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Homebrewing

PaulH

PaulH

Jamie O'Hara
Afternoon all,

Is anyone on here into brewing?
If so, what is on the go? What would you recommend?

I'm just bottled a batch of Brewferm Diabolo which tastes good at the moment and will only get better. Currently sitting at 8%!

Have done in the past a St Peters Ruby Red, some mixed berry cider, turbo cider, a Czech style pilsner which was more like a good IPA. Looking for inspiration for my next attempt. I may even go all survivalist by making booze out of homegrown/foraged stuff like fruit, nettles etc. I make Elderflower champagne every year and it's bloody lovely.

For those of you who haven't, I would highly recommend getting into it. Very addictive and rewarding to drink your own hooch which actually has flavour rather the tepid **** that most people drink.

Loving my IPA's at the moment, especially the most floral ones. Hoping to get started on extract brewing in the new year but want to master the kits first.
 
I've started with homebrewing in the last few months, only brewed three batches so far, but it's looking good to okay up until now.

Went straight for the all-grain, feels like the only way to do it for me, and since I don't have equipment in abundance I do a brew-in-a-bag, which works good enough for me.
The first batch was a clone of an IPA from a famous microbrewery here in Norway called Nøgne Ø, and it turned out quite ok, a little bit higher % than in the recipe, but alot of flavour.
Next I did a Christmas Ale with orange peel, ginger and allspice which is currently bottled and awaiting the seasons greetings, won't have to many of them this christmas as I was a little late with the brewing and it will probably be alot better next christmas (if I can save some until then). The weekend after I made an Indian Brown Ale which is set for testing this weekend, quite excited cause it looked really beautiful when bottling it.

Next time I want to try BeerSmith and make my own recipe, perhaps for a red ale or something, time will tell.

I do have some problem with my heat source as the oven I use doesn't generate enough heat fast enough, mashing takes forever and it's virtually impossible to keep an even temperature in a 35L kettle with mash. Also during the boiling process it get's difficult because 30L of liquid takes some time to get boiling. Could get a single plate with about 3000w for £300, might invest in that, or some form of gas heater which is even cheaper.

My father want to invest in a Speidel next summer, and I can't say I don't want one myself. I'd be brewing beer all day long if he actually went and got one.
 
Done a beer last year but it was the cheats version from a kit - Coopers. Came out ok.

Prefer doing wine, again I started with kits but have done a few from scratch with grapes from either a pinot noir or rondo vine (not sure which as they were my father in laws vines and he's, unfortunately, no longer around to ask)

But the feeling of getting it right, and supping on your own efforts is great.

I messed last years batch up - got oxidised, however you never know really until you pop the cork. Anyway it wasn't too bad, what I did do in the end was boil a cup up and back-sweetened with sugar, poured the rest of the bottle in and added a cinnamon stick and orange et viola perfect mulled wine!
 
Brewed once with a kit, came out like ****. Want to try an all grain batch, even got as far as to buying a Christmas all grain kit with yeast and hops and the lot of it last year. Still on the shelf that one... Will it still be usable?

Do I need to get a grain chrusher machine thingy, or are there others ways to get the job done?
 
Rock Strongo said:
Brewed once with a kit, came out like ****. Want to try an all grain batch, even got as far as to buying a Christmas all grain kit with yeast and hops and the lot of it last year. Still on the shelf that one... Will it still be usable?

Do I need to get a grain chrusher machine thingy, or are there others ways to get the job done?
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If the hops is vacuum packed then they should be good to go. Don't know about the yeast, depends on if it's fresh or dry, fresh would be no-go now, but I haven't tried dry yeast, so you''ll have to google that.

The grain isn't crushed already? Then you need a machine yes, and it's supposedly important to crush it just right, not too much and not too little. I think those are quite expensive, I do all my shopping from Bryggselv, and they crush it for me, easy peasy.
 
I make wine the old fashioned way, fruit, water, yeast and sugar, no chemicals. Had a go at cider a couple of years ago (I live in Somerset, its expected) and I named it gutrot.
 
Fhtagn said:
If the hops is vacuum packed then they should be good to go. Don't know about the yeast, depends on if it's fresh or dry, fresh would be no-go now, but I haven't tried dry yeast, so you''ll have to google that.

The grain isn't crushed already? Then you need a machine yes, and it's supposedly important to crush it just right, not too much and not too little. I think those are quite expensive, I do all my shopping from Bryggselv, and they crush it for me, easy peasy.
Click to expand...

Right. Think I'll just put the grains I got in the shed or feed the birds with it, see what kind of hops/yeast I got and buy some crushed grain from bryggselv or petitagentur.

I haggled with a guy over a Speidel 20L last year, think the price was about 8000-9000 kr. Didn't buy it, so my plan is to try the brew in a cooler trick.
 
Hoy! That all grain kit I bought back in 2013 still sits in my basement...

Since then, I recently bought a 36 liter kettle and a brew in a bag kit and brewed my first all grain APA 5 weeks ago. Came out pretty good!

Ordered some more grains, should arrive this weekend. Planning to brew a hoppy IPA on Saturday.

Any fellow home brewers still here?
 
Bullet said:
Too true. My philosophy is to pay money in a shop for professional quality booze, then drink professional quality booze. I don't make my own cheese or carrots or milk...
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I don't drink like a professional so I'm better off with amateur beers. What do you mean you don't make your own cheese? That's just lazy. Makes one wonder why you even bought a goat.
 
I've made two batches with a friend who's got the gear. He got really hooked and we tried to make it a regular thing, but I just didn't care too much for it in the end. It's like gardening, I want to like it, but just find it kind of boring. The beers turned out great in the end though! :)
 
I just don't get it. My time is far more valuable (both personally and objectively) than that of those people paid a pittance to make this stuff for me.

That means my beer/wine would have to be much, much better than that which I can buy from Waitrose, and I know before I start that it won't be.
 
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