Home brewing

[Levo-Lon]

Fortunately, the water here is so hard even Vladimir Putin is scared of it.

Same as Peterborough ,you get limescale instead of plaque on your teeth

 

[BoldonLad]

Have not made home brew for many, many years, not since I was a skint newly married homebuyer in 1968!

At that time, I lived in a street (with Mrs @BoldonLad Mk1) where most of the couples were in a similar financial position. There was a bit of a "social life" based on home brew, basically, each couple held a "party" twice per year. The rules were simple, the only drinks available were home brew (beer, lager, wine whatever), and the food had to be home made and in-expensive. Since there were about six couples, it meant everyone had a "night out" at least once per month. The "problem" with the home brew appeared to be that the strength was totally unpredictable. One month, the party would be a fairly sober affair (pun intended), the next, people would be comatose in the street, and "out of action" for the whole of Sunday.

Ahh! the swinging 60's and affluent 70's, thank god they have gone!

So @Drago , perhaps, you could start a similar scene for the more mature neighbours?

 

[DaveReading]

I do a fair bit. Kits are ok to start with but go with the 3KG ones that dont rely on putting in loads of sugar which just makes thin tasteless beer. Once you get the hang of kits all grain is the way to go, needs a bit more kit and takes a fair bit longer (Not a problem for a man of leisure like yourself) but the worlds your oyster.

+1

I haven't brewed for a while, but I always used to do it from the basics - floating mash, Burco for the boil, home-made copper tube cooler to get the temperature down quickly, etc.

The wife used to complain that it made the house smell like a brewery. Well it would do, dear.

 

[pplpilot]

Couldn't partake in any pastime that involved racking off...

 

[ozboz]

If you do get into brewing , have a go at brewing Ginger Beer , on a hot day , ice cold it's the
business !

 

[Will Spin]

Many years ago I brewed my own beer, mainly from kits. It was hugely successful.....the only problem was that I ended up drinking too much of it, so I gave up eventually. My tips are; keep everything clean, get a pressure barrel (I don't know if you can still buy them but they used to come in 5 gallon sizes) so you don't have to bother with bottles, take your time, get a thermostatic heater for the initial fermentation (otherwise, if the fermenting liquid gets too cold it can develop a bit of an "off" taste)....err and don't drink too much of it!

 

[Davos87]

Its a smashing hobby but can be rather expensive at the outset if you really get into it. I experimented with lots of the kit beers but never really enjoyed the taste of the finished product. I did rather better with the home brew wine and had all the kit, demijohns, filters, proper wine press etc and used to go to local farms where you could pick your own fruit and brewed some lovely gooseberry, elderflower, quince and parsnip wines. If you take your time, do a bit of reading and sort out some decent recipes and are meticulous in your preparation you can produce some eminently quaffable stuff. I had so much wine on the go at times that I was at it most nights. Filtering, bottling, corking, sterilising and of course tasting and lots of nights got a little bit blotto. Gave it up in the end out of respect for my liver.

 

[DaveReading]

get a pressure barrel (I don't know if you can still buy them but they used to come in 5 gallon sizes) so you don't have to bother with bottles

Or, even better, a polypin. It used to be fairly easy to get hold of used, ex-sherry ones but nowadays you have to buy them full of beer and drink that before you can use them.

 

[Drago]

What sort of sugar is best for my beer? I've seen you can get brewing specific sugar, bit I've read elsewhere that people use normal sugar, demerera and even castor sugar, and now I'm thoroughly confused.

 

[Fergs]

Dried malt extract will give your beer more body than ordinary sugar. For priming your barrel or bottles (adding a little extra sugar when you put the beer in to give it some fizz) pretty much any sugar will do.

 

[ozboz]

Not to sure about sugar , but excessive amounts in the brew can have negative results from memory , my Mate used to put extra malt in his Stout ,
very tasty !

 

[Drago]

I thinking a pressure barrel is less hassle than bottles?

 

[DaveReading]

Not to sure about sugar, but excessive amounts in the brew can have negative results from memory

Yes, putting more than a small amount of sugar (the variety doesn't matter) in your brew certainly produces more alcohol, but does nothing for the taste and will likely just result in bigger hangovers.

There are few things more satisfying to a brewer than seeing a bag of malt and some hot water being turned into a wonderful sweet, fermentable wort by those magic enzymes.

 

[User169]

Tried making a version of Stone’s Arrogant Bastard Ale. Just bottled it today, so need to wait a couple of weeks for a proper comparison, but not bad. Colour very similar, although the Stone is brighter. Malt profile quite similar, mine a bit sweeter. The Stone has more upfront hoppy flavour, but both have a similar piney hop finish. Stone is 7.2%, mine is 7.8.

Stone on the right, mine in the little glass.

 

[subaqua]

Its a smashing hobby but can be rather expensive at the outset if you really get into it. I experimented with lots of the kit beers but never really enjoyed the taste of the finished product. I did rather better with the home brew wine and had all the kit, demijohns, filters, proper wine press etc and used to go to local farms where you could pick your own fruit and brewed some lovely gooseberry, elderflower, quince and parsnip wines. If you take your time, do a bit of reading and sort out some decent recipes and are meticulous in your preparation you can produce some eminently quaffable stuff. I had so much wine on the go at times that I was at it most nights. Filtering, bottling, corking, sterilising and of course tasting and lots of nights got a little bit blotto. Gave it up in the end out of respect for my liver.

How do you get juice from a parsnip ? Not a wind up question as never done homemade wine .