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Homemade beer

Tue 13-Oct-09
11:01 pm

Danny

Scarborough, England

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I am seriously considering making some beer here at home. I used to subscribe to CAMRA (UK CaMpaign for Real Ale - as opposed to bubbly but mostly flavourless lagers). Their magazine had manyads for mini-breweries that are way beyond my budget.

Anybody experienced in beer making who could point a newbie in the right direction, such as the best kits (or other recipes) and a list of necessary equipment?

Never knowingly underfed

Tue 13-Oct-09
11:31 pm

mutley

Didcot/uk

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I probley wont be much help as like cooking i never follow the destructions as to me its impervisation you never get constisty but you come acroos some good ones too. clensnleyness is next to godleyness when it comes to home brew my down fall . as wine brewing behind me pet rats to the left and a home made gearbox and axel long story im building a 4wd twin engine rover 200 .Why not ? lol but i go to tesco's and get free yeast from the barkey department up to 1oz i think not as good as wine yeast id lucky if id get 12% vol but its free.

A bird in the hand makes a nice meal

Sat 24-Oct-09
11:07 am

marchandoj

Cork, Ireland

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Hi Danny
I have made some homemade beer, using the kits. So far I am not impressed and am coming to the conclusion that beer is best made with the raw ingredients using the mashTun (i think that is what it is called) it's for heating the wort...anyway..now saving up to buy what is needed. Great advice can be found at http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/
Good luck with it and lemme know how you get on.
Cheers
Jane

Mon 26-Oct-09
4:27 pm

mkirkby

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You could also try the following:-

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/

Very good for beginners and have good advice on getting the best out of kits.

Full mash brewing does give better results, but some of the dearer kits are extremly good nowadays. Brupaks and Woodfordes are particularly good. (I think Woodfordes can be bought from Wilkinsons if you have one near)

Cheers

Mark

Tue 27-Oct-09
12:39 pm

Newmarket

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Hi Mark

This is great. Thanks for your tips. This is going to be our project for November Wink

I need to check out our winmaking equipment as we were given a lot of extraneous brewing kit in the lot that we bought from eBay years ago. So the start up cost needn't be quite so high.

Sun 1-Nov-09
7:44 pm

Danny

Scarborough, England

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Thanks, everybody, for your suggestions. Like Fiona said, we are determined to start brewing our own beer this month (Nov).

- Mutley – I really hope that your pet rats do not swim in your beer and axle mix. Surprised But how the heck do you manage to get free yeast from your local Tesco supermarket bakery counter? Do you know somebody on the inside?

- Jane – thanks for that link. I had hoped that homebrew kits might have improved over the past 10 years or so, but maybe not. Being a lazy bloke at heart, I wanted the easiest solution. Speaking of Cork, I went to boarding school there (northside) for five years. Every so often, if the wind was blowing in our direction, we got a whiff from the Murphy's brewery mash vents (good Irish stout) . Actually, it was fairly heavy and sickening Frown

- Mark – brilliant links. Thanks for that. Looks like a great site with loads of info and discussion. Kiss - a very good resource for me. Cheers.

Never knowingly underfed

Sun 1-Nov-09
11:11 pm

Toffeeapple

North Bucks

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I should have been in Cork today, unfortunately my OH went without me. Cry

I'll try that again!

Mon 2-Nov-09
8:36 am

mutley

Didcot/uk

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IF you ask them thay give it for free Cool

A bird in the hand makes a nice meal

Mon 2-Nov-09
11:16 pm

Danny

Scarborough, England

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I have mixed feelings about Cork city, but the west of the county and neighbouring Kerry is a true haven of fun and craic with superb scenery and the most laid back people this side of Mexico.

Mutley - I think you have reminded me of one of the most basic keys to success - just ask. We don't do it enough.

Never knowingly underfed

Mon 2-Nov-09
11:31 pm

Toffeeapple

North Bucks

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I can't believe you didn't know about Tesco free yeast!

