Home brewing kits ....

I bottled the young Mocha Porter yesterday, the smell is lovely, lots of coffee and chocolate, will leave it alone now for a month before digging in (i hope).
Today I've brewed up a dark ruby mild, the steeping grains smelled amazing again, got a new digital thermometer which is helping me no end.
 
i bottled my youngs ipa yesterday which tasted nice, couple of weeks and i'll start tucking in! then started a Black Rock miners stout straight after. i added 1 kg of brewing sugar and 500gm of dark spraymalt, 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and 2 teaspons of chocolate essence. smelt lovely when i mixed it up. hopefully should be strong, was 1070og when measured. brewing it to 21 ltrs.
 
aceface57 said:
That sounds lovely! Let us know how that turns out, really getting into the darker beers since it's been getting darker again.
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yes, will update the thread. last time i did a chocloate stout, a youngs double choc clone, it was vial. i think i used to much cocoa powder. hopefully this will be better, fermenting away lovely now. and i've never tried this stout either so dicing with stout death!
 
HybridX said:
Im not that commited yet lol Was just going to buy some decent untreated apple juice and run with that
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My 2p's worth (I'm just a beginner).
All the stuff in the shops comes from concentrate, most state no preservative. Looking at various forums the quality of the juice (read price) doesn't seem to have much affect on the final product (remember cider is made from cider apples).

The cunning blighters that dilute the concentrate for final sale have made sure theres enough sugar in it for cider makers so they don't have to add any sugar or dilute with water (target 5-6% ABV).

So, you just need
Apple Juice
yeast (I bought Craft Cider Yeast )
maybe some nutrient

leave plenty of headspace for the initial fermentation it can get a bit lively

How much were you thinking of making?


 
lude1962 said:
My 2p's worth (I'm just a beginner).
All the stuff in the shops comes from concentrate, most state no preservative. Looking at various forums the quality of the juice (read price) doesn't seem to have much affect on the final product (remember cider is made from cider apples).

The cunning blighters that dilute the concentrate for final sale have made sure theres enough sugar in it for cider makers so they don't have to add any sugar or dilute with water (target 5-6% ABV).

So, you just need
Apple Juice
yeast (I bought Craft Cider Yeast )
maybe some nutrient

leave plenty of headspace for the initial fermentation it can get a bit lively

How much were you thinking of making?
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Probably 4l in a 4.5l Demijohn
 
HybridX said:
Probably 4l in a 4.5l Demijohn
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I'd start off with 3.5l or even 3, once a good head of yeast has built up give it a swirl, then top up after initial fermentation has died down, if it goes ballistic you risk it overflowing out of the air lock if you start off with too much juice.

As an experiment to creating a light summer beverage I'm fermenting off a couple litres of grapefruit juice, bottle it up into 2 x 1, to one add some sugar for priming to give it some fizz, to the other will add some raspberry syrup (found it in the Polish section) its mostly sugar so hopefully should get some carbonation and a bit of flavour.

Woodfords wherry etc down to £18 Wilko online dont know about instore but imagine it should be the same. Couldn't resist so ordered one and a FV with tap. As a beginner should I just go bottling route then leave them in the shed to condition for xmas (or will that be too soon)?
 
silent said:
yes, will update the thread. last time i did a chocloate stout, a youngs double choc clone, it was vial. i think i used to much cocoa powder. hopefully this will be better, fermenting away lovely now. and i've never tried this stout either so dicing with stout death!
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How did the Stout turn out?

I'm moving back to the UK early next year and cant wait to get back in to Al-lgrain brewing again... I've missed it!
 
I need to start brewing now I've got some space. I'm vaguely familiar with all grain brewing having done it with my dad countless times over the years when I was growing up but I don't really have the time at the moment to go all out..

So is there anything in it between the beeruk and home brew shop kits? They seem pretty much identical. Any well recommended IPAs or bitters to start off with? I like things hoppy..
 
Just found a box of the Woodford Wherry I bottled up a couple of years ago under my stairs. I remember being a bit disapointed with it at the time and must have just forgot about them. I expected it to be rancid, but after opening a bottle it hissed and when pouring there was loads of carbonation. It actually tasted really nice, still had that slight wierd homebrew kit tinge, but was very drinkable. Is this normal for it to last this long, anyone else discovered some brews you made ages ago?
 
aceface57 said:
No that wouldn't be very good! How far out of date is the yeast?
If it's ages old and you don't want to build a starter for it, look at Safale US-05 that should be a good replacement to use for Punk.
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Thanks.

It went ood mid 2016 :(

It's my first attempt so I don't expect much out of it. I was hoping to do it this weekend and that ones not on prime. Would I be able to use a generic ale one I could potentially pick up from somewhere like wilko? I don't know of any brewing shops near by.
 
Got my first brew on last night (Brew UK American IPA).

I'm struggling for somewhere consistently warm enough. My airing cupboard fluctuates heavily so guessing that's no good. Currently it's in my living room which, without heating the entire house up to outrageous temperatures all day (and thus negating most of the cost savings of home brew :p) fluctuates between 17-19 as the heating ticks over. My thermostat is rubbish hence it dropping quite a bit before coming back on which isn't ideal but best I can do for the moment. Still means I'm going to have to leave the heating on all day but a necessary evil perhaps while its so cold outside.

Will it be ok?
 
I got given a kit for a small batch all grain method brew for xmas.
I've always wanted to go for it, but never got round to it.

I've got an electric hob, is that going to make this harder for me? Also I need a good sized pot/kettle to heat it in. Any good places for hardware?
 
I used todo all grain - some key points:
a) rolling boil - you need space for the liquid at the top to roll and space for the unwanted compounds to leave the beer so don't just jam a lid on tight.
b) get a proper copper coiled pipe from a beer merchant - this is used to break, by passing the cold water through the coil it rapidly cools the beer causing the proteins to drop out.
c) Gravity is your friend - because that amount of liquid is both dangerous when hot and heavy. If you can set it up so that each container drops down to the next, The final drop into the fermentation bin out of the boiler onto a chair so you don't have to lift it off the floor.
d) it too a good morning - early through to mid day to make, so get a good breakfast as the kitchen will be busy!
e) sterilise everything in advance for after the break and the fermentation bin.

Think that's it :)
 
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