown things have perhaps got out of hand, but perhaps not as much as some people on here.

I’ve set up with a keg system – 3 11L cornelius kegs and have got a 19L keg converted with a filter and short dip tube to run as a stainless fermenter. I’ve butchered one fridge to turn into a kegerator and another to make into a fermentation chamber with one of those temp controllers and a greenhouse heater.  There are definitely fancier set ups out there but this seems to work and I quite like the smaller volumes of the 11L kegs to give more variety.

Currently have a Rye IPA and golden ale on tap, there is an imperial stout lurking in the back of the cellar to mature and a porter fermenting away.

I have got a new bottling attachment to play with that plugs into the taps on the fridge but haven’t actually had a go with it yet.

Main problem is not being allowed people over to share it at the moment.

Yeah, I have the same problem. A couple of people in my apartment have had beer and are interested in trying themselves, so I might just loan them the kit and then facetime them while they work.

A keg system is a long away dream. I need my home office cabin up and running before that.

Sharing out the kit sounds like a good idea – you could do a bottle swap after and compare results too.

I’ve been going through a protracted house move so have brewed nothing for months. Now in the new place, so must get something on the go.

However, the new place gets it’s water from it’s own borehole, which then goes through a filtration system, and I’m sure I read somewhere that doesn’t make for good brewing water. I guess I’ll just have to have a go and see, and/or send off for a test?

@IHN, test would be my first choice, maybe send off the borehole water as well and see which one is best.

Yeah, I need to work out how I draw off the borehole water directly.

Main problem is not being allowed people over to share it at the moment.

Indeed. I’m still working through the saison I made before Christmas.

I’ll probably make a golden ale soon, ready for the summer. I have an unopened pack of EKG and some harvested WY1968 yeast in the fridge.

If any of you do no-chill, have you tried cube hopping? How did it work out?

I’ve kept plugging away, and I’m yet to brew an undrinkable batch. I’ve upgraded to a basic electric kettle, a pressure fermenter which and a 9l keg. My cellar is cold enough for for my keg to live but I may make a kegerator to use in the summer. Loads of old fridges on gumtree!

I base my recipes on brewdog’s as they’re in metric and 20l so it’s easy to halve for my 10l batches.

I’ve also been adjusting my brewing water which has improved results.

What other sources do you all use for recipes?

Also, any YouTube recommendations? I like the clawhammer supply channel. Their slacker style appeals to me, as a brewer who never writes anything down!

I was going to give no chilling a go – seems more environmentally friendly in terms of water use and probably gives the fermenter an extra sanitization effectively. I still have one plastic piece inside to get rid of first – half a john guest fitting which holds the hop filter over the dip tube – I have a stainless steel bit that needs a hole drilling in it when I get round to it.

I hadn’t heard of the cube hopping but sounds like a good idea – kind of an extension of all the late addition/whirlpool/hop stand.

I hadn’t heard of the cube hopping but sounds like a good idea – kind of an extension of all the late addition/whirlpool/hop stand.

Yeah, I’ve had a couple of problems with no chilling. First, recipes had been coming out more bitter than expected, and second, very hoppy styles have been a bit muted.

I solved the first problem with an adjustment to Beersmith: by entering late addition hops as “whirlpool/ steep” for 20 minutes it allows for their bitterness in the total IBUs, and I’ve reduced bittering hop additions to suit.

For slightly muted aroma, I wondered about adding the hops directly to the cube and adding the hot wort after it’s stood for twenty minutes. Might give it a go for my next brew.

What other sources do you all use for recipes?

Also, any YouTube recommendations? I like the clawhammer supply channel. Their slacker style appeals to me, as a brewer who never writes anything down!

I’m still brewing All-Grain recipe kits or use Brewfather library. But starting to think of an develop ideas for some recipes of my own based upon things I think were missing form the recipe kits, so tweaking those recipe’s.

I like The Homebrew Network, David Heath and Homebrew Griffo YouTube channels. A few others too.

Been successful in all brews so far despite a few mistakes along the way, but done a few hoppy beers like NEIPA’s and still struggling getting that really fresh poppy hop flavour and aroma. Not sure if its oxidation and need to go down the route of purging with CO2 at every step I can. Or just maybe dial up the hop additions. But other than that just enjoying brewing beer I enjoy drinking.