Anyway, I have been to Cork but it was when I had real trouble walking so we didn't get to the English Market. It is though, a wonderful place. As is Dublin and Kilkenny. Those are the three places that stand out in my memory. The first time I went to Southern Ireland I was was just so impressed that if you go into a pub you didn't look for an empty table, you just sat where there were vacant chairs then became involved in the conversation that was already going on, so different from the English attitiude. God bless the Irish, I love them. I've never had a miserable time there, whether in the north or the south.

I'll try that again!

Thu 3-Dec-09
11:05 pm

Danny

Scarborough, England

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TA – that was a really nice compliment for my part of the world. Thank you.

Reminds me of my favourite Dublin pub in the old days (O'Donoghue's on Merrion Row / Baggot St) maybe 15 years ago.

My office was close by in those days and I worked very long hours. So I felt quite justified in taking a "late lunch" in O'Ds at about 4:30 in the afternoon. The light flowing through the window was mellow golden in those summer days and the place was an oasis of quiet in between the lunchtime rush and the early evening tourist crush. Many guys and girls from the nearby Government buildings would drop in on their way home (lucky civil servants) and the conversation and craic was magic.

I am thankful to have left the pressure and stress of that era long behind but I sorely miss the camarderie of those late afternoon breaks.

Never knowingly underfed

Fri 28-May-10
6:02 pm

ddervish

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Fri 28-May-10

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Hey Danny

I have been making hedgerow wines etc off-and-on for years but never tried making beers. A while back i bought some basic kit [http://www.the-online-homebrew-company.co.uk/index.php have a look at their starter kits if you need to buy brew-kit as well]. I bought some woodfords wherry ale and i got to say, its good. The probolem with it is waiting till its ready to drink!

at the same time I posted a request on my local freecysle' sit asking if anyone had any spare wine/beer making kit and i recieved some more bits-and-bobs through them [if you dont freecyle you should check it out]

if you have some demijohns you dont realy need a brew-bin and if you have bottles you dont need a barrel.

Making beer from scratch is the ultimate, but you need a lot of kit

Fri 28-May-10
7:44 pm

brightspark

Wilts

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Danny said:

Surprised But how the heck do you manage to get free yeast from your local Tesco supermarket bakery counter? Do you know somebody on the inside?

If the Tesco supermarket bakes their own bread (usually the bigger stores), then ask at their own counter - I have found that over many years they are very generous. I read recently that other big stores will also supply, but in the article I read, Sainsburys do charge, but usually just a few pence.

Women are like tea bags. . .

you never know how strong they are

until they're in hot water.

- Eleanor Roosevelt -

Fri 28-May-10
11:07 pm

Danny

Scarborough, England

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Thanks for the tip, BS. I must try that and see what happens.

Welcome, ddervish, and thanks for joining in with that useful info . I would never have thought of trying freecylce and I did not know that demijohns could substitute for a brew-bin or barrel or whatever. I keep intending to try making my own brew but i have not yet gotten around to doing it. My bro made it many years ago and I love the different flavour of home brew.It is much more satisfying than commercial stuff.

Never knowingly underfed

Sat 21-Aug-10
11:07 pm

Rae Mond

Waalre, NL

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we started home brewing about two months ago, the Sam does most of the work, but I know we got a big plastic bucket and the sterilising and stuff and syphon etc. from wilko's, and we've had kits from there too which have so far turned out a very drinkable medium ale, and we've just bottled a Geordie mild, which will be ready to drink, I think, in three weeks. Next we're planning on an espresso stout, which should be interesting.

I've taken charge of the ginger beer, made using this recipe. The plant has been growing for just over a week, and this eve we've put it into a bucket. The recipe calls for putting it in 2 litre plastic bottles straight away, but we're leaving it in the brewing bucket for a week,and will then decant it to 330ml glass bottles each with a pinch of sugar in. Hopefully this will prevent explosions. Mostly because we don't really buy stuff that comes in 2 litre plastic bottles...

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