Home Brewing round 2?.

[keithmac]

First pint of my wifes IPA, it's bloody lovely!.

 

[uphillstruggler]

I’ve done quite a few of the kit with mixed results but this thread got me interested again

a mate was chatting to a local head brewer who actually started out as an amateur brewer, his advice is that it’s the yeast in those kits that ruins things so as I’vebeen doing a load of work at another local brewery, I asked for someyeast and fair play, he gave me some but I’m not allowed to share the strain but I bought this one as I love red ale. I’ve swapped the yeast for a dry lager version, fingers crossed it works

only time and patience will tell

 

[DaveReading]

I don't know if it's still possible, but you used to be able to make a yeast starter from the small amount in the bottom of a bottle of Guinness.

 

[the snail]

Leaving out the orange for one thing lol. I use
4 morrisons grape apple and raspberry juice and 1 purple grape. Boil everything for 15 minutes beforehand and use a good yeast like ec 1118. But I've had ok results with youngs yeast compound as well. Not really had any taste bitter. Very dry sometimes but you can back sweeten. I also rack mine and let it clear by itself as I think finings leave a funny taste.

Aldi were doing cheap grape juice at one point - 1l white grape + 1l apple made quite a nice wine. This time of year you can add elderflowers to it for an easy tasty wine.

 

[Poacher]

I don't know if it's still possible, but you used to be able to make a yeast starter from the small amount in the bottom of a bottle of Guinness.

Unfortunately it hasn't been possible for decades, ever since the accountants gained the upper hand over the brewers and insisted on pasteurisation. They also reduced the strength, but that's another topic. Shame, as it was a cracking strain, great for bitter as well as stout.
There are still some bottle conditioned beers which are viable for making starters; maybe Camra would be a good starting point for a list of these?

 

[bitsandbobs]

There's really no need to culture from bottles. Even if you do manage to culture something it might not be the yeast that the brewer used for primary fermentation - it could be just something different they added for bottle conditioning.

Just order a decent strain from someone like...

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/ingredients/?category=yeast

So many to choose from these days!

S-04 and S-05 are good ones to start with.

 

[keithmac]

I'll keep an eye on it, we bought good quality kits so will see how they turn out.

The first one has turned out a real treat so hopefully my Stout will be similar!.

Our yeast came in a sachet.

 

[keithmac]

Bottling day for the stout, good timing really as it was a father's day present!.

All boxed up (2 are mine one's part of my wifes IPA), off under the stairs for 3 weeks now..

The dolley is a godsend, beats lugging the brewing barrels and bottles about!.

 

[keithmac]

Stout came out very well!.

 

[Willd]

As a fair weather cyclist, today was an ideal beer making day First try at a lager, be interesting to see how it turns out.

 

[keithmac]

Had another 2 months off the booze and decided to brew my Belgian Dubbel up for a Christmas treat.

Two barrel job apparently but hopefully worth the effort.

It's going to be a good one!.

 

[keithmac]

Bottling day for my Dubbel, sterilising 40 bottles and a 2nd bucket is a chore but hopefully it'll be worth it in the end!.

Need a pressure barrel I think..

 

[Willd]

I just stick them in the dishwasher (if you have one ) on a quick wash and have never had any issues - no tablet so there's no detergent residue.

Barrels are ok, but it depends how quickly you plan on drinking it

 

[keithmac]

Caved in today and tried a Dubbel just to see how it was getting on.

Needless to say it's a bit potent!, will have to be careful drinking these..

 

[berty bassett]

Used to do a lot of home brew
Always used wilkies unless someone got me a posh one , always either lager or white cider ( sorry )
To save money I used to buy any cheap lemonade ( 20p / bottle) , once empty I used them for bottling - bonus you could feel if bottles get rock hard and let a bit of gas out then tighten back up
Used to drink it with lemonade as too strong for me and gave me more bottles to replace old ones
Cider was viciously strong