Fast Homebrew on Youtube is no-chill, but he is more about speed rather than teaching. The Homebrew Network from Australia is also worth a watch, as is David Heath. Genus Brewing is another good watch, with both their channels being good to watch.

For recipes, I hang around on Brewers’ Friend and search their database. Most of the time I will take one of theirs and modify it for what I have and whether I can use it. Like hops or yeast. Or grain…

What’s no chill? Just pitching the boiling wort into fermenter and adding yeast when it’s cool?

Try adding hops at 65c – best aroma extraction

Here’s the brewdog pdf if anyone is interested. There’s certainly a lot to go at, even if half of it is more or less the same (pale and hoppy)… At least with this I know what my beer should taste like because I can buy the real thing. I’ve brewed dead pony club a lot as a nice session pale. Low abv is helpful when it’s only me drinking it and there’s 10l to get through! I’m reluctant to try brewing a full strength ipa or dipa as it’s not ideal midweek boozing.

https://www.brewdog.com/uk/community/diy-dog

any thoughts on this https://thegreatergood.co.uk/ kind of like a nespresso for beer? Tempted to buy one as an easy way to ‘brew’. Thinking starter device having never brewed before.

It has the sent of that juicer thing to it.

Ok, I get the convenience and the not having to have lots of kit in a box, but buying stuff to brew normally is not necessarily expensive and you can make whatever you fancy.

75 quid for a starter pack?

What’s no chill? Just pitching the boiling wort into fermenter and adding yeast when it’s cool?

Try adding hops at 65c – best aroma extraction

Pretty much. I usually pitch the yeast the following morning – 20 litres of wort takes a long time to cool down.

I’ve been adding aroma hops at flameout into the brewpot (in a spider) then running off into the FV after a 20 minute stand. But the wort is still pretty near boiling hence my thinking about instead adding the hops to the FV after things have cooled down a bit.

Brewers Friend’s app has a no chill bitterness/IBU adjustment thing. That might help if you are finding things are more bitter than planned

Was going to start agin I’m just caught in a loop of getting going or waiting and buying a pressurised fermenter, any thoughts?

I’m not really sure I can be bothered with bottles and racking straight into a keg seems to be a super convenient idea?

I’ve only ever brewed non pressurised and top pitching previously.

I’ve always used bottles and keep thinking about getting a keg, but bottles aren’t that much of a ball-ache to be honest, with a bit of an initial outlay for a bottle washer, bottle tree, wand and a proper capper (probs about £60 for the lot). If you clean them as you use them, with your normal washing up and a bottle brush, and let them dry properly, you just need to store them somewhere in a box to keep the dust off. Then on bottling day you just sanitise them using a bottle washer and bottle tree, fill them using the wand (straight off the fermenter if you like, but I rack to a second bucket to batch prime), cap ’em, done. Takes probably 90 minutes to do a 20l batch from start to finish, but with the radio on in the background it’s a pleasant enough job.

Matt, It depends upon what you want to get out of brewing. I started with kits then went to AG thanks to some advice on here. I love the AG route, yes it’s a bit more hassle but the way you can customise your brews and experiment is great fun and rewarding. I love the learning process too, looking in to hop varieties etc.
I think those pinter things may get a bit boring after a while. But each to their own.
As said, startup kit of AG isn’t that pricey at all.

Yeah I’ve bottled before…

Hadn’t brewed anything at all this year till the end of Feb! Shame on me!

Got an old favourite on the go at the moment – a hoppy IPA – chucked the dry-hop in this morning (Citra, Simcoe, Chinook & Centennial) so will keg it over the weekend, all looking good so far.

Local homebrew club is having a stout competition so thinking of making a Coffee Stout (maybe a milk stout actually) so will have a play with some of my recipes. Tempted to do a re-make of the blonde stout I made a while back, thing is it tends to mess with your head!!

Just invested in a hop spider which’ll make additions a bit simpler on brew day too.

