Home brewing kits ....

Thinking about getting back into this. Just looking at kits, and BeerHawk do a nice starter kit, but as I want to do BIAB brewing (it's what I did before) I'm going to add a grain bag but looks like everything else is there. It's a 5 gallon kettle, so reckon I can get around 3 gallons of beer in the end which should be a good amount.

What are the good websites for info/recipes/ingredients nowadays?

Also, who got my Burco? I'm sure I gave it away on here, is it still being used? Wish I still had it!
 
I plan to do a turbo cider this week. Going to make it very simple. Cheap lidl pure apple juice and some cider yeast. Leave for 2 weeks and bottle.
 
Well my first kit (IPA) - old fermenting bin must have been harbouring nasties in the tiny internal scratches.

Second kit was amazing. Ruby ale.

Then branched into a foraged nettle beer, followed by a cider from fresh apple juice, then made up a third beer kit (cerveza) which is doing well!

Currently fermenting is:
Mint wine
Apple and mango cider from fresh juice.

Really REALLY enjoying this but feel like I need to move away from the kits and start mashing myself...

Now, what kit do I need?
 
Good to see a Cornish gang of homebrewers on here :)
I've just about got hold of all the equipment I wanted and am finishing a fermentation fridge. I've got a Grainfather G30, SS Brew Bucket and am trying to get hold of a keg so I can do closed transfers for NEIPA's.

I spent way too much on Verdant and thought it would be cheaper to brew my own. Well it isn't and may have to wait a lifetime to brew anything comparable but God loves a trier!

First brew day next week, Two Hearted clone. Wish me luck !
 
Pickers said:
Well my first kit (IPA) - old fermenting bin must have been harbouring nasties in the tiny internal scratches.

Second kit was amazing. Ruby ale.

Then branched into a foraged nettle beer, followed by a cider from fresh apple juice, then made up a third beer kit (cerveza) which is doing well!

Currently fermenting is:
Mint wine
Apple and mango cider from fresh juice.

Really REALLY enjoying this but feel like I need to move away from the kits and start mashing myself...

Now, what kit do I need?
Click to expand...

i purchased a brew devil aio grain brew machine, done 3 grain kits so far and so much better tasting than kits, no more of that 'home brew' taste.
 
I've been using the Klarstein BIAB machine for the last couple of years. But for my birthday someone got me a kit so I've got that going at the moment, will be interesting to try after all this time!

I've spent the last few weeks or months building a fermentation chamber so my freezer - which I was previously using for that purpose - is now permanently the 'keezer' for serving.
 
Griffo said:
I've been using the Klarstein BIAB machine for the last couple of years. But for my birthday someone got me a kit so I've got that going at the moment, will be interesting to try after all this time!

I've spent the last few weeks or months building a fermentation chamber so my freezer - which I was previously using for that purpose - is now permanently the 'keezer' for serving.
Click to expand...
nice!

yes, i have toyed with the itdea about seeing what a kit would taste like now.
 
We are having a new kitchen in a couple of months and will be replacing the fridge/freezer. I will probably use the fridge for cold crashing and/or just storing bottled drinks.

Also have plans to build an insulated box to house a heat mat and brew bucket so I can brew in the garage over winter.

I won't be able to buy any mash kettle aio jobbies whilst I pay off the kitchen
 
Hi all!!

So I've progressed to extract brewing although waiting for success....

My first extract brew (with partial mash) was a standard English ale but it didn't complete fermenting fully and it had strong fruity esters which were overwhelming (I don't think I boiled the bittering hops enough amongst other things)

My second was bottled a week ago but had TCP tastes at that time so seeing if they mellow out. That was using Britta filtered water so I can only speculate it was either cos I left it over 12 hours to pitch yeast or some other type of infection (health issue during cooling meant it sat in brew fridge for a long while) or that fermentation was too high temp early on. I cold crashed this one before bottling...

So, anyway, I want to look at streamlining bottling/conditioning as washing and rinsing 40 bottles a time is consuming. I am considering making some transition to kegging.

A corny keg setup would be lovely but there is no way I can shell out £200 to get all the kit. My other options are either a king keg pressure barrel (worries about leaks) or a brewferm mini keg starter kit (with party star deluxe tap). This gives me flexibility and comes in at about half the price as a single corny keg setup, but it has mixed reviews.

I do have a converted fridge for a fermentation chamber (not sure this would fit a corny keg) and my old integrated fridge/freezer for keeping bottles chilled after conditioning which would fit cornys, but doesn't have good temp control.

So any advice? Anyone want to share their setups? I wonder if a new thread for "Kegging" may be sensible!! I may photograph my brewing space / fridge / temp control if it's of interest!!
 
We used to have a couple of King Kegs, and they were certainly a step up in build quality and materials than a standard pressure barrel. Also the wider lid made them much easier to clean. I'm afraid I don't have any experience with corny's or the brewferm mini keg starter kit.
 
TCP tastes is an infection, so a cleanliness issue. It's a right bugger and no it won't go away :-(

Had that a few times over the years. Moved to a final rinse with the oxygenating type sanitizer (name escapes me) which doesn't interfere with yeast, has helped.
 
I think you are right with infection... Or I didn't rinse the vwp enough from the straining bag (which I squeezed by hand...whoops) or the fermentation bucket.. I'm normally ott with sanitiser so I'm a little confused but best not overthink.

I have a kit IPA on the go to check that I can still make beer of some kind - added 50g Amarillo dry hop on day 4.

Might look at getting a bottle rinser and chemsan before bottling day... But then I will probably hit an issue with chemsan not getting to the right PH with my tap water
 
I've been through a lot of kits (St Peters ruby red being one of the best if you don't mind weaker ales) but now only buy beerworks kits online from lovebrewing. Decent amount of hop pellets & yeast in each kit. (Yes hop pellets..clearly lacking in muntons etc etc). As for bottling tree stated above....pair it with a bottle washer....buy no rinse starsan as your sanitiser. It lasts for ever! Pour diluted starsan into your bottle washer. ...insert bottle & push down to give it a blast of sanitiser...& then straight onto the tree..repeat till 40 or whatever bottles....no rinsing out afterwards...tree ready to be fed to be filled....I seriously AM having a bored night in!
 
I can only find chemsan as starsans' alternative but I have ordered a bottle washer today which I'll use with VWP and then fill with water for rinsing.
Kit IPA has been going 7 days and so I took a sample at 1.006 so should be done. I'll probably leave it 2 more days then cold crash before bottling.

I opened a "failed extract" bottle today and it was clear at room temp and a few days on didn't seem as "off" tasting. I do think I will get chill haze with it but maybe - maybe it was just my taste and it's mellowing... I'll sample again in a week!
 
Noooo....don't fill washer with water...fill it with diluted chemsan. It will sanitise your bottles just before bottling without the need to rinse them...unlike VWP. Once you've sanitised your bottles..& the bottles are now capped...(bench capper's best)....you still have this chemsan still sat there....and an emptied fermentation bucket. Clean the bucket out with good old washing up liquid...& then throw the chemsan in there...lid on...& swish around everywhere...sanitation of your bucket done.
 
Need to find chemsan cheaper.. and I know I won't get pH to 3 with my local water so that experiment is going to have to wait until next time I think!
 
I haven't in years. My only tip would be make something light first time round, thick weird malty bitters taste very strong and can be a bit unpleasant if your not really into that.
 
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