Oh, one more thing, having had a go at a pilsner last year and falling foul of suck-back when cooling (beer + pint of sanitiser is not a good combo), I quite fancy giving it another go but without the faff of tying all my kit up for the lagering process. Is the easier version a Kolsch?

Was going to start agin I’m just caught in a loop of getting going or waiting and buying a pressurised fermenter, any thoughts?

I use a Fermzilla and an All Rounder, the former when I’m dry hopping. Whilst here are loads of reports of issues (mainly around dismantling the FZ), I think they are excellent. As fermentation under pressure naturally carbonates the beer, you can serve from the fermenter – I tend to do a closed transfer to a keg however. For beers that rely on the yeast flavours, particularly Belgium beers, I ferment without pressure. I think they’re ace.

Currently finishing fermenting a Belgium Saison and will be starting an Elvis Juice clone on Saturday.

Yes had been looking at Fermzilla that helps a lot thanks that’s basically exactly what I’m looking to do.

I’ve been a “Brew in a Bag, cube cooling, corny-kegger” for 9 1/2 years (easy to remember as I bought the gear when sprog 1 was born as a new Dad celebration).

Cube-cooling works quite well as I’m in Oz, so i can throw the cube in the swimming pool and come back in a few hours to pop into the fermenter.

I’m a bit lazy when it comes to recipes, went through a phase of only doing beers from the Shut up about Barclay Perkins blog, then Brewdog recipes. Currently drinking a Belgian Saison that’s ok. Next up I want to brew an 1811 Whitbread Porter to age a bit before the southern hemisphere ‘winter.’

Matt

Ive been doing the Pinter thing for a year now – kickstarted it and have been involved with consu,er trials since it was Alpha/beta tested early 2020.

Its really straighforward, simple to do and theres a good selection of beers to make. theres a reasonably active ‘modding’ scene of a few facebook pages. There’s a new beer of the month every 6 weeks or so.

i like the simplicity – takes about 10mins to start a brew, couple of minutes halfway through to seperate the brewing dock and start fridge conditioning and then pours straight from the fermenter.

I’m not a homebrewer, have little space to do a decent setup so this fits me perfect. Fresh beer is amazing.

£75 has to be worth a punt – theres a market for the pinter if you decide its not for you.

Here’s a question … I’m about to have a go at a Russian Imperial Stout, but I want to give it a barrel aged vibe so going to add oak chips into secondary which will be soaked in rum first. Thing is, how much to add? it’ll be a 10L batch – any thoughts?

Also thinking of adding a few cocoa nibs in there too.

That Pinter thing looks interesting. Similar to, but more reusable than a german kit that brews and conditions in standard 5 litre mini-kegs. Think it’s called brewbarrel in UK.
Not cheap though, if the kits give you about 5 litres when a standard extract kit costing the same would give 4x the amount. Just need to clear out the kitchen fridge to fit a 5 litre keg in there.
Taking off the yeast cake can only be a good thing. Does it have a thing to let you add extra CO2, or do you just need to drink it in a few days before it goes flat?

Got a black IPA almost ready to dry hop. Took off a sample last night and its shaping up really nice. second time I’ve brewed this recipe and think it will be much better than the first batch. Can’t wait to crack one open in a month or so’s time!!

Got a Bells Two Hearted clone lined up for the next brew.

ATR – they reckon that if you dont tap it (it is open to atmospehere when tapping) it will last 3 weeks in the fridge, and a week once tapped. experience says thats about right – some nice flavours develop between pint1/day1 and pint 6/7/8 on day 5 or 6.

£12 for 10 pints is more expensive compared to a full 40pint kit but the convenience is what does it for me. that and my lack of skill & dedication to doing a full beardtwirling real ale grain brew 🙂

a seperate beer fridge in the man shed keeps the domestic harmony – it does take up half an under counter fridge.

@Smudger666 – thanks for the info, I’ve joined one of the FB groups and reading with interest, rumour is they are releasing a DIPA which makes me very interested. I easily spend £75 in a few weeks on fancy craft beers so could save me some cash and brain cells by not drinking TIPA’s on a tuesday evening as well as being fun and could always sell on if I get into it and buy some proper kit.

Got a black IPA

*fondles the anti-pedantry worry beads*